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
STRATEGIES FOR READING | 1 |
GENESIS | 38 |
CHARACTERS AND NARRATORS | 74 |
Copyright | |
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Abimelech Abraham Abram Absalom Adonijah ambiguity Ammonites Amnon Biblical Hermeneutics Biblical Interpretation Biblical Narrative biblical studies blessing Book of Jonah Book of Judges Book of Ruth Books of Samuel brother Cain and Abel chapter character Chronicles Clines context Daniel Danna Nolan daughter David death divine Esther evil father Feminist Fewell gender Genesis Genesis 2-3 Genesis 38 Genesis-2 Kings God's Gunn Hebrew Bible hesed historical criticism human ideology irony Israel Israelites Jephthah Jobling Joshua JSOT Judah judgement Judges king's land lion Literary Criticism Literature male Manoah meaning Mosala Moses Narrative F narrator narrator's Nebuchadnezzar Nineveh Numbers offers Old Testament patriarchal perhaps plot Poetics point of view political promise Prooftexts prophet question reader reading recognize relationship repetition response Rhetoric Samuel Sarah Saul Semeia sexual social Solomon speech Tamar tells Theology Trible values wife woman women words YHWH YHWH's