Bible Literacy Library: Storyline, Genres & Context
- Kelli
- Jun 9
- 4 min read
I had promised to suggest resources for building a library for your Bible Literacy Journey - let's get back to that! First, that's a terrible name. I'll work on it! (Past Bible posts are linked at the end.)
"And you may find yourself in a beautiful house/With a beautiful wife/And you may ask yourself/ "Well, how did I get here?" - Talking Heads
One picture is of my roommate Rhonda, my friend David, and me from my freshman year of college. We are goofing around in front of a park bench in downtown Chicago.
The other picture is of David and his wife, Carol, and myself at Thanksgiving at their house. You sense the noise level of the seven kids, the in-laws, the dogs.
What are some clues you'd look at to see the context of when these were taken? What could you deduce from our surroundings? Could you figure out that we were friends who then each met a sibling from the same family and married them, and that now we are brother and sister-in-law? Could you tell if we can even stand each other after all these years? {spoiler: we can.}
You could talk to those two young college kids in the Chicago park about the seven kids between the two families at Thanksgiving and it would make no sense at all. Just like you can't pick up a picture and ignore the context clues that might give you an idea of what is happening, you can't pick up a verse out of the Bible and ignore the surroundings of what is happening, what time/historical period it is, or even who is taking the picture (aka writing the words). The books I'll share today are about seeing the storyline of the Bible and the context of genres - in other words, how are literary tools being used to tell us the story.
Two main ideas to keep in mind:
First: The Bible - as a whole - is one complete story. It is the story of God. {Oh, did you think it was the story of you?} Familiarity with this over-arching storyline -in my opinion - is of huge importance. One speaker described it as standing on the lookout tower over a maze. You can see the path, see the beginning and the exit. How much easier is a maze when we can see the overview? Rather than stumbling around the corner and running into more corn (I'm midwestern...it's all corn). When reading, the meta-narrative of Scripture should be in the background of your mind.
As part of this, it is imperative to remember that the different parts of the Bible are written in different genres. Poetry, narrative, apocalyptic...all have different ways of telling us the information we need to know. I've got a couple books to recommend on this topic.
And secondly: Context. Context. Context. A great trip-up for those reading verses from the Bible is remembering the context: Who is the author talking to? Is this pre-cross or after the cross? What came before this passage, what comes right after? Context gives a place to get our footing.
So let's label this new shelf:
Storyline of the Bible & How To Read the Bible
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D Fee and Douglas Stuart
A common and popular book to be recommended for this category, it gives a good overview and explanation of the movement of the storyline through the Bible. They also discuss translations, and how to read the various literary genres found in Scriptures. Both authors are (were?) professors, and that is apparent throughout in their ability to teach and apply. It is the one book I'll recommend in this category - because it is easily found, and easily read. Great resource.
Example:
...But because God chose to speak his Word through human words in history, every book in the Bible also has historical particularity; each document is conditioned by the language, time, and culture in which it was originally written...Interpretation of the Bible is demanded by the "tension" that exists between its eternal relevance and its historical particularity.
Literarily by Kristie Anyabwile
The subtitle of this is: how understanding Bible genres transforms Bible study. Kristie's book is not overwhelming, but rather a basic explanation of literary genres and how they apply to various parts of the Bible. Because she's making the point that it is a story, she uses pop culture comparisons - such as Marvel movies, Eragon book series, etc. In other words, she applies it in a way that is understandable to the present day reader.
Example: We can deepen our understanding of what God intends to communicate through His Word by learning to study the Bible according to its literary genres. Whether you are new to Bible study in general or have been studying the Bible for years, this study is intended to give you a new set of working utensils to put in your drawer of Bible literacy and provide a framework for reading and understanding a book or passage.
How to Read the Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken
A little more "serious" than the above book, Ryken comes at the various genres from the perspective of an English teacher. This book might feel a bit more like you're in the back row of English Lit 101, writing notes to your BFF and trying to get the kid next to you in trouble for laughing. {Purely hypothetical.} I like both books, this book just took the subject a bit deeper for me.
Example: One of the most crucial of all rules for reading the stories of the Bible is therefore this one: analyze in detail the unity of the story, noting how each episode relates to the overriding framework(s) and how the episodes relate to each other in the unfolding progress of the story.
Not a reader? Here is a good video overview from the Bible Project:
Next post: How to be a theologian
________________________________________________
Past posts on Building a Bible Literacy Library:
Thank you for stopping by! Want to support me?
Share, like, comment.
Fund my energy: Buy Me a Coffee
Comments