After successfully completing this writing and reading intensive class I can truly say that I have conquered something great. This class was by far my most work intensive course, but I was also given a lot of information that altered my view on the Bible and theology. Although my father is a theologian I never spent much time listening to his interpretations of the bible, but when I had to do so during the lectures I truly enjoyed the experience. This class had some off the wall discussions but when it came down to talking about the bible and the different literary and historical aspects of it, we learned some wonderful information. I feel more versed the Bible now than I did in my 20years of being raised in the Christian Faith. In this class we learned the different procedures bible scholars used to decipher the contents of the bible, the authors, and the historical accuracy. They take so many things into consideration when studying a passage from the bible; nothing is taken for its face value. There is so much parallelism and symbolism that must be interpreted. Then there are also the different versions of the bible and how it was translated from Hebrew into Greek and many other languages.
In this course we were also given the tools and methods to read the Bible in a more critical way. Many of the different articles and journals we had to read were about the different procedures for critically analyzing a biblical document. For instance, we learned how to use literary criticism, historical criticism, feminist criticism, African-American criticism and more. All these different criticisms showed us the different ways to analyze and dissect a piece of biblical literature. In this course we also had to exercise our knowledge and writing skills by writing this blog every week. This was the hardest part of the course. By writing a 1000 word blog every week, we had to write. So many teachers now day are so caught up in the Math and Science Departments that they fail to make sure their students have good communication skills both verbally and in writing. Many of us go weeks without writing and don’t develop the necessary skills needed to survive in a communications driven economy. By requiring us to write every week, we’ve been given the opportunity to exercise our writing abilities. Not everyone took advantage of this, but those who did probably experienced an improvement in their writing abilities.
Another course objective we had to complete was to change the world. Although changing the whole world is a bit of a stretch, the projects we implemented helped change small corners of the world. Many of us addressed poverty in different ways. My project was centered on helping poverty stricken seniors learn vital computer skills that would help them improve their lives. By implementing this project I helped them to learn the skills needed for a new job or a promotion in their current place of employment. Working the project was very time consuming and a lot of hard work, but I know it will pay off and I know that I’ve touched the lives of some of the people I worked with. Just knowing that they can improve their situations without having to rely on others is a step in the right direction. Even though the semester is coming to an end I am still avidly working to help improve the lives of people around me. My project concentrated mainly on seniors, but in the future I hope to help the younger age groups as well. This assignment really got the ball rolling for many of us who sometimes forget to give back to the community. By requiring us to do activities like this it’s a way of requiring people to change the world around them. I enjoyed doing it most of the time even when it got frustrating.
In the matter of the Faith vs. Works or James vs. Paul conflict I would have to say that they are both right. You have to have faith and believe in the Lord if you want great things to happen in your life. If you don’t have faith you don’t have a basis for hardly anything. Most of our culture and the laws that govern us were based on the faith that God really did give Moses the Commandments and that his prophets really heard the word from his lips. So much of what we do in life requires us to believe, and he also says that works alone will not get you into the Kingdom of God. Although these things are true, how we live our lives determine what are eternal rewards will be. Paul says that all we need is to have faith in the Lord and He will accept us, while James says that everyone has to follow the laws that have been with them for years in order to find favor in God’s eyes. During his ministry Jesus set an example of how were supposed to live our lives and help our neighbor. To be Christian is to be Christ-like so the works we do for others mean a lot also.
Overall I’m glad I had the opportunity to take this class. It was very informative and helped me feel better versed in what is considered to be the guidebook for the Christian faith. The best parts of this class were the discussions we had. Dr. Homan made sure that the information was not only correct and informative, but entertaining. His style of teaching makes it easy to retain the information. We discussed and dissected the various stories and passages of the bible, making them more understandable for any type of reader, but still requiring you to think. The worst part of the class was definitely the blogs. I’m a writer and even I was having trouble keeping up with the blog every week. It’s also very hard if you get behind. I believe it should be a core curriculum at Xavier not only because it is a very informative and enlightening class, but because the Bible is considered to one of the best literary works and it’s the most widely read. So much of what our country and many parts of the worlds are founded on the beliefs found in the Bible. In relation to my major, the Bible is a great literary work and being able to decipher it in a literary way has helped me in my English and History classes. Another way this class relates to my major was in writing the blog every week. After writing over 1100 words in this blog I will never again complain about writing a 5-6 essay in any of my classes. (lol)

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