Religious beliefs and history education: biblical stories among Jewish-Israeli adolescents’ historical significance

Despite the significant impact of identity and cultural characteristics on historical thinking, the influence of religious aspects on students’ historical understanding remains under-researched. This article addresses this gap by exploring the historical significance attributed to biblical stories among secular and religious Jewish adolescents, while also examining how history education extends beyond formal history classes. Although the Bible holds a central place in Jewish historical culture, biblical narratives are absent from Israeli school history curricula. This study employs quantitative methods to investigate students’ attitudes towards biblical stories through two key questions: (1) What are the five most important events in history?; and (2) When did Zionism begin? The research sample included 350 Jewish Israeli adolescents, surveyed approximately two months after completing K–12 education in either the non-religious state education or the state-religious education systems. The findings reveal a profound impact of religious identity and culture on students’ historical significance. Among state-religious education graduates, more than 50% cited at least one biblical event as one of the most important in history, compared to less than 7% of non-religious state education graduates. Similarly, when considering the beginning of Zionism, state-religious education graduates referred to the biblical period three times more often than their secular counterparts. Despite the differences between educational systems, around 20% of non-religious state education graduates included biblical stories in their responses, underscoring the Bible’s lasting influence on historical understanding in Israel.