Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Frank McConnell -- From J to K, or the uncanniness of the Yahwist / Harold Bloom -- The "literal reading" of biblical narrative in the Christian tradition : does it stretch or will it break? / Hans W. Frei -- The argument about canons / Frank Kermode -- The Gospels as narrative / James M. Robinson -- John come lately : the belated evangelist / Donald Foster -- Biblical narrative and modern consciousness / Herbert N. Schneidau.

This collection of six essays by noted literary critics and biblical scholars--including Harold Bloom, Hans Frei, Frank Kermode, James Robinson, Donald Foster, and Herbert Schneidau--explores the Bible as poetry, rhetoric, and narrative. The authors treat such issues involved in biblical narrative as its genesis, its revisionist dynamic, its fictional character, its interpretive nature, and its contradictions, prejudices, and claims. McConnell's introduction elucidates and unifies the book's themes.