Scripture As Literature?

[Pats]

My resurecting a thread burried 10 pages back

Yes, I would love, really, to have Pats among others come back and share a thought or two.

I am solidly in the 'scripture is literature' category of thought, so much so that I resist the use of the term "The Bible" - which you may have noticed, since I think the current format of scripture seriously impedes our understanding of it. Another bowl of noodles there.

OK, well, I'm a little late and I've since decided that I am no longer find myself in agreement with the YEC POV, but that doesn't mean I don't want to discuss this.

It's odd, because when I first thought about the scriptures being refered to as literature, as a YEC, it did not make me uncomfortable to call it literature. Although refering to it as containing myths bothered me, but that's another post.

Perhaps it is the love of language arts and literature I poses that has shown me both as a YEC and now that there is nothing to fear in considering the scriptures literature.

How is the word literature defined?

1. The body of written works of a language, period, or culture.
2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value: "Literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity" (Rebecca West).
3. The art or occupation of a literary writer.
4. The body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field: medical literature.
5. Printed material: collected all the available literature on the subject.

Numbers one and four here both seem descriptive of the scriptures, particularly the fourth. The body of a written work produced by scholars or researchers of a given feild. In this instance could you consider the human authors of the scriptures as scholars or researchers of a given feild? I would think so.

Certainly there are particular scriptures that were written not only to convey particular truths but to convey these truths in a beautiful form of language art.