Biblical Narrative (a paper from a class I took at LU)

NARRATIVES:

The most common type of literature in the Bible is narrative.  Over 40% of the Old Testament is narrative.  Genesis, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Jonah, and Haggai are largely or entirely composed of narrative material.  Exodus, Numbers, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Job also contain substantial narrative portions according to our reading in Fee and Stuart.  “Failure to understand both the reason for and the character of Hebrew narrative has caused many Christians in the past the read the Old Testament story very poorly.” (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p.89)  This is a Christian’s spiritual history and is important to understand.  The “calling of God to Israel are your Historical promises and calling.” (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 89)   Narratives are stories with the purpose of retelling past event in such a way that they can be understood and applied in the present.  They consist of three parts: a plot, a plot resolution (redemption), and characters.  In traditional literature the characters are the “protagonist” (God), the “antagonist” (Satan) and the “agonist” (God’s people, us) (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 90). 

Fee & Stuart attempt to clarify some of the common problems people experiences when interpreting and applying of the genre of Scripture.  They include allegorizing, decontextualizing, selectivity, moralizing, personalizing, misappropriation, false appropriation, false combination, and redefinition. (Fee & Stuart, 2003, pgs. 103-104)  I found myself guilty of many of these.  I was really guilty of decontextualizing (“ignoring the full historical and literary contexts, and often the individual narrative”) (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 103) and only concentrating on small units which I thought to be the main theme or “moral.” This surely led me to selectivity and personalizing the story to fit my life or situation.  Narratives are not “allegories or stories filled with hidden meaning” or “are not intended to teach a moral lesson”. (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p.93)  

After identifying some common mistakes Fee and Stuart sum it up by providing some principals for interpreting narratives.  For me personally, I thought principle #3 was important that “narratives record what happened (honestly good and bad) not necessarily what should have happened or what ought to happen every time…” However, I am going to override that thought (due to my past experience with the Bible especially the Old Testament) and go with #4 as critical advice.  Principal #4 states that “what people do in narratives is not necessarily a good example for us.  Frequently it is just the opposite.”  I tend to go to the Bible in “looking for an example” and then “making it mean what I need or want it to mean.”  These principles give us a good mental start and direction to reading the Old Testament scripture.  However, if we still run into confusion we should still pray and seek outside sources for additional support such as commentaries and pastors etc.  (Stuart & Fee, 2003, p.206)

 

Fee, G.D.,& Stuart, D.K. (2003). How to read the Bible for all its worth. (3^rd ed.). Zondervan Publishing Company.