Reading the Bible as Literature: 6 Tips to Understanding Genre
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.—2 Peter 1:3
As I mentioned in my last post, we have inherited a great treasure in Christ. Peter tells us that we have been granted “all things that pertain to life and godliness” through “his precious and very great promises” so that we “may become partakers of the divine nature.”
This treasure is hidden in His Word, and as I mentioned previously, it sometimes takes a bit of effort to excavate it.
I will confess that studying the Bible is hard work. Sometimes I hit passages that are boring and seem insignificant or irrelevant. Sometimes I feel frustrated, unable to follow the reasoning or get confused with all the names. It’s a lot easier to let my pastor tell me what I should know.
In that case, I will always be dependent on someone else to feed me. The treasure lies in the chest, locked up, untouched—hidden from me. But what if I was given the key—will I learn to use it?
Though this is not an exhaustive guide to unlocking Scripture, I hope it will whet your appetite to learn more. I’ve included some resources that I hope will help at the end of this post.
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
Just as Fraulein Maria taught the children that all songs begin with “do-re-mi,” Bible study also has some basic skills. We talked about observation skills and those are like the “scales and chords” of Bible study.
As we enter into the interpretation stage, we will be looking at it in three different ways:
As literature (this post)
As history
As theology
All of these are important to study and build on each other.
The Bible as Literature
We often tend to approach Bible study as a theological study, trying to find the ideas or principles of a text, looking for ways to guide us in decision making or tell us what we ought to do. Or sometimes we read the stories of Scripture as events that happened in the past.
Leland Ryken, professor emeritus of English at Wheaton College, has written many books on the study of Scripture as literature, that have intrigued me. Why do we throw all the rules for reading well out the door when it comes to reading the Bible?
Literature is what Ryken calls “incarnational,” meaning it is characterized by experiential concreteness—settings, sensations, actions of everyday life. It incarnates ideas in the form of poetic images, stories of characters in action, living situations in which readers can be imaginative participants. Just like any good piece of writing, the Bible utilizes artistry and craftsmanship in wordsmith, employs the conventions of different genres, and uses forms to communicate meaning.
With this framework, here are a few skills we can develop as we appreciate the Bible as literature:
Remember how your focal passage or verse fits into the big picture.
As much as possible keep a sense of the unit of thought and how it fits in a book. We like to slice and dice things, which is not wrong or evil. But just remember to zoom out before you zoom in. We would never open a novel to the middle and pull out an interesting quote and say that this is the main theme of the work. Likewise, we cannot do this without understanding how various verses follow a train of thought or a plotline.
Start with something straightforward and practice the basic observation skills that apply in general Bible study.
By developing an eye for noticing details, we develop the building blocks to good Bible study. When I was learning how to read Shakespeare, I started with something straightforward to get a feel for rhythm and how lines worked and idioms. So it is with the Bible: start with something straightforward like an epistle, proverb, or a narrative story before tackling poetry, prophecy, or apocalyptic literature.
Get even more specific and understand how to read biblical genres.
Howard Hendricks defines genre as the style that characterizes a group of writing or music. They have patterns or certain expectations, you can expect a rom-com to have a happily ever after or a mystery to have some clues to watch out for and a solution.
There are some key genres we can find in Scripture, with sub-genres within them. These include:
Expository literature, like epistles that tend to feature a particular problem and carefully reasoned argument or line of thought. Reading these with this in mind helps us not to take commands or truths out of context.
Narrative stories, with sub-genres of biography, gospel narrative
Parables and allegories, which may be simple and memorable narrative but are usually fictional depictions of everyday life, with an ethical point embedded in it
Poetry—which is imaginary, emotional, imaginative, and worshipful, but often sounds repetitive because of Hebrew style of parallelism between their lines.
Proverb—similar to poetry but short and concise nuggets of truth that focus on the consequences of a particular path in life or choices. They are not in the category of promise, but they do give a general picture of what happens and are intended to provide wisdom.
Prophecy and apocalyptic—focused on forth-telling the future with a tone of warning and judgment. Apocalyptic literature focuses on the end times and can be mixed into prophecy. Of all genres, this may be the most puzzling to tackle with its bizarre imagery and symbolism and most likely to have wide differences of opinion.
In Scripture, we find both expository (explanatory) writing and literary (more imaginative, sensory writing)—and everything in between. This is the difference between Philippians 2:4’s “Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interest of others” (which is direct) and Jesus’s description of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 (a vivid description of this verse). Knowing a book’s genre and where it fits on this continuum often helps us to understand it more accurately.
Dust off your reading analysis skills as you apply them to biblical genres.
I like to read but it has only been since I started homeschooling my own children that I realized there was an art to reading well. Being aware of some of these things have helped me as I read stories to them—and then I realized I could do the same with the Bible as well!
If the writing tends more towards the expository or explanatory, then we can try to discern the rhetorical situation by using “SOAPS,” an acronym for subject, occasion, audience, purpose, and speaker. Being able to identify these can help establish a strong sense of direction and a framework for our reading.
If the writing tends more towards the narrative or story, consider the basic elements of story such as character (protagonists, antagonists, foils), setting (time and place), plot line (exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution).
If the writing tends more towards the poetic, look for imagery, comparisons (like similes and metaphors), personification (giving human traits to non-human things), allusions (references to past events), irony (using language that expresses the opposite for effect) or hyperbole (exaggeration), among other traits.
Feel free to apply different reading skills as appropriate within a text.
I spent the past few summers understanding Hebrew poetry as I taught a series of classes on praying the psalms. The skills I learned are the building blocks to tackling proverbs with my son and prophecy in my own personal Bible study. They’re not the same, but I am adding and refining my skill as I go.
This is important because sometimes you can get both expository or literary styles within the same book, such as when Paul breaks out into praise (v. 55) in the midst of his explanation of Christ’s resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Being able to recognize the difference can help you to appreciate the power of Paul’s poetic response in the midst of what is a very theological argument.
If you focus not just on the content of the text but remember you are practicing how to read different genres, you can be more fluid and adjust more naturally. Though there are genres and forms, they are not always cut and dry or rigid. Keep learning how to read better—it will help you flex and adjust as you encounter turns in the text.
Understand and work within the limits of a particular genre’s purpose.
C. S. Lewis writes, in his forward to John Milton’s Paradise Lost, that in order to understand an object, it is important to know what the author (the creator) intended it to be. Getting this wrong will impact your judgments and lead you to incorrect understanding and applications.
For example, you can use a shoe to hammer in a nail, but it will not be as effective because that is not what shoes are made for. A hammer on the other hand, will do a far better job because it is designed for that purpose.
Likewise, understanding that the Bible has both expositional and literary genres can help us to not take proverbs, which are general and often focused on the consequences of our actions, to be iron-clad promises or it helps us not to read something written in hyperbole (exaggeration) or something meant to be ironic or satirical in a literal manner.
Appreciate the Beauty
I’ll admit that this is new to me. I am no literary expert, much less a Bible scholar.
But I will say that as I have delved into learning how to read the Bible as literature, I am coming to appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship of Scripture. I see it in its broad form of an overarching Story. As I learn the finer details of words and form or even grammar, I see even more levels of beauty that is often hidden. It truly is a beautiful book!
All this has helped me to appreciate what God has gifted to us in His Word. And as I enjoy it more, I spend more time in it, absorbing what it tells me about life, truth, and reality. I begin to see my worldview lenses shift to understand life, myself, and others more accurately.
Leland Ryken summarizes it this way:
“The Bible demands a literary approach because its writing is literary in nature. The Bible is an experiential book that conveys the concrete reality of human life. It is filled with evidences of literary artistry and beauty, much of it in the form of literary genres. It also makes continuous use of resources of language that we can regard as literary. A literary approach pays close attention to all of these elements of literary form, because it is through them that the Bible communicates its message.”
If this topic sparks your interest, here are a few resources to expand these ideas, from the most basic to the most detailed:
Howard Hendricks, Living by the Book, ch. 29 and/or the accompanying workbook, Ch. 48. Both give a very simple overview of the idea of genre if you want something short.
Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for all Its Worth. This is a full-length book that focuses on ten different genres: epistles, OT narratives, acts, gospels, parables, laws, prophets, psalms, wisdom, and apocalyptic. A little more detail than Hendricks’ treatment above.
Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature. This is one of many full-length books from Ryken, who is an English literature professor. He covers narrative, poetry, proverbs, gospels, parables, epistles, satire and visionary literature with an emphasis on the literary unity of the Bible.
Leland Ryken, Reading the Bible as Literature series—6 volumes:
How Bible Stories Work (Biblical Narrative)
Sweeter Than Honey, Richer Than Gold (Poetry)
Letters of Grace and Beauty: A Guided Literary Study of New Testament Epistles
Jesus the Hero: A Guided Literary Study of the Gospels
Symbols and Reality: A Guided Study of Prophecy, Apocalypse and Visionary Literature
Short Sentences Long Remembered (Proverbs/Wisdom Literature)
If you really want even more depth, this series will go even deeper!
Happy reading!
