How to use a map

C. S. Lewis' very brief Preface in The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature is suggestive.

He complains of a certain kind of scholarship that can tend to lead people out of the texts themselves rather than into them.

There can be a similar problem with commentaries, theological works, Bible reading notes and sermons. The aim must be to open up the text and let it speak.

Lewis warns that we must not be like a traveler who is so absorbed with the map that he fails to enjoy the scenery before him. In other words, the text itself must be primary: it is the goal, the destination, the real object of attention. Any other helps should be just that: helps, not ends in themselves. We do not want to stumble into lamp-posts because our noses are stuck in some A to Z.

Yet, Lewis suggest, there can be usefulness in consulting a map or guidebook before a journey. It may lead us to admire and appreciate the landscape more easily or fully and we may notice some prospects that we might have ignored if we simply followed our noses.

If we tend to consult a commentary only when we come to an apparent problem, we may not notice depths in that which is deceptively simple.

Teaching Needs Me

Graham Holley, the chief executive of the tda has written me a very nice letter to say that they need me and my teaching skills back in the classroom.



Apparently its lovely to be a teacer now, there is more pay and less work and you get helpers.



I'm not sure the staff and students of Westcliff High school for boys (where I used to teach) would agree that I'm quite so essential to the teaching profession, but I must say that the rose-tinted-spectacles and the glossy government propaganda brochure did give me pause for thought!

Buzzzzz

Here are some jottings for the Buzz group we’re thinking of doing on camp on Tuesday (advance planning, or wot?!:

Main teaching point:

Because of our rebellion against God, we rightly deserve the punishment of death and judgement

Bible verse:

Hebrews 9v27

Introductory Game:

Consequences

(In groups, leaders to check for “appropriateness” of what members read out!)

X met Y at Z. X said A, Y said B and the consequence was C.

Teaching point:

All sorts of things in life have consequences.

We were thinking in this Buzz group yesterday about our rebellion against God.

We’re going to think today about some of the consequences of that rebellion.

Group Discussion:

What punishment fits the crime?

Sheet of scenarios to discuss in groups (e.g. a pupil swears at a teacher, a man murders his parents etc.)– what would the appropriate punishment be.

(Its not actually for us to decide – we’re not the judges!)

Teaching point:

The Bible tells us that our rebellion against God is terrible. He made us, we belong tohim, so we ought to serve him. He loves us and gives us everything yet we reject him. Our rebellion is worse than treason against the greatest king or murder of the most loving parent.

The Bible tells us that death and judgement are the right punishment for our rebellion against God.

Hebrews 9v27.

The Bible tells us that God’s judgement is awful. It is very bad news for rebels like us.

But that’s not the whole story. The Bible has great good news for rebels: that God loves us despite our rebellion and that he’s sorted it out so that we don’t have to face his judgement if we trust in Jesus. We’re going to think about that good news more tomorrow in this Buzz Group, so make sure you come back for that!