St.

Michael’s College
Quezon Avenue, Iligan City
College of Education
BSED-English II

Bible as Literature
(Concept Paper)

Subject: Lit.04-Survey on Afro-Asian Literature

Submitted by: Jan Mac Loyd E. Aballe
Submitted by: Jessel Mae D. Ugmad

Rationale
The first thing that would come into our minds when we hear the word Bible is that it is a
book containing the message of God, a guide to life, guide to discipleship with the Lord, and a
reflection of what has been and will be in the next generations to come; but do you think that
the Bible is also considered as Literature? Well of course YES, a Bible is in fact a literature because
according to Webster, Literature is anything that is written or printed, as long as it is related to
ideas and feelings of people, whether it's true or just a product of one's imagination and so the
Bible is written and printed containing figurative language that realistically portrays thoughts and
emotions that teaches us lessons on how to be good to others and how we should deal with our
moral dilemmas and it is a written proof of the lives of people of long ago so that’s why the Bible
is considered as literature.

Related Literature

The Bible is very influential that it is the best-selling book of all time and many stories or even
movies of today are derived from the experiences of the Bible. One of the best Literature that
was influenced by the Bible is the novel wrote by William Shakespeare between 1599-1602
entitled Hamlet in this novel, regardless of Shakespeare’s religious beliefs or his intent when
including biblical references in his work, the fact remains that his plays contain over 1200 biblical
references. One example from Hamlet is when Claudius refers to his own murderous actions by
saying: “O my offence is rank; it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upon’t – a
brother’s murder!” This is a reference to the story in Genesis 4 in which Cain kills his brother Abel.
Uncle Claudius is also called “the serpent who now wears the crown,” a reference to the serpent
in the Garden of Eden. When the gravedigger unearths the skull and throws it to the ground,
Hamlet remarks that the skull has been treated as if it was Cain’s jawbone, the first murderer. In
scene 5 when Hamlet accepts that God will ultimately decide his fate, he states, “Not a whit, we
defy augury. There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” This line is a reference to
Matthew 10:29 in which Jesus says that not one sparrow will fall outside of God’s care. Eventually,
the script of the novel skillfully raises questions rather than giving answers to regarding themes
such as forgiveness, mercy, and grace. So that’s how William Shakespeare used biblical
reference to his novel “Hamlet”.

Challenges faced by the Bible

Through the years religions are diversely separated around the world; caused by different
principles of many religious leaders around the world. Through that various principles it resulted
into a lot of misinterpretation of the Bible which lead into arguments and several debates of each
religious leader of different religions, and that arguments caused chaos.

My personal solution on the chaos caused by these arguments or debate of different

principles of religion is that maybe each of the religions must mind its own principle and respect
other’s principles because in the end we all have one God to follow but just differ in names. Let's
just focus on how we develop our self holistically and respect each other's principle in life.

Conclusion

In conclusion the Bible is a literature because it is a written proof of the lives of people of a
long time ago. Also expresses ideas and feelings of people, whether it's true or just a product of
one's imagination and containing figurative language that realistically portrays thoughts and
emotions that teaches us lessons on how to be good to others and how we should deal with our
moral dilemmas and the Bible is so influential that it is the best-selling book of all time and used
as a reference to most of the famous literatures before and until today. Eventually there are also
challenges faced by the Bible such as it is being misinterpreted and caused chaos and to avoid
that chaos let's just mind our own and respect each other's principles.