As long as it is an elective class, taken by students who want to take it, rather than a required class, I have no problem with a Bible as history and literature class. Or a course on the Koran, or the Talmud, or any other religious writings. Perhaps if we had more of an understanding of the world's major religious literature, there would be less hostility.

Agreed. Because so much of language is referential, a good deal is lost by not being familiar with the sources.

I did a Literature and the Bible course at university and thought it was very interesting. I'm not a religious person and therefore could look at the Bible as a story, which is what the course was aiming to do. The problem for most people who took the course is that they were so religious they wanted to argue the validity of the Bible, more than discuss the way it's written, the characters, etc. I think that would be a problem with high school-aged children, and probably their parents - trying to teach something they believe to be absolutely true as a story.

I am a firm believer in the separation of Church and State, so a required Bible as Literature course would make me angry, simply because it is so difficult to separate the story from the faith. As an elective it would be fine - though I think at university age is best.

As for literary quotes enriching the language ... that's what I love about the English language. People make references constantly without realizing that the phrase is only around because of Shakespeare for example. Similarly, I love it when authors use intertextuality and I actually know where the reference is from!

I tend to agree with Angelini, certainly in separation of Church and State, and also that university level would probably be the best place to offer these courses as electives except perhaps in the case of an English major. In fact, taking the Bible as Literature in conjunction with a course in Shakespeare would be fascinating, IÂd think.

There are just so many cases where Biblical references are used. I wonder how many people who heard the song, "Turn, Turn, Turn" back during the Vietnam war thought it was so fresh, original, and timely, never realizing that the words were taken straight from Ecclesiastes, written thousands of years ago.
And thereÂs LincolnÂs "House Divided" speech which fit those times so perfectly.

The Koran, on the other hand, as far as I know, is not so represented in Western culture. A course along those lines would have a different purpose and would surely come under Philosophy and Religion, definitely an elective (albeit an interesting one.)

angel, ditto everything you said. There are some people that are so stuck on the Bible that you dare not say anything about it that isn't how they believe for its 'gods words'. Yet so much of the Bible is based on other sources. If we teach the Bible as literature for children (and I'd start no younger than HS), then you need to go back to original stories that were popular in the middle east, to get an idea of where the stories came from. Then, take a look at the Koran to see how that developed from the Bible and again, other sources. Then you get a better picture of the literature of both, rather focusing on meaning and belief.

>A course along those lines would have a different purpose and would surely come under Philosophy and Religion, definitely an elective

Not sure it would have a different purpose. In both we are looking at the literature aspects of both. In the latter, it would also be interesting for students to see what the Koran actually says, rather than what fundamentalists have twisted it to mean.

How about a class that addressed references from several different sources, including the Bible? Between the Bible and Shakespeare, a teacher would find plenty of material.

I'm always surprised at some (to me, at least) common references that aren't understood. Or some that are just misunderstood. "Wherefore art thou, Juliet?" springs immediately to mind.

Having never read the Koran, it's hard for me to say whether it could be read in the same literary way as the Bible is, but I can't think of any references in the same way as the Bible. Granted, I've not read any Middle Eastern texts ...

Siobhan, I think that's a very interesting idea ... It's fantastic how authors make references to texts their friends have written or simply to texts they like and respect. Angela Carter, one of my favourite authors, makes references to other texts in nearly all of her novels.

And yes, 'Wherefore art thou, Romeo?' (as I remember it (c; ) has nothing to do with where Romeo is!