Best way to teach kids about religion
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Anonymous
Please tell me a more historical account of Jesus Christ than the Bible. Your assertion is nonsense. |
Anonymous
I thought PP had a good explanation. What part is nonsense? |
Anonymous
Below are a few sources I pulled from the web, googling “historical Jesus”. I’m familiar with most of these authors. Also, there’s a whole wiki page on the “quest for the historical Jesus that you might like to look at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_the_historical_Jesus Crossan, John Dominic (1995). Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. HarperOne. The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 1 by Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young (Feb 20, 2006) ISBN 0521812399 Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship by Marcus J. Borg (1 Aug 1994) Who Is Jesus? by John Dominic Crossan, Richard G. Watts 1999 Jesus in history and myth by R. Joseph Hoffmann 1986 Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium by Bart D. Ehrman 1999 The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1999 Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, 2d ed. 1913 |
Anonymous
Astounding. The earliest of Paul's letters dates to within about 20 years of Christ, the latest of the Gospels within about 60 years at most. Yes these are not considered by some PP's as the most "reliable" or "historical" sources for information about Christ. Instead, we get a list of texts all from the 20th Century or later. |
Anonymous
Not astounding at all. By the 20th century, scholars had much more material and many more means of examining and analyzing it. They were using the old texts, plus other historical information from Jesus' time, plus archeological evidence and advanced means of translation, etc. Scholars were and still are working very hard to get a fuller picture of Jesus of and the Christian religion that has had such a huge effect on world history. |
Anonymous
...and yet the gospels and Pauline epistles don't agree on the details of Jesus's life, ministry, and death. Read them side by side and see for yourself. For example, how many women were at Jesus's tomb? The answer depends on which synoptic you cite. Of course, this is symptomatic of the bigger issue namely that we don't know what the original gospels texts said, we don't know who wrote them, and they've been translated, edited, copied, etc. over the years into what we have today. Also, some of Paul's letters are almost certainly forgeries (First and Second Timothy, Titus). So I'm not clear as to how these can be considered "reliable" or "historical" when you've have several glaring deficiencies. I'm also not going to get into it but what about the gospels not in the bible? Are those more or less reliable? Why? What about the lack of mention in non-Christian historians of the time? I think you can see where I'm going with this. |
Anonymous
Yes, that's in the ballpark of what I've read. And that dating of the gospels wasn't known until the 17th century when Biblical scholars first attempted to analyze the Bible as literature. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_criticism It's really fascinating. |
Anonymous
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I rejected religion years ago.
I looked at all the evidence and decided that all religions are man made...and most religions are harmful to mankind. As a result, I have created my own set of moral values. But what is really, desperately needed is for governments to get involved. I believed that it is the moral duty of governments to create sets of moral values based on consensus and debate. Again, leaving moral teachings to religions is very dangerous. Getting back to the main question. If you must teach your children about Jesus, you must, morally, also tell them that a lot of very intelligent people believe that the Jesus, as portrayed in the Bible, never existed. |
Anonymous
When you say "as portrayed in the Bible" - do you mean certain of his sayings (e.g., do unto others) or activities (e.g., rising from the dead, born of a virgin) that he has in common with other ancient gods? If not, what do you mean? |
Anonymous
It is difficult. We are UU and our children received a whole year of Old Testament, a whole year of New Testament, several years where they learned about many different religions in 3-4 week chunks including visiting different houses of worship and attending their religious services. They are still confused on most of the Bible stories and only have a hint of some of the other religions major holidays and meanings. In order for it to really sink in, they need to hear it every year and have that knowledge built upon. Or wait until they are in HS or college and have them take a comparative religion class where they have to read, write papers, discuss in class and take tests for knowledge. This is my observation after 12 years of RE. I would like to add that many of the curricula that my children experienced, were well written, accurate and informative- it is just that they need to hear it more often and they have to want to retain the information. Exposure is not enough. However, exposure is excellent for developing empathy, inclusiveness, and an understanding that not everyone thinks or believes the same things, but many religions have major tenets in common. |
Anonymous
How about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights "...a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, France. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of what many people believe to be the rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. The full text is available on the United Nations website." |
Anonymous
Actually, this sounds pretty good. It seems natural that if they aren't being taught that they have to believe something or else pay the price, it might not "sink in" in the same way, but that's a good thing, right? |
Anonymous
Here's a link to the whole thing: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html |
Anonymous
LOL. Put down your persecution complex, PP. I'm a former evangelical who is now an atheist. I would like to give my kid a general education on all world religions. I will probably teach him a bit more in-depth about the story of Jesus and some of the Old Testament myths (like Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark) because these are common stories that arise in Western culture. But I don't believe ANY religions are "right." |
Anonymous
| Read Bible stories to them if you want to teach them about the Bible, and then let them decide what they want to believe. My children are encouraged to question everything and to make their own decisions. They have heard all of the Bible stories, they know about evolution, they have been encouraged to read about every belief, no matter what it is. My oldest son and my 15 year old daughter are agnostic, and have been for a few years. How and what they believe is their business, not mine. |