The book begins by tracing the various sub-disciplines of historical
criticism and the effects of using them on hermeneutics, apologetics, and
preaching. It then examines the impact of Bacon, Hobbes, Spinoza, deism, Hume,
Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Darwin, and Kierkegaard on the philosophical
foundation of the historical-critical method and its users. A chapter by Robert
Yarbrough, a colleague of several of the criticized scholars, treats Eta
Linnemann, her contributions to scholarship, and her view of the (lack of a) a
synoptic problem.