To say that the Bible is "literature" is to acknowledge that it was written by real human beings who lived in historical times and who had meanings they sought to convey to real readers. In this exciting new work, Gabel and Wheeler approach the Bible from a literary/historical perspective, offering insights into the literary forms and strategies of Biblical writing, its historical and physical settings, the process of canon formation, the sources of the Pentateuch, and the nature of biblical genres like propohecy, apocalypse, and gospel. The text also considers practical problems in the translation process, and compares a number of English versions. The rigorously neutral scholarship displayed in The Bible as Literature makes the literary art of the Bible accessible to people of all faiths.