What Is Narrative Criticism?

by Mark Allan Powell

The first nontechnical description of the principles and procedures of narrative criticism. Written for students' and pastors' use in their own exegesis.

With great clarity Powell outlines the principles and procedures that narrative critics follow in exegesis of gospel texts and explains concepts such as "point of view," "narration," "irony," and "symbolism." Chapters are devoted to each of the three principal elements of narrative: events, characters, and settings; and case studies are provided to illustrate how the method is applied in each instance. The book concludes with an honest appraisal of the contribution that narrative criticism makes, a consideration of objections that have been raised against the use of this method, and a discussion of the hermeneutical implications this method raises for the church.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Theology

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Andrew Goode · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful introduction into the world of Biblical Narrative Criticism. Not overly dry or academic, a nice change of pace on the subject.

[Bryce Beale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkably clear introduction to New Testament narrative criticism, though dated now (it was published in 1990, not long after the dawn of narrative criticism in New Testament studies).

Narrative criticism, in brief, is the study of New Testament narratives (especially the Gospels) "as Scripture in story form" (p. 85). Starting in about the 1980's some scholars began to apply literary criticism, common in the study of secular texts, to the narratives of the New Testament. This came on the tail end of decades of historical criticisms which, though useful, tended to produce understandings of the Gospels dependent on elaborate speculations. The quest for the historical Jesus made guesses about the historical Jesus; source criticism guessed about sources; form criticism guessed about the early church; redaction criticism guessed about the editor or redactor. Such guesses are relatively important, but they have taken the eyes of scholars off of the finished product of what we have in Scripture (redaction criticism was already a move away from this tendency).

Although narrative criticism is not the biblical criticism of today (unlike the historical criticisms were in their day), it represents a drift of New Testament scholarship toward the text itself. As a Christian, I am grateful for this. I believe the text itself to be inspired by God and profitable, whereas historical speculations are important but uninspired.

[Zachariah Kenney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent detail. I felt able to use method after reading this book.
I discuss it in more detail on my blog:
https://seminary2016.wordpress.com/20...

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mildly academic, yet nontechnical book on literary criticism in general, and biblical narrative criticism in particular.