This Washington Post article should be considered required reading for all theoplasts, actual and potential.
[Thanks, W, for the link.]
March 5, 2007
March 5, 2007
This Washington Post article should be considered required reading for all theoplasts, actual and potential.
[Thanks, W, for the link.]
March 5, 2007 at 11:45 am
To make up for the perceived omission in that guy’s book; check out the book Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman. It’s a fascinating study on the role of media and technology in the dumbing down of culture.
March 5, 2007 at 11:47 am
Now that I’m blogging, I need to remember to just post article links instead of emailing them out. I’ll learn soon enough.
I had a discussion with one of my critical members (actually, the same one mentioned before–I don’t have too many critics yet) the other day about how are people are, in her words, “thirsting for biblical knowledge.” I wouldn’t say they are thirsting, or at least if they are they don’t realize it, but I do agree that biblical illiteracy is a big problem. What’s amazing is, in the span of my lifetime, our churches have gone from being real focused on teaching our children biblical facts to neglecting this teaching altogether. When I was a child, I had to learn all the books of the Bible, names of the apostles, names of Israel’s tribes, stops along Paul’s missionary journey, and other important life-changing lists like that.
The solution is not to return to inoculating our children will these facts. But, do we not need to know some of the facts so we don’t look like ignorant asses when we try to discuss our faith? And, really, if our faith were important to us, wouldn’t we seek this knowledge ourselves? Or, is it all simply about feelings?
It is a little scary that the people who get all worked up about teaching creationism in schools can’t even tell you where Genesis is in the Bible. I maybe against teaching creationism, but at least I know where the hell creation is discussed in the Bible.
March 5, 2007 at 11:48 am
Have you folks seen Idiocracy?
A very scary future, it proposes.
March 5, 2007 at 11:51 am
I haven’t seen it, but with Luke Wilson in the starring role, how could it be bad? He’s hot.
March 5, 2007 at 11:53 am
Also, with roles like these: Eli Muñoz as “Horny Guy”, Patrick Fischler as “Yuppie Husband”, Darlene Hunt as “Yuppie Wife” and Ryan Ransdell as “Trashy Guy”, I’m surprised it didn’t get a Best Picture nod.
March 5, 2007 at 12:04 pm
I saw Idiocracy a couple weeks ago, and besides being a terrible movie, it was humorous hyperbole that borders the realm of the possible. I’m not so sure that the way in which we teach our members “Bible” is a very good model, either for kids or adults. I’m not convinced that we are thirsting for biblical knowledge. Hell, I’m not thirsting for it, and it’s what I’ve spent years of my life studying. What people are thirsting for is something that not only answers the existential questions of life but something bigger than themselves that calls them outside of themselves in the service of others. At least this is the impression I get from the current young people’s generation. There seems to be a growing disconnect between the situation of our members and the situation found in the biblical text. We need to find a way to help people theologically interpret not just the text, but more importantly their own life situations (vis a vis Edward Farley). There is a growing chasm between the two, and if we continue to bury our heads in the text we will become more and more likely to look like the society in Idiocracy, only not quite as dumb.
March 5, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Q,
Are you referencing Farley’s Practicing Gospel?
March 5, 2007 at 3:32 pm
That I am, W, that I am.
At first I hated it, but after reading it for a while I got to thinking: man, this guy is on to something. Have you read it?
March 6, 2007 at 9:30 am
I haven’t read it, but I’ve been watching it from afar since it came out. Perhaps you could in the future do a post about some of the themes of this book. From what I can tell of the thesis, it really seems to be interesting.
Mr. Preaching Professor at Seminary had us read an article by Farley which discussed preaching the gospel. His argument was that there are some texts in scripture that simply aren’t gospel, and we should not be preaching these text. Well, that’s what I remember from the article, anyway. It’s been over four years since I read it.
March 14, 2007 at 4:03 pm
[...] 14 Mar 2007 Biblical Idiots Posted by W under uncategorized A while back we discussed a review of a recent book on the need for increased Biblical Literacy in the U.S. [...]