A large number of public universities in France, as well as religious and nonprofit institutions, currently offer courses on the Bible or the fundamental concepts of Christianity, and to a lesser extent on other religions. A detailed survey would undoubtedly reveal trends spurred by the Debray report, which in 2002 advocated for “the teaching of religion in secular schools,” arguing that a lack of knowledge on this subject deprives students of the keys to understanding history, literature, and art. 

The report was welcomed by many academics, who were pleased to see the significant social value recognized in the fields of study they have been professionally engaged in for their entire careers. The enthusiasm it sparked among them was met with a certain lukewarm response from the educational system, with the result that the proposals were only very partially implemented. In fact, it is not surprising that higher education has been more eager to embrace these themes. Since it is aimed at adults, it largely avoids the problems of content acceptability. Academic freedom replaces the requirement to maintain a secular discourse on defined curricula with the principle of a diversity of voices and the exchange of opinions. 

This does not entirely relieve the teacher of the responsibility to identify and anticipate content that might be offensive—whether due to violence or obscenity, or because it conflicts with the audience’s preconceptions—and to find ways to address it. 

On the other hand, we were verging on an impasse regarding how to adequately train secondary school teachers, since the institution cannot rely solely on the skills that individual teachers already possess in their private lives. The key, therefore, lies in the curriculum for students training to become teachers, so that they acquire the necessary skills during the course of their studies. However, it should be noted that the majority of university courses currently offered are elective, and this situation warrants further consideration.

Commenting on the sacred text and transmitting knowledge about rituals are considered religious activities—and even foundational ones—in the eyes of the Abrahamic religions. By stripping this very ancient subject of its confessional focus, we are faced with the need to reorganize it into a new hierarchy in which the importance of each concept is reassessed. For example, in an introduction to the Old Testament, should we give special prominence to prophecies traditionally viewed as foretellings of Christ? While it is not easy to provide a general answer, ad hoc responses are being developed within the various disciplines: a student of art history undoubtedly needs to understand Christianity differently from a student of history, sociology, etc., or from a literature student writing an essay on Pascal.

Indeed, university education has always included the study of religions—their texts, their practices, the communities they form, and their historical evolution—and this on a massive scale, sometimes through dedicated disciplines, sometimes through disciplines that draw on them to achieve their own objectives. Access to this knowledge thus becomes a matter of equal opportunity at the university. When religious culture is left to families, it nonetheless constitutes—or perhaps even more so—a form of cultural capital capable of fostering elites. The diversity of today’s student and adult population calls for investment. For what was once, for the majority, the equivalent of a native language—known even to those who had not studied it—is increasingly resembling a foreign language, with the characteristic that it must be acquired in a short period of time. This justifies the search for effective methods.

In this seminar, we will examine the French context and, for comparison, the Belgian context. We will explore all the ways in which the Bible is addressed in adult education programs with non-religious objectives—that is, without assuming that the audience believes in the text’s inspired nature or recognizes its unique value.