Redaction Criticism, a prominent method within the realm of biblical studies, has provided scholars with a deeper understanding of the Gospels by focusing on the editorial processes of the Evangelists. In the mid-20th century, the discipline emerged as a response to earlier methods of biblical analysis, such as Form Criticism, which concentrated on the oral traditions behind the Gospel narratives. Redaction Criticism shifted the focus to the way the Gospel writers shaped these traditions, emphasizing their theological motivations and editorial decisions. The fundamental premise of this approach is that the Gospel writers were not mere passive recorders of events, but active theologians who shaped their accounts to communicate specific messages to their audiences.
