What do you learn from the Bible in literature class?

Answer 1

Teaching from The Bible in literature class is a dubious practice, as it could be seen as deceptive conduct, intended to introduce religious instruction under the guise of literature. This raises the issue of moral defect, but the risk would be minimised if it can be shown that equal time is given to the study of the Koran and the Buddhist scriptures.

In a genuine study of the Bible in a literature class, you would expect to learn criticism of the text, perhaps learning about doublets and patterns. You would learn to understand the limitations of language translation and perhaps compare two different English language versions of the Bible. In later school years, you could realise that there are incompatibilities between different versions of the same story and would prepare an essay in which you would discuss this. The creation stories in Genesis are so well known that is should be inevitable that you would learn to identify and discuss the differences between the account in Genesis chapter 1 and that in chapter 2.