Class Notes: 11/3
-Bach’s Suite No. 1 Cello solo; some of the best music ever.
-Reading, should be through Old Testament, through the Gospels of John.
-This week and next week we’ll be discussing the New Testament
-The New Testament is based on Christianity; Islam, though, is the largest religion.
Judaism, a chore, task, a lot of work, whereas to be a Christian, all you have to do is say you are.
Term Paper: Option 1: Discuss the connections between The Slave and The Bible. Option 2: What I now know that I didn’t know before and what difference does it make. Option Three: Custom paper, check with Dr. Sexson.
The Question: Does the Book of Job have a Happy Ending or Not? Neither? Frye tells us that a different redactor added the Oreo crusts later. And we should leave it as it is to maintain the narrative U structure.
-The entire Bible, Old and New Testament, is a Comedy according to Frye, it has a Happy Ending.
There is some consistency, since the Bible starts out with something devastating, the fall, and then the climb back to the top, revelation.
-Apocalypse: means Apo / calypso, take away the veil, lifting of the veil
-Revelation deals with violent imagery, “if we life the veil of misunderstanding we will see the world as it really is.”
-It okay that the Bible has inconsistencies, confusion and messy areas because nothing is perfect, but as a whole book, the bible definitely has a beginning, middle and end, narrative structure, mythological archetypes.
-Depend on Plotz for the summaries of the bible we haven’t discussed.
Blogs:
Shelby’s musings on the New Testament, reactions to trends, cultures, people, environments.
Amanda’s Blog, check it out.
Christianity
Roman Overlords destroy temple for second time, but during the growing time before many sects arose, some extremely dark; a time for Messiah to appear.
Why do Christians carry around the luggage of the Old Testament? To validate claims of the New Testament;
Buddha comes in with Doctrine of Great Awakenings; Essenes, – Google it, Jewish religious group from 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE; eschatological – doctrine of philosophy that says the world is going to come to an end. And Libertines then say we should all party!! The Left Behind Series.
Armageddon: the last battle between good and evil before Day of Judgment.
Apocalyptic themes: end of the world in 2012, end of the Mayan calendar.
William Miller’s Millerites, at the new Millennium, another group of apocalyptic worriers.
Gospel of John;
Synoptic gospels, Mathew, Mark, and Luke; and the Gospel of John.
Ashley’s blog, beautiful wordpress blog. Her discussion about reading essays she was responding too. She notices the genealogy in The Gospel of Matthew, another P writer. She says the Gospel of John is different in that it’s poetic.
Gospel of John, more poetic;
Gospel of Mark, clean, urgent, unadorned, always talking with parataxis, using “and” all the time, the six year old telling his mom the emergency. In third grade we finally learn the value of subordinate clauses. Hemmingway was heavily influenced by the Gospel of Mark.
The Gospel of John opens with one of the most theologically dense passages of literature, bring us all the way back to the beginning, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word, the Logos, the flesh of Jesus,
Chapter 3.16 – one of the most quoted lines in all of Christian scripture.
4.1 Jesus and the woman Samaria. Jew asking drink of Samaritan woman; the good Samaritan.
-The definition of a parable, an attack on the structure of your expectation. What you think is going to happen doesn’t.
-The Parable of the Prodigal Son: The story of the Missoula brothers, the good and the bad, why does the bad brother get the party, the sacrifice, dad’s greeting, love, money; father remarks to son complaining that he’s more faithful, “you’re with me all the time.”
-Only one person knows what baptism, thanks Karen! Baptism, sheep, bread, wine, concrete images of archetypes; Baptism, the symbolic recreation of death and resurrection. At least you get to hold your nose!! Today, these rituals have been “watered down.”
Book: "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates
