Week 12

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for everything we have in our lives. What would Jesus or Paul be thankful for if they had thanksgiving? Both religious figures wouldn't have been made timeless without the help of those influential in their lives and teachings. Jesus was probably thankful for Mary and Joseph similar to us being thankful for our parents. Paul would be thankful for his correspondents who he wrote frequently. Paul's writing offer readers with insight into God and how to lead a spiritual life. I found it interesting how Paul was so insightful about the coming of Jesus. He knew and fully believed that God's son would come to earth and spread the good news of his kingdom. Many believe that Paul can be considered too radical because of his beliefs in Jesus' coming. I also found it interesting how his letters offer perspective into a faith that hasn't been distinguished and are used in various churches in different contexts. Being thankful our religion and preservation of historical documents is another aspect of our God given life that should be added to our Thanksgiving dinner prayers.

Week 11

This week's readings are not connected and shed a different light onto two influential writers in the Bible. Marcus Borg lives on! The First Paul, written by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, is an insight into the apostle Paul who has been hailed as one of the most controversial figures of the Church. The first chapter jumps immediately into arguing if Paul is appealing or appalling. It claims that, "Paul's importance extends beyond the New Testament into the history of Christianity" (Borg and Crossan 3). His letters shaped various religions and theologians perspectives, therefore extending his appeal beyond Christianity. Paul was predicted to live around the time of Jesus, and his presence extends into roughy half of the New Testament. The appalling aspect of Paul is varying appreciation that has been embraced by religions (Protest, Lutheran, Judaism, Catholic, or Christian), therefore losing the uniformity of his role. The view of Paul can be seen from three foundational statements explained in the chapter:
1. "Not all of the letters attributed to Paul were written by him-- there is more than one Paul in the New Testament"
2. "It is essential to place his letters in their historical context"
3. "His message-- his teaching, his gospel-- is grounded in his life-changing and sustaining experience of the risen Christ" (Borg and Crossan 13).
I think its important to critically take all three foundational statements into account when reading Paul and understanding his character.
The second reading was John's gospel. John's gospel mentions Abraham, and seems to focus on the miracles and teachings of Jesus. His gospel begins with the miracle at the wedding at Cana and ends with the miracle of Jesus appearing to his disciples. My favorite aspects of John's gospel are the miracles (wedding at Cana, Jesus heals a blind man, Jesus walks on water, and feeding of the five thousand), and the lessons that Jesus shares about how to survive a earthly life. He offers advice about trusting in God, loving each other, and dealing with hatred. I found his gospel to be the most applicable to answering our questions about the faith. Overall, I think Paul and John offer different perspectives that without the other would value to the Bible and the reader's connection.

Week 10

Our view of Jesus and God has required us to paint pictures in our mind's eye about what they look like, how they listen to us, and what they ask from us. Borg's Jesus and Alice Walker's Color Purple both play on the innocence behind painting pictures about Jesus and God. I have been raised as a Catholic and given various paint brushes to help me relate to God and understand the importance of trusting faith. I remember being given stickers, magnets, jewelry and more that have been mass produced with images of God and Jesus and phrases/verses that remind me that Jesus loves and is with me. Borg draws on "three little phrases" that play a role in Christian life: "What Would Jesus do", "Jesus Loves Me-- This I know", and "For God So Loved the World" (Borg 305-306). These three sayings have helped guide Christians to trust in faith and turn toward away from temptation. I think the most popular phrase "What Would Jesus Do" has been used (unfortunately) as a marketing slogan and thrown around so much that it has lost its religious affiliation. The next two saying can also be used to help connect Borg's book with Alice Walker's Color Purple excerpt because Miss Celie's letter to Nettie. In the letter, Celie is writing about the conversation she had about what God looks like and how he loves everyone. Celie embarrassingly says that God is "big and old and tall and gray bearded and white. He wear robes and go barefooted. Blue eyes?" (Walker). Her description is much like the description I have in my mind's eye. Celie's friend laughs at her as she jokes about how Celie has white image of God. I think God's (and Jesus') image has very much been marketed similar to the WWJD saying unfortunately. I think that Celie's response to how God loves us is beautiful and very true. She says that "I can lay back and just admire stuff. Be happy. Have a good time" (Walker). I think this is very true. The best way to know how God loves us is to admire all the wonders around us that God created for us. I really enjoyed reading the Color Purple excerpt, and found it a much more typical everyday individual response to the question about the mystery behind Christianity. I have thought about what I think would be my response to what God looks it and how he shows his love, but what I think is important is not letting the fear of the unknown get in the way of not believing in God. I admit that sometimes these thoughts have crossed my mind, but staying mindful of the Catholic teachings is helpful in painting my picture of God.  

Week 9

Jesus' earthly life was not ideal...especially to 21st century humans. Today Americans most likely couldn't fathom being born in a barn, traveling on foot thousands of miles, and being crucified on a cross. During the Wiki presentations, many of my classmates (myself included) cringed at the process of crucifixion and couldn't believe the horrific process that it involves. As the world population soars about the outstanding seven billion mark, I find it easy to predict that maybe, just maybe, the percentage of those newborn babies born in a barn will be about 0.000000005%. There will be more babies born in taxis than in barns. Those traveling thousands of miles on foot, probably have about the same percentage as those born in barns (except I guess if you have a similar drive as Forest Gump). My point here is to illustrate how exception Jesus' sacrifice was. His actions and behaviors exhibit pure love that have stood the test of time. Marcus Borg's final two chapter explains the final days and moments in Jesus' life. Chapter nine breaks down Jesus' final week:
Sunday- Beginning of the week of Passover (Palm Sunday) and Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Borg explains that his action (coming to Jerusalem and riding a donkey) was a, "prophetic act that was a provocative public deed performed for the sake of what they symbolize...it is associated with the prophets of ancient Israel" (Borg 231).
Monday- a second prophetic act of cleansing the temple.
Tuesday- Jesus is questioned, attacked, and in conflict with authorities.
Wednesday through the last days- Borg clumps Jesus' last days together as times filled with resistance and challenges with authority about who holds power-- the God/Jewish religion and state rulers?
Chapter ten in Borg's book focuses on the crucifixion, reasoning behind his death, and Easter. Jesus is questioned by Pilot, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (Borg 264). And Jesus' non declarative response is "You say so" (Borg 264). This exchange epitomized the idea that Jesus was killed because of his perceived threat against ruling authority. Borg continues on with the crucifixion and sums up the event as leading into something bigger. Borg states the Sunday school explanation (extremely basis but very true), "His death was central to God's plan of salvation: he had to die in order to atone for our sins. It was necessary," (Borg 267). I went to private Catholic elementary and middle school, and this concept was drilled into my head at a very young age and throughout my Catholic education. Easter celebrates Jesus' sacrifice and the beauty behind the resurrection of him. Borg says that Mark was the first Gospel writer to give define Easter and his story is the earliest Easter story.
Matthew's gospel chapter 26- 28 recounts Jesus' final days up until the commissioning of the disciples after the resurrection. The similar issue regarding Jesus' position in society is the motive for his crucifixion ordered by the leading state powers. Jesus' death was simply a reflection of humanity's greed that he fought so hard to destroy. Overall,  Jesus' physical life ended with the triumph of humanity's ugly greed but his spiritual life most importantly saved humanity from greedy sin.

Week 7

Wow I can't believe we are already seven weeks into the first semester and half way done! My group's wiki, "Cheese and Rice", was a success! We covered the topic of the apocalypse and analyzed it from four different angles. My wiki was about the apocalypse in Hollywood. I greatly enjoyed learning about how Hollywood has taken the image of the apocalypse and turned it into a million dollar money maker. I found excellent source to be the Journal of Religion and Film. The publications I read were very similar to information I was that trying to claim, and therefore gave my wiki credibility from the scholarly source. I found it interesting that individuals have such varied opinions on the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus (rapture). I learned about the meaning of rapture and different distinctions surrounding apocalyptic texts. I enjoyed the other group presentations and thought everyone did a good job clarifying their topics to an audience with varied religious education and beliefs.
In response to the Marcus Borg reading, chapter 7 and 8, I thought both chapters were interesting and related to our topics in class this week. Chapter 7 is about Jesus' perception of God, and many of the wiki presentations today can be related Jesus' view of God. For example, my topic on the apocalypse is discussed by Borg and he states that "most mainline scholars (including me) don not think that Jesus spoke about his second coming"(Borg 179). Borg also predicted that Jesus did believe in God's final judgement and God perception he will have on humans on the final judgement day (heaven or hell?). Chapter 8 discusses a topic studied at Tuesday's class about the broad and narrow way. Borg says the broad way is the way that people during Jesus' time thought, acted, and behaved. The narrow way comparatively is the "alternative way, the road less traveled... is conceptually simple and easy to state, even as it is existentially challenging" (Borg 218). I thought the last biblical text assignment was an example of the broad way because it mentioned the actions taken by the Pharisees in condemning Jesus for working on the Sabbath. During Jesus' time, working on the Sabbath with not allowed and punishable.
Overall, I thought the wiki presentations went great and chapters seven and eight were very relevant to the topics discussed in this week's class.

Week 6

Mark's gospel is filled with messages about Jesus' work as a miracle worker, teacher, and healer. As discussed in class, Mark's is considered a dark gospel. His understanding of the Messiah, the theme of suffering, and the ending with an empty tomb help defend the darkness claim. The story that I thought went well with the gloomy weather was "Jesus stops a storm". Jesus and his followers were crossing a stormy lake, and the boat quickly began to get swamped by the crashing waves. The disciples were worried about drowning, and Jesus cleared alway the storm. Jesus asked them why they didn't have faith about being saved. The lesson from to be taken away from this passage is that no matter how difficult things can get, just have faith that everything will work out in the end. Jesus' messages are timeless and can be applied to different aspects multiple individuals' life experiences. Mark's portrayal of Jesus' empty tomb is also an interesting passage. Mary, Mary Magdalene, and James were the first to discover the empty tomb and the first to encounter the young man in the white robe who told them not to worry but to go and tell Jesus' disciples, especially Peter, to meet him in Galilee. Mary, Mary Magdalene, and James were too frighten that they did not end up telling anyone about what they saw. The passage of the empty tomb and Jesus stops the storm, are related in trusting in faith. Jesus told his follows to have faith that the storm would end and they would not drown. The angel told Mary, Mary Magdalene, and James not to be afraid and trust that Jesus is now with God and to go forward to spread the good news. To reiterate, I think the most important message Jesus has craved as timeless, is that we need to have faith to not worry because everything will work out. Jesus' teaching can be transcribed to different contexts, but it is faith in God, religion, friends, family, education, and much more that will help us through the difficult trials and tribulations.

Week 5

Chapter five and six of Marcus Borg's Jesus I have found the most compelling to read, but that could be because of the recounting of Jesus and God in Hollywood's dramatic view. Chapter five drew my attention because of Borg's account of Jesus' experiences with God. The Hollywood/fictional version of Jesus views him some sort of supernatural being with the ability to see God in an ominous view. The view of unseen God as been left mysterious to all, but "for Jesus, God was not simply an article of belief, but an experienced reality" (Borg 110). Jesus used these experiences to help teach others about the "wondrous, radiant, and glorious" (Borg 114) God and His kingdom. Being raised Jewish, it is assumed that Jesus was taught about the experiences of Abraham and Moses had with God. Jesus' experiences with God began with the vision of the spirit and Borg says that "Jesus saw the heavens opened as if they were torn apart. Through this rent, this tear, he saw 'the Spirit descending like a dove on him' "(Borg 120). Jesus also experienced visions God in the wilderness, and experience visions with Satan. The Bible accounts have Jesus being visited (or tested) by Satan three times. Satan has been referenced in both Jewish texts and in Matthew and Luke. Borg also claims that "Satan is God's spy and tester" (123). Could Jesus' role have been established by God as a protector against Satan or to be the human being Satan tested? Chapter six goes into detail about Jesus being able to perform exorcisms. He was able to rid the devil from people and help cure the sick. Jesus is a very dimensional individual and fascinating to study.