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Well, for starters, the article was not written by "a woman." It was written by Barbara Brown Taylor, widely considered to be one of the best preachers working today.

A little less ignorance, please.

I teach a World Religions course at my church, a place I think is fairly representative of many evangelical churches, and this doesn't surprise me at all. Where do we expect Christians to learn about Christian history? Very few churches spend any time at all on history, and Sunday School lessons focus (appropriately) on Scripture, but not on how to study Scripture well or deeply. The public school system can barely teach US history, much less world or ancient history, and most colleges and universities do not have a vision of developing students to have a coherent, comprehensive understanding of Western culture.

However, I'm not sure if it has to do with unbiblical teachings so much as churches simply failing to step up the plate to educate and equip the members of the Body. But then, pastors and churches have a lot of stuff on their plates, and they may not see the Great Schism or the development of the canon as all that relevant to their flocks. It's up to those of us who do care deeply about Christian history and good theology to advocate for it in our churches.

As the author said, I too find this tragic but not surprising. During my years as a teenager, I learned zippo about Christianity, except that I should not have sex, and that I need to invite more friends to church.

The author of the original article hit on something we must be teaching to our students: How we got our Bible. I'm currently a Youth Pastor, and I have found that it shocks students when you tell them that we don't have any of the original texts found in the Bible. Of course, I find we can have great confidence in the accuracy of our modern texts [which I won't expound upon here], but it takes some time by an informed teacher to explain these things. Unfortunately, the secular college classroom will not offer such a service. Discovering this fact can prove earth-shattering to a young adult. This can make a student feel that everything they had been told was a lie. It almost happened to me.

We must to teach Christian History!

I would guess that evangelical students would do the worst on the types of questions that Taylor is asking. How many evangelical churches teach their members that the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke are radically different, that Mark and John contain no birth narrative at all, that the compilation of the Bible was a messy and long process and that other branches of Christianity contradict their own and think they are just as right as anyone else?

what i find really bizarre here is that the students claim to feel like "more informed neighbours" comfortable living in the world. how can you feel more informed and more comfortable interacting with people of no of other religions, when you can't answer the most basic questions about yours?

my first year in college, our christian fellowship club room was situated in a central hub of the school, and had an open-door policy, which led to lots of curious and confrontational young men and women walking through our door looking for a serious discussion. it was thanks to them that i was motivated to do my own research aside from the very solid foundation i received at my home church (which is itself across the street from one of the most respected universities on the continent).

after that experience, it especially confuses me that one who finds themselves discussing faith and philosophy with non-christians on a regular basis cannot be prompted to go out make the effort to learn on their own time. there are so many books easily available in this part of the world.

a good read: "habits of the mind: the christian life as an intellectual calling" by james w. sire.

These stories break my heart and one of the reasons we started Soulation (www.soulation.org). And in our traveling and speaking we find students--high school, college, adults--with a real hunger to know Jesus and the Scripture and understand the tradition.

Many evangelical churches today are focused on evangelism and entertainment and even many in leadership do not find the items mentioned in the article above of much importance (if they know it themselves). We have become spiritual moralists. And if that's all we are as followers of Jesus, then we can get that in many other places as well. Yet moralism is easy. But it doesn't bring life that is anchored in the real human world.

Among the many issues, we get concerned about not enough men in the church, so we work at tailoring our churches toward men. What gets lost in the whole bit is that we as a body mistake our head for our church leadership instead of our Head being Messiah.

Then we have social activism movements which I think are very good. But many do it not alongside gaining knowledge of Jesus but often in replacement of it.

We think 'walking in the Spirit' is devoid of human mind, emotion, and will.

We think when Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you, that that is the only place it is. But Jesus as a smart King of a real Kingdom who engages and employs every last square inch of our faculties, body and soul, well, who could conceive of it? This is our message everywhere we go. And many, many are catching on.

A study that was done by a university about a year ago reported that the most religiously committed youth were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, AKA the Mormons. The LDS church strongly encourages high school students (grades 9-12) to attend a daily "Seminary" class to study the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Book of Mormon and the history of the LDS Church. In Utah, Arizona and Idaho, these classes can be taken on a released time basis in facilities owned by the LDS Church within walking distance of their schools. In other areas, including outside the US, Seminary classes are held in the early morning before school.

Additionally, the fact that Mormon beliefs about scripture and deity are often questioned or even attacked requires that Molrmon youth need to acquire some basic understanding of the facts discussed in the article, so they can explain to themselves and others how Mormons fit into the larger picture of Christianity and its history. For example, one of the fundamental Mormon teachings learned by LDS children is that "We believe . . .the Bible is the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly." They are aware from their first studies that the Bible is an ancient document, originally written in Hebrew and Greek by many different authors over centuries and later compiled and translated. The LDS Church in 1981 produced a special edition of the King James Version that preserves the traditional text, but offers alternative translations of some of the more difficult words and passages in the footnotes, as well as excerpts from what Mormons regard as an inspired commentary by Joseph Smith. The LDS editions also have a Bible Dictionary, maps, and an extensive Topical Guide that groups together scripture passages on themes such as "Christ, Jesus, Son of God".

The supplemental religious education is continued at the college level. While Brigham Young University requires religious education courses for all students, the equivalent is offered at "Institutes of Religion" near most major college campuses.

The LDS Church also publishes monthly magazines for children (The Friend), teenagers (The New Era), and adults (The Ensign), which often address the topics of the history of Christianity and the Bible, and which are available permanently on the Internet at www.lds.org. The LDS Church web page also includes the full text of the LDS Edition of the KJV, with its footnotes, cross references, and other study resources. For over 100 nations with substantial numbers of Mormons, a consolidated version of the church magazines is also published in the local languages, from Japanese to Russian.

At age 19, many young Mormon men devote two years of volunteer service as missionaries in one of 165 countries. During that time they also conduct daily scripture study and, perhaps even more valuable, are required to teach from the scriptures to people who are investigating their church.

This is not of course an equivalent to earning a bachelor's degree in theology and religious history, but it equips the majority of Mormons to serve as leaders and teachers, in a church where there is no career clergy and all of the posts usually filled by paid personnel in a typical Protestant congregation are instead staffed by part-time volunteers, including the bishop who heads the congregation of 300 to 400 people. The fact that one has been called to teach one's peers is an invitation to ongoing study of the gospel. Interestingly, even the religious education teachers have to get their BAs in some topic other than religious studies, so they are not faced with destitution if they are not employed in that program, and the basic religion classes at BYU are often taught by professors in other departments, from biology to computer science to business.

Finally, I thought the note about lack of familiarity among Evangelical students with the Nicene Creed was interesting, since it is often claimed that Mormons are distinctively "not Christian" because they specifically do not accept the assertion in the creeds, and not found in the Bible, that God has "no body, parts or passions" (in one version). Apparently most Evangelical churches do not actually teach their members that they must accept this creedal description of God (that owes more to Aristotle, Neo-Platonism and St. Augustine than to Jesus, Peter or Paul). I guess that omission avoids having to reconcile the creedal description of God with the continuing Incarnation and Ascension of Christ, and the assertion of John that "God is Love" and that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Absolutely true. I teach Western Civilization in college. WesternCivilization is rooted in Christian culture They have no clue.
Wake the heck up and start teaching the Christian culture to the young people.

It's been awhile, a very long while, but I remember getting basic church history in Methodist Sunday School as a teenager. When my father taught Sunday School, I bought him a Roman coin as a history "teaching aid" while I was in Europe...Antonius Pius if memory serves. Wiki says he was Emperor from 138-161.

The reasons why Evangelicals are ignorant of "Christian History" is because if they knew the truth of the Christian Faith then they would stop being Evangelicals. It's that simple.

History is not a creed or a catechism, it gives lessons rather than rules; still no one can mistake its general teaching in this matter, whether he accept it or stumble at it.

Bold outlines and broad masses of colour rise out of the records of the past. They may be dim, they may be incomplete; but they are definite.

And this one thing at least is certain; whatever history teaches, whatever it omits, whatever it exaggerates or extenuates, whatever it says and unsays, at least the Christianity of history is not Protestantism.

If ever there were a safe truth, it is this.

And Protestantism has ever felt it so.

This is shown in the determination already referred to of dispensing with historical Christianity altogether, and of forming a Christianity from the Bible alone: men never would have put it aside, unless they had despaired of it.

To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.

As a veteran educator (lady) having taught many years in Christian schools and public schools, I found the first post surprising. Since women are admonished to keep quiet in church, how can the author of the article be "one of the best preachers working today".

My brother wrote of my godly mother of 8 that even though she never preached a word, her life was the best sermon he ever read. Perhaps in that vein, the author could be a preacher. I certainly pray that my life was a witness even in public school where words had to be carefully chosen.

As far as the premise of the article, I was under the impression that the name was Piedmont Bible College. Having also taught under the auspices of a Christian university, I can vouch for the fact that many Christian young people are more and more attuned to living like the world than living like Christ.

This is also true of many Christian parents. Church/ Religion is "put on" for services, and "taken off" afterwards - like what used to be called "Sunday-Go-To-Meeting-Clothes". The rest of the day/ week is dedicated to jobs and recreation.

Not only is it important for our churches to have lessons about the fundamentals of our faith during S.S and other times, but our homes need to re-enforce these lessons at Family Altar.

Christian schools should teach students not only how to make a living, but how to live. (Bob Jones, Sr.)

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

That many young people who attend church know little about Church History is not surprising since it is one thing to build the Church and another to fill the "church".

Ask any modern Church leader which they would prefer: a small band of persons committed to knowing and following Christ and propagating the Christian faith, or a full house every sunday, and wait for the answer.

The fact of the matter is that very few believers are discipled into the christian faith. What passes for Christian ministry and teaching in many church settings is a steady dose of entertainment and feel good, self actualization messages designed to keep people happy and supportive.

It is not only important but essential that believers in Christ know their history. They should also be taught how to understand the Bible and given tools to its accurate interpretation.

Believers in Christ should also be taught the importance of reading and from very early be introduced to books that will ground them in their faith.

In an age of computers and the internet no believer in Christ has any excuse for not knowing Martin Luther, or the gospels. The blame for this must fall squarely on the shoulders of church leaders in the case of young christians. Older believers have only themselves to blame for being ignorant of their own faith.

OK help me. I teach Sunday School to high school youths. I have some knowledge of Christian history and I sometimes bring it up. However is there some kind of good text out there that can be used to teach systematically? Please post.

the Christian culture should be entrenched in the syllabus as a compulsory unit.we should not accommodate ignorance.

jim dunn

There is a volume simply called "Christian Theology" by Alister McGrath that includes a succinct history of the church. Another book called "Christian History" by Everett Ferguson covers church history from the time of Jesus to the pre-reformation. It's a great study.