Up to now, I have used the terms narrative and story interchangeably.
It will, however, soon become clear that these terms refer to two different things
or worlds. According to Du Plesis and Greyling (2004, p.
33)
a story refers to that which actually happened (it may be fictional or real). A
narrative on the other hand, refers to the artistic representation of what had
happened. A distinction is thus made between what happened (in the past) and
the way it is represented.
A similar distinction may be made between history and
historiography. History refers to the events that have taken place in the past
while historiography refers to the writing about those events (Dillard
& Longman III, 1995, p. 21). Although Long (1999, p. 84) find this distinction useful,
he reckons, from a practical point of view, that these definitions are seldom
maintained. For him, history refers to both “significant past events and
interpretive accounts or representations, of significant past
events” (italics Long’s).
Long’s view may also apply to our differentiation between
story and narrative. For the purpose of this study I will,
however, maintain the differentiation between story and narrative.
For believers, one of the major obstacles when talking about
story and narrative is the idea that stories are necessarily fictional (Ryken,
1990, p. 7)
(see my blog on Stories and Fiction). Here
it is important to keep die above differentiations between story and narrative,
and history and historiography in mind. What we have in front of us when
reading narrative or historiography is the result of an author’s
representation of a story or history. As we have made clear, stories may either
be real (history) or fictional. As believers, we believe that what is presented
to us in Scripture is based in what really happened. Thus, story and history,
in terms of the Bible refer to the same thing – significant past events.
If I may borrow from the New Testament, we should, however, also recognise that
some stories in the Bible might be fictional. Jesus’ parables, for example,
were not necessarily based on real events.
The difference between historiography and narrative then is
the way these significant past events are presented. We are not
presented with cold, hard facts about the past in the Bible (at least in the
modern sense of historiography) but rather with a literary piece of art. Tate (2008, p.
105)
refers to “’storicized’ history”. In terms of our distinction, we might call it
‘narratised’ history (just to make it a bit more complicated). In other words, when
reading Genesis to Esther (and some other parts) we are presented with an
artistic representation of significant past events (stories) in
the literary form (genre) known as narrative.
Brink, A. P. (1987). Vertelkunde: ’n inleiding tot die lees van verhalende
tekste. Academica.
Dillard, R. & Longman III, T. (1995). An Introduction to the
Old Testament. Apollos.
Long, V. P. (1999). Old Testament History: A Hermeneutical
Perspective, in: VanGemeren, W. A. (Ed.), A guide to Old Testament theology
and exegesis: an introductory articles from the New International dictionary of
Old Testament theology and exegesis, (pp. 83–99). Grand Rapids Mich.: Zondervan.
du Plessis, H. & Greyling, F. (2004). Skryfkuns, Studiegids Vir
SKRS 111A. Potchefstroom: Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër
Onderwys.
Ryken, L. (1990). Part 1: “Words of Delight”: The Bible as Literature.
BSac, 147(585), 3–16.
Tate, W. R. (2008). Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach.
Hendrickson Pub.
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