How to Read the Bible as Literature: . . . and Get More Out of It
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Of course we need to insist on curbs to the interpretive process in order to eliminate arbitrary allegorizing of the medieval type. These curbs include the interpretive clues contained in the narrative links before or after a parable as it appears in the Gospel narratives; the traditional symbolic meanings of a given detail (especially if those meanings appear within the Bible itself); compatibility with the inferred purpose or main teaching of a parable; and compatibility with biblical/Christian doctrine. There must be a good reason drawn from the biblical text before we attach a given meaning to a detail in a parable. In keeping with the oral nature of the parables, a general or obvious meaning is truer to the spirit of a parable than a specific or obscure meaning. In a parable that teaches about stewardship (Matt. 25:14-30), for example, the money that is entrusted to the three stewards should be interpreted in general terms as a person’s abilities, time, and opportunities, not specifically as the Holy Spirit. We must, in short, insist on interpretation of allegorical details rather than arbitrary allegorizing, but in the meantime we must not try to deny the obvious symbolic meanings in parables.
The academic world has surrounded the parables with so many intricate rules for interpreting them that ordinary people have become convinced that they had best leave the parables to the specialist. It is time to give the parables back to the group to which Jesus originally told them—ordinary people. Viewing the parables as allegorical would be a step in the right direction, since simple allegory has usually struck ordinary people as being accessible.
Index of Persons
Aesop, 148
Allott, Miriam, 59n. 17
Alter, Robert, 32, 39-40, 73, 193, 196nn.20, 21
Aristotle, 40n.6, 44, 45, 47, 49, 52, 57, 83-84, 135
Auerbach, Erich, 39, 180n.3, 194, 196n.21
Bacon, Roger, 9
Bailey, Kenneth Ewing, 140n.2
Batson, E. Beatrice, 201
Baudelaire, Charles-Pierre, 58
Beardslee, William A., 32, 175
Bilezikian, Gilbert G., 85n. 11
Boonstra, Harry, 163
Breech, James, 32
Brown, Raymond E., l47n
Buechner, Frederick, 82n
Bullinger, Ethelbert W., 107
Bunyan,John,199, 200, 201
Cadoux, A. T., 150, 151
Caird,G. B., 107, 148n.13
Cary, Joyce, 68
Coleridge, Samuel T., 125, 169
Collins, John J., 175
Connolly, Terence L., 121n
Cox, Roger L., 85n.11
Crossan, John Dominic, 61n.18, 151n.21
Culler, Jonathan, 25n, 58n.15
Dodd, Charles, 200
Doty, William G., 3ln. 13, 158
Drury, John, 138
Eastman, Arthur M., 92n
Enslin, Morton Scott, 156n.2
Farrar, Austin, 29-30
Fee, Gordon D., 26n, 156n.1, 200, 202
Fischer, James A., 32
Fitzgerald, Robert, 44n
Fitzgerald, Sally, 44n
Fokkelman, J. P., 32
Forster, E. M., 42, 47
Fowler, Robert M., 31n.14, 132n.2
Frost, Robert, 92
Frye, Northrop, 32, 79, 83n, 85, 146, 185, 194, 195, 196, 199, 200
Frye, Roland, 32, 179, 183, 196
Funk, Robert W., l42n, 151n.21
Gardiner, J. H., 174n
Gerleman, Gillis, 107n, 108
Good, Edwin M., 56n, 84n.9, 163
Gottcent, J. H., 31
Goulder, M. D., 148n.14, 193n.12, 200
Grawe, Paul H., 82n
Guelich, Robert A., l33n
Gunkel, Hermann, 199-20
Hagner, Donald A., 134n.5
Hals, Ronald, 61
Henn,T. R., 183, 185n.8
Houghton, Walter, 76n
Huffman, Norman A., 144
Hunter, Archibald M., 148, 150
Jones, Geraint V., 140n.3, l43n, 145, 147, 152
Jones, Howard Mumford, 183n.5, 195n.18
Kaiser, Walter C., Jr., 185n.8
Kehl,D. G., 195n.17, 197
Kermode, Frank, 78n
Kugel, James L., 108
Lewis, C. S., 12, 52, 90n, 106, 111, 116, 120, 169, 180n.2, 199
Licht, Jacob, 73, 196n.20
Lindblom, J., 175
Lodge, David, 67n
Long, Burke O., 85
Louis, Kenneth R. R. Gros, 32, 73, 138
Lowes, John Livingston, 194-95
Luce, Henry R., 33
Luther, Martin, 185
McAfee, Cleỉand B., 194n.15
Melancthon, Philip, 185
Mencken, H. L., 24n
Michie, Donald, 32, 138
Milton, John, 52n.11
Moulton, Richard C., 29, 168
Muilenburg, James, 105n, 195n.20
Murry, J. Middleton, 58n.14
Niebuhr, H. Richard, 21n
O’Connor, Flannery, 43-44, 58-59, 77n
Perrin, Norman, 34, 125
Peterson, Norman R., 32
Prince, Gerald, 52n.10
Rauber, D. F., 73
Resseguie, James L., 136n.7
Rhoads, David, 32, 138
Richardson, Donald W., 173n
Richmond, Hugh M., 79n.5
Ricoeur, Paul, 94
Roetzel, Calvin J., 158
Rowley, H. H., 185
Ryken, Leland, 31, 32, 86, 107-8, 115n, 117n, 119nn.6, 7, 120, 127, 129, 138, 152, 158, 163, 173n, 175
Sacks, Sheldon, 66n, 94n
Sandmel, Samuel, 37n
Sands, P. C., 139-40, 157n, 158
Shea, John,58
Short, Robert, 91n, 124, 128
Sider, John W., 149n
Smith, Barbara Herrnstein, 122n
Speiser, E. A., 72n
Spencer, Richard A., 30n, 32
Spenser, Edmund, 201
Stange, G. Robert, 76n
Stuart, Douglas, 26n, 156n.1, 200, 202
Tannehill, Robert C., 15n, 28n, 32, 73, 129, 132n.3, 136n.8, 196n.20
Terry, Milton, 200, 201
TeSelle, Sallie, 151n.21
Thompson, Francis, 121
Tilyard, E. M. W., 79n.7, 116n
Tolstoy, Leo, 59
Trueblood, Elton, 125n, 163
Ungar, Frederick, 31
Uspensky, Boris, 134n.6
Via, Dan Otto, Jr., 84n, 201
Vorster, W. S., 132n.1
Vos, Nelvin, 82n
Walker, William O., Jr., 32
Weiser, Arthur, 120
Westermann, Claus, 114n, 163
Wilder, Amos N., 32, 33, 73, 144, 151, 175, 196n.21
Williams, James G., 129
Wright, G. Ernest, 184
Index of Subjects
Allegory in biblical parables, 145-48, 199-203
Allusion, 97
Apocalypse as a literary form, 165-75
Anthropomorphism, 102-3
Apostrophe as poetic figure of speech, 98
Archetypes, 143, 187-92
Artistry in.the Bible, 9, 23-24
Biblical scholarship, 11, 30-31
Character portrayal: in parables, 142–43; in stories, 37-40, 43-44, 53–54, 60, 63-64, 71-72
Choice in stories, 51-52
Comedy as a narrative form, 81-83
Dialogue in the Bible, 20, 196
Discourses of Jesus, 101, 137, 160, 162
Dramatic irony, 55-56
Encomium, 119
Epic, 78-81
Epistle, 20, 27-28, 155-58
Foils, 54-55, 69-70, 141
Genres in the Bible, 25-26
Gospel, 131-38
Grammatico-historical criticism, 9, 12-13
Hermeneutics. See Interpretation
Hero: in heroic narrative, 75–78; in tragedy, 83-84
Hyperbole, 25, 99-100
Interpretation: of characters in stories, 39-40; of narrative, 57-68; need for, 22-23; of parables, 148-52; of poetry, 94-95, 101-2; of visionary literature, 171-74
Lament psalms, 114-15
Language, used distinctively in literature, 26-28
Literature, definition of, 12-31
Love poetry, 118-19
Lyric poetry, 109-14
Metaphor, 23, 28, 91-97
Metonymy, 101
Narrative: the Bible as a whole, 177—79; as a biblical form, 33-73; Gospels as, 132-37; parables as, 139-52; types of, 53-54, 75-86
Parable, 139-53, 199-203
Paradox,101
Parallelism, 103-7
Personification, 98
Plot, 35, 40-49, 70-71; comic, 82; in parables, 141; tragic, 84
Poetic justice, 56-57
Poetry: in the Bible, 15-17, 87-108; in the New Testament epistles, 157; types of, 109-20
Point of view in stories, 61 -68, 72
Praise psalms, 115-17
Prophecy, 165-75
Protagonist in biblical stories, 43-44, 75-76
Proverb as a literary form, 121-29
Psalms, types of, 114-18
Realism in biblical literature, 69, 139–40, 194
Repetition: in the Bible, 195; in narrative, 59-60; in parables, 142; in poetry, 105
Satire, 159-63
Selectivity by storytellers, 64-65
Setting in stories, 35-37, 70
Simile, 91-97
Stories in the Bible. See Narrative
Style of the Bible, 193-96
Suspense: in narrative, 41-42; in parables, 141
Symbol, 97, 171-74
Synecdoche, 101
Test motif in biblical stories, 50-51
Tragedy as a literary form, 83-85
Transformation as a narrative principle, 52-53, 60
Type scenes, 192-93
Unity: of the Bible as a whole, 177-97; in works of literature, 29-30, 44–49
Visionary literature, 165-75