Hey, I'm randomly curious

[fierydream]

Has anyone tried to critique a religious text - any religious text, like the Bible, Quran, etc (or translations thereof, I suppose it would have to be) - on literary merit and literary merit alone? As in, disregarding the message and such, just looking at it from a litcrit point of view.

Anyone know if such a thing exists? If so, details?

Comments

[sventhelost]

Definitely been done for the Bible.

http://classiclit.about.com/od/religioninliterature/tp/aatp-bible.htm?rd=1

[fierydream]

Awesome, thanks!

[aetherfox]

i've found the bible reads very "flat" because, i've heard, that the original language common to the people in that area at the time - aramaic - has no modifiers for expression or style. so it's all "she sat", "he ran", "i did", "you took", a purely action-oriented / factual recollection of events.

the language we use nowadays is probably too far apart for us to be able to properly critique something written in aramaic i think.