Religion Commons^™

A Study Of The Biblical Narrative Of Saul, Including Investigation Of The Folktale & Proverb As Genres Of Folk Narrative, Ervin Mason Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A biblical passage from the Old Testament book of I Samuel is studied from the perspective of narrative, folktale, and proverb. The narrative account of Saul's becoming the first king of Israel, as depicted in I Sam. 9:1-10:16, is examined and found to be an example of traditional folk narrative. Using the work of Stith Thompson and Axel Olrik, the Saul narrative yields evidence indicating it is composed of traditional motifs and arranged in a manner reflecting traditional interpretation. Within the larger Hebrew narrative of the I Sam. 9:1-10:16 passage there is lodged a folktale. The folktale is found interspersed …

Literary Portraits Of The Pharisees In The Gospels Of Mark And Matthew, Michael R. Cosby

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Due to the often inadequate methodology employed by scholars studying the pre-A.D. 70 Pharisees, new approaches are needed for analyzing the primary sources. Careful attention must be given to the literary genres of the four ancient sources of information on the Pharisees: the Psalms of Solomon, the New Testament, the writings of Josephus, and the rabbinic literature. As an example of such sensitivity to the ancient authors’ purposes in writing and to the literary genres they employed in conveying their information, this study uses the Gospels of Mark and Matthew as test cases.

Careful analysis of authorial purpose, as revealed …