The Bible Makes A Comeback

Many public school officials feared teaching about the text after a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Now, scholars are trying to find ways to teach about it from an academic standpoint.

Jacksonville, Fla.

Some favorite rock songs have taken on new meaning for Meghan Anderson since she discovered the biblical roots of the allusions and wordplay that have inspired her. Some of the required readings in English class are more evocative as well for the sophomore at First Coast High School here as a result of what she learned this year in a class on the Bible.

“There are a lot of different references to the Bible in books and movies and music that I never realized,” she said. “It’s all over the place.”

Pervasive it is. That’s why Harriet Kisilinsky, a veteran English teacher at the 2,300-student school on Florida’s northeast coast, lobbied school officials to offer an introductory course on the Bible and its influence on literature, history, and popular culture. After nearly three decades at First Coast, Ms. Kisilinsky noticed that students’ knowledge of the influential text was in decline at a time when academic expectations were rising. Such a course, she believed, would help prepare teenagers better for the growing academic demands facing them and give them a deeper understanding of content...