Form criticism is the Biblical method which seeks to discover the type of literature which is contained in the Bible. For instance, when you go to your mailbox and open it you are liable to find various kinds of literature: bills, advertisements, personal notes, and others. Yet you would never treat them all the same. You would never treat a bill as an advertisement or a personal letter as a bill. You can distinguish between these literary "forms" and interpret them accordingly.

When you were a child you listened to stories that began with "once upon a time" and then before bedtime your parents may have read a passage from the Bible. And again, you did not interpret them the same way.   When you watch TV you know the difference between the news and a drama or a documentary. And you never interpret them in the same way; for one is for information while another is for entertainment.

All of these examples show that in our daily lives we are constantly bombarded with different forms and called upon to interpret them in the right way. The Bible is the same; for in it we find a whole variety of forms and our task is to recognize them so that we can interpret them correctly.

In the Book of Psalms, for instance, there are personal psalms of lament, communal lamentations, thanksgivings, wisdom psalms, and others. In the Gospels there are healing narratives, paradigms, apophthegms, pronouncement stories, parables, wisdom sayings, messianic texts, and others. In the Letters of the New Testament we have exhortation, confrontation, and others.

When the student of the Bible confronts the text he or she must ask, in using the method called Form Criticism, "what kind of form is it that is here; and how is it to be interpreted?" The value of Form Criticism is that it sets interpretive boundaries around the text which help the interpreter to not over -- or under interpret. That is, when one knows that one is reading a fable (as in the fable of Jotham), one knows that it is to be interpreted as any fable is -- in order to convey a moral message.

"When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and cried aloud and said to them, "Listen to me, you lords of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. The trees once went out to ano int a king over themseve tree, 'Reign over us.' The olive tree answered them, 'Shall I stop producing my rich oil by which gods and mortals are honored,and go to sway over the trees?' Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and reign over us.' But the fig tree answered them, 'Shall I stop producing my sweetness and my delicious fruit, and go to sway over the trees?' Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come and reign over us.' But the vine said to them, 'Shall I stop producing my wine that cheers gods and mortals, and go to sway over the trees?' So all the trees said to the bramble, 'You come and reign over us.' And the bramble said to the trees, 'If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon." (Judges 9)

This fable is simply an "anti-monarchical" story. It must be interpreted in its own terms. Other texts consist of other forms. This story from the Mark 10 is a healing story:

"They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, that I might see again." Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way."

When one uses form criticism one takes this healing story and sets it beside other healing stories to note the differences and similarities. One takes notice of the structure and the narrative. But most important of all one notes the form and inteprets the material accordingly.

Bultmann, Rudolf. The History of the Synoptic Tradition. Rev. ed. Trans. by John Marsh. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
A most important work on NT Form Criticism of the synoptic gospels. Analyzes the sayings of Jesus at length in order to show that they are, in the main, the product of the early church. A must reading for comprehensive exams.
BS2555 .B91 E2

Buss, Martin J. Biblical Form Criticism in Its Context.  Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.

This magnum opus is not another catalogue of the forms of biblical literature, but a deeply reflected account of the significance of form itself. Buss writes out of his experience in Western philosophy and the intricate involvement of biblical criticism in philosophical history. Equally, biblical criticism and the development of notions of form are related to social contexts, whether from the side of the aristocracy (tending towards generality) or of the bourgeois (tending towards particularity) or of an inclusive society (favouring a relational view). Form criticism, in Buss’s conception, is no mere formal exercise, but the observation of interrelationships among thoughts and moods, linguistic regularities and the experiences and activities of life. This work, with its many examples from both Testaments, will be fundamental for Old and New Testament scholars alike. 
BS 521.5 .B877 1999

Dibelius, Martin. From Tradition to Gospel. Rev. 2nd ed. Trans. by B. Lee Woolf. London: James Clarke & Co., 1971.
A major study of the Synoptic Gospels using the form-critical approach. For the author any literary understanding of the gospels begins with the recognition that the "authors" are collectors of materials from the oral tradition.
BS2555 .D545f 1971

Gerhardsson, Birger.  Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and Written Transmission in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity. Trans. Eric Sharpe. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William Eerdsman, 1997.
BM 495.5 .G374 1997

________. The Origins of the Gospel Traditions. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979.
Represents a challenge to the presuppositions of the NT form critics, especially Bultmann's. While accepting much of the insights from form-criticism, the author asserts that the form critics have not been sufficiently historical in their approach. But his concern is more theological than historical, as he admits.
BS2555.2 .G4413

________. The Gospel Tradition. Coniectanea Biblica. NT Series; 15. Malmo, Sweden: CWK Gleerup, 1986.
The author presents a model for investigating tradition by differentiating between "inner" and "outer" tradition. In devoting much of the book to the verbal tradition of Early Christianity he discusses such topics as text creation, oral and written transmission, and the process of synthesization and writing down the tradition. Intended to be an improvement on his earlier work in the area.
BS2555.2 .G473 1986

Grant, Frederick C., ed. and trans. Form Criticism: A New Method of New TestamentResearch. Chicago: Willett, Clark & Co., 1934.
This small volume consists of an essay each by Bultmann and Karl Kundsin, expounding briefly the principles of Form Criticism, and illustrating its methods and results.
BS2555 .G762f

Guttgemanns, Erhardt. Candid Questions Concerning Gospel Form Criticism: A Methodical Sketch of the Fundamental Problematics of Form and Redaction Criticism. Trans. by Wm. G. Doty. Pittsburgh: Pickwick Press, 1979.
As might be expected from the subtitle the author feels that form-criticism was built upon late Romantic scholarship which is now outdated and that such concepts as the Sitz im Leben and the sociological levels of early Christian communities must also take into account the recent work done in psychology and sociology of literature.
BS2555.2 G7613

Kelber, Werner. The Oral and Written Gospel: The Hermeneutics of Speaking and Writing in the Synoptic Tradition, Mark, Paul, and Q. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983.
Important study by a former student of Bultmann, concerned with developing a proper oral hermeneutic which, according to Kelber, neither form, nor redaction criticism, nor any other method has succeeded in producing. He follows Walter Ong's work in linguistics in order to call attention of NT scholars' neglect of the dynamics of orality in their "disproportionately print-oriented hermeneutic."
BS2555.2 .K44 1983

Koch, Klaus. The Growth of the Biblical Tradition: The Form Critical Method. Trans. by S. M. Cupitt. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1969.
Shows how oral and written transmission of the Hebrew Bible occurred simultaneously. Foundational for understanding Dibelius' and Bultmann's form-critical work.
BS523 .K76w2E

Lohfink, Gerhard.  The Bible: Now I Get It! : A Form-Criticism Book. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979.
BS 521.5 .L6313

McKnight, Edgar V. What Is Form Criticism? Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969.
Written for the student who needs to be introduced to the fundamental aspects of the methodology. Also gives the historical background to the development of the method.
BS2555.2 M26

Taylor, Vincent. The Gospel According to Mark: The Greek Text, with Introduction, Notes, and Indices. London: Macmillan, 1952.
This commentary on Mark is the author's magisterial work, identifying the different strands of material in that gospel as five distinct types. Perhaps the British reaction to the German form-critical approach prevented Taylor from going as far as Dibelius and Bultmann. Baker Book House now issues a reprint in its Thornapple Series.
BS2585 .T29 and BS2585 .T34 1981

Weima, Jeffrey Alan David. Neglected Endings: The Significance of the Pauline Letter Closings.  Sheffield, Eng.: JSOT Press, 1994.
BS 2650.2 .W456 1994

Wellhausen, Julius. Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel. New York: Meridian Books, 1957.
Represents the author's pioneering work in form-criticism of the Hexateuch. His work should be studied in order to understand how his insights informed both Dibelius and Bultmann for their work in Form Criticism of the NT.
BM165 .W4

Wills, Lawrence. The Quest of the Historical Gospel: Mark, John, and the Origins of the Gospel Genre.  London; New York: Routledge, 1997.
BS 2585.2 .W576 1997