The Holography of the Bible

One of most intriguing things about the Bible is its holographic nature. Writing such a complicated document would be a challenge for an individual author in one time period, but the way it holds together over centuries is astonishing.

Unfortunately, while I find this metaphor very interesting, the term "hologram" has taken on a lot of psuedoscientific overtones that I must first take a moment to clear away. The holographs that you see in day-to-day life, such as on your credit card, are the end result of many refinement steps.

That's much like the screen you are reading this on. It may seem almost magical in its capabilities if you look only at the modern end product, but if you study the history of its development, each step makes sense. It is only the final destination that seems like magic.

Much nonsense has been attached to the term "hologram" but all my point needs is a very primitive form of "hologram" that anyone can understand. In fact, anyone can make this sort of hologram. All you need is a bit of math, a pane of glass (preferably dark), and a compass. That is, the tool that you use to draw perfect circles that you probably haven't used since school. You may not have even used them then.

Have a look at Stephen Mould's video where he creates a holographic image by hand. I don't know how much more demystified a concept can get than to show you how to make it yourself.

This is, of course, much more primitive than the ones you're used to. If you feel inclined to learn more about those I recommend this 3b1b video about "real" holograms as a followup. But the simple, primitive version will do for my point.

We are all used to art that works by being discrete points of color that live in a specific place. Again, that's exactly how the screen you are reading this on works.

Holograms do not work like that. What we would consider a "point" in the image is in fact smeared out; in the simple version of the hologram, into a circle, and in the more complicated version, across the entire hologram's surface.

The Bible is constructed like a hologram.

When a hologram is cut, it is not like cutting a conventional image. Instead of having somethings perfectly clear, and some things completely missing, it is more like you get a blurrier version of the original image. Part of the hologram is gone but the full image is still there in the imprint. To get the full sharpness of the image you need the whole thing, but the parts of it are still recognizable.

All of the major doctrines in Christianity are smeared throughout the entire Bible. A passage here, a verse there, a literary allusion over there. While the Bible does have "commandments", what most of the Bible consists of is not simple clear statements, but a complicated meshing of many strands of thought that one must pick through, gather up, and assemble to get clear doctrines from the strands.

A handful of individual humans have written something like this. It's not terribly common. But I'm sure I can't name an instance across multiple authors, across multiple centuries, with such high fidelity.

It staggers the imagination to think such a thing is even possible.