BIBLE LITERACY


PERHAPS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD IMPROVED BIBLE LITERACY IS ADMITTING WE HAVE A PROBLEM.


■ by Collin Hansen


Jim Castelli said in a widely quoted sur- vey finding, “Americans revere the Bible but, by and large, they don’t read it.”


A 16 EVANGEL • AUG 2010


MERICANS LOVE their Bibles so much that they keep them in pristine, unopened condition. Or, as George Gallup Jr. and


Anecdotes abound. Time magazine observed in a 2007 cover story that only half of U.S. adults could name one of the four Gospels. Fewer than half could identify Genesis as the Bible’s first book. Jay Leno and Stephen Colbert have made sport of Americans’ inability to name the Ten Commandments—even among


members of Congress who have pushed to have them posted publicly.


Perhaps the first step toward improved Bible literacy is admitting we have a prob- lem. A 2005 study by the Barna Group asked American Christians to rate their spiritual maturity based on activities such as worship, service, and evangelism.


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