higher criticism Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". While often discussed in terms of ...

, the ''Tendenz'' of a literary work is its drift or bias, sometimes also the actual authorial intent. ''Tendenzkritic'' is the analysis of a work to determine its aim or purpose.Richard N. Soulen, R. Kendall Soulen (eds.), ''Handbook of Biblical Criticism'', 3rd rev. ed. (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), p. 187, s.v. "''Tendenz'' Criticism". The term comes from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

for "tendency" (itself derived from English or French) and was coined in the 19th century.

Jennifer Speake Jennifer Speake, ''née'' Drake-Brockman (born 1944, Toronto) is a Canadian-British freelance writer and editor of reference books. Life Jennifer Anne Speake was born in Toronto in 1944. She was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Percy Lumsde ...

and Mark LaFlaur (eds.), ''The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English'' (Oxford University Press, 1999), s.v
"tendenz"
It is especially associated with the

biblical criticism Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

F. C. Baur Ferdinand Christian Baur (21 June 1792 – 2 December 1860) was a German Protestant theologian and founder and leader of the (new) Tübingen School of theology (named for the University of Tübingen where Baur studied and taught). Following Hegel ...

References

Literary criticism {{lit-criticism-stub