Some of it is history and geneology,much of it is allegory and poetry.

Parts of the Bible are clearly allegorical, the book of Job, Revelations, parts of Genesis.
Parts of the Bible are clearly historical, Daniel for instance, provides such an accurate description of the empire that succeeded the Babylonian one, that evidence in the British Museum actually correlate with several of its passages. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3563039/Babylon-at-the-British-Museum-When-Nebuchadnezzars-ziggurat-was-the-centre-of-the-world.html if you are interested)
Parts of the Bible are clearly poetic, Job, Songs of Solomon parts of Isaiah and Ecclesiastes and the Psalms.
Parts of the Bible are clearly instructional, Proverbs, Numbers, Dueteronomy.

The Bible is a big huge library containing many books. Further complicated by the fact that different denominations recognize different books. All Christian churches recognize the 27 New Testament books. Generally speaking, Protestant denominations recognize 39 books of the Jewish canon as the only books in the Old Testament canon. Roman Catholics accept 46 books in the Old Testament canon, along with additions to Protestant versions Esther and Daniel.
Greek Orthodox churches accept the 39 books of the Old Testament, the 7 additional books and various additions accepted by the Catholic Church, and 5 additional books. Also, Greek Orthodox Bibles contain a 151st Psalm. This means that in the Protestant Bible there are 66 books, in the Roman Catholic Bible 73 books, and in the Greek Orthodox Bible 78 books.
The various numbers of books accepted as part of the Old Testament by the various Christian traditions derive from Christianity's roots in first century Judaism. While the modern day Jewish canon contains only the 39 books accepted by all Christian churches, in the first century the common scriptural text used among Jews, and Christians, was called the Septuagint often abbreviated LXX. This text, which was mostly a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, also contained several additional texts, some of which were only written in Greek. The LXX, which was in common usage among the early Christians, thus became the basis for the Christian Bible.
While you are pondering that, consider that different denominations have their own view of the Bible, different denominations focus on certain points while ignoring others and different denominations have different views on what it even takes to be Christian.

If you have bothered to read this far down, and I will not blame you if you have not, you probably think that I have rambled off topic. And I have, kind of. But I did so to get to this point: There are 40 different accepted Christian denominations. Which differ, some greatly, in their opinions on the Bible. The very first paragraph I gave you my opinion, which in all honesty counts for very little. Whether or not the Bible is allegorical, literal or whatever depends on who you ask and what their background is. Put all 40 denominations in a room and you will likely get 40 different answers.
Reading it yourself and making up your own mind may be a damned sight more easy.

Parts of the Bible are obviously allegorical. The Apocalypse or Revelation is an example. It is so murky that bazillions of words and hours are spent by the television preachers explaining what it means. If the Bible were clear, then we wouldn't need "exegesis," would we? Exegesis is the branch of theology which investigates and expresses the true sense of Sacred Scripture.

The Protestant creed that everyone is competent to interpret the Bible according to that person's own conclusions is just pure rubbish. It takes a theologian of a vast depth of learning to piece it all together. Some parts of Holy Writ, of course, are simple, but much is not.

Think what the Protestant biblical interpretation creed would have on everyday life if it was followed. Every person would be competent to be his own doctor, lawyer, tax accountant, agronomist, and on and on. I makes me shudder to think of Joe Schmoo interpreting the Book of Revelation and acting on it. Of course that has happened a lot in history with dire consequences. The Branch Dravidians in Texas is just one example.

When I experience allegory I become Reactin-ary (TM).

The Bible is composed of many literary forms, and allegory is certainly one of them. Genesis is certainly a good example. I believe in God, and I believe that the Bible is God's word, and that there are many important things to be learned from it. but it is not a science book. I do not believe that the world and human beings were created in exactly the same way as Genesis describes it. Those who do believe in the literal interpretation of the events in Genesis should run into a rather sticky problem if they have ever actually read Genesis. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 contain two separate creation stories that do not agree with each other. Which one is right?

I only rate this item three stars, as other literary forms abound, and many books contain more than one. The Bible contains poems, songs, speeches, letters, historical novels, history, law, short stories, genealogies, something that biblical scholars refer to as midrash, to mention a few. To get the full meaning out of the Bible, you need to know what you are reading.

Last night I was looking through the Bible due to some of the discussions that have come up around here the last few days, and I found a section in the introduction that I found highly interesting. If you have a St. Joseph Edition of the New American Bible, this section is simply called "How to Read the Bible." It's only a few pages long, but I think it does a good job of helping you get in the right frame of mind for reading the Bible. I'm sure other Bibles have similar sections in their introductory material, and I'd encourage you to take a look.

Great big chunks of it, obviously.

This is a magnificent work of literature, and central to any understanding of western history, culture and literature.  Parts of it are excellent reading, with superlative imagery.

The Bible is the written Word of God, through which He has made Himself know to us together with His plan of Salvation.

There certainly are "parables" but as for the Bible as a whole ~ no!

If I had to say yes or no, I go with yes. That said, Enkidu makes an excellent point here. For years, I have referred to the Bible as a series of metaphorical truths; hence, they are truths nonetheless. As to historical record vs. allegory...take the story of Samson- I think both descriptions are accurate.

Here come the "unhelpfuls" from the fundamentalist club, so I'll don my asbestos underwear. -- It's silly to consider the entire thing either as or as not an allegory. Some parts obviously are, especially those written after the several authors had the concept of "allegory" down (the really ancient writers, i.e before 3000 years ago, did not--it's only us moderns looking back through a Jungian lens who impose those interpretations on it). The book of Revelation only makes sense allegorically: the literalists are always nut jobs. Read Jung's analysis of it in /Answer to Job/. Much of the Old Testament is intended to be literal history, though written at some distance from the events it describes. The teachings of Jesus have allegory and other things mixed together. The amazing thing about the Bible to me is its extraordinary *diversity*.

Duh. . .

It's filled with lots of them. God did this intentionally, for more than one reason. He's supernatural. Supernatural means more natural than we are. In order for us to understand things, He chose this means of communication because it withstands the test of time. No matter if you're talking about last night or a thousand years ago, wheat will still be wheat. And the chaff will still be the chaff. You can take the same meaning out of the word. It's locked. Same with the word "lambs". Lambs are docile, meek, and, just a bit on the stupid side. Sorry, but, God said His people are a little bit soddish. When sheep are being driven over rough terrain, when one of those little lambs takes a wrong turn and falls off the cliff, guess what happens?... you'll see 5-10 more go after it. The allegories were very intentional.

No the Bible is not an allegory. When the Gospel writers say that women went to the tomb and found it empty and that Jesus appeared to them after he rose from the dead, they mean to be giving a historical account and are not speaking figuratively. The disciples who died for Jesus after this did not do so for a nice little allegory, but they believed Jesus was bodily raised from the dead and that all Israel had been vindicated through him and that Jesus was Messiah and Lord and they proclaimed to the World and were historically (not allegorically) persecuted and killed for so doing. Having said that the Bible does have allegory in it, but is not by any stretch an allegory within itself.

You know, I really must get my eyes checked, because at first I thought this item read "Is the Bible an allergy?" But seriously, I have always thought the Bible was an allegorical document.

On the whole, no. Because most of the Bible is literal.