Teaching the Bible in the Context of Biblical Illiteracy

In a few weeks, I will be returning to the classroom as an adjunct professor, teaching several sections of a freshman course, New Testament History and Religion. I’ve taught this and its companion course (Old Testament History and Religion) many times and long enough to notice that students’ knowledge of the Bible is a lot less than it used to be.

Now, this impression could be due to my age–like other old people I’m susceptible to thinking that younger generations are more ignorant and less intelligent than my own generation was.

Although it’s true that I’m old, my impression does have some empirical support. Here’s a chart from the American Bible Society:

State_of_the_bible-2022.pdf (americanbible.org)

This chart suggests that, even among those are “Scripture engaged,” serious reading of the Bible is declining by generations. (The chart could instead imply that, as people get older, they start reading the Bible more. I doubt this very much–there’s no reason or evidence to think that it’s true.)

Christianity Today reports on a study showing that “currently, only 10 percent of Americans report daily Bible reading” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/april/state-of-bible-reading-decline-report-26-million.html). Since Evangelicals constitute around 25% of the American population, it looks like a lot of conservative Christians are neglecting the Bible.

At the same time, I don’t want to overestimate previous generations’ knowledge of the Bible. Biblical literacy wasn’t astonishing 37 years ago when I began teaching and I doubt that my own generation’s knowledge was all that impressive.

Still, as a teacher I have to deal with the fact that, although most of my students come from Evangelical churches (or at least, if asked, that’s how they would identify themselves), their ignorance of the Bible’s content establishes a challenge. But, figuring out how to teach is why I make the big bucks.

And so, I have found myself asking a question I never before considered: Why should people bother to read the Bible? How am I going to persuade my students that reading the Bible is worth their time? Of course, they’ll do the assigned readings for this course–they all want to pass and most have a genuine desire to learn. But what am I going to say to convince them that the practice of Scriptural study should become a lifelong discipline?

Beyond the question of pedagogy, I’ve begun wondering about the causes of the decline of biblical literacy. Young people today are neither stupid nor ignorant. They’re just not informed about the Bible. Why?

It would be easy and correct to lay the blame at the feet of video games and other sorts of entertainment. Many have made this point persuasively. Other social factors are important as well.

But, am I alone in thinking that part of the problem is that the church and its leaders have failed to give young people (as well as older people) a compelling reason to read the Bible? In particular, since most Christians get most of their religious knowledge from sermons, are sermons today driving young people to examine the Bible? Or are they unwittingly reinforcing the perception that serious study of the Bible isn’t an important Christian discipline?

In my next part, I want to talk about some changes in the church over the last few decades that help explain the diminishing impulse to read the Bible, even among self-professed Evangelicals.

If you have thoughts about these changes, please leave a comment. This is a complicated issue; I look forward to hearing what other people think.