Secular Elation

How do we know that the Bible wasn't intended to be a kind of novel?

Have you ever read Tolkein's The Similarion? To me, it reads just like the Bible, without the designated books and verses and such. The similarity in style and prose is interesting.

Of course, Tolkein's book is irrelevant. But it did get me to ponder this question. After all, the Bible plays out like a good, epic novel--God creating the world in the beginning, a number of interesting stories and events, the climax being Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, and the somewhat epilogue ending with Revelation, as if there would be a sequel in the Christian Bible fantasy series.

Toto

We don't. I think it was.

Secular Elation

Well, yeah, technically we don't know. I was merely using common phrasing.

EDIT: F--ing typos.

[ April 26, 2002: Message edited by: Secular Elation ]</p>

Toto

You have to also consider the fact that the Bible may have been used as the model for later novels, thus the similarity.

SmashingIdols

I would say that Lord of The Rings and Dune were bible influenced novels just to name a couple. The whole thing with Paul and his GodHead in Dune really slayed me. Do you think Herbert did this on purpose? Ever read The Jesus Incident, by Herbert?

However, the Bible is not the first or earliest - it borrowed much of its mythologies from the Sumerian and Babylonian. This is really evidenced in Genesis, where both mythology sources are presented, despite the conflicts (man created last day after other animals, man created before other animals, Serpent in the tree, the seemingly two different God's in the garden, flood stuff, 7 pairs on the ark, 1 pair on the ark, etc.) But it goes on throughout the book.

Well, as the hero of that story says, "I come as a thief."

Thief = Plagarist

krazytamak

There were many scriptures and epistles about Jesus that never made it into the Bible. For example, Gnostic texts. In the 4th Century Roman Emperor Constantine (i think) and his council decided they need to consolidate all these Jesus scriptures that were authored by many different people and so they decided what they think should go in the Bible and what shouldn't. This doesn't sound like the making of a novel to me.

Furthermore, before the 4th century, Christians didn't follow a Bible. They followed various different scriptures (some made it into the Bible, most didn't) that often contradicted each other on the most basic principles. Before the 4th Century, a NT Bible didn't exist but its various sections did already. Doesn't sound like it was ever meant to be a novel. Would be funny though.

Amos

The hero is a "thief" because our persona is the imposter. The battle is between the true identity and the persona in which the true identity (called Christ) must be the victor and the persona must be nailed to the cross. The liberation of Bar-abbas is the liberation of the "thief." Bar-abbas is "son of the father."