"Because of its long oral tradition the Old Testament includes a great variety of types of literature--narrative, poetry, proverbs, hymns. Form criticism analyzes these genres within the biblical material in terms of structure, intention, and setting. Gene Tucker clearly defines the basic principles and methods of form criticism and outlines its relation to other disciplines. Using examples from our own speech patterns, the author illustrates how we can recognize various categories of literature. The Old Testament contains genre from every facet of life, from elevated lyric poetry to ceremonial rites to drinking songs. Dr. Tucker picks two representative categories--narrative and prophetic writing--and applies the questions of form criticism to them"--Back cover.