Narrative in the Hebrew BibleAfter almost two centuries of historical criticism, biblical scholarship has recently taken major shifts in direction, most notably toward literary study of the Bible. Much germinal criticism has taken as its primary focus narrative texts of the Hebrew Bible (the "Old Testament"). This study provides a lucid guide to the interpretive possibilities of this movement. Attempting to be both theoretical and practical, it combines discussion of methods and the business of reading in general with numerous illustrations through readings of particular texts. Gunn and Fewell discuss how literary criticism is related to other dominant ways of reading the text over the last two thousand years. In addition, they address characters, including the narrator and God; plot, modifying recent theory to accommodate the peculiar complexity of biblical narratives; and the play of language through repetition, ambiguity, multivalence, metaphor, and intertextuality. Finally, the authors discuss readers and responsibility, exploring the ideological dimension of narrative interpretation. An extensive bibliography completes the book, arranged by subject and biblical text. |
Contents
Biblical narrative | 3 |
Similarity and difference | 27 |
GENESIS 38 | 38 |
Copyright | |
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Abednego Abimelech Abraham Abram Absalom Adonijah ambiguity Ammonites Amnon Bathsheba Biblical Interpretation Biblical Narrative biblical stories blessing book of Jonah Book of Judges Book of Ruth brother Cain and Abel Canaanite chapter character characterization Chronicles Clines context Daniel Danna Nolan daughter David death divine episode Esther evil Exodus Exum father Feminist Fewell Gender Genesis 2-3 Genesis-2 Kings God's Gunn Hebrew Bible hesed historical criticism human ideology irony Isaac Israel Israelites Jacob Jephthah Jobling JSOT Judah judgement Judges king's land Literary Criticism Literature Manoah meaning Meshach Mosala Moses Nabal Narrative F narrator narrator's Nebuchadnezzar Nineveh Numbers offers Old Testament patriarchal perhaps Pharaoh plot Poetics point of view political promise Prooftexts prophet question reader reading recognize relationship repetition response Rhetoric Robert Samuel Sarah Saul Semeia sexual social Solomon speech Tamar tells Theology wife woman women words YHWH YHWH's