Literary Type: How do I find it?
Finding literary type should not be too difficult. Here's what I do. I look over my chapter titles and I ask myself as I review each title, "Is that chapter primarily ideological, biographical or historical?" If a person's name comes up repeatedly in my titles, then that is a good indicator that the book is biographical. If each chapter focuses on ideas, the the book is most likely ideological. But, of the book focuses on the history of a nation (Israel) or a tribe (Benjaminites, Levites), etc. or another group (Sadducees) then the book could be considered to be historical. Sometimes the best clue for a book's literary type is in the title: Job, I and II Samuel. Sometimes a book has two or more literary types that are very distinct. For example, a book could have a lo0ng biographical unit, but then turns to ideological material
Literary Type: What is it?
As we think about studying a book, we might also briefly consider how an author writes a book. Before an author puts a word on paper (or a word processor) he thinks about what he wants to say -- his message. What's his point? He decides on a theme and proposes the point he wants to get across to his readers. Then he must ask, "What is the best way to communicate my point to my audience?" Several options are available to him. He could write an essay explaining his cause and making a case for his position. Or, he could simply tell a story that illustrates his point and allows his readers to discover the truth for themselves. The method the author uses to communicate his theme and his point of view is connected to literary type.
An author has at least five literary types available to him for communicating his message. We will look at the three primary types here. The other two (chronological and geographical) are secondary:
1. Biography: In biography, the author communicates his message by telling the story of a person's life. He may not tell the entire life story of a person (as in the case of Jesus in the gospels), but he does tell enough of that person's story to get his point across to the reader. The emphasis is on the important events in the person's life. Occasionally, the author will tell the story of more than one person. He might focus, for example, on the story if a father, his son, and his grandson. Here the emphasis is on both the events and the characters who lived through those events.
2. History: If an author tells the story of a large group of people without focusing primarily on an individual, then the literary type employed is history. What is important in historical material is that the author writes about major events.
3. Ideology: The author may not tell any stories in his writing. Instead he focuses primarily on specific ideas and arguments, He wants to prove that his ideas are the most logical. So, he makes his case by offering proofs for what he believes. That is an ideological literary type. All of the Epistles of the New Testament are ideological
Literary Type: Why is it valuable?
Why is literary type so valuable? How can it helps us understand a book of the Bible? The primary role of literary type is to help us understand how a book is structured -- how it's put together. Take the book of Genesis, for example. As you read that book you will find that it focuses on specific individuals: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and some less noteworthy people. Clearly the book is a biographical book. As we well see on the next page, knowing the literary type of the book will help us see its structure and help us draw a chart of the book showing its layout.
