Perhaps We Should Call It…

While passing by the TV one evening, you hear someone say, “The Vice-President just shot a man.” Before you can correctly interpret that statement, you have to ask yourself, who said this? Was it on the News (a factual narrative), or was it on a rerun of “24” (a fictional drama), or was it on Saturday Night Live (a comedy)? Did Bret Baier, Jack Bauer, or Alec Baldwin say it? The context (or the genre) makes a difference.

We know this, but we’ve just never thought about how it impacts our understanding of the Bible. What is the context of what is being said in any given passage? Do we take every statement in Scripture as literal? Yes and No. It’s a matter of context.

Conservative Bible-believing Christians practice what is called “literal interpretation.” Perhaps we should call it “normal interpretation” instead of “literal interpretation.” In normal usage, we observe and interpret figures of speech and literary types all the time.

Genre means category. It can apply to art, music, or literature. For our discussion, we are talking about the different types of literature found within the Scriptures. We, modern readers, are familiar with the genres of Historical Narrative (such as the writing of Moses or Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). We recognize letters like Paul and Peter wrote. Some of the Bible’s genres are very foreign to us like the Genealogies and Wisdom literature (Proverbs, Job). There is also Prophecy, Psalms (Songs), and Poetry. There are also examples of Exaggeration/Hyperbole and Apocalypse.

Any good study Bible can help you know the genre of the Book you are reading. A classic book I learned a lot from is “How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth” by Fee & Stuart.

Pardon the old guy reference to Jack Bauer, but 24 was the greatest TV show of all time.