Speech and Character (Blog Post 5)

The books of Samuel are filled with lively dialogue and fully developed characters, something that's rather new in our reading up to this point.

What a person says and how a person speaks are deeply revealing about how a person feels, what a person intends, and who a person is.

Find a brief section of dialogue in 1 or 2 Samuel and dissect how those particular words develop a character (i.e. how does the language function in terms of narrative value and purpose) and what those particular words reveal about the character (i.e.  what do we know/understand/perceive about the character as a result of the dialogue that we didn't know before).

Your dialogue selection can be as small as a single statement or can include back and forth between characters. Choose your piece of dialogue thoughtfully and carefully. Not every segment of dialogue reveals characterization. You must look intently at the context to determine whether a specific piece of dialogue is worthy of analysis - and then you must proceed to actually analyze it in whatever manner seems most pertinent (by considering the words themselves, the implied tone, the contextual setting, the relationship between speakers, et al.).

Be sure to include references. Be sure to write something interesting, fresh, substantive, thoughtful, and engaging. Be sure to think and consider before writing. Be sure to submit this post on time.

Posts are due by WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18 at MIDNIGHT.

The Evolution of Women in the Bible (Blog Post 4)

"Judith with the head of Holofernes" (Cristofano Allori, 1613)

Think back to the first female characters you encountered in the Bible: Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Dinah, Potiphar's wife, and more.

Then think about the recent female characters we've discussed: Deborah, Ruth, Esther, Judith, and others.

Do you see a shift in the view of women? The representations of women? The interactions of women with men? With other women?

Compare one of the earlier female characters with one of the more recent characters. Using textual evidence (book, chapter, verse), create a strong statement for how you see the characterizations either remaining static or changing as the texts progress over time.

You can compare whatever narrative details are most pertinent to your observations and argument.

Posts are due by Friday, Oct 6 at midnight.

The Jury is Out (Blog Post 3)

Think back on the three oral papers we heard this week. Choose one: do you agree with the thesis? Disagree? Choose a position and offer additional textual evidence for your position, i.e. evidence that either supports the thesis or evidence that undercuts the thesis. Consider yourself a jury member who must support either the defense or the prosecution and must have good reason for doing so.

Posts are due Wednesday, September 27th at 9:00 a.m.

The Character of God (Blog Post 2)

Detail of the Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
(c. 1508-1512)

How can a human being characterize God?

Michelangelo's paintings of a powerful old man with wavy grey hair and beard are one well-known attempt.

God is powerful. God is old. God is grey. God is surrounded by cherubs.

Some people view God as stern, cranky, impatient, petty, vindictive, vengeful, and other pejorative things.

Some view him as distant and disinterested.

Others view him as a hands-off onlooker of human destiny.

Still others view him as personal, patient, and present in human history.

But how does our text, Genesis, actually describe God?

Using the scenes and words of Genesis, develop a portrait of God's character that considers more than simply the surface level evidence. You don't have room to write a book here; you have only several paragraphs to flesh out a rounded description of this major character in our readings. If you focus on only a single characteristic, you will present us with a flat character. Flat characters are not worth our time and effort, beyond saying, "He or she is a flat character. The End."

God is anything but that.

On the other hand, you don't have space to flesh out God's character in all its fullness. Instead, focus your discussion on perhaps two or three characteristics of God, using textual evidence to bolster your discussion. Use simple parenthetical citations noting both chapter and verse, e.g. (45:9). Paint for us a portrait of God that goes beyond both Michelangelo's grey-haired old man and the various popular notions of God that are too often based on cultural imaginings rather than the written text.

Posts must be thoughtful, substantive, referenced, and articulate. Due: midnight 13 September.

The Bible Is Lit (Blog Post 1)

Detail of Noah's Ark - from MS Additional 18850 (Beford Hours) folio 16v.
(British Library)

What is it like to read the Bible as literature? How do you experience the text? How do you analyze the text? How do you interpret the text? How do you make sense of the words-as-poetry and words-as-narrative on the page?

Questions like that are impossible to answer - they are vast and vague and very *yawn* ho-hum.

Better is this question:
What is it like to read the BIBLE as literature, as opposed to reading other texts as literature? Is it different? How? Why?

Or this question:
What is it like to read the Bible as LITERATURE, as opposed to reading it as a religious book? What adjustments (if any) must you make in your reading/annotating/analytic processes?

Choose just ONE of the these topics (BIBLE as literature / Bible as LITERATURE) to respond to, being sure that you are juxtaposing your answer in a proper manner (Bible vs. other literary texts for option one; Bible as primarily a religious text vs. Bible as primarily a literary text for option two).

To help focus your answer to option one, you might choose one or two other literary texts you've read and are familiar with as your comparative foil. To help focus your answer to option two, you might pick a specific section of Biblical text we've covered and outline the possible differences between a religious and a literary reading.

Posts should be long enough to say what needs to be said without rambling, repeating, or using any foo-foo meaningless filler. You don't need to start by repeating the prompt - just jump right into the discussion. Don't write a paper. Papers are d-r-e-a-d-f-u-l. Write a post - a pithy, engaging, brilliant, clever, insightful, fun post. You do not (and cannot) exhaust the topic. There will be more to say than you have room or time for. Choose a few insightful and interesting points to make. Ready: go.
(Responses must be posted by Monday 28 August at midnight.)