Author: Jaylah DeGout

I thought the conversation around archeological evidence presented was very interesting. The fact that when unqualified people possibly dig up what could be a religious artifact, completely invalidates what is being presented is such a tragic thought, especially when it completely supports something so big and important. It’s incredibly disappointing to see the connection between archeology and religion completely fall apart when people either dig up important objects irresponsibly or pass things along inauthentically. It is also interesting how people would be willing to pass along something so significant as an authentic work. It kind of makes you realize how important religion is, that people are willing to create fake documents or artifacts.

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.

I thought the class discussion about the differences in the Gospels was interesting. I didn’t realize how much scholarly research and content there was about the differences and similarities between the Gospels. I think it’s very interesting the ways like discussed in class, guessing which one came first using context. I never would have thought that I would have to think about how to figure out what writing came first. It is also interesting how some small differences in single words could possibly even change the meaning of the Gospels. It seems kind of similar to the idea of how the Bible should be interpreted, whether it should be literal or in context.

Everything in this class is new to me as I really don’t know anything about the Bible, but I was very interested in the fact that parts of the gospels are drastically different. I thought it was interesting that they differ in the stories that they both have, but also the fact that they have different stories in them. Based on the other reading it’s clear that they come together to tell a specific story about the life of Jesus. I would be kind of curious to hear more about what scholars and historians have to say, and also how it differs from what preachers and religious people have to say about them.

I thought the reading for today was very interesting. As a non-religious person but someone who did grow up occasionally attending church, I never really thought about how much religion was a part of our American culture in a way much greater than just religion being an aspect of culture. The idea that the Bible is the best-selling book ever I thought was fascinating, especially compared to the fact that many Americans could not name the 4 gospels, the 10 commandments, or even the first book in the Bible. On the other hand, like we saw in class today, you have religion being portrayed constantly in popular culture like in song. I find it pretty interesting and quite powerful spreading the message in the Bible in different forms of culture and make it relatable, but I wonder if people who are very religious would disagree and why.

I was fascinated reading these stories in the Bible. I have barely touched a Bible in my life so I have been doing the readings for this class with a very fresh set of eyes and an open mind. Reading these stories made me feel like I was reading something that was part of a folklore collection; a story that would have been passed down orally with a lesson at the end. While I am reading this for the first time, it was made very clear in the supplemental readings that other people have spent a lot of time picking apart every single aspect of these stories and have many different points of view based on how literally they are reading from the text and how they interpret the text. I’ve always known that many opinions of controversial topics stem from the Bible, but it was interesting to see the origin of those arguments and how some of those arguments have been formed.

Michael Holmes appears to be a reliable author. A quick Google search can help you uncover his credentials and his other works, as well as what he is involved in. He’s published a many reputable works in books and journals. In this specific chapter, it is well researched with all of its individual citations, bibliography, and footnotes. However, like most of us, his biases may show in this work. Because of his seminary studies, he obviously comes from a religious focused background. This paves the way for possible missing information, or information that comes from other biased sources. It may be an accurate picture, but it might not be a complete picture of all of the facts.

The book was published by Oxford University Press, and includes many contributors. At a quick first glance these contributors are scholars and professors, obviously experts in their field. Some of them come from religious backgrounds and others do not. It gives the book a lot of credibility, because the inclusion of different writers should help to balance out some of the biases that some of the authors have.

• My name is Jaylah DeGout and I am a 5^th year from New York City majoring in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. I’m taking this course mainly to fill my TI requirement so that I can graduate this Spring. I am not personally religious at all, so I could not tell you the last time I even looked at the Bible, but I find learning about different religions to be pretty interesting.
• I think that a Bible in general mainly serves simply as a religious text which contains things like creation stories and a code of Ethics specific to that religion, in the form of stories.
• I have no idea who wrote the Bible, I just always assumed it was some kind of clergy.
• Generally, it seems like everything that appeared in the search results was very surface level, about the kinds of things that are in the Bible, but not any of the explanations of the content.
• None of them seems like they are very reliable sources; Wikipedia was at the top, which is typical, but then I also saw some blog postings, nothing that appeared to be a scholarly article or journal.