LITERARY GENRES (IN THE BIBLE)
Sacred exegesis, whose "supreme rule is to discern and establish what the writer intends to say" (encycl. *Divino afflante Spiritu*), cannot neglect one of the most important principles of all exegesis, namely the examination of what is now commonly called literary genres, that is, "those forms of writing regulated by particular norms, in use in a given era and region, for the purpose of expressing one's thoughts" (G. M. Perrella, p. 83).
Indeed, the truth of a historical account differs from that of a poem or a parable; one cannot help but smile at those pilgrims who, since the 4th century, have venerated the inn of the Good Samaritan on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, or at those Christians of past times who awaited a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. Even in the secular realm, one recalls the indignation of J. J. Rousseau in accusing La Fontaine of having taught falsehood to children.
In truth, no one has ever doubted the existence of various literary genres in the Bible; yet some hesitation has been shown in admitting them in the books that the Bible presents in the form of historical narrative. Since rationalist exegetes abused this principle to assimilate many biblical accounts to pagan myths or profane fables devoid of any historical value, the Church’s Magisterium initially showed considerable reserve. However, the encyclical *Providentissimus Deus* (1893) promulgated the foundational principle already articulated by St. Augustine: namely, that the sacred author did not intend to teach the inner nature of visible objects but wished only to provide his contemporaries with a popular exposition in keeping with the common modes of expression of their time (*Enchiridion Biblicum*, Rome 1927, no. 106). Later, the Biblical Commission in 1905 and 1909, applying the same principle to the first chapters of *Genesis*, admitted that sometimes the sacred author "did not intend to narrate a history in the strict and proper sense" (*loc. cit.*, no. 154) but rather a "popular narrative," albeit one that conveyed truth in a manner adapted to the times, to the sensibilities, and to the understanding of men (*loc. cit.*, no. 338).
For the first time, the encyclical *Spiritus Paraclitus* (1920) employed the term "literary genres," acknowledging their legitimacy provided they were not abused. It admitted the existence of literary genres with which the complete and perfect truth of the divine word could be reconciled (*loc. cit.*, no. 474). Finally, the encyclical *Divino afflante Spiritu* (1943) did not hesitate to make the examination of literary genres one of the principal tasks of the exegete. It wisely noted that to "determine what the ancient Orientals meant by their words," the "laws of grammar or philology or even the context" are not sufficient; the interpreter must also, as it were, mentally return to those remote centuries of the East and clearly discern what literary genres the writers of that distant age intended to use. For the ancient Orientals did not always express their concepts in the forms or genres of discourse that we use today but rather in those that were current among the people of their time and place.
Even more precise is the letter of the Pontifical Biblical Commission of January 16, 1948, which states that "the literary forms of the first eleven chapters of *Genesis* do not correspond to any of our classical categories and cannot be judged by the standards of modern Greco-Latin literary genres. Therefore, one cannot either deny or affirm wholesale the historicity of all those chapters without wrongly applying to them the norm of a literary genre under which they cannot be classified."
As A. Bea rightly observes (*Il problema del Pentateuco*, p. 124), commenting on these words, "history, in the strict, scientific sense of today, is defined as the narration of a past event, supported by documents that accurately report the fact, placing it in time and space and describing it as it actually unfolded." In contrast, in the literature of ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, "what we find is rather the transmission of particular events in the form of annals, or a mixed presentation of facts and legends or myths, or popular tradition transmitted orally, not in writing or in authentic documents." Hence, the same letter of the Pontifical Biblical Commission invites the Catholic exegete to study "the literary procedures of the ancient peoples of the East, their psychology, their modes of expression, and their very notion of historical truth"—a notion, Bea adds, "quite different from our Aristotelian way of reasoning and presenting" (*loc. cit.*, p. 126).
The literary genre must therefore not be determined a priori, as if to evade difficulties, but through the study of contemporary literatures and a thorough examination of the biblical book or passage in question. The exegete does not resort to literary genre for mere apologetic purposes; rather, in reverence for the Word of God, which "is expressed through the affirmation of the sacred writer," he seeks to determine that affirmation with all possible accuracy so as not to attribute to God what God does not say.
Thus, the question of literary genre is not confined to a few passages fraught with difficulty, such as the first chapters of *Genesis*; it extends to the entire Bible. One may say that every book has its own literary genre to be established. Yet to speak of literary genre, even with regard to a historical book, is not to deny it any historical value. To do so would be to forget that there are many ways of recounting history, that is, of relating true events. Thus, a portrait by a great artist can be as rich in strictly historical truth as a simple photograph, and the epic of a true poet can be as truthful as the report of a carabinieri officer—and indeed far more so. Moreover, if, according to the ancient Jewish canon, the books of *Joshua*, *Judges*, *Samuel*, and *Kings* are classified as "prophetic" books—not because they do not recount past events but because they do so to remind the people of Israel of the demands of God’s Revelation, not to satisfy the curiosity of future scholars—then one cannot deny that a proper interpretation must take this into account. Far from stripping Sacred Scripture of its truth, as the rationalists of the past century believed, a clearer consideration of literary genres will dispel not a few unresolved difficulties and, above all, will allow for a much more precise determination of the sacred writer’s true intent and, consequently, of the authentic Word of God.