Michelle’s topic was clear and consice and I honestly enjoyed and understood it. She had Women in the Bible, and told us that it blatantly discussed how it was about women AND the Bible, not necessarily the ones in it. It was said that the Bible showed God & Man’s connection and how it was used to overpower women. I feel strongly about this. I agree that Man is capitolized in the Bible and women are just characters to serve and please the man. I enjoyed this presentation!

Redgina was a little too soft-spoken but from what I got from her presentation, it was The Name of Israel’s God. Yaweh was too sacred to be pronounced and many types of writings were gone through before typing (obviously). O was interested in how she described the works of clay writing and paparys writing in the bible. I wish I understood more that she said because she spoke so softly :/ Still! good job 🙂

Mohammad’s presentation helped me to understand what he was presenting about because at times he did seem nervous and a bit jumbled up. He has Palestine in the Interestimental Period. I learned about the 3 periods of time: the Greek, Jewish, and Roman. My favorite part was being able to put a name to the calender that we use today: The Gregorian Calender.

Awesome Jobs 🙂

Michelle, Redgina, Mohammed, and Nick presented today. Michelle presented the Gabel chapter about women and the Bible. I really enjoyed this presentation considering the bad stories we’ve read about women so far. Michelle shared that female characters can teach us about ancient attitudes towards women. It is clear that women were discriminated against very badly at this time. Michelle’s presentation was very clear and concise! Redgina shared the chapter of the name of Israel’s God. She shared about the origin of the name “Yaweh.” This was very interesting and I liked how she gave the background and root of the word. Her second chapter was about the writing in the Bible. She explained the manner in which the Bible was hand written. She told us about the clay tablets and natural resources that were used for writing, including papyrus. Redgina did a great job! Mohammed’s chapter was about Palestine in the intertestamental period. Mohammed’s powerpoint made it easier to understand the content of the chapter. Nick presented his short books on 1 and 2 Chronicles. I loved the short clips he played for us. It simplified the chapters for us and was very entertaining! Nick explained that the Chronicles focus on David and Samuel as well as some other kings. Overall, everyone continues to do great, well planned work!

-Olivia

All the presentations were great.  I liked what Waleska said about how scholars tried to go back and remove the text that was inserted by the printers. they thought that  if they went back in history and looked at the older translations it would bee easier to translate and  fix the text but found out that the texts back then were even more confusing. which can make one think how different our translations today are from those in the past, considering that words change meaning throughout the centuries.

I found it interesting when Waleska said that as you go back in time the different Bibles were more confusing and various.  I would have thought that the closer they were to the actual event the more accurate and similar they would.  This could have happened because there were different denominations of Judaism and Christianity coming out and they changed the stories a little to fit their beliefs.  I wondered if the copies of the Bible that are similar to each other are actually more accurate historically or are relevant just to the religion they are used in.

I liked how Bernice pointed out that the original manuscripts don’t exist anymore.  This makes it hard to check the facts that are in the Bible today. This also makes it so that translators can add their own beliefs to the Bible because it would be difficult to disprove them without the manuscripts.  Having the translators add their own beliefs allow them to promote their own religion, making it seem as if one way is right and another is wrong.

I found the presentations on Monday interesting.  I liked how Nick mentioned how the Gospels may have been connected but were also different.  I think it’s interesting how the Gospels all tell the story of Christ’s crucifixion but they all have a different twist to the story. This makes me wonder how much is actually fact and how much the author put in for the story to fit his purpose. I’m still a little confused as to the Q thing though.

What really stuck with me about Katie’s presentation was when she said the point was to “teach, not preach”. I liked this because I never really thought about it this way. I always read the Bible as it saying you need to believe in God or you’re doomed.  Looking at it as not preaching but teaching makes it easier to say this is a man talking about his beliefs, almost like philosophy, and once you get the facts of his beliefs you can make your decision from there.

Waleska’s chapter was “Texts of the bible.” I found it very interesting because she stated that changes occur in the bible because of copying the bible over to produce more, and for more languages and cultures, and religions. The copiers wanted to not only produce more bibles but to correct and perfect the bible- this was VERY cool to learn about, because I feel like it is naiive to think that the bible we read today is the exact writings from the beginning of time.

Bernice, although she spoke a little fast, made good points throughout her presentation. The biggest point (to me) was that when translating the bible, although not many people were able to do so successfully, it had to pass by the person who was on the throne at the time. I feel that it is strange that the people translating the bible are listening to their king/president over their Lord. That was funny and ironic to me.

Anne had chapter 18 which was a little boring, but she obviously had no say in it! Her presentation was fabulous for what she was given. The only thing I found about chapter 18 that was very striking was that there were different “senses” of the Bible. Such as common sense, literal, moral, and allegorical sense. These senses were used to interpret what the bible meant as compared to what it was literally saying.

awesome job guys !!!!! 🙂

Today, Waleska, Bernice, Anne, Sueann and Hannah. Waleska presented on the text of the Bible. She explained in detail about the context of the writings. I really enjoyed her speech because she made it easy to understand. Bernice then spoke about the translation of the Bible. Anne’s chapter was on the religious use and interpretation of the Bible. Sueann finished her speech on the book of Judges. She explained the 20 stories of the Judges. She also mentioned how there is a cycle of sin. This was the most interesting thing I heard because it made a lot of the stories we’ve heard make sense. The cycle of sin explained in what way things happen in stories of the Bible. Hannah spoke on the book of Ruth. She told about Naomi and Ellimelech’s family. Naomi is left with only her daughter in law Ruth after her husband and two sons die. Ruth and Boaz marry and live happily ever after. Hannah’s presentation was very entertaining and kept me engaged in her speech. She was able to simplify the book for us and make it easy to understand. Everyone did a great job and kept my attention.

-Olivia

Monday’s class had presentations from Nick, Katie, Elisa, and myself Presentation interested me a lot. He explained how the Gospels may have been synced up, but held many differences. This shows how the different authors effected the writings in the bible. Nick was very natural in his speech and was well informed on his topic. Katie presented on Acts. Her speech asked the  question of what the book is directed at. She mentioned the different possibilities including Paul’s letters. She also said how Christianity couldn’t survive while it was tied to Jewish law. She explained how the decline of Judaism was inevitable with or without Paul’s work. I spoke on the outside books the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha. While being hard to pronounce, I found these books to be very interesting. I really enjoyed learning about the process of canonization and about some of the specific stories that were left out. Elisa’s book presentation was really good. She was natural in her delivery. She explained about the story of Joshua. She told about how Joshua was to take over the promise land from Moses. She told us that the theological point is to emphasize following rules and practicing traditions. Overall, I felt it was a very good day for speeches.

-Olivia

There were many presentations on this day. We heard from SueAnne on the topic of the growth of the Canon. This is what brought the writings together. She explained that the stories were folk tales, patriotic stories, and poems. She told us about how the Canon can never be reopened and that only  priests and court officials could access the writings. Her presentation was very interesting and well organized. We also heard from Shawn. He gave us a view of the Bible and history. He told us that the Bible has been revered as a secondary source to history. His presentation explained that the Bible was not written for the purpose of retelling history, but that is what it was molded into. Tom was very well prepared and informative. Hannah’s presentation told of how the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. This is something very interesting to me. I wonder what could have been lost within the translations of both of these languages. Overall, each presenter was well prepared and organized. They were able to make the information clear and easy for the listeners to understand.

-Olivia

Nick’s presentation was about how there are four gospels and the authors are unknown and the gospels were written in the first century. Katie spoke about how the book of Luke was written without the knowledge of Paul’s letters. Gabel said that Paul was a powerful man and he gives Paul credit for the meaning of the Jesus story. Gabel also said that Paul does not fit into the category of religious faith. Lastly, Olivia spoke about the Torah and how it was translated into Greek by many people.
-Redgina