(Part 5) Religion in the south: An interview for Blue Mountain Review
What can be done to push back against the astounding biblical illiteracy of our present day? Who is responsible for teaching basic Bible knowledge?
For the last few weeks I have been posting my responses to five questions Clifford Brooks asked of me for an interview that ran in The Blue Mountain Review. His fifth question was interesting in that it recognized the biblical illiteracy our our present day and contemplated how to overcome it. He asked if I though it would be helpful to require all college students to take at least one religion course.
If you missed the previous four posts I encourage you to go back and read them.
5) Do you think that requiring all students at the college level to take at least one religion course is good to bring to light facts instead of rumors that rule the roost today?
There is a part of me that is sad to acknowledge the dearth of biblical literacy today. Biblical literacy has historically influenced our politics, public speech, education, poetry, and music. Without a general knowledge of the Bible, much of the writings of previous generations will not be fully understood. Phrases like “let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream” in Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech lose their authority and power when they are divorced from the prophet Amos and become just another line in a great speech. Without an awareness of biblical themes, the opening words of the Gettysburg address just seem like a strange way to reference time. And words like “shibboleth” that once could convey context and meaning are lost in a world that does not know the Bible. The sad truth is that no amount of education will stop this erosion of knowledge. The Bible’s words historically colored the thinking, speech, and writing of those who shared a biblical worldview. In a world that now looks only through the aperture of a secular worldview, such language will not and cannot be appreciated.
Unfortunately, the college campus of today is inadequately equipped to teach even the basics of biblical literacy. Secularism has so completely saturated the halls of such institutions that faith and the people of faith are as much a mystery to them as aliens from another planet would be. This is not an issue of intelligence but of understanding. In 2013, the New York Times issued a correction for mischaracterizing Easter as the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection into heaven. No one doubts that those who write and publish the New York Times are intelligent and well educated. However, their understanding of the basic teachings of Christianity is so lacking that they cannot articulate the single most important belief of the faith. Politicians speak about terrorists as simply needing more education and economic opportunities, fully confident that such policy changes will overcome the theological worldview that controls their lives. No one doubts the intellect and education of such policymakers, but their secular worldview leaves them without the necessary perspective to understand evil.
It is not the duty of our educational institutions to make known the gospel. That has always been the church’s responsibility. As our culture grows more secular and moves ever further from the moorings of faith, the impetus of the church must continue to be a light in the darkness like a city set on a hill.