Chasing the Eastern Star: Adventures in Biblical Reader-Response Criticism

by Mark Allan Powell

Emphasizing meaning as "effect" rather than merely "message," Mark Allan Powell shows how biblical texts may legitimately take on multiple meanings in a variety of contexts. The first part of the book uses examples drawn from popular literature and culture to engage in a practical way the kinds of questions that scholars bring to their study of the Bible. The second part is devoted to approaching the Gospel of Matthew as a work of literature that readers may enter--and be affected by--as they might any other kind of text. The third part is an extended study of one passage from Matthew's Gospel, the story of the Magi, in which Powell finds an excellent opportunity to teach readers to engage in--and to challenge!--the enterprise of biblical scholarship.

Genres: Religion, Biblical Studies

249 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Kendall Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and thorough intro to narrative criticism understood as a form of reader-response criticism. Many intros seem not to go beyond analyzing plot, characters, setting, etc., but this does a great job at talking about some of the more ideological aspects of narrative criticism, i.e. analyzing what implied readers are expected to know and believe.

I disagree with some assertions here and there, but on the whole great work.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As was suggested to me, the first two chapters are the bulk of what you need here. Really strong stuff about how different people read literature (specifically scriptures) differently. Pastors would do well to pay strong attention to the identifications in Chapter 2. I'm going to be noodling on this for a while!