By Benjamin Fisher ’27

As a lifelong Christian, the Bible has provided me with a roadmap on how to live a good and fulfilling life: love God, your neighbor, and yourself; don’t succumb to greed or jealousy; and forgive others as you’d want to be forgiven. By following these rules, I think I’ve become a much better person today than I would have been if I had lived a life based on my own desires. Like many people experience in their spiritual journeys, my faith is a little shaken at the moment, which is partly why I’m writing this piece. I think something’s there, though I’m unsure how I can prove it or convince myself otherwise. While I continue on my spiritual journey, I want to keep the Bible close to me because of how it’s helped me in the past and how I think it can guide me in the future. While I used to use the Bible for spiritual guidance, I’m curious to see what I can learn by reading it through a literary lens, much like analyzing any good piece of literature. Through this approach, I believe that the Bible could reach a larger audience, showing people a great set of stories while also possibly helping them discover their faith in Christ. 

In relation to this passage, we can see that the Bible declares limits on human mastery over creation, with humanity having both “mastery” over God’s creation while also being subject to the Creator and having the responsibility of “dress it and keep it.”

Contrary to what I used to think when I was younger, the Bible is so much more than a piece of religious text. It’s an anthology of 66 different stories written by different authors at different times, making it a complex reflection of history, humanity, and our interaction with the divine (Rayken 2023). In my first religion class at St. Olaf College, Intro to the Hebrew Bible, I learned about the different ways we can read the Bible by applying various lenses that focus on specific themes and messages the authors are trying to convey. I was passionate about using the environmental lens that focused on the Bible’s message on environmental stewardship. I really resonated with this because of my love for the natural world, which I’m seeing being increasingly destroyed as we continue to exploit limited resources. One example of using an environmental lens in the Bible is Genesis 2:15, which states, “The LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it”. I really like this verse because, looking at it through an environmental lens, it shows how God intended for us to care for His creation from the very beginning. Another verse that I analyzed for class using an environmental lens was Psalms 8: 4-10, which says, “When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars You set in place, what is man that You have been mindful of him, mortal man that You have taken note of him, that You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty; You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet, sheep and oxen, all of them, and wild beasts, too; the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth”! In relation to this passage, we can see that the Bible declares limits on human mastery over creation, with humanity having both “mastery” over God’s creation while also being subject to the Creator and having the responsibility of “dress it and keep it.” 

Instead of using a text to provide evidence towards a predetermined message, he suggests reading it first and gathering the main messages by stepping into the characters’ shoes and analyzing the literature’s plot, setting, and characters, which make up its form.

Looking at the Bible through a literary lens can also teach us a lot about our culture since it’s “The central book of English-speaking cultures throughout the ages” (Rayken 2023). According to Dr. Leland Ryken, an author and professor at Wheaton College, reading the Bible through a literary lens allows us to immerse ourselves in the characters, their experiences, and points of view, enabling us to relate to and compare the stories with our lives. To do this, it’s helpful to remember what literature actually is. Dr. Leland Ryken describes literature as being “based on the premise of showing rather than telling, embodiment rather than abstraction”. He also says that “the knowledge that literature imparts consists of our living through an experience.” In other words, we’ll get a lot more out of reading the Bible by analyzing the characters and the messages that the authors are trying to convey through them. Dr. Leland Ryken further points out the difference between making generalizations before versus after reading a text and how that can affect what we get out of it. Instead of using a text to provide evidence towards a predetermined message, he suggests reading it first and gathering the main messages by stepping into the characters’ shoes and analyzing the literature’s plot, setting, and characters, which make up its form. By breaking a story apart, we can better discover the author’s message. 

One of my favorite stories from the Bible is Joseph’s forgiveness towards his brothers for abandoning him in a pit when they were kids (Genesis 37-45). This story is chock-full of different messages, such as the importance of forgiveness and continuing to have faith in God when life reaches its lowest point. Through a third-person narrative perspective, we see all of Joseph’s misfortunes and how he reacts to the sins of his brothers. We also get a clear picture of all the events that lead up to Joseph’s final decision to forgive his brothers as well as insights into how his brothers and father feel throughout the story. This literary strategy of letting us live through the characters allows us to connect with their experiences, helping us merge the messages of the story into our own lives. Joseph Pearce, writer and series editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions, as well as the Tolkien and Lewis Chair in Literary Studies at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, describes these characters as forming an “archetype of which we are only types” (Pearce 2021). I couldn’t agree more. By reading the Bible’s stories and analyzing the characters that bring them to life, I’ve subconsciously built a persona that I relate to and use as a guide to how I treat life and others. For example, through the actions of the generous king that forgave the debts of one of his servants in Matthew 18:21-35, I learned about the importance of forgiving others out of kindness, realizing that there’s so much more to life than material goods. By analyzing the king’s character and the plot of this parable, we can see the message that the author is trying to convey, which is the virtue of forgiving others’ debts and past injustices.

By reading the Bible’s stories and analyzing the characters that bring them to life, I’ve subconsciously built a persona that I relate to and use as a guide to how I treat life and others.

As I continue to discover my faith and discover who I am, I hope to use the Bible’s messages by reading it through different lenses and relating to each of the characters who demonstrate  different ways we can live and the choices we can make. Regardless of where I end up on my journey to rediscover my faith, I’m comforted by the fact that I’ll always have a lot to learn from the Bible, and I encourage others to take a shot at reading it, even if they don’t believe in its religious aspects. 

Sources: 

Pearce, Joseph. “Reading The Bible As Literature – Joseph Pearce.” Memoria Press: Classical Education (blog), June 7, 2021. https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/reading-bible-as-literature/.

Rayken, Leland. “Why and How to Read the Bible as Literature.” Leland Ryken (blog), October 27, 2023. https://www.lelandryken.com/library/why-and-how-to-read-the-bible-as-literature/.

Rayken, Leland. “Understanding the Concept of the Bible as Literature.” Leland Ryken (blog), October 27, 2023. https://www.lelandryken.com/library/understanding-the-concept-of-the-bible-as-literature/.

The views in the post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lutheran Center or St. Olaf College.