Category: Uncategorized

I found our assigned reading of the flood stories very interesting. It showed both the Yahwist Version and also the Priestly Writers Version. I was surprised at how short the Yahwist version was. It seemed in the other version there were much more details. Between the two there were also significant differences.

One difference I found interesting was the nature of the flood. In the Yahwist version, the flood is presented as more like heavy rain that after a while was able to lift the ark off the ground. In the Priestly Writer’s version, however, the flood is portrayed as a “cosmic upheaval.” This is a big difference for me. I think that the cosmic upheaval version perhaps seems more like a myth because of this element of a more cosmic destruction. In the summary it says “the cosmic waters above the heavens and the waters of the cosmic deep below the earth effect a return to chaos.” This is something that will really affect how I view and read the bible in the future.

I had never heard that there are any sorts of doublets and contradictions in the flood story. In her lecture on Doublets and Contradictions, Christine Hays talks about some of these things. She talks about how it is said that the amount of time where rain was present isn’t consistent. Some passages say 40 days and others say 150. It seems strange to me that I would not have known about or noticed this before.

She also says there is a lot of repetition and contradiction in the Bible whether they are in the same passage or not. Some parts of books are basically repeated again in another book later on. There are two creation stories in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. It seems as though the image of God is different in Genesis 1 and 2 as well. This leads us to believe there could be different authors and a lot of revisions. Growing up, I never learned about these kinds of propositions and ideas. I had never been introduced real studies of the bible and what religious scholars actually were saying about the text that was a big part of my life.

I had heard the creation story growing up in Sunday school at my church. I remember coloring pictures of Adam and Eve eating an apple off an apple tree with a little snake on the ground. Even though it was never actually said in the Bible that the fruit was an apple, I had always grown up picturing that as what it was. Being confronted with the question of what kind of fruit was on the tree, I would have immediately said it was an apple. It just makes me wonder how many other things in the Bible I have consciously or subconsciously gotten mixed up or made assumptions about.

In our class discussion, we talked about how translations and their original language can have very big differences. We also talked about idioms and how difficult it can be to translate them because we have to have an understanding of cultural references. I hadn’t thought a lot about how things are translated and how the text that we are reading in English of the Bible can have a different meaning than the original language of the Bible. For example when I read “slept with” in the Bible I assume that the text is making a sexual metaphor. But we talked about how this phrase is also used to say that two people were buried together. It just serves to show us that we can make incorrect assumptions and interpretations of our own that aren’t what the text is actually saying.

Though many people might regard Christmas as nothing but a cash-grabbing holiday in order for consumers to buy and producers to get richer, there has always been a magic to it. Because of the popularity of the holiday and the evolution of mankind, people might forget from time to time that the holiday is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

The term “Christmas” is supposed to represent the mass of Christ. Even before all the presents and Hallmark movies, Christmas was used to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus was the savior of humanity, and his birth marked the a great change. Though his birthday is not exactly know, people chose December 25th to celebrate the birth of a savior and the miracles to come after.

Although Christmas has mainly become materialistic since the birth of Christ, it is important to remember the inherent importance of the holiday. If Christ wasn’t born, it is hard to tell where we would be now.

Pontius Pilate ordered the death of Jesus on a cross. This crucifixion was due to Jesus’ affect on the people. The Romans did not like how Jesus was basically getting in their way. However, it doesn’t seem like this was the only reason for Jesus’ crucifixion. When he was made to carry the cross, Jesus was not rejecting the cross, but embracing it. Why would this be? Jesus stated: “O Cross, My soul’s beloved, now made ready to fulfill my desires – come to Me, so that I may be embraced in your arms, and so that, laid upon them on an altar, I may be acceptable to the eternal Father as the sacrifice for his reconciliation with humanity.” This statement helps form the common idea that Jesus knew that his sacrifice was part of God’s plan.

Yes, the Romans did want Jesus dead, but that was all in God’s will. God wanted Jesus to die, not because he wanted to see him fall, but for him to rise and come be seated in Heaven. The sacrifice of Jesus was for God to reconcile with humanity. Pontius Pilate did, in fact, order the death of Jesus and an unfair trial was formed, but it was all in God’s favor in the end.

It is a normal belief that women did not play a role in the Church because they weren’t at the forefront. However, I believe they were the backbone and foundation of the Church. As the saying goes, “behind every great man is a great woman.” I’ll be honest that it does make me a little mad the low amount of women that are named in the Bible. There are stories in the Bible that surround women, but we run out of names before running out of the stories. I take this as the women weren’t important enough to name. Some of the women in the Bible that are named include Mary Magdalene, Elization (Mary’s cousin), Anna (Mary’s mother possibly?), and another Anna (the Prophet in the Temple). The Bible limits women to certain roles like prostitute, mother, daughter, and housewife. I believe this is because of the internalized misogyny that women have always experienced.

One new insight I learned about women in the Bible surrounds Genesis and Adam and Eve. Eve, a woman, is usually blamed for sin and eating the fruit from the tree. However, a new viewpoint I learned is that it was Adam’s fault. Eve wasn’t created yet when Adam was told not to eat from the tree. Adam’s teacher was Jesus. Eve was stuck with Adam has her teacher who did a bad job (clearly). Eve ate from the tree because she didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to because Adam was responsible for telling her and failed to. (A typical man, I might add).

Paul definitely did not intend for his letters to be as widespread as there are today, and I find that very interesting. Paul never intended for his letters to be published in scripture, they were merely made to assist nearby churches who were struggling with their faith. Along with this unintentional publishing of Paul’s letters in the Bible, there is many theories and controversy. The biggest issue seems to be whether or not the letters were actually written by Paul himself. Again, as with anything else in the Bible, it is impossible to confirm whether or not Paul wrote all of the letters listed in the Bible, but it’s interesting to question nonetheless.

I find the topic of Biblical research itself to be fascinating. How does one confirm any theory with the only source to be one work, the Bible itself? All I’m aware of is that I never want to perform any kind of theology research in terms of confirming my theories, that seems like a very difficult job.

The Book of Psalms, commonly referred to as Psalms, and written as poems, is quite possibly the easiest book to read in the Old Testament and even in the Bible. A lot of wording from Psalms is used in song lyrics of hymnals for churches. Along with this, I found a theory by James Thirtle on Psalter’s music titles. His theory states that Psalter’s music titles were based on his personal observations with the intent to promote discussions and found outcomes to signifiant research. Thirtle believed he finally found the key for understanding the music titles in Psalms.

I myself cannot stake a claim on this theory because I most definitely have not studied Psalms enough. However, I do find this theory very fascinating to consider.

The story of Noah’s ark and the huge flood that God cast onto Earth is one of the most significant stories I remember from the church growing up. Revisiting the details and theories of the flood was super interesting to me. The different perspectives on the theories of the duration of the flood was what stood out to me most. Growing up I remember hearing over and over again: 40 days and 40 nights. However, I found the Priestly Writer’s version of 150 days to be very interesting. Time in the Bible is one of the most heavily debated subjects because there is no true way to tell if it was measured even remotely close to how we measure time now. I think it’s very possible that the flood could’ve lasted 40 days and 40 nights and also 150 days, it all depends on how you interpret it. 40 days and 40 nights could’ve just been used as more of a figure of speech for a long time, rather than an actual measurement. While there is no possible way of actually knowing how long the flood lasted, it’s still fascinating to ponder all of the different perspectives and ideas.

There have been many prophets that have told the coming of Jesus and that do the will of God. God instilled them on Earth to show us the way to him by using a form humans would trust, another human. For example, Moses, an Israelite who was raised as a rich Egyptian, was called to be a prophet. Little did he know he’d become one of the most famous prophets in the Bible due to his extreme courage in following God’s command and leading the Israelites to the promised land on a 40-year journey. Prophets are called to be the workers of God. Doing his will on the Earth so that humanity could be prepared for the coming of the savior, Jesus Christ.