Teaching the Bible in the Christian College

Students in Christian colleges have too often assigned a kind of second-class academic citizenship to Bible courses, feeling that these courses will not tax them intellectually and that they have little real bearing on life beyond meeting departmental requirements. There are several reasons for this attitude. Some Bible courses either are “preaching” sessions or emphasize the devotional aspect of Scripture with scant regard for the context. Bible survey often consists of neat outlines of all the books and tabulations of facts which the successful student carefully returns to the teacher on examination papers. And Bible courses are frequently a relatively easy part of a college education. In some Christian liberal arts colleges they are even parceled out to various members of the faculty as an additional chore.

But in a Christian college, it is imperative that there be a proper balance between the academic and the devotional study of the Bible. Faith inevitably seeks understanding, especially on the college campus. In trying to relate the whole academic program to the Bible, a Christian college must strive to offer the student the best intellectual resources available in Bible teaching. Today, when students entering college are better prepared than ever before and when the intellectual challenge in the college is at a high level, the Christian college must not tolerate mediocrity in the teaching of God’s Word.

To teach the Bible effectively, it is essential to avoid methods and emphases that have proved ineffective in the past because they did not prepare the student to face the secular world. At the same time, what is good ought to be salvaged. Here, then, are key points for consideration.

From The Whole To The Parts

First of all, the college student should gain a unified view of the entire Bible. Frequently students come to the Christian college with fragmentary presuppositions about the Scriptures—e.g., the Old Testament represents law and the New Testament grace; the Old Testament represents a God of war, wrath, and judgment, while the New Testament represents primarily a message of love. But through a unified study the student will realize that God’s love, grace, and mercy as well as his wrath and judgment are unfolded throughout both testaments. Others come with a book-by-book knowledge. But God did not reveal himself in a book-by-book fashion; he revealed himself through the ages to numerous people and in a variety of ways. Once a student has a unified view of the entire Bible, individual book study is an excellent approach for further depth. Through the unified viewpoint a student can be led into fuller understanding of God’s progressive preparation for the coming of Christ. Predictive prophecy, so frequently presented as an isolated study, will be placed in its proper setting as it comes in the sequence of biblical events.

Secondly, the college student ought to have the experience of reading and studying the Bible itself. All too common is the practice of teaching the Bible through a literary or theological framework by which the student interprets the Scriptures. This may be a system of dispensations, typology, or messianic predictions; or it may be a literary-critical approach such as the documentary theory, form criticism, or the oral tradition theory. Frequently, a textbook interpreting the Bible according to one of these approaches is placed in the student’s hands, and he then interprets the Bible from this viewpoint instead of reading the Bible itself. Unfortunately, in numerous Christian colleges there has been extreme criticism of some of the viewpoints mentioned, whereas others have been unquestionably accepted under the assumption of scholarship.

The facts given in Scripture are essential for the student to know as a basis for the interpretation of Scripture. Whitehead points out in The Aims of Education that knowledge is the basis of wisdom. When a student initially learns in the context of the Pentateuch that Moses led the twelve tribes of Israel from Egypt to the borders of Canaan, he is then prepared to examine critically the theory projected in textbooks (cf. John Bright’s The History of Israel, Bernard Anderson’s Understanding the Old Testament, or Norman Gottwald’s A Light to the Nations) currently used in many colleges and seminaries, that Moses led only the tribes of Joseph out of Egypt and that the other tribes were united with them in an amphictyonic league under Joshua when they discovered that they were serving the same God and had a common ancestry. Likewise, the student who has studied the Bible itself can use the wisdom derived from this knowledge to evaluate the application of typology to the life of Joseph.

The wisdom that comes from firsthand Bible knowledge may prove to be of great practical value to the graduate of a Christian college in his lay witness. Many textbooks used in secular education today contain paragraphs or chapters dealing with the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Often the capsule view of the Bible they present is based upon one of the theories referred to above rather than upon the facts as asserted in Scripture. This is also true of much Sunday school literature as well as of laymen’s commentaries widely used by church workers. The Christian college graduate ought to be able to evaluate this material critically as he faces questions from his children, his Sunday school class, the youth group in his church, or the Bible class in his community. If a student has learned in college to study the Bible for himself and, under the guidance of an alert instructor, has critically examined the numerous theories available to him in the library, he is better prepared to represent the Christian faith as he continues in graduate studies or enters a vocation.

Scripture In Context

Thirdly, a student in a Christian college ought to study in his survey of the Bible the cultural, geographical, and historical context of Scripture. Recently a graduate of a leading evangelical seminary said that in his seminary he was taught the Bible by one professor (in what he called the Bible-institute approach) and its cultural, archaeological, geographical, and linguistic setting by another professor (in what he described as the intellectual or scholarly approach). Such fragmentation is highly questionable. In close conjunction with the core of historical development as set forth in the Bible, the college student should be introduced to the light on biblical data furnished by archaeological discoveries and linguistic scholarship. This material is now so extensive that the undergraduate cannot be expected to master it as a scholar. Yet he should know how to tap these resources as he needs them. When a student begins to realize that Abraham was not a saint who lived half-way between earth and heaven but that at times he conformed to the culture of his time, even to the extent of displeasing God, while also demonstrating the obedience and faith that were accounted to him for righteousness, then the devotional lessons learned from Genesis 12–25 become more real.

Fourthly, a college student ought to learn that the Bible represents God’s revelation in its historical character. Instead of man seeking an encounter with God, as is assumed in other religions, the Christian faith as set forth in the Bible represents God making himself known to man. This revelation took on a historical character as recorded in the Bible, and this written record is the norm and source of theology. The acts of God in history, in behalf of his people, as well as the words of God, have been recorded and preserved so as to be available to each generation. As Warren A. Quanbeck of Luther Theological Seminary has said, “For later generations of Christians the writings of the Old and New Testaments are the instruments by which the revelation of God in Christ becomes contemporary and capable of apprehension” (Christian Faith and the Liberal Arts, ed. by Ditmanson, Hong, Quanbeck, Augsburg, 1960, p. 35).

The Bible is both human and divine in origin as well as in content. Were it only divine, it could be regarded as dictated. Were it only human, it could be regarded merely as the national literature of the Jews. Since it is both, it represents a unique literary product, resulting from the divine motivation and enablement as the Spirit of God guided various writers in recording the events and words in the Bible. As to its content, both aspects must likewise be recognized. Numerous events are recorded that can be explained only as miracles. The usual norms of interpretation applied to other literature require certain limitations when applied to the Bible, where it is essential to go beyond naturalistic or rationalistic categories. Where the Scriptures clearly set forth miraculous events, rationalization is inadequate, because we are dealing with a record of God’s revelation to man.

Consider, for example, the passage in Numbers where God conveyed a message to Balaam through the ass on which he rode. In the light of the scriptural data, it is apparent that God performed a miracle in causing this animal to speak in order to show a materialistically minded prophet that he would not be permitted to curse Israel. On the other hand, scriptural events should not be represented as more miraculous than they are. In providing a passage through the sea when the Israelites were being pursued by the Egyptians, God used an east wind to dry up the sea. When the Bible is recognized as the instrument of God’s revelation, it will become the medium of a fuller understanding of God by student as well as teacher.

Without question, the basic course in Bible in a Christian liberal arts college is of strategic importance in the student’s educational experience. Taught effectively, the Bible may become the integrating center for his approach to all areas of study. On the other hand, inadequate teaching in this most sensitive field may lead to disinterest in the Book of books and a lifelong spiritual impoverishment.

Every Christian liberal arts college needs periodically to examine its effectiveness in achieving its stated objectives. In this age of secularism, the responsibility of the Christian college is greater than ever before to give each student a knowledge and appreciation of the Bible that will permeate his intellect as well as his heart and that will affect his entire life.

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