Biblical narration
Biblical narratives , also called Bible stories or biblical stories , are more or less free retelling of biblical material, either orally by a narrator (for example in a narrative tent at church conventions ) or traditionally as reading from biblical collections of stories, often in simplified language in so-called children's Bibles .
Some biblical stories have become proverbial in common parlance or are used in established idioms , such as the Solomonic judgment , the dance around the golden calf , unbelieving Thomas or torrential rain.
Topics and content
While biblical prehistory and God's dealings with the people of Israel are in the foreground in Bible stories from the Old Testament , in biblical narratives that draw their material from the New Testament , events around the work of Jesus Christ are usually the focus. The biblical stories also include the numerous parables that Jesus used to tell his listeners.
There is a wide range of human experiences, insights, and emotions in biblical narratives .
Misconduct is not glossed over, but disclosed. Bible stories know no taboos , whether it is murder, adultery, lying, fraud, intrigue, theft or rape. But even when people change for the better by showing repentance or repentance and receiving forgiveness of their sins , this is accurately reported.
Bible stories retold
The rendering of biblical stories has a long tradition in religious education in families and in worship. In many Christian families children are read from children's Bibles and the children experience different Bible stories when they attend children's services or Sunday school . Giving away books with biblical stories on the occasion of First Communion , on children's birthdays or at Christmas is a common practice. In religious education , too , especially in elementary school, elementary knowledge of the Holy Scriptures is imparted by reading and discussing biblical narratives . Readings of Bible stories often form the basis for sermons in church services.
In the USA, the Network of Biblical Storytellers (NOBS) was founded in 1977 , which is dedicated to the training of professional narrators of Biblical stories. There are now offshoots of this network in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Singapore. In Melbourne, Australia, The Backyard Bard theater company specializes in telling biblical stories on stage.
Understanding literary narrative styles in the Bible
For many practicing Christians, the "inerrancy" of the Bible is very important. Problems can arise when individual features of biblical narratives contradict the knowledge of natural science or archeology. Individual Bible Students resort to sometimes bizarre natural attempts to explain biblical narratives, e.g. B. Lightning ice on the Sea of Galilee , so that Jesus could seemingly walk on the water, or interpret the reports of the Flood as a local tsunami .
The advocates of the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation are of the opinion that literary genres such as myths and legends are also used in the Bible to express the mystery of God's salvific work on people and in the world. The Roman Catholic Church has made this hermeneutic its own in the Apostolic Constitution Dei Verbum : The “ truth ” of the Bible is not always or only the historical correctness and factuality of what is presented, but rather “the truth is presented and expressed differently in Texts of historical, prophetic or poetic kind in various senses, or in other forms of speech. ... If one wants to understand correctly what the holy author wanted to say in his writing, one finally has to pay close attention to the given environmental forms of thought, language and narration that prevailed at the time of the author, as well as the forms that were then were common in everyday human traffic. "
Jesus of Nazareth and most of his audience were Jews . Jesus preached within the framework of the Jewish people's imagination and consciously placed himself in the traditional context of the divine election of the people of Israel: "Do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets! I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. " Mt 5,17 EU He spoke in parables and referred to motifs from the Jewish Tanach such as Adam and Eve ( Mt 19.4 GNB ), Lot and his wife ( Lk 17.28-32 GNB ), Moses , Solomon or the queen of Saba ( Mt 12.42 GNB ) as well as events such as the Flood and Noah's Ark ( Lk 17.26-27 GNB ), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or Jonah in the belly of the great fish ( Mt 12.40-41 EU ) related.
Knowledge in the population
The best-known biblical stories include:
- Adam and Eve
- The Noah's Ark and the Flood
- The Tower of Babel
- The parent story (father's story) of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants
- The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
- Moses and the Ten Commandments
- David and Goliath
- Jonah in the belly of the fish
- The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem
- Parable of the prodigal son
- Parable of the Good Samaritan
- The Lord's Supper
- The crucifixion of Jesus
While the knowledge of many biblical narratives in Christian countries was practically general knowledge for centuries , this knowledge has declined sharply both among adults and among children and adolescents in recent decades, although the range of available Bible translations and children's Bibles available in bookshops has steadily increased Has.
In two representative surveys conducted by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy in 1995 and 2005, only half of those questioned knew more than 7 of 19 known Bible stories. 24% had no knowledge of the Bible at all. The biblical stories were little known, particularly in eastern Germany and among young people. Reasons for this are an increasing distance from the church and alienation from Christian traditions among many people, the growing number of people leaving the church, but also the strong increase in competition from a wide variety of media and entertainment offers.
In Italy in November 2005, the lack of knowledge of the Holy Scriptures worried a group of Italian intellectuals around the writer Umberto Eco and the philosopher Gianni Vattimo so much that they wanted to use a signature campaign to emphasize their demand for the Bible to be included more in school lessons again because The ignorance of biblical narratives has an increasing "negative effect on the understanding of art, music, literature, politics and economics".
Biblical narratives in art
Biblical narratives form the motifs of numerous artistic processes, including in the fine arts , literature or music , and were the basis for numerous film adaptations of biblical material .
Examples from the fine arts
- Adam and Eve , bronze relief by Lorenzo Ghiberti
- Deluge fountain in the rose garden in Coburg by Ferdinand Lepcke
- Tower of Babel , several paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
- Jacob's Blessing , painting by Rembrandt
- Joseph in Egypt , painting by Jacopo da Pontormo
- Simson fountain in Bern and Gera
- Judgment of Solomon , painting by Nicolas Poussin
- The Supper of Belshazzar , painting by Rembrandt
- Twelve year old Jesus in the temple , painting by Bernhard Strigel
- The Wedding at Cana , painting by Paolo Veronese
- The Last Supper , painting by Leonardo da Vinci
- The Mocking of Christ , painting by Matthias Grünewald
- The Crucifixion , painting by Jacopo Tintoretto
- Lamentation of Christ , painting by Bernhard Strigel
- Fall of the Fallen Angels , painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
- The Last Judgment , triptych by Hans Memling
Examples from the literature
- Joseph and his brothers , novel - tetralogy by Thomas Mann
- Jephta and his daughter , novel by Lion Feuchtwanger
- The King David Report , story by Stefan Heym (1972)
- The three dark kings , short story by Wolfgang Borchert (1946)
Examples from music
The history of music is inextricably linked with biblical narratives. Whole genres are mainly dedicated to this subject area: oratorio , chorale , motet , mass , requiem . In addition to explicit church music , all text-bound musical forms also include biblical narratives, including biblical allusions in popular music, such as Jesus in pop music .
- The Creation , oratorio by Joseph Haydn
- The Jacob's Ladder , oratorio by Arnold Schönberg
- Rebekka , opera by B. Pisani, 1865
- Mosè in Egitto , opera by Gioachino Rossini
- Joshua , oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel
- Samson et Dalila , opera by Camille Saint-Saëns
- David et Jonathas , opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1688)
- King David , Symphonic Psalm in three parts by Arthur Honegger based on the drama by René Morax (1921/1923)
- Elias , oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
- Nabucco , opera by Giuseppe Verdi
- Esther , oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel
- Lazarus , vocal work by Franz Schubert
- Christ on the Mount of Olives , oratorio by Ludwig van Beethoven
- St. Matthew Passion , oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach
- The book with seven seals , oratorio by Franz Schmidt
- The Bible - A spoken symphony , performance show by Ben Becker
Selection of biblical stories in the Old Testament
- God creates the world, plants, animals and humans - creation
-
Adam and Eve
- In the garden of Eden
- The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad
- The fall of man ( Gen 3,1-24 GNB )
- The expulsion from paradise
- The descendants of the first human couple
- Cain kills his brother Abel ( Gen 4,2-26 GNB )
- Jubal , Jabal and Tubal-Cain
- As old as Methuselah
- Faithful Enoch
- The Nephilim - giants on earth
- Noah
-
Nimrod , the first ruler
- The Tower of Babel ( Gen 11: 1-9 GNB )
- The Babylonian Confusion of Languages
- Abraham
-
Lot
- Lot and Abraham separate
- The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ( Gen 19.1–29 GNB )
-
Jacob
- Esau sells his birthright for a lentil dish to his brother ( Gen 25,29-34 GNB )
- Jacob receives the blessing intended for Esau ( Gen 27: 1-40 GNB )
- Jacob flees to Haran
- Jacob marries Lea and Rachel
- Jacob leaves Laban and returns to his brother
- Jacob receives the name Israel from YHWH
- Jacob and his twelve sons
- Dina in Shechem ( Gen 34.1–31 GNB )
- Joseph and his brothers
- The godly job
- The Israelites in slavery
-
Cunt
- The birth and salvation of Moses ( Ex 2.1–10 GNB )
- Moses flees to Midian
- Moses marries Zippora , a daughter of Jitro
- The burning bush
- Moses and his brother Aaron before Pharaoh
- The ten plagues on Egypt
- The migration of the Israelites to the promised land
- The exodus from Egypt
- The passage through the Red Sea
- The manna
- The Ten Commandments
- The golden calf ( Ex 32.1–35 GNB )
- The tabernacle and the ark
- The Korach revolt is put down
- The twelve scouts in Canaan
- Aaron becomes high priest
- The copper snake
- Balaam's donkey is talking
- Joshua becomes the new leader of the Israelites
- The conquest and distribution of land to the Twelve Tribes of Israel
-
Ruth and Naomi
- Boaz marries Ruth
- The time of the judges
-
Samuel
- Hannah prays for a son in the tabernacle
- Little Samuel with the high priest Eli
- The Philistines steal the ark and bring it back
- After the death of Eli and his sons, Samuel becomes high priest
- Samuel anoints Saul as the first king of Israel
-
David
- YHWH chooses the shepherd David to succeed Saul
- David defeated the giant Goliath ( 1 Sam 17.1 to 57 GNB )
- The jealous Saul seeks to kill David
- Jonathan's friendship with David
- Nabal and Abigail
- Saul questions the witch of Endor ( 1 Sam 28,3-25 GNB )
- David becomes king of Israel
- The ark comes to Jerusalem
- David's adultery with Bathsheba ( 2 Sam 11.2-27 GNB )
- The prophet Nathan revealed the blame for the death of David Uriah on ( 2 Sam 11.1 to 24 GNB )
- Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar
- David's general Joab kills Absalom
- Solomon
- The division of the Greater Kingdom of Israel into the Northern Kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam and the Southern Kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam
- The prophet Elijah
- Elijah during the drought with the widow in Zarephath
- Queen Jezebel can Naboth stoned to his in the possession vineyard to reach
- King Ahab seeks Elijah's life
- The trial by fire between Elijah and the Baal priests on Mount Carmel
- Jehu has Jezebel killed
- The Prophet Elisha
- Naaman is healed ( 2 Kings 5: 1–27 GNB )
- The prophet Jonah
- Jonah does not obey God
- Jonah in the belly of the whale
- The people of Nineveh repent
- King Hezekiah
- The Assyrians besiege Jerusalem
- Sennacherib's army is destroyed by an angel of YHWH
- Joschija has the temple renovated
- Jeremiah warns about idolatry and God's punishment
- Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed
-
Babylonian exile
- Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-Nego refuse the royal table
- Schadrach, Meschach and Abed-Nego in the fiery furnace
- Daniel and the writing on the wall ( Dan 5.1 to 30 GNB )
- The Persians and Medes conquer Babylon
- Daniel in the lions' den ( Dan 6: 1–29 GNB )
- Cyrus allows the Jews to return to their homeland
- With Ezra other families from Babylon return to Jerusalem back
- Nehemiah is organizing the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem
Selection of biblical narratives in the New Testament
- The angel Gabriel announces the birth of John to Zacharias
- Gabriel appears to Maria
- The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem
- Simeon and Hanna praise the born Messiah
- The wise men from the Orient
- Joseph flees to Egypt with his family
- The child murder in Bethlehem
- Jesus grows with its siblings in Nazareth on
- John the Baptist on the Jordan
- Jesus is from Satan tried
- The first disciples of Jesus
- The wedding at Cana
- Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well
- The election of the 12 apostles
- Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God
- Jesus preaches in the synagogue of Nazareth
-
Miracle of Jesus
- Healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law
- Jesus calms a storm on the Sea of Galilee
- Jesus lets the demon Legion drive into a herd of pigs
- Feeding the thousands
- The daughter of Jairus is brought back to life
- Jesus walks on the water
- Healing a man born blind
- The raising of Lazarus
- The daughter of Herodias dances at the birthday party of Herod Antipas
- Herod has John beheaded the Baptist
- The Sermon on the Mount
- The Beatitudes
- The Lord's Prayer
- Zacchaeus repents and is visited by Jesus
- Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night
- Jesus tells parables
- The parable of the fourfold field
- The parable of the tares among the wheat
- The parable of the lost sheep
- The parable of the good Samaritan
- The parable of the prodigal son
- The parable of the unjust judge
- The parable of the Pharisee and tax collector
- The parable of the hard-hearted debtor
- The parable of the workers in the vineyard
- The parable of the wicked wine growers
- The parable of the places of honor at the wedding
- The parable of the wise and foolish virgins
- The sending out of the seventy disciples
- Jesus and the adulteress
- Mary anoints Jesus with nard oil in Bethany
- Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey
- The eviction of the merchants from the temple
- The Son of David question
- Lamentation of Jerusalem and the announcement of the destruction of the temple
- Jesus speaks about the end of this world and about the coming of the kingdom of God
- The washing of feet
- The Lord's Supper
- In the garden of Gethsemane
- Jesus prays to his father
- Judas betrays Jesus
- Jesus arrest
- Jesus' interrogation and judgment
- Jesus before the Sanhedrin
- Peter denies Jesus
- Pontius Pilate releases Barabbas instead of Jesus
- The crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha
- Joseph of Arimathea asks for the body of Jesus
- The resurrection of Jesus Christ
- Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene
- Jesus and the two disciples on the way to Emmaus
- The incredulous Thomas
- The mission order
- Ascension of Christ
- The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost
- The early church in Jerusalem
- Ananias and Saphira
- The stoning of Stephen
- Healing of a paralyzed man by Peter and John ( Acts 3,1-10 GNB )
- The Ethiopian eunuch is taught and baptized by Philip
- The centurion Cornelius and his family become Christians
- Peter raises the Dorcas
-
Paul
- The conversion of Saul
- Paul brings Eutychus back to life
- The Apostles' Council in Jerusalem
- Paul's missionary journeys
- Paul's captivity
- Marcus Antonius Felix arrests Paul
- Paul before Porcius Festus and King Agrippa
- Shipwreck off Crete
- Paul in Rome
- God reveals himself through Jesus to John on Patmos
- The seven letters to the seven churches
- The book with seven seals
- The Lamb of God
- The Horsemen of the Apocalypse
- The seven plagues of the end times
- The great tribulation
- The destruction of the whore Babylon
- The wedding of the lamb
- Millennial Empire
- The resurrection of the dead and the last judgment
- The end of the devil and his demons
- The new Jerusalem
Quotes
- Without their knowledge, it is impossible to understand how Europe became what it is. Even the great creations of European literature, music and painting are hardly accessible if you don't know anything about the Bible ... Those looking for answers are not infrequently shocked by the radical absolute claim that the God of the Bible makes to his believers and are still amazed stories never heard or long forgotten. One can take these stories for pure fiction, that is, for mere literature from a sinking time. You should know it anyway, because even if it were mere literature, it was at least world literature . Environmentally changing literature. - Christian Nürnberger
See also
- Christian literature
- List of parables of Jesus
- Biblical narrative characters
- Biblical epic , history bible
- Bible adaptations , Jesus stories
- Bible phone
- Bible study
- Gospel key
- Narrative exegesis
- Category: Biblical Subject
- Category: Fabrics and Motifs (Bible)
literature
- Heinrich Degen: Bible stories for the whole family . 2005, ISBN 1-4054-4837-7 (translated from English; more than 200 Bible stories in the order of the Bible books with integrated Bible lexicon and appendix on plants , animals and everyday life in biblical times)
- Christian Nürnberger : The Bible. What you really need to know , Rowohlt 2006, 224 pages, ISBN 3-499-62068-5 .
- Peter Hahne : Time for you. The most beautiful biblical stories . Audio-CD , ISBN 3-438-01880-2 (in cooperation with Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk and Bild-Zeitung)
- Johann Peter Hebel : Biblical Stories. Edited for the youth . Cotta: Stuttgart, 1824
- Anne de Vries : The great narrative book of biblical history. In: bitflow.dyndns.org . 1st edition of the revised edition, Christian Literature Distribution (CLV), Bielefeld 2003 (also Aussaat Verlag 2003, ISBN 3-7615-5331-5 ) (PDF, 720 pages, 23 MB [!], Accessed on June 12, 2013 ),
- Info: More than 200 biblical stories with monochrome drawings and a map section in the appendix, also available as an audio book.
- Watchtower Society (ed.): My book with biblical stories . Selters / Taunus 1978 (116 biblical stories are told in chronological order. The book is available in 194 languages. Online and as a free download at jw.org as an audio book in MP3 and AAC format and as a PDF in 148 languages)
- Rudolf Otto Wiemer : ... then the stones will scream. Jesus stories - retold , SCM R.Brockhaus, 2003, ISBN 978-3-417-20634-0
- Reiner Strunk: It was pure bliss. Poems on biblical stories , Verlag der Evangelischen Gesellschaft, 2009, 93 pp., ISBN 978-3-920207-33-9
- Johann Wilhelm Reche: Teachings from the biblical history of Joseph . (2 volumes. Roschütz, Aachen 1834-)
- 1st volume ( digitized version )
- 2nd volume ( digitized version )
Web links
- Uwe Birnstein : Sunday paper series: The best of the Bible. In: Sonntagsblatt .de , Munich 1998–2013 (accessed on June 12, 2013),
- Info: Weekly moving and extraordinary stories from the Bible, current: Episode 266 - No. 23/2013 from June 2, 2013. Uwe Birnstein is a German theologian and publicist.
- Marisa Herzog: Stories from the New Testament. In: lehrmittelboutique.net , Lehrmittelboutique.net, Windisch 2010 f. (26 mini-books as free PDF downloads, between 0.5 and 11 MB, accessed on June 12, 2013),
- Info: Learning books on Jesus stories with simple text, explanatory drawings and knowledge queries, created 2010–2011. Marisa Herzog is a special education teacher in Windisch.
- Horst Heinemann (ed.), Gabriele Hafermaas (pictures): The pocket Bible . In: hosentaschenbibel.de , Atelea-Verlag, Fuldatal 2011 (accessed on June 12, 2013),
- Info: Presentation of the 4th edition 2011 with freely retold well-known biblical stories: 56 pages, 28 narrative pictures. Prof. Dr. From 1991 to 2006 Horst Heinemann was a professor for Protestant theology and religious education at the University of Kassel.
- International Bible Society Germany V. ( IBS ): The coolest KiBi. In: combib.de , IBS-Germany e. V., 2003 (accessed June 12, 2013),
- Info: 47 stories about the New Testament with illustrations by Dennis Jones as an online extract from the printed edition, which also contains 58 stories about the Old Testament.
- Allensbacher Polls: Biblical Stories. Respondents aged 16 and over in 2005 and 1995. Research group Weltanschauungen in Germany (fowid), in: fowid.de , December 12, 2005 (PDF, 5 pages: 0.5 MB, accessed on June 12, 2013),
- Info: Number tables with distribution values.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas E. Boomershine founded the Network of Biblical Storytellers , tomboomershine.org, accessed May 8, 2014.
- ↑ The Backyard Bard Theater Company , Australia , thebackyardbard.com, accessed May 8, 2014.
- ↑ News Item : Incredible Claim by US Researcher | Jesus didn't walk on the water - it was black ice! In: bild.de , April 5, 2006 (accessed June 12, 2013).
- ↑ Second Vatican Council : Dogmatic Constitution " Dei Verbum " on divine revelation , No. 12.
- ^ Research group Weltanschauungen in Germany (fowid): Biblical stories. (PDF; 459 kB) In: fowid.de. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach , December 12, 2005, pp. 1–3 , archived from the original on May 14, 2013 ; Retrieved June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Italy's intellectuals are calling for more Bible studies in schools. In: Kulturnachrichten. dradio.de , Deutschlandradio , November 14, 2005, p. (last section) , archived from the original on July 31, 2013 ; Retrieved June 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Cf. Sönke Remmert: Biblical Texts in Music - a directory of their settings. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 1996, ISBN 978-3-525-59338-7 .
- ↑ Christian Nürnberger : The Bible. What you really need to know. 3rd edition, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag (volume 62068), Reinbek 2006, ISBN 978-3-499-62068-3 , p. 8.