Sometimes great projects aren't overly artistic or showy; many times, the best projects contain insightful discussion and critical thinking about the topic at hand.
Last month we saw an example of a creative project from an Ignite Christian Academy student who designed her own costumes and set for Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. This month we'll be looking at a student's example of a response essay that is typical in many ICA courses, but whose content was anything from typical.
Abbey Voelker, who is a 12th grader at ICA, watched a documentary called Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons for her English IV class. She then wrote a one-page response to the documentary that went far deeper than her initial thoughts and reactions to the piece:
The Tension between Pagan and Christian Culture in Beowulf
The legend of Beowulf shows a tension between two cultures. The pagan, conquering tribes of the area were being infiltrated by Christian culture. When spoken of in the documentary Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons, we see that the culture which birthed Beowulf was very aware of its pagan history and its tradition, but were becoming more engaged with Christianity. Christianity was a new belief system and found the pagan tradition, such as human sacrifices, disgusting. It must be mentioned that nothing about this tension is shocking. As cultures come together, there is an intermingling of belief and traditions. But what is interesting is that Beowulf traps this point of history in literature.
When it comes to the text of Beowulf, we see that intermingling in that the monster Grendel's mother lives in a lake stained with blood. This would be familiar staging for people aware of pagan culture, for the female fertility gods of old were believed to live in a lake and the people offered their sacrifices to the goddess by the lakeside. However, familiar Christian phrases are used. Beowulf thanks the heavenly Father, although Christ is never mentioned in the text. It seems that for every mentioning of pagan culture, there is one of Christian origin as well. This is quite exciting information for people who study world history, because we get to see a point of merging for England. It is also exciting because Beowulf is believed to have been a folk tale, something told among the people, so the intermingling is seen from the view of the people's daily life.
When we look at a time frame such as this and the tension between two strong cultures, with embedded traditions, the question could be raised of "Who won?" The documentary Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons talks of this when saying that while Christianity was not without struggle, the "defeat of paganism was inevitable." While this is true, pagan culture was not completely cleared from England. Because of the culture being in the people, when Christianity became the dominant leader and dictator in cultural change, part of the pagan roots remained. While some purists may see this as fault, there is such a blessing in this in that the observers and historians of the culture get to see the people of early England was they were. Beowulf gives that observer a rounder view of the society because we get to read what they read and hear what they hear. This is a wonderful gift that Beowulf gives us.
Mrs. Kate Brauning, Abbey's teacher, said, "I appreciated Abbey's understanding of God's truth shown in all areas of life-even in ancient literature. She also pointed out one of the key values of literature: that it ‘traps this point of history.' Understanding that is vital to correctly interpreting literature from a Christian perspective."
Abbey's response is thought-provoking, analytical, and insightful, something all ICA students should try to strive for in their writing. Thank you for your untypical thinking, Abbey!
We teachers at the academy would love to see similar efforts put into your projects; if you have an idea for a project that would help you to learn more about the topic and engage it more easily, don't hesitate to message your teacher about that idea! It may just end up being the next Student Showcase piece in the Today!