> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: sensitity to students' worldviews
>
> One of thes problem with trying to use the Bible to formulate a coherent
> worldview is that the Bible may in fact not be a "coherent" document but a
> pastiche of differing worldviews.
Nancy,
Different authors, yes, but different worldviews, I don't really see that at all.
> It was written over many centuries and
> speaks to an age or ages and culture(s) that faced very different problems
> than ours does.
That's a familiar argument, and it doesn't wash.
The moral problems that people in the bible faced are generally the same
moral problems today -- cheating, adultery, violence, selfishness, sexual
immorality, etc.
> For an example of this problem check out this website:
>
> http://www.religioustolerance.org/exe_bibl.htm
>
> It doesn't for example present a uniform view on capital punishment.
Excellent point. And you'll find religious folks on both sides of the issue (are
there just two sides?). So, it's pretty tough to use the bible to
justify/condemn capital punishment.
> I used to try to be respectful of student's adherence to the Bible by
> speaking to its utility as a history of people and compendium of ethics,
> but I am not even convinced that it works for that purpose. It is a book
> with true and false things written in it,
True and false? What's true? What's false?
Isn't that really more a matter of faith -- and proving/disproving the truth a
matter of using faith? If we cannot test the bible empirically, how can we
declare true and false?
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Jim Guinee, Ph.D.
Director of Training & Adjunct Professor
President, Arkansas College Counselor Association
University of Central Arkansas Counseling Center
313 Bernard Hall Conway, AR 72035 USA
(501) 450-3138 (office) (501) 450-3248 (fax)
"No one wants advice -- only corroboration"
-John Steinbeck
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