Monday, November 06, 2006
Illiteracy and Idolatry
John Mark Reynolds has discovered that illiteracy is on the rise. Now bear in mind, we are not talking about reading, most people can read, we are talking about
We Protestants have largely rejected the ornate decorations of Roman Catholicism and certainly the icongraphy of JMR's beloved Orthodoxy as idolatrous. But we forget that our ability to do so arose only with the advance of literacy - those visuals served to preserve and teach the faith in an age when generally only the cleric could read. Those images were how the cleric communicated with the illiterate. Was there risk of idolatry? Oh yes, as there is risk of idolatry of scripture itself and even of those that minister in His name.
The point is, idolatry is not a matter of the object idolized, but of the attitude of the one that does the idolizing. I have personally witnessed Orthodox icons preserve genuine faith in the Soviet Union, when Bibles were banned. The beautiful imagery present in the "State Museums" reminded the Soviet public of what those buildings had been created for and the Lord God Almighty was remembered, and worshipped.
John Mark is right, without words we are enslaved, but it is important to remember that God is God, He is not words, He is not systematic, He is not an image, He is a being, an entity who reveals Himself to us in word, and in image, and in creation.
I fear sometimes that those of us that value our intellects so lose touch with the simple ministry of the less intelligent. We let our words get in the way of the simple experience of the love of Christ emanating from a newborn, or the innocent wonder of the mentally handicapped at the zoo.
Words have freed us in so many ways, they are to be cherished, and studied, and pondered, but, as with the images of the churches of the ages, they are not to be idolized.
Related Tags: literacy, illiteracy, words, idols, idolatry, faith, experience, God
20 percent of U.S. college students completing four-year degrees have only basic quantitative literacy skills. That means they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gas to get to the next gas station or to calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies.JMR discusses the necessity and value of words, as opposed to the visual, and concludes.
The study also finds that more than 50 percent of students at four-year colleges have only the most basic literacy skills, meaning they can't do basic tasks like summarize the arguments in a newspaper editorial. On both measures, students at two-year colleges perform even worse.
Illiterate people are doomed to be slaves with souls stamped by tyrants to follow the will of those with words.I agree with this completely and wonder about its implications for faith.
We Protestants have largely rejected the ornate decorations of Roman Catholicism and certainly the icongraphy of JMR's beloved Orthodoxy as idolatrous. But we forget that our ability to do so arose only with the advance of literacy - those visuals served to preserve and teach the faith in an age when generally only the cleric could read. Those images were how the cleric communicated with the illiterate. Was there risk of idolatry? Oh yes, as there is risk of idolatry of scripture itself and even of those that minister in His name.
The point is, idolatry is not a matter of the object idolized, but of the attitude of the one that does the idolizing. I have personally witnessed Orthodox icons preserve genuine faith in the Soviet Union, when Bibles were banned. The beautiful imagery present in the "State Museums" reminded the Soviet public of what those buildings had been created for and the Lord God Almighty was remembered, and worshipped.
John Mark is right, without words we are enslaved, but it is important to remember that God is God, He is not words, He is not systematic, He is not an image, He is a being, an entity who reveals Himself to us in word, and in image, and in creation.
I fear sometimes that those of us that value our intellects so lose touch with the simple ministry of the less intelligent. We let our words get in the way of the simple experience of the love of Christ emanating from a newborn, or the innocent wonder of the mentally handicapped at the zoo.
Words have freed us in so many ways, they are to be cherished, and studied, and pondered, but, as with the images of the churches of the ages, they are not to be idolized.
Related Tags: literacy, illiteracy, words, idols, idolatry, faith, experience, God
