By Ljubica Jovanovic
Faculty Member, Humanities at American Public University

There is a silent tendency in college-level religion programs to equate biblical studies with Bible school. This phenomenon is especially present in the predominantly Protestant environment where the Bible is often seen as the only source of Christian belief.

Departments of religion, by definition, study world religions. Large departments are partitioned along these lines. While the study of the New Testament constitutes a part of Christianity, the Hebrew Bible forms the sacred scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity. Moreover, Islam shares many biblical stories and figures with Judaism and Christianity. These three faiths are also called the Abrahamic religions because they all look at Abraham, who is a major figure of the Hebrew Bible, as their physical or spiritual progenitor.