Three years ago, New Braunfels High School offered a Bible literacy class as an elective.
The city took some heat when it jumped ahead on the issue. National media attention focused on the New Braunfels Independent School District the first, and only, time it offered the course.
“We were one of the first school districts on the cutting edge of this several years ago ... for one school year it was an elective choice,” said Stephanie Ferguson, spokeswoman for NBISD.
Now, when school begins Monday, high schools across Texas will be offering a similar course.
In 2007, Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 1287 which requires all Texas public high schools to offer “elective courses on the Bible’s Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament and their impact on the history and literature of Western civilization,” for grades nine and up.
The bill goes on to highlight some of the goals of such a course, citing the need to “teach students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory and public policy.”
In order to teach the elective, teachers need extra certification that qualifies them to do so, and several universities in the state offered seminars for those opting to teach the course that do not already have the proper credentials.
Social studies teacher Jennifer Kendrick teaches the Bible elective at NBHS. With her composite social studies certification, she is already legally qualified to teach the class. She says the course covers a broad range of topics and issues and is not just a place to come and simply study the Bible.
The textbook assigned for the course, “The Bible and its Influence,” from Bible Literacy Project Publishing, is only one of a variety of sources that she uses for the course.
“We cover comparative religion and study the archetypes in the Bible, as well as its influence on literature and Western civilization,” she said. “One unit talks about the books of the Bible and the other is more of a comparison of other religions,” and their history, she said.
When asked about the students who take the course, she pointed out that it’s not just one particular group or sect.
“The last time we taught the course, we had one student that was Buddhist, one Atheist and a wide array of Christian beliefs. I was surprised and really enjoyed how respectful and engaged the students were, and how they would ask each other ‘what do you believe?’ and they were really learning a lot about each other.”
NBHS tried to offer the course for the past two years, also, but it was dropped because too few students registered for it. Typically, the high school won’t offer a class that doesn’t have more than 15 students enroll.
This year, however, about 25 students have signed up for the Bible course for both semesters.
As of press time on Saturday, Comal Independent School District had not provided information about the course.
