Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative

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“In simpler words, poetics makes us aware of how texts achieve their meaning. Poetics aids interpretation. If we know how texts mean, we are in a better position to discover what a particular text means.” (Page 17)

“It follows, then, that if we are to understand the biblical text, we must understand the basics of biblical narrative—its structure, its conventions, its compositional techniques—in other words, how it represents that which it wishes to represent. Above all, we must keep in mind that narrative is a form of representation. Abraham in Genesis is not a real person any more than a painting of an apple is a real fruit. This is not a judgment on the existence of a historical Abraham any more than it is a statement about the existence of apples. It is just that we should not confuse a historical individual with his narrative representation.” (Page 13)

“The purpose of this book is to examine, in small measure, how biblical narrative constructs its representations—i.e. how it tells its stories.” (Pages 14–15)

“Seymour Chatman (Story and Discourse, 151–53) has distinguished three senses in which the term point of view can be applied: the perceptual point of view—the perspective through which the events of the narrative are perceived; the conceptual point of view—the perspective of attitudes, conceptions, world view; and the interest point of view—the perspective of someone’s benefit or disadvantage.” (Page 47)

“I see here three categories (not the usual two—flat and round) and to avoid confusion I will rename them. The round character is the full-fledged character; the flat character is the type; and the functionary is the agent. All can be found in biblical narrative, and the same person may appear as a full-fledged character in one story and as a type or agent in another.” (Pages 23–24)