Genre (it's kind of a big deal)

We are starting with a big one- GENRE.

Simply put genre is a way of categorizing things that have agreed-upon characteristics, together.

You might have heard of this in music: pop, R&B, jazz, country, rock, whatever. We choose our radio stations and Spotify playlists based on genre, and when you hear a song you know how to categorize it based on the great guitar licks, or saxophone, or a twangy chorus.

In literature, genre is one of the MOST important things to know when you set out to read. The genre helps you define the context of what you’re reading and therefore what to expect. Imagine paying for a copy of The Economist and opening it to read “I will not eat green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am.” You’d probably wonder what the heck was going on, even though reading that same sentence in a picture book would be a delightful experience.

What does this have to do with the Bible?

People often treat the Bible as its own genre instead of recognizing that there are a lot of different genres and subgenres in it. It’s important to know what genre of literature you are reading because different genres have different goals and go about achieving those goals in different ways, so we (the reader) need to approach them—you guessed it— differently.

Below I’ve outlined the major categories in the bible, let you know which books fall into each category, and what each category is trying to achieve. I’ve tried to be thorough, but this isn’t an exact science so there may be some overlap (or even debate!)

Narrative

Narratives tell a story, So you can expect to see details about people, places, events, and actions that are important to the point (or climax) of the story. Usually, in the bible, stories lead to a moral or conclusion of some kind.

I love narratives, probably because my brain recognizes what they are trying to do. For biblical narratives, don't get too hung up on specific details (at least at first). Read to get the thrust of the story and try to remember the main characters. Don't worry, the details will stick with you when you read it a second, third, fourth. . . time.

Biblical Examples: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 &2

Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, (parts of Isaiah, Jeremiah,

Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Haggai, Zechariah), Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and

Acts

Wisdom literature

This one was common in the Ancient Near East (ANE), even if it’s not so common nowadays. It teaches about the divine (aka; God), about humanity’s relationship to the divine, and about the order of the world (these books often talk about whether or not the world is a fair place). These are always deep books, but they need a little more time to figure out since they deal with deep questions.

For these books, you're going to want to go in with your curiosity, and I'd recommend reading them in chunks, and then letting the words slosh around in your brain for a while. If you blitz through Wisdom literature, you'll miss the point.

Biblical Examples: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes

Prophetic Literature

I thought about including the Prophetic genre with Wisdom (the sages/prophets in the bible are often writing about similar ideas as those in Wisdom literature). However, the prophets in the bible are sharing a specific word or vision for a specific audience. And it is this difference in context that makes them different.

This kind of writing uses figurative language to foretell and forthtell (which are different). Which is a fancy way of saying that this writing is not (usually) meant to be taken literally. . . with prophetic literature, I find it helpful to ask the question "What was going on in Israel when this was written?" What happens/is written during a stable period is different from when the Israelites are exiled from their home. Most study bibles will have this info in the introductory pages at the beginning of each book.

Biblical Examples:

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum,

Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Revelation.

Poetic literature

Poetry also uses figurative language but it is more commonly intended to evoke a feeling or spur the imagination. Poetry is usually highly stylized, for example, it drops words that would be necessary for a conversation, and uses imagery rather than an explanation to get its point across.

Biblical poetry can be tricky since the reference points the ancient Israelites use are pretty different from the ones we would use. I don't know about you, but I would not appreciate hearing that my "teeth are like a flock of sheep" (Song of Songs 6:6). Be sure to note the weirdness when you are reading these books, it probably means something different from what you initially think, but don't take them too literally or you can end up with this:

Biblical Examples: Psalms, Song of Songs, and Lamentations

Law

This is a genre that tells its readers what the rules and constraints, paradigms and principles of a culture are. When you read the Law, it’s not so much about what the rules are but rather what they represent. For example, some people think the biblical laws are harsh towards women, but—without getting too far into it— the fact that women were considered at all in the legal system was revolutionary and completely unique to Israel at the time. In thinking this through, it becomes apparent that the Law in the Bible points towards a (comparatively) progressive society.

Biblical Examples: (parts of Exodus [like the 10 Commandments], Leviticus), and

Deuteronomy

Epistles

Simply put, these are letters. There are A LOT of these in the bible and all of the letters we read in the Bible are highly relational- they are written to a specific person or group of people, for a specific reason. That reason is specific to each letter, but they share information, motivation, make requests, send instructions, or share in grief or joy.

You should also keep in mind that in the bible, epistles are generally building an argument. But remember that we only have one side of the conversation (have you ever seen the Corinthians letter to Paul? No. No one has!). So we always want to read Epistles acknowledging that there are going to be contextual gaps- we have to read through the lines to figure out what exactly is going on.

Biblical Examples: Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,

Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1&2

Peter, 1,2 &3 John, Jude, and Revelation

If you’re interested there are definitely, more subcategories that could be explored. But I hope this gives you a good idea about the major categories in the bible.

Next time you open up your Bible, take an extra second to think about what genre you are reading, how that genre functions, and how it impacts your reading. You may be surprised at how different something reads when you don’t just lump it all together as “bible reading”

Keep practicing,

P.s. what do you think about genre? Let me know if this breakdown is helpful for your personal practice, or if you’d like more details: email (meghanlamatthews@gmail.com) or on Instagram (@itsmeghanmatthews)