Month: November 2020

Looking at Paul’s letters from a new perspective is a bit strange. Paul didn’t intend for these letters to be published in a book of scriptures, he just meant to provide some guidance to churches that were struggling nearby. His words weren’t meant to be a universal fix for all Christians like they’re used today, especially not when they’re studied out of context (which is also common). Finding out that some of the canonized letters of Paul may not even be Paul’s writing further complicates this study! Since I researched Paul and his words about women in the church, then realizing they may not actually be his words, I’m understanding now more than ever how Biblical research has been operating for so long. I thought this was all cut and dry, studied and found to be legit, and canonized afterwards. Who knew there were still so many pieces of the puzzle being put together? I have decided I can no longer rely on devotional study of the Bible and I really need to have a historical account to supplement this as well. It amazes me how my church did so little contextualization of passages like this and now curiosity is getting the best of me!

Rape and abuse in the Bible is actually more present than I initially thought.  I have always heard the song, “Halleluiah” and knew that it was about David looking at Bathsheba, and I have heard a few other stories with servants being raped and abused.  However, I never realized how connected rape and abuse today connects with the Bible.  Often times, we don’t like to think of the negative aspects of the Bible.  However, I think that understanding that not all of the Bible is all sparkles and miracles is really important.  Two huge issues today are rape and abuse, and I think that its interesting to see the parallels between now and Biblical times.  They lived in a society that was ruled by men (patriarchy) and women were subordinate to men, sometimes not even being included when it comes to referring to a group of people with men and women combined.  This all takes me back to my GHS class, Women in Society: Rights and Resistance.  In this course, we looked at women in society.  It was very eye opening to see the amount of abuse that still occurs in our world today, and how oblivious we become to it.  Despite the many obstacles that women have overcome, there are still many to go.

One of the things I thought was very interesting that was discussed in class today was the concept of letters as a whole. The idea that we only have one side of the conversation is something that I find absolutely fascinating in terms of how they are interpreted. Based on the readings it is clear that scholars think about these letters in a deep and meaningful way. As a non-religious person in this class I have been trying to think about the way we interpret the Bible in our modern society, so it makes me think about what was decided important enough to include and why it was included. I also am curious the kinds of conversations that scholars are having with each other about Paul’s letters and their significance beyond what was discussed in the readings.

If you have ever heard of Saul and Paul referred to as the same person, it is because they are. Saul was a disciple, who later became known as one of the most recognized disciples to this day. Paul. Paul, or Saint Paul as some might know him as, was one of the Apostles. He was important in the spread of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ. He is also thought to be the writer of 13 books of the New Testament. Most of us, however, will recognize his name from Church. When you hear “a letter from Paul to…” this is the “Paul” in question. These letters were a huge part of establishing Christianity. Paul went on to spread the teaching of Christ, after his death. Paul has been known to be one of the most important figures in the Bible, after Jesus, and I think that just shows how much Paul has done for Christianity.

I had never thought of having to interpret Paul’s letters from one side as he was in conversation with the other party. By reading it in this light, we infer what the conversation was up to that point. It is a fine line in which we walk to understand the context. We need to know what the social aspects were from whence he was writing and how teachings from Jesus would fall into what Paul was teaching to the people he was writing to. There was a strong emphasis on treating others the same no matter their background. I think when interpreting Paul’s letters, we should take into consideration that he was spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It might be easy to get wrapped up in the situation that you are facing at times, but taking time to include others might be what Paul would have preached in today’s society. In communication with others, we take the other party into consideration and how they might react if the situation is more important but should be done in all circumstances. Especially what is going on around us, we all are going through it and we should all take the other party into consideration before spouting off and potentially hurting others.

Women for all of history have been disadvantaged and oppressed. Many people day use the Bible to explain or prove that this is how God intended it to be: men first, and women second. Of course one of the most notable women in the Bible begins with Eve and how she was made from Adam, and made the mistake of falling into temptation, and then convincing Adam to do the same. Of course, this story of Eve doesn’t create a good look for women. In the Old Testament, women are often abused and treated badly, which was hard to read personally. However, we can’t forget about Mary who was the mother of Jesus. She is an extremely important figure in the Bible, and in Catholicism we even dedicate the month of May to her devotion. Overall, many people see the Bible as supporting the unequal rights of women, but personally I don’t believe that. Jesus died for everyone’s sins, equally.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are interesting to think about and how they relate to each other. I never even realized that there has been so much research, study, and opinions about what order they are in chronologically, and also how they basically copied information from each other. What was particularly interesting to me was how the Gospel of John is so different from the others: from the difference in setting, chronology, and even the dialogue and wording. The book uses words like “Father”, “I” and “The Father” significantly more times than the other gospels, except for “Kingdom”, which he uses much less. Learning about all of this in the readings and in class amazes me that there is so much scholarly dissection of the Bible, which I never realized before taking this class.

I would say that Paul was one of the most explicit evangelists, traveling around Jerusalem mostly to perform missionary work, he has remained one of the most venerated saints in both the Catholic and Orthodox Church. Often times, they are shown in icons embracing each other as a symbol for our longing of a brotherly reunification. Paul wrote many epistles, most of which remain as the dogmatic center the liturgical and extra-liturgical roles of deacons priests and bishops. He has also received much criticism from rabbinic perspectives for his role as the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” who was an “antinomian to his teacher Gamaliel.” according to Daniel Langton’s Paul in Jewish Thought. Paul is also critiqued by some muslim scholars as he is generally attributed with corrupting the original teachings of Jesus and takes on the Islamic representation of a gentile.

There are four canonical gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, and Luke (synoptic gospels) and then the gospel according to John. They all tell different accounts of the birth, life, death, and the ressurection of Christ, God incarnate. These writings all have unique elements but many have what is called “Gospel Harmony,” a word for word similarity between two or more gospels. When three gospels line up, this can be referred to as “Triple Tradition,” i.e. a three way redundancy which exists primarily in the synoptic gospels. It has been under much debate as to how the “Q” source developed and for good reason, the interconnectedness of the gospels in a way determines the credibility of them as historical documents.

The actually act of figuring out the connectedness of the gospels is quite complicated, thousands of hours of parallel comparisons, and then the contexts of each must be compared to ensure that those comparisons actually have theological weight. Also, there are some linguistic differences that Biblical scholars have to look out for considering translations frequently have elements of speech from different time periods.