There can be no doubt that poetry is the oldest and historically most important form of literature; as much as it may be an afterthought for most of us today, throughout most of human history, poetry was king. While more of a stylistic approach to language than a 'genre,' it’s helpful to understand how biblical … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Poetry
There’s an old saying that history is written by the victors. While this isn’t always the case, the saying speaks to a big problem about the nature of history and historicity. At its most basic level, what we call 'history; is nothing more or less than a story about the past. But, historicity is the … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: History
Today’s post in this series on understanding the literary genres of the Bible is going to talk about Law, or Commandments. This is one that’s particularly challenging to talk about as a Christian, since Christian revelation ends up marginalizing the Hebrew Bible’s legal stipulations. There has, therefore, been a lot of misunderstanding among Christians about … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Law
As someone who reads and reflects on the Scriptures regularly, I can’t deny there’s always a desire to find a new approach or twist to these old stories we’ve heard so many times before. But sometimes the old, well-worn roads are the right ones. They may be corny or cheesy or cliché, a little too … Continue reading On the Road Again: A Reflection on Luke 24.13-35
Some of the oddest pieces of the Bible to many of us today are the long sections taken up with genealogies. We can be excused for asking why, considering the great expense of writing materials in the ancient world, biblical authors felt the need to include this content at all. Moreover, thinking of the Bible … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Genealogies
Matthew Root 