FORMS, HISTORY OF (Formgeschichtliche Methode). – An exegetical trend that established itself between 1919 and 1922, especially in Germany. In English it is called form-criticism; in Italian some use the periphrasis “metodo della storia delle forme,” others that of “metodo morfologico.” This system is, in a certain sense, the application to the New Testament—particularly to the Synoptic Gospels—of the theory of “literary genres” (v.), formulated especially for the Old Testament. Its aim is to determine the formation of the Gospel texts, conceived not as the work of particular writers or of specific literary sources, but as the result of a slow, anonymous process of elaboration.
With varying nuances, the advocates of the history of forms presuppose an intense activity within the community before the various narratives thus elaborated