Tremper Longman III, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation

vol. 3 in Foundations for Contemporary Interpretation, Zondervan, 1987.

Summary: An introduction to literary approaches in biblical interpretation by a conservative Christian who maintained a high view of Scripture. [My understanding is that his view of Scripture has dropped considerably in later publications. Added--03/08/12] Longman engages with literary critics secular, liberal, and orthodox and attempts to draw insights from their work.

Longmen’s own summary “We have recognized a tendency among some scholars to reduce the Bible to literature and to deny history. Other scholars, particularly those of us whose doctrine of Scripture is conservative, must resist the temptation to ignore the literary aspect of divine revelation by reducing the Scripture to history and theology. I have intended this book to stimulate all of us to a more balanced reading of the Bible” (152).

Benefits/Detriments: Incredibly helpful.  A must read for handling historical narrative and poetry.

Fictional stories are powerful literary devices because history is linear and the human mind can encapsulate the whole without exhaustive knowledge. Because God is omnipresent and omniscient, his view of reality is the only exhaustive perspective, and his inspired narrative, poetry, parables, and the like while sharing commonalities with other literary works exist as separate though similar categories. The difficulty and perhaps even danger of literary approaches to the Bible is accepting genre categories of non-believers without recognizing the belief policies that drive the definitions. Yet there is also the danger of adopting an uncritical literary interpretation from the enculturated habits of mind which are independent of the Bible and right reason. Both the non-believer and believer can misinterpret the Bible through faulty definitions and presuppositions and both are real threats to the church.

Longmen is aware of this tension, but I am concerned that he sometimes forgets the uniqueness of God’s perspective and authorship when handling the Bible and the critics.