Category: Uncategorized

Without a doubt, slavery is one of the most horrendous things ever to touch the face of the Earth. Although this evil was widely used there was some good ability to come from it. For example, in the book of Exodus God used slavery to help Moses, son of the pharaoh, answer the call to Him. He did this just as much as he used Moses to help the slaves. A situation where both parties were saved. The Israelites, from the tortures of slavery and Moses, from his false pagan religion. God taught Moses the words and phrases to free the Israelites, most commonly referred to as “let my people go” and soon enough they were. This is an example of how slavery, although purely evil, can amount to some good in the world.

I personally feel that women have a large role in the church even though they might not be represented in a large number or to a large demographic. Women have largely impacted the Church through sainthood and religious life. For example, countless saints are women and there are numerous Dominican nuns answering their call to teach not only about the faith but in schools about every topic from math to social studies, allowing them to apply the morals of the faith in every subject. Another great example is Mary the Mother of God, one of the 2 people ever to be conceived without sin. Answered the call from God agreed to carry the savior into the world. Without her, a women, humanity may not have been saved.

Hi! I’m Megan Kaster, I’m a freshman and majoring in pharmacy. I’m taking this course, first off, because I need my TI requirement, but second off, I want to keep learning about my faith. I’ve been studying the Catholic faith my whole life and I want to keep that going.
To me, the Bible is almost like a text book for the Catholic faith, its what we read and study to help us become better people and live the way Jesus wants us to. However, there are many things in the Bible that people don’t agree with. I don’t agree with some things that the Catholic Church teaches, because the people in the church aren’t perfect, and they can tend to interoperate things incorrectly.
The authors of the Bible is many people. For the Old Testament, it was, for many years, verbally passed down until people started to learn how to read and write. For the New Testament, it was many of Jesus’ Apostles and disciples that wrote the books down.
If you look up on google “the Bible” the first result is Wikipedia, then the next few are sites where you can buy a copy. I don’t find these sources reliable, because the internet is full of bias, and the bible can mean a thousand different ways to everyone who reads it.

December edit: I had no idea this didn’t post! I’m so sorry! It’s definitely very late, but here’s my introduction! 

Personally I find the belief of people being directly related to Jesus by blood quite absurd. Someone as holy and gifted as Jesus Christ could not possibly have any siblings. Even in the Bible John 3:16 states “He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” since the teachings of the church are infallible, meaning there is no flaw in them. This shows that Jesus could not possibly have any siblings. Jesus was an only child who’s bloodline ended at the age of 33 with his death on the cross (Mark 15:25) and the beheading of his cousin John the Baptist. (Matthew 14:11)

I don’t think I have ever considered the notion that Jesus could have possibly had siblings, even though through the discussion in the class and otherwise, it’s brought up in the Bible. When I was growing up going to church, I just assumed Jesus was an only child to Mary and Joseph. I can’t recall a time that Jesus’ siblings were ever brought up in a church service or even in Sunday school.

There are many theories as to how Jesus could have had siblings, and also a lot of controversy. If Mary was a virgin, how would it be possible for Jesus to have other older siblings? The majority belief seems to be that they were actually Joseph’s children from other marriages, making them half siblings to Jesus. However, even this belief is controversial in society, and the majority of Christians deem to form their own opinions on the topic.

The Yale lecture talks about the diversity of early Christianity. Professor Dale Martin brings up the many different types of early Christianity’s. He brings up how they all have different views of the law. One part of the lecture that I found interesting was when Martin brought up what Luke 3:22 actually said. He discusses how some believe the text actually read “today I have begotten you” as opposed to “the beloved with you I am well pleased”. While it does not seem that important, if the text really was “today I have begotten you”, then that would mean Jesus became the Son of God instead of being born as the Son of God. This is just one example of how Christians have diverged into different beliefs, and it is why there are so many different types of Christianity’s.

Love L. Sechrest talks about Paul’s letters. She discusses how Paul’s letters were used by eighteenth century supporters of slavery. However, looking more into what Paul wrote, you can see he discussed the submission of slaves rather than actual slavery. Many slave owners would only give their slaves the section of the Bible where it was talking about slaves being submissive to their slave owners. It was a “slave Bible” rather than a full Bible. Sechrest brings up one quote from the Bible that shows all people are the same, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, male and female, slave or free, but we are all one-you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).

In this class, we discussed what wisdom meant to us. When I think of wisdom, I think of someone with experience. I think of someone who is wise to be smart in all aspects. I believe they should be book’s smart, but they should also be smart in other areas of life. I think to be wise you have to have experienced different parts of life. I would imagine someone older to be wiser than someone younger, however, if a younger person had more life experience, this may not be the case. Another term brought up when looking up the definition of wisdom is having good judgement. I would agree with this as well. If one was to have a problem, then one would want to go to someone who was wise to ask their questions.

Rabbi Benjamin Scolnic talks about “The Prophets and Social Justice”. He talks about how the Biblical prophets’ main message was justice. He brings up that Moses was sent to free the people. God wanted the people to be able to act freely like He did. God frees people through Moses and other prophets. The prophets urge others to help those in need, such as widows, orphans, and oppressed people. The prophets are pushed to “demand respect for every human life”.

Chapter 1 of William G. Dever’s book Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah discusses the idea of history-writing. He talks about distinguishing the difference between historians and antiquarians. He discusses whether the writers and interpreters of the Bible were historians or antiquarians. Dever goes through the different parts of the Bible that had to be interpreted and when they were written. Dever then discusses the idea that archaeologists are “a historian of things”.