Ester asked:

Can you please give me some reasons why the study of the Bible does not have a valid place in the
core curriculum of a liberal arts college?

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I assume that by the "Bible" you mean the Christian bible, i.e., the collection of writings termed the
"New Testament" and "Old Testament" in the Christian religion. In my verystrong opinion, the study
of the Christian bible has no more nor less place than the study of any other religion's bible(s). Now,
given the central place of religion in human culture through the eons, I do most certainly think that
one should study religion... from that viewpoint. And that would entail studying the Hindu bibles: the
Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, and so forth; the Koran; the Tibetan Book of the Dead; the Chinese
writings of Lao-Tzu (and others); the Japanese Zen literature; African religions; American Indian
religions, including South American Mayan and Incan; and many others which I have left out because
I just don't want to go on and on. When I was an undergraduate I took a comparative religion course,
and indeed found it valuable.

But if you mean that we should be taught that the Christian bible contains thecorrect religious
doctrine... right, tell that to a Muslim or a Hindu.

Steven Ravett Brown

It seems to me that the answer to your question depends very much on how you see the Bible. If the
Bible is seen as a great work of literature from the past, with an important influence on the sort of
culture that we have, then it does have a valid place in the core curriculum — but so do a lot of other
books. Then it comes down to making decisions about exactly which of these many books should be
studied — just as we decide which plays of Shakespeare to study. The Bible has a claim, but not an
overwhelming one.

If you see the Bible as the word of God — a central and unique book with divine sanction — then
there is a compelling reason to place it right at the center of any curriculum.

If the Bible is seen as a concoction of stories and half-baked history put together for avowedly
sectarian reasons by an organization that seeks to control people, then it has no claim to a place at
all.

Tim Sprod