How to read Bible Stories - Narrative & our Brains
Channel: The Caffeinated Bible
Date: 2021-01-23

Bible Stories
Ninety percent or more of the Bible is in narrative form. So why don’t we spend more time learning how to read, interpret, and apply stories to our lives? 
Why are stories so powerful? And why do we instinctively understand narratives?
This video looks at why narratives are so important to understand and why as humans we communicate with them so much as well.
So lets dive in to narratives and begin this study on how to read biblical stories.

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CONTENTS:
00:00 Introduction - Old Black and White film colorized
01:44 Our Ability to relate to those in the past
02:17 Narrative: The Mind & Interpreting the Bible
03:18 "Homo Narrans" - Human Being Story Tellers
04:15 90% of Bible is Narrative
05:03 Prototypical Stories
07:20 Prediction
07:44 Evaluation
08:18 Actors, Objects, and Events
08:43 Explanations
09:18 Polar Bears
10:46 Complex Narratives
11:52 Psalm 121
12:23 Window - Mirror - Window
14:34 "In Media Res" - In the Middle of Things
17:55 A Little Narratological Diversion
18:43 Conclusion

Videos from 1890’s and early 1900’s:

A Trip Through New York City in 1911
https://youtu.be/hZ1OgQL9_Cw

Snowball fight from 1897
Bataille de neige
https://youtu.be/tuFu9-bfnQk

Books on Narratives & Biblical Interpretation:
Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, (N.P.: Harper Collins, 1981)
One of the most influential works on this topic - examines narrative forms in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Tremper Longman III, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, vol. 3 of Foundations of Contemporary Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 63-118.
Very clear introduction to the different literary styles contained in the Bible - clear and easily understood.

Mark Turner. The Literary Mind. (N.Y. and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Takes a Cognitive Theory approach toward understanding a text. Not a difficult book to read but a difficult book to understand.

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014, 4th ed.)
Examines all the different literary styles contained in the Bible and suggestions on how to read them. Great introduction to the various forms of biblical literature.


My Books:
Reading the Bible with Giants: How 2000 Years of Biblical Interpretation Can Shed New Light on Old Texts. Second Edition, Cascade Books, 2015
Print or eBook versions
https://tinyurl.com/ybkny2zl

Reading the Bible with Giants on Apple Books
An interactive versions with images, video and other features not available in print versions - highly recommended if you have an iPad or Mac. Free sample chapter also.
https://tinyurl.com/yd7qg74n

The philosophical basis behind reading the Bible in conversation with our tradition:
Reception Theory and Biblical Hermeneutics, Pickwick Publications, 2009.
https://wipfandstock.com/reception-theory-and-biblical-hermeneutics.html

Friends:    
Edge of Faith: Art & Culture Through a Christian Lens magazine
https://edgeoffaithmagazine.com

Fuller Theological Seminary
https://www.fuller.edu

St. George’s Anglican Church
https://www.stgac.org

Software used in the videos ~ Accordance Bible Software:
https://www.accordancebible.com