this is the first thing Andrew Motion says to me when we meet at his north London flat. So why is he so passionate about the Bible? "Simply because it is full of terrific stories. These stories are primitive. They speak to us about human nature and the recurring patterns of human behaviour."The poet laureate believes all children should be taught the Bible from an early age. Sadly, he says, many children miss out, and not just on the stories themselves. Poor knowledge of the Bible limits understanding of a whole raft of literary work, from John Milton through to TS Eliot.
from The Guardian: Book of revelation
also The Guardian: Poems which passeth understanding
~~~~~~~~~~~
5 comments :
Interesting thoughts on stories of the Bible. I think "The Psalms" are incredibly beautiful, whether one holds a belief in God, or not.
The language and rhythm, sears and soars!
Like most myths, the stories in the bible are worth reading, but I worry that Genesis will give children the idea that it's okay to go forth and over-populate...or that some god put this planet here for use to use up and trash.
You'd be amazed how many Christians think that man has dominion over the other animals, because they read it in the bible.
If forcing your children to read the bible, be sure to let them know ahead of time that it was written by men with an agenda, who thought the earth was flat, and that the world revolved around them.
In addition to what Lisa points out, many of the writers of the Bible were mystics, with agendas that could only mean good for humanity if their messages could be discerned and applied. In fact, a significant part of the agenda that the compilers of the current Bible versions had, was to include those writings that were inspired, something poets are well familiar with. And many people read the Bible with discernment and for all the wisdom it contains, some for the history, some for the culture and sociology, and so forth.
None of this is to mean that people don't misread it or grossly misapply it. But we could misread history and psychology books also. On the dominion part, for instance, we have dominion whether we like it or not. My cat Princess might think she has dominion over my house, and I could be wrong, but I believe I have dominion over her and the house. I act as if I do anyway (at least as much as she does).
What we do with our dominion--which if so recognized means to have responsibility--is the question. Today, I was trying to select some cat food, keeping in mind that Princess had a sensitive stomach a couple months ago, that I would not want aggravated. She seems to favor poultry over fish now, and yet is being finicky (maybe she really does have dominion over me), but finicky with vomiting, making what to get her a dilemma. Also, I have to keep in mind that she is now over 19 years old. So I did all this, and decided to try a new kind of canned food with poultry, but at the same time, go with a dry food with fish that she had favored in the past. Decisions, decisions. We'll see.
Thanks.
By the way, I was just over at your blog reading a super poem: What's in YOUR navel. I think kids should read that.
Yours,
Rus
Great to see both of you here.
Hitler dominated the events of the 30s and early 40s. That does not mean that he was granted some sort of Dominion by some god.
His power was temporary.
We are a part of this planet. It does not belong to us. To think otherwise is like believing our intestines have dominion over the rest of our body. It's my opinion that any power we have is a delusion born of wishful thinking and narcissism.
The men who wrote the bible believed that women were objects to be owned...they believed that rape was appropriate...just as they approved of lying, murdering, child abuse, and torture, if it furthered their agenda.
These are not values I wanted my children exposed to. I made certain that they learned the ways of my ancestors, who understood that we are only a part of the earth, not her keepers.
I waited until they were old enough to comprehend the narcissistic view of Abrahamic religions before I allowed them to study christian mythology.
And when christianists at their school tried to proselytize or otherwise corrupt them, I put my foot down. I don't mind children learning about the myths, but I don't think they should be tricked into believing that christianism, judaism, or islam is The Truth.
And therein lies the problem. Whenever anything from the bible is "taught" the teacher is usually someone who thinks it's The Truth, and teaches it as such.
But I said nothing about belief in God. I just made the point that with dominion comes responsibility. It is to misread the Bible to think otherwise.
Around here, churches do wonderful works for the community. I don't attend, but if I had a hundred bucks that I wanted to get to someone who needed it, I know to go to the local church and visit the pastor there. He'd know exactly what to do, and would follow through.
The oppressions from other cultures are part of history. I cannot speak for the Jewish religion, but the Christian religion is based on love, especially overruling law. That does not corrupt children. You would not want your poetry being used for wars and such a thousand or two years from now, through misinterpretation.
We need to teach these scriptures for all their worth to make our children strong, and not feed the ignorance of people who used them for destruction and hate. That would be to dumb down the world, and forget our wisdom. Hitlers depend on this, as he did this with evolutionary teachings, as if to develop a superior race. He mixed in misinterpretations of the Bible as well. It's not the teaching, but the misinterpretation.
I did for my children what my mother did for me, brought me to Sunday school and answered my questions as best she could, allowing me to decide later in life how I would used what I learned. Fortunately I had these teachings to apply, not only to the practicalities of the mundane, but to the mystic experience of life as well.
Yours,
Rus
Post a Comment