The Bible as Literature

[Resha Caner]

What do you think of public schools teaching classes in "the Bible as literature"?

 

[lux et lex]

I took it in college. It was fairly interesting. I wouldn't have a problem if it was an elective and there were also similar religiously themed electives from a secular point of view. I mean, even my atheist friends agree....over all it's a pretty good book.

 

[Kalevalatar]

The Bible all but single-handedly forms the basis of written Finnish language, since Mikael Agricola's Finnish translation of the New Testament in 1548, and thus also the cornerstone of Finnish literature. It would be impossible to teach Finnish literature by self-censoring to omit the Bible on account that the Bible somehow only belongs to the realm of "religion" and not "literature".

 

[Resha Caner]

My son is taking it right now in highschool, and it is not an elective - it is one "unit" in his literature class.

For a long time I was opposed to the idea. It seemed an opportunity to misrepresent scripture (which it is). My son's attitude is that the Word has power, and any opportunity for people to hear the Word is a good thing. Though his teacher explicitly said they would not discuss faith in class, that doesn't prevent him from talking to classmates about it outside of class. After all, there's homework.

I like his approach to it.

 

[mdseverin]

My son is taking it right now in highschool, and it is not an elective - it is one "unit" in his literature class.

For a long time I was opposed to the idea. It seemed an opportunity to misrepresent scripture (which it is). My son's attitude is that the Word has power, and any opportunity for people to hear the Word is a good thing. Though his teacher explicitly said they would not discuss faith in class, that doesn't prevent him from talking to classmates about it outside of class. After all, there's homework.

I like his approach to it.

I kind of lean against it being taught as literature because the Bible is a spiritual book and is meant to be used to discuss faith. However, I do see you son's point of view.

In college I took History of Islam and read parts of the Qur'an. I didin't get any spiritual benefit out of those readings. It was interesting, but nothing that would make me expolre that faith. So I don't think a non-Christians would get anything out of just hearing the words of the Bible. Only if a discussion on faith was part of curriculum as well. And that would never happen in a public school.

 

[mdseverin]

To add on to my thought. I think a non believer in that class would be reading the words of the Bible similar to how everyone reads Greek mythology. They are good stories that teach lessons.

 

[Resha Caner]

I kind of lean against it being taught as literature because the Bible is a spiritual book and is meant to be used to discuss faith. However, I do see you son's point of view.

Yeah, it's always cool to see your kids demonstrate faith. But I'll admit the idea still makes me a little squeamish. Maybe I'm just cringing because of what he might be up against.

In college I took History of Islam and read parts of the Qur'an. I didin't get any spiritual benefit out of those readings.

I wouldn't expect you to. It's not the Word, and there is an important difference.

 

[Boss_BlueAngels]

What I'm seeing here is a great deal of bias and a lack of respect to the "other" perspectives.

mdseverin: "I kind of lean against it being taught as literature because the Bible is a spiritual book and is meant to be used to discuss faith."

That is our view of the Bible. To someone who does not believe it really is just another piece of ancient literature. And even to us, it is a spectacular piece of literature!


And one final thought. Really? How possibly could it be BAD for people to be reading the Bible, in ANY context?

 

[Radiata]

I took it. I got straight A's in all of the assignments until the final paper where she gave me a 47% which dropped my grade to a C. She didn't like me because I was constantly correcting her in class and this was her way of getting back at me. I took my paper to the advisory committee and they said "We like your paper, you put a lot of effort into it, it deserves better....but since this assignment is subjectively graded, there's not a thing we can do about it."

 

[DaRev]

And one final thought. Really? How possibly could it be BAD for people to be reading the Bible, in ANY context?

If the course is taught from a Christian perspective, it can be very helpful in studying the word of God. Knowing the different genres that the books of the Bible are written in really helps understand the texts better. I took such a course when finishing by Bachelors degree before entering seminary.

But if it's taught in a secular way, it could be harmful to those who may be new or weak in their faith since the secular "opinions" will always be part of the discussions.