Biblical Literacy: A Quantitative Analysis of

Americans’ Knowledge of the Four Gospels

Seth AllenNov. 28, 2012

SOC 618 : Advanced Data Analysis

Until the 1980’s, the consensus of Western

religious scholars was that religion in the West was in decline

Prothero (2007), Stark and Finke (2005), Fogel (2002), and Berger (1999) note a resurgence of evangelical Christianity in the United States since the 1960’s

But does this supposed awakening affect Americans’ knowledge of basic aspect of biblical literacy? Can they state the four gospels? And are their differences in knowing the four books and education, race, gender, or similar variables?

A Fourth Great Awakening?

Conducted in 2010 with 3,412 respondents in the

continental U.S. 2/3rd were landline, 1/3 were conducted by cell phone Conducted in Spanish and English

Researchers used a 95% confidence interval Responses were weighed for over-representation of

religious groups in surveys and for possibility of double sampling in same household

Gender was not asked on the survey I selected the question:

“Will you tell me the names of the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible, that is the Four Gospels?”

Pew Forum on American Religious Knowledge Survey

Nearly 40% of the survey respondents refused

to answer Of those who did responded, 84% could name

the four gospels correctly Slight positive correlation between being

college educated and knowing the 4 gospels Respondents who could name the 4 gospels

were slightly older (mean of 4 years) with a narrower dispersion ages than those who could not

Biblical Literacy in the U.S.

My key variable, knowing the four Gospels,

was coded as a dummy variable for regression analysis Survey participants who did not answer were

removed from dummy variable Participants who could correctly name all four

were coded as 1, all others as 0 Multiple Logistic Regression revealed no

statistically significant results

Methods

Knowledge of the Four Gospels and

Race

White Black Other Race0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

14.0%20.9%

28.7%

86.0%79.1%

71.3%

Don’t Know 4 GospelsKnow 4 Gospels

Knowledge of the Four Gospels and

Education

Less than high school

High School Diploma

Some college BA +0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

18.6% 17.8%12.8% 14.9%

81.4% 82.2%87.2% 85.1%

YesNo

Knowledge of Four Gospels and Political Ideology

Very

Con

serv

ative

Conse

rvat

ive

Mod

erat

e

Libe

ral

Very

Liber

al0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

11.4% 11.9%17.8% 20.1%

13.2%

88.6% 88.1%82.2% 79.9%

86.8%

NoYes

Knowledge of Four Gospels and Identifying as ‘Born Again’

Don’t Know Four Gospels

Know 4 gospels

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

14.7%

85.3%

10.4%

89.6%

No, not born againYes, born again

OLS Regression Results

Model

Standardized Coefficients t

Sig.

Beta

(Constant) 19.296 8.122 0

Know All Four Gospels 0.029 1.276 0.202

Less than H.S. Diploma -0.011 -.468 0.64

H.S. Diploma 5.375 .061 0.013

Other Race (Dummy Variable) 0 .000 1

Black (Dummy Variable) -0.004 -.172 0.864

B.A. + 0.012 .493 0.622

Doing a chi square test, I did discover higher than

expected frequency between knowing the four gospels and having a Bachelor’s degree or higher

In my binary logistic regression analysis, I did not find a significant variation in educational attainment, race, or income for those people knowing the four gospels

Variation in income cannot account for knowing the four gospels

Multiple regression analysis reveals that income can predicted by age, gender, and knowing the 4 gospels

Other Regression Analyses

Age, Educational Attainment, and Age/Education

Interaction

18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 630

5

10

15

20

25

30

Less than BA

BA +

Many participants refused to answer the

question; could be due to discomfort with question or fear of answering incorrectly, consistent with ‘civil religion’ thesis (Bellah)

Despite what one might guess, knowing the four gospels cannot predict income, race, or educational attainment or vice versa

What other variables could better measure religiosity?

Discussion

Berger, P. L. (1999). The desecularization of the world:

Resurgent religion and world politics. Washington, D.C: Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Finke, R., & Stark, R. (2005). The churching of America, 1776-2005: Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.

Fogel, R. W. (2000). The fourth great awakening & the future of egalitarianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Prothero, S. R. (2007). Religious literacy: What every American needs to know--and doesn't. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

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