Pre-Meeting
As in years past, we are just prior to the big meeting of the year for biblical scholars. The Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, will be the usual gathering of tweed and elbow patches, with plenty of books, discussions, and scotch to go around. But I wonder what the real impact will be for the long term prospects of the discipline?
Recent articles have decried the health of the sponsoring organizations and of the discipline as a whole, calling both irrelevant and out of touch. Of course, these articles have in large part been written by those outside the field and generally out of touch with where biblical scholars find themselves. More and more scholars are being asked about the politics of biblical usage. The recent laws and controversy over the teaching of the Bible in public schools raises yet another level of involvement for scholars beyond the academy.
Teaching the Bible in the public schools is not without its problems. Many parents are either afraid their children will be evanglized and indoctrinated - or that they will be taught non-orthodox lies about the Bible and its contents. The debate has become entirely politicized and polarized. The reality is that most school districts do not teach courses on the Bible. Those that do, do it poorly and with substandard text books. In most cases, teachers aren't trained and are only selected on the basis of their current church connections. This leads, of course, to the inevitable faith oriented bias in the classroom - something specifically prohibited by the Supreme Court and the US Constitution. Good scholarship and good resources are either unknown or ignored in such classrooms.
The recent spate of religiously oriented media, from Gibsons Passion of the Christ, to the da Vinci Code, have provided further avenues for the public presence of biblical scholars. But like the public school issue, the comments of these academics are made in an increasingly polarized context. It is as if there is no moderation or middle ground in any of these issues. One is either 100% for the issue at hand, or one is demonized.
Apparently civilized debate is not an option any longer.... except perhaps at the Annual Meeting.
Recent articles have decried the health of the sponsoring organizations and of the discipline as a whole, calling both irrelevant and out of touch. Of course, these articles have in large part been written by those outside the field and generally out of touch with where biblical scholars find themselves. More and more scholars are being asked about the politics of biblical usage. The recent laws and controversy over the teaching of the Bible in public schools raises yet another level of involvement for scholars beyond the academy.
Teaching the Bible in the public schools is not without its problems. Many parents are either afraid their children will be evanglized and indoctrinated - or that they will be taught non-orthodox lies about the Bible and its contents. The debate has become entirely politicized and polarized. The reality is that most school districts do not teach courses on the Bible. Those that do, do it poorly and with substandard text books. In most cases, teachers aren't trained and are only selected on the basis of their current church connections. This leads, of course, to the inevitable faith oriented bias in the classroom - something specifically prohibited by the Supreme Court and the US Constitution. Good scholarship and good resources are either unknown or ignored in such classrooms.
The recent spate of religiously oriented media, from Gibsons Passion of the Christ, to the da Vinci Code, have provided further avenues for the public presence of biblical scholars. But like the public school issue, the comments of these academics are made in an increasingly polarized context. It is as if there is no moderation or middle ground in any of these issues. One is either 100% for the issue at hand, or one is demonized.
Apparently civilized debate is not an option any longer.... except perhaps at the Annual Meeting.
posted by Bookdoctor | 2:19 PM
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