Narrative criticism of the New Testament
Subtitle: an introduction
By: James L. Resseguie.
Publisher: Baker Academic
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Grand Rapids, MI
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
Subjects: Bible. N.T. -- Criticism, Narrative.
Description: Narrative criticism, which involves the application of literary critical methods to the study of Scripture, is a promising hermeneutical approach. Surprisingly, however, little has been written that surveys the field for a broader audience. James Resseguie's primer admirably fills that gap. Readers will discover here a particularly well-balanced introduction to the subject. For those concerned with theoretical issues, there is a thorough survey of methodology, critical concepts, and the significance of literary devices. Numerous examples illustrate the fruitfulness of literary approaches for interpreting particular texts. Following an introduction that identifies the methods of narrative criticism and distinguishes them from other hermeneutical approaches, Resseguie devotes chapters to the principal elements of narrative: setting, point of view, character, rhetoric, plot, and reader. For each, he offers practical examples of how a "close reading" of the text can discover important nuances and insights. Resseguie points out that narrative criticism has the advantage of dealing with the text as a self-contained unit, avoiding the fragmentation often produced by other methodologies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introducing narrative criticism; title: Definition; title: Narrative criticism and new criticism; title: Narrative criticism and reader-response criticism; title: Defamiliarization of the New Testament; title: The usefulness of narrative criticism; title: Rhetoric; title: Definition; title: Repetition; title: Framing narratives; title: Rhetorical figures; title: Figures of thought (tropes); title: A reading of rhetoric in Luke 24:13-35; title: Setting; title: Definition; title: A reading of settings in Hemingway's "Hills like white elephants"; title: Setting in the New Testament; title: A reading of settings in Mark 5:1-20; title: Character; title: Definition; title: Round and flat characters; title: Dynamic and static characters; title: Showing (mimesis) and telling (diegesis); title: Robert Alter's scale of means; title: A reading of character in Chopin's "Story of an hour"; title: Reading biblical characters; title: Point of view; title: Definition; title: Four planes of point of view; title: A reading of point of view in Chopin's "Ripe figs"; title: Point of view in the New Testament; title: A reading of point of view in Luke 10:25-29; title: Plot; title: Definition; title: Elements of a plot; title: Plot types and plot patterns; title: Order of narration; title: A reading of plot in the book of Revelation; title: Applying narrative criticism; title: Questions; title: The story of Nicodemus; title: Conclusion.