The following is the first part of an article I wrote for a class I took on teaching in orality cultures. The title is “Biblical Commentary as Story: Is There a Place for Aggadic Midrash in Oral Cultures?”

Stories have many purposes in their religious communities. Much of Scripture is in the form of story. Bruce Baloian notes,

“Old Testament narratives chose not to have the narrator (for the most part) tell the reader what the stories meant. Biblical authors did not connect the dots. This choice forces the readers to interpret the stories. This form of communication both demands that the reader think and shows respect for the human ability to do so. … The meaning, message ortheology is implicitly present in the narratives but not clearly elucidated.” <1>

Because of this, stories are also sometimes created to attempt, speculatively, to “connect the dots”— to help interpret Holy Scripture. A term for this is “midrash.” A midrash is a commentary on Hebrew Scripture. According to the Lexham Bible Dictionary,

“Collections of rabbinic midrash interpret large portions of the Old Testament (especially the Pentateuch), often in the form of commentaries or literary sermons. These commentaries interpret laws, answer difficult questions arising from the biblical text,address apparent contradictions, and “fill in the blanks” where more information seems necessary.”<2>

 There are different types of midrash. Neusner speaks of three types— midrash exegesis that develops propositions, propositions that develop midrash exegesis, and interpretive reworkings of Biblical stories. It is this last form, “aggadah,” that is addressed here. <3>

1Bruce Edward Baloian, “Teaching the Ineffable Through Narrative,” Evangelical Quarterly 88.1 (2016), 56-70.

2Barry, John D., David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott,Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder, eds. “Midrash.” In The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA:Lexham Press, 2016).

3Jacob Neusner, Invitation to Midrash (New York: Harper-Collins, 1989), xiv

<<The rest of it is in the article that can be clicked at the top of the page.>>