Teaching the Bible in Public Schools and Colleges

Teaching the Bible in Public Schools and Colleges

Why is it important to study the history, religion, and literature of the Bible? Why and how should a person study the Bible in a public educational institution? Is it constitutional to teach about religion in a public institution of learning? 

The answer is “yes!” In the 1960’s school prayer cases (which did not rule against individual and voluntary prayer or Bible reading in schools, but did rule against state-sponsored and required school prayer and Bible reading), the U.S. Supreme Court also indicated that public school education could, in fact, include teaching about religion. In the case, Abington v. Schempp, Associate Justice Tom Clark wrote for the Court: 

It might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here [in this decision] indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment. (Emphasis mine - MJW) 

But why should a person study the Bible in a public educational institution? After all, this incredibly ancient document tells about people who lived and died in antiquity. By the time ancient Rome was founded in the middle of the eighth century BCE, the Israelites of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament had already experienced an appreciable block of history. David and Solomon, their greatest kings, lived approximately 3000 years ago, although they stand at the chronological center of the Hebrew Scriptures. But despite the Bible’s ancient origins there is something about it that has had a striking influence on contemporary Judaism and Christianity, and even on the secular world as well. 

The Bible in many ways has influenced Western culture: 

Art 

Persons and events of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament abound in classical art, and in art down to the present time. We may well call to mind Michelangelo’s impressive marble statues of Moses and David, created in the early 1500’s. 

Music 

Biblical tradition is also skillfully reflected in music, in such classical oratorios as Franz Joseph Haydn’s Creation, Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Saint Paul, and George Frideric Handel’s The Messiah, as well as in the modern composer Arnold Schoenberg’s opera, Moses and Aaron, and in the Cumberland Mountain ballad, Little Moses, popularized by folk-singer Mike Seeger, to name only a few.

Drama 

Likewise, in William Faulkner’s play, Absalom, Absalom, we witness a heavy reliance on selected traditions about King David from the Hebrew Bible’s book of 2 Samuel. The modern German novelist Thomas Mann wrote four (!) novels based on the story of Joseph and his brothers found in Genesis 37-50. And even more recently playwright Archibald MacLeish presented on Broadway his play, J.B., a dramatic modern setting and interpretation of the book of Job. 

Thus, to know the literature of the Bible is to become better equipped to deal with today’s artistic and intellectual currents. The Bible need not be read solely with this purpose in view, yet a study of this ancient literature does yield benefits. Just as a person who lacks knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology cannot fully appreciate literature of the Renaissance period, so a person ignorant of the faiths of Judaism and Christianity cannot fully grasp contemporary Western culture. 

Justice, Government, and Social Institutions 

Furthermore the Bible has had a major influence in shaping the various systems of justice, government, and social institutions in our culture. Our concerns for “human rights” are rooted firmly in the Judaeo-Christian values reflected in the Bible,as well as in the values of  other world religious traditions. Thousands of charities, hospitals, orphanages, schools and colleges, and social service agencies in the private sector had their beginnings in the religious beliefs of their founders. These founders believed that they were carrying out the values and responsibilities placed on them from the message of the Bible and the cultural inheritance of the people described in the Bible. 

Backgrounds of religious beliefs and practices 

Historically, the Bible tells us of the origins of the two great religions, Judaism and Christianity, which have so influenced our own history, art, literature, and social fabric. Muslims also share many of the traditions from the Bible, and these are reflected in their own sacred texts and traditions embodied in  the Qur'an and the Hadith.The Bible tells us how those people of ancient times lived, acted, and thought, and tells us what were the bases for their beliefs and practices that continue into our own day. The Hebrew Bible tells of the origins of the Jewish people, of, their strong sense of a covenant relationship with their God, of their strong sense of identity as a people. It tells of their strong sense of identity with the land of Palestine that is still felt by Jews today, both in the State of Israel, and elsewhere. 

The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament also provides the background out of which the earliest Christian believers arose, the hopes and the dreams that they believed were fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Likewise the New Testament emerges out of that background to provide us with knowledge about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and of His earliest followers, especially Paul. The New Testament informs us about the way those early Christians lived and thought, and gives us the source materials that inspired the spiritual giants of the medieval period and of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Since the Reformation the New Testament has remained as sacred scripture of both Catholicism and Protestantism, the two main divisions of Western Christianity. 

Historical Knowledge 

The Bible has also been one source-book for our knowledge and interpretation of the secular history of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world, giving us many of the roots of present-day secular conflicts and interests in those areas. Although Israel was one of the smallest nations in the Eastern Mediterranean, she produced historical literature equal to, or even superior to that of any of her neighbors. 

The Greek historian Herodotus stands traditionally as the “father of history.” But he came on the scene relatively late, between 480 and 425 BCE. The Hebrew Bible, on the other hand, deals with nations and peoples from Egypt eastward to Persia and northward to modern-day Turkey, who were ancient long before the classical period of Herodotus began. 

The united Hebrew kingdom flourished between 1000 and 922 BCE, when Greece was still undeveloped and Rome did not yet exist. By the time Greece achieved its great successes in literature, history, architecture and philosophy, Israel had already passed into her decline. 

Religion: Practices and Beliefs 

Besides being a sourcebook of ancient history and a work of art in itself, the Bible is primarily, of course, a book of religion and it most definitely has religious applications in the modern world. Even within secular society part of the relevance of the Bible lies in its capacity to describe and to reflect the human condition as it actually has been experienced, and not just as a person thinks it should be experienced. 

The main personalities of the Bible do not live without significant goals. First and foremost they impress us as real people dealing with life realistically, as they ask and find for themselves answers to certain “ultimate” questions: Why am I here? Why do people suffer? How should I live in relation to others? Is there Something or Someone Who is Beyond mere humanity, and, if so, how do I deal with that? At a number of turns the Bible may well provide material for modern people to find out just who they are. 

So we can summarize by saying that we study about the Bible in a public educational institution because the Bible and the religions rooted in it play a significant role in history and society. And thus, study about the Bible and about the Jewish and Christian religions (as well as the canonical Scriptures of other religions, along with their history and practices) is essential to understanding both our nation and our world. Omission of facts about them may give the false impression that the religious life of human beings is unimportant or insignificant. Failure to understand even the basic symbols, practices and concepts of the Bible would make much of Western history, literature, art, and contemporary life unintelligible. 

Furthermore, study about religion is also important if we are to value religious liberty, the first freedom guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. And moreover, knowledge of the roles of religion and the Bible in the past and present promotes cross-cultural understanding, which is essential to both democracy and world peace. In short, whether you are a “religious” person or not, if you are ignorant of the Bible, you are just plain ignorant! 

So how do we do it? How should we teach and study the Bible in a public educational institution, while giving full attention to the guarantee in the Bill of Rights that government shall not promote any religion nor hinder the free exercise of religion? 

I think we have to make a distinction between teaching about the Bible and religion, on the one hand, and indoctrinating in a particular religion on the other hand. Our approach to the Bible and the Biblical religions in the courses that I teach in public institutions will be academic, not devotional. We will strive for student awareness of religion and religious concepts, but will not press for student acceptance of any one religion or set of religious concepts. We will encourage the study of religion, not the practice of it. We will seek to expose the class to a diversity of religious views, but not impose any particular view. We will inform about various beliefs, but not seek to influence class members to hold any particular set of religious beliefs. We will respect the right of students to become well-informed and to make important decisions for their own lives.

We will examine Biblical texts to determine as closely as possible what their authors or editors were attempting to say, along with the ways they expressed themselves to communicate their messages, and we will examine how those texts have been interpreted at different times by different interpreters, but we will not seek to influence students to arrive at some particular interpretation. Rather, we will make available the tools of scholarship so that students who wish to do so may arrive at satisfactory interpretations for themselves.