Everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah. (Cat Stevens)
Thinking about the musings from Day 39: The Trilemma…
I would submit to you that after covering 7 of the major belief systems from the dawn of humanity, the facts, whether coming from either a philosophical or religious angle, continue to speak for themselves:
Someone Upstairs Runs The Show.
However, what still needs to be addressed is the trilemma regarding Christianity. What still needs to be answered is whether Jesus of Nazareth was a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord.
In over 16 years of teaching Advanced Placement World History in a public high school, I have never directly been asked a question regarding the trilemma. In fact, I don’t think that I ever will….
I would submit to you that the reason why I have never had to address that question directly is simple. It is most likely because of how I wrap up the 7 Belief Systems and transition towards the next unit of content:
“As the Christianity section of the 7 Belief Systems has now come to a conclusion, what is not up for debate is that Jesus of Nazareth was a human that lived…and taught…and died…in the Middle East, just over 2,0000 years ago. Now, for some of you, whether you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, in fulfillment of the scriptures, rising to sit at the right hand side of the Father in heaven, is really not important for the AP World History Exam. At the end of the day, we are not trying to earn a doctoral thesis on comparative religions, but we are trying to be successful on the AP World History Exam in May. What matters most is that you have a basic understanding of the 7 Belief Systems that mankind was introduced to during the Foundations and Classical units of the course, from roughly 8,000 BCE to 600 CE. And after covering Polytheism/Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism, and Christianity over the last couple of days, I would submit to you that I have given you more than enough. You now have access to plenty of nouns and proper nouns, to easily compare and contrast facts regarding these 7 Belief Systems for you to earn a decent score on that exam….”
And leave it at that.
So as far as the classroom setting is concerned, if a student were to ask me about the trilemma, that would be something that I would discuss with them during tutoring hours.
But as far as class is concerned, we must move forward.
After all, time waits for no one….
After wrapping up Christianity, the 7th Belief System that I address during the 8,000 BCE – 600 CE time period in our course, it is time to move onto the next unit of the class, the Post-Classical unit. The Post-Classical unit used to cover the time period of 600-1450 CE. This was before College Board redesigned the Advanced Placement World History course in the fall of 2019.
We have now entered the 4th week of the course.
After introducing the Post-Classical unit with some general themes that separate this unit from the others, it is time to then begin focusing on specific content.
I begin with Islam.
A question that I pose to my students is simple:
“What religion does not chronologically fit into either the Foundations Unit of 8,000 BCE – 600 CE or the Classical Unit of 600 BCE – 600 CE?”
The answer is Islam, which began afterwards, in the 600’s.
The next question I ask the students is this:
“Why then do I make several references to Islam during the first two units of the course?”
This answer is two-fold:
1) Today, there are currently over 1.8 billion followers of Islam and;
2) Islam dominates the news cycle and current events around the world.
As far as current events are concerned, it matters not what news source you depend on to find out what is going on in the world. More often than not, a story regarding Islam tends to make it to the main page of your favorite news source.
So what is it about Islam that helps to explain why it has over 1.7 billion followers currently around the world and finds its way into the daily headlines around the news websites of the world?
That will be covered next time.
Do not feel discouraged if you are still not settled after reading and reviewing humanities first 7 major belief systems. Do not feel discouraged if you are still undecided as to which of these 7, if any, make any sense to you, now, or from an eternal perspective. Instead, embrace the idea that after reading and reviewing humanities first 7 major belief systems, that you at least have a basic idea and comfort in knowing that Someone Upstairs Runs The Show.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?
Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 40: Are We Done Yet?.
If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.
Please feel free to go back to where all of this began: