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The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading
"This ... is a brilliant work." Choice
"[Sternberg] has written a very important book, both for his comprehensiveness and for the clearly-avowed faith stance from which he understands and interprets the strategies of the biblical narratives... a superb overview ... " Theological Studies
" ... rated very highly indeed. It is a book to read and then reread." Modern Language Review
" ... Sternberg has accomplished an enormous task, enriching our understanding of the theoretical basis of biblical narrative and giving us insight into a remarkable number of particular texts." Journal of the American Academy of Religion " ... an important book for those who seek to take the Bible seriously as a literary work because it shows, more clearly and emphatically than any book I know, that the Bible is a serious literary work - a text manifesting a highly sophisticated and successful narrative poetics." Adele Berlin, Prooftexts
"[Sternberg] has written a very important book, both for his comprehensiveness and for the clearly-avowed faith stance from which he understands and interprets the strategies of the biblical narratives... a superb overview ... " Theological Studies
" ... rated very highly indeed. It is a book to read and then reread." Modern Language Review
" ... Sternberg has accomplished an enormous task, enriching our understanding of the theoretical basis of biblical narrative and giving us insight into a remarkable number of particular texts." Journal of the American Academy of Religion " ... an important book for those who seek to take the Bible seriously as a literary work because it shows, more clearly and emphatically than any book I know, that the Bible is a serious literary work - a text manifesting a highly sophisticated and successful narrative poetics." Adele Berlin, Prooftexts
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First published May 1, 1984
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December 4, 2020Honestly, I love and hate this book. So, needless to say, I don’t know how to rate it. I learned a ton about reading narratives well and how the Bible uses stories. Sternberg is quite comprehensive, covering everything from how historical fact fits with literary expression to point of view to character development. However, I do not exaggerate, this book might be the most difficult book (in English) that I have ever read.
August 21, 2025
This was a heavy book. Literally. Almost 600 pages. Read it at a rate of 12+ pages per day.
The first couple hundred pages were very difficult. They were very theoretical and he spent a long time throwing shade at other academic scholars. Eh.
I'm not an academic and the abstract theory parts of the book were very difficult for me. Nonetheless, the close readings of biblical narrative were really extraordinary and for me at least worth the read. I'll give one example.
Old age in Genesis
Enoch and Methusaleh lived for hundreds of years. They are never identified as "old". Abraham, who lived to 175, is the first person who is described as "old" in the text. This means that the text is drawing attention to this adjective and trying to set up a category.
With Abraham, old age found him in good spirits. He had wealth, he had an heir (Isaac), he had additional virility (6 additional children by a concubine), his children who would not inherit him were given gifts and sent away to not further interfere with the family.
With Isaac, he is also called old. Based on the setup from Abraham, we expect a similarly happy and peaceful old age. However, Isaac's eyes are dimmed. He has a clear favorite child, Esau, but his wife Rebecca, favors the other child, Jacob. This sets up conflict between Isaac and his wife and between his children, with no clear heir. Although Isaac blesses Jacob, Jacob does not inherit him immediately and Jacob runs away to exile at the end of the story.
At this point, we have no clear model or understanding of what it means to reach "old age" in Genesis.
When Jacob reaches old age, we don't quite know what to expect. On the one hand, when Joseph brings in his sons, Menashe and Efraim, to see him, his eyes are dim. Joseph has 12 sons and several candidates for an heir. His sons fought during his life and appear to be suspicious of each other. Yet, Jacob tells Joseph, I know what I'm doing when he appears to confuse Menashe and Efraim. In his old age, when he adopts his two grandsons as children, this is reminiscent of Abraham's virility in old age. Jacob doesn't have a clear heir, but his children represent a different path forward, where all children are included in the ancestral blessing, as opposed to including one and excluding another heir.
This was a difficult but valuable book to read. Sternberg is viewed as one of the giants of biblical poetics. There were many gems in this book.
The first couple hundred pages were very difficult. They were very theoretical and he spent a long time throwing shade at other academic scholars. Eh.
I'm not an academic and the abstract theory parts of the book were very difficult for me. Nonetheless, the close readings of biblical narrative were really extraordinary and for me at least worth the read. I'll give one example.
Old age in Genesis
Enoch and Methusaleh lived for hundreds of years. They are never identified as "old". Abraham, who lived to 175, is the first person who is described as "old" in the text. This means that the text is drawing attention to this adjective and trying to set up a category.
With Abraham, old age found him in good spirits. He had wealth, he had an heir (Isaac), he had additional virility (6 additional children by a concubine), his children who would not inherit him were given gifts and sent away to not further interfere with the family.
With Isaac, he is also called old. Based on the setup from Abraham, we expect a similarly happy and peaceful old age. However, Isaac's eyes are dimmed. He has a clear favorite child, Esau, but his wife Rebecca, favors the other child, Jacob. This sets up conflict between Isaac and his wife and between his children, with no clear heir. Although Isaac blesses Jacob, Jacob does not inherit him immediately and Jacob runs away to exile at the end of the story.
At this point, we have no clear model or understanding of what it means to reach "old age" in Genesis.
When Jacob reaches old age, we don't quite know what to expect. On the one hand, when Joseph brings in his sons, Menashe and Efraim, to see him, his eyes are dim. Joseph has 12 sons and several candidates for an heir. His sons fought during his life and appear to be suspicious of each other. Yet, Jacob tells Joseph, I know what I'm doing when he appears to confuse Menashe and Efraim. In his old age, when he adopts his two grandsons as children, this is reminiscent of Abraham's virility in old age. Jacob doesn't have a clear heir, but his children represent a different path forward, where all children are included in the ancestral blessing, as opposed to including one and excluding another heir.
This was a difficult but valuable book to read. Sternberg is viewed as one of the giants of biblical poetics. There were many gems in this book.
March 17, 2021
Meir Sternbeg is a genius the way Ptolemy was a genius, although the motions of the planets being a simpler phenomenon than biblical narrative I'd say the astronomer had an easier task of "appearances to save." Sternberg's system of analysis is so complex that he has an answer for every literary contingency that "genetic" interpretations can explain more simply; nevertheless, by shifting our focus to seeing the work as an aesthetic whole driven by a single omniscient narrator he does come up with some fascinating readings.
April 3, 2023
Reading this book was a chore. But I finished. Every word. I will write a review shortly. I will not recommend this book to any normal person.
June 18, 2023
Excellent
Meir Sternberg has done a remarkable job as a scholar of biblical literature describing through countless examples of stories in the Bible how we often forget the simple point that Bible stories are stories. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in "what a Bible passage means" that we forget to read it as the remarkable story it is. For example, in the famous David and Bathsheba narrative, Sternberg elucidates the fact that there is a war going on. Yet, the war in the text is not the point of the story. This explains why the end of a particular siege is not mentioned until after the birth and death of the child, even though the siege had ended long before the baby was born. The war and the siege are taken from the historical goings-ons and incorporated by the storyteller to drive home the point about David's sin, repentance, and the consequences of his sin. There is so much meat in this textbook. Definitely get this. It will help you elucidate the story out of Bible passages and what the author is intending to say.
Meir Sternberg has done a remarkable job as a scholar of biblical literature describing through countless examples of stories in the Bible how we often forget the simple point that Bible stories are stories. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in "what a Bible passage means" that we forget to read it as the remarkable story it is. For example, in the famous David and Bathsheba narrative, Sternberg elucidates the fact that there is a war going on. Yet, the war in the text is not the point of the story. This explains why the end of a particular siege is not mentioned until after the birth and death of the child, even though the siege had ended long before the baby was born. The war and the siege are taken from the historical goings-ons and incorporated by the storyteller to drive home the point about David's sin, repentance, and the consequences of his sin. There is so much meat in this textbook. Definitely get this. It will help you elucidate the story out of Bible passages and what the author is intending to say.
June 21, 2023
I am a man of many quibbles, but perhaps two of my main quibbles are that many today (even in Christian circles) do not give OT narrative its due regard or respect and the other is that there has been a strong rise in morally androgynous literature in the name of realism.
To the first, Sternberg is lethal. Rather than approaching OT narrative with pride or carelessness, he treats the text with honor and respect and thus reveals a world of complexity and truth that is so easily missed by our shallow attitudes. The reason he gives for the disregard shown by many for OT narrative is nothing less than a woeful amount of underreading (a combination of ignorance and laziness). If people only gave care and attention to the text, surrendering themselves to the adventure and the nuance, the mystery and the drama, and turned away from the world of dead, moralistic interpretation, they would find a world of light and truth. In OT narrative there is nothing superfluous, but everything is working toward one goal, backwards and forwards, and thus the deeper you go, the more times you read it, the better it gets. But it all starts with believing that this is a worthwhile task, and Sternberg definitely proves this.
One of the most helpful features of the book was not his only explaining the techniques of the Biblical writers, but giving examples and applying them to various texts. This was beyond helpful (perhaps something like transformative). Reading them gave me a fresh desire to dip back into different stories and find the treasure that was hidden there, which is always a good sign of mastery,
My second quibble is also answered sharply by OT narrative. One of the most helpful things that Sterberg provides is his basic paradigm for reading OT narrative, which is: partial truth to whole truth. Basically, this is the fact that different perspectives, knowing less and some knowing more, are in the end brought to the feet of the truth, that is the feet of the divine omniscience. For Sternberg, this is the heart of OT narrative and the whole shape of its plot.
Now, while I am not exhaustively on all fours with this paradigm, I am at least on three with it. Through his paradigm of partial truth to whole truth, Sternberg is able to persevere the mystery, the many contradictions, the complexity, and the mighty confusion of men, without losing a grip on the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Perhaps this is the cure to the pandemic of relativism. Through this we neither fall off on the side of wooden, bland moralistic tales (which has plagued many), nor on the side of modernist grayness, up to the gills with ambiguity, full of angst, with no final resting place or coherent narrative. Rather Hebrews Narrative keeps man as man, fickle, failing, and full of contradictions, and interprets him by God’s all-seeing eye. Thus we may gladly declare, down with the gray and down with the goody-two-shoes and up with the gold.
There is much more here, but suffice it to say it was masterful. While Sternberg and I may not see eye to eye on theology (he seems to be some type of Jewish liberal) he does love OT narrative, and this love covers a multitude of sins. He also hates standoffish modernists and the whole condescending school of higher criticism. Thus we have a common enemy and are in some sense friends.
The only slight I would give against the book is that it is hard not to believe that Sternberg tried his best to make every sentence as difficult to read as possible.
To the first, Sternberg is lethal. Rather than approaching OT narrative with pride or carelessness, he treats the text with honor and respect and thus reveals a world of complexity and truth that is so easily missed by our shallow attitudes. The reason he gives for the disregard shown by many for OT narrative is nothing less than a woeful amount of underreading (a combination of ignorance and laziness). If people only gave care and attention to the text, surrendering themselves to the adventure and the nuance, the mystery and the drama, and turned away from the world of dead, moralistic interpretation, they would find a world of light and truth. In OT narrative there is nothing superfluous, but everything is working toward one goal, backwards and forwards, and thus the deeper you go, the more times you read it, the better it gets. But it all starts with believing that this is a worthwhile task, and Sternberg definitely proves this.
One of the most helpful features of the book was not his only explaining the techniques of the Biblical writers, but giving examples and applying them to various texts. This was beyond helpful (perhaps something like transformative). Reading them gave me a fresh desire to dip back into different stories and find the treasure that was hidden there, which is always a good sign of mastery,
My second quibble is also answered sharply by OT narrative. One of the most helpful things that Sterberg provides is his basic paradigm for reading OT narrative, which is: partial truth to whole truth. Basically, this is the fact that different perspectives, knowing less and some knowing more, are in the end brought to the feet of the truth, that is the feet of the divine omniscience. For Sternberg, this is the heart of OT narrative and the whole shape of its plot.
Now, while I am not exhaustively on all fours with this paradigm, I am at least on three with it. Through his paradigm of partial truth to whole truth, Sternberg is able to persevere the mystery, the many contradictions, the complexity, and the mighty confusion of men, without losing a grip on the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Perhaps this is the cure to the pandemic of relativism. Through this we neither fall off on the side of wooden, bland moralistic tales (which has plagued many), nor on the side of modernist grayness, up to the gills with ambiguity, full of angst, with no final resting place or coherent narrative. Rather Hebrews Narrative keeps man as man, fickle, failing, and full of contradictions, and interprets him by God’s all-seeing eye. Thus we may gladly declare, down with the gray and down with the goody-two-shoes and up with the gold.
There is much more here, but suffice it to say it was masterful. While Sternberg and I may not see eye to eye on theology (he seems to be some type of Jewish liberal) he does love OT narrative, and this love covers a multitude of sins. He also hates standoffish modernists and the whole condescending school of higher criticism. Thus we have a common enemy and are in some sense friends.
The only slight I would give against the book is that it is hard not to believe that Sternberg tried his best to make every sentence as difficult to read as possible.
October 27, 2024
This book was referenced in more than one book I had read, and it seemed like it would be a good study on literary or narrative criticism of the Hebrew Bible. In fact, the book is excellent, but for me, at least, it was a lot of work to read. For the first three chapters, at least, I felt like I was wading through a swimming pool where the water was just over my head. It got easier by chapter four, but I had already resolved to at least reread the first three chapters. In fact, rereading chapters of this book had already been recommended in this excellent book review: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/th.... And also in actual fact, I ended up rereading the entire book, an endeavor which was well worth the effort.
Although the author claims that no special expertise in literary or biblical study is assumed in this book, I think it would be hard to get through without a strong background in, at least, biblical study. Would the casual reader know what an uncial or haplography was? And although I myself have no expertise in literary study I always felt like I was in over my head. Certainly I had never heard of Robbe-Grillet's La Maison de rendez-vous or the Icelandic saga, both works that Sternberg seems to assume his readers would be familiar with.
Another thing that made things difficult for me was that concepts seemed to be introduced with no explanation, as though the reader should understand them without such explanation. A good example of this is the distinction between truth and whole truth, which is introduced early on in the book but not explained until chapter 7. On rereading the book I noticed several examples of literary tensions that Sternberg introduces, such as between aesthetics, judgement, and expressiveness; or psychological systems of norms from social. These important concepts frankly escaped me on the first read-through.
I also think Sternberg tends to stretch the everyday meaning of terms. I found his use of the word "metonymies" to describe Abraham's old age or Saul's good look initially confusing. I also found his use of "members" to describe literary elements confusing. Perhaps this is standard terminology in literary criticism?
None of this is intended to put off the would-be reader, but rather to serve as a warning to those who are considering reading this book. Indeed, judging from some of the other Goodreads reviews it seems that my experience with this book is not unique!
Someone who takes the effort to read this book will be well rewarded. Sternberg's insights are sometimes, to put it simply, amazing. There were many instances where I thought I was very familiar with a biblical tale only to learn something new.
Although the author claims that no special expertise in literary or biblical study is assumed in this book, I think it would be hard to get through without a strong background in, at least, biblical study. Would the casual reader know what an uncial or haplography was? And although I myself have no expertise in literary study I always felt like I was in over my head. Certainly I had never heard of Robbe-Grillet's La Maison de rendez-vous or the Icelandic saga, both works that Sternberg seems to assume his readers would be familiar with.
Another thing that made things difficult for me was that concepts seemed to be introduced with no explanation, as though the reader should understand them without such explanation. A good example of this is the distinction between truth and whole truth, which is introduced early on in the book but not explained until chapter 7. On rereading the book I noticed several examples of literary tensions that Sternberg introduces, such as between aesthetics, judgement, and expressiveness; or psychological systems of norms from social. These important concepts frankly escaped me on the first read-through.
I also think Sternberg tends to stretch the everyday meaning of terms. I found his use of the word "metonymies" to describe Abraham's old age or Saul's good look initially confusing. I also found his use of "members" to describe literary elements confusing. Perhaps this is standard terminology in literary criticism?
None of this is intended to put off the would-be reader, but rather to serve as a warning to those who are considering reading this book. Indeed, judging from some of the other Goodreads reviews it seems that my experience with this book is not unique!
Someone who takes the effort to read this book will be well rewarded. Sternberg's insights are sometimes, to put it simply, amazing. There were many instances where I thought I was very familiar with a biblical tale only to learn something new.
March 25, 2024
Did not finish. I made it through most of the beginning part where he lays the groundwork for the text.
Great takeaways include:
- The Bible is definitely historiographical
- Literary analysis doesn’t mean anything goes
- Divine inspiration is a necessary hermeneutical assumption
- Fiction and history aren’t really distinguished by form or structure, but by authorial license and purpose
But the book is hard to read and deals with a lot I’m not interested in. Maybe one day…
Good review here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/th...
Great takeaways include:
- The Bible is definitely historiographical
- Literary analysis doesn’t mean anything goes
- Divine inspiration is a necessary hermeneutical assumption
- Fiction and history aren’t really distinguished by form or structure, but by authorial license and purpose
But the book is hard to read and deals with a lot I’m not interested in. Maybe one day…
Good review here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/th...
September 6, 2018
Too much to say about this book that I don't care to even get into. So many mixed feelings. Let's just say I'm glad I finished reading it.
April 19, 2012
Very insightful, yet difficult to follow at times. Some of his analyses are searing.
June 20, 2012
Very thorough (i.e. kinda slow), but it has some good stuff in there in depth and in methodology. Maybe dry at times but sorta worth it.
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