\High"er crit"i*cism\
Criticism which includes the study of the contents, literary
character, date, authorship, etc., of any writing; as, the
higher criticism of the Pentateuch. Called also {historical
criticism}.

      The comparison of the Hebrew and Greek texts . . .
      introduces us to a series of questions affecting the
      composition, the editing, and the collection of the
      sacred books. This class of questions forms the special
      subject of the branch of critical science which is
      usually distinguished from the verbal criticism of the
      text by the name of higher, or historical, criticism.
                                               --W. Robertson
                                               Smith.