Leland Ryken, past professor of English at Wheaton College (Illinois), has spent a significant amount of his career helping readers improve their interpretation and appreciation of the literary character of the Bible. A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible is just another splendid entry in that effort. The purpose of this book was to define the literary forms utilized in the bible recognized by literary and biblical scholars and list them alphabetically. While this reviewer cannot verify that the book identifies every type of literary form used in the bible, it is unlikely that readers would notice any missing entries.

Though the book reads like a dictionary with terms followed by a brief a brief definition, the format makes for rapid reading. Fortunately, Ryken frequently illustrates entries by referencing particular bible passages. It is unclear as to why an index of passages was not included. Less frequently, but of no less significance, Ryken gives extended explanations on how to appreciate the form’s beauty and how to interpret it properly. Entries with extended discussions include Device of Disclosure, Echo, Encomium, Figurative Language, Love Poem, Parable, Praise Psalms, Structure of a Text or Passage, and Theme and Variation. I suggest that these entries are worth their exegetical weight in gold and combine to make the book a screaming bargain. Unfortunately, the book’s brevity means that Ryken did not provide a bibliography or footnotes. Readers looking for more detail and explication of many of the book’s entries are advised to consult the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, which Ryken was a general editor.

Leland Ryken

Ryken repeatedly attacks two main errors he believes hinders right understanding and appreciation of the text. The first problem is naive literalism. Ryken rightly notes that God is not literally a shield nor does He have hands. Alternatively, Ryken argues that just because a metaphor is not literally true does not mean we should think of it as less true. Metaphors, like other literary forms, force us to think more deeply about a passage as the comparisons and meanings are not always readily apparent without further reflection. The second error is the tendency to ignore or devalue the artistic elements of scripture. Readers should pay attention to the content, says Ryken, but not to the extent of ignoring the way the content is packaged. He asks readers to consider the possibility that the packaging (forms) used by biblical writers is just as inspired as the content (meaning) itself.

Readers wanting a fast introduction (or reintroduction) to the literary forms of the Bible should read this book. Those willing to integrate its contents into their bible reading will reap significant rewards that will benefit their understanding, appreciation, and proclamation of God’s word.

Reviewed by Stephen M. Vantassel

Publisher’s page (excerpt available): https://www.crossway.org/books/a-complete-handbook-of-literary-forms-in-the-b-tpb/

David G. Firth and Jamie A. Grant, eds., Words and the Word: Explorations in Biblical Interpretation and Literary Theory (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2008), 317 pages, ISBN 9780830828982.

Prior to the post-modern period, many of the critical methodologies used in biblical studies such as redaction criticism, form criticism and source criticism were used in biblical interpretation in order to aid the critic in the interpretation of a text’s pre-history. In contrast, literary theory focuses on the final form of the text. The editors of this collection seek to expose the reader to many of the multiple methods of literary theory as they relate to biblical interpretation.

Eight essays are included in Words and the Word and they fall into two parts: First, two general articles. Grant Osborne lays out the components of narrative theory, focusing specifically on how this can be used with the Gospels. Fanie Snyman provides a “responsible” and “non-technical” approach to exegesis of Old Testament narrative (61). Both Synman’s and Osborne’s discussions are clear and comprehensive.

Part two of the book is comprised of six essays, which discuss specific literary approaches to interpretation. First, Richard Briggs offers one of the most helpful explanations on speech-act theory I have encountered, including well-defined key terminology that is necessary for comprehending this concept. Speech-act theory understands that language has the ability to govern significant aspects of human life. Briggs claims the biblical writers were very cognizant of the profound power of words (85).

Jeannine Brown’s chapter on genre criticism is characteristic of all the essays in this collection—the methodologies all aim at discovering authorial intention. Brown reminds us that even genres were tools that biblical authors employed to communicate a specific message (143).

Many literary scholars assert that at certain times in their writing authors of the Bible intentionally employed ambiguity and willfully invited “readers to enjoy and play with the text” (183). David Firth argues for this practice as his contribution to the collection of articles. In an interesting piece, Firth attempts to show how William Empson’s taxonomy of ambiguity is a useful tool in which to explore biblical narrative. While Firth’s explanation and presentation is thorough and includes plenty of examples, I remain unconvinced (but open) that any ambiguity in the text is anything but unintentional.

Jamie Grant contributes an essay on poetics. The bulk of the essay deals with the significance of editorial shaping within anthologies like Proverbs and the book of Psalms. Grant demonstrates the importance of discerning a passages’ theme based on its placement by the editor within a particular thematic section of the book. Plenty of examples help to clarify this form of analysis. His chapter also includes a section on poetic parallelism and an even smaller discussion about New Testament poetry.

Peter Phillips explores the philosophical development of rhetoric, the art of persuasion. Although his essay contains some biblical examples to demonstrate his approach, this chapter and the next are two of the more theory-laden of the collection.

The final piece on discourse analysis, written by Terrance Wardlaw, might be one of the least known of the literary approaches discussed in the book. Wardlaw’s definition of discourse analysis is “the analysis of language and its use beyond the sentence. Moreover, one may describe ‘discourse’ as a unit of speech (either oral or written) treated by interlocutors as a complete utterance” (268). Wardlaw applies his analysis to both an Old and New Testament passage in order to help illuminate this theory.

Thomas G. Long, Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 144 pages.

I recommend this book to all preachers who are serious about being true to the specific genres within the Scriptural text. Applying the principles in this book will help you in your preaching ministry and open up your mind to the different genres of Scripture. You will want to keep this volume in your library and read it several times.

Thomas G. Long is a senior fellow of the Academy of Homiletics and is one of the leading homileticians of our time. One of his main themes is the form and the function of the text—the genre of the text and things implied in the text. His method builds upon the exegetical and historical method.

This book will be helpful to preachers who want to accurately translate the text, exegete it and apply it to their preaching. One of the things missing among some preachers is a proper grasp of the homiletical genres of the text. Preaching the genre of the text will help you to be true to the Word of God, preaching more accurately. For example, the genre of the Psalms is different from the genre of the parables, therefore sermons should each be outlined differently.

One of the problems I had reading Long’s book was understanding his writing style. However, once you understand his method of writing, this book is good reading. He does not give examples of the genres until chapter eight were he gives general principles in outlining the genres of the Bible. I felt that this chapter should have been the first chapter of the book.

Thomas G. Long

In chapter eight he gives some very good principles. In moving from the text to outlining the sermon, he suggests the preacher should do a number of things. Allow the movement of the sermon to follow the movement of the text. In other words the main points should flow from the main blocks of thought in the sermon. Allow the opposing forces of the text to become the opposing forces in the sermon. For example, in Psalm 1 the text compares the good man and the evil man. Allow the central insight of the text to be the central insight of the sermon, therefore, if the main idea of the prodigal son is God’s love for the undeserving sinner; then the preacher’s main theme should be God’s love for the undeserving sinner. Allow the mood of the text to set the mood of the sermon. Generally I find this idea works well if the mood of the sermon is joy, such as in Phil. 2:5. However this becomes problematic when the theme of the text is sorrow. I found these principles to be very helpful in preparing sermons.

The only contention I have with the approach above is that it is much better to end a sermon on the major theme of the New Testament: the resurrection. The resurrection can be translated into hope, victory and celebration. Celebration is a major theme of the New Testament and of African American preaching. In our preaching style we want to give hope to a dying world. For example, we can preach about Hell as a place of torment where we do not want to go, but we need to point out that we have hope in Jesus and heaven to gain if we trust Him as our Savior.

Reviewed by Aldwin Ragoonath