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| Approach Literary Criticism, as applied to the Bible involves looking at the whole of the narrative (or a large section of it) rather than focusing on individual units. It also, controversially, uses techniques more at home in the analysis of fiction than of history. This isn't because those using it want to judge the Bible to be fiction, but rather that the techniques are powerful for uncovering meaning when applied to the Bible. | ||||
Methods Intertexuality - reading the text in dialog with other texts Rhetorical criticism - Narrative criticism - techniques that focus on things such as: setting, characters, narrator, plot, conflict, style. Might also include rhetorical criticism and point-of-view analysis that I've called out separately. Reader-response criticism - assessing how readers (or hearers) would respond, should respond, or were expected to respond to the text. Reception criticism - like reader-response criticism, but looking at the reactions to the text across time and cultures by actual readers. Speech-act theory - assessing the range of performative functions. Discourse analysis Orality Criticism - how are oral presentations received in a culture where only a minority of people are literate. Analysis of the text's sounds, patterns and rhythms. Point-of-view analysis |
Readers Who is reading the text? We don't have any way of doing surveys to determine the answer. We can be careful to understand the following perspectives: The actual reader - who were the first readers (or hearers) of the text? The implied reader - what assumptions does the text make about the reader? The ideal reader - what response does the text want the actual readers to have? |
| Last updated 12/8/06; posted 11/1/06; © 2006 John P. Nordin |