Lies, Cavils and Calumny

This sensational headline is a quote taken from the “Prefatory Address to the King of France” in the 1559 edition of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.In this address, he is trying to explain to the King of France (to no avail, as we know from history) that the reformation faith is not a new religion, and is not the evil that its opponents make it out to be. Calvin simply wants the King to hear the truth before making any rash decisions: “While a cause is unheard, it is violence to pass sanguinary sentences against it; it is fraud to charge it, contrary to its deserts, with sedition and mischief” (I don’t have page numbers here, since I am reading this in Logos 4, based on a reading plan to get it done by December 30. This is also the Henry Beveridge translation, not the Battles-McNeill translation I began with earlier this year).

In this address, he outlines the reformed faith in a nutshell, showing to the King what the reformed believers think of themselves (almost in complete contrast to the medieval era Church of Rome):

Let not a contemptuous idea of our insignificance dissuade you from the investigation of this cause. We, indeed, are perfectly conscious how poor and abject we are: in the presence of God we are miserable sinners, and in the sight of men most despised—we are (if you will) the mere dregs and off-scoutings of the world, or worse, if worse can be named: so that before God there remains nothing of which we can glory save only his mercy, by which, without any merit of our own, we are admitted to the hope of eternal salvation: and before men not even this much remains, since we can glory only in our infirmity, a thing which, in the estimation of men, it is the greatest ignominy even tacitly to confess.

Calvin shows to the King that the reformed faith is not new, is not uncertain, it need not be ‘proven’ by miracles, and it follows from the teachings of the early church fathers. That is his contention throughout the Institutes, since what he writes throughout is given thorough grounding in scripture and also the church fathers—showing it clearly and unsensationally. He argues that it is unjust to hold the reformed faith to the judgments of tradition because that tradition itself lost its biblical foundation and is therefore no longer a good and just guide. In fact, the church (the True Church) existed during the medieval period in spite of the Church of Rome, Calvin argues, because while the hierarchy had become corrupt and led away from the truth of God in scripture, there were always some who held to the true faith, just as in Elijah’s day, there were 7,000 people who did not bow the knee to Baal. Even the unrest which came about after the reformed faith was beginning to be preached is evidence for it, since Satan rises to the occasion to draw people away from the truth of God and therefore from salvation.

The real argument, for Calvin, will come in the pages of the Institutes, when he outlines the true doctrines revealed on the pages of God’s revelation—the Bible. Not only is this work intended to aid reformed believers in understanding their faith and coming to truly know God, it is also an apology, a defense of the faith. In one action, Calvin serves two purposes. And the fact that this work has stood the test of time (being published in its final edition in 1559, 5 years before Calvin’s death) shows, in some way, its usefulness and its timelessness.

A good apology is always in season, as we are to be prepared at all times to give reason for the hope which we have as believers (1 Pet 3:15).

Logos Reading Plan Function:

Thanks to the stupendous customer support at Logos, I now have the option to make reading plans out of any resource in my Logos library.

I have done some tests of it, and while it is quite a simple interface with not a lot of customization available, it is enough to get the job done. And it seems like it would be a good way of using some of the resources I have that don't show up in more specific biblical searches and studies. I can now create a reading plan for something like Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism or his Work of the Holy Spirit, then set a time-frame (read it in a year, or some other period), and on which days of the week I will read it.

With some more customization of the interface I could have also set up a reading plan to keep up with Hebrew and Greek now that I don't translate them for school or work. I had hoped to set up a plan, stipulating that I translate 3 verses of each every day (or alternating days at first to get into practice again), but I do not seem to be able to be that specific. I could, however, simply tell it to organize 1 Samuel into a reading plan, and work on it that way.

Or I could just suck it up and motivate myself for it. We'll see what I can do in Logos 4 first!

I'm Impressed...

Very impressed.

Logos 3 took about 4 or 5 seconds (not very long) to search my library for 'transubstantiation.'

Logos 4 took exactly (it says how long it took) 0.85 seconds for the same search.

BUT

Logos 3 came back with 39 occurrences in 9 resources, Logos 4 came back with 97 results in 69 articles. PLUS Logos 4 has a lot more resources, some which Logos 3 does not have (although only four of them came up in this search: volumes 1 and 2 of Great Doctrines of the Bible, and Exploring Church History, and two commentaries I did not previously have.

I will keep playing around with this program, and come up with a better review before too long.

Logos 4 Beginnings...

Okay, so while I was at school today, I decided to have my computer download what I needed for Logos. I started at about 11:15, and by the time my classes were over at 1:45, it was done downloading.

Now it is indexing, and will be for the next 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Maybe more. Okay, it looks like more. Much more.

The purpose of this indexing is described in this post on the Logos blog: The Power of Indexing, Explained.

What it says, in brief, is that the engine indexes all of the books I have in my Logos library, even going so far as to index synonyms (which boggles my mind, to be honest), so that the searches I make will be much quicker.

Once the process is done, I will put it to the test and let you know how it does. I expect that searches will be done in a fraction of the time. I think I read on a review somewhere that searches that took 3 minutes in Logos 3 took a few seconds in Logos 4.

We'll see what I can run it through soon...

Logos 4 Update.

So, Sherri let me upgrade to Logos 4 yesterday evening (when it comes to spending money, I always talk to Sherri first!).

However, I purchased the download option, but the download is considerably bigger than I was led to believe (4.2 GB instead of 1 GB--interestingly enough, my one and only beef about Logos. They are an excellent company, doing all they can for their customers). So, I don't have all my resources yet--I plan on purchasing the DVD rather than use up almost half of our monthly bandwidth (and a lot of time).

I do have the program installed, and it is a beauty. Totally different than Logos 3. In fact, the promotion video on the logos 4 web page (see last post) explains that it was totally rebuilt. They did not just upgrade Logos 3, but they started from scratch and totally rewrote and reworked the program.

So, it is no longer on the Libronix platform, as that has been discarded. As I said, rebuilt from the ground up. Which means, then, that my old resources are no longer usable (Logos 3 is not compatible with Logos 4, and vice versa). I don't lose them, of course, but I have to get all new editions of these resources (hence the large download size).

Once I have Logos 4 up and running with all my resources, I will try to write a review (which will be hard, since I have to relearn everything I know about how to use Logos!).

In Exciting News...

Logos Bible Software version 4 is out today. I'll have to ask Sherri if I'm allowed to upgrade....

Graphic Novels and Literacy Part 3: Conclusion.

When considering the issue of graphic novels and the use for literacy, we must get past arguments of simple utility or pragmatism, and understand what is going on at a deeper level. While graphic novels may be useful for attracting reluctant readers to the bookshelves, if that is where such a reader stops, do we consider this a positive outcome? Also, if a reader's real introduction to reading comes from a genre which demands two channels of receiving input, what may be the long term consequences?

Many of the authors or researchers who argue that graphic novels or comic books can be used with great profit do not necessarily start from the perspective of what is best, but often notice that such reading attracts students, and so in response they try to use it to teach such students. While much thought is put into putting such literature to good use, there is not much discussion on how it might affect the reader negatively. Much of the discussion of what may be perceived as negative aspects of graphic novels deals not with education as such, but with morality—whether or not the pictures, words, and even themes are suitable for certain age groups of students and readers.

The best way to proceed, perhaps, is to see graphic novels not as a substitute for traditional novels and texts, nor as a 'grown-up' version of a picture book, but as a supplement to such texts. It is important that a student knows how to read traditional text-based works before proceeding to graphic novels so that he or she may understand how, for example, the graphic novel breaks some traditional forms and structures and how it could possibly enhance some others. They can also be used to show how one person's pictures of a story do not generally match up to another person's using, for example Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, and the graphic novel version by David Wenzel published in 1990.

Taking the cautions regarding the two channels of reading into consideration and the primacy of the graphic aspect of graphic novels over the novel aspect, such texts should be used with care in a classroom setting, not just because of thematic elements, but also because of how such texts have to be read. The positives and the negatives must be given due consideration, and in each situation the teacher must decide whether or not it will be a help or a hindrance. To accept graphic novels without being critical is irresponsible, while rejecting them out of hand would be passing over what might be a good opportunity not only to aid reluctant readers to get into traditional texts, but also to teach students about the visual stimuli with which they are almost constantly being bombarded.

Concerning whether this growing interest in the educational possibilities of graphic novels is a fad or something more, only time will tell, since the genre has not had the test of time that traditional genres have. However, as in all things educational, it is the teacher who is ultimately responsible, so the teacher is also responsible to consider all sides to this issue. Hopefully with this short introduction to the issues, a way forward may be glimpsed

Graphic Novels and Literacy, Part 2: Possible Positive Consequences.

Much of the literature one can find on graphic novels and their usefulness for literacy deals with it from a positive position, or simply assumes their use and shows teachers and librarians how to employ graphic novels better. The two areas in which those who argue that comic books are beneficial to literacy in children make their strongest case involve reluctant readers and visual literacy.

In the research, it is argued that graphic novels (along with comic books and even comic strips can be used to help children who otherwise do not read for enjoyment to enjoy picking up books other than those they have to read for school. According to one author, "This revitalized genre has not only saved the day for recreational reading, it has also turned out to be a heavyweight in the teaching of advanced themes in literature and visual literacy."

The benefit of graphic novels here lies in the fact of what they are: a combination of pictures and words. To students who may view the traditional novel as intimidating because of the amount of words on each page, a graphic novel is a welcome change, and the pictures help students understand the text, making language acquisition easier.

Once readers begin to read graphic novels, not only are they actually reading, they are also being introduced to many literary devices and structures such as character development, plot, narrative theme, etc. As defined above, graphic novels are, essentially, novel-length books, just told with a combination of words and pictures.

If we take one example, appropriate for readers in the higher elementary grades, we can see that there exist in well-written graphic novels the themes that are in well written traditional novels. Jeff Smith's Bone series has recently been reprinted (in colour) by Scholastic, a publisher of books for children. In this series we follow the Bone brothers through their adventures as they try to make their way back home to Boneville. In this series of 9 graphic novels, we see the Bone brothers as they deal with hardship and with each other. We follow Fone Bone as he tries to help his new friends. There is an epic struggle of good against evil. While each novel in the series can, to a certain degree, stand on its own, there is an over-arching plot which begins in the first and is only finally resolved in the ninth. A young woman, Thorn, struggles with her identity and her destiny as all of these events seem to revolve around her. And in the end, good prevails and the Bone brothers finally begin their journey home.

These novels, while attractive in their own right as a well designed, drawn and published series of works, are also attractive as a tool for young readers. In fact, Scholastic has published a pamphlet around these books which pushes their usefulness (and the usefulness of graphic novels in general) for students and teachers.

Not only can and do graphic novels have such literary themes in them, but they can also be used, judicially of course, to illustrate religious or spiritual themes as well, those issues and ideas that are important in and to life. In the preface to his book Holy Superheroes!, Greg Barrett writes that "with comics we're also dealing with some powerful myths, stories that express a truth somehow beyond rational meaning." There is a trend, Barrett writes, in our society to find more and more expressions of faith and spirituality even in the more 'pop' art, and "this trend makes comic books—where good and evil, right and wrong, justice, mercy, and the power of love have long been important themes—a terrific place to look for revelation". This makes graphic novels an attractive tool for teachers to get reluctant readers not only interested in reading, but also exposed to important themes and devices in literature.

While engaging reluctant readers is one of the great advantages which people point out with respect to graphic novels and literacy, this is not the only one, nor does it seem to be the most important. Many writers on this topic argue that graphic novels and even comic books and strips aid students with visual literacy, "a group of vision competencies a human being can develop by seeing and, at the same time, having and integrating other sensory experiences", or the ability to 'read' images and understand what they are 'saying.'

This type of literacy is important for students to master as in this technological age almost everything comes at students by means of or incorporating images in some way. With television, advertisements, internet and now even pictures delivered through cell phones, it is important that students learn to understand and interpret not only text, but also images. Comics help with this skill as "comic images enhance and extend the text communication. They attract the attention of the reader and create understanding of unknown factors in the text's language". Thus comics can have a place in the classroom to help students deal with the interplay between the text and the images, as they are more closely connected than those in picture books, and they quite transparently demand this visual literacy to be read.

Graphic novels assist in the procurement of visual literacy since there is, generally, the valuable interplay between the pictures and the text: the pictures may give context to the words themselves, but the words are used in understanding what is going on in the pictures. There are, of course, varieties among graphic novels of amount of text used, but when there is an appropriate amount of text for a student to deal with, this aids in comprehending what is going on.

There are as well some students who will learn better through visual literacy than through traditional text-based methods—using spatial intelligence to learn. Such students may have difficulty with traditional texts because they tend to think pictorially rather than verbally or textually. With students such as these, they can learn to extend their knowledge and skills through comic books: "with some students, pictures combined with text, such as in comic books, are extremely useful in facilitating this extension because they combine the immediacy of images with narrative continuity". This combination aids such students in a number of ways:

The engagement of more than one processing mode, words and pictures, allows better memory and help bring the interpretive skills students do have to bear on the unfamiliar media... This, in turn, leads to new neural connections (as in all learning), but, rather than having to start from scratch, rearranging their thought processes, students build on abilities already present.

Graphic novels, used in a classroom setting may help not only reluctant readers, but also those students who do not, in a sense, think the same as other students. Students who respond better to visual cues may, it is argued, greatly benefit from literature in this form.

Graphic Novels and Literacy, Part 1: Introduction and Definition.

A simple Google search on the phrase "graphic novels and literacy" comes up with approximately 578,000 hits. Many of the pages which come up are those of libraries, universities or schools which are entering into the world of graphic novels for one reason or another. Much of the literature regarding graphic novels and their relation to literacy seems to fall under the category of defence or apology: many of these websites seek to convince readers that graphic novels aid in teaching literacy, and many also provide help on how to use them for this purpose. One such website, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has this to say on the topic: "Graphic novels have become an essential component of library collections for both children and teenagers, and they have enormous potential for classroom use". With such high praise, some reflection on the use of graphic novels with respect to literacy is in order.

What Are Graphic Novels?

The primary task when dealing with graphic novels is coming to a definition of the term itself. To use the words 'graphic novel' may mean some different things. In the first place, there is a difference between simple comic books and graphic novels. Even among comic books, there are differences, as can be noted by comparing something like a collection of comic strips such as Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes to comic books published by DC or Marvel, for instance, where there is a plot throughout the issue or issues. And graphic novels are another category, although having much more in common with comic books than comic strips. Even the term 'sequential art,' perhaps used tongue-in-cheek by artists, has its problems, for it does not categorize or differentiate between these different forms (comic strip, comic book, and graphic novel). Perhaps the best way to define the genre 'graphic novel' is by looking at its use: "The term graphic novel is now generally used to describe any book in a comic format that resembles a novel in length and narrative development."

Beyond the problem of definition and categorization of graphic novels as a genre of literature, there is also the issue of whether or not these are appropriate for all ages or levels of readers. While comic books have been around for quite some time, at least since the early decades of the twentieth century, they have not always been targeted towards or intended for young audiences. While there are graphic novels that are specifically geared toward younger readers (for instance, Jeff Smith's Bone series), there are some that are definitely not for that audience (for instance, Alan Moore's Watchmen or V for Vendetta). Just because graphic novels are closely related to comic books, does not mean that all of them therefore are appropriate for young readers—some of them truly are graphic novels. Thus any use of graphic novels with respect to literacy would have to take this into account, and any graphic novels used would have to be reviewed beforehand.

Next Post...

So, it seems I can't get away from blogging.

For my next post I am planning on blog-ifying an essay I wrote for one of my classes. The class is Introduction to Children's Literature, and the paper topic I chose dealt with graphic novels (or comic books, or sequential art) and learning literacy.

It is a relatively long paper (longer than I would want to read on a computer screen), so I may do it in parts. If so, I will make sure that the parts are numbered so you don't read the last bit first.

And perhaps I will come up with a more regular blogging schedule (or cut it out altogether...I haven't decided yet).