Narrative Theology

“Narrative Theology,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2d edition, Walter A. Elwell, ed. (Baker Academic, 2000) Narrative Theology. The use of narrative in theology, both to understand and order theological thought, is of recent interest bur represents the persistent concern with the historical narration of Christian redemption. Deriving its impetus from the various influences of theories of literary criticism, social science’s interest in personal and biological histories, and philosophical and linguistic attention to the influence of tradition and character, narrative has become a common topic within Christian theology. What Is Narrative Theology? The recognition that vast portions of the Bible are narrative in form, and that the Gospels in particular, which serve as the interpretive center for Christian theologians, are narratives is not itself something new. Yet the suggestion that narrative represents something fundamental to human identity or that biblical narratives shares common and possibly universal features of narrative tht should shape how we understand Scripture and theology are concerns that belong to our current setting. Characteristically, theologians employing narrative charge that modern theology sought a prescriptive, organizing principle, theme, or system on the basis of which the biblical text was to be understood, usually isolated from the actual shape of Scripture as a narrative or anthology with the characteristics of a narrative. Instead of narrative simply being the means to what is truly important behind or beyond the text, narrative theologians argue that it is important precisely because narrative is the revelation of God’s identity, particularly in Jesus Christ, and in a corresponding fashion for some, in the life of the church as God’s people. Thus, knowledge of God and our identity are available through some form of narrative. Varieties of Narrative Theology. There are at least four discernible ways in which narrative has been used in recent theology: postliberal, philosophical and ethical, biblical and literary, and evangelical. These types are not mutually exclusive but represent various way of employing narrative in theology. Postliberal concern for narrative stems from the confession that the interpretive center of the Bible is the narration of Jesus’ identity, and in turn this narration serves as the basis for early theological characterizations of Jesus’ deity and humanity (in the creed of Nicea and the definition of Chalcedon). Karl Barth is hailed as a theologian who conceived of Scripture as “one vast, loosely structured non-fictional novel” (Kelsey). Hans Frei’s interest in Scripture’s literal sense focused on this literary characterization of the Gospels as history like (for Frei, the story is the meaning of the doctrine rather than the doctrine being the meaning of the story), and Ronald Thiemann offered that Scripture is a narrative depicting God’s identity. Theologians tend to avoid assigning any particular status to narrativity; narratives are important for Christian theologians because God uses the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the life of the church to save humans. Philosophical and ethical interest in narrative represents a socio-historical understanding of human identity. For H. Richard Niebuhr God’s revelation illumines “the story of our life” in terms of Scripture’s story; for Stephen Crites there is a “narrative quality of experience”; and Paul Ricoeur develops a general theory of narrative interpretation in which a narrativist phenomenology gives rise to human consciousness and understanding. Somewhat different is the approach of Alasdair MacIntyre, who argues that morality is rooted in a particular tradition or narrative but in a manner more akin to social and ethical constructs. Building upon MacIntyre, Stanley Hauerwas maintains that the church is uniquely God’s story wherein ethical character finds its appropriate setting, rather than in in the individual or dominant culture. And James McClendon argues that biography is essential for theology because narrative is essential to understanding character and community. The emphasis on narrative in theology parallels interest in narrative within literary criticism (narrative criticism), biblical scholarship (including interest in narrative theory, the Bible as literature, or canonical forms of criticism), and in theories of biblical narratology or poetics (how meaning is made or explained by putting it into a plot). In these different perspectives narrative encompasses more tan an instance of literary genre, it is used to understand how texts function and hold together by stressing the thematic or theological unity of a group of texts or the biblical story viewed as a whole (creation to consummation). Narrative captures the story, but the narrative is not the same as the story, exhaustive of the story, or mean to replace the story; yet the story is not given apart from its telling in narrative. Evangelical have embraced narrative for theology in a variety of ways (literary, theological, and ethical) but most commonly to account for the narrational focus of Scripture in relation to questions of truth and history and thus to form a doctrine of Scripture (Pinnock). Accounting for the prominence of narrative is necessary in order to relate historical and theological interests (McGrath) or to account for the identity of God’s people (Grenz). For example, evangelical theologian Gabriel Fackre construes narrative in terms of an account of chracters and events in a plot, moving in time through conflict to resolution; he further distinguishes between “canonical story” (biblical text), “life story” (personal narratives), and “community story” (the merging of biblical and life stories in the Christian faith community). Conclusion. The use of narrative in theology tends to blur the modern distinctions between strictly historical, literary, and theological disciplines, as well as provide an alternative to dualistic accounts of story and fiction, history and truth. Narrative emphases usually concentrate on how the text is received and used within Christian faith, sometimes deferring questions of historical references (which causes discomfort among some evangelicals). The study of narrative reminds us that biblical scholars are practitioners of theology, and theologians are also interpreters of biblical narrative. James Callahan Bibliography. G. Aichele, Limits of Story; R. Alter, Art of Biblical Narrative; C. Campbell, Preaching Jesus; G. Fackre, Christian Story: Ecumenical Faith in Evangelical Perspective; H. Frei, Eclipse of Biblical Narrative; Theology and Narrative; Types of Christian Theology; M. Goldberg, Theology and Narrative; G. Green, ed., Scriptural Authority and Narrative Interpretation; S. Grenz, Revisioning Evangelical Theology; Theology for the Community of God; S. Hauerwas, Christian Existence; S. Hauerwas and L. G. Jones, Why Narrative?; D. Kelsey, Uses of Scripture in Recent Theology; A. and F. Kermode, Literary Guide to the Bible; G. Lindbeck, Nature of Doctrine; G. Loughlin, Telling God’s Story; A. MacIntyre, After Virtue; J. W. McClendon, Biography as Theology; A. McGrath, Passion for Truth; P. Nelson, Narrative and Morality; H. R. Niebuhr, Meaning of Revelation; T. Phillips and D. Okholm, Nature of Confession; C. Pinnock, Scripture Principle; Tracking the Maze; R. Ricoeur, Time and Narrative; G. Stroup, Promise of Narrative Theology; R. Thiemann, Revelation and Theology; T. Tilley, Story Theology.