The Bible

Genesis contains two distinct creation narratives (1:1-2:3 and 2:4-25) that differ in order, style, and emphasis. What does each account prioritize, and what is gained by placing them side by side rather than harmonizing them?

The Bible contains multiple literary genres: narrative, law, poetry, prophecy, epistle, apocalyptic. Choose two genres and compare how each communicates truth differently. What can poetry say that law cannot, or prophecy express that narrative cannot?

The King James Version introduced hundreds of phrases into English ('the salt of the earth,' 'a fly in the ointment,' 'the writing on the wall'). Choose three KJV phrases and trace how their meanings have shifted from biblical context to modern idiom. What is lost or gained in the transition?

Job's friends argue that suffering implies guilt — that God is just, therefore Job must have sinned. Job refuses this logic. God's answer from the whirlwind (chapters 38-41) does not explain Job's suffering. Is God's non-answer satisfying? What does it mean for a text to refuse to answer its own central question?

The four Gospels tell the same story differently. Mark ends with fear and silence (16:8). Matthew adds a great commission. Luke adds Emmaus and ascension. John adds Thomas and a lakeside breakfast. What does each ending reveal about its author's understanding of the resurrection's meaning?

Ecclesiastes opens with 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity' and proceeds to question whether wisdom, pleasure, or work have any lasting value. How does this book coexist with Proverbs (which confidently asserts that wisdom leads to prosperity) within the same canon? What does the contradiction teach about the Bible's relationship to certainty?

Steinbeck titled East of Eden, Morrison titled Song of Solomon, Faulkner titled Absalom, Absalom! Choose one and explain what the biblical allusion adds to the novel that a non-biblical title would not. What does the author expect you to bring from the Bible to the reading?

The Psalms include both praise ('The Lord is my shepherd') and rage ('Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones' — Psalm 137:9). Why does the canon include the imprecatory psalms alongside the consoling ones? What is gained by not censoring the anger?

Paul writes 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female' (Galatians 3:28) but also instructs women to be silent in church (1 Corinthians 14:34). How do you read these contradictions? Are they evidence of inconsistency, different audiences, or evolving thought?

Revelation's imagery — the Four Horsemen, the Whore of Babylon, the number 666, the New Jerusalem — has dominated Western apocalyptic imagination. But scholars argue these symbols referred to specific first-century realities (Rome, Nero, persecution). Does knowing the historical context diminish or enhance the literary power of the imagery?

The Bible's narrative technique in the Old Testament is often called 'restrained' — the narrator rarely tells us what characters think or feel, preferring dialogue and action. Compare this to a modern novel that tells us everything about characters' inner lives. What are the advantages and costs of biblical restraint?

The book of Esther never mentions God. Ruth is a Moabite (traditionally Israel's enemy) who becomes an ancestor of David. Jonah is furious when God shows mercy to Israel's enemies. What do these 'counter-narrative' books suggest about the Bible's willingness to challenge its own dominant themes?

The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) has been called 'the greatest short story ever written.' Analyze it as a short story: what is the narrative structure, who is the protagonist, and why does the story end without resolving the older brother's anger?

The Exodus narrative has been claimed by the American civil rights movement, Latin American liberation theology, and Zionist political thought. Can a single narrative legitimately support such different political applications? What does this say about the relationship between text and interpretation?

The Song of Solomon is erotic love poetry that has been allegorized (as God's love for Israel, or Christ's love for the Church) for centuries. Read literally, it is a celebration of sexual desire in which the woman is an equal or dominant voice. Which reading is more interesting, and what does the impulse to allegorize reveal about readers' discomfort?

Mark's Gospel ends at 16:8 — the women find the empty tomb and 'they said nothing to any man; for they were afraid.' Later scribes added longer endings. What is the literary effect of Mark's original abrupt ending? Why couldn't later readers tolerate it?

The Bible has been used both to justify slavery (the 'curse of Ham,' Paul's instructions to slaves) and to fuel abolition (Exodus, Galatians 3:28, the prophets' justice demands). How can the same text support opposite conclusions? What does this reveal about how texts function in culture?

God speaks from the whirlwind in Job, through a burning bush in Exodus, in a 'still small voice' in 1 Kings, and not at all in Esther. Trace how the Bible's own representation of divine communication changes across its texts. What pattern emerges?

Biblical Hebrew poetry uses parallelism rather than rhyme. Take Psalm 19:1 ('The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork') and explain how the second line relates to the first. Why is this technique effective for translation — and how did it influence English poetry?

John's Gospel opens with 'In the beginning was the Word' — deliberately echoing Genesis 1:1. What does this literary allusion accomplish? How does John reframe the creation narrative through a Greek philosophical concept (logos)?

The Bible's influence on English is so deep that most speakers use biblical phrases without knowing their origin. Identify five common English expressions that derive from the Bible and explain their original context. What happens when a phrase loses its biblical connection?

Compare the flood narrative in Genesis 6-9 with the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. What are the key similarities and differences? What does the comparison reveal about how the biblical authors transformed shared cultural material for their own purposes?

Nathan tells David a parable about a rich man who steals a poor man's lamb (2 Samuel 12). David, furious, condemns the rich man — and Nathan says, 'Thou art the man.' How does this scene demonstrate the power of parable as a literary technique? Why is indirection more devastating than direct accusation?

Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost is charismatic, eloquent, and sympathetic. Blake said Milton was 'of the Devil's party without knowing it.' To what extent does the Bible's own text invite sympathy for its antagonists (the serpent, Cain, Pharaoh, Judas)? Is there a 'Devil's party' within scripture itself?

The Bible was composed by dozens of authors over 1,500 years but is treated as a single 'book.' What are the literary consequences of reading these diverse texts as a unified work? What patterns emerge that the individual authors never intended?

Flannery O'Connor said, 'I write the way I do because and only because I am a Catholic.' How does biblical understanding change the reading of O'Connor's fiction — particularly the violent moments of grace in stories like 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'?

The book of Ruth features a Moabite woman whose loyalty to her Israelite mother-in-law leads to her inclusion in Israel and (according to Matthew's genealogy) in the lineage of Jesus. What does Ruth's story suggest about the Bible's attitude toward outsiders and ethnic boundaries?

Paul's letter to Philemon asks a slave owner to receive his escaped slave 'no longer as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved.' Paul does not explicitly condemn slavery. Is this letter a subtle subversion of slavery or a failure to challenge it? What does the ambiguity reveal about Paul's rhetorical strategy?

The KJV translators chose 'charity' for the Greek agape in 1 Corinthians 13, while modern translations use 'love.' What is the difference? How does the translation choice change the meaning of the passage — and what does this reveal about translation as interpretation?

If the Bible were published today as a new literary work — no religious context, no cultural history, just the text — which parts would be most critically acclaimed? Which would be most criticized? What does your answer reveal about what modern readers value in literature?