As part of the introduction, I propose the following as a broader explanation of the perspective and thesis of the course. Part of the idea is to offer readers and students every opportunity to decide this is not for them, or to decide they really need this.
Perspective: There has to be a reason, leading to a motivation, for bothering with all of this study. Simply acquainting the reader with history and literature is not an end in itself. At some point we have to admit we hope people change, that they adopt an outlook and sense of purpose informed by all of this background.
Virtually all of humanity stretching back into the dim mists of ancient times was born into a social context. Someone always took the responsibility of teaching and training the youth in the ways of those among whom they were born. The primary means was the collective mythology of the culture and society. While in common usage, the words “myth” and “mythology” tend to be used as handles for dismissing something as irrelevant to real life, in reality this is nothing more than rejecting one mythology for another. The function of mythology in any society is providing structure for addressing oneself to reality.
All societies operate on a mythology as the very ground from which thought itself is formed. The frame of reference, the matrix and structure in which the hooks are fixed for catching and holding experiences so that sense can be made of them, cannot come from nothing. The human mind is wired that way. Western society pretends that matrix is reality itself, but that very belief is mythology by academic definition. Every previous civilization that came before Western Civilization asserted the same thing, and those that follow will be just as dismissive of the West as the West is of all those coming before it.
It would be of little use to organize and offer a course such as this without an underlying motive of trying to sell readers on the idea of adopting something that is better, more consistent with reality, than the Western view. Failing that, the readers will at least be able to grasp the nature of what they choose and what they reject more consciously.
Therefore, the following study is cast in terms of implications. It is not enough to study Western Civilization; there are a wealth of courses on that subject itself. The same is true of previous ancient civilizations. While some courses are critical in approach, the underlying assumption is to help you celebrate being Western, or at least see the potential for moral goodness in Western Civilization. It’s a call to be proud. This course counters that call, and attempts to define the same wealth of facts and theories as something worthy of shame.
If we could restate the description of this course, it would be one of comparative morality. Most people never consciously examine the fundamental assumptions of what constitutes and defines “good” and “bad.” Rather, they simply assume their own view is roughly equivalent to that of God Himself, as it were. It never occurs to most people that their own context is just one of many possibilities. Worse, virtually the entirety of Western Christianity assumes their Western brand of religion is precisely what is portrayed in the Bible. The aim of this course is to show that is manifestly false. Not that any one tradition within Western Christianity is better than another, but the entire collection is wrong because they all share a common set of false assumptions.
The thesis behind this course is that the biblical viewpoint is radically different from what is held by virtually every Western Christian, regardless of their traditions and labels.
As always, your comments are welcome.
