DAY 2 Teaching Scripture

What’s the difference? 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 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) NOT an 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 transform To inspire, encourage and guide To inform To communicate To teach To question To praise God and goodness To denounce evil To challenge, to be political, to turn things upside down

How many text types or genres? Myth and Story Codes and Laws Accounts of historical events and characters Songs and Prayers Letters Prophetic Utterances Aphorisms Chronologies Gospels Collections of sayings and wisdom

Cultural Context 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 The study of scripture in a classroom situation takes the reader into the world of Jewish and Christian believers. In order to discover the sacred author’s intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture.

Language and 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? Symposium – Greek dialogue

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) The Catholic Church’s understanding of scripture accepts the Bible as the inspired Word of God and as the work of human authors who were conditioned by their time, place, culture and worldview.

Many Approaches to Interpreting Scripture Historical – Critical Approaches Literary – Critical Approaches Source – Where did the text come from, Form what type of text features of the text type Redaction – How the text had been edited or arranged (edited) Socio-Historical – social context of the world behind the text

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.

Teaching Scripture in the RE Curriculum Mandated Scripture Texts for each Year level Teaching Scripture in a Religion Classroom in Brisbane Archdiocese Worlds of the Text The study of scripture in a classroom situation takes the reader into the world of Jewish and Christian believers. In order to discover the sacred author’s intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture.

Kerry Rush Principal Education Officer, Religious Education krush@bne.catholic.edu.au