Reading Biblical Narrative: An Introductory Guide

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding primer on approaching the scriptures.
Review: A recommended pick for religious library collections, J.P. Fokkelman's Reading Biblical Narrative provides a basic primer on how to approach the scriptures. The poetry and prose of both Old and New Testaments are detailed in examples which offer step-by step analysis to help readers understand how to analyze the passages.

Rating:
Summary: A literary approach to the Bible
Review: Fokkelman believes that reading is the action of conferring meaning to a text, is only realised through the mediation of the reader and scarcely taken into account by those who seek to interpret texts as coming from a different place, in a different day and a different culture. He thinks the biblical texts deserve better. Tell them to a good listener and they will quickly come into their own. So subjectivity is 'in' and what follows is a training manual for readers with no knowledge of the original languages.

After applying his principles to selection of biblical stories he suggests a further hundred on which the reader can exercise his imagination, together with ten productive questions and suggestions for further reading.

The gap between Fokkelman's theory and execution will present no problems to the literary professionals but may prove a handicap to those less skilled, while the emphasis on hero, plot and winners, though helpful to beginners, may stifle more imaginative and creative approaches in others, and it is sometimes easier to see the value of his challenge to the traditional interpretations than to appreciate what is added by his alternatives. A better translation and more careful editing would have helped