Narrative criticism focuses on the stories a speaker or a writer tells to understand how they help us make

meaning out of our daily human experiences. Narrative theory is a means by which we can comprehend how we
impose order on our experiences and actions by giving them a narrative form. According to Walter
Fisher,[1][page needed] narratives are fundamental to communication and provide structure for human experience and
influence people to share common explanations and understandings (58). Fisher defines narratives as “symbolic
actions-words and/or deeds that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them.”
Study of narrative criticism, therefore, includes form (fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry), genre (myth, history,
legend, etc.), structure (including plot, theme, irony, foreshadowing, etc.) characterization, and communicator’s
perspective.
Characteristics of a narrative were defined as early as Aristotle in his Poetics under plot.[2] He called plot as the
“first principle” or the “soul of a tragedy.” According to him, plot is the arrangement of incidents that imitate the
action with a beginning, middle, and end. Plot includes introduction of characters, rising action and introduction
of complication, development of complication, climax (narrative), and final resolution. As described by White
(1981)[3][page needed] and Martin (1986),[4][page needed] plot involves a structure of action. However, not all narratives
contain a plot. Fragmentation occurs as the traditional plot disappears, narratives become less linear, and the
burden of meaning making gets shifted from the narrator to the reader.[5][page needed]
Narratives can be found in a range of practices such as novels, short stories, plays, films, histories,
documentaries, gossip, biographies, television and scholarly books.[6][page needed] All of these artifacts make excellent
objects for narrative criticism. When performing a narrative criticism, critics should focus on the features of the
narrative that allow them to say something meaningful about the artifact. Sample questions from Sonja K
Foss[7]Template:Pg.312-313 offer a guide for analysis:

 Setting – How does the setting relate to the plot and characters? How is the particular setting created? Is the
setting textually prominent – highly developed and detailed – or negligible?
 Characters (Persona) – Are some of the characters non-human or inanimate phenomena, described as
thinking and speaking beings? In what actions do the characters engage? Are the characters round
(possess a variety of traits, some of them conflicting or contradictory) or flat (one or a few dominant traits
making the character predictable)?
 Narrator – Is the narrative presented directly to the audience, or is it mediated by a narrator? What makes
the narrator intrusive or not? What kind of person is the narrator (examine his or her ethos)?
 Events – What are the major and minor events? How are the events presented? Are the events active
(expressing action) or stative (expressing a state or condition)?
 Temporal relations – Do events occur in a brief period of time or over many years? What is the relationship
between the natural order of the events as they occurred and the order of their presentation in the telling of a
narrative? Is the story in past or present tense?
 Causal relations – What cause-and-effect relationships are established in the narrative? Are events caused
largely by human action, accident, or forces of nature? In how much detail are the causes and effects
described?
 Audience – Is the audience a participant in the events recounted? What can be inferred about the
audience’s attitudes, knowledge, or situation from the narrative? What seems to be the narrator’s evaluation
of the audience’s knowledge, personality, and abilities?
 Theme – What is the major theme (general idea illustrated by the narrative) of the narrative? How is the
theme articulated? How obvious and clear is the theme?
 Limitations: Traditional narrative criticism focuses primarily on the narrative and does not take the
socioeconomic and political background into consideration; however, it is not opposed to New-Historicism
theory. In addition, it does not take the narrator's motivations into consideration as it focuses on the narrative
to generate the analysis. Also, as the critic looks at the overall unity of the narrative, the theory is not
conducive to deconstruction techniques (19-20).[8]

narrative criticism
A development in biblical studies, especially in USA, since about 1970. The main thesis is that readers (e.g. of the gospels) should

read the narratives and respond to them as the authors hoped. It is suggested that the analysis of the gospels into sources

and pericopae, into what is historically probable or theological interpretation has reached no consensus, so another approach is

offered. Whereas scholars have often identified repetitions in a gospel or inconsistencies or gaps as indicating diverse sources or
flawed editorship, narrative criticism invites the reader to assess the work as a whole and to note its stylistic characteristics which

resemble those of other literary works with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Some narrative critics, however, regard the newer discipline as complementary to, not a substitute for, the achievements of

previous scholarship. Primarily they are concerned with those elements in the text which are relevant to the plot or theme or story‐

line: how the text engages the reader in its world and system of values; they note the characteristics and points of view of the

narrator and his asides to the reader, such as Mark 7: 19 f and 13: 14. Source criticism qualifies some narrative readings e.g. in

Matt. 14: 33 the disciples confess Jesus as Son of God; in Matt. 16: 16 Peter makes a similar confession as if something new. This

is not narrative lucidity, but is understandable when it is realized that Matthew using Mark, has changed Mark 6: 32.

There is no single meaning in a biblical text. The gospel of Luke will be read differently by a black Christian in S. Africa from a white

Protestant in the USA. Readers are active, not passive recipients of an unbiased text. For example, Paul's reference to the

female Junia (Rom. 16: 7) has often been taken to be a man ‘Junias’ (as in RSV) on the ground that Paul could only have accorded

apostolic status to men—‘of note among the apostles’.

Mark contains two accounts of the miraculous feeding of a multitude—of 5,000 (6: 31–44) and 4,000 (8: 1–9) and whereas

historical criticism has often taken this as an editorial duplication of a single event, narrative critics read the two stories as we have

them. Mark may have intended by the first story to show that Christ was the Saviour of the Jews, and by the second that he was the

Saviour of Gentiles, since the event took place on Gentile soil (7: 31). Narrative critics propose to put the reader in the position of

the intended readers of the gospel and ponder on the remarkable obtuseness of the disciples who fail to understand, even after the

second feeding, what Jesus was teaching and signifying (8: 17). Thus the focus of narrative criticism is always in the final form of

the text. Gen. 22, Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac, is an example of a brilliant narrative. ‘Narrative, whatever its medium,

holds the interest of an audience by raising questions in their minds, and delaying the answers’ (David Lodge, The Art of Fiction).

Narrative Criticism

Narrative Criticism

Definition

Literary Criticism in General

Literary criticism is a broad term encompassing several different approaches to the literary
text. In the early days of historical criticism, the term was used for any form of close reading of
the text, and thus could encompass form and source criticisms. But since the 1960s, with the
burgeoning of the field of literary criticism in the disciplines of English and World Literature, the
term "Literary Criticism" in biblical studies has come to refer to approaches undertaken in these
other disciplines.

In general, all literary critical methods examine the final text of a given biblical book, as
opposed to the origins of its parts. The literary critic assumes that the author worked with
sources, but also that the author composed a new account from these sources - an account that
has literary integrity. The critic may choose to focus attention on the text or the response of
the intended readers, and then within these categories to focus still further, for example on
semiotics or narrative structures.
 Narrative Criticism

The type of literary criticism described below is referred to as Narrative Criticism, which focuses
on the literary shape of the text. The narrative critic examines the text to discern its aspect
(fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry), genre (history, legend, myth, etc.), structure (including
plot, theme, irony, foreshadowing, etc.), characterization, and narrative perspective.

Method

To examine a text as a literary critic would, apply these four steps to it:

1. Analyze the form (literary aspect and genre) of the text. Is it fiction or non-fiction, prose or
poetry? What is its genre?

2. Analyze the literary structure of the piece. Follow this procedure:

a. Setting - What is the setting of the story?

b. Plot

 Where does the plot begin, end, climax? What clues in the text support your
choice of climax (look for evidence of foreshadowing, repetition that builds in
some way, or a critical moment which must be resolved in the story’s
denouement)?

 Are there any suggestive gaps in the story - questions that come to your mind
that the author does not resolve? Are there any suggestive antitheses presented
(one character contrasted to another character, one story paralleling a similar
one)? These antitheses can be evidence of irony; each also suggests meaning by
presenting a commentary on the other.

 Do there appear to be any anomalies in the text: digression/interruption,

thematic inconsistency, apparent repetition? [Whereas in source criticism such
anomalies are taken to suggest discrete sources, in this method they should be
taken to reveal the meaning of the story, and not discrete sources.]

c. Elements - What are the key symbol(s)? motif(s)? theme(s)?

3. Analyze the characters in the story. Who are the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s)? What are
their motives? Do they change?
 4. Examine the narrative perspective of the account. From whose perspective is the story told? Is
it told in the first or third person? Is the narrator omniscient? Given the perspective and the
story’s form, suggest a location or occasion for the recitation of your story.

Terms Used for the Narrative Analysis of

Prose

(Adapted from M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 3d ed. [New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1971; orig. 1957] and
Margaret Nutting Ralph, "And God Said What?" An Introduction to Biblical Literary Forms for Bible Lovers [Mahwah, New Jersey:
Paulist, 1986]).

Literary Aspect
fiction

A story about events that did not occur in time; through verisimilitude (things made to look
true-to-life), fiction is often crafted to look as if it could have occurred. Its purpose can be
educative or entertaining.

non-fiction

A story about events that did occur, told as objectively (without bias) as possible.

poetry

Language patterned into recurrent units of meter (notice: poetry is not necessarily rhyming, but
it is necessarily rhythmic and repetitive). In biblical texts, poetic language often indicates that
the poem or form was used in a liturgical or ritual setting.

prose

Sustained use of language as we ordinarily speak it, as distinguished from language patterned
into recurrent units of meter.

Genre

biography

An account of the life of some great political or military figure, often told in a highly
stereotypical way (marvelous birth, proper upbringing, noble public life, exemplary death).

epic

A long narrative poem on a great and serious subject, related in an elevated style, and centered
on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the
human race. Examples of epics are the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Beowulf, and
Milton’s Paradise Lost.
debate

An argumentative dialogue between two characters.

folklore

Traditional verbal materials and social rituals that have been handed down solely, or at least
primarily, by word of mouth. The following forms are common to folklore: legends,
superstitions, songs, tales, proverbs, riddles, spells, nursery rhymes; pseudo-scientific lore
about weather, plants, animals; customary activities at births, marriages, deaths; traditional
dances and forms of drama.

history

In ancient times, a chronicle of political and military events, geographic descriptions and ethnic
portraits, often incorporating elements of epic, high narrative style, and biographical
exploration.

legend

Similar to a myth, except that the protagonist is a heroic and probably historical figure rather
than a supernatural being.

myth

An imaginative story which uses symbols to speak about reality; the symbols are necessary
because the reality is beyond human comprehension (Ralph). A mythology may be defined as a
system of hereditary stories which serve to explain (in terms of the intentions and actions of
supernatural beings) why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, and to establish the
rationale for social customs and observances and the sanctions for the rules by which people
conduct their lives.

saga

A long prose narrative incorporating historical and legendary elements.

Literary Structure

flashback

To interrupt a story in order to portray or recount an incident or scene from the past.

foreshadowing

To present an indication or suggestion of something before it occurs in the narrative.

irony

A technique whereby the explicit meaning of an incident or statement differs from its implicit
meaning, intent, or suggestion. Verbal irony is a statement whose explicit and implicit
meanings differ ("Come to Bethel and sin..." Amos 4:4); structural irony is found when
1) parallel plots are arranged antithetically (Peter’s denial of Jesus vs. Jesus’ confession in Mk
14:53-72); or 2) characters do not know what the reader knows; or 3) forms diverge from
what is expected (the oracles against other nations were never intended to be turned against
Israel! Amos 2:6ff).

motif or topos

An element (a type of incident, device or formula) which recurs frequently in literature. In

contrast to a theme, a motif is more limited and less comprehensive of the entire story.

plot

The structure of the action of a story, as these actions are ordered and rendered toward
achieving particular emotional and artistic effects.

setting

The general locale and historical time in which the action of a story occurs; it can also refer to
the particular physical location in which a particular scene or episode occurs.

structure

The frame or outline of a literary piece.

symbol

Anything which signifies or points to something else. Since words themselves are symbols, a
symbol in literature has two targets: 1) an object or event, and 2) that to which that object
points. For example, the words "bread of life" in John 6:22-59 point first to real bread, and
secondly to the concept of the Christ’s life-giving body.

theme

An idea, point of view or perception embodied and expanded upon in a work of art; an
underlying or essential subject of artistic representation. In contrast to a motif, the theme
comprehends the entire literary work; in this sense, it is analogous to the thesis of a research
paper.

Characterization

antagonist

One who opposes and actively competes with another (the protagonist); an adversary.
protagonist

The leading or principal figure in a story or drama.

motive

An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse acting as an incitement to action.

Narration

point of view

The way a story gets told; the perspective or perspectives established by an author through
which the reader is presented with the characters, actions, setting, and events which constitute
the narrative in a work of fiction.

first person narration

The author refers to him/herself as "I/we."

omniscient narrator

The narrator assumes a posture of knowing everything that is in the characters’ minds and
revealing this selectively.

Terms Used for the Narrative Analysis of

Poetry

(Definitions drawn from T. Brogan, "Rhythm," Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms [ed. Alex Preminger et al.; Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1986] 238, and David L. Petersen and Kent Harold Richards, Interpreting Hebrew Poetry [Guides to
Biblical Scholarship, Old Testament Series; ed. Gene M. Tucker; Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1992]).

General Terms

meter

More or less regular poetic rhythm; the measurable rhythmical patterns manifested in the work.

parallelism

The resemblance of two (or more) components of a poetic unit whereby the later element(s)
mimics, opposes, or builds upon the former element(s).

Level of Parallel
linguistic

One word in each component of the parallel is related.

phonetic

One or more sounds of the original words are played off of each other in the various
components (you can ignore this feature, since it is only visible in the original language).

verbal

The verbal action of one component is related to the verbal action in another.

Nature of Parallel Relationship

antithetical

A word or idea in one component is opposed against an antonym in the second component.

constructive

A word or idea in the later component differs from or builds upon a word or idea in the first
component.

synonymous

A word or idea in one component is mimicked or repeated by a synonym in the second

component.

rhythm

A cadence or contour, any sequence perceptible as a distinct pattern capable of repetition and
variation.

symbol

Anything which points to something else; some relationship obtains between the symbol and
that to which it points.

type

A concrete place, object or figure that finds its fullest meaning in another place, object or
figure; while type is technically a subset of symbol.
Bibliography

Resources

Aristotle. "The Poetics." In Aristotle, vol. 23, The Poetics; "Longinus," "On the Sublime";
Demetrius, "On Style," trans. W. Hamilton Fyfe and W. Rhys Roberts, Loeb Classical Library
199. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press 1982; original 1932.

Belfiore, Elizabeth. "Narratological Plots and Aristotle's Mythos." Arethusa 33 (1 2000) 37-
70. Available online.

Method

Marguerat, Daniel and Yvan Bourquin. How to Read Bible Stories: An Introduction to Narrative
Criticism, trans. John Bowden. London: SCM Press, 1999; French original, Paris: Cerf, 1998.

Powell, Mark Allan. What is Narrative Criticism?, Guides to Biblical Scholarship, New
Testament Series. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990.

Applications

Culpepper, R. Alan. Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design. Minneapolis:
Fortress, 1987.

Dicken, Frank and Julia Snyder, eds. Characters and Characterization in Luke-Acts, Library of
New Testament Studies. New York: T&T Clark, 2018.

Donahue, John R. The Gospel in Parable: Metaphor, Narrative, and Theology in the Synoptic
Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988.

George, Larry Darnell. Reading the Tapestry: A Literary-Rhetorical Analysis of the Johannine
Resurrection Narrative (John 21-21), Studies in Biblical Literature 14. New York: Peter Lang,
2000.

 Review

Iverson, Kelly R. and Christopher W. Skinner. Mark as Story: Retrospect and

Prospect. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011.

Kingsbury, Jack Dean. Matthew as Story, 2d rev. ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1988.

Longenecker, Bruce W., ed. Narrative Dynamics in Paul: A Critical Assessment. Louisville,
Kentucky: Westminster John Knox, 2003.
Merenlahti, Petri. Poetics for the Gospels?: Rethinking Narrative Criticism, Studies of the New
Testament and Its World. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2002.

 Review

Moore, Stephen D. Literary Criticism and the Gospels: The Theoretical Challenge. New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1989.

Nahkola, Aulikki. Double Narratives in the Old Testament: The Foundations of Method in
Biblical Criticism, BZAW 290. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2001.

 Review

Resseguie, James L. The Strange Gospel: Narrative Design and Point of View in John, Biblical
Interpretation Series 56. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

 Review

Rhoads, David, Joanna Dewey and Donald Michie. Mark as Story: An Introduction to the
Narrative of a Gospel, 3rd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2011.

Skinner, Christopher W. and Matthew Ryan Hauge, eds. Character Studies and the Gospel of
Mark, The Library of New Testament Studies. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014.

Smith, Stephen H. A Lion with Wings: A Narrative-Critical Approach to Mark's Gospel, Biblical
Seminar 39. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.

Tolbert, Mary Ann. Sowing the Gospel: Mark's World in Literary-Historical

Perspective. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1989.

Tovey, Derek. Narrative Art and Act in the Fourth Gospel, JSNTSup 151. Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 1997.

Vines, Michael E. The Problem of Markan Genre: The Gospel of Mark and the Jewish
Novel. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002.

 Review

Walsh, Jerome T. Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative. Collegeville, Minnesota:
Liturgical Press, 2001.
  Reviews

Of Interest

Wire, Antoinette Clark. Holy Lives, Holy Deaths: A Close Hearing of Early Jewish
Storytellers. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2002.