Understanding Biblical Genres: 10 Days
Learn to read the Bible on its own terms by exploring the major literary genres of Scripture — narrative, law, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, gospel, epistle, and apocalyptic. Understanding genre is the first step to faithful interpretation.
You would never read a love poem the same way you read a legal contract, or a political cartoon the same way you read a history textbook. Genre — the kind of writing something is — shapes how we understand it. The same is true of the Bible.
Scripture is not a single book but a library of sixty-six books written across more than a thousand years, in multiple languages, by dozens of authors. It contains stories and songs, laws and letters, proverbs and prophecies, visions and gospels. Each genre has its own conventions, its own rules of the road.
What You'll Learn
Over 10 days, you will explore the major literary genres of the Bible:
- Narrative — how biblical storytelling works and what it asks of the reader
- Law — why Torah is gift before it is demand
- Poetry — the richness of metaphor, parallelism, and emotional honesty
- Wisdom — the art of living skillfully in God's world
- Prophecy — what the prophets were really doing
- Gospel — the unique genre the early church invented to tell the story of Jesus
- Epistle — reading someone else's mail with understanding
- Apocalyptic — how to read Revelation and Daniel without losing your mind
Guided by Trusted Voices
This plan draws on the work of N.T. Wright, whose Scripture and the Authority of God and The New Testament and the People of God have transformed how a generation reads the Bible, and J.I. Packer, whose God Has Spoken remains a landmark on biblical authority and interpretation.
Who This Plan Is For
If you are new to the Bible or have read it for years but never thought carefully about genre, this plan will give you tools that transform every future reading.