1 Biblical Apologetics Book Review: The Art Of Biblical History by V. Phillips Long Introduction Long, V. Phillips.

Introduction in The Art of Biblical History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994. Pp. 17-26. Long first provides his audience with an analogous narrative about two brothers who find a small painting in an attic. This very intriguing painting depicts a girl surrounded by things she appears to enjoy (i.e., piano stool, basketball, field hockey stick, garden gloves, etc.), but it is the girls sixth finger on her right hand that intrigues the boys the most. The boys begin to inquire upon the nature of this painting. Is it representational of a real scene or is it fictitious? Does the girl actually exist outside of the painting and if so, does she really have six fingers on one hand? After studying the painting and its surroundings (i.e., other paintings in the room) they theorize the likelihood of it being a portrait. Being a portrait, the extra finger continues to provide problematic inconsistencies for the boys who theorize that the finger is symbolic and not realistically representational. The boys then question their mother as to the nature of this peculiar painting. Their mother affirms the theory that the painting is indeed a portrait, but correct the boys symbolic thumb theory by assuring that her grandmother, the woman in the portrait, indeed had an extra finger on her right hand that was surgically removed when she was young. Long then proceeds to explain the relevance of the analogy to the study of biblical history. The boys in the analogy, who sought to know the nature of the painting, are much like an average interpreter of the biblical text. The portrait which was studied represents the biblical text which is/must be studied in a very similar fashion to the way in which the boys study the peculiar portrait in the attic. Being a piece of literature, or a unified collection of literary works as Long puts it, much of the Bible gives the impression of, and some of it explicitly presents itself as, representational literature [as the painting similarly represented representational portraiture being a representation of something real], history-writing (21). The historical nature of the Bible is the prominent concern of Longs throughout this discourse. Long continues by asserting, without some understandings of the conventions of portraiture the boys would have no basis for classifying their painting as a portrait (22). This is crucial to making any attempt to interpret the biblical text, or any text for that matter. Not only is genre recognition vital to gaining accurate knowledge of nearly anything in this present created order, genre recognition necessitates specific genre conventions (i.e., things specific to that particular genre that distinguish it from that which identifies other genres). Long then highlights two specific interpretive actions, exemplified by the boys mother in the analogy: first, interpretation requires what Long calls embodied intention, the intentionality apparent in the execution of the work itself, being that neither the artist of the portrait nor the author of the biblical text are able to be interviewed. Second, interpretation necessitates the artist or orchestrator being skilled or in any way competent Joshua W. Houston Biblical Apologetics 9/1/2013

2 at his or her specific craft. Not only does the artists intention need to be considered, but intention necessitates the ability to present that intention in an effective way, otherwise an incorrect intention will be portrayed and thus misinterpreted. Long continues his argument by highlighting the need to move beyond genre once the macro-genre of the text is established. Long provides his readers with the macrogeneric example of historiography which is a form of representational literature that must be studied in great depth and further inquired upon to determine what kind of historiography or representational literature it is (23). After the interpreter moves beyond the macro-genre stage he or she may entertain questions of truth (i.e., a texts truth claim), specifically how representational or how much of actual reality, historical or not, does it represent? Here is when data pertaining to isogogics/isagogics (i.e., introductory datum or that in the exegetical process which is analyzed prior to textual exegesis) becomes important. Returning back to the two interpretative considerations highlighted by Long: intention and ability or craftiness, both correlate closely with a texts truth claim. But truth claim must be clearly distinguished from truth value; solely because a text intends to portray truth does not mean that the author succeeded in portraying that intended truth. Long resorts back to the initial analogy to again assert a point very crucial when attempting to interpret the biblical text, literary conventions may at times be modified or even disregarded by a given author to accommodate for his agenda, and when these modifications involve questions of truthfulness, truth becomes very relative and succinct clarification needs to be provided before any truth claims on the interpreters behalf can be made (25). Saying it another way, although the analogous narrative was not realistically and in many ways historically true (i.e., it did not actually happen) some parts of the story were accurate, and regardless of their accuracy the author (Long) was not intending to record a historical event. He instead recorded some details corresponding to reality and the intended purpose of the story was to illustrate some of the issues faced by those interpreting the Bible and this by no means indicates that Long is a liar or untrue (25). Truth must be defined in all circumstances, and Long suggests the question of whether or not a text is true should often be replaced by the question of whether or not a text succeeds in accomplishing its truthful purposes. In conclusion this analogous narrative, composed by Long himself, may rightly be identified under the generic classification of historiographical fiction, and Long ends the chapter affirming, As we move now to take up in turn certain basic questions relating to the historical character of the Bible, we do well to recognize that the Bible contains various kinds of stories, some meant to illustrate truth [as is the case with Longs analogy] and others meant to establish it (26). Book Review: The Art of Biblical History by V. Phillips Long Chapter 1: History and the Genre(s) of the Bible Long, V. Phillips. History and the Genre(s) of the Bible chapter 1 in The Art of Biblical History. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994. pp. 27-57.

Joshua W. Houston

Biblical Apologetics

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3 Introduction (27-28) In the opening sentence, Long initially answers the question of whether or not the Bible is a history book by assuring his readers that it is not. He continues by saying that identifying the essential nature or macro-genre of the Bible is by no means a simple question. Long suggests that in attempting to identify the nature of the Bible it is beneficial for one to begin by asserting what it is not: a history book, a science book, an ethics book, a law book, a theology book, a political book and a literature book. The Bible may be of vital interest in each of these areas, but its essence cannot be reduced to any one of them (27). Long agrees with Robert Morgan who, when asked to specify on the intrinsic subject matter of the Bible, identifies it as a religious book. But even this identification is open for argumentation and identifying the nature of the Bible and correlating its identity to issues of truth is the intention of Long in this chapter. The Bibles Macro-Genre and the Issue of Truth (28-30) Long begins this section of the chapter by demonstrating how intrinsically connected genre identification and issues of truth are. The believing status of the individual (i.e., Christian, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, Agnostic) will affect not only the way one interprets individual passages within the text but identifies the text and its nature as a whole. Determining what a text claims to be true (i.e., a texts truth claim) is drastically different than valuing and believing those claims to be truth (i.e., a texts truth value). For protestant evangelical Christians, one would hope that the Bibles truth claims and truth values coincide, but for an atheist who does not hold fast to the doctrine of inerrancy the truth claims of the biblical text would often be much different from what an atheist values to be true. And approaching the text in the opposite fashion from value to claim will also provide difficulties regarding identification and interpretation. It is one thing to believe the Bible to be true; it is another to understand what it says that this important distinction sometimes becomes blurred is illustrated by the fact that for many believers, unfortunately, assurance that the Bible is true appears to be inseparable from assurance about traditional interpretative positions, so that if we question the latter we seem to be doubting the former (29; Silva, Moises. Old Princeton, Westminster, and Inerrancy, WTJ 50, 1998: 78). The Bible as a Foreign Book (30-38) This section begins with one of the most invoking quotes in the entire book, Something like genre recognition plays an important role in all forms of communication (30). Understanding the importance of genre recognition and distinction cannot be overstated. Reading a text message, looking at a painting, interpreting a biblical pericope, having a conversation, telling a joke, driving on the interstate and meeting someone new all require that the genre of that specific moment/incident be understood and respected on its own terms. If one fails to submit to the conventions of that genre, once it has been clearly established, misinterpretation and misunderstanding often resulting in some confusion and disrespect will occur.

Joshua W. Houston

Biblical Apologetics

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4 Long illustrates this point by providing his readers with an example from crosscultural mission work. In this example two woman travel cross-culturally to a place foreign to them in order to spread the gospel. The women have initial success but very soon after the people in the community start distancing themselves for no apparent reason. It turned out that every morning when the women would sit on their porch and drink lime juice the members of the community would look down upon their promiscuous actions because the members of the community believed that lime juice was one of the best contraceptives, hence they believed the women to be engaging in sexual intercourse the previous night. Because the Bible is a collection of literary compositions deriving from a culture in many way much distant from ours, both in space and time, we must attempt to enter into that culture and read the text with ancient near-eastern eyes, ears and minds as often as we can. Unless students of the Bible are willing to sacrifice, as it were, their monolingual and monocultural integrity that is, unless they are willing, by an effort of imagination, to enter a cultural and literary world different in many respects from their own even a high view of the Bibles veracity is no guarantee of a right view of its interpretation (33). Integral to this as well is genre recognition, but one must remain very wary against limiting their knowledge of generic conventions of a specific culture or reality. Genres do not transcend time and location, poetry, as practiced by 20th century western society, does not equate to poetry practiced by the scribes and sages of the biblical era. And as the above quote mentions this foreign culture can only be engaged with correctly and honestly if ones own imagination is strictly disciplined and versed, otherwise even a sound evangelical and traditional interpretative foundation such as asserting the inerrancy of Scripture or its intrinsic nature being the Word of God will not guarantee right interpretation. Entering into and attempting with all earnestness to understand the literary and generic conventions of the culture of the Bible provides interpreters with what Long refers to as ancient literary competence. All historians/interpreters must gain some form of ancient literary competence for accuracies sake. Professional historians avoid the danger of interpreting the past by the conventions of the present: by building up a comprehensive knowledge of the conventions and preoccupations of the past (34; McCullagh, C. Behan. Justifying Historical Descriptions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. p. 72.). Just as one enters into another present existing culture when we travel by abiding by their rules and obeying their laws one must, with imaginative training and skill, enter into the cultures of the past as often as possible in order to better understand their conventions and become more familiar with their livelihood (we find very similar teaching regarding the acquisition of knowledge and the wisdom enterprise in Proverbs chapter 1). In traditional evangelical circles there is a deep conviction that lingual understanding is vital within the process of exegesis, but occasionally this strong lingual urging is coupled by an ahistorical approach to biblical interpretation resting upon notions that the past cannot be reconstructed. But ancient literary conventions must be valued alongside ancient lingual understanding otherwise either discipline is accomplished in vain. Genre Criticism and Biblical Interpretation (38-50) Long in attempting to define genre employs two helpful definitions given by John Barton and J. J. Collins on pg. 38, but ultimately determines, within the same paragraph, that the concept of genre is much too difficult to define in one sentence for mainly two Joshua W. Houston Biblical Apologetics 9/1/2013

5 reasons: first, genre is a broad term and can be used to refer to genres of specific discourses of all varieties and sizes, hence the word macro-genre benefits our purposes as implying the genre of the entire sixty-six book biblical canon, and second, specific genre titles given to extrabiblical texts are often believed to transcend certain literary boundaries and be easily applied to biblical texts when this transcension is unwarranted, i.e., the conventions do not align. Long illustrates the latter of these two points by employing Blombergs argument that many of the New Testament parables (Luke 16:19-31) are unparalleled in the literary world and thus not able to find conventional generic counterparts. After attempting to define genre in a very broad way Long then highlights five qualifications of critically engaging generic questions, i.e., genre criticism: first, genre criticism is a descriptive, as opposed to a prescriptive, enterprise, meaning that genre classifications are not inviolable straightjackets that offer no room for leeway but instead provide freedom, within a series of loose frameworks, for the author of the genre to be original and employ creativity. Second, the simplicity criterion, the notion that concise argumentation and expression indicates greater antiquity as opposed to longwinded or elaborate discourse that is a product of later or present periods, is logically false (44). Third, the possibility that generic representation found within the biblical text may not find similar representation outside the Bible should always be considered. Genre classification is merely a great convenience and does, like every other discipline, have its limitations. Fourthly, within the ANE it is possible to find a genre that does not have a biblical counterpart. This point is illustrated very efficiently by Long who asserts that unlike specific extrabiblical ANE genres, such as individual prayer and congregational laments, that were readily used by the biblical authors, recordings of divination and incantation are by no means analogous to anything found in the Bible. Fifthly, genre recognition and classification involves texts on macro as well as micro levels. Textual characteristics on the smallest level affect textual structure of entire discourses and certainly visa versa. Genre Criticism and the Rise of Biblical Poetics (50-53) This section mainly highlights the importance of form criticism, lower-level criticism that attempts to identify the compositional structure or forming of a specific text within its present state, and a high-level critical concept known as biblical poetics. Long employs Adele Berlins definition of poetics being an inductive science that seeks to abstract the general principles of literature from many different manifestations of those principles as they occur in actual literary texts (51; Berlin, Adele. Poetics and Interpretation, p. 15). Poetics is distinct from interpretation in that poetics focuses on a variety of texts whereas interpretation obviously limits its intention to only one. Poetics is most often used by authors who desire clear and distinct understanding of the rules of literature and the grammar behind those rules in order to abide by generic conventions more effectively. Poetics aims to equip the interpreter with preunderstandings and reading strategies that are appropriate to the text being studied (52). Poetics is a very effective literary pursuit that focuses on the internal workings of the specific texts. An Example: Judges 4 and 5

Joshua W. Houston

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6 Being that Judges 4 and 5 are most commonly identified, in broad generic terms, as prosaic and poetic accounts of the same event they compliment Longs agenda perfectly. Without getting too bogged down on the exegetical and interpretative characteristics of these two accounts Long analyzes two studies that differ regarding the compositional and formal make-up of these texts. The question being considered, are these accounts independent of one another or does the evidence suggest that one is dependent upon another? Long first considers Halperns Sisera and Old Lace: The Case of Deborah and Yael in his book The First Historian: The Hebrew Bible and History. Halpern proposes in this chapter that Judges 4 is a special case in which Israelite historians intentionally create antiquarian texts out of that which does not necessarily represent historical account. In short, Halpern defends the argument that Judges 5 is of traditional antiquity and scribes attempted to draw an innacurate historical account out of this poem and record it under antiquarian historical generic conventions. Longs interaction with Halpern results in two observations: first, Halpern approaches Judges 5 with inaccurate expectations regarding chronology that should not be so readily applied to poetry. Second, in Longs opinion Halpern does not take into full account the imagistic character of poetry, the imagery employed by the poet should not be interpreted in a literally dogmatic way. The second analyses Long interacts with is Lawson Youngers Heads! Tails! Or the Whole Coin?! Contextual Method and Intertextual Analysis: Judges 4 and 5. In this study Younger concludes that Judges 4 and 5 are complementary and not contradictory much like the conclusion assumed by Halpern. Younger affirms, through in depth ANE poetic analysis, scribes used different mediums to accomplish different purposes more effectively, for example: poetry was a medium employed when intending to heighten the emotion of praise much like modern conventions of worship. Younger differs from Halpern in that Younger concludes that neither text is dependent upon the other, but both are complimentary in the sense that they are both derived from the same primary source. After interacting with Youngers work Long claims, It effectively demonstrates, on the basis of actual ancient Near Eastern literature, that purpose affects selection and representation and that it is not at all uncommon for complementary (though not identical) portraits to be painted in the differing media of prose and poetry. All of this illustrates and underscores the importance of recognizing that the Bible comprises a library of various genres, and that interpretation must never lose sight of this fact (56). Conclusion Long concludes this exhaustive chapter by returning to the original question asked in the beginning of the chapter, is the Bible a history book? He asserts that an affirmative answer cannot be given being that the biblical text is made up of a variety of specific genres of all types. The genres may or may not be represented in their purest form due to slight alterations by the authors or poets trying to accomplish their specific purposes. In this manner Long defends the effectiveness of applying biblical poetics to larger textual units when deciding the importance and intentions of questions regarding the historical nature of a text. But one needs to be aware and cautious that genre classifications and comparisons, especially between biblical and extrabiblical texts, not become imperative thus limiting the contents of a text.

Joshua W. Houston

Biblical Apologetics

9/1/2013