The Bible tells you so, even in other books

 Biblical allusions are easy to find, they appear throughout “book history” from old books to new, more modern day books. They are the most common allusion found, the question is why. What good does it do a story to add biblical allusions in, why would you want your book to be tied to the bible. As with any allusion, obvious or hidden, there is a purpose to putting a reference to someone else's material in your book, and it's not to be accused of plagiarism. Sometimes the reason behind an allusion can be well, alluding, however biblical allusions are so common that the main reason is easy to figure out.

Modern day writers have been missing out on this reason a bit, they don't quite seem to understand the true purpose behind using a biblical allusion. Instead they make a mockery of it, using bible-like stories to mock the ancient stories, making a laughingstock of a historical book. Biblical allusions are worth so much more then a cheap laugh, or a twisted tale, they add depth and history to a story. As Foster says in his examples, it adds a past. If your story happens to be two brothers fighting that alludes to the story of Cain and Abel. Foster says that allusion expands upon the story by showing a new history, suggesting that your characters aren't the only two bothers in the world who fight. This is what biblical allusions add to a story, a rich history, a common thread.

Even if you aren't highly religious they're easy to catch, and they add weight to a story. Whether or not you believe that Jesus died on a cross to save us from our sins if you read a story about a man, who sacrificed himself for the good of others the sacrifice itself seems drastically more important and worthwhile when the allusion towards the death of Jesus is caught. This extra weight is otherwise known as deeper meaning, it adds a second layer to a story, an emotional purpose behind the words. This is the ultimate purpose of an allusion, according to buzzle, to add an emotional tie to a story, a new past that explores a deeper connection then the surface one. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/biblical-allusions.html

Along with the history and the weight that references to the bible can add they also help the author out through pathos and ethos. Connecting a man's sacrifice to Jesus' sacrifice pulls on the emotional heart strings. It expands upon the pride one feels for the man and the guilt for letting him sacrifice. It also adds ethos to the story, it helps give the author more credit by displaying a fair amount of research went into the book. Using biblical allusions make a person sound well-versed, knowledgeable. The reader is more likely to believe what the author's saying if they're alluding to a famous, religious book, one that's whole purpose is to educate on how to be a better person. Wouldn't you believe them, if the example they're pulling from comes from a book that instructs not to lie.

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Self-Knowledge, the real reason for a quest

 In order to correctly analyze “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” one must start from the beginning, much like they do on a quest. Thomas C. Foster begins his exploration of literature with the simplest concept to grasp, the quest. Almost every person, if asked, could list well-known quests easily, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Indiana Jones, the use of quests in literature is not a new practice. However, Foster proposes the idea that quests are in everything, not just the stereotypical princess in despair, but everything that contains a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials, and a real reason to go there. This could cover anything, from a dramatic quest to get rid of a ring to a walk around the block to clear the head. As long as the five key elements are there, it is a quest.
A quester, the person who up until the moment of the quest was just kind of going through the motions, not really living life. A place to go, the destination of the proposed idea that started the quest. A stated reason to go there, the beginning idea that started it all. Challenges and trials, the difficult pathway to the end of the quest that helps give the quester a new view on life. A real reason to go there, the actual driving force behind the quest, unbeknownst to the quester. This last element, the real reason to go, Foster claims that “the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge. ” As Foster pointed out in this chapter quests always begin with, what seems like, a simple task. As the quest continues though, in every quest imaginable, the quester always end up on a different path completing or learning a different task.
From simple popular books like “Percy Jackson”, who goes on a quest to find a lightening bolt but ends up finding home, and self-worth to more in-depth series's like “The Belgariad” series where the main character ends up being dragged along on someone else's quest only to discover not only that it was his quest all along but also that he is the true king and all of the gods in his childhood stories are real and he is one. This is the most common theme in quests, losing the surface reason for the quest in exchange for the true purpose of the quest, self-knowledge. The quest provides an opportunity for the quester to react to many different situations and see how they react to them. Developing a definite sense of self, much like living through the first couple years of adulthood on fast forward. Quests are not simply journeys with a definite beginning and end point, the prince goes and saves the princess, but an ongoing struggle for growth that everyone undergoes in their life, just shortened from a lifetime to the length of a quest.
Now many people say that self-knowledge is not incredibly important, that knowledge of the world and how it works is necessary over knowledge of yourself. However, quests show us that since the real reason for the most simplistic and common plot line in everything is self-knowledge, that it is intrinsically important. Eric Schwitzgebel, a Professor of f Philosophy at University of California agrees in his blog post about the importance of self-knowledge. http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-intrinsic-value-of-self-knowledge.html

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