Double Narratives in the Old Testament

The Foundations of Method in Biblical Criticism

Aulikki Nahkola

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9783110167313
• eBook ISBN: 9783110870916
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Ancient Religion

A study of the importance of variant forms of Old Testament narratives in prompting the development of the criticism of the Bible.

The recognition of the recurrence of stories in variant forms in the Old Testament has been seminal to the birth and development of biblical criticism. The author assesses the role of the "double narrative phenomenon" in the evolution of Old Testament methodology, from its earliest documentary theories to its most recent literary ones, with the help of current literary, folklore and textual studies.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Double Narratives in the Rise and Development of Biblical Criticism
• 1.1 Early Biblical Criticism
• 1.2 Source Criticism: Wellhausen
• 1.3 Source Criticism After Wellhausen
• 1.4 Form and Tradition-historical Criticism: Gunkel
• 1.5 Form and Tradition-historical Criticism After Gunkel
• 1.6 Scandinavian Scholarship
• 1.7 Koch, Van Seters
• 1.8 “Holistic” Approaches to Double Narratives
• 1.9 Summary
• Chapter 2: Double Narratives as Indicators of Documents or Literary Artistry
• 2.1 The Nature of Biblical Criticism: The Role of Models in Methodology
• 2.2 The “Nature” Model: Spinoza
• 2.3 The “Archivist-Historian”: Simon and Astruc
• 2.4 “The Historian”: Wellhausen
• 2.5 “Literary Artist”: Alter
• Chapter 3: Double Narratives as Oral Variants
• 3.1 Oral Genres and the Old Testament Narrative
• 3.2 Old Testament Narrative Genres as Oral Genres: A Reevaluation
• 3.3 Oral Composition and Transmission: The Dynamics of Variant Development
• 3.4 Gunkel’s Concept of Oral Variants: An Evaluation
• 3.5 Summary
• Chapter 4: Double Narratives: Towards a Definition
• 4.1 Double Narrative Terminology in Old Testament Scholarship
• 4.2 Towards a Definition
• 4.3 Literary and Textual Variants
• 4.4 Appraisal
• 4.5 Textual Variants and Double Narratives – An Interface?
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index 1: Biblical References
• Index 2: Authors
• Index 3: Subjects