Literary Forms of the Bible

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Literary Forms of the Bible
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• Myth Traditional stories that answer the primary
  questions Who is God? What are the
  origins of the universe? Who am I?
  What is good? The Bible contains many
  myths. The first eleven chapters of
  Genesis contain many mythic elements.
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• Law Rules of behaviour and moral principles
  established by God. God gave the first law,
  also called Torah, to the Hebrew people. The
  Torah is recorded in the first five books of
  the Bible (called the Pentateuch by
  Christians). Christians believe that the law
  of the Old Testament has yielded to the
  Good News of salvation as proclaimed by Jesus
  in the Gospels.

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• List Itemized series of names or objects usually
  recorded in a specific order. Both the Old
  and New Testament contain many types of lists
  genealogies being most prevalent (lists of
  ancestry). Many different lists can be found in
  the book of Numbers.
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• History Stories of past events usually written
  in a chronological order. Though the
  Bible is not a history textbook it does
  contain record of the history of the
  Jewish people. The sixteen books
  following the Pentateuch (from Joshua to
  2 Maccabees) are considered to be
  historical books.

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• Psalm A sacred song or poem used to praise and
  thank God or to seek forgiveness or
  ask for some request from God. The book
  of Psalms contains one hundred and fifty
  of these sacred hymns. Psalms are one of
  the most important parts of Christian
  worship.
• Proverb A short saying of wisdom that express a
  well- known practical truth or fact.
  Many hundreds of proverbs can be
  found in the six books of wisdom in
  the Old Testament (Job through
  Sirach), though examples of proverbs
  show up throughout all of the Scriptures.

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• Prophecy Any message from God directed to
  humankind through an intermediary
  (prophet), especially those messages that
  judge the present situation in light of future
  expectations for obedience to the will of
  God. Christians believe that in Jesus all
  prophecies are fulfilled. The last eighteen
  books of the Old Testament are mainly
  concerned with prophecy.
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• Parable (from the Greek word "parabole" meaning
  "comparison") Short dramatic stories that use
  comparison to teach a message. Jesus used
  parables about everyday life to teach his
  listeners about the coming kingdom of God.

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• Parable Often Jesus' parables contained
  paradoxical twists that challenged his
  listeners to greater understanding. The
  Gospels are full of parables.
• Sermon A serious and long religious speech. The
  most famous sermon found in the Bible is Jesus'
  "Sermon on the Mount" found in Matthew's Gospels.
  This solemn sermon takes up three chapters and
  includes the Beatitudes (Matt 53-10).
• Letter A written message usually personal in
  nature concerning a specific topic. Twenty-one
  books of the New Testament are all letters.