Bible as literature

My last class in grad school--The Bible as Literature--is inspiring, fascinating, and a constant battle to think of the Bible as literature and not necessarily theological--study of God as the Word of Life. As a teacher (in a new position soon, I hope!), I can teaching English with my endorsement. It would an intellectual challenge to teach this course.

Now I am balancing the course with a master's paper. Most of the students are undergrad, so the four of us who are grad are excused from the small papers and instead do one much larger analysis. In conferring with my professor, I am exploring the polytheistic culture of Mesopotamia (Babylonia) and their myths, including creation, in contrast to the Hebrew Sacred History. I have already hit the library, checked out several books for 6 months!!--a graduate privilege unless they are called in a different patron., and am all over the search strategies on the site.

I have to admit my initial knowledge is sketchy. Still the idea that the Hebrew view of history is considered Sacred to them, and to others, is intriguing. So many people view the Old Testament, especially the early chapters of Genesis as just myth. The scholarship of Hebrews over the centuries challenge and intrigue them as well.

As a Christian, studying the Bible from a different perspective is also a journey. I suppose I could take the intellectual look and let it water down my faith in God and His Word. Instead, this is all having the opposite effect. I am inspired and deepened in my faith.

Think about it. Sometimes we all need to travel against the tide...