higher criticism

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Critical study of biblical texts to ascertain their literary origins and history and the meaning and intention of the authors.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• Criticism which includes the study of the contents, literary character, date, authorship, etc., of any writing. Called also historical criticism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the scientific study of biblical writings to determine their origin and meaning