Thursday, February 8, 2007

BJU Spanish targets Spanish-Speaking Catholics

(Source)
This is not surprising, given the school's reputation for anti-Catholic bigotry and its history of racial prejudice, but still irritating.

The course description for Spanish II (Emphasis mine):

  • "Begins with a thorough review of Spanish I with special attention to practical, original communication. Spanish II then continues with an in-depth study of other tenses, moods, and vocabulary with a strong emphasis on written and oral communication as well as oral and reading comprehension. A greater spiritual emphasis is added as students increase their ability to witness through a study of Catholicism and Spanish history. Special emphasis is placed on how to effectively use God’s Word in addressing false doctrine in the Catholic Church."

Compare to the description of French II, and remember that France was historically another Catholic country:

  • "Expands on the foundation laid in French I while strengthening the comprehension of the spoken and written language. The text includes a selection of French songs, with a Christian emphasis in each chapter. The oral and reading comprehension sections expose the student to French literature, as well as to the oral dialects of various areas of French-speaking lands throughout the world. Offered on BJ LINC."

You'd think at least their Latin II course would include ways to combat Catholicism, but I guess they have some reason they'd prefer not to debate Catholicism and scripture with people who study Latin. That course description as follows:

  • Latin II Builds on vocabulary and grammatical elements taught in Latin I. Places an emphasis on translation skills. Introduces the subjunctive mood and case uses.

A quick search of the course catalog reveals that the Spanish II description is the only place in the entire document where the word "Catholic" appears at all.

Now you'd think they'd want to "minister" to Catholics in all language groups, but the writers of the curriculum must believe that Spanish Speaking Catholics are the easiest targets.

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The Bob Jones University course catalog can be found here.
Thanks to Marv Wood who noted this in his comment on Catholic and Enjoying It.

3 comments:

Jeff Miller said...

Maybe John Edwards can move his campaign headquarters there.


Father Dwight Longenecker an ex-Anglican priest is a graduate of BJU. Ironically while there he had the seeds planted in him to later become Catholic.
http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/

Christina said...

I see Fr. Longnecker is a Tolkien reader. That would explain some of it. You can't love Lord of the Rings and not love Catholicism, even if you aren't aware of it. :)

Ouiz said...

I live very close to BJU, and I can tell you that many, many people in this area feel this way.

The ironic thing about it is that BJU has an incredible museum filled with Catholic art... go figure.