If the bible was published today would it be received as a great work of literature?is it a best seller?

Question

Lets seperate chistianity from this question and just think of it as a neutral person.What are some key mistakes that you would use to criteque it?What are the postives and negitaves about it?Are the main characters compeling to you?

Answer 1

Absolutely!  It is difficult to separate the Christianity as God speaks thru it as the Living Word and the first 5 books of the Old Testament are the Torah so you cannot separate the religion.  It is rich in history, seduction,drama, war, love, hate, murder, betrayal, magic and redemption.  The best selling book of all time!

Umm... yes, the characters are compelling, absolutely.  Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Job, JESUS, GOD, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,

etc. etc.  A cast of thousands... all exceptional.

Answer 2

Well, right now (as it's been for years) it's the most popular book in the world.  Christianity aside, I think it would be considered a great virtuous book and would be a best seller.  

You get a star for this question. ^_^

Answer 3

I agree with TheVet. You're talking about several books written by different authors in different styles.

And are you asking about it in the original language or translated? The Bible was never meant to be literature - yes some of the poetry books are....well.... poetic, but the rest of it was not meant to be read for enjoyment (not to say one cannot enjoy reading, but that's not its purpose).

The Old Testament is the law and history, neither of which are meant to be literature. You might just as well ask if your history textbook is great literature.

I think your question needs some narrowing down. It's a little too broad.

The short answer is - no I don't think it would be a great work of literature, I don't think anyone even pretends it is now - though there are certain things about it that are great I don't know that the writing is one of them - then again I've only ever read English translations.

As for being a bestseller, that's hard to say. It IS a best seller so it's a bit beside the point I think - if it were written today it would be a totally different book.

As a side note I think the story of the life of King David would make an amazing novel - it's full of all sorts of adventure, drama, love, tragedy, heroism, betrayal, etc. But it would of course have to be re-written in novel form instead of as a history which mostly just gives the facts.

Answer 4

Your question would be a better thought experiment if you narrowed it down to one of the books in the bible.  

As it stands you're asking about a collection of books of Antiquity, that serve as a history as well as a religious text.  It's not so much about the bible being good, as it is about it being important.  

But no - nothing of that length, written in that style would even get published today.

Answer 5

I don't think so. Because people wouldn't have grown up with it and it would only be known by a few people.  That would be like me making a book today and it being a best seller if I said that I am the person who made you and stuff.  It just doesn't seem realistic in today's society unless you grew up around christianity. I mean, I believe in God... its just i don't think if the bible came out today... it would be a best seller...

Answer 6

The Bible is a diluted history of the Jews in the old testament.  The new testament is a bias fragmented story of myth and stories collected after the death of Jesus that the Christian administration has used to try and convert people to Christianity, so they can be controlled.  

Definitively not a great work of literature, more like like a cheap soapy so possibly it could be a best seller.  However it is the sort of preaching that Jesus condemned and complained about when he was alive, so shows this type of work was popular when Jesus was alive and still is, so obliviously it could be a best seller today.