A study of the nature of religious knowledge and its role in the life of the individual and the community, with special reference to the content, aims and methods of bible teaching
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis had its point of departure in a concern with the aims and methods of Bible teaching in the Jewish day high schools in South Africa. The work began with a survey and conflation of recent scholarly writings concerned with the teaching of the Bible, and with an extensive survey, by face to face interview, of Bible teaching methods in Jewish high schools in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. Although this last occupied a great deal of time spread over more than a year, it does not now form part of this thesis, whereas the former does. The reason for this is that neither the current practise, nor most of the scholarly opinion, with notable exceptions, seems to have asked the basic questions concerning the essence of what is being communicated, how it comes to be embraced by the individual, and how it functions in the social context, before becoming involved in the matters of aims and methodology. Even those like Goldman, who have pioneered the study of Bible teaching methodology have been primarily concerned with what the pupils could receive, and that on the cognitive basis, rather than with the essence of the Bible itself. We have retained in Part I a survey of ten scholarly opinions, ranging all the way from the ultra-orthodox, through the modern religious, the nationalists, the humanists to the marxists. Although almost all of these are drawn from Israeli experience, almost all that they have to say is generally applicable to the teaching of the Bible in any place where the Hebrew tradition is taught. It represents as wide a cross-section as one is likely to find anywhere, and it is with this, or something like it, that the intending teacher of the Bible is confronted when he begins his task. The conflicts are deeply rooted in the understanding of the essence of what is to be taught. Part II, the central contribution of this thesis, is therefore concerned with the basic questions of what the Bible is in itself, what is the experience which men have cal…
abstract: This thesis had its point of departure in a concern with the aims and methods of Bible teaching in the Jewish day high schools in South Africa. The work began with a survey and conflation of recent scholarly writings concerned with the teaching of the Bible, and with an extensive survey, by face to face interview, of Bible teaching methods in Jewish high schools in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. Although this last occupied a great deal of time spread over more than a year, it does not now form part of this thesis, whereas the former does. The reason for this is that neither the current practise, nor most of the scholarly opinion, with notable exceptions, seems to have asked the basic questions concerning the essence of what is being communicated, how it comes to be embraced by the individual, and how it functions in the social context, before becoming involved in the matters of aims and methodology. Even those like Goldman, who have pioneered the study of Bible teaching methodology have been primarily concerned with what the pupils could receive, and that on the cognitive basis, rather than with the essence of the Bible itself. We have retained in Part I a survey of ten scholarly opinions, ranging all the way from the ultra-orthodox, through the modern religious, the nationalists, the humanists to the marxists. Although almost all of these are drawn from Israeli experience, almost all that they have to say is generally applicable to the teaching of the Bible in any place where the Hebrew tradition is taught. It represents as wide a cross-section as one is likely to find anywhere, and it is with this, or something like it, that the intending teacher of the Bible is confronted when he begins his task. The conflicts are deeply rooted in the understanding of the essence of what is to be taught. Part II, the central contribution of this thesis, is therefore concerned with the basic questions of what the Bible is in itself, what is the experience which men have cal…
author: Schein, Aviva
language: eng
date published: 1976
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:36Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Religious Studies

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14821