Comments on: The Bible’s Other Anniversary

By: lisag

lisag — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:43:16 +0000

absolutely in favor of the idea of the class–but really do not think that having the class be funded by an outside source is ok.

the bible is one of the most influential books in western culture. Our literature, art, even our history has all been molded by this book. The Bible as Lit class i took in college was great–it was well done, we read the whole thing cover to cover and a bunch of the appocrypha (sp?) and the prof encouraged us to all bring in different translations.

i don’t, oddly, think that adding in other religous texts to a class like that would serve any purpose–unless those texts were influenced by, or taken as source material for the bible.

All that said–the class i took was NOT easy on the christian folks (even the ones who weren’t really religous) in the class. they had a really hard time dealing with the academic approach to thier holy book. I’m not sure the average high school student with any sort of religous background could handle it without some serious introspection.

which isn’t a bad thing–but it’s not always a good idea to ask religous questions of your parents. they might not…ah…react in a manner that we’d like to see in a parental figure.

By: Steven

Steven — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:19:10 +0000

As a parent, I’d have a few questions about any course of study involving the bible. For example, will they be including all of the violent and -ahem- “pornographic” bits? After all, if they filmed the whole thing it wouldn’t exactly get a “G” rating. There is also the very real possibility that getting up close and personal with the Bible will lead to doubts and questions and who wants that?
I do, of course, and strongly encourage a critical examination of all major belief systems, past and present. Plus, your religious knowledge will make you a big hit at parties – well, maybe not.

By: Autumnal Harvest

Autumnal Harvest — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:31:14 +0000

I don’t see how the Bible can be studied as literature at the high school level in a reasonably neutral way. Part of analyzing literature is discussing what the text meant to the people who wrote it, and understanding that it might not be the way that we understand it now. If this is honestly done, it’s fairly anti-fundamentalist (and arguably anti-Christian), and I don’t think our schools should be teaching anti-fundamentalism any more than they should be teaching Christianity. For example, any reasonable reading of the first few pages of the Bible would teach that (1) some editor has put next together two different (and contradictory) stories about creation and (2) in the garden of Eden, the snake is telling the truth, and God is lying and (3) the author(s) of Genesis 2 had no intent to communicate anything resembling modern ideas about original sin. I don’t see how a teacher can deal with these issues without effectively proselytizing for or against religious beliefs.

Still I see that a number of commentators above say that they had such a class in high school, and it was fine. I’d be curious if some of you would be willing to share how your class did in fact handle the issue of the original understanding of the authors of the Bible.

By: Zar

Zar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:21:11 +0000

In my AP English class in high school, we had a little unit on the Bible, actually. It was taught strictly as literature, no preaching at all. It was pretty interesting, and those of us in the class did NOT treat the text in a worshipful way (I remember some of the female students making fun of Adam for pussing out on taking blame for his actions, and one of the male students saying, “What is this God guy’s friggin problem???”) We didn’t stick with the pretty bits, either; I remember we went over Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son, and the whole Job bit (which I think makes God look like a petty douche).

I think to teach about the Bible in a secular way requires a fair amount of maturity from the students and the instructor, so I’m not sure it would have been the best idea for one of the average classes.

Oh, and one more thing: our history book had the passage of the Flood story in Gilgamesh, and pointed out that it predated the Biblical Noah story, and in fact probably influenced the latter. I <3 NY.

By: Tao Jones

Tao Jones — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:47:04 +0000

Like it or not the Bible has shaped our culture. I actually approve this course as long as it is presenting the Bible on its literary rather than literal merits.

By: Lynx

Lynx — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:35:19 +0000

I think history of religions and religious knowledge should be a part of social studies, history and literature classes. Religion, like it or not, is central to societal behaviors, history (including a breathtaking number of wars) literature, paintings etc. Understanding basic Bible mythology is as central to understanding art as basic Greek mythology. Likewise, students should be versed in at least the basics of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism in order to understand the world that surrounds them.

That’s the ideal, but I appreciate the immense difficulty in maintaining those classes bias-free. It seems like a hell of a can of worms. In the US, you could probably reliably depend on teachers to teach Hinduism and Buddhism objectively, but the Abrahamic religions would be very hard to keep objective. The only way I could imagine would be to disallow any teacher from speaking about their own religion, whatever that may be. However I can see how this requirement would make for a large number of practical problems. The safest course of action is what’s taken now; disallowing it altogether. That’s a pity, given how rich the subject is on a purely intellectual front.

By: Ms Constantine

Ms Constantine — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:33:52 +0000

I was not raised in America so I’m not sure exactly what the education system is like.
But I think study of the bible as a book only is fine but should be left for English class to be studied in the same way as Greek mythology and Shakespeare.
Western Culture is so heavily influenced by this book and because I never read it (not that I would want or expect students to read the whole thing) I miss out on a lot of references scattered through other books, movies etc.

It would be exceedingly difficult to make sure that religious instruction was not given when studying the bible though, probably too hard to make the inclusion worthwhile.

By: Todd Campbell

Todd Campbell — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:40:45 +0000

I live in Mooresville and my daughter attends school in the district in question. She’s not in high school yet (5th grade). But, if this class is still offered when she gets there, I might encourage her to take it. If it turns out to be what it should be (non-proselytizing), then it will be worth it from a pure cultural perspective. But, if it turns out to be otherwise, then we’ll have standing for a lawsuit.

By: Erp

Erp — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:55:50 +0000

I agree if handled correctly a course on the Bible would be good. There are several ways of teaching it secularly.

1. Bible in literature and the arts. The use of the Bible as literature as well as the use of the Bible in literature and art (music, painting, sculpture, etc).

2. The Bible as a historical document. This would include the Documentary Hypothesis, dating the various sections of the Bible, early manuscripts, translations (and their pitfalls), variants, how the canons were decided, etc.

3. The use of the Bible by religions. How do different religions/denominations approach the Bible. Changing theological perspectives (e.g., to slavery, divine right of kings, women’s position). Would have to be carefully constructed to be about religions and not indoctrination in a religion.

Method 1 is the best approach for a high school.

Having it as part of a classical literature class that includes the Greek/Roman epics/myths might be the best method as the Greek and Roman myths are the other big well that European culture (and therefore much of American culture) has drawn upon. A student familiar with both wells is well placed to extract much from later western art and literature.

By: Ubi Dubium

Ubi Dubium — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:37:07 +0000

I’d be uncomfortable with the outside funding. I’d want the school system to have direct control, to be sure no preaching was happening. And I think that, as part of the course, other religious texts should be read for comparison.

I encourage my kids to read parts of the bible when they have questions about one of the stories. I wish you could have heard UbiDuiKid#1′s reaction to reading the story of Lot. Actually reading that book is one of the better ways to reduce belief in it.