The Biblical Literacy Crisis and Israel

Bible engagement may be rising, but many Christians still lack deep biblical literacy, conviction, and understanding of Scripture’s larger story.
The biblical literacy crisis affects how Christians understand God’s covenants, Israel’s role in Scripture, and Jerusalem’s significance in Scripture.
Without a strong biblical foundation, Christians may be more likely to accept cultural or political narratives that minimize Israel’s importance.
The article warns that replacement theology can weaken trust in God’s covenant faithfulness and disconnect the church from its Jewish roots.
Churches can respond through deeper Bible teaching, Old Testament education, discipleship, and renewed attention to God’s enduring covenant promises.

We are witnessing a strange paradox. A recent Barna Group State of the Church report showed a rise in Bible engagement alongside a profound decline in biblical literacy and conviction. Weekly Bible reading among self-identified Christians reached 42% in 2025—the highest record in over a decade, with young adults leading the way, according to Barna CEO David Kinnaman. However, Kinnaman also stated that the number of Americans who believe the Bible is completely accurate in its principles dropped to 36% in 2025. In a similar vein, a 2022 Ligonier study found 53% of US adults viewed the Bible merely as a collection of ancient myths. “Engagement is outpacing conviction,” says Kinnaman. The biblical literacy crisis is not only about how often Christians read the Bible, but whether they understand and trust the biblical story enough to recognize Israel’s place in God’s covenant plan.

What Is the Biblical Literacy Crisis?

This decline in biblical literacy and conviction is more than a crisis of personal faith. It creates a vacuum that is quickly filled by cultural narratives and theological errors. Even Christians can fall prey to significant misconceptions. And when they don’t know the story of the Bible or believe it to be true, it impacts more than their relationship with Jesus: it reduces the significance of the covenantal land promised to Abraham and his descendants to a tale.

When this happens, says Eagle’s Wings Founder Bishop Robert Stearns, the people of the Bible (the Jews) and the land of the Bible (Israel) become less important. Israel becomes known as “just another country,” and Jerusalem—the place where God has placed His name and to which Jesus will one day return—becomes just another city. And the modern state of Israel ceases to make sense. Without a structured understanding of the Bible’s geographic home, with Jerusalem as its center, the biblical narrative, with the Jewish people as key players and Jerusalem as its fulcrum, unravels. We are watching it happen—the ripple effect of this vacuum is manifesting in our streets and on our screens.

Quote graphic featuring an open Bible in the background with text from Dr. Susan Michael discussing the decline of biblical literacy, weakening conviction, and the rise of cultural narratives and theological errors.

How Biblical Illiteracy Affects Christian Views of Israel

This lack of scriptural understanding plays out in several ways.

Why Some Christians Accept False Narratives about Israel

Without the historical context provided by a biblical foundation, Christians may accept the false narrative that Israel is an “apartheid” state—discriminatory and oppressive against non-Jews, and segregated. Stearns says this lie often collapses when a person visits the land and sees diverse communities, such as Muslim doctors and nurses, working freely within Israeli society.

Biblical Illiteracy Weakens Trust in God’s Covenants

Biblical illiteracy often leads to a disconnect with the Old Testament, which, in turn, can lead a person to adopt a theology in which God can “replace” His original covenants or change His mind. However, if He breaks covenants, He is unfaithful. This contradicts Scripture, such as Deuteronomy 7:9, which says God is faithful and “keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations,” and 2 Timothy 2:13, which says even if we are faithless, God remains faithful, for “He cannot deny Himself.”

What Is Replacement Theology and Why Does It Matter?

Once God’s covenant with Abraham is dismissed as invalid, it becomes easy to embrace Replacement Theology—the belief that the church has permanently superseded Israel in God’s plan. The church is redefined as “spiritual” Israel, and the Jewish people are no longer set apart for a specific purpose, rendering the modern State of Israel irrelevant to God’s plan of redemption. This view ignores the scriptural narrative that affirms that God will use the Jewish people as a primary instrument in His end-time activity, fulfilling a prophetic plan that began in Jerusalem and will ultimately culminate there.

Why Christians Must Remember the Jewishness of Jesus

Removing the land and the covenant from theology inevitably removes the Jewishness from Jesus. He becomes “Western-centered,” a modern cultural figure depicted as a light-skinned, English-speaking man rather than a first-century, Middle Eastern Jew born in Nazareth from the line of King David. By stripping Jesus of His context, Christians lose the ability to see the Jewish people as the family from which their Savior came.

How Biblical Illiteracy Can Lead to Passive Antisemitism

If the Jewish people are no longer God’s people—the “hinge” in His plan of redemption—attacks against them are just political conflict, not an attack on God and His Word. When the thread that knits the Bible together—God’s enduring commitment to a particular people in a particular piece of land—is relegated to myth, Israel is downgraded from a biblical priority to a geopolitical nuisance. Consequently, antisemitic narratives often go unchallenged in Christian circles; when the “spiritual home” of Jerusalem is no longer valued, the people who belong to it are no longer defended.

Why the Church Needs Biblical Reeducation

However, all is not lost. Kinnaman sees the issue as a “reset moment” for the American church—and I agree. We stand at a crossroads where rising biblical engagement must be met with radical biblical reeducation. If we continue to raise a generation that opens the Bible and enjoys its stories but disconnects them from the divine blueprint of God’s work over all time, we will leave them with nothing but “helpful myths”—and leave the nation of Israel to face a rising tide of global hostility without its most natural and informed allies.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Biblical Literacy Crisis

What is the biblical literacy crisis?
The biblical literacy crisis refers to a growing gap between Bible engagement and biblical understanding, where people may read Scripture but lack conviction, context, or a coherent grasp of the biblical story.
Why does biblical literacy matter for how Christians view Israel?
Biblical literacy helps Christians understand God’s covenants, the Jewish roots of the faith, Jerusalem’s biblical significance, and Israel’s role in the larger story of Scripture.
What is replacement theology?
Replacement theology is the belief that the church has permanently replaced Israel in God’s plan. The article warns that this view can minimize God’s covenant promises to the Jewish people.
How can biblical illiteracy contribute to antisemitism?
When Christians lose sight of the Jewish people’s place in Scripture, antisemitic narratives may seem merely political rather than spiritually and biblically significant.
How can churches respond to the biblical literacy crisis?
Churches can respond through deeper Bible teaching, Old Testament education, discipleship, historical context, and renewed attention to God’s covenant faithfulness.

For Further Reading

Dr. Susan Michael For over 40 years, Dr. Susan Michael has advanced the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) in the USA and worldwide. She serves as the USA President and sits on the ICEJ’s international Board of Directors. She is frequently asked to address complex issues to diverse audiences—including antisemitism, Jewish-Christian relations, and Middle East affairs—and does so with clarity and grace. Dr. Michael leads the American Christian Leaders for Israel (ACLI) network, has authored books, such as Encounter the 3D Bible: How to Read the Bible so It Comes to Life, and has developed educational resources, including the IsraelAnswers website, ICEJ U online courses, and curricula for Christian colleges.