Is the historical-critical method sufficient for interpreting the Bible?

Ronald Hendel and Jon Levenson

Both Judaism and Christianity have traditionally placed Genesis in larger contexts defined by their authoritative literatures, the Oral Torah (or rabbinic tradition) and the New Testament (usually along with Church tradition), respectively. (Were it not for the larger Jewish context, in fact, we would not even know there was a distinct book called Genesis.) Within those traditional contexts, lively debate has taken place, and errors challenged. In both cases, an awareness has developed that the text has multiple senses that cannot be reduced one to another. This “interpretive pluralism,” as I called it in my review, is community-specific and entails an encompassing life discipline; it should not be confused with relativism. Modern historical criticism, with its astonishing recovery of ancient Near Eastern culture (including ancient historiographical goals and compositional techniques), further complicates the picture—and, in my judgment, enriches it—but it cannot by itself invalidate the other contexts of interpretation or expose them as erroneous in all contexts and for all purposes.

http://www.momentmag.com/genesis-secularized-an-exchange-between-ronald-hendel-and-jon-levenson/