Archive for the ‘Religious Literature’ Category
“A California school district has decided in a 5-0 vote to adopt a Bible course that will be available to students in the upcoming school year.
Beginning this fall, high school seniors of the Chino Valley School District will have the chance to enroll in a new course called “Bible as/in Literature and History.”
Envisioned by the board’s Vice President James Na, the class will focus on giving students an understanding of the Bible’s influence in history, literature, religion and politics. It will offer a survey of the Bible, beginning with the historical context of the Old Testament, and then will focus on the New Testament later in the semester. It will also provide students with a historical knowledge of the Middle East.
Students may take the course as an elective, fulfilling the general requirement for admission into California State University and the University of California.
Fred Youngblood, president of the Board of Education, believes the course will better equip students in life, and he hopes other school districts will offer a similar class.
“It is my belief that better understanding the Bible will help all students with their decision-making process,” he explains.
The class stems from parents in the district who showed an interest in having the Bible taught in the public school system. The committee considered the comments and began to research how the district could meet the request.
The Chino Valley Board of Education must make sure that the course will adhere to the state education code and to California state laws, so it will remain neutral in its religious teachings and will portray the Bible as a monumental piece of literature.
Youngblood is in the process of securing a textbook that will provide the basis of the course’s curriculum.
“The preface of the textbook…states, ‘The Bible has been and still is one of the most influential books ever published. Its influence is seen in literature, art, music, culture, public policy and public debate,’” the board president reports. …”
More:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=1075884
“A shoemaker named Simon, who had neither house nor land of his own, lived with his wife and children in a peasant’s hut, and earned his living by his work. Work was cheap, but bread was dear, and what he earned he spent for food. The man and his wife had but one sheepskin coat between them for winter wear, and even that was torn to tatters, and this was the second year he had been wanting to buy sheep-skins for a new coat. Before winter Simon saved up a little money: a three-rouble note lay hidden in his wife’s box, and five roubles and twenty kopeks were owed him by customers in the village.
So one morning he prepared to go to the village to buy the sheep-skins. He put on over his shirt his wife’s wadded nankeen jacket,
and over that he put his own cloth coat. He took the three-rouble note in his pocket, cut himself a stick to serve as a staff, and
started off after breakfast. “I’ll collect the five roubles that are due to me,” thought he, “add the three I have got, and that will
be enough to buy sheep-skins for the winter coat.”
He came to the village and called at a peasant’s hut, but the man was not at home. The peasant’s wife promised that the money should be paid next week, but she would not pay it herself. Then Simon called on another peasant, but this one swore he had no money, and would only pay twenty kopeks which he owed for a pair of boots Simon
had mended. Simon then tried to buy the sheep-skins on credit, but the dealer would not trust him.
“Bring your money,” said he, “then you may have your pick of the skins. We know what debt-collecting is like.” So all the business
the shoemaker did was to get the twenty kopeks for boots he had mended, and to take a pair of felt boots a peasant gave him to sole with leather.
Simon felt downhearted. He spent the twenty kopeks on vodka, and started homewards without having bought any skins. In the morning he had felt the frost; but now, after drinking the vodka, he felt warm, even without a sheep-skin coat. He trudged along, striking his stick on the frozen earth with one hand, swinging the felt boots with the other, and talking to himself. …”
More: [This story by Tolstoy is definitely worth reading!]
http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2735/