Sacred texts: How to read them and how better not

The Philistines must have been amazed. Samson, the man with superhuman strength, slew 1000 of their warriors. With a donkey's jaw! This is neither a fantasy novel nor a Tarantino movie. This is what it says in the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. What does one do as a reader with such a text? Especially when you consider that many people read sacred texts literally. Dr. Ilse Müllner is a professor in the Department of Biblical Theology/Old Testament. Here she explores how to read and understand a sacred text. And how better not to.    

"Everyone knows what a message of doom is"

Müllner researches the Old Testament of the Bible. In doing so, she is studying biblical narratology, the science of storytelling. "I see biblical texts as narratives first, and very good narratives at that," she says. "They're often great literary texts." Storytelling is not an end in itself. The narratives of the past serve the present. "Biblical narratives provided, and continue to provide, basic patterns by which we can shape our lives," the theologian says. "Life is not a mere sequence of events. Only narratives connect events and give them meaning."

To understand that, she said, you don't even have to be religious. In fact, we find biblical motifs everywhere in our everyday lives. "Everyone knows what bad news is," Müllner says. "Other example: you immediately know what is meant when I talk about 'David versus Goliath.'" True. Whether it's a Bundesliga game or a political campaign. People are familiar with this figure of speech. To be sure, knowledge of biblical content has declined significantly among younger people, he said. But there is a great desire among students to discover the ancient writings for themselves, Müllner says. "Especially for the young target group, the Bible has many connecting points. The television series Game of Thrones, for example, seems heavily inspired by the power struggles of the Old Testament and other ancient literature."

What is the narrator trying to tell us?

But what do we do with Samson now? Did he now single-handedly slay a myriad of warriors? Probably not. "We should always ask ourselves what the narrators want to say," Müllner says. In ancient times, he says, there were different storytelling conventions than today. "Stories that are 3,000 years old are just different from stories from 2019." You notice that in the characters, for example, he said. "Unlike today's movie or novel characters, biblical characters are less individualistic," she explains. "People in the ancient Near East were always thought of in the context of their social relationships." Often, entire peoples appear as acting characters.

So the right question, she says, is not whether Samson really did it, whether Jonah really lived for days in the belly of a big fish, or whether Adam and Eve were thrown out of paradise for their disobedience. The real question is: What is the intent of the narrator?

The Middle East was a disputed area even in ancient times. Assyrians, Babylonians, Israelites, Persians, and later Greeks and Romans fought for supremacy. Many Old Testament narratives served to solidify the group membership of the people of Israel in tumultuous times. "They are often trauma narratives." The people of Old Testament Israel suffered at the hands of foreign conquerors and enemies from closer to home. They used narratives to strengthen their own identity. They assured themselves of their ability to act. The message is clear: We are who!

"There are many ways to interpret a text".

How the texts came into being, however, is of no interest to some. Fundamentalists of all religions, for example, often interpret their sacred texts literally. Without any context. For Müllner, that makes little sense. "Literal interpretation? That already fails because of the many translations. You first have to ask yourself: Which Bible do you use? The ancient Hebrew or the ancient Greek original text? Even that often exists in several versions. The Luther Bible? The current standard translation? Bible in Just Language?" With each translation, a new interpretation flows into the text.

There are numerous approaches to interpreting a text, Müllner said. Since the Enlightenment in the 18th century, people have also begun to read the Bible critically. "At the Department of Biblical Theology, we stand for a cultural-historical, historically responsible interpretation of the Bible." That means always thinking about the cultural and temporal context! When was a text written and where? What social rules applied there at that time? How did people tell stories? "One must not lose sight of the specifics of each culture."

The Catholic Church also rejects literal interpretation. In 1993, a papal commission approved of the variety of different interpretations of the Bible. Only one does not: fundamentalism. But why is literal interpretation so appealing to many? "Some people find it difficult to reconcile God and religion with ambivalence," Müllner says. But, she points out, "The Bible is ambivalent." Take the biblical figure of King David. On the one hand, he was considered a pious hero; on the other hand, he sent one of his officers into a bloody war because he was in love with his wife. Holy is about something else.

"It's about liberation"

But it's also important to remember that sacred texts are more than narratives, Müllner says. They are also historical sources and help us understand the past. "There really was a King David, for example." And for many people they are not only literary texts, but above all religious texts. Religious people often accuse those who read the Bible scientifically of having no respect for it. "That's not true, of course," says the researcher. "We honor the text along with its origins and the story of how it came to be."

So the sacred writings are full of great, meaning-making narratives. "Life wants to be told," Müllner is certain. With so many such famous images, is there perhaps a basic motif? An image that runs through the entire Bible? "The Bible is made up of many books," she says. "As theologians, we value that diversity." But one typical narrative runs through the entire Bible, she says: liberation. "It's the Exodus motif - the people of Israel are freed from slavery, the sinner is freed from sin. It's about liberation."

Text: David Wüstehube