The Bible as Literature

Question 1

Which language was the NT written in?

Answer 1

Koine Greek, not Attic Greek - vernacular, non-literary version of the language

Question 2

David Norton

Answer 2

‘anti-aesthetic’, not intended to be literature

Question 3

Ezekiel quote - showing intention to be more than art

Answer 3

thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not’ (Ezek 33:32)

Question 4

George Wither

Answer 4

‘if the literary form helps to express the religious significance of the writing, then form is no longer a matter of surface but of essence….and the divorce between religion and literature cannot be maintained’

Question 5

Milton

Answer 5

Paradise Lost and Psalms extended Biblical messages - influence of literature?

Question 6

Northrop Frye - mythology (including Bible)

Answer 6

Belong to the category of language in which there is ‘no divide between emotion and intellect’, thus can create communal meaning and identification

Question 7

CS Lewis

Answer 7

The Bible is ‘so remorselessly sacred’ that it cannot be read from secular approach

Question 8

Northrop Frye - biblical difference from literature

Answer 8

The authors ‘wanted to make a model of a life for the person reading it’

Question 9

Hazony

Answer 9

Reads the bible as a philosophical text united by underlying philosophical tenets

Question 10

Spong

Answer 10

The NT must be read through OT eyes as all its authors were Jewish

Question 11

Humanist readings

Answer 11

The Bible can teach how to live a good life without the dogmatic beliefs