| Tell Me a Story Who is Jesus, Really? A Family of Freedom Fighters Who's Your Momma? I'm a Refugee |
| Sutphin Inroduction to Parables |
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| Class Notes |
| Assignments |
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Essential Question of the Day (EQD):What is the class about? A set of stories told by Jesus that can help you see things you didn't see before in hopes that you can transform into a more humane individual. What is required for this class to work: DOPE (D is for discipline, teacher tells story about discipline of marital arts and and the ability to fell the UPS driver with a punch to the throat. Introduce idea that prayer is not about getting things from God but it's about practicing a type of attention and practice that allows you to be open to understand, truth, and God. Introdcuce grading rubric on oral quizzes and take mock quizzes on job interview about gas station question, what the class is all about, and what the D stands for in DOPE. The "O" is for openness, so teacher tells story about being open and the story of the $40 taxi ride to Berkeley; Short project on why we tell stories. All students told to bring 1" binder by Friday, report to library tomorrow and get gmail account before library day. Library Day: Create Digital Portfolio. For instuctions on how to build a digital portfolio, go to parables home page and open document entitlled, "digital portfolio insructions. Follow directions and create your own blog and answer the question about stories. Reveiw web stie and how it will be used/student expectations. Reveiw stories told about you by the family, discuss how stoies teach us something, and what they might teach. Review homework assignment for weekend: "Who is Jesus, Really?" Create new entry in your DP entitled, "Portfolio 1: Who is Jesus, Really?" In 250 words describe 1) what it is you think Jesus taught and 2) whether or not you consider yourself and follower of these teaching, why or why not? The second homework assignment this weekend is to read the course syllabus carefully, especcially the grading criteria on the last page. After you've read what an A, B, C, etc. looks like, make a new entry on your DP entitled, "Portfolio 1: What I think I can Achieve." In less than 100, tell what grade you think you are capable of earning in this class and make some type of formal declaration that states your intention to fulfill all the requirements of that particular grade. By Monday morning at 8:00 am you should have three entries in your DP: Stories people tell about you, What Jesus taught, and What grade you expect. Finish discussion on personal stoires that people tell about us and how we read these stories. Student led discussion on weekend homework: What did Jesus Teach? Go to library and conduct QDR (quick and dirty research) on Jesus's family history and what it tells us about his mission and his teaching. The assignment must be completed in class and posted in your DP. See attached document or instructions. Genealogies positioin the person in a particular context, creating a certain aura or perception about who they are, where they fit, and what they are doing. The Mathhean genealogy tells a story of Jesus as in line with patriarchs and kings, of which he is inteneded to be read as royality. This genealogy is a parable, a story, that needs to be read and interpreted by us so we have a better idea of who he is. It is important to note Tamar: Judah, son of Jacob (patriarch), chooses Tamar as wife of his eldest son, Er. Er is evil in the sight of God and is killed by God. Judah tells his second son, Onan, to marry her and have a child with her, thus fulfilling his familial obligation so the eldest son has an heir. Onan doesn't want Tamar to be pregnant because his son will then not become heir. So Onan spills seed, pulls out. This is where we get the term Onanism. God is displeased and kills Onan, so she is widowed again. Judah does her scandolous and tells her he will give her his youngest son, but not now. In the meantime, he kicks her out of his house, which is inappropriate because she technically belongs to him and he needs to provide for her. Judah's wife dies. Tamar tires of waiting and meets him on the road to Timnath dressed as a prostitute. Judah asks to have sex with her, she agrees, and gives his seal and staff until he can give a goat at a later date. Judah sends a friend to make payment, but no prostitute to be found. Judah finds out that Tamar is pregnant. Furious, he calls her forth and is prepared to burn her to death. She produces the staff and seal, shames him into cancelling the execution and taking responsibility. She gives birth to twins, one of which is Perez, whose line begats Jesus. Most importantly, she gets what she wants by being aggressive, crafty, but ultimately calls the unjust to task. Rahab: Unlike Tamar, is a bonafide prostitute. Her boudoir is in the wall of the city, which is kind of janky, grimey. Joshua, the military commander who is planning an attack on Jericho in an attempt to take the holy land by force, sends two spies into the city. They are apotted by the Jericho military, but Rahab hides them under some flax, and then misleads the miliatry with some false leads. In exchange for her loyality, the Israelites agrees to spare her and her family. Ruth: During famine in Galilee, an Israeli family-father. mother, and two sons-moves to Moab in search of food. While there, the sons marry a local Gentile women (Moabites). The two sons die and the dad die, and one of the daughter-in-laws, Ruth, accompanies her mother in law, Naomi, back to Israel. They are so poor upon their return that they take a job as gleaners, picking up discarded sheaves of barely left on the edges of the field. Not content, Naomi tells Ruth to ask protection from the landowner, Boaz. Ruth creeps into his bedchamber and uncovers his feet. Boaz then marries her they are taken care of. She goes on to give birth to the forebearer of King Daved, the most powerful and interesting kind of Israel. Also, her uncovering of his feet displays her willingness to use any means necessary to get some kind of justice for herself and her family Bathsheba: One of most beautfiul women in the Bible. Married to Uriah, who was a Hitite, which implies that she too was an outsider, a non-Israelite. Uriah fought for Joab who was a commander in David's army. David saw her in the evening and sent for her and slept with her. She became pregnant. David sent for Uriah, drank and ate with him, and sent him home to his wife. He refused, saying that he would stay loyal to his freinds who are still fighting and sleeping in tents on the battlefield. Out of respect for them, he'd sleep in the servants quarters. David then tells Joab to put Urian in the most viscious part of the battle and have the others retreat, leaving him exposed to certain death. He dies, David takes Bathsheba as his wife. Her son through David is Solomon, who God wants to be installed as king. Nathan the priest communicates this point, and Bathsheeba makes sure Solomon gets the kingship by tricking David into choosing Solomon as king. We might say she is deceitful and craft as well. Summary Points to Consider: 1. All the women are extremely beautfiul, but women are typically outsiders with no real power in this world. 2. All women are non-Isreaelites, which implies that they are even further outside the power structure, marginalized. 3. All have experienced some harm or direct insult from those who have extreme power (typically men) 4. All are victims of circumstances beond their control, but they manage to find the power and resources to fight back and claim what is rightfully theirs. 5. They refuse to go quietly. They are all the outsider or underclass that speaks truth to power and demands justice. Mary, Zechariah, Context, Refugee Walk as a class to view the Grotto on campus. Students are attempting to "read" Mary as she is portrayed in the statue. All classes determined that she exhibited humility, modesty, protection, disembodied spirituality, not very physical, fragile, prayerful, sad. When we look at the two stories about her, thought, we see or read something different: Joseph and her community abandoned her, and Joseph even sought to quietly divorce her. Most likely, her community thought she was a little crazy or perhaps didn't believe her or even may have thought she was unclean or impure because she was impregnated prior to marriage. Also, the magnificant prayer she says portrays her as a little more poliitcal than the typical statue or painting indicates. It is a sort of righteous speech about how her child will cast down the powerful and feed the hungry etc, etc. Jesus was a refugee. How does this experience shape his consciousness and his mission and his teachings? First, a refugee is defined as a displaced person who is unable to stay in their country of origin or return home due to persectution (ethnic, religious, political, economic, social, etc.) The experience of being a refugee includes two aspects: the physical danger and terror of the journey away from your home and the psychological danger and terror of living in exile. A sense of hopelessness, deperation, fear, anger, dehumanization, etc. are what you'd expect to find in an exile community. But you'd also find a willingness to ask the hard questions, like why is this happening to me? and who is reponsible for the misery and suffeirng that I experience? This knowledge that the occupier caused these conditions will always be a partof Jesus' consciousness, even after he's returned from Egypt. Class watched two UNHRC videos on refugees and short sections from Babel, about Amelia's trip across the desert trying to flee from the border agents. Israel was an occupied territory, run by a client-king named Herod. Herod was Jewish but also an instrument of the Roman Empire, which was constantly trying to enlarge its wealth through tribute and taxation. Herod also killed the innocent children, which would indicate that this occupied force exhibited profound influence over every aspect of Jewish life, including creating the experience of terror. Definiton of Parable: A hyper compressed short story, always using the characters and context of times, used to answer a vexing problem. They are non-allegorical and they typically have one center of gravity or purpose. Economic Context of 1st Century Palestein: Hierarchy and distribution of wealth: 70% of all wealth owned and conrolled by the top 3-5% of the population. At the top is the emporer Ceaser Augustus, and below him are many client-kings, of which Herod was one. Under Herod was an immense beaucracy of elites whose sole function and primary purpose was exract resources and taxation from the people. These could be toll collectors, tax collectors, advisors, planners, etc. The monies they collected from the people was shared with Rome, and much was kept for themselves. There was also a small artisan and merchant class, but thebulk of the people (as much as 80% by some estimates) were people living on small plots of lands they either owned or contracted to work for wealthier people. For the peasants, poverty and hardship were the norm, and many were always on the brink of starvation, hensce the term subsistence farming. These people were often so poor that the non-eldest males were forced to leave the family land because it could not support them. The botton class, called undesireables, were made up of homeless and criminals. This group is between 5 and 15% of the population depending on the time of the year. Their life expenctancy, once they hit the streets, was a mere 5 years due to illness, malnutrition, and being humted by the authoriites and army. Poliitcal Context of 1st Century Palestein: 1) Occupied state: foreigh military group dictates all aspects of dailiy life, which usually involves a 2) Reign of Terrot: the occupiers typically used extraordinary force and violence to force a sense of 3) Stability: so that the extraction and flow of resources will move from the indigenous population to the client-king, his beaucracy, and ultimately upward to Rome. This occupied state is called 4) Downward Pressure, which limits a soveriegn people from exercizing its ability to self-determine. Given enough time, people will exert a countervailing force, called 5) Upward Pressure, which is a movement of the people to attempt to exert a level of freedom and self-determination not offerded in an occupied state. Jesus was a part of this upward pressure, though the revolution he advocated was not a militant revolution, but rather a revolution of values, which is an attempt ot create the Kinddom of God on earth for the purpose of giving the people to opportunity ot have an abundance of life, the ability to experience mental, spiritual, and physical freedom. Key fallacies of reading Scripture: 1) Fallacy of Saintliness-reading all characters in the Bible as saints that do no wrong. These people are humans first and foremost 2) Fallacy of Retrojection-reading what we know now into the past. 3) Fallacy of "Kitchen Sing"-when you don't know how to read correctly or in depth, you take a short cut and throw as many big spiritual words at the problem as possible 4) Fallacy of "Who Am I?-The gaps or opening in the stories are there for you to take responsibility and attempt to make an interpretation. Defering because you are "just" you is to take the lazy way out. 5) Fallacy of Allegorinzing-Never assume any character in any parable stands for some other character or being, such as "the land owner is Jesus, or the seed is the word of God." |