Reading the Bible “as the Report of the Word of God”: The Case of T. S. Eliot

Abstract

Eliot contrasted reading the Bible “as literature” with reading it “as the report of the Word of God.” Central to “the Bible as literature” movement was the contention that the Bible is best approached primarily in terms of its language (usually in translation), style, and/or structure. Eliot's preferred traditional mode of reading, while not fundamentalist, treated the Bible as authoritative witness to religious truth. This throws light on the way the biblical resonances of his mature poetry are often more imagistic than verbal, pointing to an intelligently “God-fearing” poetic approach to the literary dimension of the Bible.