As Dr. Dave Nienhuis continues to provide readings on the book of Matthew for this quarter’s Lectio, the question of biblical literacy remains relevant. Is our society biblically illiterate? What does it mean to know the Bible? Is it enough to understand the basic stories or should Christians comprehend underlying theological implications of the text? Is the plain sense of the text all that is necessary? What about when Christians disagree on the plain sense of the text? Should Christians understand the lenses through which they view the Bible?
Before such questions find answers, we need to assess our current state. What do Christians actually know? First-year SOT graduate students Sophia Agtarap and Aaron Willett used the Practica component of their coursework to begin to answer this question. Utilizing social media, the team polled a wide variety of people asking basic questions about Scripture.
The duo’s project offers important first steps in the pursuit of biblical literacy: identifying current levels of biblical understanding.