Regarding High School Bible Courses

Dalen Jackson, academic dean and professor of biblical studies at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, recently had an Op-Ed published in the Lexington Herald-Leader warning the Christians that they might be disappointed with the outcome of that state's Bible literacy bill. Here are some of the things that should be of concern to Christians:

Court rulings have established that any Bible class in public schools must be taught in an objective, academic manner.

But academic scholarship on the Bible exposes it to scrutiny that many Christians will find objectionable, such as subjecting its narratives to questions about their historicity.

The stories of the patriarchs, the fall of Jericho, and the resurrection of Jesus are just a few of the stories that many scholars consider not to correspond to actual historical events on the basis of a variety of critical methodologies, from archeology to anthropology to the analysis of the rhetorical intentions of the writers.

On the other hand, most Kentuckians hold understandings of the biblical characters and narratives that are shaped by and passed along within their communities of faith, in contexts of religious belief and practice.

When reading of an anointed leader foretold by the prophet Isaiah, many Christians associate that character immediately with Jesus.

Within a Jewish faith community, however, the same reference calls up vastly different associations.

While some mainline churches accept scholarly study of the Bible and adapt their faith understandings to its insights, many Christian traditions explicitly reject this approach to understanding the Bible.

Many more are blissfully unaware of the scholarly challenges to their ways of interpreting the Bible.

Thus well-meaning teachers who have read the Bible all their lives might seem qualified to teach Bible courses but, without intentional training in the academic study of the Bible, they would simply pass along the understandings of the biblical characters and narratives shaped by their faith traditions.

Oklahoma has found an interesting way to bypass the concerns that Jackson has raised. The Oklahoma state senate recently passed its own version of a bible class bill. Originally the bill apears to have had language similar to the bill in Kentucky. Oklahoma state senators, however, stripped the constitutional safeguards, academic standards and teacher training requirements from the bill and replaced them with a requirement that the National Council on Bible Curriculum for Public Schools (NCBCPS) curriculum be used.

Courts have already ruled that NCBCPS curriculum is unconstitutional.