I teach German and in class I study some passages on language and culture. We look at the Babel story. Through studying this story 6 times with students and reading The Gift of the Stranger by David Smith and Barbara Carvill (a book about foreign language pedagogy) my interpretation of that text has changed quite a bit. I think it is easy for us to see the divesity of language as a bad thing. But it seems like it is something God used to help us get back on track (realizing we can’t accomplish whatever we want and that we are dependant upon him to get to heaven). So it almost gives us an opportunity for other-worldly hospitality because our lack of understanding is amplified by the language barrier. This could be completely off topic. Sorry if it is. Also, if you read the the chapters preceding Babel, you’ll see evidence of more than one language before Babel Gen. 10. The style changes drastically, so you could question the chronology, but I don’t take it that literally when it says they spoke one language at the time of Babel.
psiemer
Feb 16 2006
03:07 pm
I teach German and in class I study some passages on language and culture. We look at the Babel story. Through studying this story 6 times with students and reading The Gift of the Stranger by David Smith and Barbara Carvill (a book about foreign language pedagogy) my interpretation of that text has changed quite a bit. I think it is easy for us to see the divesity of language as a bad thing. But it seems like it is something God used to help us get back on track (realizing we can’t accomplish whatever we want and that we are dependant upon him to get to heaven). So it almost gives us an opportunity for other-worldly hospitality because our lack of understanding is amplified by the language barrier. This could be completely off topic. Sorry if it is. Also, if you read the the chapters preceding Babel, you’ll see evidence of more than one language before Babel Gen. 10. The style changes drastically, so you could question the chronology, but I don’t take it that literally when it says they spoke one language at the time of Babel.