Category: doctrine

In my last post, I started talking about how it’s really helpful to read the Bible as literature, rather than a textbook. I won’t go over that here, so please take a look at that post for the groundwork.

In this post, which will be much shorter (!), I want to point out some classic story lines; ones which we can easily identify in fiction, but which we seem to gloss over when they’re in the Bible.

Story Line	Description
Quest	Sacrifice for a noble goal
Stranger in a Strange Land	Cope with change; achieve mastery
Love	Loved while being imperfect; community
Revenge	Justice; turning the tables
Rags to Riches	Rewards follow hard work and diligence

If you were to take a minute, I bet you can think of several Bible stories which follow one or more of these story lines. Here’s a hint: “stranger in a strange land” is a direct quote from Exodus 2.22 in the King James Bible.

What did you come up with? Here’s a short list I made:

• Quest – the conquering of Canaan
• Stranger in a Strange Land – Moses (obvs)
• Love – Ruth
• Revenge – the Exodus
• Rags to Riches – Joseph

We tend not to read the Bible the way we do fiction, and I think that causes us to miss out on theological messages which the authors are trying to communicate using these these story lines.

The Bible story which I think hits all these story lines is that of Jesus. He came on a quest to destroy the work of the evil one (1 John 3.8). He was unrecognized and unaccepted, and yet had to overcome (John 1.11-12). His motivation was love for sinful people (John 13.1). He triumphed over his enemies (Colossians 2.15). And lastly, he was crowned king (Hebrews 2.9).

Thoughts?

The idea of treating the Bible as literature was controversial among the conservative Christian set when I was younger, probably because “literature” often meant “fiction” and conservative Christians didn’t want to have anyone think the Bible is fiction. Of course, the Bible is technically literature in that it was written down, but there was this idea that if we started treating it the way we do any other piece of literature (say, Hamlet), then that would be the first step down a slippery slope toward liberalism and worse.

I don’t see it that way. In fact, I propose that by not reading the Bible as literature, we actually miss significant theological truths that its authors are trying to tell us. Here’s what I mean.

Continue reading “Bible as Literature, part 1”