How Bible Stories Work: A Guided Study of Biblical Narrative

by Leland Ryken

Publisher:

Lexham Press

, 2015

Overview

Take a guided tour on how to interpret biblical narrative. Leland Ryken shows pastors and students and teachers of the Bible how to appreciate the craftsmanship and beauty of Scripture. In How Bible Stories Work, he explores the intersection of the Bible and literature. And he goes one step further than merely explaining the literary approach to the Bible—he includes exercises to help students of the Bible master it.

Reading the Bible as Literature series

In the Reading the Bible as Literature series, Leland Ryken explores the intersection of the Bible and literature. In the series preface he writes, “It is my belief that a literary approach to the Bible is the common reader’s friend, in contrast to the more specialized types of scholarship on the Bible.”

Praise for the Reading the Bible as Literature series

Leland Ryken has been a pacesetter in the literary study of the Bible, especially within the evangelical community. Those of us who find this approach to Scripture especially enriching are always ready to listen when Ryken speaks. Readers who master Ryken’s principles will find the Bible open up to them in new, exciting ways.

—Robert B. Chisholm Jr., Chair and Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

Contents

Top Highlights

“To sum up, at an interpretive level, settings serve three overlapping functions in a story: they enable the events that happen in them, they serve as a container for and extension of characters and events, and they take on symbolic overtones.” (Page 30)

“We can assign this dominance of narrative in the Bible to at least three causes. First, it is rooted in the character of God, who is the God who acts. Second, biblical writers are preoccupied with history, and they overwhelmingly want us to know what actually happened. To record what happened is to tell a story. Third, life itself has a narrative quality, being comprised of exactly the same ingredients that stories possess (setting, characters, plot, progression in time, and so forth). The narrative quality of the Bible is part of its truthfulness to life.” (Page 12)

“A story has two components known as form and content” (Page 17)

“It is a truism that history books and the daily news tell us what happened, whereas literature tells us what happens.” (Page 19)

“To summarize, at any moment in a story the characterization is being done by one of four possible agents—the author or narrator, another character in the story, the character himself or herself, and the action.” (Page 43)

Contents

• Getting the Most Out of Biblical Narrative
• The Subject of Every Story: The Embodiment of Universal Human Experience
• Setting in Bible Stories: Seeing the Particulars
• Characterization in Bible Stories (Part 1): How Writers Do It
• Characterization in Bible Stories (Part 2): What Readers Need to Do
• Plot Structure and Unity: The Beginning, Middle, and Ending of Each Story
• Plot Devices: How Storytellers Tell Their Story with Beauty and Skill
• Hero Stories: A Neglected but Fruitful Narrative Genre
• From Story to Meaning: How to Find Significance in a Narrative Text

Product Details

• Title: How Bible Stories Work: A Guided Study of Biblical Narrative
• Author: Leland Ryken
• Series: Reading the Bible as Literature
• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Pages: 128
• Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
• Trim Size: 6x9
• ISBN: 9781683591528

About Leland Ryken

Leland Ryken (PhD, University of Oregon) served as professor of English at Wheaton College for more than 43 years. He has authored or edited more than three dozen books, including The Word of God in English, The Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, The ESV Literary Study Bible, and A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible. He is a frequent speaker at the Evangelical Theological Society and served as literary stylist for the English Standard Version.