Bible Literacy Project

The Bible and Its Influence

The Bible and Its Influence is a textbook initially launched in September 2005. It is the only First-Amendment-safe textbook that supports academic study of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The classroom textbook is taught in over 625 public high schools in 43 states and has achieved a 10 percent market share in six states in the U.S. More than 125,000 students have benefited from instruction based on this textbook. Because of its broad acceptance in the educational community and its widespread use nationally, it has become the standard for academic Bible study in the U.S. It is also fast becoming the academic standard in the global community.

Developed over a five-year period with input from 40 leading scholars, religious leaders, and academic practitioners, The Bible and Its Influence is an opportunity to share the contents of the Bible in an appropriate way. Used in combination with the Bible, the textbook presents biblical content - the narratives, characters, plots, poetry, letters, events, parables, prophecies, and proverbs in the Bible. The program was designed to address the fact that, without an understanding of the Bible, today's youth cannot fully understand literature, art, history, music or culture.

The textbook supports instruction in Literature and Social Science courses, and can be taught as a semester or year-long course. Components of the program include the student edition textbook; the teacher edition textbook, complete with a resource CD; and an assessment program. The availability of the program in a digital format has opened the door to the international community.