Thursday, April 21, 2011

Kelly Barry- The Bible

Catholics have been given a bad reputation for not knowing the Bible as well as their Protestant counter-parts. And while I can’t say that I have read Christianity's sacred text from cover to cover, I have, from a very young age, been exposed to its contents. In some extreme cases, there are those who would argue that calling the Bible a work of art or literative masterpiece is blasphemous, because it puts the sacred text on the same plane as other books. However, just because it can be recognized for its artistic value does not take away any of its grandeur.
There are those who gave up reading the Bible because they could not follow it, but this is because it is not meant to be read as any other book. The different writing styles in the books have been done so on purpose in order to distinguish whether they are narrative or historical (or both).
The Bible can be divided in narrative and historical parts, including books that follow the timeline of the Israelites up through the beginnings of the early Christian Church. Even if a person chooses from to believe the message of the text, they can still recognize its value as a work of written art.
The Song of Songs, for example, is a series of intricate love poems that portrays the beauty of love between a husband and wife. Likewise, metaphors and parables are used to describe events and convey meaning in a creative way.

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