Topic: In the assigned reading this week, Fee and Stuart discussed the nature and key characteristics of the narrative genre. Throughout chapter 5, they attempt to clarify some of the common problems people experience when interpreting and applying of this genre of Scripture. From this data and the 10 principles for interpreting narratives (p. 106), summarize these issues. Please begin your original thread by concisely clarifying what narratives are; then, summarize some of the common mistakes that are made as readers engage the biblical narratives.
Narratives “are purposeful stories retelling the historical events of the past that are intended to give meaning and direction for a given people in the present (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 90).” Each narrative is composed of three basic parts; characters, plot and plot resolution. One of the concerns with Biblical narratives is that the stories told throughout the Bible are not your typical story but more or less the ultimate story – God’s story. So how are you able to properly convey a story of that magnitude?
We learn that there are three levels of narratives present throughout the Old Testament. The first level (or basic level) narrative tells us of things that happened in the past. The second level describes the “story of God’s redeeming people for his name (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 91).” and the third level depicts the entire plan God worked out through his creation of Earth. “An awareness of this hierarchy of narrative should help in your understanding and application of Old Testament Narratives (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 91).” In order to understand the second and third levels, we must first understand the basic level while also evaluating how each level fits into the other.
With this type of complexity also come many misconceptions on how to perceive the “stories.” “Because the Old Testament narratives have frequently been used in some unfortunate ways in the church (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 92)”, we...