Are Evangelicals biblically illiterate?

Lämmchen said:

On another site a man made a claim but then made a general statement changing his claim. His new claim is that evangelicals are mostly biblically illiterate? Are there studies to back that up or refute his claim?

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It probably could be said that CHRISTIANS (generally) are pretty biblically illiterate. It has been said that the Bible is the most owned and least read book in the world, lol. For maybe 400 years, nearly everyone (espcially Protestants) had a decade or so of Sunday School under their belt so knew at least SOME stuff (and that got into a LOT of literature, btw) but have you looked at Sunday School in the last 20-30 years? Currently, I suspect there are a LOT of Protestants who have no read even one book in the Bible and never attended Sunday School or any Bible study... and probably know a few things: the Christmas story, two parables of Jesus (Good Samaritian and the Prodigal Son) and MAYBE a bit about Good Friday/Easter that they gathered from some church services. Catholics can add Epiphany (or Three Kings Day as they are more apt to know it by). Biblical illiteracy is pretty common.


The "problem" I have with "Evangelicals" is not that they know the Bible less but that they know theology and history less. They too often have a "Bible and ME" attitude - highly individualist and void of any awareness of theology and 2000 years of Christian history. They might proclaim some teaching - ENTIRELY IGNORANT of the doctrine of that, of the heresies in the subject, of the history of all this, of how that subject or verse has been correctly and wrongly understood. It's Christianity out of context. And it's all mixed with a LOT of relativism ("What it means to ME is.....").



- Josiah (A Sunday School teacher, lol)

Lämmchen said:

On another site a man made a claim but then made a general statement changing his claim. His new claim is that evangelicals are mostly biblically illiterate? Are there studies to back that up or refute his claim?

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That is too broad of a statement. Each church is different and each patron of that church is different.
Illiteracy has been prominent for 2000 years in various regions of the world. In these areas people are dependent upon faithful and conscientious teachers who rightly divide the word of God. Many people have been pointed toward hell by wolves posing as shepherds of the sheep. Those who rely upon their denominational dogma to guide them may not know what the Bible teaches. They may just rely upon others and trust them. (Rightly or wrongly) Others may trust their feelings and intuition to guide them and thus rely upon being "Spirit" led rather than test the spirit against the holy scriptures. They have created an image of God by their own design and trust their imagination.
Every denomination will have people who are simply put...lazy. They don't wish to challenge themselves or any teaching. For them, going to church is a social event and a place to network and feel good after a trying week.
That's not my personality. I can't relate to doing that. I like to read.

Lämmchen said:

On another site a man made a claim but then made a general statement changing his claim. His new claim is that evangelicals are mostly biblically illiterate? Are there studies to back that up or refute his claim?

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The trouble with any statement like this is that it is so very sweeping it is all but meaningless. You might as well ask whether it's true that "women are....." or "white people are..." or whatever other group you want to select.

As someone (Josiah?) already mentioned one problem is that a lot of people who think they know the Bible don't actually know the Bible at all. Or they know a few verses from the Bible and nothing of the context. Sometimes the result is mildly amusing, other times it would be funny if people weren't serious, like the ones who post on the internet to tell everyone else that Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler proves we should all sell everything we own and give the money to the poor, or the ones who post from the security of Mummy's basement to say that we shouldn't go to work because it demonstrates a lack of trust in God's ability to provide for us.

Any Christian who simply accepts the teachings of another without ever reading Scripture for themselves is arguably biblically illiterate. If they fail to distinguish between the direct quotes from Scripture and the commentary on that Scripture delivered from the pulpit, if they fail to consider other possible interpretations of the passage, if they don't read the surrounding sections for context etc, they gain no biblical literacy. A person who for whatever reason cannot read the Bible for themselves (whether through inability to read or lack of availability of Bibles or whatever else) at least has some excuse for their condition. The Christian who is able to read and has easy access to a Bible really has no excuse for not reading it for themselves.

I agree with Josh. I was an Evangelical for years and they love their bibles which are usually well worn and highly highlighted. I do feel they don’t integrate the historic writings of the church such as the creeds and EFC’s enough to acquire a more fuller theology that reaches back to the apostles Jude 1:3.

I have personally experienced that cradle to grave Catholics and Orthodox are typically the least biblically literate being they tend to ‘ride the coattails’ or cassocks as it were :birgits_giggle: of their respective churches.

According to the Evangelical Manifesto, I am Evangelical (denomination: Mennonite Brethren).
http://evangelicalmanifesto.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Evangelical_Manifesto.pdf

There are always going to be those who are biblically illiterate from every faith persuasion. The truth is, most of us do not have the time or wherewithall to study in-depth and in context. I spent about 5 years deeply studying marriage/divorce/remarriage as it pertains to both human marriage and God's relationship with Israel and Jesus' relationship with the church. While I am not a theologian, nor have I gone to Bible school, I think I can carry on a relatively "literate" conversation about this one subject.

But... I also have always worked or gone to school. So it's not like I can study other subjects or books of the Bible that deeply and be literate in all areas. But I do know what I believe, and why I believe it. For me as an Evangelical, I am more concerned with my relationship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit than I am about theological knowledge. I want to know Jesus, not just get busy interpreting and framing the Word in a way that makes the most sense, because some might argue that it is non-sensical anyway, given that it is not in its original language, cultural, or political context.

I don't know of any studies that can refute or back up the claim that Evangelicals are biblically illiterate. I believe we are all biblically illiterate, at least to one degree or another.

Lämmchen said:

I looked up the word illiterate to see what an official definition might be. The 2nd one is knowing little or nothing about a particular subject: .

I don't buy the claim that most evangelicals are "illiterate" according to that definition since the Bible is about our Savior.

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At its most basic concept, it's hard to imagine people not knowing that the Bible is about Jesus. I think someone can be biblically illiterate in that they know "little or nothing" about what the Bible says even if they do know that the Bible is about Jesus.

To take an example, I know the book "Moby Dick" is about a whale and starts with the phrase "Call me Ishmael" but, not having read the book, it's safe to say I'm "Moby Dick illiterate".

A person can know the Author and be saved without extensive systematic theology and biblical interpretation degrees with minors in Greek and Hebrew exegesis. Luke 18:17 says "...anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Are children theological experts? I hardly think so. But they sure do know their Daddy.

psalms 91 said:

Yes and there are so called authorities that have extensive knowledge and are never saved nor do they enter into the spiritual application of the Word and never will because of not having a relationship with Jesus

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Yes, ANYONE to whom God gives faith is saved (the brain has nothin' to do with it).

But no, ignorance does not make ANYONE an authoritative or reliable teacher or interpreter.