Language, Literature & Literacy

Mar. 6, 2006

"People of the Book"

In my March, Samaritan Ministries Christian HealthCare Newsletter, there was a reprint of Chuck Colson's article Why Christians Must Be "People of the Book."

His commentary posits the contention that our children (and many adults) do not understand the greats doctrines of Scripture because of (1) the undue weight that modern evangelicalism places on experience with its heavy reliance feelings, and (2) the preponderance of information transmitted by images through television and computers.

Colson gives shocking Department of Education survey results that show 31% of college graduates being illerate: "not being able to read and understand complex arguments and to give comprehensive answers."

He goes on to say that "in spite of the proliferation of huge book stores the truth remains, learning by reading is at dangerously low levels, not only in culture, but in the church." "Of all people," Colson says, "Christians must learn how to engage the mind and employ reason and logic, to understand difficult concepts and grapple with complex propostions. After all, the Gospel is revealed propostional truth, communicated to us in a complex book."

We can't teach our children these things without the proper vocabulary and the ability to think. Let's prioritize our teaching time with our children by teaching them to read properly, by building their vocabulary through reading good books to them, and by carrying on intelligent conversations with them.

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Apr. 21, 2006 - Plato

Posted by Oz

It's interesting to me that Plato, at the end of the Phaedrus, makes a very similar argument about how people are being led astray from right thinking by new technology. Only in his case, the technology was writing itself. He says that books destroy memory and that true "writing" is only found in orality and discourse.

I'm not at all disagreeing with you about the importance of books. But I wonder what our response should be to the return of a new kind of orality (ie, television) and a new kind oral texuality (blogs, e-mail, etc.) that tend to emphasize spoken over written patterns of communication (ie, all capital letters in an e-mail is usually referred to as "shouting")?

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