H

Scripture and Interpretation Chap. 7+18

Pretext influence or preunderstanding- all of the preconceived notions and influences we bring with us

pride- “encourages us to think that we have got the correct meaning before we have made the appropriate effort to recover it. Pride does not listen. It knows.”

Overstanding- we as readers stand over the Word of God and determine what it means, rather than placing ourselves under that Word, seeking diligently to determine what God means in the text

familiarity- we think we know everything there is to know about a passage, so we skim through it

we have a culture-driven predisposition-aka cultural baggage

the automatic transportation of biblical text into our cultural world is called interpretational reflex

Foundational beliefs

  1. The Bible is the Word of God. Although God worked through people to produce it, it is nonetheless inspired by the Holy Spirit and is God’s Word to us.
  2. The Bible is trustworthy and true.
  3. God has entered into human history; thus the supernatural (miracles, etc.) does occur.
  4. The Bible is not contradictory; it is unified yet diverse. Nevertheless, God is bigger than we are, and he is not always easy to comprehend. Thus, the Bible also has tension and mystery to it.

Narratives compose almost 1/2 of the Old Testament

Narrative is a literary form characterized by sequential time action and involving plot, setting, and characters

Narrative is the story form of literature

Pros of narrative

  1. Narratives are interesting, both to children and to adults.

  2. Narratives pull us into the action of the story.

  3. Narratives usually depict real life and are thus easy to relate to. We find ourselves asking what we would have done in that situation.

  4. Narratives can portray the ambiguities and complexities of life.

  5. Narratives are easy to remember.

  6. God can include himself as one of the characters in the narrative. Thus, he can teach us about himself by what he says and does in specific contexts.

  7. Narratives are holistic; we see characters struggle, but we also often see resolution of their struggles. We see the entire character.

  8. Narratives relate short incidents and events to a bigger overall story.

    Cons of narrative

  9. The meaning of the narrative can be subtle or ambiguous and not clearly stated; the casual reader may miss it altogether.

  10. The reader may get enthralled with the narrative as a story and miss its meaning.

  11. The reader may assume that since the literature is narrative, it deals only with history and not theology.

The reader may read too much theology into the narrative (allegorizing).

Literary features of narrative

  1. Plot

  2. setting

  3. Characters

  4. Viewpoint of the narrator

  5. Comparison/contrast

    6.Irony

Who, what , when, where, why, how

3 basic components of narrative plot

  1. Exposition
  2. conflict
  3. resolution

God is a central character