Expectations and Christians' Ingorance

Most American Christians don’t know practically anything about the Bible or church history—and no one seems to blink.  Take the books of the Bible: most people know that Genesis is about the creation of the world (let slide the fact that that is only the subject of the first 5% of the book); some know that the Exodus is about people leaving Egypt.  But what percent of people in the church know what Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy is about?  Could any normal Christian give a paragraph summary of those books?  A one sentence summary, of any of them?   How about 1 or 2 Samuel, or a summary of any of the 17 prophetic books?  Is it even possible to overstate the typical American lay-persons’ ignorance about the books of the Bible? And all this still says nothing about knowing a basic story of the Bible or the basic chronology of Biblical narrative (knowing that “Christians” “pastors” and “disciples” aren’t in the OT).  The more I study the Bible the more I realize that we Christians absolutely do not have even most basic acquaintance with it. 

It’s the same case with the typical Christians’ knowledge of Church history—actually, it’s probably worse.   What percentage of people in a typical church congregation could even name just 10 Christians from 100AD – 1900AD?  Some probably would mention a few names from the reformation or post reformation period.   It’d be even harder to name 7 from 100 – 1500.  And this doesn’t even include knowing anything about those people!  (Honestly, I could only tell you the smallest bit about 4 or 5).  Could any Christians you know tell you of even one event, person, period, or issue from Church history that has taught, warned, or inspired them as a Christian? 

What I cannot fathom about all this is that no one else is bothered (or that its only a small minority of us who are).  How can the people who confess that the Bible is the word of God also be the one who know nothing about it?  How can the people who confess that God works among his people and gives them gifts to understand him also be the ones who ignore the teaching and testimony of the majority of the Christians—namely, those who have come before us?   Cleary our ignorance of it is nothing else than the result of not taking the time and effort to really learn about it.  Is it that we think it is not worth learning?  I’m sure most would say that knowing the Bible is a good thing.  But for most, I think this opinion—that knowing the bible is a good thing—is intended as a generality; I don’t think most think very strongly that it would be a good thing for them.  If they did, perhaps they’d be working toward it.  So maybe the issue is that we don’t see the value; maybe part of the problem is that despite seeing the value, we are simply lazy.  Just like the overweight person thinks that being in shape would be nice, their often times too lazy to put in the effort to attain that reality. 

Ultimately, however, I think the real root of our widespread and profound ignorance is rooted in the fact that in the culture of our churches, knowing the Bible or church history is simply not essential to the Christian life.  Certainly learning about the Bible and Church history is not on the standard agenda for those Christians who see the Christian life as being merely about believing in Jesus, being saved, and trying to be good (i.e. those for who do not focus on the importance and normalcy of spiritual “maturity”).   And for those other congregations that do preach about sanctification and discipleship as the calling and journey of the Christian life—the knowledge of the Bible or of church history is typically not a very important goal.  In either camp, knowing the Bible or church history is simply not necessary to being a Christian. 

And so, as creatures of necessity, we are ignorant.  In life, what needs to get done is what gets done, and often little else.  To prove my point—that the cause of our ignorance is in the culture of our church generally, and more specifically, in what we consider to be necessary or essential to the Christian life—consider this: did any of us grow up in a church that said, “if you’re going to be a Christian, you have to learn the Bible and church history”?  No we did not.  And I bet if we did, we would have been forced to make a choice: either learn, or leave.  Now I’m not commending this approach for church’s today; it’s probably unbiblical.  But it does helpfully show that the cause of our ignorance well lies in the fact that knowledge has not been required or expected of us.  But is that right?  Should we really not expect Christians to learn the Bible and know their past?  I believe those concerned with the increasing biblical and theological illiteracy and ignorance in the church today need to alert the church with a call to a change in what is expected of Christians.