Have you ever read the bible through as literature?

Yes, I have done this. I'm a believer, though. Also, when I was in high school, we read the Book of Genesis as literature in my humanities class. Cool section. :)

Dr. Bill Creasy has each book of the Bible on Audible.com and his course is VERY interesting. He was a literature professor at UCLA for almost 30 years and he does classes now reading through the Bible line-by-line and teaching the history, geography, sociology and lots more.

His interpretation is often flawed but listening to his stories and knowledge of the history is quite worth the time investment. It's an interesting way to read the Bible as literature while driving or sitting in traffic. Cool series, for sure.

YES, twice. Last summer I read the NSV Bible cover-to-cover and just last week I finished the Catholic Study Bible (New American Bible - Catholic Edition) cover-to-cover.

Both times I read the Bible as literature and history and philosophy.

What I discovered was the Bible contains a huge amount of literary inconsistencies, historical inaccuracies, and philosophical repetitions. There is nothing in the Old Testament that wasn't 'borrowed' from the Canaanites, Hitites, Babylonians, Egyptians, or the Persians. There is nothing in the New Testament that is original - all of it was derived from the Old Testament.

There is a theory that the Jews today are descended from the Hebrews who escaped Egypt are Egyptian royalty (the Hyksos) who were kicked out of Egypt 200 years before Moses.

EXODUS was written 400 years before Moses was born.

The Law Code of Hammurabi stated 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' a hundred years before the birth of Abraham.

The Egyptians and other peoples practiced circumcision 400 years before the birth of Abraham.

At the end of July I plan on reading the 1611 version of the King James Bible (Authorized Version) in original Jacobean English cover-to-cover. Let's see how that influences my opinion on the Bible?

Yes, but I didn't find it insigtful...try Robert Green Ingersoll

I read and study it daily. Read cover to cover every 3 years. All JW's do.