Christians studying secular literature based on the readings

Christians read books for a variety of purposes. According to the modules from this week, “The Bible is a work of literature, and an understanding of literature increases our understanding of Scripture,” is one statement that Christians who study literature should make. I concur with this assertion because the Bible is, in fact, a collection of writings by various writers who were given God’s permission to publish them. The concept of authorship is presented in the Bible as literature. It makes use of the literary analysis techniques that help Christians understand the Bible better. When reading the Bible, it is like a story. For example, the book of Genesis, as one reads along, the style is that of a story shifting from the book of Genesis to Exodus, to Leviticus. Christians should study secular literature so as to have an understanding of how they can interpret many of the things that the Bible teaches. The Biblical writers made use of creativity to demonstrate the humanness of the scripture. It is by learning literature that can enable Christians to discern the meaning of creativity that Biblical writers used. It also enables Christians to understand the motifs that pop up from one book to another in the Bible. For example, literature is what enables Christians to grasp the sacrificial idea in the Jewish Culture as written in the Bible; in the books of Numbers, Leviticus and repeated in the first and second chronicles, as well as first and second Kings. The same story retells in the different Books in the Bible.

It is only by learning secular literature that Christians can understand the Bible as a five-act play that entails the creation and fall, stories of Israel, Jesus, Church and new creation. Literature is a tool that enables Christians to learn the Bible in a deeper perspective. Also, the literary techniques used in the modern fiction can be found in the Bible. Without learning literature, Christians cannot learn about the sarcasm, irony, changes in narrative modes and the hyperbole in the Bible. Therefore, I agree that Christians should study secular literature.