Everyone Needs to Know the Bible
When William Bradford was Governor of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, he explained why his people had chosen to camp where they had first landed. The Pilgrims, he said, had no opportunity to “go up to the top of Pisgah to view from this wilderness a more goodly country.” Bradford took for granted that anyone hearing those words would catch the reference to Deuteronomy 34 with its picture of Moses standing on a mountain, looking at the Promised Land.
Try making a reference like that today and you’ll likely see not the look of recognition, but a blank stare. For a variety of reasons, the United States has become a place where people simply don’t know the content of Scripture. Direct quotations from the Bible are hardly recognized; most echoes and allusions are completely missed.
How big is the problem? According to the Bible Literacy Report, “very few American students” have the level of Bible knowledge that high school English teachers believe is “basic to a good education.” For example, today roughly 80% of American teens would agree that Moses was one of the twelve Apostles. Nearly 70% don’t recognize “the Road to Damascus” as the place where Paul was blinded by a vision of Christ.
Our knowledge gap is a tremendous danger. It poses, above all, a threat to the integrity of the church. How can we be a people of the Book if we don’t know that Book? How can we affirm that we obey God if we refuse to add to our faith knowledge? How can we say we really believe that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author of Scripture if we rarely choose to read that Scripture? After all, when people are truly convinced that the Almighty inspired a book, they read it.
At the same time, Bible illiteracy poses a lesser threat to our educational system. I say that because, as many scholars have pointed out, nothing has influenced American culture and the great works of the English language more than the Bible. To be ignorant of the Bible is to be without one of the most basic tools for understanding our history and language.
Along this line, several leading English professors were recently asked the following: What do you think of this statement? Regardless of a person’s faith, an educated person needs to know about the Bible. Here is a sampling of how the professors responded:
Absolutely. Without the Bible it’s like using a dictionary with one-third of the words removed. —Dr. 
George P. Landow, Princeton University
True. You’re simply ignorant of yourself if you don’t know the Bible. —Dr. Ina Lipkowitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Definitely. Agree. —Dr. Robert Kiely, Harvard University
Not to have that is almost crippling in students’ ability to be sophisticated readers. —Ulrich Knoefplmacher, Princeton University
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. —Dr. Thomas P. Roche, Princeton University
Incontestable statement. —Dr. Ralph Williams, University of Michigan
Yes. A no-brainer. —Dr. Gordon M. Braden, University of Virginia
Absolutely necessary. [Bible allusions are] more concentrated and more specific and profound and revisited over and over again: more necessary than classics. —Dr. Stuart K. Culver, University of Utah
Every educated person deserves to know the Bible. —Dr. Leland Ryken, Wheaton College.
For the sake of the church’s mission and for the betterment of society, Amarillo Bible Chair continues to teach the content of the Old and New Testaments as well as a variety of topics in religion. In addition, we strive to promote the spiritual health and growth of students who come our way. We’re thankful for all who share our goals and who support this ministry.
—Frank Bellizzi
