David's Lamentation

I keep forgetting to put this video on my blog. My choir sang this song in High School. It is when David hears that his son has died. It is an extremely powerful song and when we sang it I was always overcome with the emotion that David must have felt hearing about his son's death

Listen to it. Its wonderful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e87V5Vyetsg&feature=related

It is really quiet at first so just stay with it.

My Paper

Here is my paper on women in the bible and literature in general!

Indeed, if woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance; very various; heroic and mean; splendid and sordid; infinitely beautiful and hideous in the extreme; as great as a man, some think even greater.

                                -Virginia Woolf

 

            Throughout some of the great novels in history the roles of women play an important part. Whether it is the role of heroine or culprit, women are seen as a key player in most works. This statement does not change for one of the most well known texts of human history. The Bible is filled with stories about women; they are deceivers, lovers, or a mere vessel in which to carry on a seed. Because the Bible is such an old text, one wonders whether it is because of these stories that women possess some of the archetypes seen in literature. In The Slave by Isaac Singer, a novel that parallels the Bible almost eerily, one can see the connections and influences that the Bible has had on literature and women’s roles throughout it over the years.

            There are some misconceptions about the roles women play in the Bible. As David Plotz writes, “The women in the Bible have so far been either invisible, foolish, or vindictive” (Good Book 20). Plotz certainly has a point, when one reads the book at face value, however what he fails to realize is that because of these vindictive or foolish acts, there is a greater outcome.

     The Bible has created an abundance of different archetypes for women. The major ones consist of Eve, the seducer and Virgin Mary, the mother, nurturer. In The Slave Wanda is portrayed as both. “He had resisted temptation for years, then suddenly fallen” (Slave 85).  The language Singer uses parallels the language used in The Bible to describe the fall of man, which was caused by Eve and temptation. Throughout The Slave, Wanda is an Eve character because she continually tempts Jacob to break his religious piousness, but the distinction between Wanda and Eve, is that, unlike Adam, Jacob truly wants to be with her. He tries to validate being away from her for God, but in the end it is only the distance between them that separates his love for her. “She was a daughter of Esau who had lured him into adultery, a woman whose desire to accept his faith came with impure motives. In addition she was there, he here.” It is clear that Jacob loves Wanda because if they were closer they would be together and he eventually closes that spatial gap. Wanda is not the only woman who tempts men in The Slave. There is a constant incidence of rape occurring in The Slave. Women appear to be merely sexual objects for the men. However it is not only in The Slave that rape happens. There are also places in the Bible in which rape occurs. Once people read the text of the Bible thoroughly, it becomes clear that there are allusions made to it that people would never have originally thought.

            Another similarity between the Bible and The Slave is that in the majority of biblical stories and books, women are the turning point in the story. Tamar deceives Judah in order to carry on the seed of her first husband, which in turns leads to the birth of Jesus; Abraham deceives the Pharaoh with the help of Sarah and Sarah is greatly admired by God therefore he grants her the ability to have “offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore” (Gen 22:17). Wanda also has this kind of immense impact on Jacob’s life. She plays a deceitful role when she pretends to be mute in order to mask her gentile identity. But more than that, throughout this novel, she continues to control the out come of Jacob’s decisions, and she makes him fall in love with her.  The love of two people is worth more than gender and religion. Wanda has that power over Jacob. These acts of deceit are the same acts that Plotz over-looks in his analysis of women in the Bible.

It is interesting to note that although women are key players in the texts, some of the best characters have no names. A charity worker in The Slave is described with “kindness, gentleness, [and as having] a candor in her eyes” (Slave 120). She is one of the few women that are described in a good light in this novel, however she has no name. The same happens in The Bible. Lot’s daughters want only to help their father by making sure his blood line continues with the birth of a son, they play a major role in the text and they are good people, however, the readers only know them as ‘Lot’s daughters,’ no more. It appears as if the Bible wants to continually place a faVad of a patriarchal society, yet the women are central figures. By not giving the female characters names, it places them below the other characters, in turn implying that women are not as important as men. This seems to contradict the actual text however because of the obvious importance those women have in the stories.

            It is clear that the Bible has influenced women’s literary roles immensely. By having the understanding of this influence, one can draw connections between thousands of texts over the ages. 

There are only tears...

So I finally read the blogs that Amanda mentioned in her presentation. There are no words to describe what I feel now, only tears, of amazement and sympathy. 

Suffering is something that all people go through, but it is amazing to notice how differently people react. Even reading about the blogs emotionally drained me. I cannot sympathize with either of you, but I hope you know that in my eye, you are some of the strongest women I know, and have had the pleasure of meeting. I only wish I had the time to really get to know you in this class. I hope to see you in the future. 

Monty Python

My dad and I spent about two hours today watching clips of Monty Python. It all began with the First Supper skit. So I figured it wise to include it here in my blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4oKXagF3IE

 I do not know how to just make it play, so just hit the link. Its pretty funny :o)

Second Day Presentations

I was again amazed at how well my peers did in their presentations. They all had very clear ideas and expressed them well. 

Amanda's presentation was wonderful. I was hooked from the beginning to the end and secretly wanted her to just read her whole paper to us. I also wanted to look up the blogs she mentioned in class. 

I also enjoyed the presentation on sex in the Bible. It was a great topic and I am honestly ashamed that I did not pick that topic myself. There is so much of it in the Bible that I cannot imagine a better topic to explore. I was reviewing Plotz today and read the chapter where he lists all the sexual acts so far found in Genesis. There is so much even in the first book and I want to argue with everyone I know who condemns sex before marriage to read these passages and explain to me why its bad. 

Which then reminds me of another presentation in which some made a comment about being able to discuss and argue the book. I wish I could remember the exact words at the moment cause I was thoroughly impressed when I heard them originally.

I am eagerly awaiting the next round of presentations, in hopes that I will be sparked to do research on a topic I am unfamiliar with. 

Paper Presentations

I was extremely impressed with my classmate's idea for papers. But I was mostly impressed with those who chose what I know now that I didn't know before. Some of the ideas that sprang from this broad idea were absolutely amazing. While listening to the presentations I got very excited about a few different paper topics.

 

Craig West: I am very interested in his idea about how life is pointless. It seems as if a lot of research went into his paper and it is all related in some way, shape or form. 

Ben Miller: Although it seemed like he was talking in a different language, I found myself thoroughly fixated on what he was saying. He made me excited about something that I do not know much about at all. He showed real enthusiasm while presenting the paper and it was enjoyable to listen to. 

To both of these authors I would love to read the final papers, if that is not too weird for you. But I am finding myself wanting to know more about the topics you chose. If you could post your papers, that would be appreciated! 

Good work to everyone! 

Love..

I am going off of Lisette's blog on Love. It was extremely refreshing to read her blog about love. Her honesty rang through her words and it was nice to read that. 

Love is a great topic when thinking about the Bible and I know it has been talked about a bit, but I just remembered in the Slave when Jacob is talking about God and his love for his people.

"A father may carry his child, but he wishes the infant to learn to walk by itself. God was our Father, we His children, and He loved us. He blessed us with His mercy, and if now and again He let us slip and fall, it was to accustom us to walking alone."

This is how I like to think parents are. They watch and help when we really need it, but they really just want you to succeed on your own. To learn to walk with head held high by yourself. But it is the way Jacob talks about his love for Wanda that fills the need for romantic love. 

"Gold mingled with blue, green with purple, and, out of this whirlpool of color, Wanda's image formed." 

Such beautiful language is used throughout both these books, it is nearly impossible not to love them both. 

And love is such a universal topic that everyone can relate to it in some way or another. 

I guess I just wanted to give props to Lisette's blog on love. 

Gotta love love!

Presentations

Were awesome! 

Everybody did a great job providing the major theme of their books in a way that was so fun to watch!

Acts group had an amazing movie. I am technology challenged (hence the puppet show), so I am very impressed with how well it all came together. It had a great flow from scene to scene, and when the topic switched, the group provided us with the information needed. Great acting too :o)

Jonah and the Fish/Whale was also hilarious. I liked the simplistic over view of the material, while still making it entertaining. Tai= very handsome fish. 

 While doing our group presentation, I learned a lot about the Song of Solomon. Mainly about the distinction between the meanings of the words and who the words were meant for. I can understand the relationship between God's love for the people, but honestly, all those lovely and intense images are hard to place on Israel. For me, I think it is just some erotic poetry. A good break from the normal story time and I enjoy that it turns the heat up a little. Maybe there is a little influence from our friendly muse Erato in there. But in any case, as Dr. Sexson said, the words in Song of Solomon are difficult to read with out feeling a little of that emotion. Those words are powerful. 

Set me as a seal upon thine heart,

as a seal upon thine arm: 

for love is strong as death.

Who wouldn't want to have those words spoken to them?

My Bad Day

It all started with the snow... I woke up, realizing that I only had a pair of ballet flats to wear that day. Not the ideal shoe for a day with 18 inches of snow that is accumulating more snow by the second. Then, I am late for my class because I slept too long. Usually I drive to class because parking tickets have now reached an outrageous amount, but today the snow plow had plowed my car in. I had to recruit help to even get my door open to get the books I needed. Then I started the long walk to school, slip sliding my way in clothes that are not mine, and far too large. After classes, I walked back, taking the same dangerous route as before. Only to get back a car still covered in snow that I had to dig out, in order to return home, where a driveway covered in 2 feet of snow waited to be shoveled. 

I suppose the day was not my worst, however the bad events resulted in a couple days of soreness, which extended my bitterness. The good parts was helping a lot of people become unstuck in the roads. Its always a good feeling to give it your all and help someone get out of a bind. 

Job's was definitely worse...

Ten Commandments.

It seems odd to me that throughout the building of the Tabernacle and all the robes and everything is so focused on material items. The words Gold and Pure Gold are seen in almost every line. I thought that materialism was more of a Pagan belief rather than a Christian belief. Just an interesting thought...

Also I found this video that I am sure most people have seen, it is Mel Brooks' version of the Ten Commandments

There is the link, I do not know how to post the actual video clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TAtRCJIqnk&feature=related

Laws, Laws, Laws

As of Chapter 20 in Exodus, all I am getting is an abundance of Laws. And they are all super confusing. I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but it seems like you are allowed to hit people as long as it is with a certain tool and its the right person. I am so lost. If I lived in this time period and had to abide by these laws I would need to keep a bulleted list with me at all times. There are so many different laws for the same topics, and they are all just slightly different... God is certainly asking a lot of his people.

This is my favorite so far...

You shall not permit a female sorcerer to live.

Female sorcerer? Ha ha ha

The Journey Thus Far

Reading the Bible has been an interesting ride so far. I have just gotten to where Moses and the Israelites are free from the Pharaoh, but the Israelites are complaining of being hungry and thirsty. 

I have found that it is hard to figure out how to work Plotz into this. When I read Plotz before the Bible selections, I find that I understand what is going on better, but I also approach everything in a rather cynical view. The class discussion of this helped me a lot, but I still don't know what to think of Plotz. I agree with him, I mean, why did he harden the Pharaoh's heart so many times? That seems a little extreme, but maybe it makes sense when you take a step back and look at it as the better story? Where's a story with out a little conflict right? 

I am becoming more and more please with the reading material in the Bible. It becomes easier and easier to understand and also more enjoyable. I know this will probably come to an end soon, but so far, I am more pleased than I originally thought I would be.

Truth vs. Fantasy

In the world of stories, mythos, logos and ethos. Which matters most? Truth or the better story? What good is a tale full of history and honesty, if no one will read it. It is the fantasy stories with adventure and made-up creatures that make a story worth reading. 

I once sat in on a class when I was younger with my older sister. The class was all about 'the better story.' 

There is a man and a little boy, the man leaves the room and tells the boy he must not touch the light switch on the wall while he is gone. The little boy does not touch it.

Where is the story? There isn't one. BUT if the little boy does touch it and is carried away into far away lands and learns secrets of days gone by, then we have a story. Probably a very very good story. 

This is the Bible so far to me. I have almost finished Genesis and this is one of the better parts. Joseph and his brothers. The characters have depth and I can understand what is going on. It is a good story.  

Genesis.

As I have been reading through Genesis, I am realizing that I am in need of a flow chart. It is impossible to keep up with who has which sons and how long each of them lived. I am hoping that all of that information is trivial, but who knows?

Impossible assignment

Read the Bible. All of it. Comprehend it. Wow.

I am looking forward to this class with Dr. Sexson. After taking Oral Traditions with him in the Spring of 08 I know that he has a lot of information to pass on to us and I am ready to learn it. As I discovered last semester, most things that we discuss in Dr. Sexson's class are often brought up again and again in daily life (or the daily life that is consumed by school) 

For instance: Before yesterday the words canonical and apocryphal were unknown to me, now they are everywhere. Seriously I have seen them in every book I have read for my classes thus far.

Terms:

Canonical: is a list or set of Biblical books considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular religious community, generally in Judaism or Christianity.

Apocryphal: refers to any collection of scriptural texts that falls outside the canon.

Torah: First five books of Moses and is the Sacred text of Judaism. Texts include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy 

Circumcision:... Enough said?