Washington Post, "On Faith" series: Stephen R. Prothero (Boston University) de... - The Diigo Meta page

• 13 Oct 08
  

  Nathan Rein

  Prothero kicks Lynn's ass, if you ask me. Lynn comes across looking desperate. However, if you check my Diigo annotations, you'll see that in the antepenultimate and penultimate points (Prothero, then Lynn), I think an important issue comes up, namely, how to deal with the inherent contestedness of any tradition. Whose version of Christianity, or whatever, do you teach? This doesn't seem like a problem that ought to stymie Prothero's proposal, but it is extraordinarily thorny, much more difficult to deal with than it might seem at first.

  religion debate interview pluralism education prothero

  • What version of Mormonism would I talk about? Probably the most influential and largest one. That seems reasonable. Ditto for Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism. You can only cover the basics so do the largest groups.

    • Important point. See my next note.
    Add Sticky Note
  • No, no, no. By saying that we'll only talk about the "biggest" group in a faith tradition a public school would be taking a theological position on some of the most serious religious questions in world religious history. And if you want to rip communities apart, just tell the PTA that you'll be teaching about the "largest" Christian groups (Amish need not apply).

    • This is an important objection. It's true that Prothero is basically saying he would teach the dominant version of any tradition. Prothero is either ignoring, or not realizing, that the question of which version of a tradition is taken to be canonical is also a question about power.
    Add Sticky Note
  • No, no, no. By saying that we'll only talk about the "biggest" group in a faith tradition a public school would be taking a theological position on some of the most serious religious questions in world religious history. And if you want to rip communities apart, just tell the PTA that you'll be teaching about the "largest" Christian groups (Amish need not apply).

  1 more annotation...

• 22 Oct 07
  

  Prothero

Public Stiky Notes

• 
  Nathan Rein on 2008-10-13
  Important point. See my next note.
• 
  Nathan Rein on 2008-10-13
  This is an important objection. It's true that Prothero is basically saying he would teach the dominant version of any tradition. Prothero is either ignoring, or not realizing, that the question of which version of a tradition is taken to be canonical is also a question about power.

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