There are at least three ways people read the Bible—for the theology, for its history, and as literature. If we were in a church, it would be appropriate to look at the Bible for its theological content: we would discuss salvation, angels, sin, and other religious concepts in order to formulate a system of belief that we could all agree on. If we studied the Bible in a history class, we would downplay the religious content and focus instead on the peoples of the Bible, key events of their times, and changes that took place.

However, since I taught the Bible as literature at a secular school, I’d like to use this blog (and maybe one more) to concentrate instead on the Bible as literature. Most people are puzzled initially at this idea because they don’t think of the Bible as literature. They believe it is a huge religious tract that abstractly tells the reader how to live a godly life. But this is simply not true.

The Bible is literature—it’s made up of dramatic stories, highly charged poetry, carefully crafted letters, clever proverbs, and homey parables. Like other great literature, the Bible follows literary conventions that should be understood to fully appreciate what the author is attempting to do. For example, there are certain rules that Biblical poets followed as they created their work. In addition, the Bible is like other great literature for its exploration of the human condition; we see all types of people in all sorts of situations, which allows us to see ourselves better.

Let’s continue this in the next blog.