http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/332/the-ten-commandments

The presentations on Wednesday were great.  I liked Sue’s handout.  I always learn more when I have a visual aid.  It’s interesting to see the comparisons between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  I never realized how much smaller in length and the time period covered in the New Testament is than the Old Testament. The handout also clearly states how God’s word came to his people.

I liked how Shawn mentioned that the Bible molded history to fit its message.  He mentioned how the Bible mentions King David because he followed God’s law. However, the Bible does not mention King Jeroboam II, who had as much wealth and land as David, because he did not follow God’s teaching.  Since Jeroboam II is not in the Bible many people do not know about him, while most know about David. In a way this is using the Bible to say David had such success because he followed God.

I liked how Hannah mentioned that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew while the New Testament was written in ancient Greek.  I already knew this but hearing someone else say it made me think of the different translations.  Sometimes there is not an exact translation for a word so you have to pick the closest or they can have a different meaning in Hebrew and greek than they do in English. This makes me wonder how accurate the translations are  since one word can change the whole meaning of a sentence.

The presenters did a great job today! Sue’s handout was very helpful in having a visual for us to follow during her presentation. The topics were very interesting so far and I am definitely learning so much information and thinking about some of the questions, ideas and topics mentioned during the speeches. The presenters today were well prepared, engaged the audience and were also very knowledgeable of their topics.

Great job!

-Nicollete =)

Seans presentation really stuck out to me today- although everyone was fantastic- his topic was very interesting today. I think it is great that “The Bible As Literature” explains the obvious- that the bible isn’t all historic events- but stories, and history that relates to people. Some of the quotes he said that struck me were-i probably didn’t catch the whole phrase- “the bible was wrote for molding history to fit the needs of the people” and “they selected past events in a way to help shape their futures” ….these are probably mixed up but it is what i wrote down. I like this. History was only incidental to their religious ends, and they molded the history to fit the needs of the reader at that time. Cool, Good Job.

I thought Kia and Mark did a great job with there presentations. Kias explanation of what a prophet is helped with understanding the nature of the writings. Marks headline was very entertaining as well. While reading Galaians I found it to be easily readable, execept for chapter 4. In chapter 5 however, I could see the beginning of the Christian rules being established. An example of this is

5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
5:20 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
5:21 envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
5:23 meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

What I found to also being interesting is the strong focus on circumcision as not being important, probably a way to separation themselves from the Jewish faith. I wonder if this is the beginning of the phrase “your body is your temple” so you shouldn’t mark it.
-nick p

Mark and Kia did a good job on their presentations. I found it interesting what Kia said about how the prophets books were mainly written in poems. I liked how Mark related his presentation on Job which gave the class a clear example, since we had already read and discussed the book in class.

Acts is completely different from any of the prophet books, and is not composed mainly in poetry. My favorite part of Acts was that even when the apostles were placed in jail God still found a way to free them and defy the Pharisees . (This can be found in Acts 5: 17-21) I found  this funny because it was like God saying , “hey you can’t mess with me”  you try to stop them from spreading my message well I will open the doors for them.

Mr. Carrall’s lecture was very interesting.  He is right about how it is important to know and read the context as well as the text. A lot of people don’t pay much attention to the context when reading or talking about the Bible. I did not know that the book of Mark was written so long after the events happened. I did get to talk to him after class about some of the things he talked about. I think he needed more time to explain and for people to talk and ask questions.

Friday’s presentation by Nicollete was really great. She was so prepared and was ready to answer questions throughout class. I really enjoyed her discussion of the documentary hypothesis. She also brought up the point of Moses describing his own death. This is proving that there had to be more than one author. This really ties into our readings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It also connects to Juanita’s presentation in which she explained the possibilities of plagiarism in the Bible.

Today I learned a lot from both Mark and Kia. I enjoyed that Kia mentioned the possibility of the prophets being poets because of the style of the Prophetic books. I also liked how Mark began his presentation with his headline. It was creative and prepared the class for what we were about to read. I liked how Mark decided to expand on the aspects of Job in his chapter of Gabel. It is very relevant considering how much work we did with Job. When Mark mentioned that possibility of Elihu being added way after Job was written also connects to Nicollete and Juanita’s presentations. It is clear that the theory of having more than one author of the Bible is very relevant in our studies. I also related to what Mark thought when he said that Job appeals to us because it is most in line with our modern thinking. This was the basis of my paper on Job so I really related to this quote.

Overall, I think everyone who has gone so far has been engaging and well prepared!

-Olivia

Kia and Mark did a great job today.  I liked how Kia gave the definition of a prophet as someone who listens to god and then interprets His point of view.  This made me question what the apostles in John, Matthew, Luke, Marks, and the Acts are.  They seem to be like prophets because they interpret lessons of God and spread God’s word.  However, I do not think they are prophets because God actually doesn’t speak directly to them like He does with the other prophets.  I don’t know if there is a specific name for them other than the Apostles and they’re just blessed by Christ.  I also liked how Kia tied in Moses as an example of a prophet since I know that story and it gave me a better understanding.

I liked Mark’s presentation on Wisdom literature.  I liked how he used Job as an example because we had already gone over this story I was familiar with it.  With the other stories he mentioned I was a little confused because I am not familiar with them.  I found it interesting that Elihu was not originally in the story of Job but added later.  Elihu was the one character who really made me question what the others believe Job has done wrong because he points out that none of Job’s friends ask what his sin is.  He is also the one to point out that God can do whatever he wants without a reason and is justified in doing it while the friends say Job must have sinned as the reason and Job saying his punishment is justified.