When it came time for me to choose my classes for the fall semester, I never imagined it would be so difficult. I am a Pre-Pharmacy major and this is my second year here at Xavier University of Louisiana. As far as my courses, I am following the outlined schedule printed in the Student Handbook. In the Spring, my advisor gave me a set time to login to Banner Web and add my choice in classes and sections. Being the person who wants to be prepared, I already had my schedule planned and written out on the day I was set to register. Little did I know, I ended up oversleeping and had to rush to get all my classes. Almost everything was closed, but not Theology 1120. Despite the advice from many others to avoid Biblical Studies and to get into Christian Faith, I decided to stick with it.
Now that the semester has started , my thoughts on the class are actually optimistic. I really like the discussions with the Power Point presentations because I can understand what is going on. Visuals are always a great tool for me when it comes to learning. Another good aspect of this particular section is the instructor and his sense of humor. I think that characteristic allows me to relate to him and it can be a more lax classroom setting. When I heard about the 1500 word blog every week, I became a little discouraged. Writing has never been a problem for me, but with the pressure of getting it done weekly, I don’t want to compromise the quality of my work just to get it in on time. Especially since this is the major portion of my grade, I want to do a great job on it. I am also discouraged because most of the material are things I have never heard about before. I do not know the specific details of certain events and people’s names. It is awkward when Dr. Homan tries to spark discussion and everyone is waiting on someone to speak up. It is almost like the instructor assumes we are well versed in the Bible and its stories, when I know for a fact I am not. I do not feel ashamed about that because I am sure I am not the only one who feels that way. I figure this is all just a learning experience for all of us.
My expectations of this class are to, first of all, make an A in the class. I really want to boost my G.P.A. so I intend to do everything possible to do so. I also expect to obtain all the learning goals Dr. Homan set for the semester. I think we all will be challenged and forced to think critically and I am ready for that. I know it is going to be many connections and conclusions made that I, myself, would not have thought of. That is a good thing because I eventually should be able to draw my own conclusions about certain aspects of the Bible. I do not expect that to be an easy task, but overall my expectations for this class are positive.
To me, the Bible means God’s Word. It is a guideline to living the kind of life that God wants us to live. The stories and parables all are there to teach us some lesson and show us how to solve problems of our everyday life. A lot of the things in the Bible can be paralleled to events today. For example, I visited a Baptist church back home and the pastor related the storm that Jesus told his disciples not to fear on the boat to Hurricane Dennis that just recently threatened Mobile, Alabama this summer. It also serves as inspiration if you have faith in what you are actually reading. You can only imagine what comfort you can gain from knowing that God is going to do what he says, which is take care of you. I have a Bible from when I was confirmed and I have marked several verses that I really like and find stimulating. My background with the Bible is that I was basically raised around it. We went to Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School as kids. I thought of Biblical Studies as just trying to interpret the Bible and what it is really trying to say. Now I see that it goes much more in depth, like asking why it is written the way it is and how does the affect the way we interpret it. I think it is very critical and there is an infinite number of aspects you could choose to study. There are probably conflicting ideas and studies about the Bible, which makes it more useful because we are learning more and more information.
My professional vocation is to become a pharmacist and this class does have something to do with it. If I recall, we are going to be trying to improve the world. As a pharmacist, I will try to do the same thing. I want to improve the quality of life for others to go out and do more improving. To take advantage of that opportunity, I will and I can commit to the Course Commitments . They are no different than what should be expected anyway from any other teacher or boss. It is a commitment that I should make coming into the University and taking classes in the first place.
586 BCE was a key event in the Bible because it was a time when the temple that the people believed God lived in was destroyed. The entire city of Jerusalem was in ruins. Because of the problems they faced, people attempted to bring about change for the good. It is also an important event because it parallels what happened in modern times when one was exiled. Once exiled and held in captivity, a group of people will eventually assimilate. We see this with the Assyrians and Africans after slavery.
Lamentations was the book in the Bible, written by the ’weeping prophet’ named Jeremiah. It describes the crying out of the people of Jerusalem, also called Zion, after being taken over by the Babylonians. This was also after the reign of Zedekiah, who was referred to as ‘The Lord’s Anointed’ in out classroom reading. To lament means to express your sorrow about something or to grieve. People felt sorry for the city because everything was the opposite, from good to bad. Lamentations compares the hardships to a woman has been wronged and raped. Things were written for men these days so that was one of the ways they could express the struggle to the men living in biblical times. The people felt very alone. They even hoped for Judgment Day to provide some relief from all of the suffering. They really could not understand why God would allow the Babylonians to destroy His temple and His people. They never thought God would let Jerusalem fall. The people were put through torture and cruel deaths, including shedding of all of your skin while you were alive and multiple beheadings. Those who survived were kept in captivity in the city of Babylon.
Physical geography impacted the Bible because it served as a cultural meeting ground for the people living during those times. Because of the diverse region the Bible took place, it was very hard to be unified. There were like five different environments and terrains all across the area. The pastoral lifestyle was the more favorable because of the hills. The fresh meat from an animal was thought of to be better than the vegetables grown out of the ground. A lot of the places also still needed rain. This was a heavy part of religion because they would use prayers to God to bring about the rain they needed. They were not very water oriented though. They had one name for everything that was aquatic. The Bible refers to things that were more characteristic to land.
If the Bible was set in New Orleans we would have some kind of prayer dedicated for the relief from hurricanes and flooding. Being below sea level, the geography can cause trouble. The city is also very diverse with the swamps and it would be hard to unify and bring it all together. The Merneptah stele is a monument with writings all over it. It was written by the Egyptian king, Merneptah in 1208 BCE. It is important because it is the first time an author mentions the city of Israel. Instead of using determinants, the Merneptah stele uses foreigners to tell what they are talking about. From them we know that the city has not been settled yet. To read the ancient writings, one must read critically because it might not all be true. For example, Merneptah claimed he took over Libya and all of these other territories, but of course he is going to brag on himself. He could have made a deal with the people and no fighting could have ever occurred. We will never know so it is important to try to get the real meaning by reading it over and over. It is also good to know background information and not assume that it is all true.

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