Elisa presented on March 23rd about literary forms and strategies in the Bible. From my notes I recall that her presentation was thorough and accurate. I believe her chapter hovers around 25 pages, therefor I was impressed by her ability to explain the necessary facts and information in a short amount of time. Her use of vocabulary was impressive and I liked that we were able to see the diagram from the book on the monitor.
I enjoyed Bernice’s presentation the most based on content, but all three did a great job with what they were given. Additionally, I thought Waleska and Bernice’s presentations flowed very well together. I have never thought about the credibility of the original Bible before. Realizing that the Bible is not something that can be traced back to the most accurate sources is interesting. I always knew changes are to be expected when translating from one language to another; however I did not think about how this affects the original sources and their accuracy. While Waleska and Bernice’s presentations were related, I thought Anne’s presentation – though different- still related well back to what the other two had said. Anne talked about different groupings of the Bible. I think this also relates today to how some people read the Bible. Anne’s topic reiterated the idea of differences among one book. All in all I thought these three presentations were informative and pleasant to watch. I particularly liked the flow between the three and it helped me to comprehend what each of them were saying.
Nick’s presentation on the Gospels was interesting. I liked when he said that Gospel means “good news,” because this is something I was taught in school as a youth. He said that the Gospels harmonize, and yet have differences. I think this point also applies to the Bible as a whole. Through different authorships, the Bible at many points contradicts itself. Nick also stated that the gospels are present to confirm and not to convert.
After looking at Katie’s chapter in Gabel, I was impressed by how organized her presentation came across to the class. She said Acts was supposed to read like a history book. This seems unique in reference to the Bible as a whole, because much of it seems to be read solely as stories with morals. She referenced a saying, “teach not preach.” I thought this referred back to Nick’s “confirm not convert” point nicely.
Olivia’s presentation on the outside books was also interesting. There are a lot of books that are not included in the standard editions of the Bible that we all read. This presentation related well to Sue’s points about the cannon and deciding what is left in and what gets left out.
The discussion the class had on Friday was actually quite enjoyable. Knowing the base of the Bible is found in a religious context, I enjoyed listening to the different approaches to reading the stories. I particularly enjoyed the discussion we had about a feminist approach to the Bible. Realizing that we are able to not only read the Bible as a piece of literature, but also apply other filters as we read is helpful. My short book is Proverbs; the short stories which all contain morals and lessons prove difficult to read as Literature. However, after realizing that I am able to read them through another approach to at least begin with, helps the overall conclusions I am able to make. Additionally, I began to think of links between the Bible stories as a whole. Proverbs reminds me of the Commandments that we previously read. Using the approach we had to discuss the additional commandments (not the main ten) is helping me in understanding my short book more thoroughly.
The presentations from the last class were very interesting to me. Particularly, Sean’s stuck out among the topics I am working on for my short book and the paper we worked on for Job. I like the idea that the Bible was molded to history. After taking in to account what the guest speaker said to us, I have been paying more close attention to the context of the Bible. Thinking about the stories, and the fact that they had to be molded to certain key events in history, makes perfect sense to me. Additionally, I enoyed that Sue gave the class a handout with information about the order the Canon was formed in. Sue’s discussion of the Canon helped to expand on the idea of the Bible being an anthology that I had previously researched.
After the presentations on Wed, I enjoyed reflecting over the previous readings we have done and applying the information. The idea that the Bible used ancient myths as sources is interesting. This reiterates the idea that most of these stories exist to teach or apply a lesson to the audience. However, looking over the myth could also be an interesting way to analyze how the bible has evolved from its sources. Second, Andrew’s presentation was also interesting. I have barely glanced at the maps located in the Bible so far. Knowing enough rough geographic information, I did not see a need to use the maps. However highlighting different geographic climate changes within a region was significant. This is because, I was reading the stories in the old testament as if they were all located in the same geographic climate. Now however, using the context of climate, a new bit of information can be added to my findings.
I found Job’s story to be very intense. The Old Testament seems to have many stories that represent a harsher God than what I have previously learned about. Job’s story is unique. I don’t understand if God really has faith in Job and knows he will triumph, or if he is just as curious as Satan is to find out just how committed Job is. I don’t think anyone can blame Job for doubting God. He had so many misfortunes come his way at the hand of God, all the while his friends and wife doubted God. Additionally, his friends seemed to blame him. This made me think Satan had the upper hand at this bet. Satan was present in the doubt of Job’s friends, even if he did not manipulate them himself. I liked how this story flowed. The events themselves are kind of traumatic, therefor it was nice to read some of it in a more poetic form. If this was plain narrative retelling hardship after hardship I would most likely find it hard to stomach. Even with Job doubting God, I still found myself routing for him as an underdog. Additionally, I was also mad at God at points. I wonder what the intention of this story was.