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Literary Approaches to the Bible

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LITE R A RY
A P P ROAC H E S
TO TH E B I B LE
LEXHAM METHODS SERIES

LITE R A RY
A P P ROAC H E S
TO TH E B I B LE

Edited by Douglas Mangum & Douglas Estes

Lexham Methods Series: Volume 4: Literary Approaches to the Bible
Copyright 2017 Lexham Press

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

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All Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible (leb) or are the authors’ own
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CONTENTS
Series Preface ix

Abbreviations xiii

1 | Introduction: The Literary Approach to the Bible 1

Douglas Estes

2 | Canonical Criticism 37
Ron Haydon and David Schreiner

3 | Old Testament Rhetorical and Narrative Criticism 65

Suzanna Smith

4 | Inner-Biblical Interpretation and Intertextuality 97

Jeffery Leonard

5 | Narrative Criticism of the New Testament 143

Daniel Brendsel

6 | Rhetorical Criticism of the New Testament 179

Douglas Estes

7 | Structural Criticism 215

Gretchen Ellis

8 | Poststructural Criticism 257

John DelHousaye

Bibliography 275

Subject Index 309

Scripture Index TBD

SERIES PREFACE

T he Lexham Methods Series introduces a variety of approaches to

biblical interpretation. Due to the field’s long history, however, the
coverage is necessarily selective. This series focuses on the major areas of
critical biblical scholarship and their development from the 19th century
to the early 21st century. While we recognize that theological approaches
to interpretation have played an important role in the life of the Church,
this series does not engage the wide variety of hermeneutical approaches
that arise from specific theological readings of the biblical text.
The methods discussed here include the broad movements in biblical
criticism that have helped define how biblical scholars today approach the
text. Understanding the basics of textual criticism, source criticism, form
criticism, tradition history, redaction criticism, linguistics, social-scien-
tific criticism, canonical criticism, and contemporary literary criticism
(rhetorical, structural, narrative, reader-response, post-structural) will
help illuminate the assumptions and conclusions found in many scholarly
commentaries and articles.
Each approach to biblical interpretation—even those that are not
explicitly theological—can be defined according to a guiding presuppo-
sition that informs the method.

• Textual criticism: Reading the text to identify errors in trans-

mission and determine the best text

• Source criticism: Reading the text to find the written sources

the author(s) used

ix
x Literary Approaches to the Bible

• Form criticism: Reading the text to find the oral traditions the
author(s) used

• Tradition-historical criticism: Reconstructing the historical

development of the traditions identified by form criticism

• Redaction criticism: Reading the text to understand how

it was put together and what message the text was meant to
communicate

• Canonical criticism: Reading the final form of the text as

Christian Scripture

• Rhetorical criticism: Analyzing the text for the rhetorical

effect of the literary devices the writers used to communicate
and persuade

• Structural criticism: Analyzing the text in terms of contrast

and oppositions, recognizing that contrast is believed to be the
essence of meaning within a cultural, linguistic, or literary
system

• Narrative criticism: Reading the text as a narrative and

paying attention to aspects including plot, theme, and
characterization

• Linguistic approach: Analyzing the text using concepts and

theories developed by linguistics

• Social-scientific approach: Analyzing the text using concepts

and theories developed in the social sciences

The Lexham Methods Series defines these approaches to biblical inter-

pretation, explains their development, outlines their goals and emphases,
and identifies their leading proponents. Few interpreters align themselves
strictly with any single approach. Contemporary Bible scholars tend to use
an eclectic method that draws on the various aspects of biblical criticism
outlined above. Many of these methods developed in parallel, mutually
influenced each other, and share similar external influences from literary
theory and philosophy. Similarly, ideas and questions arising from one
 Series Preface xi

approach often directly influenced the field as a whole and have become
common currency in biblical studies, even though the method that gener-
ated the concepts has been radically reshaped and revised over the years.
In introducing a variety of methods, we will address each method as
neutrally as possible, acknowledging both the advantages and limitations
of each approach. Our discussion of a particular method or attempts to
demonstrate the method should not be construed as an endorsement of
that approach to the text. The Lexham Methods Series introduces you to
the world of biblical scholarship.
1
INTRODUCTION: THE LITERARY
APPROACH TO THE BIBLE
Douglas Estes

The Teacher was full of wisdom, and he taught the people

with knowledge. He carefully considered many proverbs
and carefully arranged them. The Teacher sought to find
delightful words, and he wrote what is upright—truthful
words. [Ecclesiastes 12:9–10 LEB]

1.1 A BR AV E NEW LITER A RY WOR LD

In a few short decades in the latter half of the twentieth century, the inter-
pretation of the Bible underwent a notable shift such as has happened only
occasionally over the last few thousand years. During this time the focus
in biblical interpretation began to shift from what the text can teach us
about the past to also include what the text can teach us about the text
(and ourselves). Increasingly, the Bible began to be viewed and read not
just as a religious or historical document but also as a literary text. Bible
scholars speak broadly of this shift as being from a historical-critical method
of biblical interpretation toward a literary-critical method of biblical inter-
pretation. This shift was not wholesale; it was felt more in some areas of
biblical studies than others.1 This description also does not tell the whole

1.  Even to speak of “biblical studies” includes a large field with many interests and
many groups; some subfields of biblical research have made an almost wholesale shift from

1
2 Literary Approaches to the Bible

story—there is much more involved here than simply the inclusion of a

new method (which, in some cases, also largely replaced an older method).2
The growth of the literary approach to the Bible was and is philosophical
more than theological or anything else.
This shift in biblical interpretation correlates strongly with the sea
change that took place in the Western world during the twentieth century.
During this century, there are clear examples of change in areas such as
science and technology, in which the telegraph and the Pony Express were
completely eclipsed by the mobile phone and the space shuttle. We describe
these changes as surface changes because they occurred on the surface
of our world, fully visible and understood as dramatic changes by any
observer. However, below these surface changes, this century also brought
rapid change (by historical standards) to the Western worldview. Yet, below
even these changes there were deeper changes in the most fundamental
understanding of how people know, learn, exist, and interact. These fun-
damental shifts set in motion the shifts in biblical studies, through a long
process of cause and effect.3 As a result, for a beginning student, it can
be challenging to ask, “How and where did the literary approach to the
Bible get started?” since each answer reveals more answers (and questions)
lurking below the surface. Therefore, instead of trying first to pinpoint
an inexact origin, let us begin with a different type of answer: The shifts in
biblical interpretation in the late twentieth century have little or nothing to do

historical-critical to literary-critical methods, but in others, any literary-critical influence

has been much more muted.
2.  One question that arises is: What is the relationship between the historical-critical
method and the literary-critical method? How one answers depends a great deal on a number
of factors, including: (1) what subfield of biblical studies one is in, (2) whether one is more
oriented toward singular or diverse models of interpretation, (3) what groups one associ-
ates with, and (4) when one “came of age” in the formal study of the Bible. Let me offer one
anecdotal example: The Library of New Testament Studies is a major monograph series for
the study of the nt. Surveying the books published in that series over the last two-and-a-
half-year period reveals that studies heavily influenced by literary-critical ideas outnumber
the studies heavily influenced by historical-critical ideas by a factor of almost three to one.
Most importantly, the slight majority of the studies during that timeframe are probably best
described as being in dialogue with both approaches. This is only one series, but it seems
indicative of the larger world of biblical studies.
3.  Most likely the surface changes and the deep changes are symbiotic; that is, they
occurred together because one inadvertently affects the other. The mobile phone affects the
Western worldview, which affects the underworking philosophy of the day, which affects
the mobile phone, which affects the Western worldview, on and on.
 Introduction: The Literary Approach to the Bible 3

with the Bible itself. Instead, they have everything to do with the changes
occurring in Western thought and culture.
To give us a taste for these shifts, let us mention a number of them in
passing. The meaning of “literature” changed—moving from the more
narrow poetic type to signifying almost any text type (including the Bible).
Romanticism, as it had been applied to literature, completely fell out of
favor. The science of language moved from a “soft” philology to a “hard”
linguistics. Modernism, that incredibly powerful structure of Western
thought prevailing for more than three centuries, cracked and began
to crumble. The Cartesian basis for the identity of individuals began to
be rejected. Disciplines such as psychology and phenomenology were
launched. Old disciplines such as history and literary criticism were largely
reinvented. New ideologies such as naturalism, Marxism, and feminism
supplanted or complemented previous ideologies. Two world wars, the
end of colonialism, and a sexual revolution formed the backdrop for the
“narrative turn” in the study of world literature. There were many more
factors than we can possibly mention here. Yet, few have anything to do
with the Bible itself.4
By acknowledging this up front, we can gain a positive perspective on
the literary approach to the Bible. It is just one philosophical approach. It
is useful in the era in which we live. One day, it will be eclipsed by another
approach. The approach that preceded the literary approach is also just one
approach. It was useful in the era in which it was most prominent. It too
became eclipsed by another approach. One day, it will probably be found
useful again (though in a different form with a different name). If we can
recognize that the various historical and literary approaches, with their
respective methods, are simply tools in an interpreter’s toolbox, we can
faithfully use those tools without fear or blame. Some of these new liter-
ary tools—like deconstruction—can seem daunting and unusual at first to

4.  The few words of this introduction can do little justice to the movements contributing
to the philosophical shifts that influenced biblical studies in the second half of the twentieth
century. For more detailed treatments of the development of literary criticism, see M. A. R.
Habib, Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present: An Introduction (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell,
2011); and volumes 6 through 8 of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism. Furthermore,
this introductory chapter will only highlight a few key thinkers, but even they were building
on the work of the many people who preceded them.
4 Literary Approaches to the Bible

beginning students of the Bible, but it is just a tool like any other.5 In any
situation, one tool will work better than another, but the skilled interpreter
understands that most every tool has its proper use.
Thus it is both true and not true that the literary approach to the Bible
goes back to the time of the early church. One chapter in this volume will
introduce you to the ancient art of rhetoric. This interpretive method existed
long before the writing of the nt, and it comprises one of the modern liter-
ary approaches to the Bible. At the same time, one chapter in this volume
will introduce you to the variegated methods of poststructuralist thought.
These methods are almost completely distinct from ancient interpretive
techniques. But both rhetorical criticism and poststructuralism are exam-
ples of the many methods that comprise the literary approach to the Bible.
We should clarify a few terms at the outset. This volume of the Lexham
Method Series is called The Literary Approach to the Bible. By “literary
approach,” a very general and nontechnical term, Bible interpreters mean
reading the Bible with an eye for any method that could fit into any liter-
ary theory (new or ancient, conventional or radical). In contrast, when we
speak of “literary criticism,” we are talking about a specific consideration
and analysis of a literary text by means of a literary method. Therefore,
a literary approach is a general way of speaking of some type of literary
criticism. In contrast, “literary theory” describes a philosophical consid-
eration of the many possible methods and meanings that a reader may be
informed of by the text.6 Or, to put it another way, we could describe lit-
erary criticism as the practical application of some form of literary theory.
In this chapter, even though there will be some “theory” considered, what
we are working through is some highlights of literary criticism, far more
than literary theory. Literary theory, especially after the shifts in the late
twentieth century, tends to be—for the average reader—philosophically
dense and often not too interested in the texts themselves.7 The literary
approach to the Bible is meaningful, because the Bible is literature—but
“literature” is a term describing any text that can be read and interpreted;

5.  See David Seeley, Deconstructing the New Testament (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 19.
6.  Mario Klarer, An Introduction to Literary Studies, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2004), 77.
7.  That literary theory is this way both is a barrier to its acceptance and usefulness in
biblical studies and, in some cases, brings about concerns or criticisms for its influence within
biblical studies; see §1.5 Limitations of the Literary Approach.
 Introduction: The Literary Approach to the Bible 5

it no longer refers only to a particular subset of Western writings. Further,

we use the word “modern” to denote primarily the thinking and ideol-
ogy of the classical-to-late modern periods, roughly synonymous with
the time between the mid-eighteenth century and the mid-twentieth cen-
tury; and we use the word “postmodern” to refer to the period beginning
from the fall of modernity, which roughly started in the late mid- to late
twentieth-century.8
The confusion over these literary foundations has led to the rise of a
number of inaccurate assumptions about the literary approach to the Bible.
Here we mention the most frequent objections to the literary approach to
the Bible:

• The Bible is not literature. The problem with this statement

is what one means by “literature.”9 Usually this statement
implies that literature is a specific group of fictional works
that range from Milton to Hemingway. However, the term
“literature,” while traditionally used to mean “to designate fic-
tional and imaginative writings—poetry, prose fiction, and
drama,” now means “any other writings (including philoso-
phy, history, and even scientific works addressed to a general
audience) that are especially distinguished in form, expres-
sion, and emotional power.”10 The former definition is closer to
what literary critics mean when they use the term “(literary)
canon.” As we rely on current definitions of the word “litera-
ture,” the Bible is literature.

• The literary approach is new and therefore anachronistic. The

first known occurrence of literary criticism in the West dates

8.  Modernity can be broken down into three phases: early, middle (or classical), and late.
Depending on how modernity is measured, it may have lasted a full six centuries. As a result,
its stamp on Western culture is insurmountable—it is really quite impossible for anyone
born in the late modern period to understand the thinking of premodern writers without
making a large number of assumptions.
9.  For a lengthier discussion of the problems with the word “literature,” see Peter
Widdowson, Literature, The New Critical Idiom (London: Routledge, 1999), 1–25; and Terry
Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction, anniversary ed. (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2008), 1–16.
10.  M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 9th ed. (Boston:
Wadsworth, 2009), 177–78.
6 Literary Approaches to the Bible

back to the production of Aristophanes’ Frogs in 405 bc.11 After

this, Aristotle (384–322 bc), Longinus (fl. late first century ad),
and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (fl. late first century bc) pro-
duced works on literary theory and criticism that are still
extant today, not to mention that the Teacher in the book of
Ecclesiastes mentions at least one aspect of literary criticism
(Eccl 12:9–10). While some of the individual methods within
the broad umbrella of the literary approach to the Bible are
new and could be used anachronistically, the approach itself
is not new and actually predates the nt (and some parts of the
ot as well). Further, some methods within other approaches
(such as the historical-critical approach, the most notable
predecessor to the literary approach) are also new and can
also be used anachronistically. Therefore, anachronism is
always a concern for interpreters of ancient texts, regard-
less of approach and method.

• The literary approach has no final “answer” in interpretation or

endpoint—many different interpretations are equally valid. This
claim is partly true and partly false, but it only has a little to do
with the literary approach itself.12 Differences in interpreta-
tion have existed from the moment of creation of any biblical
text. In past generations, it was not the method that provided
an end to interpretive discussion but rather an authority (such
as a council, a church, a church leader, or a consensus). It is
true that one of the results of recent literary theory is a prolif-
eration of different methods (and as a result, interpretations),
but this is more a result of the proliferation of ideologies in

11. Habib, Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present, 10.

12.  Many beginning students of the Bible will find that they have already been exposed to
one literary theory within the literary approach to the Bible, whether realizing it or not—the
author-focused interpretive strategy. This is a traditional strategy but also was popularized
by E. D. Hirsch Jr., a literary critic, whose work contrasted with the direction of much of
postmodern literary theory. Those uncomfortable with recent literary theory have often
rallied around Hirsch’s works, which is where author-focused strategy can enter into bibli-
cal interpretation; see also Daniel J. Treier, Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture:
Recovering a Christian Practice (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 134.
 Introduction: The Literary Approach to the Bible 7

the Western world in the last century than it is of any move-

ment or expectation in the field of biblical studies.

• The literary approach is not scientific or rigorous (as the histori-

cal approach is). This argument depends a great deal on who
the interpreter is and whether an appropriate tool is selected.
Every approach to Scripture will have less rigorous exam-
ples and more rigorous examples, regardless of the approach.
Further, “scientific” and “rigorous” are modern ideals that
earlier interpreters of Scripture may not have held to be
extremely important (as they were not influenced by the
modern worldview).

• The literary approach is not historical/avoids historical concerns.

This last objection is the most frequently noted by those
critical of the literary approach. It is true that many liter-
ary approaches to Scripture avoid or ignore historical ques-
tions and concerns. But it is not true in all cases. Furthermore,
applications of the literary approach to the Bible are often
ahistorical, but rarely anti-historical.13 In other words, when
an interpreter takes a tool from a literary method out of their
toolbox, they are letting the reader know that they are focus-
ing on literary concerns more than historical concerns. The
same is true when an interpreter decides to employ the his-
torical approach—that interpreter typically is not trying to
avoid literary questions; rather, it is just not their focus in this
situation. Currently, biblical scholars are using the literary
approach to focus on the text, but increasingly they are not
shunning historical concerns and questions when appropri-
ate for their interpretive goals.

There is one specific situation where the literary approach to the Bible
did arise and become predominant in biblical studies because of an issue in
biblical studies. As noted above, many confluences brought about the sea

13.  For further discussion, see Douglas Estes, The Temporal Mechanics of the Fourth Gospel:
A Theory of Hermeneutical Relativity in the Gospel of John (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 25–27.
8 Literary Approaches to the Bible

change in the Western world in the twentieth century. Romanticism was

on the decline, and there was a greater call for more exacting strategies to
read literature. With the advent of linguistics and intense interest in texts,
the literary movement called Formalism took hold in the beginning of the
twentieth century. The most notable group of Formalists was the Russian
Formalists (1920s–1930s), who believed a text could be broken down into
discrete structures and was interpretable as such. Formalism was soon
followed by New Criticism (1940s–1960s), a literary movement starting in
the southeastern US and affirming a very narrow, text-focused model of
interpretation. After a few decades, structuralism (1960s–1970s) ascended
to the top of the literary theory pile, followed soon after by poststructural-
ism (1980s–onward). During this latter time there was a rapid proliferation
and acceptance of ideology-based literary theory. By the late 1970s, these
developments began to slowly leach into the world of biblical studies. One
reason for this was the failure of the modern historical-critical approach
to reach the definitive answers it suggested was possible. In a way, the
modernized historical approach had reached a dead end. Poignantly pop-
ularized—and its death knell signaled—by Albert Schweitzer in his book
The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906), the modern scientific approach to
the Bible, the reigning emperor of interpretive method, was seen to have
no clothes.14
This crisis in biblical studies, coupled with the rapid changes occurring
in the outside world, propelled ot scholars to start exploring a postmod-
ern, literary approach to the Bible (1970s). Soon becoming popular with
nt scholars (1980s), the literary approach was partially something new
and partially a way out of the artificial gridlock of the modernized his-
torical approach. In some ways, this shift continued to open up Pandora’s
interpretive box, as at the beginning of the twenty-first century, modern
literary theory encompasses a hodgepodge of complementary and com-
peting theoretical methods, including deconstructionism, feminist theory,
Bakhtinian criticism, poststructuralism, new historicism, queer theory,
postcolonialism, narratology, Marxist theory, and reader-response theory,

14.  Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, trans. W. Montgomery (Mineola,
NY: Dover, 2005).
 Introduction: The Literary Approach to the Bible 9

among many more. These, on top of biblical interpreters who still prefer
to use Romantic or (traditional) historical approaches, have dramatically
increased the work of the beginning student of the Bible to understand
the myriad methods now available for reading Scripture. Where once, per-
haps, a person could read a commentary on a biblical book and only need
to know a little about the religious background of the author to grasp the
“where” of the commentary, today the student must be familiar with numer-
ous theories to appreciate the “where” of the commentary, in order to best
integrate the world of secondary literature on the Bible with the student’s
own growth and appreciation of sacred Scripture.

1.2 THE R EL ATIONSHIP OF AU THOR,

TEX T, R EA DER, A ND CON TEX T
As the tumultuous twentieth century was under way, literary theorists
became more aware that the meaning of a text could come from more than
one source, traditionally understood as “what the author meant.” The first
awareness of this came as a result of the Formalist focus on the text itself,
apart from author. This brought a clear distinction between those who
interpreted literature through a reconstruction of the authorial intent
and those who ignored everything except the text itself.15 As a result, lit-
erary theory had created an author-focused approach to interpretation
and a text-focused approach to interpretation. This bifurcation resulted
in questions about the reader, and the subsequent development of a read-
er-focused approach. These three approaches represent the basic triad of
reading: the creator of the text, the text, and the reader of the text. By the
end of the twentieth century, some literary theorists believed there was
more to reading than just these three; there was the context of the author/
text/reader that must be taken into consideration, and this resulted in the
start of the context-focused approach to interpretation.
Klarer distinguishes these four types in this way:

The text-oriented approach is primarily concerned with questions

of the “materiality” of texts, including editions of manuscripts,

15.  This awareness was also rising in the field of philosophy, where a renewed interest in
hermeneutics and epistemology inaugurated a new search for meaning and truth.

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