biblical lit

2006-12-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

This picture is beauitful and I want to share it with all of you.. This is glacier park a view of McDonald Lake. I grew in the area so it had always been a part of my life.

The Slave

2006-12-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

This was an interesting book. At first I had a hard time even getting into it. But I would like to comment on some things in the book that I found interesting.

One thing is that the novel is a picaresque novel: Jacob is on a constant journey. This reminded me of life. In life we are always on a journey and life in many cases never stays the same. There is also a theme that carries on through the novel as well. For example the batttle of determinism and free will play a major role in Singer's novel. The question is that Does God control the events in Jacob's life or does Jacob control his own destiny with his desisions? Jacob ponders over this problem throughout the novel. He finally recoginzes that God watches over him ( such as when his life is spared during Chmielnicki's pogrom in Joesefov whie his family dies.. and is omnipotent, yet he believes that Satan tempts him with Wanda's beauty and that he must find the power within himself to withstand tempetation; this is an example of freewill and not determinism.

Well all I am sure if I would read this book on my own time. The novel did bring some intresting points and was well written.

Dec. 6th

2006-12-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

The end of the semester is upon us. As we know we have learned quite a lot in Biblical Foundations. I know one thing is that I have more questions then I do answers. I now look at hte bible in a different way. For example Bloom introdcues that there was a " J" writer in the bible. His belief was that "J" was the storyteller in the bible. This concept interested me.

Then there is Frye and his idea of taking the bible as a metaphor instead literally. Then the concept of U-shaped. This concept is for example, a story that has tragedy and then ends happily. I know at first I was confused about this concept and then Dr. Sexson explained more about it in class..

All in this class was well worth taking.. I enjoyed the presentations because then you got what someone else's views were about a particular topic from class.

Thanks to Bloom and Fyre for giving us insights on the bible. This is the end.

December 5, 2006 class notes

2006-12-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

Tara Presentations Role of women.. Patriarchy 1st female character in the slave was Wanda and her role was a temprest. Not represented well.

Erica's presentation- Second Samuel- Essay on David- has heroic qualities but also is human as well. See paralles to the slave. try to repent in the same ways. To show better love.

Taylor- Song of Samuel- Females in the Bible. Tamar in the Victorian period. William Morris Poem on about Sir Lancelot and Guinevere ( check spelling). She is burned that at state- because she is asscusesd of adultery. she used her own intelligence and beauty to get out of dying. Chapter 5 in Frye.

Dana- quotes from the bible. Was taught to take the bible literally. The ten commitments are the basics of living life. In her paper she talked about what she learned out the books we read in class.

Alex- the slave and judges. Archetypes- biblical nature- the story of Israel and the book of judges.

Marlow- Caesar Nero -200 60, 100, 50, 6, 200, 50- 666. This is the beast in Revelation. He killed most of this family etc. Invisible Man persecution and Revelation persecution against Christians.

Emily- why study the Bible.. and The Invisible man. 1,369 lights. Portray this removing the veil. We as common people can see things incorrectly.

Jennifer- God's Power used J- when she writes how God exercises his powers. Played the song Our God is an awesome God.

Judson- Parable- Frye tells us to put out egos aside- Moses gets all the credit but Joshua should get more credit. King David- couldn't;t control his passions, engage the text. Read the slave and have a ephiany after reading this book- for the Judaism and Christianity.

Brendan- mixed views- The J writer. Yahew- a human being- super ego. Blooms adores this writer and Yahew as a childish God.

Michael- wrote Jesus on his Christmas present. Religion and Science in the bible. You get the Issac Newton and Darwins throughout the bible and science.

The Many Images of water- Term paper

2006-12-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Shelly Neier
English 211
Dr. Michael Sexson
5 December 2006
The Many Images Of Water

As I was sitting in English 211 one day, my professor Dr. Sexson was talking about how we have to write a term paper on what we have learned in the class or some interesting topic that we discussed in class. For starters I have learned a lot about the Bible that I wouldn’t have known before taking this course. You could say that I now look at certain stories in the Bible in a different way then I used to. The image is frequently used in the Bible and also Frye’s book he makes several references to water.
There is one image that struck my interest, and that is the image or water in the Bible. In Genesis for example, water is represented to be “the water of life”. Also during creation “water” is mentioned in the story of Noah and his arc. God tells Noah to build his huge arc and gather two of every kind of animal both male and female. Then there is a great flood and God destroys the evil in the world and keeps Noah, the animals and his family safe in the arc. Another image of water in the bible in is Exodus. The image of water is the first plague when the water is changed into blood.
In the Chapter titled Parody and Manifest Demonic: Trees and Water by Frye talks about the image of water and how it relates to certain passages in the Bible. For example,
“I said that the great symbol for that was true was the oasis, which has, in particular, two images—the tree of life and the water of life, which we have traced through the Bible. If you look at the Book of Psalms, for example, the very first Psalm applies the same image to the private and individual life. The righteous man, we are told, “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water” (P.41).

In this passage from the author is stating that water in the Bible is not only mentioned in the story of creation, but also throughout the whole entire Bible. As I read on in Chapter 4 I found another interesting passage:
“We saw that the water of life was associated with the four rivers, two of which were the Euphrates and the Tigris of Mesopotamia. The third is usually identified with the Nile in Egypt, and the fourth possibly as Josephus suggests, with India (the Ganges or the Indus)” (p.42).

Here there is another connection with water and the Bible. The reason I picked this quote was because I thought that when I think of a river, it makes me think of life and how that life is like a river and everything is constantly changing nothing in life ever strays quite the same life keeps on flowing.
Also Frye mentions another kind of image of water on the Bible. I have mentioned all the good things about water. Here Frye mentions another type of image of water.“ …The most obvious and dramatic image of the water of death is the Dead Sea,, because it is quite literally dead water in which nothing lives—too much salt”. Here water is indicating death that Dead Sea is death and water in this case is lifeless.
Also in the book of Revelation which is the last book of the Bible and talks about the last days or as we know it the end of time. The image of water in Revelation 22:1-3 states this:
“The angel also showed me the river of the water of life; sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb and street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations”.

In this particular passage out of the Bible shows some beautiful imagery. When read this particular passage I could see this image of a river that was surrounded by trees. The season is spring when everything is blooming and new life is beginning to rise.
In the song, “Come to the Well” By Gino Vannelli is another image of water that is used in the Bible. In his song he talks about “the water of life” and “rejoice”. The song to me is saying the by drinking the water of life that you can be renewed and have a second chance. Life has a chance to be saved and to begin a new cycle.
By doing this paper I learned quite a lot. For example seeing the Bible not only literally and living by the Bible, but seeing the Bible metaphorically and seeing different views on how it was written. The Bible to me seems to be a hard book not to take as to live my life, The images the Frye uses are more metaphorically imagery of water in the Bible, and like Frye says we should take the Bible in e metaphorically sense rather than literally. Also he mentions the rivers and how they are a source of survival for life and for the people. Those civilizations such as Egypt depended on the river and used it as a resource. Also the life itself is always moving that we can always move forward to better our lives. The image in Genesis of water illustrated how water and the creation was the beginning of new life on earth. In the book of Revelation again the image of water is mentioned and the “water of life” The imagery of the water and life should be or maybe it is a bleak of what heaven may be like, sparkling water and new life and a tree that bears fruit. That the “water of life” will heal this troubled nation and renew all the souls and a new life will begin. The image of water is frequently used in the Bible but also in other texts as well.

Review for Test 2

2006-11-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

Novemeber 9th, 20006 Class Review.

1. Hagiography: Holy writings about saints( writings that only show or tell about a saints good qualities.

2. Kairos: Decisive moment in time. Time is always NOW

3. Approclomation: of what one must do to be saved- Kerygma.

4. The sermon on the mound is a positive version of the: Decalog- 10 Commandments

5. Satan is the accuser( the prosecutor) and the not the judge

6. Attack on sturctures of the expectations- Parable.

7. Job is being TESTED and not Punished.

8. JB, BK, KL, are 3 greatest tragedies.

9. Theodicy: Question of the Justice of God.

10. God's reply for suffering in Job: who are you?

11. Epiphany- In Job: moment of realization( sudden manifiestation of God).
Moses- burning bush/ Job whirlwind

12. Sublime: experience, also of that which is terrible( Awsome and Aweful- mixture of).

13. Enthusiasm: being posessed by the God.

14. Opening of Ecclesiastes- vanity of vainties.

15. Hebel translation of word vanity-( fog, mist, vapor).

16. Jesus indivualize the book of Exodus- True

Fill in the blank 17. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

18. Job is a model of patience- False

19. Removal of the veil- See Appocalypse.

20. The Seven Stages of the Bible according to Frye.

21. Parataixis- breatheless way of using word "and"

22. Slave: Wanda's name is changed to Sarah.

23. Moses, David and Jesus are examples of Archetypal Heros.

24. Christianity started as a mystery religion. * Chaper 14 in Mark suggests that Mark was a mystery religion.

25. Escatology: doctrine of the last days.

26. Gospels are not biographies( Fyre).

27. Maria- was born in Whitefish Montana on Nov. 17th,1981 to Robert and Nancy. She is divine. Birth Story- Creation of the Hero- Christ birth Story. The Nativy Scene.

28. Archetype: Transcedent meaning( specific historical example)

29. Tat/Tv/amasi- that thou art( you are it) No distinction betweeen you and God.

30. " Fool" ( which book does this come from? - Book of Probverbs

31. Who is J's last great character? Moses- according to Erica/Bloom.

32. Which is image ( natural) that occurs a the beginning and the end of the bible- Water- River Runs Through It also has a reference to water.

33. Centeral Mystery Religion is Centered around: Demeter and Persephone.

* Remember to Review Page 225 From Fyre.*

Other Blogs I have...

2006-10-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

shellscreations.blogspot.com

This is my own writings I need to add more but they are coming!

Fyre's Chapter 15: Ordering a Society

2006-10-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

After I read this chapter I had some questions. First of all the comment he made about The Ten Commandments "don't commit adultery" becomes a habitual respect for the dignity of the woman"... I believe this true for not only woman's dignity but I think it goes for men too. Because whoever commits the act in a marriage their dignity is lost whether they are cheater or the victim. Also you can lose a sense of having any feelings whatsoever. Feeling empty and not knowing who you are anymore.

The comment that he made was about The Seven Deadly Sins which are: pride, wrath, sloth, envy, avarice( greed),gluttony and lechery(lust). " Those were regarded as the mortal sins, the deadly sins that destroyed the soul; but not one of them nessscarliy ends in, or results in, criminal or antisocial acts. I would have too agree with this any sin I believe in some ways does or can destroy the soul and also it bring on a gulity conscience too.

Another comment that I want to make is the comment he makes about the question of law which are some of interest. " The conception of law is, in general, moral. So is he saying that the law can be a moral one? Then he said "the word "law" as meaning, first of all, the morality of human action, and secondly as meaning the observed phenomena of nature. Here is he jugding the morality of human and the action that the human is protraying? Ok I can see his arguement behind this.

By reading Frye I have enjoyed the chapters..They are interesting.

Something cool I googled

2006-10-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today in Class Mr. Sexton mentioned about the Book by Otto Rank called "The Myth Of The Birth of the Hero. I googled it and here's the link(s) I found.
http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title_pages/3380.html
http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/rank.html this one is about the author and the book also.

Enjoy checking these sites out..

Just thoughts

2006-10-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

This has nothing do with what we are reading in class but I thought it was interesting and I wanted to share with all my fellow classmates.

Yesterday in Chruch my Priest Father Leo, who, recently is recovering from a heartattack gave a inspirational homily. Not only was he glad to be alive he seemed to have changed in some way.
I guess you could say that he is starting to appericate his time on earth more.. Seeing the beauty in having the gift of life. He also said that he is very thankful to be alive. I think that he has learned after his experience that he no longer takes life for granted anymore. I believe that sometimes I do take life granted I think we all do.. But I do appericate for having the gift of life.

He also said that the fall colors seems brighter to him this year. He is seeing the true beauty in all God's creations. He also said that he thinks that sometimes when either good events and bad events that happen in our lives that God might trying to tell us something that something needs to change we need to learn from those and be a better person and wants us to have a closer relationship with him. I believe that could be true.

I guess you could say that Father Leo's homily hit home for not myself, but for the whole congregation seemed to choke up a little. My great- grandfather died of a heartattack so I can relate to this.. It was hard for my family to lose him.. I really didn't know as well as my mom did since he was her grandfather. He was an interesting character he had a raspberry garden and I remember when was a little girl I used to pick them and eat em' fresh. They were some of the best raspberries in the world.

All I hope you have enjoyed reading this... I will post more intresting things later...

Review For Test

2006-10-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Class review 10/3/06

Frye: Greek Translation of Hebrew texts: Septuagint(70)

In order the 7 Stages of the bible (1) Creation (2) Revolution (3) Law (4) Wisdom (5) Prophey
(6) Gospel (7) Apoclayse

Chapter 2( in Fyre) The U-shaped Structure Literary Type: Comedy- Happy Ending

Whore( Fyre says about the in Bible) Theological not sexual

3 Things in the bible writing- Antagonstic- Women, snakes and Nature.

Trees and Water- Recurring Images

Trickster- Snake( serpet in Adam and Eve story) " Smooth"

Archatype- Fundemental Image. symbol or story

Review page 63 on Dying god ( Fyre's book)

3 phases that the Hebrew people went through- Pastoral, Agricultural, and Urban.

Bloom:
"J" 's most promiment literary feature " IRONY" - Sensory, misread-

Documentary Hypothesis- Multiple authorships of the first 5 books of the bible

Moral Crimes in the Old Testement- worshiping false gods, seed falling to the ground

P thinks of God as transcent ( lists) J thinks of God as inmient- storyteller.

Traditional Patriarch- Not David

Rebecca not Leah waters the Camels

Theodicy" what is? Question of the Justice of God.

Bloom argues J is a moralist-False she doesn;t judge them ( not religious) Ironist- Secluar Humanist

A Gap in the Text- Lacuna.

Henothesim- ones god is more powerful than your god (mulitple gods)

Gnostic- Nurturing a spark of religion I divine knowledge with in oneself flame of knowledge within.

Partichary even men are women.

Exodus- Trojan War ( 1200 BCE)

Blessings- Wholeness of being- more life

5 authors of the Bible- JEDPR- J- Yawhist, E- Elohist D- Deuternomist P- Priestly, R- Redactor

2 sins of women- sexuality and deceipt

Esau- wild game association.

Types/ Anti- Types ( what is gained and what is lost)

Define Etiology in the bible- Explaintation of how things came to be with the way they are now

2006-09-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

>http://laurenbiblicallit.blogspot.com/

2006-09-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

http://marlowengl211.blogspot.com/

2006-09-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

john d. powers blog: www.poetryplacemaybe.blogspot.com

2006-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Kris Wootan english 211 blog http://wootan13.blogstream.com/

http://amandarosa.livejournal.com/

2006-09-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

http://through-the-viewing-screen.blogspot.com/ Joshua's blog page

http://biblicalforbowles.blogspot.com Kari's blog

2006-09-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.tmbibleblog.blogspot.com/ Tara's blog page
http://mattbiblelit.blogspot.com/ Matt's blog page

2006-09-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

http://biblical-foundations.blogspot.com Dane McLain's blog page

2006-09-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.mysteriesofJ.blogspot.com

Fyre's Chapter 2: Shape of the bible..

2006-09-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

My thoughts once again the text. Fyre brings up a interesting concept of "U-Shaped" pattern in literature. I found this interesting concept. He mentions many stories in the bible that involve this pattern.

One that he mentions that caught my eye was the Crucifixion of Jesus. How could he call that U-Shaped and that is comedy to him?? I think this guy needs to re-evaluate this idea of comedy.

I guess I can somewhat understand this concept that this happening we feel sympathetic towards the characters that are invovled.

The Crucifixion of Jesus... Is Jesus dying for my sins and salvation. He did that for not for me but all of us.. He made a great sacrifice and gave his life for me. I think that to me is not comedy.. That is a meaningful occurrence in the bible. Yes I feel sympathy for Mary and for the followers, What mother would think that seeing their beloved son being beaten to death and then nailed a cross with a crown of thorns on his head seeing it as as comedy? I really don't see it. This is an act of everlasting love that will never die for any reason no matter how times I fail and disaponint him.

Again this just my thoughts on the subject and how I interpret the text.

2006-09-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

http://emilyrader211.blogspot.com/.
http://rosannaenglish211blogspotcom.blogspot.com/

http://thefirstfruits.blogspot.com/ Kelly Strauch's blog page

2006-09-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

http://english211blog.blogspot.com/ Michael's Buchheit blog page

My thoughts on Frye's Chap. 13

2006-09-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

I recently read Chapter 13 titled Genesis: In the Beginning

While I was reading chapter 13 I found interesting and made me think a little about Creation. He makes an interesting point about and I quote "First of all, in the beginning--the Hebrew simply says, in beginning, bereseth--God Created the heaven and the earth. Now one of the first questions that's likely to come to a child's mind is, What happened before that"?

That's a good question.. St. Augustine had other ideas. "He thought that God was preparing a hell for those who asked questions of that kind". I guess maybe God was preparing hell. I am not sure if any of you viewed " The Passion of the Christ" but when Jesus dies on the Cross at the very end of the film; I remember the devil Character was taken down to hell then. But I believe that when God was creating the earth he created an evil spirit that we all know as the devil.

Here is another twist maybe there was no real hell until Jesus died. I kinda think that the devil wasn't ;t put in his place untlil that moment. The devil did exist during the time if Jesus because Jesus was tempted by the devil and there was other times the devil was around.

This is just my take on this.. I am open on other opinions.. I do respect everyone's beliefs. I know that the Bible can be a little misleading or hard to understand.. But I believe that the meaning should is also important.

2006-09-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

http://brianmattison.blogspot.com/ > Brian's blog page

2006-09-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

http://jrarcherblog.blogspot.com > Ryan Archer's blog
http://amym211.blogspot.com/ Amy Marchwick's blog
http://adamsbibleblog.blogspot.com/ Adam Hicks blog

2006-09-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

http://bibleroot.blogspot.com Rosa's blog page

2006-09-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

Laura Tarrent blog page.. http://tarranteng211.blogspot.com

Robin's blog site http://rawbbyn.blogspot.com/

Rose's blog.. http://english211bfl.blogspot.com/

Andrew's blog site.. http://andrewenglish211.blogspot.com

2006-09-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Lindsay Duckworth

http://212biblical.blogspot.com

http://danalanebiblicalstudy.blogspot.com

Lindsey Keightley http://lindseyk211.blogspot.com

Jeanie's blog site- http://jeaniebiblicalstudy.blogspot.com

Maria Lundgren blog site- http://msuenglish211.blogspot.com

2006-08-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

kim's blog site..

http://kimerk13.blogspot.com

2006-08-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

Another blog site to check out..
http://kerry-eng211.blogspot.com

Interesting sites..

2006-08-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was looking something up and found this website.. Its kind cool.. Check it out. I am giving you the choice.. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01558c.htm.

I will find more interesting sites for everyone and give me ours too.. I am open to everyone;s interests..

Shelly

2006-08-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

Teresa LangCourt's blog address.. http://langcourtbiblit.blogspot.com

Taylor Moorman's blog address.. http://english211.blogspot.com

2006-08-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Gabbryelle Perkins blog site http://gabby-english211.blogspot.com

Justin Burgard blog site.. http://biblicalfoundations.blogspot.com

enjoy these too and more to come as I get new blosg sites.. Shelly

Introduction

2006-08-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my site..

I hope you find some of my information useful... I hope that we all have a great time in this class and have great discussions..

A little about myself Well I am from Kalispell born and raised.. I was born into a Roman Catholic Religion.. I went to Catholic School for the first 6+ yrs of my life.. I enjoyed it a lot.. It was some of the best years of my life..

Have any questions feel free to ask me and Welcome.