Why We Should Read the Bible as Literature

As a public school English teacher turned biblical scholar, one of my most passionately defended beliefs is that we should read the Bible as literature…frankly because it is literature! I have encountered people who express resistance to this, claiming that this perspective devalues or diminishes Scripture to the level of an ordinary book (it’s actually a set of books, but that’s a post for another day). What I have found, however, is that reading the Bible as literature actually elevates the Bible, not diminishes it.

When we read and analyze literature like War and Peace or The Bluest Eye,we account for each piece of the composition: vocabulary, tone, setting, mood, authorial voice, genre, symbols, and character development. All these elements help us discern literary motifs, themes, and ultimately the big idea in the novel, play, or script. Readers do this because they believe that the composition was intentionally written with motifs, themes, and big ideas to be found.

If we see the biblical texts as truly special—holy—then these writings deserve all the attention we can pay them! And these texts deserve to be read as they are:stories as stories, poetry as poetry, and letters as letters. Sometimes people compare the Bible to an instruction manual, but I’ve never read an instruction manual in Hebrew poetry or parables. An instruction manual may be great for assembling a bookshelf, but I’ve never read a manual that changed the way I feel or see the world. But I have read stories that altered my attitudes toward my neighbor and community. And there has been poetry that shaped my identity.

To read the biblical literature as literature, therefore, is to allow it to be as it is and not as we wish it to be. To read the Bible literarily opens us to what the text might desire to offer us instead of us insisting the text say what we expect to read. And that seems not to diminish the Bible’s holiness but respect it.

Not only does reading the Bible as literature help us to discern the theological ideas in Scripture, this practice helps us read other books theologically. TheCandler Foundry community will have a chance to practice this skill together in our new summer webinar series: PUBLICations…At the Beach! That’s right—instead of interviewing scholars about theology books and biblical texts, we will betaking the motifs and themes from the Bible and discovering them in a few good“beach reads.”

Each month this summer, we will announce the book we’re reading several weeks ahead of time. Then, I will bring on a special guest to discuss the book and how we saw theological and biblical connections in it. Click here register for the webinar: https://candlerfoundry.emory.edu/webinars.

Our book for the month of June is The Inquisitor’s Tale (Or The Three MagicalChildren and their Holy Dog). While this book is technically a YA novel,I’m confident that all ages will enjoy this read. Invite kids and teens—as well as adults—to read it and join the webinar while they are on summer break. During the webinar, you’ll be able to contribute your own observations in our audience chat!

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