Class Notes

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Bible Literary Styles
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• The Bible is a collection of many books telling one unified story from beginning to end. But all those books were written in different literary styles.
• They’re all literature, but they communicate in really different ways.

Styles

Narrative

• 43% of the Bible.
• Because stories are the most universal form of human communication.
• Our brains prefer to take in information through story.
• a good story always involves some kind of conflict that requires a resolve, just like in our lives.
• The heroes in the stories are people just like us. Their resolve gives us hope.
• Bible characters are deeply flawed, not perfect like in a made-up story.
• we see ourselves in them, which helps us then see our lives and failures from a new perspective.

Poetry

• 33% of the Bible
• Why poetry?
• poems use creative language, linking together images to help us envision the world differently. Poems use lots of metaphor to evoke your emotions and your imagination.
• Poetry pushes us into the realm of imagination to give us yet a different perspective of reality.

​Prose Discourse

• 24% of the Bible.
• speeches, letters, or essays.
• Discourse forces you to think logically and consistently and then do something about it.
• Biblical discourse is found in law collections, in wisdom literature, and the letters written by the apostles.

No clear-cut literary style

• Actually most Bible books have a primary literary style, like narrative for example.
• But then embedded in the narrative, you’ll come across poems or parables or collections of laws.

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Every book is a unique combination of literary styles.

Remember

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Bible Literary Styles

• every book of the Bible is a unique combination of literary styles.
• the Word of God is communicated to us in various ways, but the story is the same.