THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE

1
THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE

• THROUGHOUT HISTORY, THE BIBLE HAS BEEN VIEWED
  MAINLY IN THEO-LOGICAL HISTORICAL TERMS, BUT IN
  RECENT DECADES THERE HAS BEEN GREAT INTEREST IN
  UNDER-STANDING THE BIBLE AS A WORK OF LITERATURE.

2
BIBLE AS LITERATURE (cont.)

• BIBLICAL WRITERS MAKE CONSTANT ARTFUL DECISIONS
  ABOUT HOW BEST TO CONVEY THEIR MESSAGE, SO THAT
  THE MEDIUM THE MESSAGE ARE COMPLEXLY
  INTERTWINED.

3
BIBLE AS LITERATURE (cont.)

• THE BIBLES LITERARY QUALITIES MAKE ITS MESSAGE
  MEANING MORE MEMORABLE SATISFYING, MORE
  POWERFULLY ENGAGING.

4
BIBLE AS LITERARY SOURCE

• ONE (NON-THEOLOGICAL) REASON FOR READING THE
  BIBLEIT IS PROBABLY THE SINGLE MOST IMPOR-TANT
  SOURCE FOR WESTERN LITERA-TURE IN GENERAL.

5
BIBLE AS ANTHOLOGY

• IT IS HELPFUL TO THINK OF THE BIBLE AS A
  COLLECTION (I.E., AN ANTHOLOGY) OF MANY DIFFERENT
  KINDS OF WRITING.

6
BIBLE AS ANTHOLOGY (cont.)

• THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE LIT-ERARY GENRES
  REPRESENTED IN THE BIBLE
• MYTHS LEGENDS
• HISTORICAL CHRONICLES
• LYRIC POETRY
• PROVERBS

7
LITERARY FORMS (cont.)

• VISIONARY WRITINGS
• PROPHECIES APOCALYPSES
• PARABLES
• LETTERS
• BIOGRAPHY
• SERMONS

8
LITERARY FORMS (cont.)

• MODERN CATEGORIES OF FICTION/ NONFICTION,
  PROSE/POETRY WERE NOT STRICT OPPOSITIONS TO THE
  ANCIENT HEBREWS, AND ARE OFTEN COMBINED IN
  PUZZLING WAYS.

9
LITERARY FORMS (cont.)

• IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW WHAT MATERIAL THE
  BIBLES ANCIENT AUDIENCE CONSIDERED TO BE
  FAC-TUAL OR FICTIONAL.

10
LITERARY FORMS (cont.)

• ALSO, W/IN VARIOUS LITERARY STRUCTURES ARE
  INCORPORATED WHAT SEEM LIKE VERY UNLITERARY
  MATERIALS, SUCH AS LAWS GENEA-LOGIES.

11
LITERARY FORMS (cont.)

• ITS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THE VARIETY OF
  LITERARY FORMS IN THE BIBLE B/C EVERY GENRE HAS
  ITS OWN CONVENTIONS, EXPECTATIONS,
  CORRESPONDING RULES OF INTER-PRETATION.

12
BIBLE AS ANTHOLOGY (cont.)

• BUT THE BIBLE IS A SPECIAL KIND OF ANTHOLOGY
  UNIFIED IN THEME AND CONSTRUCTED SO AS TO TELL A
  LARGER STORY THAN THAT TOLD BY ANY OF ITS
  INDIVIDUAL BOOKS.

13
BIBLE AS LITERATURE (cont.)

• LIKE OTHER GREAT WORKS OF LIT-ERATURE, THE BIBLE
  EXPRESSES TRUTH THROUGH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (ESP.
  SYMBOLS) AND EXPLORES A SET OF COMMON THEMES OF
  HUMAN EXISTENCE.

14
BIBLICAL THEMES

• THESE THEMES INCLUDE
• THE RELATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO NATURE, GOD,
  OTHER HUMAN BEINGS
• ORDER CHAOS
• KNOWLEDGE IGNORANCE
• JUSTICE
• ALIENATION
• TIME DEATH (AND MANY OTHERS)

15
UNITY OF THE BIBLE

• THE BIBLE IS ALSO UNIFIED BY THE USE OF LITERARY
  ARCHETYPES I.E., RECURRENT MASTER IMAGES
  (E.G., LIGHT, WATER, MOUNTAIN) CHARAC-TER TYPES
  (FATHER, KING, SERVANT) OR PLOT MOTIFS (JOURNEY,
  RESCUE, TEMPTATION).

16
UNITY OF THE BIBLE (cont.)

• THE BIBLES SENSE OF UNITY IS ALSO ENHANCED BY
  ITS INTERNAL ALLU-SIVENESS, W/ ONE PART OF THE
  TEXT OFTEN INCORPORATING, REFORMU-LATING,
  INTERPRETING OTHER PARTS OF THE TEXT.

17
UNITY OF THE BIBLE (cont.)

• MORE THAN ANYTHING, WHAT GIVES THE BIBLE UNITY IS
  ITS RELIGIOUS MORAL ORIENTATION. YOU MIGHT
  EVEN SAY THAT THE CENTRAL CHAR-ACTER IN THE
  OVERALL STORY OF THE BIBLE IS GOD.

18
UNITY OF THE BIBLE (cont.)

• THOUGH RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY PRO-VIDED A LOOSE
  PRINCIPLE OF SELEC-TION, AMONG THE WORKS INCLUDED
  IN THE BIBLE THERE IS A GREAT DI-VERSITY OF VIEWS
  ON MANY TOPICS.

19
BIBLE AS LITERATURE (cont.)

• GIVEN THIS DIVERSITY, THE SELEC-TION PROCESS
  SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN GUIDED AT TIMES BY A DESIRE TO
  PRESERVE GOOD LITERATURE, NOT JUST WORKS
  ESPOUSING A STRICT THEOLOGICAL PARTY LINE.

20
BIBLICAL STYLE

• BIBLICAL NARRATIVE IS FAMOUS FOR ITS TERSE,
  ECONOMICAL STYLE THERE IS VERY LITTLE DETAILED
  DESCRIPTION, AND LONG SPANS OF TIME ARE LEAPT
  OVER. BIBLICAL WRITERS ARE MASTERS OF
  SUGGES-TION INDIRECTION.

21
BIBLICAL STYLE (cont.)

• WRITERS OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVES TEND NOT TO TELL
  READERS WHAT TO THINK ABOUT THEIR STORIES,
  FORCING READERS TO MAKE THEIR OWN JUDGMENTS.
  EXPLICIT JUDG-MENTS ABOUT CHARACTERS ARE THE
  EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE.