Narrative in the Hebrew Bible

by David M. Gunn, Danna Nolan Fewell

After almost two centuries of historical criticism, biblical scholarship has recently taken major shifts in direction, most notably towards literary study of the bible. Much germinal criticism has taken as its primary focus narrative texts of the Hebrew Bible (the 'Old Testament'). This book provides a lucid guide to its interpretative possibilities. It tries to be both theoretical and practical, combining discussion of method and the business of reading in general with numerous illustrations through readings of particular texts.
The opening chapter indicates how literary criticism is related to other dominant ways of reading the text over the last two thousand years, using as an example the story of Cain and Abel. In subsequent chapters, the authors discuss characters, not excluding the narrator and God; plot, modifying recent theory to accommodate the peculiar complexity of biblical narratives; and the play of language though repetition, ambiguity, multivalence, metaphor, and intertextuality. The concluding chapter, on readers and responsibility, explores the logical dimension of narrative interpretation, with particular attention to Genesis 1-3, a story which has generated much discussion about gender and social hierarchy. Other extended readings the stories of Abraham and Sarah, and of Tamar and Judah in Genesis, David and his family in the book of Samuel, the book of Jonah, and the account of Nebuchadnezzar and the three Jews thrown into the fiery furnace, from the book of Daniel. An extensive bibliography completes the book, arranged by subject and biblical text.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Nonfiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 1993

Reviews

[Jake Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a super thoughtful and somewhat accessible introduction into reading the Hebrew Bible as literature (specifically narrative). Would compare this to Alters “The art of biblical narrative” The approach Gunn takes is different than a strictly historical or theological approach, instead he focuses on narrative which takes aspects of both of these sides which I enjoyed a lot. He takes many familiar stories and reads them with this framework and the insights were awesome. He has emphasis on the reader makes the meaning of the text which I enjoyed but don’t fully agree with, but it definitely opens up a lot of interpretations when reading familiar stories that probably would not come unless using this framework. Enjoyed and would recommend if you want a deeper dive on narrative the Hebrew Bible!

[Daniel LeTexier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Postmodern perspective on Hebrew Bible analysis. Disagreed with a lot, but also found a lot what they were doing very helpful and thought provoking. Most appreciated the section where they compared diverse analyses of certain passages, highlighting how perspective influences interpretation. Second most interesting idea was the concept of the narrator of the biblical texts using irony- opens up a LOT of interpretive possibilities.

[Corinne Blackmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intelligent and insightful book that demonstrates the artistic and substantive features of Hebrew Bible narrative.