… any better than anyone else. (And worse than liberal catholics!)
I’m not sure how I missed news of this news conference, but I don’t recall seeing it discussed. Apologies if I’m going over old ground. This is the most interesting summary:
Fundamentalists, or those who take a literal view of Scripture, do not know more about the Bible than anyone else. In fact, researchers said, it’s readers whose attitudes they described as “critical,” meaning that they see the Bible as the word of God but in need of interpretation, who are over-represented at the highest levels of Biblical literacy. In other words, fundamentalists actually score lower on basic Biblical awareness.
But this observation runs it a close second:
There is no apparent correlation between reading the Bible and any particular political orientation. In other words, it’s not the case that the more someone reads the Bible, the more likely they are to be a political conservative or liberal.
I’d love to see the questions that were actually asked and the methodology employed. If true, however, it may suggest very controversially that not only does “believing the Bible” function as a shibboleth rather than anything else, but that the scriptures may exercise very little power over the biblically literate and illiterate alike. If Bible reading and knowledge has no correlation with political affiliation, that would seem to be suggested.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Doug,
It’s been my experience that Biblical fundamentalists are more concerned with knowing their own tradition’s understanding of the Bible and are more likely to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible itself. And that says nothing Biblical languages, archaeology, criticism, and all of the other things that constitute knowing about the Bible.
For that matter, fundamentalists whom I’ve encountered know sparingly little about Christianity as a cultural or historical phenomenon (e.g. “Catholics aren’t *real* Christians.” or shock and consternation at the assertion that first-century Christians were communist pacifists.)
-JAK
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I had to laugh when I read the title of your post. I’ve been saying this for years. I agree with Justin’s point. If I recall, I even discussed this a bit in my book. Fundamentalists are fundamentalist about their theology or beliefs. The Bible is generally irrelevant. If a single word or phrase can be found to support their belief, then that is fine but it’s not necessary. They will do without the Bible if they have to and they often do. The only pure fundamentalist of the Bible is the historian or scientist who cares about every piece of data, and there are precious few who can truly be considered real biblical historians.
My own interest is in the historical Jesus. How many people know the NT in all — and I do mean all — its wonderful details? How many people know that at Acts 13:28, Paul says there was no Jewish death penalty against Jesus? How many people know that only one Gospel (Matt) mentions Caiaphas as the high priest who questioned Jesus, that Luke and Mark are silent as to his identity, and that John has Annas, a retired high priest which could imply this was more like a diplomatic affair than a hostile trial? And how many people know that the Gospels do not use the Greek word for betray to describe Judas’ action? How many people know that these three details are only the tip of the iceberg as to the real contents of the NT?
Fundamentalism of the Bible? We have yet to see it born.
Leon Zitzer
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I know what you mean. I have had fundamentalists swearing to me in all kinds of language that something is said in the Bible when it is not, not in any version or manuscript. In a recent case, on this not too enlightening comment thread, some guy insisted that
- and called me an unbeliever and worse for telling him that this is not in the Bible.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
[...] but people deprecate learned preparation for that vocation. Sigh. Second, Jason points to Doug Chapin’s pointer to a survey that suggests that “fundamentalists” don”t know their biblical content as well as [...]