A biblical paraphrase is a literary work which has as its goal, not the translation of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

, but rather, the rendering of the Bible into a work that retells all or part of the Bible in a manner that accords with a particular set of theological or political doctrines. Such works "weave with ease and without self-consciousness, in and out of material from the volume we know between hard covers as the Bible ...(bringing it) into play with disparate sources, religious practices, and (prayers)."

History

This type of work was the most common form of biblical literature in Medieval Europe. The ''

Historia scholastica The ''Historia Scholastica'' is a twelfth-century Biblical paraphrase written in Medieval Latin by Petrus Comestor. Sometimes called the "Medieval Popular Bible", it draws on the Bible and other sources, including the works of classical scholars a ...

'' was the most successful biblical paraphrase. The ''Paraphrases'' of Erasmus are another notable work. Paraphrases could take the form of poetry, prose, or be written as the lyrics of songs such as the

Presbyterian paraphrases {{unreferenced, date=June 2011 : ''For the linguistics definition, see paraphrase.'' : ''For the paraphrases by Erasmus of the New Testament, see Paraphrases of Erasmus.'' : ''For the medieval Biblical literary genre, see Biblical paraphrase.'' Para ...

. The Living Bible, first published in 1971, is a modern example of a paraphrase Bible.Version Information: The Living Bible
accessed 11 June 2016

References

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