Building Biblical Literacy
This afternoon Emma asked me what story she would hear at her Moppets class tomorrow. The past two times she has attended they seem to be doing the Children’s Bible “greatest hits” with Daniel in the Lions Den and Noah’s Ark. While both stories have to be bastardized to be appropriate for children and I was a tad confused by the take home lesson of “God keeps me safe” from the Noah story, the appeal is obviously the fuzzy factor. As in – if it has fuzzy animals the kiddos like it. So this afternoon Emma asked if there were any Bible stories with elephants, bees or snakes in them. So we had story time with Samson and Moses – although it is fairly hard to tell any Bible story to a child who doesn’t yet really understand the concept of death. But these are stories I want her to know.
I’ve been in a handful of conversations recently about biblical literacy. Mike has mentioned the lack of biblical literacy he sees even in his fellow seminary students. When we worked with youth, even the kids who had grown up in the church knew very little about the biblical narrative. I want my kids to know the stories of the bible as well as the Ancient Near Eastern history they fit into – but I fear the way such things are taught. In some churches the kids get great spirituality but no bible knowledge. In most churches kids get truncated bible stories subject to various degrees of Aesop’s fablization. The churches that actually teach the full biblical story do so with strings attached to fundamentalist dogma as well. So while I cringe at sword drills, Walk Through the Bibles, verse memorization for rewards, and unquestionable literalism – those generally worked for imparting biblical literacy. But the ends don’t justify the means. There has to be a better way.
So it comes down to educational theory – how does one spark intrinsic interest in discovering the world of the scriptures? There has to be a path somewhere between fundamentalist propaganda and biblical illiteracy.
For the moment though in our household we’re still at the “fuzzy animals of the Bible” phase…
julieclawson(at)gmail(dot)com 
good question. This is something I think about as a future history teacher and an educator and a part time sunday school teacher. I wrote something on it a while back when I was confused as to why students weren’t understanding how history and the bible went hand in hand. I came to the conclusion that the modern American church has done so much to contextualize and make the biblical narrative “apply to student’s lives,” that students sometimes forget the context in which the Bible happened was totally different form our own and sometimes confusing. I wish there was some kind of happy medium, but it appears that once someone goes down that rabbit hole of really trying to understand the biblical narrative, there is no coming back.
From this point on, we go deeper and deeper into a book that is both complex and wonderful.
Many families quit reading aloud together as soon as their kids can read alone. Therefore many people have most of their Biblical (and all literature) exposure in areas that are of interest to a sub 8 year old. Some who are motivated, will go deeper on their own, but many won’t. The best thing parents can do for their kids’ education (Biblical and otherwise) is to keep reading and discussing together as long as you live in the same house.
I think a great way to do this is through a catechism and/or the lectionary. The lectionary, with its liturgical seasons and stories, will help connect the Story to everyday life.
I like the idea of a catechism, but I think that many of them are “nuanced” by denominational dogma. Someone should write an emergent catechism…that’d be funny. “We should enjoy God and our many, many questions forever.”
I hear you, Julie (figure this out, and leave some good notes for the rest of us, will you?
I read Bible books to Ella, and cringe all of the time. She loves her book about baby Jesus being born, and I certainly don’t want to deliver the whole awful truth, but when we gloss over the slaughter of the innocents by saying, “God would never let anything bad happen to baby Jesus…” I think we’re leaving out something important about life in the Empire. I mean, doesn’t God love all of those other little boys?
Most of the Bible lessons my kids have experienced from prepared curriculum has left a bad taste in my mouth. As you describe, the Biblical narrative is turned into an Aesop’s fable to serve the moral lesson.
We got the NIRV Read With Me Bible for our daughter when she turned three. It does an decent job of representing the stories of Scripture. We have read through it several times with her (and now with our younger daughter as well) to try to give them some sense of the flow of how all the stories fit together. I’ve not tried to not offer much interpretation to the stories, but have answered questions as she has asked. I’m not sure if it’s been the “right” thing to do, but I am happy, at this point anyway, of the understanding she has of the larger narrative.
If you can give the self-gratuity, I blogged a bit about it shortly after we got the Bible — http://www.somestrangeideas.com/2005/03/22/read-with-me/
I struggle with this too. I have to start figuring it out soon I guess (we haven’t started reading Bible stories or anything to our 2 year old yet). Add to the confusion my own sense of betrayal even when I try to read now – it sure seems like it says “God will protect you if you trust or pray” or whatever else you get from the story and I just don’t know what to make of it all. Even VeggieTales currently leaves a sour taste in my mouth – “and today we learned that if you do what God says, even if you lose your current friends, you can trust Him to bring you new friends”. Umm…no. Maybe sometimes it works, but I think just as often it doesn’t. And how do you actually refute that? It sounds so good! You can’t really trust God? He doesn’t really do things like that? I really have no good solid way of thinking about it yet (intellectually I have an idea, but I don’t know exactly how to explain it to a child and I don’t really want to have to hear the “you can trust God” stuff and try to explain the difference to my child).
We like the Read With Me Bible as well, and it has sparked some rather grown up conversation with our 4 year old, Harry. Just this last week, we were reading the “to everything there is a season” passage from Ecclesiastes and Harry asked what war was. Probably a topic I’d have put off a little longer, but good came of it. I think finding a children’s Bible that just tells the story (with accessible language) and reading it with your kids is better than most of what might happen in a typical Sunday school class. Also, I think it’s OK to teach the broader truths at this age (though I wouldn’t mis-teach stories to do it). I think it’s OK to teach that you can trust God and God will be there. Those things are true even during the times when they don’t seem to be. I think we learn the nuance as we grow older and wiser. But “God is good” isn’t a bad place to begin.
Yes, yes, yes. This is a topic I have been struggling with for many months now. Unfortunately I don’t have any wisdom to add, but I wanted to say that I’m so glad you are addressing this issue.
Hi Julie. Just like everyone else, my wife and I have struggled with this, too. Ultimately, we decided that the stories are the best way to begin, but had A LOT of trouble finding good renditions that don’t, as you say, bastardize the story too much. We use three different books:
1) The Usborne Children’s Bible has the best “child-friendly” versions of most of the stories that don’t leave out the difficult stuff. As our kids have gotten older, they have begun to ask more questions about some of that kind of thing, like, ‘why did God want to kill everybody in the world except Noah?’
2) Tomie dePaola’s book of Bible Stories uses grown-up NIV translation, so there’s no modification of the story. It provides a great balance to the Usborne paraphrase. We’ve found that our kids don’t really understand the difficult stuff until they are ready to deal with it. Besides, it has GREAT dePaola illustrations.
3) The Jesus Storybook Bible is really great. I was skeptical at first, but it provides a good re-telling of all the major stories, and ties each one of them back (forward, mostly) to Jesus in some way. For kids, this is the closest thing we have found to introducing the Bible as a continuous narrative rather than a collection of independent stories. It’s worth looking at.
We try to choose on Bible story each week, and read it from one of the three books each day. We repeat ones we like, and if we forget a day or two, it doesn’t throw us off.
After reading the story, we try to discuss it with the kids a little, guided by two questions: “who is God?” and “how do I relate to him?” (We usually plan some of this out a few weeks ahead so we have some ideas…let me know if you want examples)
Additionally, we tie in world history when it comes up in other books and school stuff (our kids are 4 and 6, so they’re starting to read books about Egypt, Rome, etc).
That was more practical than philosophical, but I thought you might want to know. Best of luck, and know that we’re all struggling for the same thing you are!
So true to form the lesson today was on Jonah and the big fish – or as Emma told me “jonah and the dolphin.” The take home lesson was “God hears my prayers.”
I got to hear all about de-cluttering my house while making a candy jar to add to the clutter… gotta love MOPS…
I agree with Duane on the Jesus Storybook Bible – that’s been great to read with our kids. It’s a co-favorite along with “The Big Picture Storybook Bible” which has an ongoing kingdom theme of “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule.” Neither of them is perfect but they are the 2 best that we’ve found for reading with our preschoolers.
Julie, knowing your disdain for such things and the people who attend them, why do you go to a MOPS group?
Karl – I don’t disdain people who attend stuff like MOPS. I know that things like that are exactly what some people want and need. I’m attending basically because my mom signed me up and paid my way – but also because it is time out of the house with childcare, its a way to meet other people here in Austin, and it’s structured social time for Emma. I’m sure there are better ways to do all of that that are more “me”, but this was available ahead of the fact and didn’t cost me personally any money. It’s not all bad – I laugh with the other women and empathize that we are all going insane/no longer feel like human being since we have young kids. I do get annoyed with the cheezy talks (apparently my sole purpose in marriage is to make life as easy as possible for my husband), the Dobson based parenting advice, and the emphasis on sharing not discussing. But honestly these days any adult interaction whatsoever is worth whatever strings are attached… (although I put my foot down at Beth Moore bible studies…)
It might seem like a tall order, but if you can, try to get your family to Israel at some point. (we were saving up for years!) We were there this past year with our teenagers and I can’t begin to tell you the amazing affect it had on all of us actually being where those stories took place. Walking the streets of Jerusalem, stubbing our toes on the uneven cobblestoned roads, discussing over hummus how much smaller the Sea of Galilee was then we imagined it. Being at Golgotha. Looking out over the eerie stretch of desert where the Israelites wandered. Comparing and contrasting Israel’s history with what was going on in the rest of the world at the time. These were real people in a real place. There is much to be said for being biblically literate, to have the “head” knowledge, but so much more personal to smell, see, touch, and taste the stories into our imaginations. The value of pilgrimage is priceless. L’Chaim! (appreciate your posts–had to laugh at your comment re: Beth Moore…me too)
I’d like to echo the other commenters’ recomendation of the Jesus Storybook Bible. I love that it teaches the Bible as a story, not lessons. I love that it calls out Jesus in the story. I like that the artwork is funky and fresh.
But MOST of all, I like that the characters are NOT all WHITE! Jesus has brown skin; his hair is dissheveled. Thank God for good artwork.
My daughter, who’s fully in a Disney Princess mode now, spent a few weeks in a row requesting the story of Rachel and Leah, and we had some very fruitful discussions about the nature of God’s love and of beauty.
LOL, I think I teach out of that same curriculum for kids. Actually, I think the lesson for Noah story was “God keeps his promises.” But, it was hard for me when the kids were asking about Katrina (we have a lot of families that moved to Atlanta from New Orleans). God said he would never flood the earth again, right? So, I try to center on the good but it’s hard for kids because Bible stories are complex, and understanding the cross is imperative to understanding how God loves us and how God loves us is imperative to understanding why bad things happen and the list goes on and on. Thanks for writing this, your blogs are beautiful. I have fallen in love with your site in the nine minutes since I found it.
Julie you gave my morning a lift just by asking this question, and, from my perspective, seeming to be heading in the right direction despite your misgivings. I’ve had years of trying to find children’s teaching material that isn’t either warmed over milk sop social studies on the one hand or fundamentalist claptrap on the other.
I think we have lost our perspective on stories; we’ve all got too hung up on meaning. We are forever using the stories of scripture merely as illustrations of some moral point or other – a moral point that is as often as not cultural or contextual in origin. Whoever thinks to ask after hearing The Three Little pigs or watching Star Wars “Yes but what is the moral?” Stories instruct us at a far deeper level than mere intellect. They move us and change us in ways that mere proposition never could. Time enough in adulthood to be bothered about all that two dimensional stuff. In childhood we need to learn the stories: without editing, without bowdlerising and certainly without moralising.
We have a scripture that is essentially narrative. We serve a God who revealed God’s nature to us in a human life – ie as a story. Why reduce it to trite little maxims?
I have no solution to this. So many of the people who are passionate about teaching kids do this to the stories. I got the stories that way, then read the true versions later. Like finding the unexpurgated Grimm’s fairy tales.
i think the expurgated versions can be ok. we do this with lots of true and meaningful stuff. if harry (my 4 year old) asks where babies come from, i tell him the truth, but not the whole truth. i don’t tell him the stork brought him, but i also don’t give the sort of detailed description i might give to a 12 or 13 year old learning about the mechanics of the human body. so, the story of noah shouldn’t be limited to “God keeps His promises”, but also doesn’t have to get into the detailed horror of a drowned civilization.
the exception here would be if kids ask questions themselves. i think, if a kid asks, they should be given an answer. but i’m ok with reading noah and the flood as a tragic and hopeful story without having to address complexities that a 4 year old brain isn’t ready for.
hi Julie
Stumbled onto your post sorta third hand and a bit of a different take .I am from an older generation- probably your parents age group . I grew up in a fundamental background and was exposed to much of the claptrap one of your comments mentioned .However, my comment centers elsewhere. My wife is currently in a Beth Moore study along with her younger sister and both are profiting . Just a bit curious about your view there .
Kester – my main problem is with telling lies about the stories that cause confusion down the road. Sure perhaps we don’t need to explain to kids what exactly Esther’s night with the king was all about, but presenting her story as a beauty pageant is not exactly truthful either…
Charlie – I too know lots of women who get a lot out of Beth Moore. I’ve done one of her studies and have read bits of others. I have a few different reasons why I don’t really like her stuff.
1. On a really basic level – I don’t buy into dispensational theology nor do I read the KJV bible. Much of her theology is rooted in that dispensational assumption and in a group setting one kinda has to go along with that. She admits that she knows other approaches exist, but that she expects this theology to be assumed for her studies to work. Those assumptions aren’t exactly up for debate in women’s small group times. And her method of study is to do word studies in English – KJV english. She makes theological assumptions based on these words (hey look the same english word was used in these two verses, let’s connect the two…) and that really bugs me because it seems false and forced.
2. Her approach is emotional not intellectual. I know that that is what a lot of women want, but reading the bible just to get my feelings in order is a tad shallow in my book. The bible isn’t all about me – how I can break free or make a place in my heart for God or face my personal Babylon… To me that cheapens the bible.
3. She takes Bible verses way out of context. The study I did was a study of the tabernacle as an example of how women can connect to God. Never was it mentioned that women weren’t even allowed in the tabernacle. But I was told that since the Psalmist speaks of praying early in the morning that means that God hears our prayers the best during the early morning hours so I’d better not ever sleep in. History and cultural context of scripture was ignored in favor is feel-good self-help spirituality. I find that nauseating.
4. I hate fill-in-the-blank bible studies. using one particular translation of the Bible, I fill in the one correct answer into the blank. In my small group I share that one correct answer or get ridiculed if I try to go deeper or challenge the assumptions present. It is mindless busy work imho not true study of the bible.
but like I said, a lot of women love it…
Some time ago I taught in a program called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. It is a gentle program based on Montessori principles that teaches Bible stories in the context of the Bible as a whole and and in connection with the liturgy of the church and the liturgical calendar. I thought it was a wonderful program for giving children a foundation in the Word.
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