Bible as literature
The Bible is recognized as a significant work of literature, encompassing a diverse range of narrative styles, poetry, and other literary forms. It contains stories that feature compelling characters, settings, and plots, often illustrating profound themes like morality, wisdom, and the nature of faith. Originating from oral traditions, these narratives have evolved into structured tales that engage readers through vivid imagery and relatable human experiences.
The poetic elements of the Bible, including the Psalms and the Book of Job, showcase rhythmic language, emotional depth, and figurative expressions, making them resonate with universal themes. In addition to narratives and poetry, the Bible includes epics—like the story of the Israelites’ exodus—and short stories that convey moral lessons, such as the Book of Ruth.
Furthermore, the epistles written by the apostle Paul represent a unique literary form within the text, addressing early Christian communities and exploring theological concepts. Overall, the Bible's literary richness, with its intertwined historical and spiritual narratives, invites readers to explore its artistic and cultural dimensions, while also reflecting on the ethical and existential questions it raises.
Bible as literature
Because the Bible is a book of narratives, poems, and other literary forms, it is considered to be literature, in addition to being a source of religious guidance. Biblical stories include characters, settings, plots, and other literary qualities while the book's poetry is written in lines and contains elements such as rhythm, figurative language, and emotion.
Overview
The text of much of the Bible originated as oral histories, stories, songs, and laws. Based on traditions and experiences of ancestors of the Hebrews, the stories held religious and historical truths. By the time the stories had passed through several generations and been written down, they had become tight narratives with settings, characters, and action distilled into enduring final forms. Poems used rhythm, repetition, and elevated language to express emotions and universal human themes such as good vs. evil, wisdom vs. foolishness, and obedience vs. rebellion.
In the early sixteenth century, William Tyndale (c.1494-1536) began translating the Hebrew and Greek Bibles into a new English version. His work also transferred the linguistic style of the early volumes, but he created most of the inspired language for what later became the King James Bible. Ironically, Tyndale condemned secular literature as lies and filth while his enhanced translation became the epitome of literary expression and the language of Shakespeare.
Narratives
The narratives in the Bible are literary because they do not lecture or explain, but paint pictures with words, showing readers rather than telling them. They include characters and a setting, a plot, and a theme. Bible stories contain more than one level of meaning, but most are fairly easy to interpret. For example, they often use the metaphor of a shepherd who tends his sheep and goes in search of those who stray. The shepherd and sheep represent God and his people, and those who return to the flock have been redeemed.
Bible stories, like any good literature, are based on human experience, recognizable characters, and sensory images that deliver a message without resorting to exposition. For example, Jesus relates the parable of the Good Samaritan to a man who questioned his responsibility to his neighbor. In the story, a man is robbed and beaten and left in a ditch. A priest walks by, crossing the road to avoid the victim. A Levite does the same. Finally, a Samaritan stops, treats the stranger's wound, and takes him to an inn, where he pays for his care and promises to return. The story demonstrates ethical conduct and engages the reader through intellect, suspense, and emotion.
Setting is another important element in giving meaning to Bible stories. Location is often symbolic, as in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve live in innocence. Their world provides everything they need—until they disobey God. Then they are sent out into the world to survive on their own. In the story of Jonah and the whale, Jonah is trapped inside the beast, the setting symbolizing his separation from God. Other symbolic locations include mountains, where characters come into close contact with God, and water, which represents life in many contexts.
Poetry
Poetry appears throughout the Bible. Many scholars consider the first Book of Genesis to be poetry and the Book of Job as a longer, more dramatic example. Lyric poetry, written in the first person and expressing the speaker's thoughts and feelings, develops a single theme. The Psalms are examples of lyric poetry, as are Proverbs and Lamentations.
Repetition, rhythm, and parallelism, characteristic of the original Hebrew poetry, were retained through Tyndale's translations. In Genesis, the author used repetitious phrasing and rhythm to reinforce the orderliness of creation. The Psalms, written as songs, were originally composed in lines rather than paragraphs. They contain memorable images and metaphors, such as sheep in green pastures and the valley of the shadow of death.
Other Literary Forms
The variety of literary examples in the Bible includes epics, short stories, and epistles, in addition to narratives and poetry. Epics generally describe a long quest, such as the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, led by the hero Moses. A unified theme and style is characteristic of epics, and the Book of Exodus also uses poetic language to describe the group's cohesion, its search for the Promised Land, and its ultimate dependence on God.
Narratives structured as short stories also appear in the Bible. They contain characters and a setting, a plot, conflicts, and mood. A good example is the Book of Ruth. Ruth's story models biblical values as her loyalty and faith are tested by family, loss, poverty, and loneliness. But she faithfully loves and cares for her mother-in-law, Naomi, and matures and fulfills their lives through a new marriage and the birth of a son.
The apostle Paul wrote many letters to churches and church leaders, which became part of the New Testament. In this less-conventional literary form, called epistles, Paul explained the basics of Christianity and answered questions about the new religion. Paul's epistles included literary elements such as repetition and figures of speech to describe everyday life and the challenges met by leaders of the Christian church.
Bibliography
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Gabel, John B. and Charles B. Wheeler. "The Bible as Literature." The Bible as Literature: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
Goodman, Heather. "A Literary Analysis of the Book of Ruth." Bible.org. Bible.org, 2013. Web. 21 Aug. 2014.
https://bible.org/article/literary-analysis-book-ruth
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https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/crown-of-english-bibles/
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https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A25-37&version=NIV
Ryken, Leland. "Chapter 1: Is the Bible Literature?" How to Read the Bible as Literature. Zondervan, 1984. Print.
Norton, David. "Chapter 1: Creators of English." A History of the English Bible as Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print.