High
School Course – World Civilization – Christianity
To
my brother pastors: A
concerned parent gave me this text and asked for my comments. After reading the text (and spending some
time in prayer) I made the following observations. Before doing anything further, I would
appreciate your input.
Observations:
·
Not grossly offensive
·
Seemed “thrown together” without much
thought
·
Broad claims, but no documentation
·
Without argumentation the text leads
students to certain conclusions, e.g. Buddhism & Christianity are same:
“similarities…salvation and guidance of saints” (!)
·
Later form of Buddhism presented Buddha
as “divine savior” – “Jesus of Nazareth, believed by Christians to be the son
of God…”
·
Jesus “sent to earth to redeem human
sin” (!)
·
Jesus call “Christ…through his sacrifice
to prepare his followers for widespread possibility of an afterlife and
heavenly communion with God.”
And so it goes: about three pages of statements and
claims with no precision (or even much apparent thought) and no documentation.
The text is full of clichés: e.g. that Christianity
is “exclusive” and “intolerant.”
(Astronomy is “exclusive” of astrology and psychology is “intolerant” of
phrenology.) But the same text mentions
Christianity’s ability to integrate a variety of practices and philosophical
viewpoints – with no sense of the difference between organic development and “syncretism.”
The text suggests the old canard about Paul being
the founder of the church and inventor of its doctrine (authors seem unaware of
Gal 2:2).
Text mentions “complex doctrine of Trinity” and
proceeds to give an incorrect statement of that teaching.
Conclusion: Our students are poorly served this
text. Christianity is central to Western
Civilization and continues to play a huge role in our nation and our
world. It is important for all students
to have a basic understanding of Christian origins. This text seems more like propaganda than an
honest and thoughtful presentation of Christianity
Suggestions: Students would be better served by the
Wikipedia article on Christianity. But even better, why don’t we pastors offer
a presentation on basic Christian beliefs, e.g. by using Mere Christianity or
other statement of core Christian teachings?
I would welcome your observations and suggestions.
--Fr. Phil Bloom
Pastor, St. Mary of the Valley