The Multifaceted Bible

In the Spring 2007 issue of Seattle Pacific University’s Response magazine, the question was posed: Just what is the Bible? Best selling book? Yes. Sacred text? Yes. But what else? Take a moment to see just what several faculty have to say about this multifaceted Bible.

Susan VanZanten Gallagher: The Bible as Literature

Frank Anthony Spina: The Bible as Scripture

Robert Wall: The Bible as Canon

Douglas M. Koskela: The Bible as Sacrament

Barna Group: The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate

This morning, the Barna group published an article entitled, “Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010.” Topping that list is a discussion that seems to be (re)gaining popularity both within and outside of churches, schools and seminaries: biblical and theological literacy. Is there a distinction? Perhaps, but we won’t get into that here.

The post briefly stated some of the core pieces of the larger conversation on biblical and theological literacy (or illiteracy):

Do you speak Bible?

Do You Speak Bible? from aaron w on Vimeo.

This short documentary looks at the problems, complexities, and possibilities of biblical literacy. It was created by Sophia Agtarap and Aaron Willett within their practicum project for the Seattle Pacific University’s Graduate School of Theology.

Survey response: What is your favorite book in the Bible and why?

Responses to biblical literacy survey question, “What is your favorite book in the Bible? Why?” The favorites that emerged: Psalms (17), John (13), Luke (12), James (11), Ephesians (9), Isaiah & Genesis (8), Philippians & Matthew (6), Romans & Ecclesiastes (5) and Mark, Acts & Corinthians (4)

Who does the Bible say God is?

Responses to our biblical literacy survey question, “Who does the Bible say God is?” This was our attempt to assesses Theological understanding. We would hope common responses would include, but not be limited to: Trinitarian / Justice / Jesus / Love / Creator / Spirit. A word frequency count showed that the most frequently used word (other than articles), was the word “Creator” (131). Additional high frequency words included: Father (64), Holy (38), Spirit (38), Son (35), Love (28).