Do I have what it takes?
1563 words by Villy
When I received my first schedule at Xavier University, I was shocked to see that I would be taking Theology 1120 my first semester. Before even stepping foot in the class, many of my peer dean advisors warned me about the Theology courses offered freshman year and the great difficulty factor that usually comes along with taking these courses. My first impression did nothing to calm these apprehensions.
Before my first scheduled class, I went to the book store to purchase “The Bible for Dummies”. It was then that I came to the shocking realization that Dr. Homan, my instructor for the course, had actually co-authored the text book. Needless to say, I became a little skeptical about the challenges I might face in this class. I could envision Dr. Homan quoting first hand the exact text from random pages in the book. (“Class on page 57 of the text, you’ll see my exact words were the following: …”) Oddly enough, all of these fears faded away after I went to class on Tuesday.
I wrote the first two paragraphs of this blog in a formal writing style because I think that’s about how tense I was the first day of class. Being a freshman in college for the most part is a scary experience, and to be honest, I had some butterflies too. The only thing working to my advantage was that I was not one of the freshmen who were in a new city, had no friends, and were homesick out of their minds. I was born and raised in New Orleans and I have been to several Xavier events in the past. On top of that, I am one of ten new freshmen who were members of St. Augustine High School’s graduating class of 2005, so the friend factor was not a problem for me. I was most stressed out about only two classes: Theology 1120 and Chemistry 1010. Yes, Chemistry 1010 is hard and I am in need of help that I should be getting soon, but Dr. Homan’s class isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The weekly blog system does seem a little tedious, but it’s a new experience that is not hard to complete, granted you don’t wait till the last minute (my biggest problem with assignments in high school). I was surprised by Dr. Homan’s methods of teaching, and how I could easily relate to it. Don’t get me wrong. Many of the questions he asked left me in a daze with no clue of ANY possible answer, but some I did know and answer. In my opinion, class participation is a vital part to the study process.
The main focus of lecture Tuesday was 586 BCE and the effect it had on the writing of the Bible. I was totally caught off guard by this because before Tuesday, I had never known the events that happened in this momentous year. If I’m not mistaken, I believe that the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 586 BCE and demolished the temple, which was one of the most spiritual places of the time. It was believed that God lived in the back of this temple. If I am wrong, someone please correct me by replying to this blog. The people of Jerusalem had taken for granted God’s protection and believed that God would never let anything happen to Jerusalem, the home of his chosen people. On the contrary, the kingdom fell, and fell VERY hard. The songs Dr. Homan played at the beginning of class were about the people of Jerusalem singing of their fallen kingdom and how they had been thrust into captivity. As bad as this may sound, they wish they would have died while the Babylonian were invading so that they wouldn’t have to live this terrible lifestyle of slavery. Yes people, slavery dates back way before the African or American Indian Slave trade. The Babylonians showed no mercy as they killed, starved, and raped the people, who really had it coming to them after ignoring God’s warnings that He sent through the prophet Jeremiah. All in all, the people learned their lesson after being treated so cruelly by the Babylonians.
On Thursday, I was ready to see how things would develop because like most people say, all teachers/professors are nice on the first day of class, but you really find out about a class once that new feeling has worn off. Yet on the second class day, Dr. Homan did not disappoint. We covered so much material in so little time that I don’t remember it all. The main topic I do remember talking about on both the first and second class day was how geography affected so much of the Bible’s stories and the people of this time period. We all know that back then, the only form of transportation was walking or riding an animal, and no, I’m not talking about greyhound. Of course, we know that NO ONE can cross a vast desert and survive. Therefore, the people of this time period had to follow the Fertile Crescent in order to get to the other side of the desert. And what kingdom did one have to pass through in the hills of the Fertile Crescent? DING! DING! DING! JERSALEM!!! This put a huge red target on Jerusalem for foreign invaders to come in and take over. Did you know that the Israelites had over a hundred different words for goat but only one word for all the creatures of the sea? This is a prime example of how geography plays a part in a civilization. This course has begun to teach me so much about how the Bible is linked. It’s not like celebrating mass, or just opening your Bible and beginning to read. In the first, week we have been able to start connecting the dots between the different events in Bible and answer the world famous question: “Okay this happened but, WHY?”
I thought I was going to be able to breeze through this class after taking four years of Theology in high school and seven years in elementary school, but this thought soon dissipated as I read the topics we would be discussing this semester. Most of them I had never studied (or even heard of for that matter). Part of me is excited about the knowledge I will study this semester, but another part keeps on reminding me how difficult this course will surely be. Nevertheless, I am confident about how much of the bible I will be able to cover in this short semester. I will be the first to admit that I do not read the Bible as much as I should. It has been a while since I have picked up a Bible and began to read outside of church. I have a funny feeling that this will change very soon. I believe the Bible is the key to living a good life and achieving spiritual happiness. Biblical studies is not a course of study I’m really familiar with. Even in my high school Theology classes, we learned more about the formation of the church, development of religions, and how to make good moral choices. The last time I really studied the events and meaning of the bible was in middle school. I think it’s time for a refresher course. What do you think?
Currently my major is Psychology/ Pre-Med. My goal in life is to become a well-known psychiatrist who has opened both a research lab and psychiatric counseling clinic. Some may call me a dreamer, but I would really like to be the person who is credited with the discovery of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. With all of this being said, I did not understand where studying Theology would fit into all of this, but after taking a closer look, I think that taking this course will help me with the morality portion of dealing with patients. The medical field right now is lacking caring, morally sound physicians. I believe that with the right training, I can be one of the doctors to put a change to this. I have been p.u.s.h.ing (pray until something happens) since I took my first class at Xavier. Xavier has made me a MUCH holier and prayerful person. My hope is that WHEN I become successful, I can look back on my training/education and realize that I was morally trained to succeed in my controversial field.
Overall, I feel that this class has been given to me for a reason. I hope that it will prepare me for a spiritual journey throughout my career at Xavier and beyond. The knowledge I have already received in only two days has developed in me a hunger to keep on learning about biblical times: how they lived, how they thought, and how they worshipped their God. I hope that as the semester progresses on, I will be able to continue with this hunger and make a high grade to start off my first semester at Xavier University of Louisiana.