Separation of Church & State is a Misleading Metaphor. Never appearing in the Constitution nor in any other founding era document, the ?wall of separation between Church and State? in a private letter from Thomas Jefferson was not meant to limit religious activities in public, but rather to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with those expressions.

Though legislation either stalled or was abandoned in Tennessee, the debate centered around using the Bible as the sole student text book.

Claudette Riley, writing for Tennessean.com states, "Tennessee has a long history of allowing public high schools to offer Bible-related elective courses but, with no requests for new courses in the past three years, some wonder why this state has become a new battleground in a national war over how such courses should be taught."

Beginning August 7, 2006, Leland Ryken, Ph.D., will be teaching The Bible as Literature through the Barnes and Noble University.

According to Dr. Ryken, this free online course "will examine the Bible specifically from a literary perspective. We'll take a look at how universal stories, themes, metaphors, and characterizations surface in the Bible, and explore the many literary forms and genres that can be found there: poetry, narratives, epistles, proverbs, parables, satire, and visionary writing. The course is designed for anyone interested in a literary approach to the Bible, regardless of how well acquainted they are with Scripture."

Since its initial book release, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has sold more than 60 million copies world wide, and been translated into over 40 languages. How does this compare to the Bible? Each year, how many copies of the Bible are sold or given away in just the United States?

• 7,938,000
• 18,433,000
• 24,389,000
• 61,320,000

Signed into law on June 2, 2006, Gov. Mark Sanford finalized giving South Carolina public school students the opportunity to elect Bible courses.

Devon Marrow, writing for the Columbia, SC newspaper The State says, "While other students learn how to conjugate French verbs or navigate a musical scale, nearly 6,500 S.C. students a year leave campus and learn about the Bible and its Ten Commandments."

In Where Jesus Walked, Ken Duncan introduces readers to awe-inspiring places in and around Israel where Jesus lived. It also includes contemplative insights from a variety of renowned authors such as Augustine, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C. S. Lewis. These images and writings reveal in a remarkable way what life was like during New Testament times. The Bible will come to life like never before for those who walk Where Jesus Walked.

Lanham's Bible Bookshop has donated a copy for our August drawing. So, how do you register for your chance to win this beautiful book?