Sacred texts

Overview

The Sacred texts strand comprises three distinct yet interrelated sub-strands: Old Testament, New Testament, and Christian spiritual writings and wisdom.

Old Testament and New Testament

The Bible is foundational for Catholic Christians. It is a classic text “which expresses a truth which is so fundamental that it can be read and understood in totally different contexts of respectively new readers” (Pollyfeyt and Bieringer, 2005, p.28).

The canon of the Bible has been arranged to tell a complex, multi-faceted story of God’s relationship with people which is arranged in different text types (genre) – law, historical, prophetic, wisdom, gospels, acts, letters, apocalypse. Students in Archdiocesan schools grow in their familiarity with Old Testament and New Testament texts (Refer to Appendix B for an overview of core and complementary biblical texts for each year level). Students will use a range of biblical tools and apply biblical criticism to develop their critical engagement with the Scriptures and apply them in relevant and helpful ways to the circumstances of life and faith.

The many story lines offered in the Bible will inspire young people in giving shape to their own life story. This can only happen … if young people are given a voice to enter into dialogue when we teach the Bible. There must be a movement from the text to the world of the young people (Pollyfeyt and Bieringer, 2005, p.31).

The text of the Bible grew out of the lived experience of faith communities. Within Brisbane Catholic Education we engage with the Bible both in the context of critical approaches to the text and within the context of the faith traditions of the school. Therefore, the purpose for teaching Scripture is both educational and spiritual.

Students have opportunity to enter into critical and creative dialogue with biblical texts both within a classroom context and the religious life of the school. They are taught the ability to truly enter texts, applying the same skills they are developing in critical literacy to learn from within the Bible and discover their own interpretation of scriptural texts. Students are empowered to critically engage with the historical, social and cultural contexts of the human authors of scriptural texts and to deepen their understanding of the audiences and intentions of the texts. They will be supported to engage with a broad range of text types and textual features to critically reflect on messages in Old Testament and New Testament texts.