Art Appreciation Analyze the painting, entitled Parson Weems' Fable​, shown (left). Check out its details. What do you notice? What do you think is happening? What caused the scene in the painting? What might happen after the scene shown? What does this piece make you wonder?

The Apocrypha

The Apocryphal books include the following (which will be discussed in more detail in our Wednesday evening class): The First Book of Esdras The Second Book of Esdras Tobit Judith Additions to the Book of Esther The Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach Baruch The Letter of Jeremiah The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men Susanna Bel and the Dragon The Prayer of Manasseh The First Book of Maccabees The Second Book of Maccabees

"Non-Catholic editions of the English Bible since 1535, including early editions of the familiar King James Version, separate these apocryphal books from the canonical Old Testament." ​

"These books were never included in the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament..."

"These books, as far as the evidence goes, were never accepted as canonical by Jesus and his apostles..."

"These books were not accepted as Scripture by such Jewish writers of the first century as Philo and Josephus; by the Jewish council at Jamnia (c. A.D. 90); and by such eminent Christian writers as Origen and Jerome..."

"These books do not evidence intrinsic qualities of inspiration..."

"These books have been shrouded with continual uncertainty..."

"These books cannot be maintained on a compromise basis..."

​"Objections to these books cannot be overruled by dictatorial authority..."

How About the New TEstament?

These titles are undoubtedly appealing.  Who wouldn't want to read Peter's actual account of the Gospel!  Consider, however, some of the content included in these non-canonical books: Infancy Story of Thomas:  Jesus strikes a child dead when the child bumps into Him. Gospel of Peter:  A cross follows three men out of Jesus' tomb. Protoevangelium of James:  Mary, brought up in the temple, is dedicated as a virgin from the age of three. Acts of John:  Staying in an inn, John commands bedbugs to leave his bed and behave. Acts of Paul:  Paul baptizes a lion that later spares Paul from death in the Ephesus amphitheater. Lightfoot suggests, "After reading such tales, many of us will want to hurry back to our New Testaments and once again appreciate them both for what they say and what they do not say."

Attention!  Attention!  An emergency has been reported in this building.  Please cease operations and leave the building utilizing the nearest exit or fire exit stairway.  Do not use elevators.  Repeat:  do not use elevators.

A hundred bad days made a hundred good stories
A hundred good stories make me interesting at parties
Yeah, no, I ain't scared of you
No, I ain't scared of you no more

After three years of waiting through COVID delays and international fear, I finally visited Colonial Williamsburg, participating in the rich instruction of the professionals there during this summer’s teacher institute.  I cannot begin to express my appreciation to you and to others who make this experience possible for teachers who do not always have the means to travel for the deep training that Colonial Williamsburg offers.

I want to make sure that you understand, my experience, on location and in living color, will not be wasted!  I fully expect to refer to it often as I teach others, both formally in classrooms and informally as I train other educators.
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Our week began with a day at Historic Jametowne and Jamestown Settlement, where we were introduced to 17th Century Indian life.  I gained a new appreciation for the complexity of the situation and the multiple levels of conflict.  It really must have been a juggling act to keep the peace between so many entities and levels of society at the same time.  Can I relay that message to 10-year-olds in a classroom?  Can I help my teaching peers and daily acquaintances understand the concepts I learned at Jamestown?  I hope so.

Days spent on the sidewalks of the historic streets of Williamsburg helped me appreciate the multi-faceted features of history.  No longer must we only learn about the founders, but now more than ever, we must also listen for the minority voices - the enslaved workers and the struggling, lower-class, the everyday subject/citizen trying to eke out a living from nothing but blook, sweat, and muscle.  While the motivators of change were yelling at each other in the courthouse, the taverns, and the governor’s palace, the parent on the street must have experienced a range of helpless emotions all at once.  We all know, today, that our voices are small amidst noise of the media and political machines, but have we really progressed far from the 18th Century counterparts.  While I still wonder how to pay for a daughter entering college, this year, those people must have been frightened for their lives and lifestyles.  Is is appropriate that we should pause and pay tribute to their ways of life and use their hardships and perseverance to bolster our own places in the world?  Might the citizens of Historic Williamsburg motivate me to be a better person?  I certainly pray that they will.

As we had the opportunities to meet people from history, Nanny Jones, Robert Carter, and George Wythe stand out.  The first-person interpretations brought to life these mostly-unsung heroes of history.  Their presentations during our session of the teacher institute were flawless only because they were not presented as flawless people.  That is, each of the figures portrayed had his or her warts and made mistakes.  To still make the connections these interpreters offer is remarkable.  I left with a sob-filled understanding that Nanny Jones was a strong, independent woman.  I also learned that, though many in the founding era believed that slavery was morally wrong, Robert Carter emancipated more slaves than anyone, and George Wythe freed his own slaves - not waiting to do so in his will, but doing so in his lifetime.  Are their lessons for today’s children and adults to learn by  reaching into the past?  I know they are.

To be recruited to participate in dramatic interpretations more than once during the week was a true honor.  Delivering Patrick Henry’s lines in the courthouse was certainly a highlight, and presenting my own speech in the classic debate of Patriot versus Loyalist was truly a delight.  I thrived in those moments.

Our group made it to Yorktown, where lightning pinned us inside our shuttle bus and did not allow us to wander the battle locations or surrender field as we would have liked.  I liken it to Cornwallis being pinned in by Washington’s army and French ships on the shore of that grand river.  Neither of us were in control, whether in the 18th Century or the 21st.  Neither of us had the luxury of movement as the sparks flew around us.  As we pondered the enormous pressures placed upon both sides in that decisive battle, I could not help but think the raindrops sliding down our bus windows were as heavy as the tears that many shed in those days so long ago.  Can I possibly tell that story and get students to empathize with both sides?  Is it possible to have them apply the same skills of empathy on the playground or in modern life?  I am confident it is.

I also completely enjoyed the camaraderie of collaborating with teachers from across the country.  This was really a group that exhibited mutual respect for one another, and I found myself comfortable with many of them.  I know we will continue to feed each other as we move forward in our professional lives.  Additionally, the staff and leadership from Colonial Williamsburg were welcoming and more than willing to answer questions and lend assistance.

Mrs. Kimball, I am not a person who writes a quick thank-you to check a task off of a to-do list and to make myself feel like I have done my moral duty.  If you regularly provide funding for educators to participate in activities like the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute, I hope this is the most thorough letter of appreciation you have ever received.  I think it is important for you to know the impact of your generous gift and how it will be applied.  The words are simple to say - Thank You - but the sentiment I have attempted to communicate in these paragraphs goes much deeper.

Hopefully, I will be allowed to return to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute in the future, perhaps to serve in more of a leadership role with new participants.  If not, I still know that I am far from finished with American history and helping students realize how we got here.  May God bless us all, in spite of our missteps and bruises.

With admiration,

In the education business, we call this bell work.  As we enter the classroom, work on this packet of material to get you into the mindset for this lesson.

What's in Your Bible? File Size: 708 kb File Type: pdf Download File

Mount Vernon:  Restoration, Authenticity, and Simplicity

Consider Nathaniel Hawthorne's quote (below). What do you notice? What stands out to you? What the main idea of this quote? Greenhouse When Harry S Truman occupied the White House in the 1940s, a piano leg broke through the floor and nearly plunged into the level below.  Truman subsequently had the president's house gutted and rebuilt on the inside.  When he did, much of the history of the place was exposed, including the charred remains of the British siege of the structure during the War of 1812. Many colonial bricks were also cleared out and were no longer needed for the rebuilding of the interior. Those bricks were offered the the Ladies of Mount Vernon - in case they had any use for them.  The ladies quickly approved the acquisition, knowing an excellent use for the bricks.  These would help them the closest they could possibly come to recreating another project on the property - the greenhouse.  It is suspected that Washington family member, Bushrod Washington, in the years following George's death, may have burned the greenhouse on purpose in order to receive an insurance payout. The ladies had dreamed of rebuilding the structure for a while, and the offering of actual slave-made bricks was as close as they could ever dream of making the building historically accurate.  The restoration (pictured below) would be as close to spec as possible. The Necessary One of the places I didn't want to miss in my stay on the property was the Necessary (fancy term for the outhouse/restroom).  This was the one item that would humanize George Washington more than any other and take me away from that Hawthorne we began with above.  The Necessary is, strangely, a three-holer, and aptly for this lesson, it was being restored.  I'll be able to tell you more about it in person.

The Ladies of Mount Vernon Association is the governing body that owns George Washington's mansion in Virginia.  Their mission includes restoration, respect, relevancy​.  They are dedicated to the accurate preservation of the house and the grounds upon which it rests, there on the banks of the Potomac River.  In many ways, the accuracy of their preservation is impressive, focusing on getting the methods and materials to match the period of time when the General and Lady Washington occupied this property in the 18th Century. ​Rustication ​One such demonstration of the period restoration can be found in the repainting of the outside walls of the mansion itself.  While these walls appear to be constructed of cut stone, the fact remains that they are wooden, treated with a particular painting method to deceive the observer into thinking the house is much more impressive than it really is. When I stayed on the property for a week, I learned more about this process.  See how I encountered Mount Vernon first hand, then watch the short video below to learn how those walls are restored right down to the accurate coloring.  The Mansion Cellar A trip into the dark cellar of the mansion reveals original foundations (as well as electric wiring strung by none other than Thomas Edison, to aid tourists in their visits many years following the deaths of George and Martha).   One cornerstone in the basement is familiar to fans of the National Treasure movie franchise.  In the sequel movie, the stone is said to be the mark of George Washington, even though is sports the letters L and W, representing the initials of George's older half brother, Lawrence.  The truth is, the movie makers remade the stone, replacing the letter L with a G, to make the lines make more sense.  When the Ladies of Mount Vernon screened the movie, they despised the change.  "If you're going to use our things, you're going to portray them accurately," they told the producers, prompting the props department to remake the stone and the rest of the company to reshoot the scene when Ben Gates kidnaps the president of the United States. Are you catching that recurring theme of restoration in these examples.  If only folks would put as much energy into restoring the First Century church!  The point, for the purpose of this lesson, is that we also hope for the most accurate restoration of Scriptures.  We addressed this in previous lessons, but it is appropriate for us to stress it again as we consider the canon​ of the Bible.

"The Truth Shall Set You Free"

Our Canon of Scripture What do we mean when we refer to the canon of Scripture?  Our discussion using the anchor text is below, but first, let's see how an older text describes the subject (which does not require black powder or projectiles). ​ The Illuminated Bible, published Dickson Publishing Company for Columbia Educational Books (1941) has some interesting features and artwork.  In the introductory material to this edition are the following words regarding the canonicity of our 66-book Library:

The Greek word canon signifies a straight rod or rule.  When used figuratively it means that by which anything is tested as a rule, such as a test or rule of logic.  It is used in Gal. 6:16; Phil. 3:16 as a "rule of life," and in 2 Cor. 10:13, 16 as a measure of excellence.  In 380 A.D., it was first applied to the Scriptures, and from the time of Origen it has been applied to the books comprising the Bible which are regarded as having Divine authority.  Thus we speak of the Canon of Scripture, while uncanonical books are those that are not in the Canon.  The Apocryphal books belong to this class, all the evidence pointing to the fact that they were not inspired, have not Divine authority and are not a part of the Scriptures as a "rule of faith."  In matters of religion and ethics the Bible is the standard, the rule or Canon by which these are judged...

...By Genuineness and Authority of the Scriptures is meant that they are the actual writings that have come down to us, and that these writings have been unaltered.

Finally, let's explore Chapter 14 of our anchor text, How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot.  In this chapter, Mr. Lightfoot provides rationale for the acceptance of the canon of our English Bible.  He also offers the following questions for us to discuss in class: Is there any information in the New Testament which has bearing on the Old Testament canon?  What statement of Jesus indicates which books were included in the Old Testament of his day?  Did his Old Testament differ from ours? What other evidence is there for the Old Testament canon?  How is it that the twenty-two books of the Jews equal our thirty-nine books?

Red Letters

The celebration of the history of aviation with whimsy and humor is the focus of this kinetic sculpture/clock tower. The designs of the flying machines draw from actual historical and present-day craft, flying toys, mythology, ideas that never were realized and pure fantasy.