Jots & Tittles
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Teaching About the Bible in Public Schools
In the latest chapter in the debate over religion in public schools, a group of educational and religious organizations have issued new guidelines for teaching about the Bible without abrogating the First Amendment.
“The emphasis is on the word ‘about,’” says Chuck Stetson, vice chairman of the New York-based National Bible Association, one of the publishers of the manual. “The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that it is constitutional to teach about the Bible in literature, in history and in social studies. It is, of course, unconstitutional to teach the Bible devotionally in public schools.” (See the articles by Charles R. Kniker and John M. Swomley, “Should the Bible Be Taught in Public Schools?” BR 11:03.) The diverse groups supporting the guide include the American Federation of Teachers, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, the American Jewish Congress, the Council on Islamic Education and the National Association of Evangelicals.
The guidelines found in The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide stipulate that study of religion in a public school must be educational, not devotional; that teachers of Bible classes should be selected in the same manner as teachers of other subjects; that the Bible may be used as the primary—but preferably not the sole—text for a course; that supernatural or divine occurrences in the Bible may not be taught as historical fact; and that students should be exposed to religious and secular interpretations of the Bible.
The guide urges schools to protect the religious liberties of students of all faiths—or of no faith at all. And it acknowledges that the study of religion is an essential component of a liberal education.
The manual is “an historic breakthrough,” says Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, which copublished the guide.
The guide is available on-line at www.freedomforum.org and www.teachaboutthebible.org. Or call 1–800-830–3733 and request publication number 99-f03.
Holy Writ as Writer’s Guide
In 1905, in the days before people became wary of teaching the Bible in English classes, Charles Sears Baldwin prepared a slim guide intended to teach “plain people” how to write based on “the easiest of books to have at hand.” The resulting How to Write: A Handbook Based on the English Bible (New York: Macmillan) might come in handy as educators attempt to use the Bible in public schools. The manual reads like Strunk and White, but with all the examples taken from the King James Version. Or perhaps it’s closer to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. For, Baldwin began, “The great practical object of saying one’s mind is to lead people to do a given thing at a given time.”
The best way to do this, recommended the assistant professor of rhetoric at Yale University, is to model your writing on the Book of Acts.
Know your audience, wrote Baldwin, the way Paul, during his speech on Mars Hill (Acts 17:22), recognizes his (“Ye men of Athens”). Capture their attention from the start. (Paul immediately accuses the Athenians of being too “superstitious,” in a sense, too religious.) But most importantly, know your purpose: The single goal of Paul and the apostles is conversion. “Whatever else we may think of this object,” Baldwin stated, “we know unmistakably what it is. Because their object is so clear, and so compelling upon them…we can study in their speeches most readily the means of persuasion.”
Baldwin continued, “The greatest single lesson, perhaps, that the Bible teaches concerning the use of words is sincerity…Its writers were overpowered by what they had to say.”
If, however, your authorial intent is simply to tell a good story, take heed of 2 Samuel 18—the death of David’s son Absalom. The last line, Baldwin asserted, is the best climax in literature: “Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33).
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To write compelling stories, Baldwin declared, the writer must know what to omit. Events separated by space and time must be brought together. The account of Joab chasing after Absalom is particularly strong because it takes place within a single day.
Be specific. The best-remembered biblical passages are the most concrete: “And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away” (2 Samuel 18:9).
Finally, focus on one character’s understanding of one event. Although Joab is the leader of the attack, and Absalom the one who dies, David is always the central figure. We read more of his suffering than of Absalom’s.
Baldwin proposed that students of writing hone their skills by retelling the story from Joab’s viewpoint: “For it would show clearly that story-telling does not always serve the purpose of history, and that the same material gives very different stories, according as this man or that is put forward as the dominant character.”
An interesting point as the history of Joab and David’s story comes under increasing scrutiny these days. Are you interested in taking up Baldwin’s challenge? See section below and try your hand at rewriting a biblical passage.
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Who Wants to Be Joab? A Short Story Contest
Taking heed of Baldwin’s advice (see above), we invite you to rewrite any biblical story from the viewpoint of one of the lesser characters. Retell the death of Absalom from Joab’s perspective or relate Eve’s encounter in Eden in the words of the serpent. Just be sure to let us know which verses you are rewriting and from whose point of view. The stories should not be longer than 1,500 words. The deadline: June 15, 2000.
Send your stories—typed, double-spaced—with a cover letter that includes your name, address and phone number to Bible Review, Attn: Joab, 4710 41st St. NW, Washington, DC 20016; or send by e-mail to bas@bib-arch.org. The top three entries—as judged by BR’s editors—will be announced in the
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Finding God On-Line
“View all religions” reads a line on the Web site Beliefnet.com. Be warned: You’re only a couple clicks away from a bewildering yet rich array of material relating to religious life in America. You’ll find a new translation of the Rig-Veda, a debate on gay marriage, an update on the Pope’s travels, daily wisdom from the Dalai Lama, an essay on celebrating the Chinese New Year in the Bible Belt, information on a Christian dieting craze (you can’t worship both God and a chocolate brownie) and a list of the main tenets of the Buddhist faith. You can search for the synagogue (or church or Temple or prayer center) nearest you or test your knowledge of romantic episodes in the Bible: “When David first saw Bathsheba, she was ________ .” (Hint: It’s not answer D—aerobicizing.)
The site is the brainchild of Steven Waldman, a longtime editor at U.S. News & World Report and a former Newsweek correspondent, and Robert Nylen, a magazine consultant who also founded The New England Monthly.
Their stated goal: “To do whatever it takes to help individuals meet their own needs in the realm of religion, spirituality and morality. Sometimes this means providing information. Sometimes this means providing inspiration.”
Neither the site nor its sponsors are affiliated with a particular religious organization.
Beliefnet’s writers are journalists, priests, philosophers, rabbis and scholars. BR readers will recognize many names: Marcus Borg, Jack Miles and even our own Hershel Shanks (we must disclose) have appeared on the site. Beliefnet includes news stories, feature articles and opinion pieces, as well as on-line discussion groups, prayer circles and links to other sites, both religious and nonreligious.
For now, the site is a news magazine. But expect that to change. Beliefnet is already selling a handful of books and cds, and expects to offer much more—including tours (“pilgrimages”)—primarily through partnerships with other organizations. “There has always been a wonderful symbiosis between making a buck and doing the Lord’s work,” cofounder Robert Nylen told the magazine The Industry Standard.
Islamic Group Issues Death Sentence for Playwright
To say a writer is in Salman Rushdie’s league would normally be considered a compliment. In this case, however, the kinship is based on something other than literary talent: A fatwa, or death sentence, has been leveled against American playwright Terrence McNally by the London-based Muslim group Al-Muhajiroun. The group claims that McNally insults Jesus, whom Islam recognizes as a messenger of God, by depicting him as a homosexual in the play Corpus Christi.
Al-Muhajiroun says that in Islam Jesus is considered an important prophet and that classical and modern Islamic authorities prescribe death for blaspheming a messenger of God. Copies of the fatwa, which was issued late last year, were handed out to theatergoers outside north London’s Pleasance Theater, where Corpus Christi was playing. Invoking the authority of the Shari’ah Court of the United Kingdom, the sentence quotes the prophet Muhammad: “Whoever insults any messenger of God must be killed.”
McNally sets the gospel story in modern Texas. In the play, Jesus is betrayed by his gay lover Judas and is crucified as “King of the Queers.” Corpus Christi has provoked no small share of controversy in the United States and Britain since its premiere.
Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, judge of the Shari’ah Court, does not encourage individuals who wish to carry out the sentence: Only an Islamic state can do that. But he has castigated the spokespeople of other faiths for failing to speak out against the play. The Church of England, Sheikh Omar says, “has neglected the honor of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. It is blasphemy for them not to take action.”
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Jesus at 2000
Sister Wendy Beckett has selected Janet McKenzie’s Jesus of the People (above) as the winner of a contest seeking a portrait of Jesus for the new millennium. The British nun, famous for her BBC art shows, describes the painting as “a haunting image of a peasant Jesus—dark, thick-lipped, looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence.”
Sponsored by the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newsweekly, the Jesus 2000 contest drew 1,678 entries from artists around the world. Artist McKenzie, of Island Pond, Vermont, told the National Catholic Reporter that although she portrayed Jesus as a man, she used a black woman as a model “to incorporate, once and for all, women, who had been so neglected and left out, into this image of Jesus.” The painting also includes a Chinese yin-yang symbol, which represents harmony, and a feather, which connotes the Great Spirit of Native American tradition.
A booklet containing photos of 60 of the judges’ favorite images of Jesus is available from the National Catholic Reporter for $5.00 (check or money order only). Send to NCR Art Supplement, 115 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64111.
Raymond Tournay, O.P. (1912–1999)
Internationally renowned scholar Raymond Tournay, O.P., of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française, died November 25, 1999, in Jerusalem.
He was born Jacques Tournay in Paris on March 28, 1912. In 1930 he entered the Dominican novitiate in Amiens, receiving the religious name Raymond. A special dispensation enabled him to be ordained on July 14, 1936, at the age of 24.
In September 1938 Father Tournay arrived in Palestine to begin his career at the École Biblique in Jerusalem, but during World War II he went back to Paris, where he worked with the French Resistance and was an active member of a group of academics who hid Jewish scholars.
After the war, Tournay returned to the École Biblique, where, from 1946 to 1992, he taught Akkadian, Sumerian and Old Testament exegesis, focusing on the Prophets, Wisdom literature and the poetic texts. In 1950, when the École Biblique prepared its translation of the Bible, Bible de Jerusalem, Tournay enlisted the Jewish poet Raymond Schwab to help him render the Book of Psalms in French. Their work is still recognized as the best translation of Psalms into any language. In 1968 he became editor of the academic journal Revue biblique, a responsibility he exercised for 25 years. He was elected director of the École in 1972.
Tournay also led a more secretive life: In 1964 he began tutoring Prince Hassan, the 17-year-old brother of King Hussein of Jordan, in French, Aramaic and Hebrew. The prince astutely recognized the need to understand the mentality of his Jewish neighbors, but—as it would not do to let it be known that the crown prince was being taught by a Roman Catholic priest—Tournay’s visits to the palace in Amman had to be shrouded in secrecy. Each week, a car from the palace came to collect Tournay, who would shave his beard and wear dark sunglasses. He continued to wear his Dominican habit, however, which many felt made him look like a Moroccan diplomat! A romantic, Tournay thoroughly enjoyed the ruse.
Tournay was twice decorated by the French government: He received the medal of National Merit in 1972 and the Legion of Honor in 1981. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, for his half century of scientific productivity, his efforts to promote peace between Arabs and Jews, and his work on behalf of the poor and political prisoners.
When Prince Hassan heard of Tournay’s death, he wrote a personal lettter to the Dominican community in Jerusalem, noting that he would remember Père Tournay, his teacher and friend, as “a man of exemplary integrity and humanity.”
Teaching About the Bible in Public Schools
In the latest chapter in the debate over religion in public schools, a group of educational and religious organizations have issued new guidelines for teaching about the Bible without abrogating the First Amendment.
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