Too many American Christians have a bias against formal Bible translations, theological texts (such as old catechisms), and hymns. These were great crowning achievements of the Protestant world. Now they’re perceived as too stuffy and churchy, and we mock them or even imply that they send people to Hell, because people don’t find them “relatable” enough. The King James Version may have formed centuries of English-American literature, journalism, and speech, but it would seem no one hates the KJV more than a certain kind of church-goer. This aesthetical progressivism isn’t helping the problem of biblical and theological illiteracy. It caters to it. In fact, it’s a root cause.

Biblical illiteracy is a big problem. It’s a problem for the church, and it’s a problem for the countries that once made up Christendom. But where is it coming from? In America, we were once a people well-versed in the Scriptures: the biblical narratives, poetry, oracles, teachings, and turns of phrase. Now we aren’t. What happened?

In a recent interview, America Family Radio’s Jenna Ellis and Troy Miller (CEO and president of the National Religious Broadcasters) tried to peel away some of the layers of the onion. One issue was immediately obvious, and it’s been a drumbeat for decades now: The public schools no longer teach the Bible.

But Ellis and Miller noted problems within the church as well. All the classic arguments were touched on, from watered-down teaching, shallow preaching, privatized religiosity, obsession with big attendance numbers, to the dumbing down of the church as a whole to attract and retain unbelievers. They also pointed to what Miller termed “the CEO pastor,” whose business it is to keep attendance high and the vibes good along the lines of America’s white collar businesses. And what do we have to thank for this, with many seminaries pumping out graduates buying this model wholesale?

Let’s start with the church growth movement.

Ryan Burge can tell us more about where church attendance and membership are numerically, but I can tell you one thing: The American church has certainly grown in its biblical ignorance. And while we are not merely brains on sticks, the church is impoverished and ill-equipped when scriptural knowledge is lacking.

There was a time when Protestants knew this, and it showed in their reforms of how we order our lives, individually and corporately. Maybe it’s time we look into our past. While the Reformers certainly weren’t perfect, they did, in fact, take the steps necessary to form entire nations of biblically literate people.

First off, there needs to be public reading of Holy Scripture in church services. This has become a rarity in too many congregations.

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