Biblical Literacy

Dr. George Guthrie teaches at Union Univ. in Jackson TN. Each year he administers a Literacy Quiz to incoming freshman. These are young people from SB churches. Theoretically they are the ‘cream of the crop’. This quiz is very simple. An example of the questions, ‘Who preached the Sermon on The Mount?’ The average score on this quiz - 57. Stunning, absolutely stunning! You cannot obey what you do not know!

The Prophet Amos grappled with literacy in his ministry:

"Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land- not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. (Amos 8:11)

Listen to the observations made concerning Biblical Literacy by men who teach in Christian Institutions.

In “The 9 Most Important Issues Facing the Evangelical Church,” theologian Michael Vlach cites “Biblical Illiteracy in the Church” as his final concern. George Barna’s assessment is that “the Christian body in America is immersed in a crisis of biblical illiteracy.”

New Testament scholar David Nienhuis summarizes his understanding of the situation in an article titled “The Problem of Evangelical Biblical Illiteracy: A View from the Classroom”:

For well over twenty years now, Christian leaders have been lamenting the loss of general biblical literacy in America. … Some among us may be tempted to seek odd solace in the recognition that our culture is increasingly post-Christian. … Much to our embarrassment, however, it has become increasingly clear that the situation is really no better among confessing Christians, even those who claim to hold the Bible in high regard.

In 1986, Neil Postman published an influential cultural essay titled “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” Postman wrote:

What George Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Adolphus Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. 

Turn off that phone, read, and discover what God’s word says!