The Bible is not a scholarly source.
What makes a source scholarly?
Scholarly sources are written by scholars or experts in a particular subject area. The audience for these kinds of sources are other scholars or experts (people who have some background knowledge of the subject area). The purpose of these kinds of sources is to report on research that the author has done. Scholarly sources can be journal articles (published in scholarly journals) or books (published by scholarly or academic publishers, such as a university press). They go through an extensive review process before being published, where they are reviewed by other scholars or experts (the author's "peers" - this process is often called the peer-review process).
Watch this short video tutorial, Scholarly and Popular Sources, that talks about some of the characteristics of scholarly sources.
Can I use the Bible as a source for my paper?
While the Bible is not a scholarly source, it would be considered a primary source (primary sources and scholarly sources are two different things) if the topic is religion. It is not a primary source for historical research or most other subject areas.
A primary source is something that was written during the time period being studied, by people who witnessed the events first-hand or is the work being discussed. Examples include things like letters or diaries or works of literature. This infographic on Primary and Secondary Sources in History will help explain what a primary source is and provide examples.
If you have questions about whether a resource is appropriate for an assignment you should contact your instructor.
If you still have questions you can chat in real-time with a librarian here.
