Scripture is basis of Western literature

By TOM SCHAEFER
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
It's used to condemn sin, defend the weak and oppressed, and bolster any argument that needs spiritual support. And those are just a few of its uses.
What is it?
The Bible.
But what do you really know about its contents?
If you're one of those crackerjack students of Scripture -- quoting chapter and verse at the drop of a concordance -- then you can move to the head of the line.
The rest, especially teens, may want to pay heed to the latest results of the Bible Literacy Project, a nonprofit organization that encourages academic study of the Bible in public schools.
What students know
It reports on two separate research projects -- one on what English teachers in 10 states think their students need to know about the Bible, and the other an analysis of a Gallup Poll on what teens know about the Bible and other religious literature of the world. Among its findings:
UNinety percent of the teachers said knowledge of the Bible gives students an educational advantage.
UBible illiteracy is common among students.
On the positive side, students do have some knowledge of biblical terminology. Adam and Eve, Moses, the Golden Rule and the Good Samaritan are names and terms recognized by most teens, the research found.
But slightly less than half (49 percent) knew what happened at the wedding at Cana, and two-thirds couldn't identify a quotation from the Sermon on the Mount.
Why learn the Bible?
Why is any of this important? Because, as educators point out, the Bible's influence on American history and culture is pervasive. In fact, it is the most quoted book in literature.
Major literary works -- John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Leon Uris' "Exodus," to name only two -- have biblical allusions. Imagery such as the Christlike character Santiago in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea," and the Old Testament-type struggles of the Joad family in Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" lose some of their impact without basic knowledge of the Bible.
Or consider those expressions used in literature and everyday conversation: My cup runneth over, burning the midnight oil, seeing is believing. All are rooted in the Scriptures.
As one scholar has noted: "Take any of the great books of literature and black out the phrases which manifestly come directly from the English Bible, and you would mark them beyond recovery."
Need a more contemporary example? I wonder how many students -- or adults -- relate the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech to Moses on Mount Nebo:
"Because I've been to the mountaintop. ... And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land."
Key to success
Sadly, people are becoming less familiar with the Bible's stories, poetry, proverbs and parables and their integral place in Western culture.
An Illinois high school teacher told project researchers: "I think from the standpoint of academic success, it is imperative that college-bound students be [biblically] literate. For others, I think it's important for them to understand their own culture, just to be well-grounded citizens of the United States -- to know where the institutions and ideas come from."
The Bible Literacy Project hopes schools will correct any shortcoming they may have in teaching the importance of the Bible for a quality education. It's even developed a curriculum textbook that will be released in the fall.
Such teaching doesn't -- and shouldn't -- promote religious belief. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that it's permissible to teach the Bible in public schools as long as it's presented "objectively as part of a secular program of education."
Learning about the Bible is an idea, I submit, whose time is now, and one that people of faith, those who are not religious and everyone in between should be able to agree on.
Ignorance of the Scriptures, it turns out, can be a handicap in more ways than you think.
XTom Schaefer writes about religion and ethics for the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle.