The Bible is 66 books, written across a span of thousands of years, in dozens of genres, and painstakingly brought together over centuries, with each book tested for its scriptural authority.

So, is viewing it all as a single piece of literature reductive?

Not at all, according to Bill Creasy.

For many years, Creasy oversaw a hugely popular undergraduate course, The Bible as English Literature at UCLA, and he also founded the Logos Bible Study to teach scripture to a general audience.

In his book, Reading the Bible: A Literary Guide to Scripture, he outlines how the Good Book follows all the conventions of a literary masterpiece.

“The Bible in its final finished form is a unified literary work,” he said, speaking on Undeceptions.

“The curtain goes up in Genesis; it comes down in Revelation. In between, there’s a linear narrative with recapitulation. I read the Bible much like a novel and get the whole story. It’s not an anthology of ancient literature; it’s a unified literary work.”

Like most books, understanding the context behind the text itself is key to grasping the broader message. This is especially true with the Bible, given its multi-genre span. 

Different genres will have different interpretative needs, though. For example, Genesis chapters 1-11 are written in a poetic, mythic style. The message behind the text is what’s important – not necessarily the factual details (for more on this specific part of scripture, check out this Undeceptions episode).

Elsewhere, the Psalms are a collection of poetic praise songs, Daniel reads like a court tale (with a coda of apocalyptic literature), and we even have an erotic love poem in Song of Songs!

Then, of course, there are more straightforward historical books like 1 and 2 Kings, as well as the biographical histories of the Gospels.

Needless to say, the Bible is an eclectic piece of literature – but it is literature.

Here’s a great video by The Bible Project on why the Bible should be viewed as a piece of literature – not just as a religious text.

“I think what the greatest stories have always done is try to show us what it looks like to see the meaning in our lives, because they’ve shown us how to understand stories, beginning, middle, and end,” said Pepperdine University’s Chair of Great Books, Jessica Hooten Wilson. 

“It helps us understand different places and stories, and the roles that we’re playing in our broader lives. Without those meta-narratives where we get to see these repeated patterns of what it means to be a human being, we don’t understand what we’re doing.”

Bill Creasy also boldly notes that, given the Bible is one of the key texts of the entire literary tradition, to disregard it is to leave a gaping hole in one’s development.

“The Bible has influenced Western civilisation for 2000 years, and if you don’t know that, you’re living a very intellectually shallow life,” he said. 

“You might be greatly immersed in other literature, but the Bible is the key work.”

The Bible doesn’t just illuminate other literature—it’s the story that helps make sense of life itself. Like the greatest works, it lifts us out of the everyday and lets us see a bigger picture. But let’s be honest—it can be hard going (anyone who’s reached Numbers knows that). But then again, so are John Milton, William Shakespeare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Toni Morrison, and Cormac McCarthy—all shaped, in different ways, by the Bible’s grand themes and epic scope. 

Of course, the key to any piece of literature is a good cast of characters, and the Bible has plenty. God, Satan, angels, demons, the Virgin Mary, Doubting Thomas, Judas, Joseph (and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat), and Noah are just a smattering of weird and wonderful Biblical characters who have now become pop-culture mainstays.

But the main character of the Bible is Jesus, and He is the one who holds to the Bible having a single narrative arc …. pointing to Him!

In the Gospel of John, chapter 5, He says: 

“You search the Scriptures… and it is they that bear witness about me.” 

And at the end of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, He tells his followers:

“Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” 

He doesn’t just claim to be the main character in a great work of literature … He’s the through line of the cosmos.

Of course, whether or not you choose to believe what He says about Himself is up to you – but regardless, it’s still worth reading the Bible. It’s one heck of a good story – as all masterworks are.

Adapted by Alasdair Belling from Undeceptions episode 175, ‘Literary Bible’. You can listen to the full episode here.

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