Modern Genre Theory

The Bible, with its gloriously rich diversity of ancient genres, demands a flexible and historically aware approach to genre. Different conceptions of narrative, poetry, gospel, epistle, wisdom, and apocalyptic texts lead to vastly different readings, and our disagreements about what the Bible means often boil down to different assumptions about what the biblical text is. As secular genre theory has experienced a recent renaissance, biblical studies has been left in the dark ages of rigid taxonomies and stubborn essentialism.

This book offers students in biblical studies an accessible but comprehensive introduction to modern genre theory, providing access to literary tools for understanding how writers and readers use genre to make meaning.

Modern Genre Theory describes the current state of biblical genre theory (as well as the meaning of form criticism and why it needs to die). Scholar of biblical hermeneutics Andrew Judd then presents a better alternative of interpretation based on the best developments in secular literary theory, linguistics, and rhetorical studies.

Drawing on advancements in modern genre theory, Judd: