What is Genre? Why Does Genre Matter?
“Egg Attack Action Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker with Stormtrooper storm trooper by Beast Kingdom.” Photo by Mulyadi on Unsplash
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What if a friend tells you that she has seen a good movie? You might ask her, “Was it a comedy or an action film?” You are asking about genre. Genre is also a question to ask about biblical writings.
How Does Genre Tell Us What to Expect?
We have some general expectations of what a comedy or an action film will be. For example, the action film will usually center on a strong heroic figure. There will be some violence and probably a chase scene or two. We expect to be thrilled by the suspense of the story or riveted by the action on the screen. We will root for the hero against the “bad guys.” We expect to see the heroic defender of decency and virtue defeat the evil plans of the “bad guys.” We expect to see a hard-won victory.
Conversely, with a comedy, we anticipate characters caught up in unusual or amusing circumstances. We expect the central figures to entertain as they overcome these problems. We anticipate laughter and warm amusement that ends in a happy resolution that affirms the human condition.
Sometimes our disappointment with a movie stems from its inability to satisfy these kinds of expectations. Our friend might say she did not like the movie because “I thought it was supposed to be funny, but it was not.” To some degree, then, our enjoyment of a movie is based upon its fidelity to our genre expectations.
What Is Genre?
A genre is basically a literary type. Genre types are not hard and fast, though. They are flexible and elastic guides that allow creativity. The genre of a work tells the reader or viewer what to expect. For instance, if we are reading a letter, we expect to read a response to a real situation in a specific time. If we only have one side of the conversation, we may expect to have to fill in the other side using clues in the letter and our imaginations. A post about Paul’s letters explains more about this genre and types of letters.
Biblical writings include other genres, too. Hebrew scriptures include poetic songs collected as Psalms, speeches by prophets denouncing the injustice in their times, creation stories, love poems, legal codes, stories of the ancestors, emotional lamentations, and more. In addition to letters, the New Testament includes gospels, a history, and an apocalypse.
Each genre leads us to distinct expectations. A legal code tells us about the community’s rules for living. We do not normally look for rules to live by in a lamentation, for example. Instead we expect a deep expression of sorrow.
How Is Genre Related to Reading in Context?
A common way of reading the Bible looks for rules and teachings in a verse or short passage. Often the whole work and its genre is ignored.
Yet each document is a complete literary whole.
Bible readers who only read short sections or a few verses of a biblical text may gain some insight. Yet they may also miss the full range of that document's message and tone. Without taking note of the genre of the whole writing, misinterpretations may also result from this kind of partial reading. A meme with a previous post offers a humorous example with a photo of a page from a calendar of inspirational biblical quotations. It quotes Luke 4:7, “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” Check the context! Out of context, the verse is read as if the Bible is a compilation of reassuring messages to each of us from God. In the context of a story in a gospel, the verse is spoken to Jesus and the speaker is not God!
What Cues Tell Us What Genre to Expect?
Consider the differences between an action movie and a comedy again. A film opening with dramatic pounding orchestral music and a scene of an epic battle or violent explosions will not create the expectation that a romantic comedy is coming. Likewise upbeat happy music behind a scene of a couple having coffee at a sidewalk café usually does not create the expectation of a movie full of battles and car chases.
Classic television programs open with visual and musical indications of the genre of the program to follow, too. An image of a globe spinning with dramatic classical music and pictures of news anchors tells viewers to expect a news program. Pop music with pictures of characters indicates that a half-hour situation comedy can be expected.
A film beginning with a scene like the one above might confuse us. Will this be a Star Wars action film or a comedic cartoon with toy action figures?
Such elements of form also indicate genres found in the Bible. Letters have been mentioned as one example. Gospels have features that identify them with a literary genre of the time.
Learning about the genre of the writings in the Bible can help us know what to expect as we read and to appreciate the writings more fully.
This post is part of a series on genre in New Testament writings based on Perry Kea’s article:
Kea, Perry. “New Testament Literary Genres.” Fourth R 6.4 (1993): 10–16.
Other posts in the series will have more information about gospels, histories, and apocalypses. See a previous post about letters.
