self help and bibliotherapy
Like Stephanie, I thought the idea of the bible as a "self-help book," as proposed in the cartoon Chris showed us, was an interesting one. Stephanie states that ther bible is too full of "complexities, contradictions, and ambiguities" to be a straight-forward prescription or set of advice. She sees richness in the bible as coming from questions posed, and I like this idea.
I'm pretty adverse to self-help books. I think they can be helpful sometimes, but there is little emotional or spiritual realization made when reading them, which I think leads to little buy-in or motivation for change. I guess I should give a bit of background about myself here: I was formerly working on an MS in Counseling, so I've practiced counseling clients and have taken quite courses in them. From them, I've come to the view that counseling and change is more about the emotional experience than about the intellectual experience - and I think self-help books are too rooted in the intellectual and in the advice giving.
Which brings me to my title of this post: bibliotherapy. I'm a huge advocate of bibliotherapy - the use of books or reading to help facilitate self-understanding and change. Generally, books are not didactic in anture, and readers come to the books looking for characters or problems with which they can identify, making connections to their own lives. Really, it is a place to explore the self and not a place to be preached to.
I really liked what Chris discussed in class today, not so much from a "literature" standpoint, but from a human standpoint (though isn't literature the study of the human condition?). Is an epiphany or a theophany a revelation of a strict law, preaching, or rule? No, it's the revelation of guidance or confusion, of change.
Bible as self-help book. No - it's too complicated for that. Bible as bibliotherapeutic - most definitely, I think. There's a lot of cultural baggage that goes along with it (that I think Chris is doing a great job of helping us move away from), but if that baggage wasn't there, I think the stories in Genesis are awesome for self-discovery and guidance. I think the text is pretty sparse, which can make the modern reader (who is used to identifying with character in books, something that I've heard is a pretty modern reading convention) less ready to get something out of it (but perhaps/hopefully I am wrong, or partially wrong).
I think about reading the Tower of Bable story and how we were able to come up with so many interpretations, and how some of those interpretations might help us understand ourselves or the world in which we exist - I think that's powerful and can be very helpful to people seeking understanding...
I'm pretty adverse to self-help books. I think they can be helpful sometimes, but there is little emotional or spiritual realization made when reading them, which I think leads to little buy-in or motivation for change. I guess I should give a bit of background about myself here: I was formerly working on an MS in Counseling, so I've practiced counseling clients and have taken quite courses in them. From them, I've come to the view that counseling and change is more about the emotional experience than about the intellectual experience - and I think self-help books are too rooted in the intellectual and in the advice giving.
Which brings me to my title of this post: bibliotherapy. I'm a huge advocate of bibliotherapy - the use of books or reading to help facilitate self-understanding and change. Generally, books are not didactic in anture, and readers come to the books looking for characters or problems with which they can identify, making connections to their own lives. Really, it is a place to explore the self and not a place to be preached to.
I really liked what Chris discussed in class today, not so much from a "literature" standpoint, but from a human standpoint (though isn't literature the study of the human condition?). Is an epiphany or a theophany a revelation of a strict law, preaching, or rule? No, it's the revelation of guidance or confusion, of change.
Bible as self-help book. No - it's too complicated for that. Bible as bibliotherapeutic - most definitely, I think. There's a lot of cultural baggage that goes along with it (that I think Chris is doing a great job of helping us move away from), but if that baggage wasn't there, I think the stories in Genesis are awesome for self-discovery and guidance. I think the text is pretty sparse, which can make the modern reader (who is used to identifying with character in books, something that I've heard is a pretty modern reading convention) less ready to get something out of it (but perhaps/hopefully I am wrong, or partially wrong).
I think about reading the Tower of Bable story and how we were able to come up with so many interpretations, and how some of those interpretations might help us understand ourselves or the world in which we exist - I think that's powerful and can be very helpful to people seeking understanding...
posted by Michael Faris @ 12:10 PM
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