Archbishop Dairmuid Martin, speaking to Bishops in Rome, described the scriptures in Ireland as “unexplored, almost alien territory”. 62% of Irish young people do not know how many gospels there are, 52% do not know the first book of the Bible and 95% don’t know the first of the 10 commandments. These were some of the findings of the Lansdowne Market Research survey conducted for the Iona Institute and the Evangelical Alliance Ireland in 2007.
In America 10% of adults polled in a similar survey believed that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife and a staggering 82% thought “God helps those who help themselves” was a text from the Bible.
These statistics underline what most of us know intuitively, that Biblical illiteracy is at crisis level. The consequences for our culture are serious. In literature, Milton’s “Paradise Lost” or Dickens’ “A tale of two cities” cannot be understood without an appreciation of the Bible. In the Arts, Michelangelo’s “David” and Handel’s “Messiah” become meaningless.
However it is within the church that Biblical ignorance is frightening. At public worship, we give the page number before mentioning the book or the chapter and verses. Sadly this is necessary for members as well as new believers and seekers.
If the purpose of the scriptures is to bear witness to Jesus Christ, then the moral and spiritual implications of such illiteracy are dire.
Don Carson, the Canadian New Testament scholar notes that ‘earlier generations met the needs of illiterate believers with liturgy steeped in scripture, lectionary cycles, festivals designed to repeat the great narratives that stand at the turning points in redemptive history… Today even our few remaining festivals, our church-sponsored Christmas and Easter pageants, often have more to do with space raiders or being nice at school that they do with Biblical history.”
There is no quick fix solution.
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What is the consequence for Ireland if people inside the church do not know the Bible? How does a lack of biblical understanding affect society? Why are people not reading the Bible? What would be contemporary equivalents of traditional liturgy and festivals that were designed to help illiterate members of the congregation?
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gree in part with Trevor Morrow's article about the lack of knowledge of the Bible. On the other hand the danger is that we treat knowledge as the equivalent for transformation. As evangelicals we are known as the people of the book, and though we must pursuit to know it, we must always remember that what we pursue is not knowledge but an encounter with God through its pages. We are not the only ones with a "holy Book", other religions have them, but they have them more as a code to follow, or a book that must be read. We are the people of the Saviour Jesus Christ, and that is the message of the Bible, the unfolding story of a God who pursued humankind to the point of giving His own Son. We need to find the balance. As Scot McKnight says in his latest book: "The Blue Parakeet": "God gave the Bible no so we can know it but so we can know and love God through it".
ReplyDeleteAm I saying that it is not good to know the Bible, no, what I am saying is that knowledge on its own won't produce changed lives nor will attract others. Yes, let's read the Bible, let's take time to meditate even in one verse, but if that verse takes hold of our hearts and change us, it will be of greater impact on our lives. As M.Basil Pennington said in his book "Lectio Divina": "I am a person who meets the Lord each day as a friend and disciple, sitting at his feet to receive a word of life."
Let's sit at the feet of Jesus, not because we want to know about Him but because we want to know Him.
Ana, I have always understood that when the bible says that we are "transformed" by the renewing of our minds that it is Scripture that does this.
ReplyDeleteCan you help me to understand your point better by giving me examples of how our minds are renewed; other than by the Living Word?
Or am I just being a pleb? :)
Ana,
ReplyDeleteIf what we want is to develop our relationship with God then we need to hear what God wants to say to us. In that case I dont think we can ever read enough or know enough. I believe as Christians we can only grow by study and therefore knowledge of the bible. The more we study the more we grow. The quote you used from Scot McKnight doesnt make much sense to me, the bible is the word of God and if we want to know and love God we do this by hearing,knowing and understanding the word that He gave us.
May 21, 2009 2:13 PM
Thank you for the comments. I am not saying that we should not read the Bible nor that we should lack knowledge of it. I just finished my BA with IBI and I work in the Library of IBI where I enjoyed immensely the privilige of reading the Bible and browse through books about the Bible. My dissertation was Reading the Scriptures for Transformation, so you can see that I am not saying not to read the Bible, nor I am saying that it is not the Word of God, of course not. But it is way we read the Bible that does not bring change to our hearts. When I come to the Bible I should come with a humble attitude to hear from God, not only to see if He can fix any problems but to hear what God has to say to me for the day that I am living. Sometimes it can be a rebuke sometimes it can be something that I need to remember that because of my sinful nature I forget. My dissertation took 8000 words, so it is hard to put in a few lines what I mean. It is important to read the Bible with knowledge of the background, cultural setting, what was the intention for the original readings, etc. and there is a place for that, that is called studying the Bible. There is a difference betweetn studying to understand the world of the Bible and reading it to hear what God has to say to me personally, and stay with whatever God shows me as long as it is needed. One of the most precious moments in my Christian life, only 3 years ago, was when God spoke to me while meditating on Genesis 3:21, I meditate on this verse for several months until my eyes were open to understand God's grace and love.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am trying to communicate is the two sides of a coin are important, we should read for knowing the Bible and for transformation. If anybody is interested in my dissertation and I cam e-mail to you.
By the way, my project for the next few months is to study the gospel of Matthew.
Dear EAI 27th Nov. 2009
ReplyDeleteI was very disappointed with the EAI’s assessment of the Civil Partnership Bill and its watering down of the need to have the principle of conscience respected in this Bill. For EAI to rely on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights 2000 guarantee of “freedom of thought, conscience and religion” is in my opinion naive.
The proposed Civil Partnership Bill is very liberal and needs to be urgently amended. Recently Cardinal Brady highlighted the fundamental lack of the principle of freedom of conscience in the proposed Bill and I would have hoped that EAI would back this.
If this Bill is passed into law, it may well lead to anti-discrimination cases being taken against organisations and individuals who espouse traditional marriage. In other jurisdictions the introduction of same-sex civil partnerships or marriage has had a severe effect on Christian organisations. Anti-discrimination cases are being taken against organisations that believe marriage must be between a man and a woman.
Here are 2 examples:
1. In New Jersey, a Methodist church was successfully sued when it refused to hire out its hall to a lesbian couple for the reception following registration of their civil partnership.
2. In the UK, Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to close rather than accept same-sex couples as prospective adoptive parents.
When it is enacted, the Civil Partnerships Bill will change a number of other Acts, for example the Pensions Act, Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act. Each of these Acts will be amended so that the words ‘marital status’ will be replaced with ‘civil status’, with the intention to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of civil status.
For example, the Equal Status Act outlaws discrimination in the provisions of goods and services, including hiring of facilities. If a parish refuses to hire out its hall to a gay or lesbian couple it could be in breach of the law, as could a Christian printer or photographer who conscientiously objects to printing, say, the invitations to a same-sex civil ceremony, or photographing the ceremony.
In addition, the Bill allows for a civil registrar who conscientiously objects to facilitating a same-sex civil union to be found guilty of an offence. This goes even further than the equivalent British law and completely suppresses freedom of conscience.
Currently, five US states have laws permitting same-sex marriage, including Maine, Vermont and Connecticut but they protect religious freedom. If these liberal states have a conscience clause in their legislation, Ireland should definitely have one too.
I would urge EAI to think again and highlight the lack of freedom of conscience provision in this Bill and urge its members to lobby our TDs before this Bill becomes law.
Paddy Monaghan