Cultivating a Culture of Biblical Thinking

Classroom culture, good, bad, or indifferent, is a genuine working out of what is put into it. Your classroom has input from the surrounding general culture, from the youth culture of your students, and from the climate of the school, but you as the teacher are the one who can most influence its actual development towards a more transformational experience.

What you put into your classroom culture should be genuinely driven by the influence of Scripture on your life and teaching. Genuine does not mean forced, papered over with verses, straining to make biblical connections but natural, flowing out of who you are.

As we delve into the idea of creating a culture of biblical thinking, first consider:

Are the Scriptures part of your life? Do you daily eat and drink from that set before you by God in His Word? This starts simply: Read. Read daily, read casually. Read deeply, read prayerfully. Read the whole counsel of God – the whole Scripture that develops and fills out the story of God at work in history, in culture, in your life; and also, read expectantly – God’s story has meaning for you and your students.

There are many Bible reading plans out there. Set a goal to read (or listen actively to a well-read recording of) the whole Bible in one year. Then do it again, and again. As you do, you will find yourself getting more and more marinated in the content and flow of Scripture. You might begin to see the mercies of God even in the places where God might, at first blush, seem harsh and judgmental. You will grow in your appreciation for the totality of the Gospel that speaks into every culture, every problem, every human heart – especially your own.

But how do you transfer your growing biblical transformation to your classes? Let’s look at a few adverbs ending in “ly”:

Personally
Again, we go to the word genuine. There will be ample times when as a teacher you can appropriately share an observation with your students that is informed by biblical understanding you have gained – often something that perhaps you “just the other day” or “just this morning” realized as you were in Scripture. That is genuine. That invites student into your inner biblical world. That shows there is something of great value to be found in God’s word.

If the school system and class membership is a safe place to do so, you can also reverse this – let the kids speak their biblical observations.

And, of course, be a person that reflects the transforming power of the Gospel and the word in your own life. Love your students, admit your failures, model forgiveness, demonstrate justice, be thankful in everything – you know what to do and you know they’re watching!

Rhetorically
The literature and language of Scripture is rich with phrases and arguments appropriate to much. Colossians 4:6 says “Let your speech always be gracious, be seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone” (ESV). This may be straining the point a bit, but a teacher’s speech, informed by the cadences of Scripture, can establish ties to a broader biblical culture in the classroom. You may not be specifically instructing in biblical truth here, but you are salting your room with inviting language that is not so “of the world” or “conformed to the world” but rather invites to a “renewal of the mind” – a mind that thinks in language. You value it; your faith is a pearl of great price, worth sacrificing all else, and they may come to treasure it as well.  (Perhaps you too can add parables, new or old, to your pedagogy).

Substantively
Rhetoric is nowhere near enough. Salt is not enough for a meal. No biblically-centered and transformationally-leaning classroom would just “sound biblical.” Explicit biblical content will be (if allowed in your school) a vital part of a biblical culture. In your integration use relevant, specific content as appropriate. This is not an article on biblical integration, but biblical integration is the lifeblood of a biblically-centered classroom. You may be familiar with certain generalities of biblical integration ideas:

• The beauty, power, and order of the Creator found in your expositions of Creation
• Themes of human nature both broken and redeemed in literature
• The indications of Providence in the flow of history

A few cautions are in order:

• Use biblical integration effectively.
• Do not try to link everything you cover to the Bible – you will exhaust yourself and your students. But do engage in compelling and accurate applications.
• Do integration at deeper levels and avoid simple verse/platitude links – especially if you must really strain to make the link.
• If it’s appropriate to reveal a new (to your class) truth of God’s nature in a way that uniquely intrigues, or that is little taught in the students’ experience, then go for it.
• If it connects to a real-life situation or a present need, then that’s great.
• If it can offer comfort, well that may be why you’re there that day. 

Proactively
Here’s where you’ve thought ahead and seen the possibilities of biblical integration. Ask ahead – will this work? Pray about it. Apply it to your own understanding. Make it either comfortable for you or embrace the discomfort it causes you – it is bound to do so for your students, but that is a path for transformation as well.

Reactively
Something has happened. A student has asked a very intriguing question. A tragedy has occurred in the students’ range of interest. A lesson has gone off the rails. Anything you did not plan for is a possible invitation for substantive biblical integration as described above. Many have said something like this, but here is Winston Churchill’s version: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Remember you worship the Redeemer – He’ll help you handle it!

Collectively
Once again, as appropriate, invite your students in on these things. Can they be encouraged and trained to be biblical truth detectors in the classroom and in the curriculum? Invite your colleagues as well. As you are able, share how this biblical culture is growing in your classroom and how it is transforming learning and students. Share your joys and frustrations, invite others to speak into it, always remembering that God has entrusted you with this class; it is His class under your care.

As you put forth intentional effort to deepen your own knowledge and understanding of God’s word, giving Scripture a valued place in your life, you are in an opportune spot to cultivate the biblical thinking of your students and see God do a work of transformation in their lives.

Russ Kraines
Russ Kraines is a 30+ year veteran of teaching in middle and high schools both in the US (public) and in Germany (private, Black Forest Academy). He has most recently taught the senior level class Worldviews course at BFA for 11 years. Russ and his wife Diane have served with TeachBeyond since its inception and currently work from home in the U.S. supporting TeachBeyond’s Informal Education efforts and working with School Services in Europe.