What is a Genre of Literature?
Literary genre refers to the literary form being used by an author and the rules governing that form.1
Yes, the definition is from my favorite professor of theology, Dr. Stein. Having the textbook he wrote in digital format? Oh it is a delight! Anyway…
Always surprising is the number of times conversations about Bible study how-to’s come around to the topic of literary genre. Honestly, how can we even approach the Bible to interpret without knowing which category the text falls into?
As we sit here together, let’s look at a stark example of the difference between two genres from the Encyclopedia Brittanica:
Between the ages of 30 and 90, the weight of our muscles falls by 30 percent and the power we can exert likewise…. The number of nerve fibres in a nerve trunk falls by a quarter. The weight of our brains falls from an average of 3.03 lb. to 2.27 lb. as cells die and are not replaced….
(Gordon Rattray Taylor, The Biological Time Bomb, 1968.)
Compare that with this.
Let me disclose the gifts reserved for age
(T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets.)
To set a crown upon your lifetime’s effort.
First, the cold friction of expiring sense
Without enchantment, offering no promise
But bitter tastelessness of shadow fruit
As body and soul begin to fall asunder.
Second, the conscious impotence of rage
At human folly, and the laceration
Of laughter at what ceases to amuse.
And last, the rending pain of re-enactment
Of all that you have done, and been….
Interpreting Secular Texts
If we were to interpret those two quotes using the same rules of interpretation, wouldn’t we run into problems? Consider a science textbook that included how we grow old and lose brain cells as “the cold friction of expiring sense.” There is no friction in my brain as I age. In reality, sometimes seems like there is less friction as more and more slips out and I can’t remember it!
The genre of poetry and whatever the science-y genre is called are different and serve different functions. To uncover the author’s meaning in various genres, we need to understand what they are because the author meant something when he used them.
We cannot take the phrase “As body and soul begin to fall asunder” as literally how the body ages. It it not normative for older bodies to start dropping arms or toes. Asunder is used in a poetic sense, quite effectively, I think. But not as a strictly scientific means of conveying information.
Interpreting Biblical Genres of Literature
It’s the same way in the Bible. Reading cover-to-cover, if we were to assume most or even all of the text therein was of the same genre and required the same technique for interpretation, we would get into all kinds of goofiness.
In this Basics, we are not going to get into discussion of specific genres. Instead, this Basics will serve as an introduction to the idea that there are genres. Here is a brief list of some of the genres that are present in the Bible and that I have plans to talk about in future Basics.
Genres of Genres
- Narrative
- Poetry
- Prophecy
- Idioms
- Parables
- Exaggeration
Each of these genres have rules for interpretation that we can follow in order to understand what the author meant as he used the various types of literature.
Dr. Stein speaks to this point here in his textbook.
It is clear that there are various kinds of literary forms in the Bible. Each of these forms, or “genres,” possesses its own rules of interpretation. In using these literary forms, the authors consciously submitted themselves to the rules governing these forms in order to share their meaning with their readers. They assumed that their readers would interpret their words according to the rules governing that literary form, which provides “well-worn grooves of expectation.”2
Watch for additional Basics on literary genres!
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- Stein, R. H. (2011). A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules (Second Edition, p. 52). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
- Stein, R. H. (2011). A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules (Second Edition, p. 70). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.