CHARLOTTE’S WEB AND THE BIBLE

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Tucked away in my desk is a little book entitled The Elements of Style by White and Shrunk. Time Magazine said it is one of the 100 most influential books of the modern day. The Elements of Style is the essential guide to good writing. The book was written by a man whose name might not be familiar, but his work certainly is. E. B. White was a newspaper editor and author of children's books. His two classic books are Stuart Little (1945) and Charlotte’s Web (1952). William Shrunk was E. B. White’s college professor and mentor who first published the style book in 1918; White updated the manuscript in 1959.

The word Bible comes from the Greek word “biblon” meaning “book” and points to the authority of the scriptures over all other religious works. Today when we encounter a secular authoritative book, for example, the quintessential book on say, bird watching, it is common for someone to say it is the “bible of bird-watching.” Webster’s Dictionary agrees--“bible” (small “b”) is defined as a book held to be authoritative in its field. The Elements of Style is the writer’s bible.

Every writer, whether they be a newspaper reporter, a novelist or even a blogger has their own particular writing style. I once tried to read a Tom Clancy’s novel but got bogged down within the first hundred pages because of all his voluminous detail. That’s his style of writing. Brevity is my writing style. Interestingly, we see various writing styles in the books that make up the canon of scripture. Theologically, most of the forty human authors of scripture were not secretaries taking dictation from the Lord.

God did write His Ten commandments with His own finger (Exodus 31:18), but most of the time the human authors were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21) and/or God-breathed upon (2 Timothy 3:16). And within these two unique methods of divine inspiration, God allowed them to write in own their particular style   For example---Luke was a physician whose gospel flows with detail, much as a doctor would communicate. Paul was a astute theologian whose epistles epitomizes his highly-intelligent mind. Theologian Norman Geisler explained it best, “God orchestrated this divine concurance between their words and His so that what they said, He said.” Think about it.