Taking a theology class at Xavier University was a great learning experience. I was very pleased to have the oppourtinity to take such a class which gave me a better insight about life and the bible that we have everyday and might ignore because of our ignorance, unfortuantely. This class, indeed, helped to  understand more from the bible. I, now, know how to look at a bible verse and understand what I am being told. I think my level of understanding the bible grew more throughtout the time I spent in this class.

As I read the goals that were set for our class, I realize the reason for doiong each activity we had to do in class. The first goal, which deals with discipline of biblical studies, was achieved by the various activities we did, for example the bible mysteries and the other presenations presented in class. The second goal is to provide students with the necessary tools to read the Bible on an academic and critical manner. I believe in this class we had the opportunity to learn more about the bible in a critical and academic way through the different discussions we had in our class time. I thought these deliberations were very helpful and interesting. The third goal is to improve the student’s ability to effectively communicate and to write clearly matters involving critical thinking. Ironically, I am still fulfilling this goal till this very moment. I am writing to effectively criticize the goals of this course. Throughout the course, we had to elaborate about a lot of matters that deal with different subjects, concerning our lives and the bible. These blogs, though they were time consuming, helped me understand the way I think more and look at some matters differently. The last goal presented in this class is to improve the world. The title of a class as such says it all—theology. Theology would not matter if it did not strive to help the world we are living in to become a better place for the human race. I truly believe that this class presented and discussed various issues about the world in a direct and in an indirect way.

Faith and works are two things that should be working together to help us throughout our life. The works that we do in our lives reflects our faith and believes. Faith is what is going to help us with our salvation and gaining internal life and the heavenly kingdom. Nobody can say that he or she has faith without giving back to the world some of what he had from God himself. Faith gives us a lot of blessings and it is our responsibility to give back to the world of what we have.

This class had its pros and cons throughout. I really enjoyed the class overall. Participating in the various activities we had in class and the discussions we talked about, helped understand and realize the importance of the bible and its applications in our life. I felt like every class I learned something different and opened my mind more to view diverse topics in this world in a different and more critical way. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed this course, I still found it very time consuming, only because of the blogs we had to write. I support the idea but I think that 1000 words each blog is too much. Sometimes I feel like I ran out of words, though I already presented all my ideas. However, I think that this class was very interesting and helpful overall.

When I look back at this course, I think it is essential to have it in every curriculum taught at Xavier. My major is Chemistry, Pre-pharmacy. I am planning on becoming a pharmacist in the future. This occupation deals a lot with people from different cultures and backgrounds. I think this class helped me understand more of the world and the way I should deal with different people according to the bible. I believe that this class will help every student no matter what his or her career is.

When I looking at the matter of faith vs. works, I agree with Saint James ideas, as he said, “…faith without works is dead.” In my church, we believe that if you do not show the fruits of your works, it is just like the fig tree that Jesus cursed because it did not have any fruits when he passed by it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 10:28 am and is filed under Class Comments, Week 15: Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.