Literary Genres in the BibleIn our review of reading the Scriptures with the mind of the Church, we have looked at what the Bible is & how it came into being. We now turn to the theme of literary genres within the Holy Writ, because this is often a big stumbling block for people today.
The Bible contains many different types of literature, not surprisingly, because it was written by many human authors over a multitude of times, places, & historical circumstances. The Bible does not fit neatly into any of the modern categories of writing, but is a story of faith revealing God's Truth, doing so by many different ways: poems, parables, histories, saga, epics, fiction, prophecies, visions, dialogues, & others. Many of these forms, like the dialogue, have fallen out of usage, & some types, like apocalyptic or gospel, have no modern equivalent, which can make them hard to discern nowadays. It owuld be a grave mistake to approach the Bible with the same mindset as one would a text book, news paper, or a how-to-book. It just isn't that kind of literature.
Some folks, Protestant & Catholic feel that this concept of literary genre is a muddling or distorting God's word; and that's a fair concern. Often, folks desire a simpler & less-challenging "what it says is what it means" type of understanding. But that really isn't understanding at all, is it? It rules out God the Spirit's ability to speak an 'ever ancient, ever new" word to his people. Now, many passages do mean exactly what they say, but I'm referring to a whole approach that bypasses both one's own powers of intellect & prayerful discernment & the interpretive Magisterium of the Church. There simply aren't any short-cuts for understanding the word of God. Cardinal Ratzinger, before becoming pope, wrote in a commentary in Genesis that we must not imprison the Word of God in the printed words of the Bible.
God speaks on multiple planes at once, & any particular verse, chapter, or even whole book could have many valid meanings. Jesus spoke in parables. He reached people at their level of understanding, but always in a way that challenged them, as he often did with his parables. They were (& are) not beyond one's ability to understand, but the meaning isn't face-plain; they require prayerful reflection to make sense of them. After all, even his disciples were confused. In this process of reflection, we are challenged to look past our own limits & expectations, to see the world through God's eyes, to invite us into his holiness & love.
That's the purpose of god revealing himself to us: to draw us into a loving union with him. But just as this journey of faith is challenging, requiring the utmost conviction & continual discernment, so too, reading the Bible requires a serious effort, a willingness to embrace the complexity of its literary forms, & a prayerful trust that god will reach us & enlighten us through his Word.
P.S.: Postings will be scarce for the next 2 weeks, as I will be in the Orient. Till then, blessings.
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