The Bible: Historically based or just a book of theology?
The Bible is a human/divine product. It's known as the "Book of books". It has been written in many languages, versions, translations around the world. A best seller among books:
- Between 1815 and 1975, it was estimated that there could have been 5 billion Bibles printed.
- In 1995, one version of the bible, the Good News version that is copyrighted by the Bible Societies, had sold nearly 18 million copies. There's no doubt about it – the Bibleis one of the world's best-selling books.
- A survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the number at more than 5 billion.
- The most read book in the world is the Bible. Writer James Chapman created a list of the most read books in the world based on the number of copies each book sold over the last 50 years. He found that the Bible far outsold any other book, with a whopping 3.9 billion copies sold over the last 50 years.
Translations of the Bible:
- Wycliffe stated that parts of the Bible are available in approximately 2,900 out of the 6,877 known languages, and that there are currently 554 languages with a complete Bible translation. The New Testament is available in 1,333 languages and many more have at least one book of the Bible available.
In addition to these facts of sales and translations, the Bible covers many topics and subjects, the plan of salvation, creation, tell us of God, the life and teachings of Jesus, sin, forgiveness, etc.
However, with a closer look, what is this book, the Bible, is it Historically based or just a book of theology? Can it be one or the other or both. Is it a danger and a devaluation of the Bible to view it as one or the other? If so, what and why? What is the proper view? CM
Comments
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It's both. It is a historical book and a theological book.
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@Reformed said:
It's both. It is a historical book and a theological book.
Are you sure? What's your rationale for saying such? CM
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Theology is simply the study of God. The Bible is obviously that. But it is also a historical document as it provides a timeline of history that is accurate.
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The title(question) of this thread in my opinion represents a false dichotomy. For, Biblical literature is made up of a variety of genres and writing styles. However, Biblical literature on one hand isn't written like modern theological reference work, dictionary, or systematic theology work nor is it on the other hand written as a work of historical fiction (I.e. a work based of history but not actually history).
So, my answer to the OP question is: Neither
Grace and Peace
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Of course the Bible is also not one individual work.
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Mitch,
Please clarify for "...on the other hand written as a work of historical fiction (I.e. a work based of history but not actually history)". Do I take this to mean that the Bible is written on actual history; yet, not limited to just history? CM
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Yes. There are things in the Bible that clearly are not historical such as the parables.
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Then, perhaps, it's both. CM
