Interpreting New Testament Narratives: Recovering the Author’s Voice

291 Pages·2018·1.323 MB·English

by  Eric Douglass

InterpretingNewTestamentNarratives
Biblical Interpretation Series
EditorsinChief
PaulAnderson(GeorgeFoxUniversity)
JenniferKoosed(AlbrightCollege,Reading)
EditorialBoard
A.K.M.Adam(UniversityofOxford)
ColleenM.Conway(SetonHallUniversity)
AmyKalmanofsky(JewishTheologicalSeminary)
VernonRobbins(EmoryUniversity)
AnnetteSchellenberg(UniversitätWien)
JohannaStiebert(UniversityofLeeds)
DuaneWatson(MaloneUniversity)
ChristineRoyYoder(ColumbiaTheologicalSeminary)
RubenZimmermann(JohannesGutenberg-UniversitätMainz)
volume 169
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/bins
Interpreting
New Testament Narratives
RecoveringtheAuthor’sVoice
By
EricDouglass
LEIDEN | BOSTON
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Douglass,EricJ.,M.Div.,author.
Title:InterpretingNewTestamentnarratives:recoveringtheauthor'svoice/by
EricDouglass.
Description:Boston:Brill,2018.|Series:Biblicalinterpretationseries,
ISSN0928-0731;Volume169|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018038525(print)|LCCN2018039340(ebook)|
ISBN9789004387454(ebook)|ISBN9789004387270(hardback:alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Bible.NewTestament–Criticism,Narrative.|Narrationinthe
Bible.
Classification:LCC BS2377.3(ebook)|LCC BS2377.3.D682018(print)|
DDC225.6–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018038525
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∵

Contents
Introduction 1
1 ReadingunderEthics 10
1 WritingasanIntentionalAct 10
2 ReadingasanIntentionalAct 22
3 TheAuthor’sVoiceandtheReader’sEthics 25
4 Assumptions,Implications,andMethod 34
2 Communication:OrdinaryandLiterary 40
1 OrdinaryCommunication 40
2 NarrativeCommunication:Authors 43
3 LiteraryCommunication:Readers 45
4 LiteraryCommunication:AuthorsandReaders 54
5 Disjunctions:WhenCommunicationFails 56
6 Summary 66
3 LocatingtheText 68
1 AnOverview 70
2 ATwo-SelfReadingSystem 73
3 LocatingtheText 81
4 IdentifyingtheIntendedAudience 92
5 CharacterizingOtherness 97
6 Summary 102
4 EnteringtheStoryworld 103
1 WhatisNarrative? 103
2 AnIntroductiontoIdentification 109
3 IdentificationandCharacterConstruction 114
4 IdentificationandAttachment 117
5 IdentificationandInvestment 120
6 IdentificationandCommitment 129
7 Summary 132
5 ManyCharacters,ManyPerspectives 134
1 StrategiesforIdentification 134
2 EngagingOtherCharacters 145
3 InterestBiasandEvaluativeStandard 149
4 Summary 158
viii contents
6 ExperiencingtheEvent 160
1 MentalSimulationsandSeriousMeaning 160
2 TheReading-SelfandModalRealism 168
3 TheActual-SelfandModerateRealism 172
4 TheExperienceofEvent:LetterstoWords 174
5 TheExperienceofEvent:WordstoSentences 177
6 TheExperienceofEvent:BeyondSentences 185
7 Summary 196
7 TranslatingStory-Meaning 198
1 CommunicatingMeaning 198
2 TranslatingMeaning:Loyalty 201
3 TranslatingMeaning:EquivalenceandSimilarity 204
4 TranslatingMeaning:Relevance 210
5 EvaluatingValidity:theEffectsofModerateRealism 215
6 Summary 226
8 MarkanExamples 228
1 TheCallofLevi(Mk.2:14) 230
2 StormatSea(Mk.4:35–41) 234
3 TheWomanwithaHemorrhage(Mk.5:25–34) 239
4 TheParableoftheSower(Mk.4:3–20) 244
5 TheDarkeningoftheSunandMoon(Mk.13:24–26) 250
Bibliography 255
AuthorIndex 274
IndexofDefinitions 278
SubjectIndex 279
Introduction
Cross-cultural reading of the Bible is not a matter of choice. Since the
Bible is a Mediterranean document written for Mediterranean readers,
it presumes the cultural resources and worldveiw available to a reader
socializedintheMediterraneanworld.1
∵
Statementssuchasthis,tellingreaderstofollowcertainculturalconventions,
are commonly found in the literature. Note the similar statement in Bruce
Malina’sbookonculturalanthropology:“Ifmeaningderivesfromasocialsys-
tem … then any adequate understanding of the Bible requires some under-
standing of thesocialsystemembodiedinthewords that make up our sacred
scripture.”2ThisiseventhecaseforthenarrativecriticJamesResseguie,who
writes:“Thenarrativecriticjoinstheauthorialaudience—thatis,theaudience
envisionedbytheimpliedauthorof anarrative—with the aim of reading the
text as the author intended.”3 In each, the critic marshals evidence to show
howtextsarelocatedinculturalortextualstructuresthathavebecomecod-
ifiedasconventions.Oncetheseconventionsarediscovered,readingproceeds
accordingtoamethodthatvaluesthoseconventions.
Butallareunderlainbythesametroublingquestion:whyshouldreadersfol-
lowtheseconventions?Alltoooftenreadersareexpectedtofollowthese,asif
suchwerenaturalwayofreading.Butthereareno‘lawsofreading’thatrequire
readerstodoso.Followingconventionsisamatterofchoice,astheschoolsof
deconstructionandreader-responsehaveclearlyshown.Indeed,schoolsthat
employresistantreadingsroutinelysuggestthatreadersreadagainstthegrain
ofvariousculturalandliteraryconventions.
Perhaps a better way of formulating the issue is to separate the reader’s
recognition of conventions from the reader’s choice to follow the same. For
1 RichardRohrbaugh,“Introduction,”inTheSocialSciencesandNewTestamentInterpretation,
ed.RichardRohrbaugh(Peabody:Hendrickson,1996),1.
2 BruceMalina,TheNewTestamentWorld:InsightsfromCulturalAnthropology,3rded.(Louis-
ville:JohnKnoxPress,2001),2;italicsmine.
3 JamesResseguie,NarrativeCriticismoftheNewTestament(GrandRapids:BakerAcademic,
2005),39;italicsmine.
© koninklijkebrillnv,leiden,2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004387454_002