If you were brought up in or perhaps later became deeply immersed in a
conservative form of the Christian religious tradition which uses the Bible as
its main source of truth, the question of whether or not the Bible is
great literature might seem strange.
I was a fundamentalist Christian for about the first two decades of my
life. It was study of the Bible itself (again, as a divine revelation rather
than literature) that first made me question my basic assumption, that is, that
God had actually written the Bible through men.
Further studies led me to conclude that the Bible is wholly the product of
man - perhaps men that were "inspired" by their ideas about the holy and God.
But that is far cry from thinking of the Bible as God's Word.
I admit the ease with which I slid into adapting a scornful attitude
concerning the Bible. I've posted some negative things here at my blog, not so
much about the Bible as about the conservative interpretation of it. That's
probably a not surprising stance to take for one who has come out from under the
spell of Bible inspiration.
In our country there seems to be a culture war taking place between those
who still regard the Bible as a revelation from God and those who detest the
very idea that anyone could or would hold such a position. Often overlooked in
this melee is another position, that which sees the Bible as a piece of
historical literature, to be both treasured and enjoyed.
One of this blogger's cyber friends, Sabio Lantz of Triangulations,
recently posted a dismissive view about the Bible (see his The Bible is Not a Masterpiece). Then an extended exchange took place between Sabio and one of his
readers, Drkshadow03. Sabio's opponent in this debate has a blog of his own,
Beyond Assumptions, and responded there to Sabio and atheist hero P.Z. Myers,
who also thinks the Bible is a "bad book."
Now in no way do I consider myself qualified to weigh in on whether or not
the Bible is great literature. Honestly, I never really thought it about that
way. I take the Bible seriously and think it is important for the simple reasons
that it is important to so many people and not only that, has played an
important role in the history of these United States.
So let me just highly recommend Drkshadow's blog post Is The Bible Good Literature to my readers. It is quite long, which it really needed to be in
order to even begin to tackle the question. It certainly made me think seriously
about the matter. And it certainly provides a very good argument, for whatever
my opinion is worth to you, that the Bible can be considered
good literature.
And please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think
about this question.
20 comments:
I liked Drkshadow's quote from Hamlet. Not so much the rest. I guess I value Mark Twain's pronouncement over Drkshadow's.
Of course there are going to be excellent parts to the Bible - cribbed from the literature of surrounding cultures for the most part. But to be great literature, it should maintain a consistent high level for most parts rather than for a few parts. I don't perceive that this is the case.
Of course, since empirical measurements of 'greatness' are hard to come by, opinions will vary. This can be done without denigrating other viewpoints as 'myopic'.
As you have noted, emotions tend to cloud reasoning.
As my post stressed, I think it is more meaningful to discuss The Bible's literary value book by book. But then, there is no agreement how to judge literature. My post does not say the Bible is bad literature (as DrkShadow misrepresents me -- I think he confused me for perhaps Myers or some generic atheist.).
But if one is looking at the Bible as a whole, one is critisize its compiler's choices and the redactors which is an entirely different affair.
Either way, taking a stance on the level of quality of the work is usually just a marker for something other than the actual value of the work.
BTW, Doug, if any of your readers would like a taste of a comparison between the Hindu Ramayana and the Jewish Tanakh, they could read my recent post on: "The Hero's Wife".
Without a taste of literature from a similiar time period, a decision of the level of quality of any literatures is perhaps difficult.
I'm open to the idea of the Bible as literature, just as Sumerian hymns and Egyptian wisdom writings can be considered literature.
Hi Doug. I don't know if I consider the bible as good literature but I do believe this one single book has caused more hatred, discrimination bigotry and literal death than any book ever published. The only good from this book is to love your neighbor as yourself and "the golden rule" It doesn't,t look like these are being followed at all by many people. Just my thoughts...no statistics to back it up.
Agreeing with Ahab -- the bible is literature just like the Sumerian hymns and Egyptian wisdom writings are literature. As to what constitutes a "Masterpiece", I think my post title still holds: "The Bible is not a Masterpiece". But again, it is very subjective.
@ Exrelayman,
I just don't feel qualified to state an opinion on the matter and I never thought about the Bible that way. But I have very much enjoyed the discussion that is taking place on Sabio's blog.
@ Sabio,
I personally don't have an opinion on the matter and don't feel qualified to render a judgment. But I really enjoyed the two of you defending your opinions so strongly yet reasonably. As for where I live and the people I most rub elbows with, I don't think the matter would be of much interest at all. For them it is more about whether or not the Bible is a divine revelation. That's about as far as I care to delve into the Bible.
@ Ahab,
Then the links I gave is certainly a good place to start, I think.
I agree, for many conservatives, it is merely a matter of Divine or not. Muslims are the same but they really brag about the Qur'an -- there is nothing better -- and only if you read in Arabic. Hindus feel the same about their Sanskrit. And Christians and Jews feel there's is the best there is even amongst literatures -- if pushed on the issue. Liberal Christian like the "Great Literature" label also.
But I get what you are saying.
@ Sylvia,
Did you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? That is far and away my favorite book of the Bible, and it took a bit of massaging by the orthodox to get it into the Canon.
Hi Doug. I have read Ecclesiastes and it my favorite book of the bible.
I have read the bible several times over the years. Maybe Ecclesiastes and some of the Psalms should not have been included.
@ Sylvia,
Yes, some of the Psalms are downright inspiring and also fit well with my pantheistic understanding of the universe. Of course, some of the Psalms are quite shocking too. I enjoy the book of Proverbs as well. And Song of Solomon has some intriguing allusions, I must say.
As an author, I must sadly admit, intelligency aside :), as with any art--beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have only read the Bible from an intellectual perspective, but I found beautifully written sentences within. I do NOT give it a "great work" thumbs up JUST because it has been around so long. It is what it is to each different depending on the reader. But thank you for allowing me to read that those other blogs (showing them to me)---very interesting.
@ Diane,
I agree with you about this being largely in the eye of the beholder. I found those posts helpful in stimulating thinking on the subject of the Bible's relevance and was glad to recommend them to my readers.
Hi Doug,
I came upon your blog while doing a google search. Your religious background is similar to mine (http://zenbananas.com/essays/the-beauty-of-doubt). I am technically an agnostic as I neither claim knowledge of god's existence or non-existence. But I live a life of freethought and reason which is what most atheists stand for. If there were a god though, I think the pantheistic/panentheistic view makes the most sense.
I diss the bible when people insist on literal interpretations of problematic passage. But yes, I do think there are literary, noteworthy passages. Some proverbs, poetry and parables come to mind. Also, I still think 1 Corinthians 13 is a wonderful treatise on love, regardless of religion.
Ya know Doug, the conclusion of my post's discussion thread proved interesting and revealed a common, pervasive phenomena.
It seems that much of the debate was unnecessary. DarkShadow had read several posts by other atheists and lumped us all in the same category. And so, when his eyes saw my title "The Bible is not a Masterpiece", his mind transformed it conveniently to say "The Bible is Bad Literature". Or, perhaps heard something similar to your chosen title: "Dissing the Bible". The distinction proved important.
I needed to quote several of his comments back to DarkShadow to help him see how he had mis-typified me and that our conversation was more emotional than substantial.
We often do this with each other. We typify or stereotype someone, bring in our own baggage, exaggerate their voices and spill out our tired, worn, habitual soliloquies calling them 'conversations'. And from this we often walk away never encountering the person we imagine we are engaging. Instead, we walk away with our own homespun drama using old rehashed material. Yawn.
Anyway, DarkShadow was gracious enough to acknowledge the mis-read and I still learned a lot from his writing and the interaction. Mostly, getting to the core of our 'disagreement' felt more useful than any of the actual differences in our opinions.
@ Andy,
Hi there. It's nice to have you aboard here.
I will read your link later today when I will have more time. Thanks for that.
My blog is a blog about thinking and examing controversial areas of the various worldviews people hold.
The Bible gets a lot of attention here because I live in the United States section known as the Bible Belt. As a former fundamentalist myself I can't ignore the impact that interpretation of the book had on me.
But it's a big world with lots of alternative ways of thinking about things. I hope you read often and jump into the fray here whenever you like.
@ Sabio,
That frequently happens in the blogosphere, I've noticed.
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