There’s an old saying that history is written by the victors. While this isn’t always the case, the saying speaks to a big problem about the nature of history and historicity. At its most basic level, what we call 'history; is nothing more or less than a story about the past. But, historicity is the … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: History
Some of the oddest pieces of the Bible to many of us today are the long sections taken up with genealogies. We can be excused for asking why, considering the great expense of writing materials in the ancient world, biblical authors felt the need to include this content at all. Moreover, thinking of the Bible … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Genealogies
I’m starting this series on understanding Biblical genres with what is most certainly the most controversial category: Myth. To many people of faith today, even the hint that the Bible could contain ‘myth’ is tantamount to the worst kind of unbelief and disrespect for the text. But that concern is based on a faulty understanding … Continue reading Understanding Biblical Genres: Myth
One of the few things that unites all Christians is a love for the Bible. But, the Bible is a difficult document — or rather, library of documents — to approach, having been written by dozens of voices in different cultures and languages, across a period of roughly a thousand years, the most recent pieces … Continue reading Reading the Bible Better: Understanding Biblical Genres
Matthew Root 