Proclaimer Blog
Why are there so many stories in the Bible or why the Old Testament is so long?
Some brief notes from Iain Duguid's second session: Why are there so many stories in the Bible?
"In our culture, stories are for children and for the beach in the summer. We tend to regard stories as fluff, or at least less than fully serious. So why does the Bible, the most serious book in the world, contain so many stories?"
Here are his answers:
- a good story has a universal appeal. Not everybody loves to read theology textbooks, but people love a story. The youngest child or oldest saint can grasp and enjoy a well written narrative. Narrative has the unique ability to be both simple and profound, ministering to people of all ages and conditions. No wonder the Bible itself is one grand narrative.
- stories help put flesh on abstract ideas. "You shall not grumble" is an abstract idea. Numbers 11 explains it well….in a story. The narratives of Scripture similarly show us what the character of God means in practice and not just in theory. This is also why the Old Testament is so long. How you do display God-sized patience except in a long series of stories?
- stories are able to convey the complexity of life in the world in which we live. Life on earth is rarely simple and unambiguous. We are bit players in a much larger story and narrative is well suited to that idea.
We've been gettng into Numbers (even Numbers 33!!) and these points have been shown to be true. You'll have to wait for audio and video (hopefully next week or so).