Biblical Narrators: Who Are They? Necessary and Inspired?

C Mc

All reasonable minded Christians accept the Bible as a human/Divine Product. God is the real Author of the Bible. "Holy men wrote as they were moved..." and "All Scripture is given by inspiration." The books of the Bible are named after the writers (John, James, Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc.) or the main event (e.g. Genesis, Lamentations, Judges, Acts, etc.). Who are the narrators of the Bible? Are they the writers or scribes? Are they inspired? Are there one in each book? Are narrators necessary for understanding the biblical message? Please cite resources and/or sober reasonings in your responses. Thanks. CM

Dave_L

@C_M_ said:
All reasonable minded Christians accept the Bible as a human/Divine Product. God is the real Author of the Bible. "Holy men wrote as they were moved..." and "All Scripture is given by inspiration." The books of the Bible are named after the writers (John, James, Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc.) or the main event (e.g. Genesis, Lamentations, Judges, Acts, etc.). Who are the narrators of the Bible? Are they the writers or scribes? Are they inspired? Are there one in each book? Are narrators necessary for understanding the biblical message? Please cite resources and/or sober reasonings in your responses. Thanks. CM

This could take some time but thanks for introducing this area of study to me. I found this for starters: Identifying the Biblical Narrator’s Voice

http://www.biblestudywithrandy.com/2014/07/identifying-biblical-narrators-voice/

Dave_L

I believe Anthropomorphisms are a big part of the narrator's take on divine revelation. Just as Jesus revealed God in human terms and acts, the prophets colored the message with their humanness, revealing it in ways they and others understood. It wasn't so much that God repented, or fell grief stricken by things escaping his control. But the outcome in his actions was the same as if he did remorse and retaliate. And the spiritual became more physical in their thinking. In this sense, the anthropomorphisms became physical symbols of the spiritual reality.

If we define God's attributes by the NT, the anthropomorphic language of the OT stands out.

C Mc

Dave,

What are we talking about? You may want to share the above information in another post-Genesis 18. The reason, see the definitions below for the words: "Anthropomorphisms" and "Narrator."

Anthropomorphisms -- "the showing or treating of animals, gods, and objects as if they are human in appearance, character, or behavior: e.g. The books "Alice in Wonderland", "Peter Rabbit", and "Winnie-the-Pooh" are classic examples of anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphism
(Gk. anthropos [a[nqrwpo"] [human] + morphe [morfhv] [form]). Assignment of human attributes to nonhuman things. Biblical anthropomorphisms are used primarily in reference to God, who is neither visible ( John 1:18 ) nor human ( Num 23: 19; 1 Sam 15:29 ). They are also used to assign human characteristics to angels ( Gen 16: 7; 18:1-19:1 ), Satan ( 1 Chron 21: 1; Luke 13:16 ), and demons ( Luke 8:32 ). Evil is also personified, depicted as slaying ( Psalm 34:21 ) and pursuing ( Pr 13:21 ). Infrequently, human qualities are attributed to animals ( Nu 22:28-30 ) or vegetation ( Jud 9:7-15 ).

The use of human terminology to talk about God is necessary when we, in our limitations, wish to express truths about the Deity who by his very nature cannot be described or known. From biblical times to the present, people have felt compelled to explain what God is like, and no expressions other than human terms are able to convey any semblance of meaning to the indescribable. Thus, in Genesis alone God creates ( 1:1 ), moves ( 1:2 ), speaks ( 1:3 ), sees ( 1:4 ), divides ( 1:4 ), places ( 1:17 ), blesses ( 1:22 ), plants ( 2:8 ), walks ( 3:8 ), shuts ( 7:16 ), smells ( 8:21 ), descends ( 11:5 ), scatters ( 11:8 ), hears ( 21:17 ), tests ( 22:1 ), and judges ( 30:6 ).

Perhaps the most profound anthropomorphism is the depiction of God establishing a covenant, for the making of covenants is a very human activity. God enters into an agreement (covenant) with Israel at Sinai ( Exod 19:5-6 ), an outgrowth of an earlier covenant he had made with Abraham ( Gen 17:1-18 ). Later, this agreement is transformed into a new covenant through Jesus Christ ( Matt 26:26-29 ).

Narrator -- "a person who narrates something, especially a character who recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem."

• -- a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc. Synonyms: Voice-over, commentator, speaker.

Just wanted to keep the flow of information inline with the OP. CM

Dave_L

@C_M_ said:
Dave,

What are we talking about? You may want to share the above information in another post-Genesis 18. The reason, see the definitions below for the words: "Anthropomorphisms" and "Narrator."

Anthropomorphisms -- "the showing or treating of animals, gods, and objects as if they are human in appearance, character, or behavior: e.g. The books "Alice in Wonderland", "Peter Rabbit", and "Winnie-the-Pooh" are classic examples of anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphism
(Gk. anthropos [a[nqrwpo"] [human] + morphe [morfhv] [form]). Assignment of human attributes to nonhuman things. Biblical anthropomorphisms are used primarily in reference to God, who is neither visible ( John 1:18 ) nor human ( Num 23: 19; 1 Sam 15:29 ). They are also used to assign human characteristics to angels ( Gen 16: 7; 18:1-19:1 ), Satan ( 1 Chron 21: 1; Luke 13:16 ), and demons ( Luke 8:32 ). Evil is also personified, depicted as slaying ( Psalm 34:21 ) and pursuing ( Pr 13:21 ). Infrequently, human qualities are attributed to animals ( Nu 22:28-30 ) or vegetation ( Jud 9:7-15 ).

The use of human terminology to talk about God is necessary when we, in our limitations, wish to express truths about the Deity who by his very nature cannot be described or known. From biblical times to the present, people have felt compelled to explain what God is like, and no expressions other than human terms are able to convey any semblance of meaning to the indescribable. Thus, in Genesis alone God creates ( 1:1 ), moves ( 1:2 ), speaks ( 1:3 ), sees ( 1:4 ), divides ( 1:4 ), places ( 1:17 ), blesses ( 1:22 ), plants ( 2:8 ), walks ( 3:8 ), shuts ( 7:16 ), smells ( 8:21 ), descends ( 11:5 ), scatters ( 11:8 ), hears ( 21:17 ), tests ( 22:1 ), and judges ( 30:6 ).

Perhaps the most profound anthropomorphism is the depiction of God establishing a covenant, for the making of covenants is a very human activity. God enters into an agreement (covenant) with Israel at Sinai ( Exod 19:5-6 ), an outgrowth of an earlier covenant he had made with Abraham ( Gen 17:1-18 ). Later, this agreement is transformed into a new covenant through Jesus Christ ( Matt 26:26-29 ).

Narrator -- "a person who narrates something, especially a character who recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem."

• -- a person who delivers a commentary accompanying a movie, broadcast, piece of music, etc. Synonyms: Voice-over, commentator, speaker.

Just wanted to keep the flow of information inline with the OP. CM

I'm using the term showing the "narrator" often used anthropomorphisms in revealing God's mind at a human level.

Anthropomorphism. Representation of God in the form of a human being in speech or writing. “Anthropomorphism,” derived from two Greek words, means literally “human form-ism.” It can refer both to a proper, biblical representation of God and to an improper, even corrupt, manner of representing deity.

Culver, R. D. (1988). Anthropomorphism. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 117). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

C Mc

Who are the Bible Narrators? Are they the writers, scribes, editors, translators, or the organizations sponsoring the production of a new translation or versions of the Bible? Any thoughts? CM

[Deleted User]

https://www.christiandiscourse.net/discussion/comment/13455#Comment_13455

The term "narrator" in your quoted definition would even fit a preacher ?

As for who was "inspired by God", I would understand respective passages in Scripture as referring to those who wrote or supervised the writing (cp. Paul who had someone else write as he apparently dictated to him and then signed the epistle in his own handwriting) of the original writing. I do not understand those passages to refer to later copiers, printers, translators or publishers.