<p>I keep changing my post here as I think through this…</p>
<p>I think the Bible is so entertwined with the English language (think King James Bible) that there are bound to be references on the AP test. But I think if you grew up in this country, speaking English and taking high level English/literature classes, you would have been exposed to enough of it that you picked up the ideas along the way. I’m thinking of the essentials–stories from Genesis, phrases from Psalms, all the many Proverbs that have made their way into English…</p>
<p>Then there are the NT ideas and stories. Parables. Mythology of Mary. End times.</p>
<p>So if you are relatively new to this country and not Christian, you would have a lot of catching up to do. OTOH, people who are born in this country but “unchurched” would also be puzzled by some of the concepts and stories.</p>
<p>My 2 kids (Jewish) who took the Eng. AP didn’t have any problems…again, you don’t have to get everything perfectly correct in order to get a 5!</p>
<p>On Quiz Team, the coach tried to make sure there were always Jewish, Christian, & Indian kids on at any given time, to cover any mythology/religion questions! I remember once there was an EASY question about Yom Kippur, but the appropriate kid was sitting out. <em>facepalm</em> :D</p>
<p>I would say the OP’s daughter’s essay is a separate question from the AP question. </p>
<p>Was it an in-class essay or was she supposed to research a subject? The teacher shouldn’t assume everyone has the same knowledge of Christianity for an in-class essay.</p>
<p>I don’t know about AP tests but I have to agree with those who said that basic knowledge of Bible is needed to understand western literature and art. Also basic knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology is required. </p>
<p>We have rather recently relocated to US and to be honest I’m not too familiar with High School English curriculum so I don’t know how much there are material about critical media reading, symbols and “reading pictures.” There I come from it is common to have essay question in the exam there you have to analyse and compare two pictures. Often some well known painting and maybe some current advertising picture or pop cultural work. To do well you have to recognize symbols used, their literary and cultural references and discuss about those. Even if this is not required at school, it is knowledge that is valuable at everyday life.</p>
<p>I would recommend that Everyone would read (at least synopsis) most influential books of their culture and if possible also some other cultures most important books. Often this material is religious, but it is not matter of faith but being sophisticated individual. If reading the whole Bible feels arduous (and it kind of is), one could either read some kind of Bible for Dummies-book or simple children’s Bible. Bible versions for children usually have the most important stories told well enough to get a picture about what it is about and they are easy and quick to read.</p>
<p>Thanks for the opinions folks. D did talk to her teacher. He was at first kind of taken aback and apparently a bit flustered when she explained to him that she didn’t know much about the Bible or the allusions. There’s another kid in class who also will need additional help on this. He has asked both of them to read the Genesis and one of the testaments - it is dense reading, but he’s going to help them out with some supplemental reading material as well. </p>
<p>I had suggested to D that she read up on the stories using Spark Notes or something similar. Didn’t know that there was a “Bible for dummies” - sounds like it would be a good one for her to read. I do understand that an understanding of the Bible helps in interpreting literature and art - she is not opposed to reading about this. It’s just that she feels like she is now in catch-up mode - a lot more to read and digest before she can even do some of the work that others take for granted. With the heavy load senior year, this is one thing she could have done without. I wish we had known about this earlier - she could have opted for a different class.</p>
<p>Not sure if she will take the AP test - it is not required and if she feels like she is not up for it, she probably won’t take it. But she did say the sample test they did asked for Biblical allusions - so, it does look like some of the questions at least might require Biblical knowledge.</p>
<p>The essay she had to write was a class essay - I asked her to talk to the teacher to see if she could redo this essay, picking a different topic this time - without having to analyze the religious allusions. Typically, the teacher does not allow them to change topics, but now that he understands the basic issue, perhaps he will let her redo this essay.</p>
<p>This is what you need to know: most of the stories in Genesis (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers. They are short and interesting–you can read the whole book of Genesis in a few hours.) The story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. David and Goliath. The 23rd psalm. Samson and Delila. Daniel. Jesus’ birth, crucifixion/resurrection, a few of the miracles. The Sermon on the Mount. The parable of the prodigal son. If the Bible seems too elaborate to read, there are lots of kids’ books which tell these stories.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of other stuff in the Bible, of course (the Book of Job is very often assigned on its own in literature classes) but this is enough cultural literacy to get most students through an undergraduate English major and should be more than enough for the English AP course.</p>
<p>Your D needs to understand the basic concepts of sin, punishment, sacrifice, forgiveness, and redemption as they are revealed in the stories listed above.</p>
<p>When my d took AP Lit her very athiest teacher included books of the Bible in the curriculum (overseas international school with kids from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds). It’s impossible to include all the literature in the sylabus so the teachers have to pick and choose what they think is most important. If there are only 2 kids in the class without Bible knowledge then it’s probably a reasonable decision on the teacher’s part to not include that in the literature list. I think the teacher has been very helpful in providing a supplemental reading list to your d.
I’m of the opinion that ALL kids in AP classes should be required to take the AP exam. Our International School required it. If you are getting credit for the rigor and prestige of the course that should include sitting the exam.</p>
<p>In HS English Senior year (Honors but not AP cause it wasn’t offered) we were allowed to choose some of the books that year. One selection we chose was the book of Genesis (Bible as Literature). </p>
<p>The Bible is really essential for an understanding of Western thought, literature, art, music (all those Masses!)</p>
<p>Our HS choir program makes it clear that students will be singing religious music, as most of the great choral works of the last 500 years were inspired or sponsored by the Church.</p>
<p>When my kids, raised as atheists, were in high school I encouraged them to read In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis. It is not very long, 195 pages, and
</p>
<p>I don’t recall exactly but either I made a reference or one of them came across a reference that I was surprised (having been raised Catholic) befuddled him/ her. I agree that some knowledge of the Bible is simply a matter of cultural literacy.</p>
<p>My S, who excelled in Latin in HS, took a course in the writings of St. Augustine freshman year. It was difficult and cured him of wanting to even minor in Latin (CS major) but it forced him to learn NT theology in a hurry! </p>
<p>Not something he had ever had to worry about before…</p>
<p>This is not really the place for this, but since we’re talking about AP English exams, I thought I’d ask for your indulgence.</p>
<p>All this is new since my day. My D’12 attends a school where most kids take one or more AP English exams, but there is no course called AP anything, though teachers have made references to certain things that will be helpful for AP exams. D is a math kid and wants to show she’s a fit for a liberal arts education, at to that end will take an AP English exam this year and the English SAT Subject exam.</p>
<p>I had thought that D would take AP Lang this year, but it seems that the English teacher keeps pointing out passages, etc. . . . for the AP Lit exam.</p>
<p>What’s the difference and does it matter which one she takes? She really likes literature (not so crazy about history) so this isn’t a matter of getting a square peg to fit in a round hole.</p>
<p>Another reference for folks new to the Bible is The Jewish Study Bible, A. Berlin (Oxford). It’s a required text for my dau’s college English class, and she said the presentation is very clear and helpful. </p>
<p>Our kids’ HS and college curricula have introduced them to seminal works from all over the world. It’s wonderful to see the expansion! I have been trying to keep up with their reading lists simply because the only “foreign” lit I got back in the day was British with a taste of mostly French and Russian. Now, it is common to see non-Judeo-Christian faith texts, e.g., the Gita and the Qur’an, alongside Greek mythology and secular works from all ancient civilizations, in addition to master works from continents beyond Europe and North America. Joy!</p>
<p>I agree, and in addition to the Bible western literature is loaded with allusions to Shakespeare and to Greek/Roman mythology. There is no need to be religious or conduct a deep study of the texts, but having a passing familiarity with those three sources wll put you in good shape to understand what I’m guessing to be about 80% of English literary allusions.</p>
<p>Another source for the Bible is BibleGateway.com. At that free site, you can read from 19 or 20 different English translations (as well as translations in other languages). Your search can be typed in the first box (for example, Genesis 1 or Psalm 23). Then the English-language translation you wish to read can be typed in the second box. The translation “The Message” is easy to read and interesting. The New International Version is a popular, modern translation. And the King James Version was the standard English translation for several hundred years (beginning in 1611). This site provides an easy way to compare translations.</p>
<p>Thirty years ago in a public high school, I took Mythology and the Bible as Literature. It was a fun course.</p>
<p>I think the comment by the teacher about the “poor knowledge of religion” was uncalled for. However . . . I would have to agree that it is important to recognize a number of Biblical allusions, not limited to “classical” English literature.</p>
<p>Biblical allusions crop up in all sorts of places where you might not expect them. For example, Cats includes a cat named Deuteronomy (in both T. S. Eliot’s book and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical). In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury refers to the tree at the end of Revelation: “And this tree was for the healing of the nations.” Sylvia Plath wrote a poem called “Lady Lazarus.” Dan Simmons’ Endymion uses the story of Abraham and Isaac for a pivotal image/question.</p>
<p>Some schools offer a “Bible as Literature” class. You might find a text for such a course.</p>
<p>A couple of additional suggestions about key figures:
Job (even though Howard Dean thought this was a book from the New Testament, and not the Old). Thornton Wilder wrote play about Job. The beginning of Goethe’s Faust contains a very clear allusion to Job, in the wager between the Lord and Mephistopheles concerning Faust.
Jeremiah, as in “jeremiad”
Solomon, as in “wisdom of,” and the story about a Solomonic judgment between two women, who both claimed the same live child after another had died in sleep.
The Sermon on the Mount. (I think this is Matthew 6): the salt of the earth, the city on the hill, hiding one’s light under a bushel, Measure for Measure, Lilies of the Field, . . .</p>
<p>You might look through the released free responses on the CB web site, to see how frequently allusions to the Bible crop up. My guess would be that they are relatively infrequent in the essay questions. However, there are only three essays in the free response, as I recall, so if a student happens to have one that requires recognizing an allusion, it could make the writing difficult.</p>
<p>arisamp, there are many different translations of the Bible. You’ve gotten some good suggestions here; I’d encourage your daughter to take a look at those and a handful of others at a good bookstore and see which most appeals to her. The only downside with this approach is that it is generally the language and phraseology from the King James Bible that is the cultural touchstone.</p>
<p>IJustDrive - In our high school AP Lang is offered junior year. It is a very writing intensive course. AP Lit is offered senior year and it is focused much more on reading. My son took both and scored high enough on both to receive credit at his college. However his college only gave credit for one AP English exam. I would suggest going to the College Board website to see descriptions of the exams.</p>
<p>Just an observation…We live in the Bible Belt so most of the students are familiar with the Bible, etc. But S’s high school is incredibly diverse, including a growing number of Muslims. I have noticed that his Human Geography course last year and World History class this year are spending a lot of time on Islam, including reading sections of the Quran. Good to see!</p>
<p>I have to support JHS on this. I trust this will not come across as too insensitive, but without a general understanding of the major themes and characters of the Old and New Testament, one is culturally illiterate.</p>
<p>You can pick up a children’s Bible and get through it in a few hours, that would, at least, introduce you to the basics.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to know anything about the Bible to pass the AP English Lit test, though.</p>
<p>My D’s AP Lit class includes some Bible references. They are currently reading Beowulf and are discussing archetypes as well as “the odd mix of pagan and Christian elements”. I don’t know what the point of the AP exercise was, but this past weekend we were discussing Moses and Cain (amongst others) and their motivations, family, etc.</p>