Literary Forms in the Scriptures

Old Testament

Introduction

The Bible contains many different kinds of writing.

In order to understand a particular piece of writing, the reader must be aware of the literary form being used. Each literary form determines to a large extent the nature of the truth conveyed.

For example, the story of creation in Genesis 1 is not a scientific explanation. However, it contains profound religious truth.

What the Church says…

The Church has affirmed the need for understanding literary forms. The Second Vatican Council tells us:

Those who search out the intention of the sacred writers must, among other things, have regard for ‘literary forms’. For truth is proposed and expressed in a variety of ways, depending on whether a text is history of one kind or another, or whether its form is that of prophecy, poetry or some other type of speech. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances as he used contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture.

(Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, n12)

Statements such as this make it clear that the Catholic understanding of Scripture is not fundamentalist.

Think, Pair & Share

Imagine you were author of the creation story in Genesis 1:1-31.

1. What are the religious truths present in this story?

2. What particular symbols stick out to you from this story and why?

3. What type of Literary form is this story written in?

4. Share ideas with the class

Old Testament There are many types of poetry

in the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures. Epic poetry underlies some of the narratives in the Torah (or Pentateuch), lyric poetry is found in the Psalms and Song of Songs, didactic poetry is found in Proverbs and Wisdom and dramatic poetry in Job.

There are also many forms of history: stylised court records in Kings and Chronicles, romanticised epic history in Exodus and tales of tribal heroes in Judges.

Old Testament Activity

Choose one of the following scriptures and identify the literary form that it is written in. Some are quite large so read part of the scripture to gain an understanding.

Genesis 5

Gen 47:13-26

Judges 9

Genesis 6-9

Joshua 23

Is 1:1-31

Dt 26:5-10

Ex 20

Share responses as a class and note them down on your handout – discussion on WHY the writer INTENDED to share the stories in this way.

Psalm Re-Write