Texas making students read Bible stories may not work out the way conservatives want

Though some Christian conservatives are cheering last week’s announcement by the Texas Board of Education mandating readings from the Bible in the state’s K-12 literature curriculum starting in 2030, the decision might not be the victory they think it is. If such stories from the Bible are appropriately taught as literature, then students will be encouraged to question and challenge Christianity’s holy text, not accept it and believe it without question.

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As a curriculum studies scholar, I can see that the education board’s decision will create a predicament for schools and teachers that they will not be able to avoid: the inevitable outrage from Christian fundamentalists when the Bible is taught as something other than truth, that is, something other than religious instruction.

Some parents and politicians may be cheering this mandate now and feeling triumphant over people who wanted to keep the Bible out of the classroom, but I’m doubtful they’ll be as gleeful when classroom implementation begins and teachers are made to treat the Bible not as a divine text but as a book. And teaching the Bible as literature — if that is indeed what happens — will open it up to being analyzed the way we would analyze any other book. That would include taking note of the language used in the story, the philosophy,  the contradictions and any discernible shortcomings.

Consider the Texas teacher in 2030 who is teaching high school sophomores excerpts from the Book of Job.  According to that story from the Hebrew Scriptures, Satan bets God that if God lets him inflict immense suffering on an innocent man named Job, then Job will curse God. A person teaching Job as literature would prompt students to think about what accepting that wager say about God’s character and Satan’s character?  How does the story attempt to make sense of human suffering?  A good literature teacher would also push students to think about why this character, God, let such awful things happen to a person as good as Job and then scolded him when he complained. A teacher who does that is likely to offend some people’s religious sensibilities.

Texas plans for students to read those sections from  the Book of Job  the same school year they read Dante’s Inferno. For those who love literature, comparing and contrasting the two texts’ depictions of Satan could make for fascinating, robust discussion and critical engagement in the classroom. But some students and parents would inevitably see critical analysis of the biblical text as tantamount to blasphemy because such engagement would challenge their belief that the Bible is not merely a book but a flawless sacred text that leads to salvation.