METANARRATIVES

One of the chapters in my dissertation will be a "Literature Review". Here's the guidance I have been given on this section: 

"The literature review should summarize the contributions of the key figures working on your topic. This chapter demonstrates your competence in the field by articulating the standard approaches to thinking in your area of research."

For now, my prospectus just needs a single paragraph summarizing what shape I anticipate this chapter will take.

My difficulty in getting started on it is that there are at least three aspects of my project that have their own literature. Maybe I should devote a third of my lit review to each one.

Here's the first:

1. Since one of the main objectives of my retreat is to communicate some key Bible themes to the youth, I've been reading up on the metanarrative(s) of the Bible. Carmen Imes' recently completed trilogy - Bearing God's Name, Being God's Image, and Becoming God's Family - is exceptional. She is the rare biblical scholar who is able to make deep scriptural insights accessible and engaging for a lay audience. Based on her recommendation, I also picked up The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative by Christopher Wright, but I haven't finished it yet. It has some major gravitas and is not a quick read by any stretch of the imagination. In this category, I would also include The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God by Dallas Willard and a couple of Matthew Bates' books, Why the Gospel? - Living the Good News of King Jesus with Purpose as well as Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King. Finally, I think there's a lot of insight in a book I used to frequently dip into while I taught high school English, How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster.

I am not sure if any of this sounds at all interesting to you, but I have found familiarity with some of the recurring themes of Scripture to be incredibly useful in my own Bible study. Knowing something of the biggies - like image, God's presence, the Knowledge of Good and Evil, covenant, the law, sacrifices, and exile - provides a roadmap for unfamiliar passages. Recurring themes often become the keys to unlocking deeper meaning. 

"Read the Bible like it's fiction" is extremely helpful advice. I believe I first heard it from Michael Heiser, but apparently C.S. Lewis advocated this approach long before Heiser was on the scene.