Skip to main content

The National Humanities Center: a Great Resource for K-12 Public School Teachers



History, literature, philosophy, the arts and religion are fields within the humanities. According to the National Humanities Center, “the humanities help us understand and interpret the human experience, as individuals and societies”[1]. The National Humanities Center, founded in the mid-1970’s is a collaborative sponsored by some 38 major universities including Princeton, Harvard and Yale that studies and prepares humanities resources for teachers. A section of their website is called Divining America: Religion in American History[2].  This section contains essays written by humanities scholars about religion in America, organized by century. The essays all follow the same format. Beginning with a topic like “the First Great Awakening” or “Native American Religion in Early North America” or “The American Jewish Experience”, for examples, each essay begins by explaining what major scholars have written about the topic. Usually several viewpoints are presented to illustrate the diversity of opinion that exists within the academy. Next, the essay provides a literature review with comments about each resource named. The essay continues by suggesting how a teacher might introduce the topic to their class with predictions about how the students may respond.  

The Kentucky Faith and Public History Education Project, likewise, is producing educational resources about the Christian history of Kentucky. We are committed to providing objective, academically sound, non-devotional resources about the Christian religion, knowing that it is one among many faiths practiced in the state. While we personally adhere to that faith, our aim is not to proselytize but to inform.

A quote from Christine Hyerman, Professor of History at the University of Delaware who is an advisor to the National Humanities Center Divining America Religion in American History project is instructive. Writing the essay, “The First Great Awakening”, Dr. Hyerman reminds her teacher readers: “Historians (no matter what their personal religious convictions might be) strive to explain the IMMEDIATE causes of why things happened [including religious movements, revivals and events] without reference to acts of God. (Otherwise they’d all be out of business, since the ULTIMATE cause of every historical event, from the standpoint of faith, is the will of God.) [3] 

Religion is important to understanding our history and culture. Even in a postmodern world, we dare not ignore it. How to introduce and engage our students appropriately around religious ideas and debates is the more significant challenge. The National Humanities Center provides a helpful format as well as specific examples of some major religious themes that have impacted our nation’s history and development.

 

By Lesley Barker PhD ©2020


[1] “About Page”. The National Humanities Center. ONLINE at nationalhumanitiescenter.org. ACCESSED 11/24/2020.

[2] Divining America. The National Humanities Center. ONLINE at http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/divam.htm ACCESSED 11/24/2020.

[3] Heyrman, Christine Leigh. “The First Great Awakening”. Divining America, TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. ONLINE at http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm. ACCESSED 11/24/2020.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First lessons about world religion for primary classes

Religion is lumped in with history, literature, languages and art as one of the humanities but we tend not to feel as comfortable teaching about religion as the other subjects. Teaching about religion does not promote any one particular faith. It introduces the fact that there are differences between people and their ideas and practices about God. Primary students can easily be introduced to the idea that there are different religions during social studies units about the community and its people. Different religions use different types of  buildings. Different religions can be identified by the way some adherents dress. When you are teaching about communities, say that people worship in different types of buildings. People who are Christians worship in churches or cathedrals. People who are Jewish worship in synagogues. People who are Muslim worship in mosques, and people who are Hindu or Buddhist worship in temples. Take pictures of any of these buildings in your school community...
Post a Comment
Read more

Happy Birthday to the Trees!

Yesterday, February 6, 2023, was the Jewish festival Tu B'Shvat . It is the birthday of the trees. The date this festival is celebrated shifts from year to year. All Jewish feasts do because the Jewish calendar is lunar. The birthday of the trees it will always be in January or February, however. Why do the trees need a birthday? Because the ancient Jewish law forbade a person from eating from a fruit tree until it was five years old. So, all the trees have their birthdays on the same day.  What does that have to do with us at the Kentucky Faith & Public History Education Project in Paris, Kentucky? Our mission is to provide education around the Christian religion and its history, particularly in Kentucky. As one of the signs on our half-mile Walking Trail says, the first people who believed the Christian message were Jewish people living in Jerusalem in the first century of the Christian era. So, by honoring this Jewish festival, we recall the roots of the Christian faith. Bes...
Post a Comment
Read more

Juneteenth on the Walking Trail

Are you looking for a way to celebrate Juneteenth in Kentucky? A visit to the Walking Trail at 616 Clintonville Road, Paris, KY 40361, can introduce you and your children to the contribution of African Americans in Kentucky.  June 19, 1865 was the day that General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 which proclaimed the freedom of every enslaved person in the whole United States. It became known as Juneteenth and is now celebrated as a federal holiday. Granger is buried in Fernwood Cemetery in Henderson, Kentucky. General Gordon married Maria Letcher from Garrard County, Kentucky, so we can claim a Kentucky history connection to Juneteenth.  We celebrate the lives of 14 African Americans in the Eye-Spy Game on the Walking Trail. They are: Elisha Green, Effie Waller Smith, Peter Durrett, Emma C. Clement, James B. Johnson, Helen LaFrance, Albery A. Wilson, Nancy Green, Carl Brashear, Mary Britton, Rolla Blue, Martha Cross, Samuel Oldham, and Julia Chinn. Select a number. F...
Post a Comment
Read more