Factors Behind Biblical Illiteracy
A serious student of scripture at work
Last week I complained about the problem of teaching the Bible in a context where, increasingly, people are ignorant of the Bible. This week I’d like to talk about a related issue.
One of my goals is to get students to see each biblical book as an organic whole, where pieces should be interpreted in the context of the whole (OK, I know that some biblical books aren’t exactly coherent wholes, still….).
What stands in the way of achieving this goal? Well, here are some problems I’ve seen:
Problem 1: Text-hopping
First, reading a few verses (or even a single verse) from one part of the Bible today, then another few from a different part of the Bible tomorrow. While daily reading is a good thing, jumping from one part of the Bible to another, like a bee flitting from flower to flower seeking nectar, means that we lose the Bible’s narrative framework and the immediate context of individual verses.
Why is such reading so prevalent?
Problem 2: The Useful Bible
I won’t belabor the fact that many people take their hermeneutical cues from sermons that use this bee-looking-for-nectar approach. I will instead turn to a second problem: Scouring the Bible in a search for answers to our questions or for comfort. This sort of reading is completely understandable: We have questions about morality and it makes perfect sense to expect the Bible to have something to say. We suffer and fear and rightly feel that we will find encouragement in the Bible. However, this sort of reading is a problem when it becomes the reason for our study–when we grant value to the Bible because it is useful for us. The result is that vast regions of the Bible go unread. I sadly report that quite a bit of the Bible doesn’t provide much emotional comfort and may actually make us feel worse. Another large portion doesn’t provide much help with questions of morality, especially questions that result from modern technology and conditions.
“Written especially for those seeking success in the realms of money, relationships, and spirituality, this book encourages readers to realize their common mistakes, come to terms with them, and turn those mistakes into future triumphs. Filled with concrete advice for improved finances, spirituality, and connection….“
What lies behind this second problem is people’s feeling that the Bible is a self-help book–similar to those one finds in airport book shops, but, of course, much better, since God wrote the Bible. The consequence of reading the Bible in this way is that the reader becomes the authority. We come to the Bible with our agenda and our questions. We then sustain our interest in scripture only to the extent that it answers our questions. Contrary to this, the book of Job teaches that our questions have to take a back seat to God’s questions. God, in other words, does not exist to answer our questions. We exist to hear and respond to God’s questions.
Problem 3: The Encyclopedic Bible
Devout Christian looking for that place in the Bible that talks about genetic engineering.
The second problem is connected to a third I’ve observed: Treating the Bible as an encyclopedia of truth, a sort of divine Wikipedia. In my experience, people often assume that, for any important issue, there will be a place in the Bible where that issue is clearly and definitively addressed. Regrettably, the Bible is not organized like an encyclopedia. It is stories. Law codes. Songs of worship. Prophetic oracles. But it’s not possible to flip the Bible open to D and find the article on divorce. There isn’t one. Malachi tells us that God hates divorce, but Deuteronomy contains a procedure to obtaining one. In Matthew, Jesus absolutely forbids remarriage after divorce, but in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says that a believing spouse is not “bound” if his or her unbelieving spouse initiates a divorce. I’m not saying that the Bible is incoherent but I am saying that listening for God’s word is not a simple matter of finding some magical passage in scripture that definitively answers our questions.
I’m curious whether readers can identify other factors that contribute to poor readings of the Bible? Or perhaps you can offer some precision to the points I’ve made. If so, please leave a comment.
Next week: Christian individualism and its effect on biblical knowledge.
samuelmpowell.com 
Wow Mr. Powel,
I read a chapter a day. I ask God where to start, well He said back of the Bible but God told me to wait to read the Book of Revalations. I go backwards because it easiler for me to read . Its a cool way. I also ask God what HE wants me to learn when I’m reading.
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