Comments on: Teaching the Bible without Teaching Religion http://seriouslearning.com/2007/03/19/teaching-the-bible-without-teaching-religion/ A Homeschooling Adventure Sat, 19 May 2012 23:41:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: admin http://seriouslearning.com/2007/03/19/teaching-the-bible-without-teaching-religion/#comment-23 admin Thu, 10 May 2007 18:07:43 +0000 http://seriouslearning.com/2007/03/19/teaching-the-bible-without-teaching-religion/#comment-23 Thanks Rebecca, I have a few problems with reading from the bible itself. The first is that my midget is just turning 5, and isn't quite up to the point where he'd follow the stories. He's never heard them in simple form before, obviously, so he's at a disadvantage there compared to kids in Christian families. The second problem is that the Bible is full of violent, gory stories that would totally freak this kid out. I mean, we can't even watch movies or TV shows that have bad guys in them because he's too sensitive to violence, and today's animation looks too "real" for him. Scooby-Doo is his favorite thing in the world, but we can only watch the original first series because all the rest have improved animation and he gets scared. So, just like I make the stories from Homer's Odyssey cartoonish and funny for him (otherwise he'd freak at when Polythemus started eating Odysseus's men), I have to make sure he doesn't equate bible stories with anything real either, or he'd be devastated when all the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed, etc. Thanks Rebecca,

I have a few problems with reading from the bible itself. The first is that my midget is just turning 5, and isn’t quite up to the point where he’d follow the stories. He’s never heard them in simple form before, obviously, so he’s at a disadvantage there compared to kids in Christian families.

The second problem is that the Bible is full of violent, gory stories that would totally freak this kid out. I mean, we can’t even watch movies or TV shows that have bad guys in them because he’s too sensitive to violence, and today’s animation looks too “real” for him. Scooby-Doo is his favorite thing in the world, but we can only watch the original first series because all the rest have improved animation and he gets scared.

So, just like I make the stories from Homer’s Odyssey cartoonish and funny for him (otherwise he’d freak at when Polythemus started eating Odysseus’s men), I have to make sure he doesn’t equate bible stories with anything real either, or he’d be devastated when all the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed, etc.

]]> By: Rebecca http://seriouslearning.com/2007/03/19/teaching-the-bible-without-teaching-religion/#comment-22 Rebecca Thu, 10 May 2007 00:08:50 +0000 http://seriouslearning.com/2007/03/19/teaching-the-bible-without-teaching-religion/#comment-22 I agree -- Biblical literacy is a must for anyone attempting to understand western culture. In fact, my husband once wrote an undergraduate paper which completely dismantled his Spanish professor's interpretation of the novel they were studying -- she didn't have a clue as to the Biblical origins of the symbolism in the book. I don't know how old your son is, but instead of killing yourself to rewrite the stories, why not just go to the primary source, the text itself? Most of the children I have taught including my own (ages 6 and 7) much enjoy reading from or being read to straight from the Bible and understand it with little difficulty. A plain reading of the Scriptural text will give a better and more accurate foundation than any re-telling. And to understand the Bible in the context of Christian tradition, I recommend to you the writings of the Church Fathers -- Ireneus, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great. I agree — Biblical literacy is a must for anyone attempting to understand western culture. In fact, my husband once wrote an undergraduate paper which completely dismantled his Spanish professor’s interpretation of the novel they were studying — she didn’t have a clue as to the Biblical origins of the symbolism in the book.

I don’t know how old your son is, but instead of killing yourself to rewrite the stories, why not just go to the primary source, the text itself? Most of the children I have taught including my own (ages 6 and 7) much enjoy reading from or being read to straight from the Bible and understand it with little difficulty.
A plain reading of the Scriptural text will give a better and more accurate foundation than any re-telling.

And to understand the Bible in the context of Christian tradition, I recommend to you the writings of the Church Fathers — Ireneus, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great.

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