A postscript to a recent post by Dicky Underpants reminded us that even Richard Dawkins feels that it's important for all people, whatever their religious viewpoint, to have a reasonable working knowledge (broad rather than deep, perhaps) of the Bible as a foundational text of Western civilisation. This got me thinking (and rather than derail the aforementioned thread, I've started one on explicitly this topic).
People who espouse this viewpoint pretty well always refer to the Authorized or King James Version on the basis of the beauty of the language, as many other people do with the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It's the style of English rather than any theological concepts that's being promoted. Nobody to my knowledge has ever said: "It's important to be familiar with the Bible - the NIV in particular." It's always one and only one specific translation that we're enjoined to be familiar with.
It raises the question however: in a society or culture of constantly diminishing levels of religious belief, how useful for how long will Biblical literacy be? At present a colossal number of English idioms and phrases come directly from the AV - hundreds; possibly thousands of them* - and it matters that people are aware of what they mean. I don't think I'm overstating the case when I say that you can't fully appreciate English idioms without such a knowledge.
However, just like biological organisms phrases sometimes go extinct when the population of those using them drops below a certain level. And another factor: until well into the 20th century it was considered
de rigueur for the children of the upper middle and upper classes - those who received an expensive private education; just like Dawkins in fact - to be schooled in Latin, possibly Greek as well, and to have some understanding of Greek and Roman mythology in order to understand the classical allusions with which Western art and culture are stuffed. That's no longer the case; now the few people who read Greek mythology do so out of their own interest and for their own pleasure (like me). Hands up who knows (simply knows already, without Googling!) the story of Baucis and Philemon, or Leda and the swan?
If there could be such a sea change in that regard, over the long course of history could Biblical literacy go the same way? Does it have a future in the long term or could it go the way of schooling in Latin and Greek and become the preserve of a select few who pursue it based on individual inclination?
* Just a few here:
https://tinyurl.com/y8z63uzw
