Religion 120/Who is Jesus?

What have I learned in Religion 120: The New Testament

This course has changed how I think about the Bible and specifically the New Testament because originally I knew very little about the bible besides the basic stories you learned in Sunday school. I enjoyed reading the different books and learning how other people viewed and interpreted the life and teachings of Jesus. I also learned a lot from watching the movies and writing the papers because it allowed me to make connections between real life and the concepts in the bible. This class is my last religion class and I am happy to have learned and experienced so much by simply being in the class.

Who is Jesus?

1. Describe Jesus in one paragraph. You may focus on any image or understanding of Jesus that you wish.
Jesus is a symbol of Christianity and all that is pure and influential in the lives of Christians. Having gone through The New Testament in Religion 120 my opinion about whom he was has not changed. He is a savior who gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life, so that everyone who followed him would have his or her sins forgiven. He is the person I look to for guidance, support, and love. When my life seems to go astray I remember Jesus and the sacrifices he made for me and because of that I am able to continue on with my life.

2. Now describe Jesus in one sentence.

Jesus is my savior who is always there to comfort me and guide me when I need some one the most.

3. Finally, describe Jesus in one word and attach a simple image that represents him.

Hero

Jesus at the Movies: Chocolat

Chocolat is a movie directed by Lasse Hallström in 2001. It follows the lives and faiths of various towns’ people in a small village in France. From the extremely religious and conservative, Comte de Reynaud to the free-spirited Vianne Rocher, each character plays a vital role in showing the importance of friendship, love and happiness in a town that is consumed by rules and religious obligations.
The Comte de Reynaud, or the Mayor of the town, was of a long line of strict and conservative descendants in the town and because of this the Comte felt he had a reputation, a legacy to uphold. So when Vianne and her daughter came to town and started a chocolate shop during Lent the Comte felt the only thing to do was to find a way to shut it down so that it wouldn’t tempt the towns’ people. An interesting thing about the Comte was that even though he was the mayor and a follower of Christ the movie portrayed him as the “bad” guy because he had such strong convictions ad was very stubborn. It was not that he was a bad guy; he was just so set in his ways and views that he refused to look beyond the church and to something new and exciting. Like Comte, everyone in town attended church every Sunday and regularly prayed and went to confession before the arrival of Vianne. The Comte was a devout Catholic and believed full-heartedly in the influence of God. However, he had problems of his own like the fact that his wife had left him and moved to Italy. He refused to let anyone know what had actually happened and became so consumed by his disapproval of the chocolate shop and what it represents that he lost track of some of the core values of Christianity like do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Comte views God as almighty and the savior of all. He is the quintessential Christian in that he has always followed the Bible and he has never waivered from his faith. However, because he has such strong convictions and he so set in his ways he seemed to forget what it was like to be happy and enjoy life as Vianne has taught and the rest of the people in the village are learning to do. He allowed his attitude and religious convictions to control his life and consequently his behavior became irrational and childish, which can be seen by him going into the chocolaterie and destroying the window display and eventually eating all of the chocolate. From this we, as the audience, saw the Comte give in and finally realize that chocolate is simply chocolate not some evil thing.
Being the mayor the Comte was a very influential person in the town and for most of the movie people would not defy his rule and go against his belief by entering the chocolaterie. This shows that his attitude and behavior highly influenced the rest of the villagers and by a majority of the people following the Comte’s lead many people did not get a chance to learn from Vianne and listen to what she had to say until the day of the chocolate fair when the Comte finally came around. As we have learned the opinions and attitude that people have can greatly affect the opinions of other people just as most of the towns’ people followed the Comte de Reynaud’s orders. Another character that was completely opposite of the Comte was Vianne.
Vianne Rocher and her daughter were drifters going from town to town to share their chocolate and to show the people they came in contact with happiness and to lend a helping hand to whom ever was in need. Whether it was an old man with a crush, a woman looking to be reunited with her family or a battered woman looking for a home and more importantly a friend. Vianne did not attend church and neither did she uphold the traditions of the church like participating in Lent. From the way the movie is written we as the audience can conclude that Vianne played by her own rules and therefore never attended church, however, she was respectful of those who did follow God. She merely wanted to open their eyes to the world of possibilities and to show them that church and God are not the only things that should hold meaning in people’s lives.
Vianne did not attend church and because of this she did not take part in Lent and therefore she spent most of her time cooking chocolate, which is a major temptation for many people. I do not believe that it was her intention to persuade people to break Lent but I do think she wanted to encourage people to do as they please and if that meant eating chocolate then Vianne was more then happy to oblige. The interesting thing about her was that her character, unlike the Comte’s was portrayed not as the enemy because she went against the towns’ people but rather the friend who opened the eyes of many people in the town. Vianne also remained positive and happy even when the Comte de Reynaud was trying to shut her business down. Because of her positive and uplifting attitude many people wanted to be her friend and many people were persuaded to have chocolate, enjoy life and not be so worried about what God would say or what was expected of them. A specific example of this can be seen when Caroline Clairmont, the secretary for Comte de Reynaud and also a very strict follower of Christianity gave in and began helping Vianne for the Chocolate fair. By maintaining a positive and upbeat attitude people eventually came to love Vianne and her daughter for their unique way of celebrating life and in the end the town was better off for having Vianne and the chocololaterie and the changes it brought to such a strict and conservative town.
Another minor but influential character in the movie was Pere Henri. He was the preacher at the church in the village and the Comte de Reynaud was constantly overshadowing him, telling him what to say and what not to say in his sermons and basically undermining his ability to preach. However, in the end Pere has the opportunity to speak his mind and he does not have to deal with the Comte’s suggestions and revisions because the Comte, at that point, had given in by eating chocolate and changing his own ways of thinking. In that last sermon Pere discuss’ how goodness is not measured on what we don’t do, who we exclude or what we resist but rather goodness is measured by what we embrace, who we include and what we create. In saying all of this Pere is saying by including Vianne and Anouk and embracing happiness we are not going against God we are merely embracing the goodness in ourselves and others.

Supplemental Service Learning Assignment

“Shadowy Lines That Still Divide” by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt discuss’ class specifically the social injustice, the struggle to switch from a lower class to a higher class and the ability of lower class citizens to purchase what were once considered upper class luxuries.
First off the article defines class as “groups of people of similar economic and social position; people who, for that reason, may share political attitudes, lifestyles, consumption patterns, cultural interests and opportunities to get ahead.” Much of the article is talking about the difficulty of switching classes and why it is that people have such a hard time. Few people like Bill Gates or Bill Clinton experienced the quintessential rags to riches story, as seen when the author writes, “Bill Clinton traded in a hand of low cards with the help of a college education and a Rhodes scholarship and emerged decades later with four face cards. Bill Gates, who started off squarely in the upper middle class, made a fortune without finishing college, drawing three aces.” However most people do not have it so easy because the elite or the higher social class has a monopoly over everything making it more difficult for people to switch classes. Although it does seem like class is fading as a force in American life.
Class may be fading as a force in American life because it is becoming easier and easier for lower to middle class citizens to buy what were once considered luxurious items like cellular telephones, owning a home, driving a new car or even purchasing tickets for a cruise. “Factories in China and elsewhere churn out picture-taking cell phones and other luxuries that are now affordable to almost everyone. Federal deregulation has done the same for plane tickets and long-distance phone calls. Banks, more confident about measuring risk, now extend credit to low-income families, so that owning a home or driving a new car is no longer evidence that someone is middle class. The economic changes making material goods cheaper have forced businesses to seek out new opportunities so that they now market to groups they once ignored. Cruise ships, years ago a symbol of the high life, have become the ocean-going equivalent of the Jersey Shore. BMW produces a cheaper model with the same insignia. Martha Stewart sells chenille jacquard drapery and scallop-embossed ceramic dinnerware at Kmart. “
As we can see the definition or boundaries of social classes are now being blurred because it is getting more difficult to determine what class people are actually from because everything is becoming cheaper and thus more affordable for everyone. Even though many people are finding it difficult to move up the social class ladder, lower class citizens are now capable of buying what was once considered predominantly luxuries of the upper class. Class in America is socially unjust because “unequal’s” are being treated equally, so to speak.
Though it may be easier for poor people to purchase new and exciting things like a car or a new home, unfortunately when it comes to class and healthcare nothing has changed. I am studying to become a nurse and because of this I have had the opportunity to learn a lot about this particular topic. Nearly 16 % of Americas population is uninsured meaning they do not get help paying for medical treatment and most of these people are in fact either lower class or middle class. Without a job that provides medical benefits it is extremely expensive to pay for health insurance and therefore many people cannot afford it and as a result many people do not seek medical attention when they are in need. This can cause major problems in poorer neighborhoods because disease can spread quickly and no one can do anything about it. There are free clinics who can lend a hand but these organizations only have so many supplies to help people and when they run out people are left to find another solution. It is sad because things like lower level education are free to everyone but health care is not.
In other countries, people have universal healthcare, meaning they do not have to have insurance but in America n such thing exists meaning that people of a lower class are often turned away when they have medical issues because they cannot afford it and they do not have enough money to pay for it.
For my service learning opportunity I volunteered for S.M.I.L.E at Longfellow Elementary School, which is a Title One school meaning, the students who attend the school are from poorer neighborhoods and families. Because of this many of the students are in lower economic class then students who may be attending private schools. As I talked about earlier people of a lower class usually do not have healthcare and because of this many students are taken out of school for a prolonged period of time because they do not have the proper medicine to treat an illness in a short amount of time. As a result students fall behind on school work and when children are home sick their parents usually have to stay home from work because they cannot afford a babysitter and therefore the parents do not get paid and they have difficulty paying house payments and bills and therefore it is harder to come out of poverty. It is a vicious cycle, one that needs to be examined and one that needs a solution as fast as possible before even more people fall into a lower social and economic class.

A Brief Introduction to the New Testament: Oppresion of Women in Early Christianity and Mary Magdalene

Chapter seventeen of Bart D. Ehrman’s book, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament, primarily discusses whether all of the books written in the New Testament were in fact written by whom they say they were written by. Ehrman believes that at least six books in the New Testament (the Deutero-Pauline epistles, the Pastoral Epistles (1-2 Timothy and Titus) and (2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians)) were in fact written by other people.
Within the chapter Ehrman brings up a few instances in which he believes that other people wrote some of the books. For instance, Ehrman suggests that the author of 2 Thessalonians was not Paul but rather a member of a Pauline community. Another example that can also serve toe explain why someone would forge a writing from the New Testament came when Ehrman wrote, “Someone who wrote in the name of a famous person was therefore not necessarily driven by wicked intent, Sometimes the writers motive was pure as the driven snow, at least in his or her opinion. For example, the Christian caught red handed in the act of forging 3 Corinthians and other ‘Pauline’ works claimed that he had done it out of ‘love of Paul’” (276). It is interesting to learn that some of what we as Christians were led to believe was written by great missionaries like Paul, Matthew, and Luke may in fact have been written by someone else.
The next chapter I looked at was chapter eighteen and it dealt with women in Christianity. I am not sure if I have the correct version of the book but nonetheless I will be discussing chapter eighteen and women’s role in the New Testament. Ehrman discuss’ how many women were followers of Jesus and even gave money to help fund the ministry. Ehrman also talks about how women were the first one’s to the tomb after Jesus’ crucifixion thus they were the first to know of Jesus’ Resurrection. Even though women were around to begin with Ehrman talks about how they later grew to be submissive because the missionaries and followers of Jesus were to be men. Its interesting to consider women’s roles in the history of Christianity and the New Testament however, their roles were not unexpected. I believed that women did in fact follow along side Jesus and I knew that over the course of time the Church and Christian Leaders became predominantly male.
I was told to read the chapter on Mary Magdalene, however, I couldn’t find it in the version of A Brief Introduction to the New Testament that I have so I went online to do a little further research on her and figure out who she was and what she did. Apparently Mary Magdalene was a closer follower of Jesus and was also present at his Crucifixion and his tomb. I also learned that Jesus first appeared to Mary after his resurrection possibly because she was his love and in most need of consolation. Some years after Jesus’ resurrection she left the city and lived in seclusion for what many believe to be thirty years before she died. She seems like an extremely influential woman in history however, before today I knew virtually nothing about her and it is sad to think that women get little recognition when looking at the history of Christianity. Even though women did not play a major role in the New or Old Testament it is nice to see that Ehrman devotes one chapter to women and to how they were oppressed in early Christianity.
When reading the book I felt as if Ehrman did give a significant amount of attention to Paul, so much so that it seemed as if Ehrman found him more important then Jesus himself. Which is ironic considering without Jesus Paul would be a no body and he may have never been recognized as he is today. Overall, I enjoyed reading what Ehrman had to say and I found myself agreeing with the overall general aspect of the book but not about all of his views on Paul. I will say that I found his book much more entertaining then Crossan’s, A Revolutionary Biography.

Service Learning Blog # 3

Sources:
http://www.poverty.com/
http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/index.htm

1. Choose two sources. Compare views on the causes of poverty and solutions to poverty.

The two organizations or websites I choose to compare were www.usccb.org and www.poverty.com both of these websites focus on poverty around the world and some different solutions to decrease the number of people getting sick and dying from malnutrition. Povery.com says that hunger is a vicious cycle because hungry people lack enough money to feed themselves thus they become more weak and sick more often. This enables them from working which in turn makes them more poor and hungrier. In order to combat the problem surrounding hunger poverty.com suggest two different things. For adults it is called “food for work”, which means people would work for food instead of money. As for children it is call “food for education”, meaning if you attend school you will be fed. Though I don’t necessarily think these ideas are permanent fixes I do believe that they are good ideas for the time being.
As for usccb.org, they believe that poverty is caused by people not being able to make enough money to support them and there families and therefore they do not have enough money for necessary things like housing and especially food. One thing that this organization has done is named January “Poverty in America Awareness Month”. By dedicating a month to awareness they hope to raise more money and help to get people off the streets and food in their stomachs.

2. How does poverty relate to those you are serving at your site? Be specific. What, if any, moral responsibility do we have? How does poverty impact education? Healthcare? Living conditions?
At my site I work with young children ranging in age from four to ten. These children are in a school district called title one, meaning that they are in poorer neighborhoods and most of their families live in poverty. As a child they do not get to choose where they live or how much money their parents will have when they are born and because of this they know nothing more then what they are born into. Speaking for myself, I feel an obligation to lend a helping hand and hopefully become a positive mentor for these children so that they can succeed in life and get out of poverty. Being poor has a significant impact on education because when you do not have a lot of money it is hard to have all the necessary things for school like books, notebooks, paper, pencils, and a backpack. Also when families are poor its difficult for parents to give their kids money for lunches or school fieldtrips. Overall it has a tremendous impact on the quality of education they receive. As for health care being poor can also be very difficult when seeking medical attention. For instance, most people living in poverty cannot afford doctors visits or vaccinations or common medicines, especially when they do not have insurance. Living in poverty affects nearly every aspect of people’s lives and it can often be difficult for people to overcome. By helping spread awareness and lending a hand where we can whether it is in a free clinic or at a elementary school we can hopefully lower the number of people living below the poverty line and make a difference in their lives.


3. Share a teaching, parable or miracle story of Jesus that inspires you to seek justice for your Service Learning site. Explain your choice.

When thinking about different parables and teaching of Jesus with regards to my service learning sight I can think of but one that really fits and that is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable we learn about a man who got robbed and the kindness and compassion that one stranger showed him. If everyone in the world were to bestow upon another person one act of kindness so many people could be helped. In volunteering at Longfellow elementary I have the privilege of making a difference, if for only one day, in the life of another human being and that to me is truly a miracle.

4. Choose an image from the internet or personal photo that reflects this view.

A Brief Introduction to the New Testament: Teachings of Paul

In chapters twelve through fourteen of A Brief Introduction to the New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman we are introduced to some of Paul’s writing techniques and beliefs. Before reading this book I had very few notions as to who Paul was and what he did as a missionary but it was interesting to learn about some of his contributions to the New Testament.
It is highly noted in chapter twelve that Paul was first and foremost a devoted Christian looking to spread the word of Christianity, however later on he became a highly renowned missionary who appears to have written thirteen of the twenty-seven books found in the New Testament. Not only is he found throughout the New Testament but he was also a well-educated human being who was originally a Jew. It was interesting to discover that later on he converted to Christianity and eventually went so far as to become a missionary. In chapter twelve I also was intrigued to learn Paul’s views on the Law.
Ehrman writes, “It is Christ alone who rings liberation, for Paul, in that he alone has broken the power of death, as proved by his resurrection. Christ has also, therefore, conquered the power of sin” (206). Though Ehrman also writes that many scholars are unsure weather or not Paul ever reached a consistent conclusion regarding the law they can most likely guess that when it came to the law Paul did not believe that a person could be justified in following the law. It seems to me that Paul was a smart and devoted missionary who believes whole-heartedly in God and the message that he has worked so hard to convey.
In chapter thirteen we are told how Paul influenced his followers and where he preached his message. Often times Paul would spread the gospel in larger cities. Ehrman says that, “Paul’s success lay in his ability to convince them (converts), somehow, that this one God was the God that he proclaimed to them” (217). After convincing his converts, or Jews being converted to Christians, that there was only one God he then “pressed upon them his belief that Jesus was this one God’s son” (217). There is no way to tell for sure how Paul was capable of convincing so many people, however, in A Brief Introduction to the New Testament we are led to believe that Paul did in fact convert hundreds of people into Christian’s who were waiting Jesus’ return. Chapter thirteen also tells us that the oldest book in the New Testament could be found in Paul’s writings. According to Ehrman, “Scholars are almost unanimous in thinking that it (first Thessalonians) was the first of his (Paul) surviving works to be written, which also means that it is the oldest book of the New Testament and consequently the earliest surviving Christian writing of any kind” (212). All of this was completely new to me but very fascinating all the same.
When it came to reading chapter fourteen I was eager to discover new things about Paul and his writings. Ehrman discuss’ 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians in chapter fourteen. First the reader is led to believe that Paul came to Corinth after leaving Thessalonica. Next we see the contrast in what Luke say’s that Paul is doing and what Paul himself argues. According to Paul, he “worked primarily with Gentiles” as opposed to Jews, whom Luke believed he worked with. After reading Ehrman’s book it seems to me that Paul was primarily concerned with spreading the message to all including Jews and Gentiles. I had always figured that Paul was a good guy, especially since he is in the bible, but I had no idea just how prominent he was in the New Testament and how much he did as a missionary spreading the gospel.
I will admit that coming into religion 120 I had little knowledge of the New Testament let alone Paul himself. Through reading Ehrman’s book I have gained a better understanding of a number of topics, particularly Paul. Paul converted from Judaism to Christianity and through those experiences he helped spread the gospel to so many more people. The fact that he has written thirteen of the twenty-seven books from the New Testament alone stands as a tribute to how influential and important he is to the past, present, and future of Christianity.

The Politics of Jesus Reflection Paper

Dr. Obery Hendricks, a professor of Biblical Interpretation at New York Theological Seminary writes about his views of liberalism and conservatism and the roles they play in politics. Much of the chapter we read discussed these two topics, however, at times I found it difficult to see both sides of his argument because he focused so heavily on conservatism and how they are “hateful and insulting, it sometimes borders on murderous” (260). Being both a Christian and a conservative it was hard to force myself to read this paper but I did give him the benefit of the doubt and read on to read more of what Dr. Hendricks had to say about his book, The Politics of Jesus.
After reading further I continued to see conservatism being looked at in a bad light. However, now we were being introduced to two forms of conservatism: moral and political. While, it does not seem that Hendricks agrees with the principles surrounding political conservatism, as seen by him picking apart and scrutinizing the words of such conservative politicians like antiabortion activist Randall Terell, Ann Coulter and Rev Jerry Falwell. It does seem like Hendricks is clarifying that “Christians should cleave to the morals and ethics set down in the bible and the best of the Christian moral tradition as articulated by Jesus, particularly in his moral discourse in the Sermon on the Mount. This is moral conservatism. But it is not the same as political conservatism” (262). Though he does make this distinction it is still difficult for me to look past what he is saying of conservatism as a whole, “Not only are today’s conservatives uncivil in their rhetoric, but they seem to ignore some of Jesus’ most important pronouncements, such as ‘Love your enemies’ By this Jesus did not mean to give enemies free reign to wreak harm and havoc” (259). One last thing I would like to say about conservatism is that as a Christian reading his book I did not particularly like that he was making accusations as to who Jesus was or what he believed politically. When he said, “Yet despite Jesus’ moral conservatism, by no stretch of the imagination was he a political conservative…Jesus was not about conserving the status quo, he was about changing it” (263), I found it hard to imagine that Obery Hendricks could know these things about Jesus and what he believes.
When it came to talking about liberalism I fond Hendricks to be a little bit friendlier and it seemed as if he supported them more, which became evident by the long list of achievements on page 296. Hendricks also said straight out, “Liberalism embodies a commitment to the rights of all people –not just the privileged few” (293). This statement seems to imply that conservatism does not and I being a conservative find that completely untrue. Hendrick also likens the opinions and reactions of some conservatives to all conservatives and I think that is wrong because a lot of people make-up the conservative party and they believe and act differently then the people in the book. In his paper Hendrick wrote “As the economist Robert Kuttner puts it, “Liberals and conservatives agree, in principle, about the value of Liberty. But where liberals differ is their insistence that liberty requires greater equality then out society now generates’” (294). It is statements like this that make me remember how much I dislike this paper. The continuous bashing of the Republican Party and their stance in Christianity does little to convince me that Hendrick presents both sides and is not swayed in a certain direction. When an author is talking about touchy subjects, especially politics I like to hear both sides of the argument and prefer to not promote one to the other.
Ultimately, toward the end of Hendricks excerpt from The Politics of Jesus I recognized that he was neither trying to promote liberalism or bash conservatism but to prove a point that both exist and that perhaps the politics of Jesus were a combination of the two and he believed in more then just saying he was a conservative Christian or a liberal Christian. Hendricks writing were extremely hard to follow and I often felt like he was degrading conservatism, however, I do understand he was expressing his opinions and I appreciate what he had to say.