- [Jon] The Bible is a collection
of many books telling one unified story
from beginning to end.
But all those books were written
in different literary styles.
- [Tim] Yeah, think of it like walking into a bookstore
where every aisle has a different kind of literature.
There's history or poetry or nonfiction.
And when you choose an aisle and pick up a book,
you're gonna have very different expectations,
different things that you're looking for.
- [Jon] Right, they're all literature,
but they communicate in really different ways.
- [Tim] Yes, and so the same thing is true
for the Bible.
If you don't pay attention to what style it's written in,
you will miss out on the brilliance of each book.
- [Jon] So what are the main types
of literature in the Bible?
- [Tim] Well, first and foremost is narrative,
that makes up a whopping 43% of the Bible.
After that is poetry, which is 33% of the Bible.
And then there's what you could call prose discourse,
which makes up the remaining 24%.
- [Jon] Nearly half the Bible is narrative.
- [Tim] Yes, and this is no accident.
Stories are the most universal form of human communication.
Our brains are actually hardwired
to take in information through story.
- [Jon] And stories are really enjoyable.
Why is that?
- [Tim] Well, stories train us
to make sense of the seemingly random events
that happened in life by taking those events
and then putting them in a sequence.
And then together, you can start
to see the meaning and purpose of it all.
- [Jon] And what links this all together?
- [Tim] Well, good stories always have a character
who wants something, and then through these characters
an author can explore life's big questions like who are we
or what's really important in life.
And a good story always involves some kind of conflict.
- [Jon] Some challenge to overcome
just like in our own lives.
- [Tim] And that forces us
to think about our own challenges,
why there's so much pain or disappointment in the world
and then what can we do about it.
And stories usually end with some kind of resolution,
giving us hope for our own stories.
- [Jon] Since these are Bible stories,
are the characters showing me how I should live?
- [Tim] Yeah, that's not quite the point.
Most Bible characters are deeply flawed.
You should not be like them.
But we are supposed to see ourselves in them,
which helps us then see our lives
and failures from a new perspective.
And without even realizing it,
these stories will start to mess with you
and change how you see the world
and other people and yourself.
- [Jon] Now, there are different types
of narrative in the Bible.
- [Tim] Yeah, there's historical narrative,
but also narrative parables, short biographical narratives
like the four Gospels.
We'll look at all these in later videos.
- [Jon] Okay, next up is poetry,
which, honestly, I don't read a lot of.
- [Tim] Yeah, you're like most people.
But one out of every three chapters in the Bible is poetry.
- [Jon] Yeah, why so much poetry?
- [Tim] Well, poems mainly speak
through dense creative language linking together images
to help us envision the world differently.
Poems use lots of metaphor to evoke your emotions
and your imagination.
- [Jon] Lots of fancy language,
but wouldn't it be easier just to tell me
what I need to know?
- [Tim] Well, think about.
In life, we tend to form mental ruts,
and we think in these familiar, well-worn paths
that are very hard to get out of through logic or reasoning.
And what good poetry does is force you
off the familiar path into new territory.
- [Jon] Sneaky. - [Tim] And there's different types
of poetry in the Bible.
There's lots of types of songs or psalms.
There's the reflective poetry of the wisdom books
and then the passionate resistance poetry of the prophets.
- [Jon] Okay, the last big literary type
is called prose discourse,
and it makes up a quarter of the Bible.
- [Tim] Yeah, these are speeches, letters, or essays.
And the focus here is building a sequence
of ideas or thoughts into one linear argument
that requires a logical response.
Like, hey, have you thought about this thing?
You should also consider how it connects
to this other thing.
And if you do, then you will see that this is the result.
And in light of that conclusion, therefore,
you should probably stop doing that one thing
so that this other thing will be the outcome.
- [Jon] So you're persuading me with reason.
- [Tim] Yeah, discourse forces you to think logically
and consistently and then do something about it.
Biblical discourse is found in law collections,
in wisdom literature,
and the letters written by the apostles.
- [Jon] Okay, so each book of the Bible
has one literary style.
- [Tim] No, actually, most books
have a primary literary style like narrative, for example,
but then embedded in the narrative
you'll come across poems or parables or a collection of laws.
Every biblical book is a unique combination
of literary styles.
- [Jon] And to read that book well,
I need to be familiar with each literary type
and how it works.
- [Tim] Yeah, so you know what to pay attention to
and what questions you should ask.
But before we look at each type,
there's one more unifying feature of Biblical literature
that's really important and really cool.
And that's what we'll explore next.
- [Tim] Hey, everybody, thanks for watching this BibleProject video.
It's one part of a much larger series
on how to read the Bible.
You can find more of those videos
and all of our videos for free at thebibleproject.com.
We're a nonprofit, crowdfunded animation studio,
which means you can actually join us
and help us make more videos.
Again, go to thebibleproject.com.
And one more thing, this video is lovingly dedicated
to my former teacher Ray Lubeck.
He first introduced me to all the ideas
that we explored in this video.
If you wanna learn more about these ideas,
check out his book called "Read the Bible for a Change"
by Professor Ray Lubeck.
Love you, Ray. Thanks so much.