lollardfish

All my students have read the Bible.

And they haven't read it because they are all religious fanatics -- some may be, but whatever. All my students have read the Bible in an intelligent, academic, manner in a required "Bible traditions" Freshman seminar. Its been three days, and I never want to leave.

I am teaching three classes at St. Olaf this year, one in an intensive interim fashion (2 hours a day, every day, for four weeks, staring on the third), and two in the spring semester. The class I am teaching now is Medieval Women, and I love my students. They are engaged and articulate, and find interesting primary documents to be ... interesting. I can't count how many times I've showen really cool sources to students and had to do a whole song and dance routine to get them involved. These students seem to START involved. It's really amazing.

And today I discovered every one of them has to read the Bible in their first year in the context of a "Christian Tradition" class (you have to take the Bible class and then any other theology class, including Buddhism or whatever).

For a medievalist teaching in modern American academia, the concept that every student has read the Bible, recently (not just in some church group as a kid) is AMAZING. I'm so pleased.