• What social contexts that surround the composition of the Bible contribute to how it was written?
• Can a piece of literature be studied without its social context?
• Does a piece of literature change meaning when its social context changes?

As said in The Social World of the Old Testament “Whether one focuses on the social world depicted in the Old Testament or existing behind the Old Testament, it is clear that there are numerous subsidiary worlds: the world of genders, the world of the household, the world of the extended family, the world of the local community, and the world of the state” (Petersen, 68), there are so many social dynamics of the world that come into play in the text that affects the stories, what the characters do, and how the stories are presented and told.

The most notable one of these forms to me are the letters. The New Testament is composed of mostly letters, really cementing the role of letters as an important part of the spread of Christianity. When you think of letters you think of letters that are usually a communication between 2 or maybe a couple of people but you don’t usually see them escaping that small circle of people. Instead in this case, you have them not only being used in such a public way but as their own genre of writing and their own art form. It is really interesting, especially in 2025 when so much of our communication is informal and over technology, to really see and grasp the impact of letters and how these allowed Christianity to be spread and shared through the words of Paul and the other letter writers.

It also allows us to see that the human nature of curiosity and wonder is nothing new. As far back as there have been people, there have been people wondering and wanting to make stories to explain how things came to be. They see something that they don’t know the answer behind and instead of letting that stop them, they use it as inspiration to come up with an answer. I think creation myths and tales believed in ancient civilizations are so fascinating to study because it lets us see what life was like for them a bit but it also reminds us that they really aren’t that different from us today.