Author: mgteal

David was always glorified in my experience of reading the Bible and hearing about him in church, but whether or not he deserved it is another question. I knew the story of how he married Bathsheba in the back of my head (perhaps mostly the Veggie Tales version) but I didn’t realize just how far David went and still maintained his popularity and kingship. He had multiple wives, killed multiple people, and committed adultery, but he took responsibility for it. This is a recurring theme in the Bible in a literary sense, because the main message of Jesus is to take ownership of sin and repent. The benefits of doing so are shown through David, as he won the spot of being in the holy bloodline and being a man after God’s own heart, as he is often called in Christianity. All sides of David’s life are important when understanding the themes of the Bible. 

In history class, the references to Confederates and anti-abolitionists using the Bible always made me shudder. Why would these people use my religion as a way to justify the torture of an entire race? The Israelites themselves were freed slaves at one point, right? The argument blew my mind, and I didn’t even know yet about the Slave Bible designed to suppress rebellion among unjustly enslaved Americans. 

The reality is that the Bible was, like in many other issues, manipulated to fit a certain value. Cherry-picking and selective hearing runs rampant with these hot-button issues. But the Bible’s view of slavery is much different than American slavery. It never hit me before that slavery wasn’t racially-charged like America, it was mostly a last-ditch effort to pay off debts. This idea reminds me of the child sacrifice topic from Genesis, where desperate times really do call for desperate measures (which vary through cultures and time periods). In the Americanized, revisionist view that pervades Bible study in churches, I sometimes forget to acknowledge these important cultural and historical considerations.

This week’s discussion made me think a lot about how the Ten Commandments have influenced me and the law. In Sunday school, I always accepted them for what they were and they eventually became a part of me subconsciously. The “do nots” seemed like the obvious way to do it. The law in America is basically the same, saying “you get in trouble for ____” and we all accept the way it’s written.

Don’t kill, don’t lie, don’t steal all seem pretty obvious, but how DID God and Moses figure out what to tell the Israelites? We had plenty of trouble agreeing on what kinds of rules to include on our master list in class, but what made these people follow it? Was it really the idea that they were God-ordained? People here break rules all the time, even the most Christian-y Christians. Sometimes people disobey for very good reasons.

Once again, a simple, black-and-white example from Sunday school turned grey because there really doesn’t seem to be a clear answer anymore. The law is complicated, but to me it says something about the role of God in religion and secular life. If the Ten Commandments were really god-sent, which I believe, then this list shows he knows what he’s talking about. “Do not murder” and “do not lie” seem pretty obvious, and seem to have clear exceptions, but just avoiding them in general is a good idea. Especially for the wandering and fragile tribes of Israel. Whether it’s a perfect example for society today or not, it worked for them and there’s definitely some good advice there.

This week, I was introduced to two very similar stories that I had no idea existed. In my childhood, I was told all about Sodom and Gomorrah and how Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt–but never the lead-up to their demise. Who knew that there was such a controversy about gang rape in Genesis, AND that they taught it in Sunday school?

Reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah at face-value is much different than the other interpretations out there, especially on the internet. Homosexuality in the Bible is a hot topic, one that I never knew was referenced much outside of Leviticus’ long-winded, fire and brimstone law book. Turns out, there are lots of discussions out there that made me wonder–was this really about the men wanting to “know” the other men?

No, it wasn’t. During class, it hit me more clearly that it didn’t even matter what sexuality these men were, or if that specifically is what made the city evil. It was a story of violence and rape, and total lawlessness that garnered the interference of God. The argument surrounding the nature of “abomination” that the Sodomites had committed was much more black and white to me than it had been after a few Google searches. I was reassured that indeed someone else thinks the gang rape of a woman is more pressing than the exact sexuality of an entire town.

I found the discussion of Hagar to be a lot less uncomfortable than I expected. Of course, the idea of being enslaved, raped, and cast out into the wilderness is scarring, to say the least, but the other parts of this story give Hagar’s life a more positive meaning than those who mistreated her. Even though her baby’s conception was likely traumatic for her, she did mother a central figure of three religions. She is credited with being a powerful mother, one who finally got to form an identity besides being Sarah’s slave. Her life wasn’t perfect or even bearable at times, but she is a very important part of the rest of history, and in a spiritual sense, faith in the way we see it today. Without her role in the Bible, whether a fable or extension of true fact, the Ishmaelites and the subsequent commentary about them wouldn’t exist in the same way. 

Some other interesting ideas presented in the discussion made me think about gender in the early days of the Bible. Hagar was obviously treated with disrespect, including abuse and rape that men would have been protected from in the Hebrew texts, but the fact that Sarah owned her made me think. It is Sarah, not Abraham, that owns her. This is different from the patriarchal perspective I expected the early families to have. Women still faced many obstacles in Genesis and subsequent books, but this was an intriguing anomaly to me. 

Overall, the Hagar, Abraham, and Sarah story raises important dichotomies between religions, societal expectations, and how God uses his Chosen People. 

Growing up, the Bible’s creation story is the only one I read. It wasn’t until this class that I really explored more than just Genesis. And turns out, in a sense, I wasn’t really missing much–Mesopotamia has plenty of similar stories. This was such an interesting realization to me, considering that I hadn’t thought much about other stories or how geography affected them. Sometimes I forget that the Bible was likely told orally until written down, and that they developed and travelled around just like the epic poetry and legends of Old English. 

During our discussion, I have been really indecisive in how I view the Genesis story. It’s extremely unlikely that the author(s) were there, so there’s no way of really knowing what happened. Considering that this was probably an epic or mythologically-influenced story makes me think–what is considered true? A beautiful story about light emerging from darkness and man being formed from dust is not without value, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be an exact recounting of events in order to be meaningful. Even if it is some outlandish legend passed down, it’s still tradition and it’s still inspiring. 

One thing has become increasingly clear as I’ve grown up: no one is telling the full truth. In fact, there’s rarely a complete, agreed-upon truth in any situation. Everyone is biased by the things that they’ve experienced, their own motivations, or what they think their audience wants to hear. This is what Bible translations have turned into in my head. Everyone has different experiences or research that would cause them to translate the Bible a certain way, and they often feel strongly enough to spark another denomination. As someone who always went to “nondenominational” church (it was likely watered-down Baptist), this is really my first experience with any Bible that isn’t ESV or NIV. Who knew that slight word changes could alter how we view an entire book? 

I am enjoying reading my academic NRSV bible and my NIV side by side, using whatever context clues I can to make sense of the giant book in front of me. Commentary has been extremely helpful for me, both in an academic and personal sense. So many people have tried to make sense of this work, finding value in it from all kinds of directions. To me, this adds to the overall meaning of the book in my life and in a literature sense.

In regards to his writings in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, Michael W. Holmes has plenty of biblical expertise to count as a reliable author in that sense. He has degrees from both secular and religious institutions, including a BA in history. That being said, he has a variety of knowledge about the Bible and its history, from multiple perspectives (although it is important to consider that a great deal of his experience has to do with the New Testament and Greek language exclusively). He also teaches at a religious, Baptist university, so this is important to consider with his professional and educational experiences that can create bias. 

After some brief Google research on New Testament experts, I found N. T. Wright listed as the “World’s Leading New Testament Scholar” on Forbes.com. (For basic research purposes, the questionable authority of Forbes on religious matters has been double-checked by some searching.Wright is indeed a New Testament scholar, even if he isn’t as widely acclaimed as Forbes claims.) He works at Oxford now, which isn’t as directly religious as Bethel University (where Holmes currently teaches), which may give him an interesting bias versus Holmes. He’s also British and has spent most of his academic time there, which may provide a different cultural perspective. Upon reading some of his works, Wright believes, in general, that the New Testament canon was not something that was later given authority but all of the books and scriptures have inherent authority. This is largely consistent with Holmes’ idea that the canon could mean a “guide” to which Christians were urged to conform. This idea hinges on Wright’s belief that the scriptures and thus the canon had automatic authority. 

The fact that Oxford University Press published Holmes’ writing (which signals a lengthy fact-checking and researching process given the prestige of the college) and that Wright currently works at Oxford is an interesting connection. Especially in regards to each other, the level of confidence in these writings is high and similar between the two. 

Overall, in this lesson, I learned how many factors go into a “reliable” source. Everyone has some form of bias, you just have to pick the right one for your project and cross-check your sources to find some sort of common ground. It was really difficult to find someone that multiple people found an “expert”, especially across denominations and parts of academia. We certainly rely on each other for their opinions and hard-earned research, and Wikipedia is no exception. I hope I can be someone trustworthy for these articles just like I would want the other editors to be. 

Hi, I’m Madeline Teal and I’m a freshman here at Butler. I’m a Multilingual major, with emphasis on Spanish, French, and Chinese. I also have an International Business minor. I’m from Atlanta, Indiana, which is a teeny tiny town about forty minutes north of campus. I’m taking this class mostly out of curiosity and cultural context for my Christian faith. 

In a general sense, the Bible is a collection of holy writings that create and fuel the Christian faith. They contain the Christian narrative on life, all the way from the creation of the world to the early church, and a way of life to keep the faith going beyond that. 

To me, the Bible is a really great source of guidance on a lot of questions I have about life. “Who made me this way?” and “What the heck do I do when I feel (fill in the blank)?” are all questions that the Bible can answer for me. I have a clear-cut path that has built-in brothers and sisters to help me along the way. 

I have always been taught that the Bible was written by God through his chosen disciples. Much like David, Mary, and other famous “chosen people” of the Bible, it’s unclear why or how he chose them, but I believe that he used them to accurately portray his wishes to man from fellow men. Since then, it has been translated many times and tweaked to fit several cultures or belief systems, but still has largely the same goal. 

When you search up “What is a Bible?” on Google, lots of websites, both historically-focused and faith-focused, offer their own explanation. Different denominations are also giving their own truth as to what the Bible means to them. What is considered reliable to one group of people may be different to another, but there are certainly many experts with different types of degrees (secular/religious, historical/modern languages, etc.) ready to help you out. Checking for some sort of consensus is going to be key, with all of the different ideas buzzing around.