DAY 2

Teaching Scripture

Bible – collection of sacred books/texts

Scripture/s – Sacred Writing/s

The Christian bible has two parts/testaments, the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is the sacred book of Christianity.While all Christians agree there are 27 books in the New (er) Testament, Catholics (46) and Protestants (39) disagree on the number of books of the Old Testament.

The Christian Old Testament is not the same as the Hebrew Scriptures. The sacred book of Judaism - (Tanakh/Masoretic text/ Torah, Prophets/Writings - 24 books)

.

What’s the difference?

What’s the purpose of the Bible - Sacred Scripture/s?

“To proclaim the wonders that God has worked in the midst of people and to interpret those events so that others might have faith.” (Stead, 1996)

NOTan objective history

In light of this understanding each book in the Old and New Testaments has been written from the bias or position of faith.

How is the Bible Used?

To transformTo inspire, encourage and guideTo informTo communicateTo teachTo questionTo praise God and goodnessTo denounce evilTo challenge, to be political, to turn things upside down

Myth and StoryCodes and LawsAccounts of historical events and charactersSongs and PrayersLettersProphetic UtterancesAphorismsChronologiesGospelsCollections of sayings and wisdom

How many text types or genres?

Who had power?What were the religious Laws?What were the norms, values and practices of the culture?What was the social status of diverse roles?What was the role of men and women?How did people live/work/ eat? How were people punished? etc

Cultural Context

What were the common literary genres of the time?What were the modes of speaking, writing and transacting?What were the purpose of parables?What was the purpose of rhetorical questions?What is the role of truth and myth?What is the purpose of metaphorical and symbolic language?

Language and context

The Author is important

Who?When did the author write?What was his intention?From which source/s did he draw inspiration?Who was the audience?

Hermeneutics

To interpret, explain and translate.

It is the actual discipline used in the process of interpreting texts.

How do we interpret Scripture?

The Catholic approach to interpreting scripture is summed up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to the person in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words (n.109)

Many Approaches to Interpreting Scripture

• Historical – Critical Approaches• Literary – Critical Approaches

Types of Truth Historical truth Factual truth Religious truth “One” Truth:

For Christians, the Bible contains one great truth about an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent creator God who desires a loving relationship with humanity and who has a dream for how humans should exist with each other and all of creation. This presence and dream reached their fullest expression when this God took human form in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.All the texts of the Bible, Christians believe, point to this great Religious Truth or “good news”.

Principles to teach from when teaching religion

• All teaching of scripture must proceed from a clear understanding that the Bible is theological interpretation of, and reflection on, historical realities and faith experiences.

• There is no text without context. • Critical Analysis is required to interpret the text.• Catholics do not read scripture from a fundamentalist

understanding.

Principles to teach from when teaching religion

• Teachers avoid teaching something that has to be untaught at a later time.

• A student’s prior experience and familiarity with scripture generally will significantly influence their capacity to effectively engage with scriptural texts. It is vital therefore that students engage with scripture in a wide range of settings, both within the classroom teaching of religion and in the religious life of the school.

Mandated Scripture Texts for each Year level

Teaching Scripture in a Religion Classroom in Brisbane Archdiocese

Worlds of the Text

Teaching Scripture in the RE Curriculum

Kerry RushPrincipal Education Officer, Religious Education

krush@bne.catholic.edu.au