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| Detail of Noah's Ark - from MS Additional 18850 (Beford Hours) folio 16v. (British Library) |
Questions like that are impossible to answer - they are vast and vague and very *yawn* ho-hum.
Better is this question:
What is it like to read the BIBLE as literature, as opposed to reading other texts as literature? Is it different? How? Why?
Or this question:
What is it like to read the Bible as LITERATURE, as opposed to reading it as a religious book? What adjustments (if any) must you make in your reading/annotating/analytic processes?
Choose just ONE of the these topics (BIBLE as literature / Bible as LITERATURE) to respond to, being sure that you are juxtaposing your answer in a proper manner (Bible vs. other literary texts for option one; Bible as primarily a religious text vs. Bible as primarily a literary text for option two).
To help focus your answer to option one, you might choose one or two other literary texts you've read and are familiar with as your comparative foil. To help focus your answer to option two, you might pick a specific section of Biblical text we've covered and outline the possible differences between a religious and a literary reading.
Posts should be long enough to say what needs to be said without rambling, repeating, or using any foo-foo meaningless filler. You don't need to start by repeating the prompt - just jump right into the discussion. Don't write a paper. Papers are d-r-e-a-d-f-u-l. Write a post - a pithy, engaging, brilliant, clever, insightful, fun post. You do not (and cannot) exhaust the topic. There will be more to say than you have room or time for. Choose a few insightful and interesting points to make. Ready: go.
(Responses must be posted by Monday 28 August at midnight.)
In order to read the Bible as literature you must step outside your personal belief system and analyze the text analytically. Instead of judging merit theologically you would instead judge merit based off of structure and story line.
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ReplyDeleteWhen reading the Bible as literature, I have had to try and block out any preconceived thoughts. I have caught myself already making judgements based off of how I was raised and what I was taught. For example, the Bible did not say that the serpent was the devil in what we read, but I imagined it that way. I am going to have to step back every now and then and make sure I am solely reading it as literature.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2:
ReplyDeleteI would have to make sure that I am not comparing the text, i.e. the way it is written and/or inconsistencies and similarities to the theology of my religion. It is meant to be read as one would for the first time... Not only out of curiosity and interest, but so that one could develop a better understanding of the mystery and fascination contained within the bible.
Question 2: To read the Bible as literature instead of as a religious book comes with prefacing a level of subjective religious detachment. One way to do this is to observe the cultural impact of its rhetoric on those who view it as more. It requires a separation from your own pre-established beliefs. As someone who has read the Bhagavad Gita for research and entertainment for example, I can appreciate its literary value and creativity without actually becoming part of that religion or dejecting anything that I do not personally agree with. The same goes with the Bible. Knowing that there are events and situations in the book which appear unrealistic, whimsical, or completely fantastical, by objectively reading it as another epic story like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, more rhetorical aspects can shine through, such as the literary devices and syntactical prose used to create these and fit them into historical context.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: I have constantly caught myself trying to read the bible as a religious book in this class instead of as literature. Because of that, it has caused me to make many assumptions and skim over so many brilliant sections of text. In a way, I have limited my ability to zoom out and read the bible as a STORY. A story has characters, passions, desires, feelings, etc. I have never before called God a "character" in the story before this class. Seeing him as a character in the story of creation has caused me enter in to his perspective better. I have only read the bible from the perspective of man and how God responds to the actions of man. The reason I do that (logically) is because I can best relate with man. But being able to step in to a different perspective gives a whole new viewpoint on the story. Being able to enter into the mind of any character in any story is an incredible skill that I am just now learning. By reading it as literature, I am equipping myself to do that better
ReplyDeleteAlso, reading the bible as LITERATURE has caused me to ask questions I have never asked before. I have now been searching for more literally structure and flow, and have recognized/appreciated the way the bible is written by seeing it as a story. I think that has taught me how to process why the Bible was written in the way that it was. One word can change the whole meaning behind not only a sentence or paragraph, but even an entire story!
Responding to:
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1. What is it like to read the BIBLE as literature, as opposed to reading other texts as literature? Is it different? How? Why?
When reading the Bible as literature, one must take into consideration more than just their own cultural and personal reflections on what the text is telling them. For example, moving a more personal theological examination of the text to the periphery of observations when discussing the text. However, one also cannot completely disregard the fact that the bible is widely viewed as a religious text. Therefore, it allows for the Bible to be distinctive in this manner when looking at it as literature or through a literary lens. It forces the reader to be able to consistently analyze both how it provides information both through the functions of religion as well as functions of literature on the whole. Thus, highlighting how the context through which one is reading the Bible will dictate how its contents are perceived.
When I read the bible as a religious text I read it in a more serious fashion. I take every religious account I have learned in my life and I read through that filter. When I read the bible as literature I have to try and forget all the biases I have. Find a new filter and read through that.
ReplyDeleteQuestion prompt 2: Reading the Bible as LITERATURE.
ReplyDeleteReading the Bible as a religious book compared to reading it as a literature book is very different. When reading it as a religious book one often reads it while keeping themselves in mind. Everything is personal as it relates to that individual's religion. Reading the Bible solely as a piece of literature is often a hard transition for those who read the Bible as a religious text. I personally have a hard time transitioning from one lens to another as I read the Bible. For example, in Genesis 3:3 where Eve says that God told them they could not eat nor touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil I did not catch that she misquoted God. I have read this text countless times in my life and it wasn't until I studied it as a piece of literature and story that I caught that small detail.
Question 2:
ReplyDeleteReading the Bible as primarily literature instead of as a religious text takes deliberate, continual reminders when reading. Instead of looking in the text to see how the themes or lessons can be personally applied in your own life, as much religious reading is done, I have to focus intently on reading it as I would any other story. After all, the Bible is a story. I need to insert myself into the story, to relate to the characters, to notice repetition, themes, structure, etc. to see what they emphasize. I can't merely extract bits and pieces of the text that I see as applicable, but instead I must look at the text as a whole and explore how the different parts of the whole fit together. This is not to take away from the Bible as a religious book, but rather it adds another profound layer of reading and meaning.
David S.J.
ReplyDeleteQUESTION 2: Bible as primarily a religious text vs. Bible as primarily a literary text for option two).
The differences of reading bible as a religious text from reading it as a Literary text, is the belief or believe system attached to it which are accompanied with either personal experiences or environmental/structural upbringing, which reinforces the bible as a religious and sacred text. A literary text does not necessarily have a believe system attached to it, in my opinion its mainly the output of ones perspective of the literary text which could engage the imaginative mind or provide an informative avenue different from what one is or has come across.
Literary text could be a mirror present or modern days to historic or medieval times, but there is a pattern to the interpretation of such text, while the Bible as a religious text provides a singular pattern of activities, such as if you commit sin, you will die which does not directly mean instant death, it could mean death in the spirituality or death in the knowledge of the most high God because God will distance himself. So, I think that Bible as a religious text is all in all, with no finite pattern of interpretation, but literary text have certain images or history they portray and most could be identified in relations to the Bible, even though they are both account of History, one tells the beginning and rational behind things with several interpretation of them in spiritual realm into the well advance future, while the other is a relation of words and the portrayal of the meanings, supported with evidences drawn from several sources.
I think that when one claims to be doing something of importance they would generally have the goal of not screwing it up. More specifically, in intellectual pursuits (e.g. reading the bible as literature) excluding known information like personal biases, beliefs or one's upbringing can be a source of trouble. Academic inquiries, by nature, require familiarity with a broad spectrum of topics and often the sum of one person's experiences isn't general enough to gain insight on a problem. For this reason, any purposeful omission of knowledge while reading the bible as literature would be foolish. Instead, these seemingly distracting ideas can be used as examples or counterexamples for arguments whose ideas fit into or contradict corresponding frameworks. In this sense there is little distinction between reading non-religious texts as literature and reading the BIBLE as literature. However, they do differ in that the latter can be a dull read at times since it was not originally intended to be a super captivating book.
ReplyDelete-Andrew Krenz
DeleteReading the Bible as literature instead of as a religious text has proven to be quite challenging. As an Elemtary Education major with a concentration in reading, I am constantly learning how to be a better reader (use visualization, make personal connections, come up with inferences and predictions, pay attention to figurative language, analyze word choice, etc., etc.). However, the catch is that I am taught how to do these things through my own lens, not through the lens of someone who is merely reading it for literature fluency.
ReplyDeleteThe toughest thing I have found is making personal connections. It is easy to make personal connections when reading it as a religious text, but it is very difficult to do when I am only reading it to gain knowledge on the writing/story itself. Honestly, I do not know if it's possible to make personal connections to literature when you are not allowed to use your own, personal lens. Luckily, I am going to keep trying- until then, wish me luck!
The main difference for me between reading the Bible as literature and reading it as a religious book is about who is the author and what is the author's purpose? As a religious book, the ultimate author of the Bible is God, and His purpose is to tell His plan to His creation. However as a piece of literature, the Bible has multiple authors writing for different purposes. This could make the analysis easy since human is able to understand human, but we are not able to comprehend God. Yet this also creates difficulties since the purpose of the author may not be conveyed in any articles.
ReplyDeleteTo start out this blog post, it's funny, because I never even thought about reading the Bible from a literary sense. I always read it from a theological standpoint, and applied the scripture to my life, because it was, in a way, a safety net for me, as someone who believes in God. But to read the Bible in a completely new sense, especially from a literary and textual standpoint, it's truly eye-opening, because then you see how truly complex the text is. You're instead of analyzing theologically, you're analyzing the text literarily, and questioning it. For example, in Genesis 1:3, the narrator (writer) states that God said "let there be light," but when you get to Genesis 1:14-18, you see that God then makes "light to govern day, and light to govern night," assuming these are both the sun and the moon respectively. So you ask, "well, what was 'this light' that he threw out into the world?" This is one of many things that, reading theologically, I wouldn't have questioned, because you take God's word as is, that it's God's word, that He wouldn't mistake this or that, but essentially, we are analyzing it, and we are questioning the text and essentially God's word. In that way, it's hard to separate yourself as a spiritual believer, from questioning what the Bible is saying, to using it in a literary sense, and trying to make sense of the text. It definitely is different, viewing it from two different standpoints, and they can contradict each other.
ReplyDelete1) What is it like to read the BIBLE as literature, as opposed to reading other texts as literature? Is it different? How? Why?
ReplyDeleteWhile the bible is largely regarded as a piece of literature, one must not approach it in the same way as other writings falling in the same category. There are several stark differences between the Bible and other pieces of literature. The Bible has multiple authors, which means you can't analyze the style and tone of the book in its entirety; you must break it down chapter by chapter and explore the style portrayed by each author's writings. As Gabel and Wheeler state in their book The Bible as Literature, "There is no such thing as a biblical style or a biblical point of view or a biblical message" (1990, p. 10).
The Bible was written over an extremely long period of time (approximately 1500 years), while other literary works written by a single author are constrained to the author's life; they were probably written from start to finish in less than 30 years. Because of this, if the reader wants to understand how the historical period influenced the writing of the author, they much look up MUCH more information. Much like analyzing the style, the historical influence is easiest done if one considers the Bible chapter by chapter.
Gabel, J.B. Wheeler, C.B. (1990). The Bible as Literature. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press.
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ReplyDeleteQ2: I have never thought about the Bible and reading it like I would a story that was for entertainment. I always thought of it as a religious text and how it related to me spiritually just because that’s what they do at church (I have not officially gone to church services for several years for personal reasons so this opinion is based off of those memories). Looking at it as literature has turned out to be more interesting because I’m viewing it as a story and not a lesson. From stuff I’ve learned in my various classes, this would be boring to read as just straight up literature for some people. One of these things talks about front-loading the backstory, you give a lot of detail about what’s happening and there’s barely any plot or resolution. In the story of Noah, we get all the details about how God is upset with what humankind has become, he punishes most but saves some, drowns basically everything and wants some animals sacrificed to him. And a guy builds a boat. A big one. There are no details of the work building the boat or getting the animals on the boat, because think about it, what animal is going to stay in the middle of the upcoming natural disaster (think about what they did in The Day After Tomorrow). Story wise, this is not interesting for most people to read unless it’s just to get to a certain point, aka filler. Theologically it brings up a good lesson, be good or god will punish you unless you’re related to the guy he’s best buds with.
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ReplyDeleteThe bible is a long, confusing, and intense book. When analyzing it, you most likely don’t want to read it in its entirety. That can be a daunting and intimidating task. Instead it is easier to attack the bible piece by piece and analyze small portions at a time. The bible is a very famous book and therefore most everyone has an opinion of it. But when analyzing the bible purely as a piece of literature, one needs to be as unbiased as possible.
ReplyDeleteReading the Bible as opposed to another literature text requires some minor adjustments to you're technique. The first main difference is that you may have to "walk on eggshells" more than you would if you were reading the Odyssey for example. Though they are both old and widely regarded as terrific books according to many, you could say "the Odyssey is the worst book ever created by mankind" without much blowback but being disrespectful about a religious text is especially in poor taste. The second major difference is the Bible is written by many different authors over thousands of years, which is rather different than most other texts we may encounter. This means we can't necessarily derive the same meaning from certain emphasis in word choices or motifs we may see chapter to chapter. The final point is that when we read literature from many American and many European authors many of the symbolism in colors and numbers come from religious beliefs derived from the Bible. There are also themes found in these texts alluding to biblical stories. So it is important to be aware of where in the bible many of these symbols came from and how they may or may not mean the same as the christian influenced symbolism of the authors thousands of years later.
ReplyDeleteI was born into the Christian faith. Like, I was baptized at a month old. I attended Christian preschool, Christian elementary school, and Christian middle school. Christianity is and always has been a huge part of my life.
ReplyDeleteI know a good number of biblical stories, and I’ve known them for so long that I can’t even remember when or how I originally heard them. Probably a bedtime story or some goofy Sunday school song, if I had to guess. The stories in Genesis 1-9 (and countless others) were almost a no-brainer to recall and were viewed as an unspoken prerequisite for my classmates and I when we began taking confirmation classes at 12 years old.
Now, as I reread these stories in my college “Bible as Literature” class, I realize every single day how many tiny details I’ve been missing this whole time, and how many different interpretations of the stories there are that have never once crossed my mind. It is MINDBLOWING. I wonder how many other Christians are just like me in this regard – just assuming that they know all the details already?
Honestly, reading the Bible as literature has been extremely eye opening for me so far. I am realizing my ignorance in my faith and discovering that I have so much more to learn about God and Christianity. This realization of ignorance has been the thing that I least expected to receive from the class, but it is also the thing that is consistently allowing me to remove my preconceived thoughts, feelings and beliefs about Christianity from the readings and just appreciate them as words on a page. I view the Bible in a completely different way now than I did before, and I am fascinated by the endless literary elements it contains. More Christians should attempt to read the Bible as literature. There is so much to discover.
I think that it is very different to read the Bible as literature than any other book. Many people like myself have associated the Bible to many religious symbols and metaphors. For me I think that I have to not read the Bible literally, which I often do when reading other books. This is why I think that I cannot read the Bible as literature, because of the many religious symbols that I have associated with the Bible
ReplyDeleteAll of my life I have read the Bible for religious purposes and guidance. Reading the Bible as a piece of literature the past week has been difficult and eye opening. I have read the book of Genesis countless times, but when I put religion aside and read it as just a book, I found things I had never seen before. I have missed so many tiny details in the past. It is not going to be easy to put my faith aside when reading the Bible, but I think at the end of the semester I will leave the class with a greater insight as to what the Bible actually reads.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard for me to take my religious views out of reading The Bible. For me, it has been my religious book since I was old enough to understand what was going on. Early on it has been a challenge for me to leave my theology at the door and just read it as a book. Because, it wasn't written just as any book. It is one of the few that has stood the test of time and it is where my faith resides. If I am being honest, like The Bible advises, I don't read other books to have something to compare it to as a literary text. So, the second question will have to do, reading the story of Adam and Eve in the garden has been different than what my young mind interpreted in Sunday school. Was Adam standing there with Eve? Did she take the fruit to him? Was it an Apple? Is Apple INC trying to say we can be God. I don't know. But, I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester.
ReplyDeleteI've honestly never even thought about taking my religious beliefs out of the Bible and reading it as literature. I look at it as this daunting book to read that I can't even make it through without asking questions from every two lines I read. Having my religious beliefs make it personal to me and makes some of the more abstract concepts more relatable and understandable. Looking from what we have read so far, I have already seen topics in new lights. Before, I looked at the creation story as black and white; it was what it was and people disagree on it. But looking at the NLT versus the ESV has shown me that there are different ways of reading the same text that give bounds of new direction to the story. Did God make the animals first or did Adam come before the animals? The slight discretion between the two texts here shows me that there are many different paths the story could take and instead of reading it as straight forward and black and white, I am excited to see how this class encourages my natural desire to ask questions and discover what I can learn from taking the different paths that the literature provides.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in the church has been such a blessing in my life. I know that not very many people have parents as fabulous as mine. Due to the fact that they did their job in showing me the love of Jesus, I have been told stories from the Bible from a very early age. This is a blessing, and at the same time a hindrance. When people tell some stories orally, recalling them from memory, things tend to get left out, and assumptions are made.
ReplyDeleteMy goal for this course is to be aware of the fact that I am most familiar with the "spark notes" version of many of these stories. Even though I have read them before, my assumptions have eclipsed my ability to catch little details. In order to read the Bible as a literary text, I will have to attempt to abandon my preconceived assumptions and come at it with an open mind.
In addition to that, I believe it is important to challenge literature in order to get a deeper understanding. Honestly, this scares me. I have never challenged the Bible before. However, I believe that God will use this as a way to grow my faith in Him. As I learn more by reading closely, and analytically challenging the Bible, I believe God will bring me closer in my walk with Him.