The Bible TI251 Fall 2020

Before class today, I wasn’t really aware that there was a dichotomy among Christians about James, Paul, and Jesus’ siblings. Of course, I knew that there was somewhat of a rift involving whether good deeds are of saving quality or if they just come with the Christian faith. I was taught the latter in my church, and it makes sense that it mostly focused on Paul’s teachings as well. I can understand where both are coming from, since you can’t have a change of heart without acting upon it, because to me that doesn’t really signal a change. Falling out of old habits is hard, but necessary and that goes along with growing as a Christian, in my experience of the spiritual side of Christianity. Growing up I was also taught that Jesus was not an only child (obviously he was in the sense of being God’s son of by the Holy Spirit) and had siblings through his earthly parents. However, James was really the only one we talked about. I suppose that’s what the Bible focuses on and perhaps that explains it. I’m glad this class has given me an opportunity to learn about different belief systems and denominations so that I can more respectfully converse with those outside of my own tradition.

When it comes Jesus a lot is know about his journey but a little bout his family lineage. We know his father was God and his mother Mary and Marys extended family, however nothing is known from there. Did Jesus have siblings not meaning other children of God but the Bible does not mentioned that Mary had other children. The reason I bring this up is because of the bone box labeled “Jesus brother of Joseph son of James”, could this be actual proof of Jesus having a sibling or an accident, maybe even planted there. There are a multitude of reasons why this has been critiqued as much as it has. In class we talked about the necessity of credentials. The location of this item would have to have geological resemblance in order to take it into account and in those important archeological areas you have to be qualified. With this it is imperative to have proper documentation to prove its legitimacy to that location along with biblical relevancy. Overall it is possible for this to be true but the odds are not in its favor.

In class we talked about the authenticity of the bone box that was inscribed with “Jesus brother of Joseph son of James.” The ossuary was found on the antiquity market and not dug up through proper methods of excavation and documentation. I was reminded of sci-fi media that focuses on archeology like Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones. We talked about the necessity of credentials when unearthing items like these, because it’s crucial for proper documentation to happen for the history of items like these to be correctly theorized. Indiana Jones is a professor of archeology, but throughout the movies, he does little to properly document his finding, and sometimes his actions are rarely done through legal channels. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider is more of a professional grave robber than an archeologist. In the Tomb Raider games, the adventures and findings of Lara Croft are all secret and unofficial, so the history of what she finds is usually lost.

Growing up, it was hard to see Jesus as a normal human being. To me, he was basically an all mighty figure who was able to grant miracles and was the son of God. However, Jesus was a man as well. He had parents, and he might of has siblings. That is something that has been debated for a while now. Whether or not Jesus had siblings.

In the Bible, the brothers and sisters of Jesus have brought up. Some of the names mentioned were: James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. However, we were told that Mary was a virgin, and sought to always be a virgin, so were these her children? There are arguments that these are the children of Mary’s sister, which would make them cousins (therefore using the term brothers and sisters as a figure of speech). However, there are other theories that they were children from a previous marriage of Joseph, which would technically make them half siblings (or step siblings considering the fact that Jesus was the son of God). I am drawn to believe the second argument, but it is a topic that is still a controversy to this day.

One of the concepts today that I found most intriguing was talking about circumcision in the texts of the Bible. Before class I knew about the dialogue between God and Abraham, and it always seemed so weird that God would request for all of Abrahams sons to be circumcised, like it doesn’t seem like a real theological or ethical decision to make if it weren’t for the fact that Abraham said God told him to do it. This being said I now understand how it’s the “token of the covenant” and it’s an irreversible marking.

In regards to the video about Paul and his emphasis of submission of slaves to their owners, we talked about it in the United Methodist Student Movement a couple weeks back, and it’s very tough scripture to tussle with. It’s not like a lot of the other stories of the Bible where if you look at it at a certain angle you can see it’s true meaning and how you can relate it to your life to be a better person and Christian.

I always found it interesting thinking about women in the Bible. While there are some prominent figures that most casual Christians know like Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of Christ there surely must be more figures of note in the Bible seeing as women were 50% of the population and Jesus didn’t discriminate. This leads me to believe that there HAS to be figures in the Bible that have be “re-written” as men. Judging by how much we have progressed in women’s rights in the past 60 years I can only imagine the extents of differential treatment between the sexes 2000 years ago. There surely must be papers into the fact of what characters could be re-written as men. When you look at all the different types of men that Jesus’s apostles were before following him I think it’s safe to say that Jesus wasn’t discriminating on sex. The early authors of the books of the Bible may have had a similar mindset as the slave masters that edited the Slave Bible, where they knew they would have to change the word of God to fit the narrative of society that they want to uphold as opposed to the society Jesus wants to see.

The gospels.  The story of Jesus: from his birth to beyond his death and Resurrection.  The infancy is one of my favorite stories.  Mary is a wonderful inspiration to the ideal faithful woman that I strive to be like everyday.  She was perfect in God’s eyes, and despite the many challenges that I face day to day, Mary continues to inspire me to continue to grow in faith.  Growing up, I have gone through the ups and downs of faith.  When Mary found out she was pregnant as a virgin and panicked, I felt that this was a great test of faith.  For me a great test of my faith has been Alzheimer’s.  My grandmothers both had Alzheimer’s, and it led me to a dark and difficult place in my life.  I found myself struggling to keep the faith.  I truly believe that God tests us to show us how strong we are when faced with even larger obstacles.  Mary was faced with an obstacle of a virgin birth to test her faith in God, and from then on showed God her great love for Him through conceiving God’s Only Son.  Jesus was God’s gift; he was sent by God so that humans could connect more easily with Him.  He was living proof that God was real!  Through Mary’s strength and faith in God, we were blessed to know a miracle worker, preacher, teacher, lover, healer, and so much more.  Mary in a way, helped form the bridge between God and man, and that makes her critical to our connection with God.

Looking at Paul’s letters from a new perspective is a bit strange. Paul didn’t intend for these letters to be published in a book of scriptures, he just meant to provide some guidance to churches that were struggling nearby. His words weren’t meant to be a universal fix for all Christians like they’re used today, especially not when they’re studied out of context (which is also common). Finding out that some of the canonized letters of Paul may not even be Paul’s writing further complicates this study! Since I researched Paul and his words about women in the church, then realizing they may not actually be his words, I’m understanding now more than ever how Biblical research has been operating for so long. I thought this was all cut and dry, studied and found to be legit, and canonized afterwards. Who knew there were still so many pieces of the puzzle being put together? I have decided I can no longer rely on devotional study of the Bible and I really need to have a historical account to supplement this as well. It amazes me how my church did so little contextualization of passages like this and now curiosity is getting the best of me!

Rape and abuse in the Bible is actually more present than I initially thought.  I have always heard the song, “Halleluiah” and knew that it was about David looking at Bathsheba, and I have heard a few other stories with servants being raped and abused.  However, I never realized how connected rape and abuse today connects with the Bible.  Often times, we don’t like to think of the negative aspects of the Bible.  However, I think that understanding that not all of the Bible is all sparkles and miracles is really important.  Two huge issues today are rape and abuse, and I think that its interesting to see the parallels between now and Biblical times.  They lived in a society that was ruled by men (patriarchy) and women were subordinate to men, sometimes not even being included when it comes to referring to a group of people with men and women combined.  This all takes me back to my GHS class, Women in Society: Rights and Resistance.  In this course, we looked at women in society.  It was very eye opening to see the amount of abuse that still occurs in our world today, and how oblivious we become to it.  Despite the many obstacles that women have overcome, there are still many to go.

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.