by Nathan Brouwer

Created on: June 10, 2008

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 16,17

Religion texts have an unfortunate tendency to be divisive. I know of no religion that doesn't have some fissures, if not outright rifts, between different groups. Sunni and Shiite Muslim, Orthodox and Reformed Jew, Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Christian.

Within Christianity one source of division are views on the content, nature, and use of the Bible. On one side of a continuum perspectives are "plain-text" readers, conservative Christians, and Bibilical literalists. On the other end of the continuum are non-believing scholars, liberal Christians, and Christian scholars using modern techniques of textual criticism. This multitude of perspectives has ancient roots, and debates about the holy scriptures date back to the earliest days of the Church. As the Church, and the Bible, emerged, the early leaders struggled to defend itself from heresy, compile the cannon, and solidify its own theology.

Given the multitude of perspective that have been applied to the Bible both historically and currently, it hard to argue that the Bible can work as a textbook in today's class room. As a text it may prove useful, but as a definitive textbook it has many problems.

First, it should be recognized that all textbooks have problems. Today, a "textbook" is often considered to be a definitive document. To day "she wrote the text book on the topic" means she knows everything about a topic, and put all that knowledge down in a single, comprehensive book. We all spend most of our time in highschool studying text books, invest a ton of money on them when we go to college, and keep the most important ones on our book shelves as references. Textbooks, however, are constantly being revised as new information becomes available. As scientists discover new things about the earth, these are incorporated into new text books. Climate change was not a concern 20 years ago, and wasn't even in my text books 10 years ago in high school. But soon every environmental science, social studies, and biology text book will have to have a section on it. Also, as societal values change, books change. The progression of the civil rights movement in the USA has changed the tone of discussion social issues in the USA over the last 100 years, and hence our text books. Finally,

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