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Name: Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible: Amit, Yairah: 9780800632809: Amazon.com: Books
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Rating: 4.6 (22 reviews)

Yairah Amit

Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible Paperback – July 20, 2001

by Yairah Amit (Editor)

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Based on a series of lectures given in Israel, Amit introduces the reader to the subtle ways of the biblical narrators. Covering issues of character, plot development, catchword association, narration and dialogue, she brings the biblical text to life, helping the reader enter the stories from new vantage points.

Print length

200 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Fortress Press
Publication date

July 20, 2001
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.47 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

080063280X
ISBN-13

978-0800632809
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Yairah Amit is Professor of Biblical Studies at Tel Aviv University, Israel, She is the author of Hidden Polemics in Biblical Narrative (Brill, 2000), The Book of Judges: The Art of Editing (Brill, 1999), and History and Ideology in the Bible: An Introduction to Historiography in the Hebrew Bible (Sheffield Academic, 1997).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fortress Press; Illustrated edition (July 20, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 080063280X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0800632809
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.47 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #954 in Hebrew Bible
- #1,168 in Old Testament Criticism & Interpretation
- #2,132 in Old Testament Commentaries

Customer Reviews:
4.6 22 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

22 global ratings

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Grandmother Debra

Needed for his studies.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

It was greatly appreciated as a gift.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2009

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It's just too rare to get a book on Old Testament interpretation that was actually written in Hebrew! Professor Yairah Amit of Tel Aviv University had her short work translated into English in 2001 and it is a truly enriching and engaging book. I felt like I had gained such useful perspectives and tools - although it is a mere 150 pages, it was like I'd read over 500 pages!

Amit deals topically with major aspects of biblical criticism such as plot structure, character development, chronology, geography etc. etc. She gives diagrams and overviews of major plot-types (such as the Three-Four Structure and the Calling Narrative) as well as saying how to identify each character type: Round, Flat and Type (she even investigates how Yahweh is characterised!) There's no generalised literary criticism here - everything she says deals directly with the unique character and flavour of biblical narratives (basically everything from Genesis to Ezra in the Protestant canonical order - although, between you and me, everything she says is incredibly useful and applicable to the Gospels and Acts).

She illustrates all of her points with detailed examples from places like Genesis, Judges, Samuel and Kings. She 'repeats' certain stories (such as 'Judah and Tamar' and 'Naboth's Vineyard') in multiple chapters, giving a captivating sense of how the same story can be analysed in different ways. What units make up the plot? What function does each character play? How is the flow of time managed or subverted? etc. etc. It makes you want to reread every biblical story there is and apply each of her tools to really understand them richly and deeply. Now that really can't be a bad thing, can it?

Amit self-consciously seeks to clear away the haze of Judeo-Christian theology - rather than looking for what we 'want' the text to say, we need to let the Bible speak by attending to what is there. She also corrects other errors such as ignoring geographic markers and movements, and thinking the only value of a story is how it affects its context. Amit is incredibly well-read and well-informed - Euro-Americans may routinely ignore Jewish scholarship, but Amit does not return in kind! Nonetheless, she speaks with her own voice and never gets bogged down in debates.

'Reading Biblical Narratives' stays 'on target' throughout, giving us literary-rhetorical criticism and that alone, but nonetheless that author does emphasise that we need to be willing to do textual, redactive, historical and theological work to get the 'whole picture', so to speak. You'll need to read other books to learn about those techniques. Personally, I'd love for this book to be "Part 2" of a big 700 page text-book that begins with Textual Criticism (Part 1) and then goes into historical and archaeological matters (Part 3). That would be a dream, but for what we have here, I can't fault it. It's a power-packed tour-de-force of literary analysis.

[Footnote: There is the odd statement here that a, shall we say, 'evangelical' Christian may find fault with. But it's really very few and far between - Amit deeply respects the text and this is actually one of the few academic works I would unhesitatingly recommend to any church member interested in the topic.]

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jaroslav Melgr

Great introduction to literary criticism through biblical stories

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 1, 2010

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This is a very fine book uncovering the power of biblical stories which serves as an introduction to biblical narrative. It was written by professor Yairah Amit of the Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Professor Amit's approach to literary criticism of biblical narrative is through biblical stories. Her premise is that biblical writers considered stories to be powerful means of teaching and persuasion. She illustrates this point over and again through examples and analysis of biblical stories. Whichever topic she's covering - whether it be defining boundaries, exploring characters, motives, time, place, etc. - she first introduces a set of principles, then illustrates them by presenting examples of biblical stories, and finally elaborates upon them.

This approach to introducing biblical narrative is very scholarly, methodical and amazingly covers a lot of ground. Professor Amit makes a skillful use of textual criticism, sifting out later textual additions but also identifying editor's or redactor's changes through literary analysis. This combination of lower criticism (textual criticism) and higher criticism (literary criticism) is rather intriguing and yields some very interesting results. Yet the book is accessible to anyone and the casual reader should not be dissuaded from reading it. The analysis presented in this book is quite readable and enjoyable. Whether or not you intend to pursue the study of biblical narrative any further, this book will certainly enrich you and add light to your understanding of biblical stories. I highly recommend this book.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Christa Bartlett

Great Book for Bible Students

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

We have started getting this for all of the members of our homeschool co-op's senior students for their Old Testament Bible study course. It does a great job of showing how to analyze the Bible from an academic perspective, and is written in a very engaging style. The great thing is that all of the lessons can be directly applied to what they are reading. It shows both the unique character of scripture as well as how to take standard literary tools and apply them to scripture.

2 people found this helpful

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Angie

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Easy reading for school and it helped immensely

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Tom

Excellent.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

One of the best at explaining how Biblical narratives differ from other types of narratives. I strongly recommend this book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

I recommend students who study Biblical narrative (Reader oriented or Reader response view).
She gives colorful view for biblical narratives.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

school book only thing i can say

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Top reviews from other countries

McWatt Family Farms

Excellent summary of key points in literary criticism

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

This was required reading for a close didn't my Master of Divinity.
Clear and succinct description of the various components of literary criticism with ample Biblical examples.

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