Chapter 21 from 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible “How Do We Identify Literary Genre—And Why Does It Matter?” by Dr. Robert Plummer, Southern Seminary Upon picking up a new text, a reader will usually quickly identify the genre. That is, the reader will decide (consciously or unconsciously, rightly or wrongly) whether the text is to be understood as fiction or nonfiction, scientific writing or poetry, etc. The accurate determination of the genre of a work is essential to its proper interpretation.

Defining “Genre” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, genre is “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.”1 In this book, of course, we are concerned primarily with literary genres and, more specifically, the literary genres of the Bible.

In choosing to express his or her ideas through a particular literary genre, the author submits to a number of shared assumptions associated with that genre. For example, if I were to begin a story, “Once upon a time,” I immediately cue my readers that I am going to tell a fairy tale. Such a story likely will have fantastical creatures (e.g., dragons, unicorns), a challenge to be overcome, and a happy ending. Readers will expect the story to be directed at young children, primarily for the sake of entertainment, but possibly also for moral instruction.

Many times every day, we make decisions about how to understand a literary composition based on our unconscious assessment of its genre. For example, if I receive an envelope in the mail that reads, “MR. PLUMER (note misspelling), YOU MIGHT HAVE JUST WON TEN MILLION DOLLARS!” I realize I am holding some sort of advertisement that has no interest in giving me ten million dollars but rather wants me to buy something. Likewise, if I receive an official-looking letter from the “Louisville Water Company” that is stamped with red letters, “Final Late Payment Notice,” I understand that important, factual information related to an outstanding debt is in my hand. And when I drive home, I realize that the sign that says, “Speed Limit 35” is not simply to decorate the roadside or to offer a suggestion but is, in fact, a legally binding notice.

Identifying the Genre of Biblical Writings In everyday life we become familiar with the genres we encounter. Initially, the advertisement letter described above might have excited us to the possibility of winning ten million dollars, but after several years of failed entries, we come to recognize the true genre of such materials. Similarly, young children may have trouble distinguishing between the genre of the evening news, a science-fiction movie, and a documentary. An educated adult, however, should be able not only to recognize a movie as a documentary but also to identify some of the biases and aims of its producers.

Certain books in the Bible are written in genres that are familiar to us, but others are foreign to the modern reader. And even familiar genres sometimes include assumptions that the modern reader might not expect. One way to identify the genre of a biblical book is to read it and note significant literary details and authorial comments that cue the reader as to how it should be understood. For example, the most common genre in the Bible is historical narrative, which makes up roughly 60 percent of its contents.2 The biblical genre of historical narrative is similar to factual historical reporting that we read today in a newspaper or history book. Still, there are a few differences. (1) Biblical historical narratives often are peppered with unfamiliar subgenres, such as genealogies (Matt. 1:1–17), songs (Exod. 15:1–18), proverbs (Matt. 26:52), prophecies (Mark 13:3–37), or covenants (Josh. 24:1–28). (2) Biblical historical narratives generally are not concerned with some of the same details that modern readers might wish addressed (for example, strict chronological identification or sequencing, biographical details from the entire span of a person’s life, etc.). (3) Biblical historical narratives, while accurate, never claim to be objective. The biblical authors have a purpose in writing—to convince the readers of God’s revelatory message and the necessity of responding to God in repentance, faith, and obedience (e.g., John 20:30–31). See question 22 (“How do we interpret historical narrative?”) for further guidance in interpreting biblical historical narrative.

One way to identify and learn about the genres of books in the Bible is to consult a study Bible, commentary, or other theological reference work (see question 13, “What are some helpful books or tools for interpreting the Bible?”). The latter half of this book also will prove helpful, as it provides a brief introduction to various biblical genres and the specific assumptions and caveats we should keep in mind as we approach them. See figure 10 for a list of literary genres found frequently in the Bible and a sampling of books or passages so classified.

FIGURE 10: LITERARY GENRES IN THE BIBLE GENRE SAMPLE TEXTS

Historical Narrative Genesis, Mark Genealogy 1 Chronicles 1-9; Mattew 1:1-17

Exaggeration/Hyperbole Matthew 5:29-30; 23:24 Prophecy Isaiah; Malachi

Poetry Joel; Amos (also prophecy) Covenant Genesis 17:1-4; Joshua 24:1-28

Proverbs/Wisdom Literature Proverbs, Job Psalms and Songs Exodus 15:1-18; Psalms

Letters 1 Corinthians, 2 Peter Apocalypse Daniel, Revelation

Interpretive Missteps Several interpretive dangers lurk in the genre minefield. Three important ones to note are as follows.

1. Misunderstanding the genre of a work can result in skewed interpretation. Judges 11:39 reports that Jephthah kept the oath he made to the Lord by sacrificing his daughter. The genre of historical narrative, to which Judges belongs, does not in and of itself tell us whether the actions reported are good or bad. Additional authorial indications are necessary to let the reader know how the inspired writer assessed the event or person reported. As is clear from the repeated downward spirals of sin in Judges (3:7–16:31), along with the author’s despairing summary statements (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25), the action of Jephthah is not to be praised or imitated.3 The assumption that the behaviors of major figures in historical narrative should always be copied could result in a horrific application in this case.

2. Mislabeling a biblical genre can be an underhanded way of denying the text’s truthfulness. It is not uncommon to encounter prominent religious experts in the media who assure us that large portions of the Bible should be understood as myth rather than historical narrative.4 That is, the texts should not be understood as reporting factual historical information but as painting mythological pictures to inspire or challenge us. Such a claim, however, denies clear authorial indications to the contrary (e.g., Luke 1:1–4), as well as extrabiblical evidence that confirms the historicity of the Bible’s contents.5 Concerning those who labeled the Gospels as myths in his day, renowned author and literary critic C. S. Lewis remarked,

Whatever these men may be as Biblical critics, I distrust them as critics. They seem to me to lack literary judgement, to be imperceptive about the very quality of the texts they are reading. It sounds a strange charge to bring against men who have been steeping in those books all their lives. But that might be just the trouble. A man who has spent his youth and manhood in the minute study of the New Testament texts and of other people’s studies of them, whose literary experience of those texts lack any standard of comparison such as can only grow from a wide and deep and genial experience of literature in general, is, I should think, very likely to miss the obvious things about them. If he tells me that something in a Gospel is legend or romance, I want to know how many legends or romances he has read, how well his palate is trained in detecting them by the flavour; not how many years he has spent on that Gospel.6

Similarly, it is not uncommon to find scholars who claim that Jonah is a fictitious story. In fact, an elderly colleague of mine (now retired) once confided in me that he mentioned to his class that he thought Jonah was fictional. “Afterwards,” the professor told me, “a student came up to me and said, ‘Dr. ______, you probably shouldn’t say that publicly. We like you and want you to keep teaching here.’ ”7

The student’s intuition was correct, for not only does the book of Jonah report persons and places without any fictional artifice, but also Jesus refers to Jonah as a historical figure who was literally and historically inside the belly of a large fish (Matt. 12:40–41).

3. Principles for interpreting genres can be misused to excuse oneself from the demands of Scripture. Kierkegaard wryly remarked, “Christian scholarship is the human race’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the New Testament, to ensure that one can continue to be a Christian without letting the New Testament come too close.”8 This cynically delivered truth can prove especially true with the academic application of various interpretive principles related to genre. For example, in considering Matthew 5:42 (“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you”), the interpreter may rightly note that Jesus’ teaching here is classified as exaggeration. He may go on, then, to note continued on the back...

correctly that one is not obligated to give a suicidal person a gun. In understanding the implicit qualifications of exaggeration, however, we go astray if we do not hear the radical call in Matthew 5:42 to let go of worldly goods. One may qualify and explain the text away until consciences are dulled into happy disobedience. As Pascal remarked, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”9 Modern-day interpreters need to fear God’s judgment if they seek to explain the text away as did Jesus’ opponents (Mark 7:13). 1. Online version (accessed August 29, 2008). 2. Robert H. Stein, A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 151. 3. Note the six main cycles connected with the judges: Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. A note in The New Oxford Annotated Bible observes, “With each major judge, the cycle unravels. In turn, this unraveling enhances the communication of the moral deterioration taking place throughout the period of the judges. In fact, by the time of Samson, the cycle has almost disappeared. The Samson cycle serves as both the literary climax and moral nadir of the ‘cycles’ section” (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, ed. Michael D. Coogan, 3rd ed. [New York: Oxford University Press, 2001], 354 [Hebrew Bible section]). 4. E.g., John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991). 5. See Walter C. Kaiser Jr., The Old Testament Documents: Are They Reliable and Relevant? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001); and F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable, 6th ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981). 6. C. S. Lewis, “Fern-Seed and Elephants,” in Fern-Seed and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity, ed. Walter Hooper (London: Fontana/Collins, 1975), 106–7. 7. The school had recently gone through a major turnover, and most students were more conservative than the older faculty. 8. Søren Kierkegaard, Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1975), 3:270. 9. Pascal, Pensées, fragment 895 in Great Books of the Western World: Pascal, ed. Mortimer J. Adler, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1990), 30:347. Within the volume, Pensées was translated by W. F. Trotter.

BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

Background Information:

Biblical Timeline, Genres, and Books

As we start our sermon series called “One Book,” we don’t want anyone to feel intimidated by the broad scope of the Bible’s contents. It can be a daunting task to read from all parts of Scripture, let alone to try to understand it in all its various layers and forms. So we wanted to put a few basic informational items into your hands (or tools in your belt, so to speak) that may be helpful as we work through the Bible together one book at a time. Included in this booklet are:

• a sample chapter from 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible, called “How Do We Identify Literary Genre—And Why Does It Matter?”

• a simplified timeline of the major historical events that are covered in the Bible • a graphic that shows all 66 books of the Bible in the order/groupings that they have

historically been arranged