Students should study great, meaningful, and relevant books in school. There is no greater book than the Bible, no book more meaningful and eternally relevant. Students should learn to read. There are no words more eternally worthy of reception and of our cognition than the very Word of God. Students should learn to write, to communicate. There is no greater example of lasting communication than the millennia-old, preserved, artfully crafted Scriptures.
How ought we integrate the Bible, then, in language arts (usually just "English") classes in our schools? How about in foreign language classes? While I do not want to take the place of teachers much smarter and more effective than I, it would be wrong for me to ignore the simple answer: Use the Bible. Talk about it. Study it. Read it.
God has chosen to reveal His truth, His Word, through language. And it is not language only. He reveals His Word through language that is written, through what is now a book. He relates to His chosen people and speaks to them through the written word and often pairs that method with the external, audible salvation call heard most often through our parents, pastors, peers, and teachers.
I remember the first time I read a full sentence in Hebrew on my own. I sat quietly at my desk, decided not to open my beginner’s Hebrew workbook, and instead opened my hardback Hebrew Bible to Genesis 1. I began reading from right to left, scanning for three-character root words I remembered from vocabulary flashcards. As I focused on what was formally only representative hieroglyphics (shown below), the English phrase “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” lined up with the symbols and what I had been taught by my Hebrew professor. It made sense. I knew that the sounds in my head and the symbols on the page were ordained from eternity and revealed throughout history and that I was engaging with the Word of God. I cried a little.
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
When we study language and literature in general and the Bible specifically, we are in essence engaging with the reflection of the truth, whether that truth be eternal or transient.
Mark Eckel, a professor at Capital Seminary and Graduate School, has written invaluably on this topic. In an article for Christian Educators Journal, Eckel writes about biblical integration in courses reading through classic gothic works such as Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and more. Eckel writes, “The monster within is clearly the point of classic works of Gothic horror. In each case, real, awful monsters exist. And in each case, these monsters can be traced back to our original idol making: our God-usurping problem in Genesis 3. Disciplinary crosscurrents benefit our commitment to theological coherence.”[1] Reflections and integrations like these should be commonplace in Christian education. The teacher need only acknowledge the link; while biblical exploration is then ideal, the acknowledgement of interdisciplinarity and biblical principles nonetheless instill in students the doctrine of coherence, that “[Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).
"Disciplinary crosscurrents benefit our commitment to theological coherence." –Mark Eckel
It is my hope that this post simply encourages you, the reader, to engage more directly with literature, with language, and with the practice of writing. God has revealed the truth in the Bible and largely facilitates His relationship with us with that same Word. As we study or teach books and language and the likes, let us acknowledge the significance, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture as well.
Let us use language arts not only to educate, but also to point to the Creator who established language and communication and beauty itself.
[1] Mark Eckel, “Interdisciplinary Education Within Biblical Theology: A Scriptural-Philosophical-Educational-Practical Overview,” Christian Education Journal 12, no. 2 (2015): 393.