A national study of high school English teachers conducted by Concordia College found that, overwhelmingly, English teachers believe that Biblical literacy is an advantage for students tackling advanced reading materials. Now, there’s a textbook to help them do it. The Bible Literacy Project, a non-partisan organization based out of Virginia, has developed a textbook to teach the Bible as literature in high schools.  Their tagline is “An educated person is familiar with the Bible,” and that’s hard to argue with given how frequently the Bible is referenced in Shakespeare, Hawthorne, or Faulkner — all canonized authors we expect well-educated men and women to be knowledgeable of.

In an age when the theories of intelligent design are encroaching upon classrooms, one would expect this new textbook to be attacked by liberals on the grounds that its inclusion in the curriculum violates separation of church and state.  And that’s where they’d be wrong. The Bible is already in English classrooms, and to cloak that in ambiguity only further positions the evangelical right in the position of wronged martyrdom they so adore. By shedding light on the Bible’s influence on literature, teachers can acknowledge the complex intersection of religion and history and arm their students with knowledge — far more powerful than censoring their reading materials.

llouison