THE POST-MODERNIST PHASE OF BIBLICAL
INTERPRETATION
NEW LITERARY CRITICAL READINGS: NARRATIVE AND
READER RESPONSE.
- Laldanmawia
…………………………………………………………..
Introduction:
The Bible is written and produced by different people who encountered
with God through which they received God’s inspiration and by which they wrote
the books and letters. The books and letters are accepted later on as the Holy
Scripture by the people of God. It is all known that the book and letters were
written almost by men from Jewish patriarchal society. Because of that people
from different culture and society got some inconveniences to acknowledge and
to understand the real meaning of the Texts. Then the problem raised the new
readings of the Texts from different angles and perspectives, and the texts are
explained again and again to meet the people’s understanding, that is called
the Interpretation. Thus the Biblical interpretation is meant to make it clear
the meaning and significance of the Scriptures to be understandable for the
readers of different backgrounds, cultures, places and times. We interpret the
texts till these days by drawing out the meanings which are near to our
situation. When the Bible texts are interpreted, it may express the deeper sense
to the readers.
The topic ‘New Literary Critical Reading’ is one aspect of the Post-modern
Biblical Interpretation, under which narrative and reader-response are to be
dealt with in this paper by drawing the meanings and concepts.
1.
Post-modernist Phase of Biblical Interpretation:
From the 17th Century the modern world turned into
Post-modern world. In the phase of post-modernity, it is accepted that there
are many cultures, different peoples, different opinions and different
acceptations. The concept of universal truth, universal uniqueness etc which
are mainly controlled by the western philosophy and culture are dismantled.[1]
Everything is organized by mutual acceptance of who, what and where the people
are. Individual freedom of expressions, right and duties are given to the
people.
Interpretation of the Bible is to be related to the people of their
culture and their individual liberty. That is one of the intentions of
Post-modern biblical interpretation, by giving respect to the readers’
situation and by which people read the Scripture in order to make it sense. So
the meaning of Post-modern Biblical interpretation is reading and explaining
the texts from individual perspective and perception, from social outlook and
from community point of view, for gaining the concept of the texts to be
acceptable from their side. It sets out the notion from the universal
acceptance to individual acceptance which is not to be influenced by others’
philosophies and cultures.
2. New
Literary Critical Reading:
In the latter half of the 20th Century, there was upcoming
method for the reading of the Bible for the purpose of literary study. The
Bible is viewed as a virgin soil for employing literary critical theory, giving
rise to the movement called Bible as Literature.[2] So
Literary critical reading or literary criticism could be explain as the study
or criticism of the Bible from its literary form or from its literature in
order to make clear the literal meaning of the Scriptures.
The origin of new criticism appeared in 1940’s and 1950’s by secular
literary critics by explaining what new literary criticism is:
New literary criticism distinguished literary history,
which answers historical questions concerning
author and composition, from the proper business of literary criticism, which
is the study of the literary object itself.[3]
According to
them the literary history of the author and the composition are analyzed using
the new literary critical method. Indeed it is the study of those phenomena, as
well as it studies the literary genres and the literary languages which present
the new meaning beyond the texts say.
2.1. Narrative:
Narrative criticism or narrative critical reading is one of the modern forms
of literary criticisms. It treats the texts as a unit and focuses on narrative
structure and composition, plot development, themes and motifs, characters and
characterization.[4] It is a
method of studying narrative, emphasizing as well as the role of the readers.
It assumes that the story does not exist autonomously within the text, but
comes into being through the interaction between the text and the readers.
Some biblical verses are bearing a narrative story. In the story there
exist a literary entity to be found which is not same as the real author, but
his/her character could be found which would express who he/her is. But at the
same time, he/she is not real author in a sense that, in his/her other books or
letters, another entity different from the first could be found. For example-
the letter of Paul 1 Corinthians and Galatians could give different character
of the author, but are the same author.[5]
So, the narratives of the texts are read and reflected in this way in which the
reader interacts within the texts.
2.2. Reader
Response:
Another division of Literary Criticism is the reader response. The main
purpose and meaning is reading the Bible as literature to retrieve it from the
museum and to relate it to the life of the contemporary situation of the
readers.[6]
The meaning of the literature of the Bible is dedicated by the interaction
between the text and the readers. Full meaning is possible only when the Bible
is read as literature, where the Bible is reimaged by the readers in the sense
of readers’ own world.[7]
The reader response criticism is more or less related with the previous in a
sense called interactive of readers and the texts.
According to Randolph Tate,
Reader-response critics view literary meaning as
bipolar. Meaning is produced through the interaction between a text and a reader.
Until a reader picks up a text and begins ready it, a literary works does not exist.[8]
This means, to make the texts meaningful, two things have to interconnect
–readers and the contents of the texts. The literary works or literary contents
of the Bible are not so consequential until and unless people are reading it
and taking it to relevance to their context situation. According to the
response given by the reader, the text has meaning in one way or another.
Conclusion:
The Bible is the
sacred book of Christianity, because of which we try to find out the reasons
and particular texts which would influence and would teach us how to do and
what to act in relation to our own situation. That is the reason why we try to
use it and regulate it in a meaningful way. So to do this we have to interpret
the texts. The interpretation processes may be different again according to the
conditions of the people. Besides all these things what important and aim of
Biblical interpretation is ‘what is the texts mean to you and mean to your
culture and society’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bray, Gerald. Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present.
Illinois:
Interversity Press, 1996.
Tate, W. Randolph.
Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach. Massachusetts:
Hendrickson
Publishers, Inc., 1997.
Bray, David,
Kenneth A. Matthews and Robert B. Sloan. Foundations
for Biblical
Interpretation. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers,
1994.
Shimray, Shimreingam L. Introducing Theological Ethics. Ukhrul: Phingyo Baptist Church,
2011.
(14/07/2011)
[2] David Bray, Kenneth A. Matthews and Robert B. Sloan. Foundations for Biblical Interpretation (Nashville:
Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994), 206.
[3] David Bray, Kenneth A. Matthews and Robert B. Sloan, Foundations for Biblical Interpretation (Nashville:
Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994), 212.
[5] W. Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach (Massachusetts:
Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1997), 219.
[6] David Bray, Kenneth A. Matthews and Robert B. Sloan, Foundations for Biblical Interpretation (Nashville:
Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994), 219.
[7] David Bray, Kenneth A. Matthews and Robert B. Sloan, Foundations for Biblical Interpretation (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers,
1994), 220
[8] W. Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach (Massachusetts:
Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1997), 217.
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