Is there a name (i.e. literary style) for these type of stories in the bible?
This is an odd question, but I have found that I really love biblical narratives where we know what is going on, the author is writing as if we all know what is going on........except the characters in the story, they are clueless but are moving to a great surprise. We watch as they discover what we as the reader already know. I love these type of narratives. I find them fun to preach.....something about them
Examples of this type are: Gen 44ff where Joseph is testing his brothers. Luke 24 the road to Emmaus is a great example of this style. John 21 comes to mind as well.
Is there a name for this type maybe I can read up on any studies of this type of narrative? Is it tagged within Logos in any way?
Thanks 
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Leland Ryken, "Words of Delight" is a big help in learning about the literary types found in the bible and seeing how they work. He spends the first 120 pages explaining biblical narrative.
https://www.logos.com/product/5332/words-of-delight-a-literary-introduction-to-the-bible-2nd-ed
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Mike Tourangeau said:
Is there a name for this type maybe I can read up on any studies of this type of narrative? Is it tagged within Logos in any way?
I'm not sure that these narrative types would entirely satisfy your request but right clicking a word (or words) provides a choice on the right side of the context menu from which you can search:
- {Section <LiteraryTyping = Novella>} The Novella is defined as "A well-structured narrative of some length crafted for a particular purpose such as teaching a moral or theological lesson." Mangum, D. (2014). The Lexham Glossary of Literary Types. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press
- {Section <LongacreGenre = Narr: Story>} The Narrative:Story is "A text that recounts the past activities of an agent(s) according to a temporal succession. Examples of this genre abound in the primary history of the Hebrew Bible, which ranges from Genesis through 2 Kings." Thompson, J. (2016). Longacre Genre Analysis of the Bible Dataset Documentation. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife.
Dave
===Windows 11 & Android 13
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If there are textual precedents that we (and the authors) can use to build up readers' expectations, I would call such stories "type scenes" based on the work of Walter Arend (1933) and applied to biblical studies by Robert Alter (The Art of Biblical Narrative; 1981). I'd bet there are several references to "type scenes" in your Logos library.
My own analysis of such narratives takes advantage of exactly what you're pointing out: The writer is aware that the reader is aware of what's going on, and takes advantage of that, sometimes through accentuating a surprising aspect of what happens in the story. In John 4, for example, I would expect a first century reader to understand some level of male-female interaction based on Genesis water well type scenes, but what John narrates redirects the story line in almost opposite directions. That's one reason the dialog about her husbands becomes sharply important and, to the uninitiated, unexpected.
Without a known story that the author may be taking advantage of, it's harder to demonstrate that the author actually knew what the assumed reader would expect. And technically, without parallel narrative examples, it would be harder to classify your particular examples (Gen 44ff, etc.) as type scenes, but (and here's my point), they function in pretty much the same way.
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Identity concealment narratives do not seem to have a name, the Bible seems to have numerous ones where the Holy (be it Jesus, angels or Angel of the Lord) are unknown from the start of a story only to be revealed by the end. It is strange no technical name has arose since it such a common motif. I glanced through numerous more technical commentaries and could not find any genre named.
-dan
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Dan Francis said:
Identity concealment narratives do not seem to have a name,
Dan, I guess the honor goes to you. You have named them - "Identity concealment narratives"
I do like them......Thanks for the feedback! Sorry about the delay in replying.
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