The Story Behind the Stories: Unlocking Western Literature and History

One of my all-time favorite movies, “Hoosiers,” is a perfect example of a David and Goliath movie where a small-town basketball team in Indiana makes it all the way to the 1954 State Championship to take on a big-city team.

As the team is getting ready to leave the locker room, the team preacher gives a quick prayer where he recites 1 Samuel 17:49, “And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.”

It’s a great movie and a powerful scene, but how effective would this description be if you were clueless about what a David and Goliath movie meant or understood why the preacher read that particular passage? “Hoosiers,” like so much of Western culture, is completely influenced by the Bible.

Recently, Oklahoma’s ex-State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters wanted to require a Bible in every high school classroom. I’ll state upfront that, as a Christian, I believe in the Bible. But even I thought one in every classroom was a bit of an overkill.

The new superintendent’s decision to repeal Walters’ Bible mandate has been celebrated, but I fear we have acted a bit too fast.

While every classroom may be too much, having the Bible in a few classrooms makes sense. Whether you are a believer or not—Christian, Jew, Muslim, or complete atheist— you cannot understand much of Western culture—especially literature, music, or history— without some understanding of the Bible.

Just this semester in my history classes, we discussed how early American settlers wondered if Natives were perhaps descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. One of those settlers was former Massachusetts Bay Colony Gov. John Winthrop. On his way to Massachusetts, Winthrop gave his most famous sermon, A City on A Hill, which comes from Matthew 5:14, where Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

The Pilgrims who arrived before Winthrop created the Mayflower Compact, an early form of written government, modeling itself on the covenant theology between God and Israel. Understanding these biblical concepts helps students see how early settlers viewed their colonies as covenant communities chosen by God to model righteousness, a key part of American exceptionalism.

Later, in the 19th century, it is impossible to understand the slave spirituals like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Go Down, Moses,” or “Wade in the Water” without knowing the stories they reference. In one of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speeches, the president said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Lincoln’s contemporaries understood the quote as biblical. And after the American Civil War, former slaves created the town of Nicodemus, Kansas, as a place where they could be born again.

In the 20th century, not only did Martin Luther King Jr. refer to America as “The Promised Land” in his speeches, but likewise so did most American presidents from Ford to Obama. The language of the Bible is tied up in our national rhetoric.

It is nearly impossible to read classic literature without some knowledge of the Bible. John Milton’s poem “Paradise Lost”, Dante’s poem “Divine Comedy”, John Bunyan’s book “The Pilgrim’s Progress”, Herman Melville’s novel “Moby-Dick”, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book “The Scarlet Letter”, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”, William Faulkner’s book “Absalom, Absalom!” and Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved” are all influenced by the Bible.

In my kids’ high school, they had at least three units in their four years on Shakespeare. Most of Shakespeare’s plays have some reference to the Bible: “The Tragedie of Macbeth” can be seen as a tragic retelling of the Fall; “The Merchant of Venice” as a parable of Christian mercy triumphing over rigid legalism; and “The Tempest” as a vision of redemption and grace.

If Shakespeare is too old for you, jump ahead a couple of centuries to more modern British authors like C. S. Lewis? All his works are immersed in Bible references, but his most famous book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” is an actual allegory of Jesus Christ.

Lewis never claimed his book was an allegory, but to someone who has read the Bible, it is impossible not to see it. Aslan (the lion) literally sacrifices himself to save Edmund (the sinner), dies in Edmund’s place, and rises again to defeat death and evil. If Lewis is not proof enough, how about the most famous fantasy novel of all time: J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”?

While not as over the top as Wardrobe, Tolkien himself said his opus “is of course fundamentally religious.” Scholars have noted that the central conflict mirrors the biblical battle between good and evil, with several characters as archetypes: Gandalf’s death and resurrection represent Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection; Aragorn embodies the returning king who brings peace, paralleling Christ the King; and Frodo takes on the world’s sin (the ring) and carries it to its destruction. While these are excellent books on their own, readers will never fully understand their significance without some knowledge of the Bible.

I am not suggesting the Bible ever be studied in school as the true word of God— the courts are clear on that subject. What I am saying is that four years of English classes are not complete without at least one unit on the Bible. How many books, plays, movies, and songs reference Adam and Eve, The Fall, Sampson and Delilah, Noah’s Ark, Moses and the Exodus, the Prodigal Son, and the Good Samaritan? Hollywood would have lost at least half its Westerns if they could not reference the Four Horsemen at some point, including “Pale Rider” and “Tombstone.”

I know this is controversial, but if we teach the Bible in school, that does not mean we have to teach other religious texts as well. There is no other religious text that even comes remotely close to the influence of the Bible on Western ideology. In fact, I would go as far as to say no other book of any type goes as far. So, while I understand how unpopular Ryan Walters was, not all his ideas were bad. No, I do not see the need for a Bible in a math class, but I strongly do in an English or history class.

James Finck is a professor of American history at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He can be reached at HistoricallySpeaking1776@gmail.com. Thanks to Southwest Ledger for sharing his column.