The Narrator in Stories

I have been revisiting Rhoad’s and Michie’s insightful, Mark as Story. Here is one of the helpful insights from the book. 

"When the narrator is omniscient and invisible, readers tend to be unaware of the narrator’s biases, values, and conceptual view of the world. The reader tends to trust the narrator as a disinterested observer of the events of the story. But the omniscient narrator is not a disinterested observer. Rather, the narrator functions as would the director of a movie., as someone who is responsible for the presentation of the whole story. Viewers observe the scenes and characters from the director’s perspective, although they never see the director. Similarly, the narrator of a story in literature is responsible for not just the asides but for the presentation of the whole story. The narrator narrates the story with certain loaded words, in a certain order, and with various rhetorical techniques. So the narrator is always there at the reader’s elbow shaping responses to the story—even, and perhaps especially, when the reader is least aware of it."

 
David Rhoads and Donald Michie, Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 39.

The Narrative of Ruth: Plot (Part 2)

Plot Structure in the Book of Ruth 

Prologue: A famine in Bethlehem results in Naomi and her family moving from Bethlehem to Moab (1:1-2).

Introduction of Problem: The death of Naomi’s husband and two sons, and the subsequent abandonment of one daughter-in-law leave her feeling empty both relationally (without a family) and spiritually (1:3-21).

Development of Plot: Naomi and her other daughter-in-law Ruth return to Bethlehem during the time of the barley harvest which ultimately provides for their physical sustenance, but does not address Naomi’s familial or spiritual emptiness (1:22-2:23).

Turning Point: Ruth, following Naomi’s suggestion, comes to the threshing floor at night to ask Boaz’s to redeem her (3:1-9). Boaz offers to redeem Ruth (3:10-13).

Consequence: Ruth spends the remainder of the night at the threshing floor and is given a gift of grain to give to her mother-in-law (3:14-18).

Resolution: Boaz addresses the final obstacle (a closer kinsman) to full redemption of Naomi and Ruth, marries Ruth, and provides a “son” to Naomi through Ruth (4:1-17).

Epilogue/Coda: The narrator, stepping into the present, provides a genealogy linking the Naomi’s “son” (Obed) to King David (4:18-22)

Free Logos Book for March: How Bible Stories Work

The free Logos Book for the Month for March is Leland Ryken's How Bible Stories Work: A Guided Study of Biblical Narrative.  You can also purchase Ryken's Jesus the Hero: A Guided Literary Study of the Gospels or Short Sentences Long Remembered: A Guided Study of Proverbs and Other Wisdom Literature for $1.99 and $2.99 respectively. You can also register for a chance win the 40-volume Weaver's Titles Bundle. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

Guidelines for Reading Old Testament Stories

George Guthrie has some basic but valuable guidelines for reading Old Testament stories here.

Narrative Closing Conventions

Leland Ryken in a recent volume on biblical narratives notes that there are six kinds of closing conventions in narratives.

• A brief recapitulation of the main action
• A summary of the immediate results of the action that has been narrated
• A summary of the long-term effects of the action
• An account of the fortunes that later befall one or more of the characters in the preceding story
• Some echo or reminder of what happened earlier, or the issue that began the plot
• Narrating the physical departure of one or more characters to a new place, thereby drawing a boundary around the preceding action

Leland Ryken, How Bible Stories Work: A Guided Study of Biblical Narrative (Wooster, OH: Weaver, 2015), 89-90.

The Authority of Biblical Narrative

C. Richard Wells has an interesting chapter on Applying the Old Testament from Reclaiming the Prophetic Mantle: Preaching the Old Testament Faithfully. This work looks to be out of print and Amazon has used copies starting at $172! In any case, consider the following quote that builds on the work of David Bartlett (The Shape of Scriptural Authority [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983]).

"The authority of narrative rests on deeds. Bartlett points out that biblical narrative differs from ordinary biographical narrative in three ways: (1) the goal of biblical narrative is theological, not historical; (2) the technique of biblical narrative is persuasive not descriptive; and (3) the sources of information about the events in biblical narrative are themselves largely biblical, not 'secular' and not 'verifiable' (pp. 44-47). Thus, Old Testament narrative functions interpretively. It establishes patterns which recur both in later Old testament sections and in the New Testament. It formulates the context within which we must understand both the unfolding of history of salvation and our own milieu" ("Changing the Church with Words from God: Applying the Old Testament," in Reclaiming the Prophetic Mantle: Preaching the Old Testament Faithfully, ed. George L. Klein [Nashville: Broadman, 1992], 259).

I am still thinking about how Old Testament narratives function interpretively. Does it only establish recurring patterns?

Preaching Old Testament Narrative

See Steven Smith's post on preaching Old Testament narrative here.

Robert Alter Interview

  
Robert Alter is interviewed here about his study on and translation of the Hebrew Bible.
 

Star Trek, Narratives, and Application

  

Trekkies out there might really appreciate this editorial in the Huffington Post: “Seven Lessons You Can Learn from Star Trek” by David Borgenicht. This post is interesting from a biblical studies and interpretation standpoint because it illustrates how we intuitively draw applications from narratives, even fictional ones. Having said that, properly applying narratives can be a bit tricky, but the issue is not whether we do it, but whether we do it well.

  

Point of View: Four Planes

  

Yesterday I talked about point of view. Today I want to introduce four “planes” in which point of view is expressed. Borrowing from the work of Boris Uspensky, James Resseguie identifies and discusses four different “planes” of point of view:

1. Phraseological point of view which seeks to ask and answer what words and phrases are used in a narrative.

2. Spatial-Temporal point of view which seeks to ask and answer where and when are the events narrated.

3. Psychological point of view which seeks to ask and answer what are the characters’ thoughts and behaviors.
 

4. Ideological point of view which seeks to ask and answer what are the narrator’s norms, values, and worldview.

James Resseguie, Narrative Criticism in the New Testament: An Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker, 20905), 169–73.

  

Point of View

 

People tell stories and stories tell people. How a story is told tells us something about the storyteller. In reading biblical narratives it is important to at consider point of view, that is, how do the authors (both human and divine) feel about the story. Or as James Resseguie puts it, point of view relates to “the narrator’s attitude toward or evaluation of the action, dialogue, characters, setting, and events.”[1]

[1] James Resseguie, Narrative Criticism in the New Testament: An Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker, 20905), 169.

Acts: Prescriptive or Descriptive

“A major issue in interpreting Acts is the extent to which it is prescriptive, saying how the church is always meant to be, or descriptive, telling us how the church was at this particular period (Marshall, Acts, 101–5). One helpful tool in deciding case by case about this issue is to consider how far Luke presents clear patterns of events. For example, 2:38-42 presents a fivefold pattern of what it means to become a Christian, involving repentance from sin, water baptism, receiving forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit, and joining the renewed people of God. This pattern keeps reappearing in Acts, not always in the same sequence as in 2:38-42, but with the same elements present (e.g., 8:12–17; 10:44–48; 19:l–20). Using this ‘patterning’ tool, we may identify three themes that address the theology and practice of today's churches.”

Steve Walton, "Acts," in Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey, ed. Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 80.

The Big Idea of Narrative Preaching

See this article by Paul Borden and Steven D. Matthewson on the big idea of narrative preaching.