I am an English minor and one of the classes we had to take is a course on studying the bible in it’s literary context only. The teacher explained that we should take away all of our religious biases and throw them out the window. We were only to look at the stories as embellished, figurative stories to make a point about god and faith. Basically the figurative language is used to speak about abstract concepts in terms of concrete things.Should that be the way we should take these stories or should we take them more literally? Do you think these things really happened or is it just creative storytelling to describe concrete principles?
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Look at it like a fish story. A fisher"man" catches a 1 LB fish. When they tell the story it grows to a 3 pound fish. By the time they get home it was a 5 pound fish. A year later while reminiscing it is now a whopping 20 pound fish.
So time might cause the story to twist and grow, however there is a seed of truth that began the fish story.
The Bible is less useful that way, and is certainly literal where it means to be literal to those of us with faith, but you may actually learn something.
They are kind of boring…read them on Wikipedia…or SparkNotes…
Well, it’s pretty obvious that there are wildly varying styles, language, and intent across the Bible. The distinction that we make between mythology and history doesn’t exist very clearly in the Bible, so you have to judge for yourself from part to part.
For example, the creation story or the flood story are pretty clearly myths, while the books of Samuel and Kings are at least an attempt at history. Use your own judgment.
Your teacher is right, the Bible is not a story book, it does not speak about actual events or characters.
If you are interested in the deeper meaning, here is a link, where you can find some explanations:
http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/the_secret_meaning_of_the_bible.htm
If you want to go a bit further, and want to be able to read the Bible the way it was intended to be read, here is a link to a practical study, which can help you with that:
http://www.kabbalah.info/course/main/?utm_source=Yahoo!%2BAnswers&utm_medium=forum&utm_content=text-link&utm_campaign=semester-winter-2008
I hope it helps, all the best.
The Bible is a complex work. It should be understood within its literary, historical and theological context. Some parts were meant to be read literally, and some were not.
If you benefit from reading the bible figuratively, continue doing so. Rather that than put the Book down.
There are lessons to learn even if you can’t comprehend the meaning in any way but figuratively.
Keep reading — know what’s in there, no matter what the level.
Think of it this way. Today, this very moment, "God" speaks to you every single day as an advisor. Whether it’s your conscience, a collective conscience, or one of more etherial beings, you constantly get bombarded with thoughts in your head that you don’t consciously put there, they just show up. That’s "God" talking to you.
Let’s say you start asking questions, then you listen for the answers over time, and you start writing it down.
Is it "God" writing those words? No. It’s still you doing the writing. You’re using your best understanding to repeat or describe what you’ve been told. You’re still very much a human being, doing your best to relay the words of your teacher, but they are still your words, you’re best interpretation of the lessons you’ve been taught.
All religious texts are a combination of these writings and historical writings. Remember, prior to written words, we had hundreds of thousands of years of oral stories that were passed down from generation to generation. So much of the first books of the Bible and other texts describing origins are based on those oral stories, with most of the details long gone.
For example, we now know that all of mankind originated in Africa, then massive groups migrated away for one reason or another. The actual stories and reasons why they left are known, they are described in religious texts. If you combine the Bible with other religious origin stories, you get hints of what actually happened, shrouded under the generalized "mythos" and legends that were finally written out.
I think this teacher or yours is brilliant. There’s so much non-religious knowledge concealed within ALL religious texts, that I wished there were more classes in HS that examined as many as possible and looked for those common elements. We’d have a much better understanding of our common origins and just how alike we all really are. Instead, we’re forced to remain ignorant out of secular fear.
Lectio Divina (a Latin expression which means sacred reading) is done in three stages:
• Reading: you read the passage slowly and reverentially, allowing the words to sink into your consciousness;
• Meditation: you allow the passage to stir up memories within you, so that you recognize in it your own experience or that of people who have touched your life;
• Prayer: you allow the meditation to lead you to prayer- thanksgiving, humility and petition
In lectio divina , we love the text, linger over it, read it over and over, let it remain with us.
When we approach the text in this way, we come face to face with the fact that it speaks to our imagination. A Bible text is not like a textbook or a newspaper, providing us with objective information.
It was not written like that. Instead it stirs up feelings; we find ourselves identifying with the characters – we feel for them admire them or dislike them.
We are caught up in the movement of the text, its suspense, its dramatic reversals of fortune, its unanswered questions.
Gradually we ‘recognise’ the text; we find that we have lived the sequence of events ourselves, or have seen them lived in others who have touched our lives, for good or for ill.
Reading the text becomes a homecoming – a lifting up. We find ourselves caught up in the movement of God’s people, ‘fellow citizens with the saints’ ( Ephesus 2: 19 ); we are the lowly ones whom God ‘lifts up from the dust and sets in the company of princes, yes the princes of the people.’ ( Ps. 113: 7-8).
Lectio blossoms spontaneously into prayer in three dimensions:
• Thanksgiving that Jesus is alive in the story of grace;
• Humility that the story of sin is alive;
• Petition that the story of grace may prevail -"Come Lord Jesus"
In Lectio Divina we experience the true meaning of theology – entering through Bible reading into the wisdom of God or, more accurately, allowing God- alive – in the – Bible to lead us into wisdom, humbly, gratefully and with awe, like St Paul on the road to Damascus.
The wisdom of God gives us his perspective on every aspect of life.