An Artistic Approach to New Testament Literature

Sharon R. Chace

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781556351211
• eBook ISBN: 9781498276658
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

An Artistic Approach to New Testament Literature is a first introductory textbook for late high school or college students and would serve well in a freshman experience course. Historical criticism informs the background commentary. Biblical texts are described according to the formal art elements of form, line, color, and texture. Other artistic terms such as perspective and focal point are used to characterize biblical passages. Thought-provoking questions and art projects are provided for exploration in the foreground or in the world in front of the text. This book is a bridge between church and academy. If church leaders or teachers have questions for the author, they are invited to contact her through e-mail at [email protected].

1

What Is the New Testament?

The New Testament is a collection of books with many different kinds of writing, and a record of life in God opening up for the world. The Bible includes the Old Testament, which is the history of the Hebrew or Jewish people’s faith and life in God. The Hebrews already had a relationship with God. The New Testament tells the story of how Jesus made this relationship with God possible for all people. In our culture the word new often implies “better or improved.” However, in the Bible the word new often means renewed or updated. Thus, the New Testament is the record of renewed faith and covenant that was updated to include people of all nations. The New Testament records Jesus’s life, death, and crucifixion, and (in Christian belief) his resurrection, as well as the spread and development of early Christianity.

There are twenty-seven books in the New Testament. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants agree that these books should be in the New Testament. This official list of books is called the canon. The canon, or list of official books, was not decided upon quickly. As early as the end of the second century, Paul’s letters and some selections from the gospels were the approved resources for the organization of ritual and social and personal morality of developing Christianity. By the end of the fourth century AD, the list was official. The books that were chosen to be in the canon, or list of sacred books, were helpful to community, in agreement with the basic doctrines of the early church, and associated in some way with the apostles. In summary, the criteria were usefulness and helpfulness. The concept of inspired writings came after approval.

Roman Catholics include more books in the Old Testament canon than do Protestants. The number of books in the Old Testament canon is not an important difference, but it can be confusing. The extra books are the books of the Apocrypha (many Protestant Bibles include these books in a separate section). The Apocrypha can help us understand Judaism and its effects on early Christianity.

Besides the meaning of canon as “a list of sacred books,” the word canon can mean “rule of life.” The Greek word for canon means “reed” or “measuring stick,” like a ruler. The Bible can be a ruler by which we measure our lives.

Most of us have favorite parts of the Bible. This tendency is sometimes called having “a canon within the canon.” Having favorite passages in a favorite book is only natural. Sometimes other passages that have a different emphasis or even a different main idea affect our understanding of our favored verses. Throughout this book, I sometimes refer to counterbalancing passages of Scripture.

The books of the New Testament were not written quickly. During the first third of the first century AD, Jesus lived and preached. During the second third of the first century, people spread his teaching by word of mouth. Repeating Jesus’s sayings and stories at homes or in places of worship is called oral tradition. Paul wrote between AD 51 and 58. During the last third of the first century, gospel writers wrote down the stories that were told and compiled them. The gospel writers had different ways of organizing their materials about Jesus. Each gospel author adds to our composite picture of Jesus.

Imagine three friends dividing a piece of red licorice into three not-quite-equal pieces to show the stages in which the New Testament came into being. The first piece represents Jesus’s teachings. The second, somewhat shorter piece stands for the twenty years when the first preachers shared the good news of God’s love in Jesus. The third piece reminds us of the years when writers thought about Jesus and then wrote down all they had heard about Jesus and his way.

There are many kinds of writing in the New Testament. There are short sayings of Jesus and long letters from the Apostle Paul to churches. There are poems and prayers, letters and lists of ancestors. Stories of Jesus’s birth and accounts of his passion and last days on earth are part of the New Testament witness. Parables are a very special kind of New Testament story. Parables compare an ordinary activity, like baking bread, to God’s reign, or they compare something in nature, such as a vine, to Jesus.

If your family needs to buy groceries, someone makes a grocery list. If you want to talk to God in writing, you might write a prayer or a poem. If you have an interesting tale to tell, you could write a story. If a teacher asks you to write an essay about a person who is running for office, you might listen to the candidate’s speech and write a report. If you ran for a leadership position you would state your credentials and tell people why you would be best for the job. If you want your school to sponsor a new club or sport, chances are you will write a speech presenting your most persuasive ideas. You might create slogans or catchy sayings. There are various forms of writing for different purposes in today’s world. In biblical times there were also different kinds of writing to convey stories, ideas, history, religious insight and conviction. In the ancient world, rules for reporting were different than the guidelines for today. Still the basic idea holds true that you choose the form of writing that best suits your purpose.

Many writers and editors shared their artistic and literary gifts to give us the story of Jesus and tell us how the Christian faith spread throughout the ancient world.

The World in Front of the Text

Think about the many kinds of biblical writing, including short sayings, letters, prayers, hymns, parables, birth and passion stories, household codes, and sermons. Take a piece of computer or construction paper to represent the Bible as a whole. Then cut or tear pieces of paper in a contrasting color or colors to represent the different kinds of writing in the Bible. Write the names of the kind of writing on the cut or torn paper. Paste the pieces onto the sheet that represents the whole Bible.

A woman who took an experimental version of this course cut her small pieces of paper into shapes that suggested the type of writing. A wavy shape represented hymns. A short piece represented short sayings. An oval, womb shape represented nativity stories. You may use symbolic shapes if you wish.

2

What Is an Artistic Approach to Biblical Literature?

A n artistic approach to biblical literature has two main characteristics:

Examination of each book of the New Testament from three vantage points: A. The Background; B. The Middle Ground or Text; and C. The Foreground.

Description of the text through the formal art elements and other artistic characteristics.

1. Examination of Each Book of the New Testament from Three Vantage Points

The background of the text is the historical background and consideration of the basic questions: What? Who? When? Where? Why? What kind of literature is the text being considered? Who wrote it? When was it written? Where was it written? Why was it written?

The middle ground, or text, is the biblical text itself in translation from the New Testament Greek. Study of sacred texts is done in tension between the background and the foreground, that is or the world in front of the text that includes our contemporary situation.

The foreground is the world in front of the text. In addition to encompassing the writings and artwork of biblical scholars and artists since the New Testament was canonized or became official, the foreground includes your world and what the biblical text means to you.

2. Description of the Text through the Formal Art Elements

An artistic approach is a way of exploring biblical literature by paying attention to the formal art elements that painterly artists designate as line, form, color and texture. As an artist of both paint and pen, I used these painterly terms to describe verbal texts.

The Use of Line in the Text

Line can mean the plot of a Bible story or a line of thought. For example, parables have a story line. The book of Romans has a very linear argument that Paul makes point by point, line by line. First John contains a circular line of thought that returns to different ways of saying that God is love. Acts is a travel story with a plot line.

Forms of Writing in the Text

Form is the type of writing such as birth story, letter, poem or prayer. Hymns are also part of New Testament literature. Sayings and sermons, genealogical lists, and greetings are types of writing throughout the New Testament.

Use of Color in the Text

Color may be an actual color, such as green or sapphire, mentioned in a biblical passage. I will note the importance of the color green in the chapter on Mark. However, most often color refers to a writer’s favorite words or phrases that color a text. For example, Mark likes the word, immediately. This word colors his fast-paced writing. Themes or main ideas also color the text, such as the theme of the cross that is especially important in Mark. Faith is a recurring theme in Paul’s letters.

Texture in the Text

Texture is the piling up of biblical passages that are related. Sometimes a New Testament verse is a quotation from or allusion to Old Testament passages. The combination of passages gives rich texture and nuances of meanings. Sometimes texture has bridge-building potential between Old and New Testaments and between Judaism and Christianity. My favorite example of an Old Testament passage that is quoted in the New Testament is Habakkuk 2:4: “...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: What Is the New Testament?
• Chapter 2: What Is an Artistic Approach to Biblical Literature?
• Chapter 3: The Synoptic Problem
• Part One: The Gospel and Growing Proclamation
• Part Two: The Community of the Word
• Part Three: Theological Problem and Introduction to Pauline Thought
• Part Four: The Rest of Paul’s Letters
• Part Five: Cosmic Christ Served by Good Deeds and Growing Ministry
• Part Six: Christians in Crisis
• Part Seven: Jesus as Helper,and Christ as Risen Lord
• Bibliography