Storytelling in the Bible

Modern techniques of literary criticism, combined with a deep love of the Bible, have been employed by the author in this profound and original work. In six chapters and an Epilogue, the author analyses the aesthetic means by which the narrators achieved their ends. He shows us mimesis in the story of Saul and the witch of En-Dor. He shows how intense emotion led up to and conveyed as David hears the news of Absalom s death. He uses the story of the floating Axehead (2 Kings 6, 1-7) to demonstrate the way the narrator creates scenes (and invites the reader to stage it as a play in his head). The author allows the Old Testament narrative to speak for itself. In his own comments there is an arresting freshness combined with a vigor which enlivens the scholarship which illuminates the book.