What is the Bible?

I often start my one-semester course on the Bible with the question “What is the Bible?” Even seemingly obvious answers – such as “It’s a book” – need to be qualified and corrected (it is in fact a collection of books and other kinds of literature).

A couple of posts around the blogosphere relate to this subject, and how assumptions about what the Bible is affect the way they read it.

Mystical Seeker links to and discusses an op-ed piece in the Huffington Post by Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge, on why gays and lesbians should never argue Scripture.

Jim Spinsi saw a book offering Biblical models for marriages, and asks if that is really what anyone wants.

And from the FailBlog via Google Reader, here’s an image that illustrates nicely what some people wrongly think of the Bible as…