Thirteen students in the school’s inaugural “Cultural Influence of the Bible” course are traveling to Milan, Venice, Rome and Florence with their teacher, Janice Ingram, and several parents.
A highlight of the trip will be the Vatican’s Scavi tour, which goes beneath St. Peter’s Basilica to the tomb of St. Peter. Only 120 visitors are allowed in that area each day. The students will spend their “free day” in Florence visiting the fabled Uffizi Gallery, called one of the finest art museums in the world.
Ingram, a frequent STAR Teacher whose field is science, first heard of the Biblical Literacy Project while attending an advanced-placement conference in 2007. The organization’s textbook, “The Bible and Its Influence,” has been approved for use in public schools and is endorsed as a teaching tool by Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious groups.
“I was able to discuss motives and reasons behind the development of this textbook with members (of the Bible Literacy Project) at the exhibit, ” Ingram said.
After a year of study and planning, the course was offered to sophomores, juniors and seniors for the 2008-09 school term.
The course is academic, not devotional, Ingram stressed. A Christian and active Bible teacher, she’s had to work hard to keep her personal beliefs out of her lectures.
“The course will seek to expose, not impose - to excite students to think and grow in their awareness of our commonalities as humans,” she wrote in a letter to parents before the school year.
Chapter 1 of the text describes the approach: “You are learning about the Bible and its role in life, language and culture. You will be given an awareness of religious content of the Bible, but you will not be pressed into accepting religion. You will study about religion as presented in the Bible, but you will not be engaged in the practice of religion.”
Reasons for such a study are abundant, Ingram said.
“Professors from leading universities consistently say that ‘If there’s one book students should read, it’s the Bible.’ So many references permeate literature and appear in art, music and architecture. Regardless of a person’s faith, an educated person needs to know the Bible,” she said.
A few examples illustrate her point: Can students recognize the famous outstretched Hand of God to Adam and know that it is in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in Rome? In William Faulkner’s book, “Absalom! Absalom!” have they any idea who Absalom is? Do they know the origins of the lyrics of Handel’s Messiah? Do they know that Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech draws directly from the Gospel of Luke and that the Rev. Martin Luther King was referring to the Bible in many of his famous lines, including “I’ve been to the mountaintop” and “We, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”
Students who took the course said they have been surprised, not just by how much they’ve learned, but how much they’ve enjoyed learning it.
Danielle Cannady excitedly told her teacher of a Biblical allusion - a reference to the Prodigal Son story - she’d noticed in the Robert Downey movie “Iron Man.”
Ashley Moody said the class appeals to her natural interests in literature and history - and has helped her better understand lessons in her church.
Now the group is anxious to see many of the art works and concepts they have studied.
“If these kids are going to study art and literature, the best way to do it is to go to Italy,” Ingram said.
“This inaugural group of students has soaked up so much knowledge and are ready to experience firsthand all that they have studied,” said Lisa Moody, one of the parents who will be making the trip.
Several students will be keeping journals and making photos to share with Daily News readers when they get home.
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