The Bible as a multi-religious text

The Bible is a multi-religious text because it contains

• the sacred writings of two religions
• material of relevance to a third
• echoes of earlier, Canaanite religious practices in the times of the Tenakh and of Greek ‘pagan’ practice in New Testament times.

That does not mean that all these religions are equally ‘right’ or ‘good’ or that there is a relativist quagmire in which truth claims should not be explored. Religion itself can be morally ambiguous – a force for evil as well as good. The Bible itself testifies to evil religious practices, e.g. child sacrifice to Molech, as well as good ones. It also testifies throughout that it is God who is ultimately God, not human-made religious systems.

So, in an educational context, treating the Bible as a multi-religious text does not represent a limiting or restricting of it, or undermine its authority within the communities of faith. Instead, by making the context clearer and encouraging reflection on meaning, it may in fact enhance it.

Writing about God

The three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are very different faiths, sometimes with conflicting truth claims which cannot be reconciled easily, if at all. But they are also in an unavoidable historic relationship:

• Christianity grew out of Judaism
• Islam respected a line of prophets who were already respected by Judaism and Christianity.

The three religions have more in common than that. They are in agreement that

• there is One God
• this God is present in and revealed through events described in the Bible, even though this God may be represented in writing as G-d, God and Allah.

None of this common ground minimized the differences between these religions, not least on the question of the significance of Jesus. But it does pave the way for the Bible to be taught in RE lessons within a world religions context as a multi-religious text. Religious Education has not traditionally viewed it in this context, nor recognised that, far from being a problem, this is an opportunity.