When I was younger, I did attend some bible school and a “vacation bible school” camp.  I do vividly remember picture Goliath as some giant, towering man who could crush a village with his foot, and David some small guy who hit Goliath with a rock and he fell down.  I have always been inspired by this story, and even if it wasn’t completely how the story goes (who would’ve thought they wouldn’t teach kids about a beheading!) it still has the same inspiring theme despite some more adult situations within the actual story.

I was also very interested on the topic of “whether David raped Bathsheba or not” and was interested in researching whether King David actually did exist.  Now while I had heard the David and Goliath story, I had never heard any of this and didn’t know who Bathsheba was (I guess Veggie Tales doesn’t cover that part!).  So to find out that he potentially raped a woman was kind of shocking, but also interesting to learn at the same time as David always seems to be portrayed in such a positive light.

During the class on Tuesday, we discussed slavery and the Bible.  Now, the word has a bit of a different connotation to what we know as American slavery, however I still feel like it is a bit problematic to just sweep it to the side.  We know slavery as the buying and selling of people against their will, that’s what happened more modern-day and that’s what the current definition is.  However, slavery back then was more of indentured servitude – people working to pay off their debts when say, a year of crops goes bad and they can’t make money back.  This is vastly different from the slavery we know, the times were completely different and this doesn’t constitute the Bible “promoting” slavery.  However, if it is so different than slavery we know now, why are we not using a separate word in the translations is my question?  We know what they mean through context and through discussion, but had I never listened to the discussion on Tuesday I probably would not have come to the conclusion that it was indentured servitude to pay off debts, and not the form of slavery that we’re more familiar with.  Of course in the grand scheme of things it does not mean much, but I do find it interesting that even though slavery back then was different, since the word and connotation has evolved we haven’t changed anything about how it is worded/printed.

There was a lot of repetitive wording and interesting wording within the creations stories.  A lot has already been said on it, however I would like to reiterate how interesting I found the repetition in phrases such as “and God said”, “God saw that and it was good”, and even the use of “evening” and “morning” when those are typically not the only words we would use to describe the times of day.

There is also a lot of parallelism used throughout the creation – the first three days and the second three days have some glaring parallels.  In the first three days, I think that God is sort of creating an outline or a mold for the world.  On day 1, light and darkness are created, on day 2, the firmaments and the sky/sea are created, and on day 3 vegetation and dry land are created.  Then on the next three days, I believe gods is filling in the outlines he’s made and adding to the mold he created.  On day 4, the sun, moon, and stars are created.  On day 5, the fish and the birds are created, the first inhabitants!  And then finally, on day 6, more animals and people are created.  And the first three days even align with each other.  Day 1 and Day 4 both have to do with light, as the sun/moon/stars emit light.  Day 2 and Day 5 both have to do with the land and sky – one creates the habitat, and the other fills in the habitats with inhabitants.  Then finally, Day 3 and Day 6 put ground and vegetation and inhabitants for that ground/vegetation.  The days are parallel, God goes from creating the outline to filling it in.

Michael W. Holmes would certainly be considered a credible source and a reliable author.  Dr. Holmes has degrees, including a Ph.D, from multiple religious institutions and has written countless articles and books relating to the Bible or its subject matter.  He is particularly fluent in the New Testament.  On top of this, Dr. Holmes teaches Biblical Studies and Early Christianity at Bethel University, so he constantly takes in and produces media related to the Bible.  Of course, these accolades do not mean you should take his word 10o% of the time, however Dr. Holmes is clearly a scholar and someone who is up to date on the Bible and is knowledgeable in the field having studied for many years.

In researching through Google, I was able to find someone who is most certainly a reputable and distinguished source for the Old Testament – James L. Kugel.  In particular he is a specialist in the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Dr. James Kugel has taught at a few Universities, including teaching Hebrew Literature at Harvard University for twenty-one years.  Dr. Kugel currently teaches at Bar Ilan University in Israel.  He has also written over eighty research articles on the Bible and fifteen different books.  While Dr. Kugel is a very astute scholar of the Bible, humans are not without their biases.  He is a believing Orthodox Jew, which could mean that he interprets and sees things in the Old Testament differently to other sects of Christianity.  Despite these biases however, his works and his books are renowned by professionals within in the field.

Throughout the lesson, I have learned that even the most astute scholars can have their biases towards a topic, especially one as controversial as religion.  Every human holds biases, whether they be conscious or unconscious.  You need to do fervent research and make sure that these biases do not conflict with the specific article/piece of media, you need to cross check with professionals who hold different biases.  Trusting one person with all of your heart is not good from an academic standpoint, you must see what the consensus is from multiple points of view to get the full picture.

Hi everyone, I’m Luke Barath.  I’m a freshman here at Butler and dual majoring in Vocal Performance and Music Education.  Mainly, I am taking this course because it fills my TI credit needed.  However, I also wanted to take it because my knowledge on the bible is very limited and I have always been interested in learning more.

Like I said, I have very little experience or background involving the bible.  Growing up I never really went to church and never actively practiced a religion.  I do know that it is a sacred text to many and a book including many moral stories and life lessons.  I do know the very popular tales of course, such as Noah’s Ark, Moses, etc.  One thing that fascinates me most about the bible though is how it helps bring millions of people around the world together, even if those people interpret different passages or parts of it differently.

When searching up “What is a bible”, there is plenty of information to behold, but I am not sure how much is credible and how much is not.  For example, one of the first links that is brought up is from Wikipedia, which anyone can edit.  The first thing to pop up, however, is the dictionary definition of the bible, stating “the Christian scriptures, consisting of the Old and New Testaments.”  That’s what it physically is, I suppose, but not a very deep answer.  Upon scanning the rest of the results, none of the websites seemed to be scholarly or professional, none of these first links that pop up are super reliable upon first glance