Getting to the Gist—Reflections on Allison’s Proposal to Focus on Generalised Themes within the Bible at the Expense of Forensic Details

Abstract

The task before the biblical scholar is daunting given the temporal expanse between modern-day and ancient data sources. Indeed, imbuing ancient memory with a contemporary voice would dismay even the most stoic of researchers. Allison’s (2010) proposal of “Getting to the Gist” of what happened provides not only an economical way of identifying and recalling only the most relevant details of an event, but it also liberates the historian from quarrying for specifics that often are not available. Moreso, it reminds us that what is “original” does not necessarily represent best and historically, looking forensic for details across time, has often failed to yield the required information, but produced only more questions so therefore let us look for the “gist”.