Nicole M Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Last night I heard Stephen Prothero give a lecture. He's the author of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't. What a delightful man! I have not yet read his book, but am working through The Bible and Its Influence with my boys, so I do plan to get to Prothero's book eventually. A couple things struck me, about the history of Biblical literacy in the US and our changing depictions of Jesus in the last century. Prothero argues that our illiteracy did not begin in the 1960s with the Supreme Court decisions about prayer in school, but rather, had roots in the Bible Wars from the 1800s. (I was a religion major, and had no idea. I know far more than necessary about religion in the middle ages, but post Enlightenment? Not so much.) Apparently, public education in the US was all about creating an educated, moral citizenry, and you couldn't be a moral citizen without a good working knowledge of the Bible. So schools included devotional time in their days. Once the cities began to have a larger population of Catholics, there was suddenly a more vocal questioning of this practice, not because Catholics had a problem with the idea of devotions, but because the schools were using the wrong Bible. Eventually Catholics and Protestants decided that no Bible was better than the wrong Bible, so devotions were phased out. (This is the super cliff notes version, by the way.) The other dynamic that was at work at that time was a shift from the Calvinist idea of faith being the business of head and heart to a more heart-centered, evangelical idea of a personal relationship with Jesus. This is when we started seeing images of Jesus change from pictures of him in a story to head shots, or "yearbook" pictures. And those changed from Jesus looking into heaven to Jesus looking right at you, babe. (In a sexy voice) "I care about you." I can't wait to read these two history chapters he discussed. He mentioned that the reviewers of his book spent a total of "zero percent of their time" reading the history chapters so during the lecture he was going to spend "fifteen percent" of his time recapping. He told the audience that the ones of us who hate history because, you know, it happened a long time ago and doesn't have anything to do with us, could zone out, and a neighbor could nudge us when it was over. His descriptions of how the biblical texts have been co-opted by both political parties was new to me, too, and compelling. Since we have discussed this before, I thought y'all might be interested. Also, I would be curious to know if anyone here has read his book, and what you thought of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 The other dynamic that was at work at that time was a shift from the Calvinist idea of faith being the business of head and heart to a more heart-centered, evangelical idea of a personal relationship with Jesus. This is when we started seeing images of Jesus change from pictures of him in a story to head shots, or "yearbook" pictures. And those changed from Jesus looking into heaven to Jesus looking right at you, babe. (In a sexy voice) "I care about you." :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Another big shift in at the beginning of the last century was the rise of Fundamentalism in reaction to textual criticism and later, literalism. I sometimes wonder if that had it's affect on biblical literacy as well because people began to accept the literalist view of the Bible as literal facts and then to reject it as meaningless or irrelevent when science contradicted that view. Probably lots of things contributed. Regardless, I now want that book! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Thanks, Nicole! After reading this the other day, I went ahead and got Prothero's book. I'm only about halfway through now, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it and feel that I could comfortably recommend it to anyone, regardless of religious persuasion. It really does a great job of explaining *why* religious literacy (with regard to one's own faith and the faiths of others) is so important, along with placing our current situation in historical context. I already have several friends in line for the book after I'm done! We also have The Bible and its Influence on the shelf for use in a couple of years. I can't wait to use it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygrrl Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Thanks! This looks interesting! I just added it to my (ever-growing) wish list. I am also glad to hear that someone is using "The Bible and It's Influence".. that one is on the list as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Interesting. I just put a hold on it at the library after reading this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Here's an enjoyable article on Teaching the Bible for Cultural Literacy by Deborah Markus from Secular Homeschooling magazine. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 This looks interesting...just put it on hold. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 Thanks, Nicole! After reading this the other day, I went ahead and got Prothero's book. I'm only about halfway through now, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it and feel that I could comfortably recommend it to anyone, regardless of religious persuasion. It really does a great job of explaining *why* religious literacy (with regard to one's own faith and the faiths of others) is so important, along with placing our current situation in historical context. I already have several friends in line for the book after I'm done! We also have The Bible and its Influence on the shelf for use in a couple of years. I can't wait to use it! Oh, dear. Now I have to get crackin' and read that book! I'm curious to know what you think of his "answer" to the problem (from within the public school system, which in many ways is already broken), which I'm supposing is toward the end of the book. I wasn't quite sure I bought it hook, line and sinker, but I suppose we have to start somewhere. Please let us know your thoughts on that. My only complaint about The Bible and its Influence (and did I already say this?) is that its physical format is humongous. Unwieldy. But otherwise quite nice. And, though I risk further freaking out Lisa, aka Swimmermom3, it smells good, which is high on my list of priorities about books. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted March 1, 2010 Author Share Posted March 1, 2010 Here's an enjoyable article on Teaching the Bible for Cultural Literacy by Deborah Markus from Secular Homeschooling magazine. Regards, Kareni I laughed out loud a couple places, like when she compares teaching the Bible to teaching about the facts of life. Thanks! Oh, and I found another little treasure. In my younger son's history book, there were a couple references to Martin Luther exhorting the Church to put its house in order. When I went to find the Bible verse, I happened upon this website, hosted by Grace Cathedral in San Francisco: http://www.gracecathedral.org/enrichment/brush_excerpts/brush_20050510.shtml It features excerpts from the book Brush Up Your Bible, which are clever and engaging. (I confess our favorite part of that page was at the bottom, Next: Satan. For some reason, that really made us giggle.) It's a nice little go-to for quick reference. Though, it did occur to me that folks who don't even know that they're seeing a Biblical allusion might not find it as handy as those of us who do. But it's fun reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 (edited) I am working my way through The Bible and Its Influence; however, my copy does not smell as nice as Nicole's copy since mine is from the library.:D In a strange and happy coincidence, a friend of my daughter's was over this afternoon, saw the book and proceeded to tell me about the great Bible literacy class he took last year at school using this book. The students were required to write 25 one-page papers by the end of the semester discussing one work and the Biblical allusions it contained. They had certain parameters for the works they could use and the kids did everything from classic literature and famous artwork to current music and the Simpsons. It was reassuring to hear that a senior guy (not religious) in high school could appreciate such a class. So far, I have found the book to be an interesting read and look forward to checking out some of the other resources on this thread. Edited March 2, 2010 by swimmermom3 clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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