Includes bibliographical references and index

Introducing narrative criticism -- Definition -- Narrative criticism and new criticism -- Narrative criticism and reader-response criticism -- Defamiliarization of the New Testament -- The usefulness of narrative criticism -- Rhetoric -- Definition -- Repetition -- Framing narratives -- Rhetorical figures -- Figures of thought (tropes) -- A reading of rhetoric in Luke 24:13-35 -- Setting -- Definition -- A reading of settings in Hemingway's "Hills like white elephants" -- Setting in the New Testament -- A reading of settings in Mark 5:1-20 -- Character -- Definition -- Round and flat characters -- Dynamic and static characters -- Showing (mimesis) and telling (diegesis) -- Robert Alter's scale of means -- A reading of character in Chopin's "Story of an hour" -- Reading biblical characters -- Point of view -- Definition -- Four planes of point of view -- A reading of point of view in Chopin's "Ripe figs" -- Point of view in the New Testament -- A reading of point of view in Luke 10:25-29 -- Plot -- Definition -- Elements of a plot -- Plot types and plot patterns -- Order of narration -- A reading of plot in the book of Revelation -- Applying narrative criticism -- Questions -- The story of Nicodemus -- Conclusion.