What is Biblical Criticism?

Biblical criticism is the evaluation of all questions regarding the meaning, truth, and worth of the Bible. It is a
method used to study the Bible as an ancient manuscript and a method to determine if one's faith is grounded
on truth or fiction.

Because no original manuscript (autograph) exists today, the Bible is translated from various copies and versions
of the original manuscripts. Biblical Criticism studies the literary and historical origins of these manuscripts composing the Bible from two perspectives: lower and higher criticism. The term "lower" criticism refers to the fact that this form of study is foundational for any other forms of study.

Lower Criticism attempts to determine as best as possible the text of an original manuscript. Essentially it looks at what the manuscript said.

Higher Criticism focuses its study on the sources used for a manuscript by studying a manuscript’s composition. It attempts to determine authorship, date, and authority of the source documents and hypothesize how the source document may have changed before its inclusion with the manuscript.
Essentially it looks at the who, when, where, and why of the manuscript.