Chapter 3.
The Unity of the Bible—One Great Book, or 66 Different Little Books?

Do you know what the GUT of the universe is? No, this is not a facetious question. GUT stands for the Grand Unified Theory, as Stephen W. Hawking, a renowned Cambridge University mathematician and physicist explains (A Brief History of Time 74-79). Physicists and scientists have long attempted to find one grand theory that would unite the essential knowledge of the universe, including electromagnetic, nuclear, gravitational, and quantum forces. They would be highly satisfied if they could just find a unified theory of some of these phenomena. Many would be happy to exclude theories of gravity and relativity if they could just find the secret of unifying the theories of electromagnetic energy and the weak and strong nuclear forces.

For all these searchers, unity is the keyword. But the hard sciences have no special claim to this keyword, because the search for unity pervades all of mankind's intellectual adventures, including that of literary study of the Bible.

Bible scholars would be thrilled to find a Grand Unified Theory for the Bible, and some believe they have. For example, the Schofield Reference Bible editors attempt to unify their ultimate spiritual theory with dispensationalism. Meanwhile, other fundamentalists cloak their unified theory with a claim for inerrancy. But upon careful investigation each of them falls short of their claim. Nevertheless, the search for unity persists.

And it affects even casual Bible readers, who are likely to say, "It's so hard for me to read the Bible. The characters jump all around the map, and skip back and forth across time. I can't get sense out of a book written by so many different people from so many countries and cultures. Especially when they lived centuries apart from each other and wrote about different subjects."

The search for unity is not unique to the Bible, because unity is essential to any piece of great literature. Consider Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Readers and critics often have noted that the plan that the author announces in the General Prologue is never carried out. The plan itself is simple. A couple of dozen pilgrims representing various social groups of fourteenth century England are leaving on a religious pilgrimage from the Tabard Inn in London to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in the great Canterbury Cathedral. Each pilgrim is supposed to tell two tales on the outward journey from London to Canterbury and two more on the return journey from Canterbury to London. This ambitious project called for more tales than Chaucer could complete in his lifetime, so only twenty-four have come down to us.

Many people, therefore, would say that The Canterbury Tales are incomplete. But that does not mean that they have no unity. Ralph Baldwin, a very competent literary critic, demonstrates that, in spite of this incompleteness, The Canterbury Tales does indeed have unity, primarily because of the unifying concept of the pilgrimage and also in the call to repentance at the end of the Parson's Tale and in Chaucer's "Retraction" at the end of the work as a whole.

The point of this citation is that a great work of literature must have unity. It can achieve unity in various ways. It can have unity of style, theme, structure, purpose, or any number of other kinds of unity, or any combination of kinds of unity. But if it has no unity at all, then it can hardly be called a great work of literature. It may have other fine literary features, but without unity it fails a crucial test. This applies to any great work whether by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, or any other author.

Many casual readers as well as recognized critics have charged that the Bible lacks unity. This does not mean that there is no unity in the Bible. It means only that, if there is unity, they have not been able to discover it. The authors of this book assert that the Bible does have unifying principles, and we intend to help you find and see them. We recognize the problems, and we do not minimize them, but we believe that careful study and attention can resolve them.

The Greek word for Bible, "biblia", means "little books," which, as Northrop Frye points out, would emphasize the diversity of the Bible as composed of many different "little books." Some people may think, therefore, that the book which we call the Bible is a carelessly thrown together collection of books of various size and quality which have little in common. If they do, they overlook the important fact, as Frye states, that the Bible has for centuries been read as a unity, "and has influenced Western imagination as a unity."

But is it correct, then, to think of the Bible as an anthology? Technically, it is correct only to a certain degree. It's true that the Bible is a collection of religious writings in prose and poetry, representing the literary flowering of Jews and Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Near East. We accept Alter's professional judgment that

the idea of the Hebrew Bible as a sprawling, unruly anthology is no more than a partial truth, for the retrospective act of canonization has created a unity among the disparate texts that we as later readers can scarcely ignore; and this unity in turn reflects … an intrinsic feature of the original texts—their powerfully allusive character. (A Literary Guide to the Bible 13).

In some respects the Bible may be considered an anthology, but it is certainly not a "sprawling, unruly anthology." This charge is, at most, only a "partial truth." And one cannot forget the fact that, as Alter says, the "act of canonization" in itself had much to do with creating part of the unity that later generations would always perceive in the Bible. Moreover, the power of literary allusion is very prominent, not only in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), but throughout the whole Bible as Western civilization has come to know it. Thus it was that we have the merging of the New Testament—written largely by Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah—with the Old Testament.

Unity of Organization

It is clear that the Bible, like all good literature, has a beginning and an end, and indications of an organized and unifying structure between this beginning and end. Gabriel Josipovici demonstrates this organization by pointing out that the two major sections of the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, are both similarly divided into four parts (The Book of God 39).

The Old Testament divisions listed below generally follow the protestant Christian organization, although they closely parallel the order found in the Hebrew Bible, but under different names, and with certain books sometimes found in one section, then in another. The Old Testament divisions identified by Josipovici are:

1. The Pentateuch, the five books "of Moses," referred to as "the Law" in Chapter 1;
2. The historical books, which carry the story to the time of the return of the Jews from exile;
3. The poetical books of Psalms through Ecclesiastes, referred to as "the Writings" in Chapter 1; and
4. The prophetic books, from Isaiah through Malachi.

The counterpart divisions in the New Testament are:

1. The four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (see discussion under "Unity of the Gospels" below);
2. The Acts, depicting the expansion of the early Church during the lives and ministry of the Apostles, especially Peter and Paul. This book parallels the historical books of the Old Testament.
3. The Epistles, both Pauline and General, corresponding to the poetic section of the Old Testament; and
4. The Apocalypse of John (Book of Revelation). This corresponds to the Prophets of the Old Testament (including the apocalypse Daniel in the Hebrew Bible).

It is noteworthy to point out the way the last book in the Old Testament (Malachi) ends, and the way the New Testament begins. In Malachi 3:1, we read, "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts" (RSV). The first six verses of Malachi chapter four allude to a terrible Day of Judgment, to the Mosaic deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, and to a promise of the reappearance of Elijah the prophet to turn the hearts of the people toward each other.

So ends the Old Testament, looking "back to the beginning," as Josipovici says, "and forward into the future" (40).

Unity of the Gospels

The New Testament, beginning immediately after Malachi, starts with the Gospel of Matthew relating the genealogy of Jesus, reminding us of the genealogies of the book of Genesis. In Matthew 11:10-14 we find a clear link with the ending of Malachi: "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Truly, I say unto you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist…. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come" (RSV). Jesus is saying that just as Elijah was promised to return as God's special messenger in the future, so John the Baptist is the personification of that messenger as the herald of Jesus the Messiah.

The second Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, also mentions the themes of Malachi, quoting Isaiah 40:3, "Prepare the way of the Lord." The third Gospel, the Gospel of Luke, like Matthew, provides a genealogy of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Luke says (l:17) that John will go forth "in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah)." And the fourth Gospel opens with a clear allusion to the very beginning of creation and time: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:1-3, RSV).

Josipovici, speaking of the four gospels, concludes: "This first of the four New Testament sections thus echoes the five books of Moses, presents itself as a New Creation, but also as the fulfillment of the prophecy with which the Old Testament ended, the coming of the Messiah heralded by Elijah and bringing the final Day of Judgment" (40). This conclusion appears clearly justified on the basis of a careful reading and study of the relevant literature.

Unity of Time in the Bible

After presenting the Gospels, The Acts, and the Epistles, the New Testament (and the entire Bible) ends with the Apocalypse, or the book of Revelation. This marvelous book picks up on one of Frye's recurring metaphors, that of the city, the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, at the end of time (Revelation 21:1-4).

One of the final commands in the Bible is, not to worship or to perform religious rituals, but to write: "Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" (Rev. 21:5-6). Had men of old not heeded this obligation to "write," we would not have had this magnificent written volume which today is called simply "The Bible." And the protagonist who is unveiled in this last writing is the One Who Is The Alpha and the Omega, The Beginning and the End.

Josipovici brilliantly sums up this marvelous conception of the Bible as literature "which is spread over thousands of pages and encompassing the entire history of the universe." He states that "there is both perfect correspondence between Old and New Testaments and a continuous forward drive from Creation to the end of time" (42). His presentation demonstrates a convincing case for the unity of the Bible, not only in his logic, but by illustration from numerous specific passages quoted from the Bible itself.

In this manner, beginning in Genesis with the creation of the universe, where time begins, and ending with the Apocalypse, or Revelation of St. John, where time ends, the Bible is a bridge which spans all time and space. And, Frye points out that the Bible, in between these two defining points of beginning and ending, deals with a specific aspect of history in which it is interested, under symbolic names and a definite body of identifiable concrete images. He proposes such images as city, mountain, cave, furnace, river, garden, tree, oil, fountain, bread, wine, bride, and sheep, which he believes "recur so often that they clearly indicate a unifying principle."

The Unity of the Bible and Modern Literary Practices

Because so much of our literature alludes to biblical ideas and language, a person who does not know the Bible cannot fully understand many aspects of English Literature. This is evident even to many who do not hold a high view of the nature of scripture. But the reverse is also true. Because the Bible is a book of books, anyone who does not know something about literature can not understand much of what is discussed in the Bible. A completely literate and informed believer simply must become knowledgeable about literary matters if he or she hopes to understand clearly the literature of the Bible.

It should be clear, then, that since the Bible is a major part of our literary and cultural heritage in the Western world, we cannot afford to skip over its study and expect to become well-educated. The Bible exists. It is there. It can not be ignored. And as Northrop Frye says in The Great Code, "there is no excuse today for scholars, in discussing cultural issues originally raised by the Bible and still largely informed by it, to proceed as though the Bible did not exist" (xix). Likewise, there is no excuse for ministers, priests, rabbis, theologians, Sunday School teachers, or Bible readers, who accept the principles of literary analysis and scientific knowledge in every other realm of their lives, to proceed in reading and teaching the Bible as though those proven literary techniques do not exist.

The Information Explosion and the Bible

Theologians and literature professors are updating their research and communications skills to keep up with the information explosion which is occurring in all other branches of learning. The Internet was originally developed, say Richard Smith and Mark Gibbs, "so that science and research could share resources." These two authorities in the field continue, "To a great extent, communications in the form of e-mail and discussion groups have overshadowed the Internet's use for resource sharing" (Navigating the Internet 18).

They predict that by the year 2000 the number of networks will grow from 10,000 to 1,000,000; the number of computers from 1,000,000 to 100,000,000; service providers from 500 to 10,000; and direct users from 5,000,000 to 1,000,000,000. They point out that in 1985 modems that ran at 120 bits per second were "hot," but today (in 1995) we have high speed modems that transfer data at 28,800 bits per second and cost less than those 1985 models (20-21).

Mitchell Kertzman, chief executive at PowerSoft Corporation, Burlington, Mass., has said, "What railroads were to America in the 19th century and superhighway systems were in the 20th, high-bandwidth networks are to the 21st century" (22). In view of all these rapid changes taking place, how can biblical scholars afford to lag behind in utilizing all the available tools for keeping current in their particular field of knowledge?

The Explosion of Literary Knowledge and the Bible

Religious leaders and teachers recognize this knowledge explosion in other areas of professional research and skills. A vast number of them have written about the value of archaeology, for example, in establishing the historical truth and trustworthiness of biblical texts. It is common knowledge among seminaries and graduate schools of theology and literature that modern literary and linguistic knowledge and the tools and techniques of literary analysis have immensely advanced the studies of all ancient literature, and especially Near-eastern languages and literature.

This explosion of literary studies has made tremendous strides during this last generation of the twentieth century, but many Bible colleges and theological schools seem to be oblivious to it. This makes them woefully unprepared to enter the twenty-first century with the credible philosophy of biblical studies that is demanded by our times. On the one hand, they think they are keeping up with the times if they merely know how to use a computer to find references in a concordance of the King James Version of the Bible. On the other hand, they seem to be totally unaware of the unbelievable amounts of information from scholarly research which is available through the Internet.

If the faculties of such fundamentalist schools do not demand the academic freedom to utilize the research of competent biblical scholars worldwide, ultimately their sources of funding and students will dwindle and stop. Religious believers of all denominations and organized church bodies will eventually become too intelligent to continue to support fossilized institutions that refuse to learn from history and to benefit from modern enlightenment. This demand for linking Bible study with modern literary methods is racing down the track like an bullet train. Those who don't board will find themselves left in deserted depots.

Those who are alive to see the beginning of the 21st century can no longer, in one sense, call themselves members of the modern technological age. We have already passed through that period of time and are now exiting from the "post-modern" age in literary criticism and scientific advancement. One can hardly dream of what the new millennium will bring or what it will be like, but it will most certainly create new religious hungers, strivings, understandings, and conditions that could make the twentieth century look strangely like the Middle Ages do to us today.

This is not a minority report from an elite segment of sophisticated religious believers. If the authorities are right about the coming information superhighway, the vast store of information about literature, the Bible, religion, theology, and general knowledge will soon be commonplace. Many think that right now civilization is going through the final throes of resistance to an exponential explosion of knowledge in all fields. And, although it may not be universally evident, this same resistance to modern enlightenment will not succeed in the world of religion. Islamic and Christian fundamentalists, fanatical Jewish orthodox parties, and all such extremists of every world religion, down to the smallest cults, are going against an irresistible tide of human knowledge and freedom. Against these powerful forces they can not prevail.

Surviving the Knowledge and Literary Explosions in Biblical Studies

But that does not mean that the great religions of the world will be discredited and lose their influence or place in the hearts and lives of individuals or of society or culture at large. Those believers and bodies that survive the knowledge explosion of the twenty-first century will be the ones who have learned how to grow and mature sufficiently to move beyond the literalism and narrow bigotry of the extremists on either end of the spectrum. Only those who understand how to cling to their basic faith in a good and a gracious God, and to read their scriptures with discernment and to interpret them properly with their metaphoric and poetic meaning, will survive the tidal wave of computer-driven knowledge. Those who cannot intelligently read and truly understand their own Bible in the twentieth century will find themselves facing rising waters without an ark.

A major key in this literary approach to the Bible includes the ability and skill to perceive a reasonable unity in the midst of all the apparent diversified clutter of the Bible. Of course, reading gets tough when plodding through all the "begats" of Genesis, the many kinds of "burnt offerings" of Leviticus, and the violence of the times of the Judges. And not all parts of the Bible are of equal quality or value. Unsavory Psalms of unspeakable harshness reside along with beautiful gems like the 23rd Psalm. The same King David who wrote about the Lord his shepherd, in Psalm 23, also in Psalm 55 (the title ascribes this psalm to David, rightly or wrongly) prayed for death to come upon his adversaries, for them to go down into Sheol alive, for them not to live out half of their days, and to go in terror into their graves. In the book of Isaiah we find the terrible oracles against foreign nations (chapters 13 through 23), yet along with such sentiments we read beautiful lines such as

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes [rulers] shall rule in judgment [with justice]. And a man shall be as an hiding place [refuge] from the wind, and a covert [shelter] from the tempest; As rivers of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a great rock in a weary [thirsty] land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, And the ears of them that [can] hear shall hearken [listen]. And the mind of the rash shall have good judgment, And the tongue of the stammerers shall speak plainly.

The literary unity of this part of the book of Isaiah has little to do with who wrote the original words or compiled the finished work. The unity consists of the thematic truth of a realistic message that speaks of the human condition in universally understood ideas of national survival in catastrophic times, while at the same time preserving an aesthetic sense of poetic beauty and hope for better days. Both aspects of the two passages treat valid and vital aspects of a people and culture under siege.

Look again at passages like the Oracles Against the Gentile Nations (Isaiah chapters 13 through 23). It can be easy to think of them as expressing a narrow patriotism for their own country and prejudice against foreigners. Although a case can be made for this viewpoint, when we read more carefully and look deeper into the matter, we can see that the prophets of Israel thought of what we call patriotism in much more than political terms alone. They were struggling desperately to preserve an inner moral and spiritual worth that far transcended politics. They were striving to maintain a faith and a way of life which was far more valuable than the mere survival of a political system or government. They understood that Israel could never be the instrument of universal redemption if the Jews became like their neighbors.

And the Hebrew prophets like Isaiah clearly had a sense of mission to reach out far beyond the Jewish nation to all the Gentile nations of the earth. In Isaiah 49:6 reference is made to the divine purpose for the tribes of Jacob to become "a light to the gentiles" in order for them to be God's "salvation unto the end of the earth." Again, in Isaiah 11:9, it is recorded that "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." There is vindictiveness enough in the Old Testament, without our magnifying it by omitting this concept of a universal redemptive mission to all nations.

Moreover, when we look again at the Psalms, we surely must note passages like Psalm 22:27, immediately preceding the beautiful Shepherd Psalm of David, when the Psalmist declares:

"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD: And all the kindreds [families] of the nations shall worship before him."

There are no political or patriotic policies here, only a vision of faith to be shared with an entire world. When we overlook this aspect of Old Testament wholeness and unity, we do so at the peril of missing the essence of what is essential and lasting. Neither should we make the mistake of looking for consistency of doctrine as the mark of biblical unity, but rather, as Frye says, we should expect to find that unity more in the narrative, imagery, and metaphor.

During most of recorded human history nation has been against nation, and the families of nations have been divided. In Genesis chapter 11 we read that before the time of the Tower of Babel the people of earth had a prehistoric unity of one language and speech, but because of their pride and wickedness combined with technological advancement sufficient to build the great tower reaching to the heavens, "the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city."

Unifying Images and Symbols in the Bible

This is one glimpse of the unifying image of the "city" to which Frye calls our attention in his book The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. The "city" is one of the many consolidating images found throughout the Bible at strategic intersections, along with the garden, the mountain, the river, etc. Reading in the Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we notice the reunification of all the families of the earth at the end of time when John sees from a great and high mountain the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:10). Part of John's vision included "a great multitude that no man could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the of God and praising him (Rev. 7:9).

And, inasmuch as there was in the first book of the Bible a tree of life in the primeval Garden of Eden, likewise was there a similar tree of life in the last book of the Bible, "a tree bearing twelve crops of fruit … and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). One can easily visualize the imagery of the garden, the river, and the belligerent nations, all moving full circle from the beginning to the end of the Bible, where time and human history begin and end, and coming back into a perfect climax in the last book of the Bible. Instances of these and many other images and metaphors could be multiplied almost endlessly to illustrate this special kind of unity in the themes of the Bible.

As just one illustration, let us take the Song of Moses, in Exodus chapter fifteen, and follow some of the unifying imagery and metaphors that flow from it into the Psalms, the prophecy of Isaiah, and into the New Testament. Here is part of the beautiful poetry from Exodus 15 (all passages quoted from the New International Version):

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

Notice here the imagery of the sea, horses, horsemen or riders, and chariots. These are powerful symbols of deliverance, victory over bondage, redemption and freedom for the Israelites who had been slaves in Egypt. These images became standard symbols in the history of the nation of Israel. They recur repeatedly throughout the Bible, not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament. Note the following instances of these unifying images:

He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot—come, let us rejoice in him.

He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall.

He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies.

When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.

…miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

… to him who divided the Red Sea asunder, His love endures forever. and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.

This is what the LORD says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick.

He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Lest anyone think this is "overkill" with multiple quotations, the reasons for quoting all these verses are primarily two-fold: (1) to illustrate the rich abundance of poetic language in the Bible, and (2) to show a pattern of unifying images from virtually every part of the Bible, the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, and the New Testament. Many additional illustrations of other striking and characteristic literary imagery could easily be gleaned from other books of the Bible revealing many more such images, types, symbols, and metaphors. They all make a convincing case for the unity of the bible as a whole, in spite of the undeniable differences in the various individual books.

Unity of the Two Testaments

Yet another indication of the unity of the Bible, in addition to the fact that it has for centuries been perceived and read as a unity by millions, is the case for the unity of its two major parts, the Old and New Testaments. H. H. Rowley has written persuasively on this subject in a chapter of his seminal work The Relevance of the Bible (77-95). Some readers find such a great difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament that they say that the God of the Old Testament can not be the same God as the God of the New Testament. This argument Rowley clearly destroys, while he forcefully maintains the unity of the whole Bible.

Part of Rowley's basic argument is that "The New Testament sprang out of the Old, and the Old formed the Bible of the Church before there was a New Testament" (78). To begin with, it is basic to Christianity that Jesus of Nazareth was born a Jew, "born under the law" (Galatians 4:4). The Hebrew Scriptures comprised his own Bible, which he learned to read in the synagogue, and which provided the preparation for his own teaching and ministry.

In addition, many passages of the Hebrew Bible had promised that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne of Israel, and Jesus was of the house and lineage of David. He saw himself as the messiah promised in the Old Testament, and his followers in the early Christian church saw him as such. When the Jewish High Priest asked Jesus at his trial "Are you the Christ (the Messiah)?" Jesus replied without equivocation, "I am" (Mark 16:61). The first Christians in the New Testament were Jews, and only later did the Gentile Christians begin to outnumber the Jewish Christians. They accepted the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Bible, or the "Anointed One", but that he came not to restore a political kingdom of the house of David. Their interpretation was that he came to establish a spiritual kingdom rather than an earthly kingdom.

Moreover, the sacrificial and redemptive death of Jesus is associated in the New Testament with the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The author of the book of Hebrews, in the New Testament, draws quite clearly this parallel. Hebrews 9:7 evokes the imagery of the Day of Atonement when it states that the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies "once a year … to make an offering for himself and for the errors of his people." The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ is presented as the fulfillment and antitype which transcends the annual Old Testament offering in that Christ's offering does not need to be repeated annually. Rather, it was offered "once and for all" (Heb. 9:12, 25) as an offering far superior to "the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of an heifer" (Heb. 9:13).

Isaiah's dream and hope were of a coming age when all people of the earth, Jews and Gentiles, would be united in the true worship of Yahweh. This vision of a universal faith of a united people is shared by both the Old Testament and the New Testament "knit together," as Rowley says so eloquently, "in the unity of a single process in the formulation and fulfillment of this great hope" (93).

Conclusion

Some might still ask, "But isn't the Bible really only a collection of religious writings, much like the collected works of Shakespeare? Isn't it a sort of religious collection similar to, for example, the huge scholarly volume entitled Shakespeare The Complete Works, edited by G. B. Harrison?"

The short answer is that the Bible is more than a miscellaneous collection of ancient Hebrew literature plus twenty-seven Christian books of Eastern Mediterranean literature written in the common Greek language of the first and second centuries A.D. A more comprehensive answer is given by Gabriel Josipovici, who provides two very good reasons (The Book of God 9-13):

First, although there might have been a debate about what was to be incorporated into the scriptural canon, once the "little books" were accepted, it "forms a unity of some sort" (10).

Second, "the books which make up the Bible, various though they are in style and content, do seem to be related to each other in ways which the plays of Shakespeare certainly aren't" (11). Related how? Josipovici explains that, as in any great narrative literature, the same protagonists run throughout the story; so it is that in the Bible "the same protagonists, God, man and Israel, run through the entire story" (12). We don't find Hamlet, Macbeth, or King Lear appearing from one drama to another in a Shakespearean anthology.

Unlike the Shakespeare plays, the chronological order of the Bible progresses more or less evenly and consistently from the Creation in Genesis, through the prophets and historical books, Psalms and other Writings, the Gospels, Acts and the Epistles of the New Testament. It concludes and climaxes with the book of Revelation, which echoes images from Daniel in the Old Testament. This kind of unity can be recognized by any Bible reader, without help from critics or commentators.

On the other hand, this does not mean that we must read the Bible today as we read Spenser's Faerie Queene. The Bible story is not a romance covering chapters from the time of a first heroic Adam exiled from a garden because of a talking serpent, to the time of a second Adam who slays the serpent and makes it possible for mankind to enter the Garden of Paradise again. Too much allegorized reading of the Bible can turn it into an exaggerated prefiguring and antitype of pure romance. This is not what a bible reader should be expecting. That type of Bible reading becomes, as Josipovici suggests, too closely related with the childhood method of reading instead of the adult method of reading thoughtfully (12).

The scientific world might need an Einsteinian breakthrough in order to find a GUT theory of the universe, but the religious world needs only mature Bible readers who can think for themselves, readers whose integrated personalities match the essential unity and wholesome integrity of the Bible. As this comes to pass, there will be no question about the unity of the Bible. Readers will then see it more like 66 chapters forming one great unified book of profound spiritual inspiration and surpassing literary art. It's there for the taking, if they only open their eyes and minds to do so.