Our stories

This is a sequel to my prior post:

https://triablogue.blogspot.com/2020/01/living-in-bible.html

1. I'm going to comment on some different, but related kinds of stories in Scripture. I'll be using literary jargon, not because I think Biblical narratives are fictional, but because these are useful categories and distinctions. They apply to true stories as well as fiction. I'm mostly borrowing classifications and definitions from Leland Ryken's Literary Forms in the Bible (Crossway 2014), but the analysis is my own. The ultimate point of this is not to engage in abstract literary analysis, but to set the stage for how this corresponds to Christian experience. 

Travel This is the most general category. A traveler can pass through time as well as space. 

Journey This is an archetypal story motif, both inside and outside of Scripture. A journey is a travel story with a destination or intended destination. 

From a Christian standpoint, every human being is on a journey out of this world, for better or worse.  

Pilgrimage This is a special kind of journey story. A journey with a religious motivation and a sacred destination. Outside of Scripture, a pilgrimage is often voluntary, although it may be a religious duty. Within Scripture, the journey from Egypt to the promised land represents a symbolic pilgrimage. 

Calling Some travel stories are calling stories. The call of Abraham is the paradigm example. A calling story stresses divine initiative. In Scripture, a calling story is the inceptive stage of a pilgrimage story.

Quest A quest is a journey with a goal, but not necessarily a destination. It may be in search for something. A quest is typically voluntary. It may be to satisfy the curiosity of the traveler. An explorer's boyish sense of adventure. 

The quest genre is very popular outside of Scripture, but rare within scripture because the protagonist in a quest story acts on his own initiative, whereas Scripture stresses divine initiative in the travel genre. One biblical example of the quest story is the parable of the prodigal son. But that's a cautionary example. The best example of the quest genre in Scripture is the mission of Christ. 

Expulsion Unlike a quest, expulsion is involuntary. The exile is forced from his home and homeland. An exile may have no destination. The paradigm example is the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden. 

Exile This is similar to an exile story. But there's a distinction. Some exiles were banished while others were born in exile. First-generation exiles may wax nostalgic for their homeland and feel alienated living abroad. Paradigm examples are the Assyrian deportation and the Babylonian exile. Hell is eternal exile. 

For second-generation exiles, by contrast, this is the only home they've known. They may feel more at home in exile than for their ancestral home. Or they may feel disoriented. No place feels like home. 

Flight Unlike exiles who were banished, refugees and especially fugitives may take the initiative to leave before it's too late. Yet they leave under duress. It's not quite voluntary or involuntary. Refugees and fugitives have a goal but not necessarily a destination. They take refuge wherever they can. Examples include Jacob, Moses, David (on the run from Saul and Absalom), and the Holy Family. 

Rescue This typically involves divine intervention and deliverance. The paradigm example is the Exodus. That operates at a corporate level, but the motif routinely operates at an individual level as well. Many petitionary prayers are rescue stories in miniature. 

Escape Overlaps with flight and rescue stories, but rescue stories require outside assistance whereas escapees may be able to do it on their own. 

Homecoming That's the opposite of expulsion, exile, and flight. Examples include Jacob, the prodigal son, and the repatriated Babylonian exiles. 

In some cases, homecoming may be a disappointment. A soldier comes back to find the farm abandoned. No one waiting for his return. His family had to move away. He has no idea where they went. So the separation remains. You might say hell is the anti-homecoming story. 

Wandering Unlike a quest, this is a travel story without a goal. Unlike a journey, this is a travel story without a destination. Paradigm examples are the life of Abraham and the Exodus-generation. The latter is punitive. Abraham's experience isn't punitive, but it seems aimless as well as rootless. 

2. However, different kinds of stories can overlap in unexpected ways. 

i) From Abraham's perspective, God called him to be a drifter. He wasn't on a journey because he had no destination. Nowhere to settle down. Not even a goal. He was just a wayfarer. 

But therein lies dramatic irony, because the reader knows more about God's intentions than Abraham. The reader has read more of the story. Further into the story. Abraham's future is the reader's past. 

Paradoxically, although Abraham wasn't on a journey (in this life), he was part of a journey. For he set in motion the journey of the Jewish people. In the OT, their destination was the promised land.

In addition, a Christian reader has a better sense of what awaited Abraham when he died than Abraham did. From the perspective of the Christian reader, not only was Abraham on a journey–appearances to the contrary notwithstanding–but on a pilgrimage. He had no destination in this life because his destination lay in the world to come. 

Abraham was called to leave Ur, but on the face of it, he wasn't called to go anywhere in particular. He was called from something but not to something. 

Yet that's just empirical. He was summoned out of paganism and damnation.  

ii) To take another example, the Joseph cycle seems to be a betrayal story at the outset, but turns out to be a rescue story. A way in which God honors his covenant with Abraham. A way in which God preserved the tribe of Abraham from starvation. And, of course, it includes a reconciliation story. 

3. For some Christians, our experience feels like the calling of Abraham. We were called from something, but we seem to be going in circles. We can't make out the destination or even the goal. But appearances can be misleading. Like Abraham, we don't know the future. 

For some Christians, our experience feels like Joseph, who had a promising start, but then encountered one setback after another. Yet appearances can be misleading. We don't know what the future holds. 

Some Christians are like passengers who wake up on a train. We don't remember boarding the train. It's as if we were sedated, abducted, and put on the train. We wake up in the middle of a journey. The train is headed somewhere. We have a destination even if we can't see it. But the engineer knows where he's going. Where he's taking us.