This is where you will be posting your entries and responses next week as we discuss Genesis, Exodus, and Job from the Old Testament. Remember, next week the deadlines will be Tuesday at midnight for entries, and Thursday at midnight for responses. Please do not post to the home page. If you are unsure of whether you have to create an entry, the blog schedule is on MyCourses.
Happy reading!
Greg Stewart
When reading Genesis, Exodus, and Job from the Old Testament of the Bible, it must be approached in a rational way. While the Old Testament sets the foundation for the very religious beliefs many Christians uphold highly, like believing in only one god, for example, there seems to be a lot of phenomena occurring, giving emphasis that people should not believe in any other religion than Christianity, and that any people from civilizations other than Israel are evil. The Old Testament also shows a God who becomes unforgiving and angry whenever His people commit sins.
ReplyDeleteOne example of this was in Genesis, when God told Adam and Eve to take fruit from any tree except from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Once Adam and Eve disobeyed God's orders to not eat from the forbidden trees, God gave both Adam and Eve harsh consequences. It seems like because of this part of Genesis where God wanted to keep Adam and Eve from finding out about good and evil, the God that was presented was shown to also be a fearful God. God seemed to be fearful about people learning about the good and evil in the world because that's when people would start to question Him, which God did not want.
In Exodus, God was also very angry and unforgiving when it came to helping the people of Israel fleeing the Egyptians and the Pharaoh. Exodus showed a very ethnocentric view of Israel and had very condescending descriptions of Egypt and the religion they believed in, as well as Canaan and other lands surrounding Israel. Moses seemed to condescend to the Pharaoh when he mentioned that his God ordered him to let go of the Israelis, implying that the power of the Israelite God was more powerful than the Egyptian gods. Several times, Moses used God's power to destroy Egypt by contaminating the Nile, having hail rain down all over Egypt, and having locusts fly all over Egypt, infesting the houses of the Pharaoh, his servants, and the Egyptians themselves, among many other forms of devastation. The contempt shown for the Egyptians, the Pharaoh in particular, is enormous, and the ethnocentric view of Israel was blatant when God ordered the Israelites to come back to their homeland, referred to as the land of "milk and honey."
At the very beginning of the Book of Job, the description of Job seems to be very similar to the goals many people in so-called Western civilizations want to achieve. These are to raise a large family, become a God-fearing individual who never commits any sins, and become rich in material gains. The Book of Job describes this as, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job… There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east." This part of the Bible implies that the more wealth you have, the greater a person you are.
When reading these parts of the Bible, while one must consider the time in which this work of literature was written, the values emphasized, as well as the culture these authors are from, one must also considered how well ahead of its time the Bible was. Nonetheless, the Bible exhibits ethnocentric points of view of Israel and contempt for Egypt and surrounding lands, as well as the condescending mindset of other religions and gods being inferior to the God of the people of Israel. These are the many points the readers of the Bible need to take into account when the literary work is read.
I really like your interpretation of the Bible. Growing up in a catholic family I was always taught that God was forgiving of all sins and that prayer would solve all problems. I had never actually read the Bible until now and it was very intriguing to find out that what I've always learned through religion classes, church, and my own family was actually quite different from what I read in Genesis. I also felt that God gave very harsh punishments and that he wanted Adam and Eve to stay ignorant so that they would never question his demands. It is interesting how even while reading the Bible, I inserted my own knowledge from what I've always known to be true into what I was reading. During our class discussion, you as well as others made very eye opening points that made me start to understand what was written in a more literary way. I looked at things that I read at face value and realized there are other ways of understanding the Bible.
DeleteYour argument is very well put. I never conceptualized that God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that they would not know the difference. However, who’s to say that if they never ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they wouldn’t commit sins? Perhaps it was better for them to eat and know to not disobey God than to not eat and never have knowledge of good and evil. Nonetheless, I think it’s a very interesting point you brought up about the God in the Bible being fearful.
DeleteI do however disagree with your point about Moses and God being condescending towards the Egyptians. Although they might have been, from what I read and thought, it seemed as though the Pharaoh deserved it, given the way he ignored God’s clear signs and message. Again, they very well may have been condescending, but considering the state of the Israelites in Egypt, did they not have a duty to at least challenge the Pharaoh?
-Qadar
In the Bible, yes, God does become angry with his creation, but it is not because he fears that man will overcome HIm in power, it is because, how can He trust a people that does not trust and obey Him. He is like a parent of sorts and always wants whats best for His creation. Also, the reason that there is so much wealth in the Bible to many of the most important people is because they have found favor with God, and he is rewarding them of sorts, like a parent would reward a child if they are good. Job was a great person, for he stayed faithful to God,which ended in his richness. As for being condescending to the Egyptians, why would the Bible like them? The Israelites are their slaves. Would you like someone who made you a slave? The plagues were just God's way of punishing the Egyptians for the slavery of the Israelites, for no one deserves to be a slave. Your post has touched on a lot of points, but I believe one of the main ideas of the Bible is the acknowledgement of right and wrong, instead of being biased towards a certain religion.
ReplyDeleteI like to bring up the idea of God’s several covenants with in Genesis and what ideals came out of them. The first that is brought up is the covenant in the Adam and Eve story. This covenant was brought upon Adam and Eve once they were kicked out of the garden of Eden for eating an apple off of the tree of knowledge. Through this covenant gave the idea of how man was bestowed the ability to see the difference between good and bad. I feel as if this story is put into the bible in comparison to the other creation story in the beginning of Genesis to provide the idea that the only reason we are able to see the difference between right and wrong over animals is because we have sinned against God, and that God should be the only one who knows all. It reminds of the story of pandora's box within Greek mythology which makes me wonder if the bible's story has branched off from Greek mythology.
ReplyDeleteAnother covenant in Genesis is between Noah and God. Here God destroys the Earth because he does not like what he has created. This makes me confused since everything was created in God’s image shouldn't the world be what he intended? This covenant also brought out the power of God, showing him as a destroyer instead someone peaceful. I feel as if this story is put in the Bible to instill fear of God. Although he is seen as the caring creator, he should still be feared since he is the one who can destroy a life. However, at the end of the story God promises to never destroy the world again and he will reminds us of this with the sign of a rainbow. Which I feel is contradicting since the rainbow is a sign of peace, but this shows how terrifying God can be. In the end I feel as if this covenant helps explain why we only have the type of animals that we have now, and a religious reasoning behind a rainbow. (Many see religion as a way to explain the unexplainable. For example, in that time a rainbow would be hard to explain to a common man.)
The last covenant I will bring up is the covenant with Abraham. This covenant promises that Abraham will have as many descendants as the stars in the sky. I feel as if this is added to the bible to contribute the idea that we are all God’s children and are “brothers and sisters.” Giving the story of Abraham and that all people after him are related in some form provides a family among everyone.
In the end I think that the stories of the covenants in Genesis help explain the unexplainable at the time when written because religion is used to help explain. Just like how Greek mythology explained everyday things such as echos and narcissism.
I feel that the reason for Adam and Eve being punished is more because they disobeyed God and not because he feels that he should be the only one with that knowledge. I do agree with you on the fact that the only reason that we know the difference between good and evil is because Eve sinned, at least that is how it appears in the Bible. I also agree when it comes to God destroying the earth that he made when he made everything in his image. It doesn't make much sense to me. The purpose definitely may have been to instill in people the fear of God. He can create the world and he can destroy it. In the end yes if the stories of the Bible are true then everyone in the world is related one way or another seeing as they all came from Adam and Eve. I do agree that some of the covenants help to explain the unexplainable.
DeleteGood job on making connections between the Bible and Greek mythology. The Bible came before Greek mythology though, and the two cultures didn't collaborate for a very long time after the original Bible stories were created. These stories of creation, and the people of Israel have been circulating from 3000 B.C.E. on. That is the extreme, but all of the stories from the Old Testament hark from the oral traditions of Judaic cults from the lands of Israel and Canaan. A lot of the stories have been tied back to the Epic of Gilgamesh and works of similar natures to it. I'm not saying it's impossible that Greeks had some influence over the Old Testament, I'm just saying it is unlikely. I do like that you are trying to connect what stories you know to the stories that you are now reading in the Bible. Also, it helps to think about the themes and messages that are in the subtext and context of the stories, like the story of Job is one of devout faith that pays off in the end, and the story of Noah is one of a covenant with his creator because he was the only person who could save what God wanted him to save because he was willing to spread the word of God unconditionally. The main themes being faithfulness and willingness to cooperate with the Lord in times when many people were skeptical of the existence of God.
DeleteIn regards to your thoughts on God's relation with Adam and Eve, I have to disagree with your statement that God should be the only person with the knowledge of good and evil. I was raised in a religious household and so this may be my own bias coming through, but I believe God did not want Adam and Eve to eat of the tree for their own good. I was always taught God was merciful and loved his children, especially Adam and Eve who were the first humans. I believe that he did not want them to be burdened by this knowledge, rather than he wanted the knowledge all for himself. This being said I also think that God already held man in higher regard than he did the other animals from the beginning because he created them in his own image as well as the fact he gave them dominion over all the lands. However I think you bring up an interesting point in relating Genesis to Greek mythology, which is a connection I had not previously made.
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ReplyDeleteEarly in The First Book Of Moses, I found that the passage speaking about Gods self reflection on what he had created, along with his compassion towards Noah, instead of humanity in its entirety was very powerful. God had said, “that he was sorry that he had made man on this earth” (Genesis 6). He saw all of the violence and evil that man was capable of and because of what he had seen he decided to wipe out all the work he had done. It caused God to find reason in destroying everything he had previously created by generating a flood of rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I found those passages fascinating because of the different ways they can be interpreted. It had me thinking how even something created with the best intentions could still lead to an outcome that was undesired by that who created it.
ReplyDeleteI also found it significant that God was able to separate his dislike for humanity at the time, from his view of Noah. Even though he was so angry at what man had become he was still able to judge Noah solely on his actions instead of the actions of man. He then asked Noah to build an ark in order to preserve the animals on earth along with the sons of Noah and their wives. Noah agreed even though God would be killing the rest of his people on Earth.
If Genesis is looked at simply by what the text says without questioning what beliefs it may hold true with it today, it can be an extremely powerful piece of literature. It shows God as the creator of all things on Earth. Not only that but demonstrates his ability to take away what he has created and show mercy where he feels appropriate. I’m not saying I agree with every piece of text that is in Genesis, because I don’t. I do feel the meanings and lessons behind many of the texts are particularly important though.
The book of Genesis was an eye opening experience for me. Having not read any part of The Bible in my life before, I was excited to see the different types of language, and the history that created the earth itself.
ReplyDeleteEarly on in Genesis, it is clear the vast knowledge of God. He tells Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, but in my opinion, he does this on purpose so that Adam and Eve might be tempted. He was testing the creation that he had made. Once Adam and Eve eat the fruit and realize that they are naked, God speaks to them. Once God realizes that the new life he has created is willing to disobey a direct order, he knows that it won’t be long before chaos ensues. By the time God commands Noah to build that arc for his family and two of each kind of animal, the world is full of greed and murder, amongst other things. God gave man a chance to right the wrongs that Adam and Even had put in place (Disobeying God), but nothing changed. God tells Noah that he will bring a great flood to kill of man.
Another thing I found interesting was the perception of time. Most people in the bible are said to have lived for 900+ years, which leads me to believe that time was a different thing a long time ago. Another thing is late in The book of Genesis, when there is talk of incest. Lots daughters new that their only hope of having children was seducing their own father. With how incest is viewed in the modern world, it makes me wonder if incest was accepted in earlier times.
I agree with your response pertaining to the book of Genesis. While I was reading it I came up with similar questions that raised doubt in my mind to the validity of the story. One was like as you said the age of the men in the story. At first I thought the Bible was doing this to signify how powerful God was in his creations that they could live for hundreds of years and be healthy and have children. In questioning this I realized there must be a different perception of time even though God gives Abraham and Sarah the power to have a child in their advanced age. Also the point about the tree of knowledge, I agree with you there as well, as I read forward in the book God seems to test man a lot but this test seemed inevitable doomed. It was as if God wanted the fruit to be eaten and have man gain knowledge, which then lead to women baring the pain of childbirth. Without the fruit being eaten how else does man procreate? It seems to me that the fruit being eaten is a logical explanation for Gods creation of procreation.
DeleteIn response to the perception of time, at one point in Genesis God says something along the lines of "My spirit will not stay with man forever," which I took as a subtle hint that lifespans will begin to dwindle with each generation. These incredible lifespans may also be the result of a different method of keeping time, or a different perception of time as has already been said, but that seems to be the bible's explanation for the earliest people living much longer than their offspring.
DeleteI have trouble understanding God's motives with the Tree of Knowledge, why did he create it in the first place? One would assume an omniscient being, as God is believed to be, would forsee the complications brought on by such a tempting tree. Then one questions why God would give free will to man so that he could betray God's orders, but that is for a different debate.
On incest, it seems perfectly acceptable in the Bible for Lot's daughters to get him drunk and have sex with him since the story is told and God seems to ignore it, and it also seems that incest was the way all of man was created, since Noah and his wife were the parents of the only children in the world after the flood.
Today’s class discussion on the Bible really opened my eyes up to some things. As a student that attended catholic school prior to college I actually was embarrassed that I had not realized that most of the things I have been taught were not explicitly said in the text of the Bible. Professor Akman made a good point to ask the question of what forbidden fruit Adam not supposed to eat; all my life I was told that it was an apple. This example of how the text of the bible has been manipulated over the years triggered many questions in my head. One being, what is the main underlying theme throughout Genesis?
ReplyDeleteGenesis is the basis for the Bible and often times it is overlooked. However, there are so many important stories and lessons that are written in Genesis that are repeated throughout the entire bible. Quickly skimming through Genesis, one might get the impression that the goal of the first book is to give a history of important events during the period and to introduce main people. But there is so much more to learn than memorizing the stories and character names. The importance of obedience and resisting sin is one of the most profound themes of the Bible, which first appeared in Genesis.
In chapter 3, the idea of sin was first introduced with Adam and Eve. The first time reading through this passage it seemed like it was solely Adam and Eve’s fault that they ate the forbidden fruit and then had to suffer the consequences. However, rereading this chapter multiple times made me start to think that this was God’s plan all along; that He wanted them to disobey so He could teach them the difference between good and evil and make an example out of them. Only three chapters into the bible, and God was already outlining what he wanted to see in his world, which is obedience. He created a problem so that a lesson could be taken from it. This method of testing humans and then punishing them in order to teach a lesson is a repetitive idea throughout Genesis.
Shortly after conveying that sinning was evil and obeying God was the way to salvation Noah was introduced. Noah was the counterpart to Adam and Eve because he was the ideal obedient human that God admired and wanted in His world. Noah followed every command God gave to him and he was rewarded. Now that there was an example of an obedient human along with Adam and Eve, who represent sin, followers of the word of the Lord could strive to model their behavior after Noah because his obedient actions were rewarded.
Overall I think that being assigned to read Genesis was a great thing for me personally and really made me read the text closer and find more meaning in the scripture. I think that the main theme throughout Genesis was to show that God desires obedience and that sin leads to undesirable consequences which is an idea that is countlessly repeated throughout the Bible
As someone who grew up in a non-religious environment I never had to attend church and learn about The Bible. This was my first time ever reading anything from it and it was not what I was expecting. I had always thought that the stories were long and complicated. However, after reading Genesis I have a different view on it. Genesis seemed to be simple and to the point. When the Lord told Noah to build an ark, Noah built an ark. When Abraham went to the Lord to ask what to do about Sarah wanting to get rid of Hagar, the Lord told him to do as Sarah wished, and so he did. There was not any beating around the bush with what message or lesson was being portrayed.
ReplyDeleteOne part that caught me off guard was Chapter 19 which discussed incest with Lot and his daughters. They had said “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring through our father.” In today’s society incest is considered a sin yet here is an example straight from The Bible where it was something that was natural to do to continue populating the earth. Since The Bible says that everyone came from Adam and Eve, incest was the only option. If there had been no incest then the human race would have ceased to exist.
Another thing that caught me off guard was that The Bible did not specifically mention that the forbidden fruit was an apple which is what is commonly taught. I had always been under the assumption that Adam and Eve had eaten an apple and while reading that part of the chapter in Genesis I found myself automatically thinking that it was an apple even though all it said was “forbidden fruit”. This is an example of why it is important to keep a global perspective while reading literature because it is easy to make assumptions.
I was also surprised by reading Genesis. I had learned about it all my life in Catholic school, but had never read any part of the bible for myself. When I would learn about it in school, it felt like each story could've been an elaborate and descriptive novel. Upon reading it for myself, everything that happened was, as you said, simple and to the point. I did not expect that from my years in Catholic school, and it is funny how you did not expect it either despite not being exposed to religion. I was also thrown off by the "forbidden fruit," I had always been taught it was an apple and assumed it was, though it was not explicitly said whether it was or not.
DeleteReading the book of Genesis word for word was a big eye opener to me. Having grown up in a religious Christian family, I believed I knew a fairly good amount of facts of the bible. While reading about the chapters about Abraham, Sarah and Hagar – I read upon the chapter as if I knew the story word for word, but when it came to seeing that Sarah wanted Hagar and Ishmael sent away when Sarah bore her son I realized that in many instances – people are only taught the “good” and only the “good” such as Sarah being able to conceive a child at a church; at least in my experience.
ReplyDeleteThis opened my eyes of how different it is to understand and read the bible through the eyes of a religious as opposed to reading the bible as a literature. While reading the bible with a religion, you tend to just see the “good” and all “stories/events” tend to become a “learning point”– all in relation to Gods plan, overall not being able to see the “bad” events that may happen (for example, the story of Noah’s Ark and the flood). Through seeing that those who are religious may or may not become oblivious to the “bad times” that God creates and only seeing them as things that happened because people “disobeyed” and were “evil” I made a connection that through reading the bible as a literature, I was able to connect these events in a more in a real life modern day form. For example, through reading about Sarah sending Hagar away, I was able to relate it to modern day because it is something that could happen in modern times. If a mistress showed up with a child and was sent away by the wife even though it was a situation that was already approved it is easier to understand than to find that the wife (Sarah) would allow her “servant” to sleep with her husband in order to raise a family.
Reading the story of Noah and how his disappointment with humans the evil that surrounded the world he created raising havoc while just saving the animals and Noah – I always believed was just a way that God “washed away” all sin to make a new clean world. However, reading this story again without someone talking about the situation and “Gods plan” being emphasized while reading the literature also opened up my eyes to the “bad” that was created upon earth and the people. This further opened my eyes to the fact that there is a big difference and different understand to reading the bible with a religious viewpoint as opposed to just plainly reading the bible “word for word” without any “modern day” religious interpretation. I just found it interesting how having a different mindset while reading a particular book/literature from the first time I was open to the bible could open my eyes to a completely different understanding.
That was an interesting way to relate Sarah casting Hagar out to modern times. I had never thought of that! It makes the Bible much more relatable to our lives, I think, that the stories it teaches can be interpreted into modern day occurrences. I agree that it is hard to read the Bible as a piece of literature, as I know I am used to reading the Bible in a religious way, as you mentioned. Searching for the good, the bad, the values, and the morals is something that was shown to me at a very young age, and that was the way that I learned to read the Bible. It is interesting that these stories that we have heard for years seem to take on a new life when you read them from a literary perspective.
DeleteHaving been raised in a religious Christian family myself, I agree with many of your points here. I went to church on Sundays and attended Sunday school after church every week. We discussed the bible and spoke of its many stories, but I do not recall sitting down and reading word for word any full story. We discuss how works of literature can be altered through translation from author to author, but I think what we are experiencing is that the literature was altered in the way different teachers, family members, and anyone else around us decided to interpret it for themselves. I loved your example of how Sarah sent Hagar away and how you didn’t realize that was what actually happened. I had a similar experience when our quiz question asked of the fruit from the tree of knowledge. I recall from stories and movies growing up, that it was an apple that Adam was forbidden from eating, and it distorted my memory from being able to read the bible as a new piece of literature. It will cause us to change the way we read and take in all the new details.
DeleteIt was very interesting to read The Bible this week. I found it very intriguing how so much is changed from The Bible based on what I have been told and what I have collected in the years that I have gone to church with family. Although I did attend church which gave one perspective from The Bible, my thoughts always leaned more towards Agnostic which is why this reading was important for me to red since The Bible is a very important part in Christianity as well as other religions.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see how straight forward the first two chapters were in the Bible. Why is it that the creation of Earth and human kind was so plain and straightforward? From a religious perspective are we supposed to question how everything was created? Why not explain in detail? I this piece of literature does sometimes make me question the point of the writing. If we look at the story of Adam and Eve and its creation we are able to see that their disobedience causes them to be punished. Adam and Eve’s story is related to many parts of our lives today as well as past and present literature. Cause and effect is a huge part of books today as well as a way to convey messages that demonstrates power a particular group of people have over another and punishment on those who do wrong. In The Bible, God had the power to punish Adam and Eve by taking away their infinite life spam and by making the woman experience pain while giving birth. Adam and Eve also had the knowledge of good and evil after eating the fruit they were told not to eat. God also had the power to make the serpent travel by his belly which also shows punishment because of a wrong doing.
The Bible seeks to explain the many sufferings of the human condition by placing blame on the first humans, implying not that Adam and Eve are especially evil but that all humans are probably capable of these mistakes, and therefore inferior to a higher power. But why are they being punished for seeking knowledge? Why would God punish Adam and Eve from eating from a tree of knowledge? Don’t we learn in school, as very young students, that all knowledge is something we should work hard to obtain? We do not know why God wants this, but we do know that it is specifically the ideas of “good” and “evil” that God wants to keep the first humans away from. If Adam and Eve understand that some things can be “good” and some things can be “evil” then maybe they would be capable of both, and maybe humans being capable of evil is what God is trying to prevent.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that this idea of keeping knowledge away from people could be examined from a colonialist perspective. Throughout history, when mother countries conquer fledgling nations they feed the natives under their control certain ideologies and have them learn certain languages and in turn, this creates a particular kind of individual with certain mindsets that tend not to have ideas about rising up against the colonizers, because they have become much like their colonizers, and are ideologically under their control. If Adam and Eve gain some kind of knowledge from the tree, maybe this will give them the power to undermine the authority of God, and maybe even question his instructions, in the same way that colonized people could question authority if they were exposed to ideas about how to.
After Adam and Eve become aware of what is “good” and “evil” they both become aware and ashamed of their nakedness, because maybe they gained knowledge of sex and sexual desire. This reinforces the idea that in the cultures and religions that stemmed from the creation of the Bible, sex is evil and wrong. Eve is also punished for her inability to resist temptation because the tree was such a “delight to the eyes.” Temptation and sex (if this is what kind of knowledge God was trying to keep from them) are shamed in the creation story, and I think this contributes to its taboo even in talking about sex in many cultures today.
We learned in one of my education classes that the idea that women are inferior and seen more often as sexual objects can be traced back to the creation story. After actually reading Genesis for this class, I can see how Eve’s actions could have influenced the idea that women are subordinate and believed to be more susceptible to temptation. Eve was created out of Adam, and Adam was given permission to name his partner “Wo-man” because she was derived of man; The permission that Adam has to name her and the creatures of the earth emphasizes male authority and power. Continuing to look at the role that women play in Genesis, I found that the only family line that is traced in the Bible is the line of Adam and then Cain, and then every first son, after first son, after first son. All of the other sons and daughters that a first son might conceive are not worthy of being recorded and remembered. I understand that society was very patrilineal and this is why family lines were traced this way. But even the women whom stories were told of, such as Sarah and Hagar and the daughters of Lot, are not very redeemable people. Sarah becomes jealous when Hagar looks on her with “contempt” after giving birth to Ishmael and sends her away. Lot’s daughters have sex with him while he is sleeping so that they can “preserve offspring.” Although they might have good intentions, many of the women that are actually expanded upon in Genesis are either sinful, easy to tempt, jealous or incestuous.
I agree, after reading the Genesis and Exodus I realized how the Bible justifies and even promotes viewing women as inferior to men. Women are shown to have no rights: fathers “give” their daughters to strangers that they just met, which is how Isaac and Moses got their wives, and their lack of rights is justified by the sinful actions they commit. While the Bible is an important piece of literature that teaches the importance of choosing good over evil, it also justifies practices like the subordination of women and slavery. It is important to remember that although it offers important moral lessons, it was written by people thousands of years ago that had many different social customs then we do now. When reading the Bible, one should try to separate its teachings from the aspects of culture at the time that are tied into the stories and try not to interpret it too literally, as many people still do.
DeleteI also agree. It is interesting for me to think about the treatment of women in the Bible as characters in a story: if this were any other book (not a religious text), many modern scholars would criticize the portrayal of women as inferior, sinful, jealous, etc, while men are overwhelmingly portrayed as pious and Godly (see: Noah). However, because it is a religious text, many are quick to defend it thoroughly. I also found interesting your assessment of the Bible's treatment of "knowledge." Growing up in a Christian household, I always was confused as to why it was so wrong for Adam and Eve to want to have knowledge. Thinking about it today, I can draw parallels between God not wanting Adam and Eve to have knowledge of good and evil and the unquestioning loyalty I (and so many others in the Christian faith) was taught as a child to have to God. I was taught never to question anything about God, in fact, questions were actively discouraged in my church, especially if the person you were asking couldn't provide an answer.
DeleteBeing a Christian, as much as I would like to say that I have read The Bible and know all about it, the fact is, I don’t. Reading Genesis, Exodus and Job for this week’s classes has most definitely opened my eyes to many things in regard to The Bible that I never considered before. First of all, I never took the time to think that everything I do know about my religion is simply someone’s interpretation of The Bible and is not necessarily spelled out completely. That caught me off guard but it did not surprise me. The Bible, in this way, is much like any other book we might read.
ReplyDeleteThis brings me to our discussion in class today about The Bible in relation to other Best-Selling books and authors. It never occurred to me just how much The Bible can be compared with just about any other book out there. It is fascinating, really.
Something I realized about any piece of literature, especially the Bible, is that it brings people together. No matter to context of the book, and especially if it is a best seller, there will be masses of people reading it and discussing their interpretations. I think this is another similarity Between the Bible and books like The Guinness Book of World Records, Gone With the Wind, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Any book that is read by that many people will bring people together in some way or another. Take the Harry Potter series, for example. People of al ages read those books and like any other books, they helped bridge a gap between people who may otherwise have nothing in common. The Bible did, and still does, the same exact thing. Even if two people are total opposites of each other, if they agree on the contextual basis of The Bible, or have read it, or anything of the sort, they now have something in common and I think that is one of the most incredible things to come across. Finding a similarity between yourself and someone who you thought you would have nothing in common in most certainly a wonderful feeling.
I completely agree with you. I grew up Christian and never realized how interesting The Bible truly is. I took religion and we read passages from different books within The Bible, but I was too young to notice the meanings behind the stories. I was not surprised to hear that The Bible is a best seller because I feel it is almost like a symbol of a Christian's commitment to the religion itself. It makes them feel better knowing they own the sacred text of their religion, even though it may have never been read. I would say I am guilty of this in a way; I own a Bible, but never read it to its entirety. I would say that this is the case for many people I know and that it has brought us together in a positive way, which as you said, is definitely a wonderful feeling.
DeleteReading the book of Genesis was very different for me. I am and born and raised Hindu and I was not exposed to the Catholic, Christian, Judaic, or Muslim religions until very recently. Up until my first year of college at St. Bonaventure University (A Franciscan University) I had no prior knowledge about the scriptures of religions, other than my own. I grew up around many Christians and Catholics and I have heard many stories of how God created the world as we know it today. I have heard of the stories about Moses, Noah, Ishmael, etc. from my friends and even my Christian boyfriend. I learned a lot about the scriptures at my previous college but this was the first time that I needed to read such a long passage and try to make my own understanding of what I read.
ReplyDeleteReading these passages from The Bible was not like anything I was expecting, having heard of all the stories from my friends. I was expecting The Bible to have great detail on each story but instead it seemed like I was reading a timeline of events that occurred, one after the other. I was also not expecting to see that there was a lot of repetition of the reading when God was conveying his messages to others as well as the extreme ages that the prophets lived up to.
Although the readings were not what I was expecting, I enjoyed the stories that were being told- especially the “first documented cat fight”. While reading Genesis, it became clear to me why some people say that men should be superior to women. Sometimes you hear that people blame their actions on The Bible and claim that God told them to behave a certain way or told them to do something specific, but by reading The Bible for myself, I can understand where these misinterpretations are coming from. The Bible was translated many years ago by men who lived in a time where women were inferior to men and I believe that is why people now a days are mistaken to think that this still holds to be true. This religious scripture is very informative but like we spoke about in class today, I can see where the author could have made a decision where things were dropped and where things were kept. Such as, when the stories were transitioning from one to the other.
Like many of us, this was my first time actually reading the Bible. I'm not at all religious, so a lot of the ideas are new to me as well. Throughout the reading I tried to look for the messages the Bible was trying to convey, and think about the purposes of these messages.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few things that seemed to promote order or moral behavior. The lesson from the story of Cain and Able is obviously one of those, as it shows that killing another human is bad. Another lesson that is potentially there to create order is with Sarai and Hagar. When Hagar disrespects Sarai, Sarai confronts Abram and blames him. However, Abram tells her that she is responsible for her slave. This would make it in people’s best interest to make sure their slaves didn’t do anything bad. Finally, there is the message that humans are basically the “chosen ones”. We’re made in God’s image and told to “fill the earth and subdue it”. This makes people feel superior and gives them purpose, which keeps moral high, minimizing the chance of conflict.
Other things seemed to promote the preservation of the human race. For example, Humans are told to multiply and have lots of children. As child mortality was very high, this would insure that at least some would survive. The story of Sodom also serves to promote the maximization of human breeding. It denounces homosexuality and attempts to make sure that any sexual acts are done to breed.
Other messages seemed to promote the preservation of the religion. For example, whenever Noah or Abraham traveled to a new area, they would build an altar for God. This would promote the construction of churches in order to spread the religion. Another lesson that served to preserve the religion was that of Lot’s wife as they were leaving Sodom. She disobeys God by looking back and is turned to a pillar of salt. This tells us that God’s word is absolute and failure to follow it will not be forgiven. This attempts to dissuade people from questioning anything about the religion. In fact, a common theme throughout Genesis is that God supports those who are the most pious, like Noah or Abraham. God gives these men special benefits and protects them. This would make people want to follow the religion exactly and perfectly.
Finally, there seem to be messages that promote a society that the writers of the Bible favored. Women are made to be subservient in various ways. When Eve is being punished for eating the forbidden fruit, she is explicitly told that she will be ruled by her husband. Furthermore, Abraham would always use Sarah to protect himself whenever he entered a new land, and he was never punished for this, which shows that it is perfectly ok for a man to use a woman for his own needs. The writers would likely benefit from such a male dominated society, or perhaps this was their way of explain an already male dominated society. Another lesson that promotes a specific culture is the story of Ham finding Noah while he is naked. This tells us to respect our elders, which could be for several reasons: older people have more experience, and can use that to help people; as people age, they become frailer and might need younger people to look after them; the writers could have been older and wanted people to respect them.
I like your assessment on how the bible managed to preserve itself, mainly by attracting pious individuals who were willing to follow the bible's tenants and ensure that the faith continues. I think the Quakers are a good example of how failure to introduce enough new believers can cause a belief system to lose popularity. As you mentioned, there are some compelling ideas in the bible that has allowed it to flourish and stay prominent for all of these years.
DeleteAlso, I think the societal values that are implied within Genesis have certainly changed as mankind has matured in our reasoning. We no longer condone slavery or a male-dominated society, or killing one's child for their vulgarities against their parents. These ideas don't float well in modern times. That being said, I also agree that biblical texts are sometimes used to justify poor actions and this is why we must read such texts with an open mind; just because the bible says something's o.k. doesn't mean it should be accepted without question!
I found reading Genesis word for word to be very interesting, mainly because I have never done so growing up as Christian. In particular I found the story of Adam and Eve to be most note worthy in this section of the Bible, not just in terms of theological importance and implications but because of it's societal impact on women. The patriarchal aspects of Genesis seem to be more historical than divine and religious in nature. Eve was cursed for being deceived by the serpent or the deceiver, while Adam was cursed for being deceived by a woman. In my own interpretation of God's sentiments for punishing Adam and Eve I believe that the nature of feminine lust is tied to or a part of Original Sin. Eve is representative of characteristics in women that men typically are afraid of. Eve has the power to tempt man, she's disobedient, prone to evil, deceitful and seductive. Genesis teaches men to not trust women, and some theorists have even claimed that every woman has a bit of "Eve in them." Eve is the original cause of all evil, and this patriarchal sentiment is so embedded into Western civilization that it is often glossed over in this reading.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Eve was created out of Adam's ribs. "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." Is Eve God's "grand finale" or is she inferior due to the order of creation? After reading some revisionist readings and approaches to the story of Adam and Eve, the order of God's creation can in fact mean that Eve was God's ultimate creation. Before the act of disobedience from eating from the Tree of Knowledge there was no inequality between the sexes in God's divine plan. Another point of this story that can be re-interpreted is Eve's tempting of Adam to eat the fruit. Eve simply shared with generosity the fruit with Adam, but over centuries this act has been interpreted as Eve being seductive and deceiving Adam.
I am looking forward to reading Eastern religious texts and comparing the religious implications or connotations of sex, femininity and desire since the West considers them to be taboos.
In reading the Bible I payed particular attention to the role of women in in Genesis. God first creates man, Adam, and then, deciding that the beasts he had created earlier were not “helpers fit for him,” created a woman, Eve, from one of his ribs, declaring that “she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” This puts women on a literal level with animals, subordinate to man.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Eve, just like nearly all other women in Genesis, are referenced mainly in terms of the men in the narrative, often referred to mainly as “his wife.” This only serves to emphasize that women exist only in relation to their husbands, and are useful only for the purpose or serving men and bearing children, almost like a commodity. This is shown explicitly in the quotation: “When men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose.” The story of Abraham also explicitly shows women to be thought of as a commodity, as Sarah, distraught by her failure to bear children, gives her maid, Hagar to him to conceive a child in a literally trade of “goods.” This not only treats Hagar, who admittedly a servant and therefore more likely to be treated as such, as property, but also sheds light on the importance of bearing children for a woman to be useful.
The reduction of women to mere bearers of children in patriarchal society is even more evident in the story of Lot, whose daughters make him “drink wine” so they can “lie with him” and “preserve offspring.”
I found this treatment of women to be very troubling in my reading of Genesis. Although I expected women to be treated as inferior to men given the time period, I believe this could provide insight into other literature read in context of the Bible, as it is such an important and ubiquitous work.
I sat in Hebrew school for ten years and paid more attention to the cracked plaster on the wall than the readings in the Torah. However after reading Genesis in English, it was a completely different experience; I was able to piece everything together and teach my twelve year-old self what I missed.
ReplyDeleteFirst, translation plays a key role. Why did the translator of Genesis choose the English words that they did? Although the Torah and the Bible have the same content, there are parts that are lost in translation and some Hebrew words that cannot be captured. For example, in the Torah certain words have different meanings, like shemayim, means heaven and sky and ‘eretz means land, earth, ground, and country. This does not make much of a difference as a whole, but it was interesting to notice the choice of wording used in the Bible.
Second, when I read the Torah, I mostly recite it as a chant. The Torah contains different words that have symbols, which dictate how you read the word. When reading Genesis in Hebrew school it was equally important to know how to chant as well as to learn the words and meanings. In short, it was interesting to read the same story without vocalizing it.
Which leads to the third important aspect: reading/chanting the Torah takes a long time. Traditionally, throughout the year, a set portion of the Torah is read each week (on Shabbat) till the cycle is finished with the last verses of Deuteronomy. Each cycle takes about a year to complete therefore reading the Torah is an elongated process, composed of fragmented stories. While being so accustomed to studying religious text in that routine, I found reading Genesis within a couple of hours to be quick, easy and straightforward. Not to mention reading it in English reassured my understanding and filled the missing parts of the text I wasn’t certain of in Hebrew.
As mentioned in class, it is important to relate and incorporate texts from other cultures in order to have a better understanding of a literary work one intends to study. You can study a religious literary work for ten years, but feel more knowledgeable after a day of reading a different culture’s perspective of it.
Thank you for giving me a different 'window' into the Bible! Being raised Christian, it is easy to forget the role the Bible plays in other religions--Judaism especially. It is extremely interesting to look at how different cultures and religions treat the same book. It is easy to read or think about a work multiple times, while completely missing something that someone from another culture would pick up immediately. That's perhaps one of the reasons that it is so important to have courses like Western Humanities--to allow students from many backgrounds hear and learn from the opinions and analysis of others. Including, and perhaps especially, the discussion of works with religious significance.
Delete--Charlene Fritz
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