We have a remarkable opportunity to impact our nation’s schools by advancing the use of a public high school Bible literacy course. Two recent national reports from the Bible Literacy Project build a strong educational case for Bible literacy. One hundred percent of university professors surveyed -- including Yale, Harvard, Princeton -- said “students need to know the Bible” in order to be well educated. Virtually all (98%) of high school English teachers reported the same, explaining that kids were “clueless, stumped and confused” and didn’t know enough about the Bible to properly understand British and American literature, as well as art, music, history and culture.

It is legal for schools to offer an objective, academic, and non devotional elective on the Bible, yet there are many educators who are still fearful and misinformed. That is why the Bible Literacy Project released last year the first student textbook, The Bible and Its Influence -- to resolve the fears of school boards, administrators and teachers.

In just its first year, The Bible and Its Influence, is being used in 82 schools districts and 29 states, Canada and Taiwan. Educators from 900 schools across the nation are now considering this course for next fall -- many of them had to wait for the release of the Teacher’s Edition, which just came out at the end of August, 2006. This new Teacher’s Edition already incorporates updated content for the forthcoming 2nd edition of the student text, which made minor changes in response to a few concerns the Bible Literacy Project heard. (Plus online teacher training offers graduate or continuing education credits.)

Forty scholars were involved in the review process of this breakthrough textbook, which is used alongside the Bible of the student’s choice. Scholars from mainline Protestant, Evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish perspectives have made this book a scholarly resource that has been lauded by faith leaders, educators and the national media.

The Bible and Its Influence has been endorsed by Chuck Colson, Vonette Bright, Joe Stowell, as well as the general counsel of the American Jewish Congress and the chair of the Catholic Biblical Association. Here are just a sampling from literally hundreds of positive national headlines:

• One of 2005’s notable books on religion. Associated Press (Dec. 14, 2005)
• Appealing and educationally rigorous. Teaching the Bible in public schools just got easier. WORLD magazine (Sept. 2005)
• A very good curriculum indeed... No small achievement. Christianity Today (October 2005)

We encourage CEAI members to take the initiative and bring this to the attention of your school board and/or interested teachers or curriculum directors. Visit www.bibleliteracy.org to learn how to help impact our nation’s public schools and address the critical loss of Bible literacy in this generation.

In His Service,

Finn Laursen

Executive Director