Literary Structures

1. Introduction

• All large documents contain some kind of structuring
• Ancient ways of structuring are very different to modern practices
  • Modern: chapters, subtitles, paragraphs, introduction & conclusion
  • Ancient: narrative techniques, inclusio, parallelism, inverse parallel structures, etc.
• Logic:
  1. Context is one of the most vital factors in determining meaning
  2. The most important aspect of the context of a passage is its role in the argument of the book.
  3. The structure of a book gives great help in determining the flow of argument:
     • both at the level of the whole book
     • and within smaller sections
  4. Therefore structure is of great exegetical importance.

2. General Literary Techniques
   • Hebrew Parallelism
   • Psalms of Lament
     • Handout of some Lament Psalms
     • Writing our own Lament
   • The pattern of Laments in the Psalms and Psalm 90
   • Narrative techniques
3. Structural Patterns
   • Poetic Structures
   • Colossians 3:1-6 —Very similar to Hebrew Poetry
   • John 4:46-54 - The Nobleman’s Faith for his Son to be Healed (handout to come with Luke 18)
   • Galatians 5:13-6:5 —Really helps in understanding the meaning (Handout)
   • Colossians 1:1-9
   • Colossians 1:15-20 (modern tranlation)
4. Structure of the whole book
   • Structure of the book of Judges
   • Structure of the book of Acts

Important book, particulary with regard to Luke

• Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983)

Two valuable papers:

• C. A. Smith, The Leaning Tower—Foundational Weaknesses if Contemporary Chiastic Studies, (Toronto: ETS, 2002)
• A. Boyd Luter And Richard O. Rigsby An Adjusted Symmetrical Structuring Of Ruth, JETS 39:1 (March 1996) p. 16