Week 11, 12, 13
1093 words by JRoseman
The main difference between source and textual criticism is the way in which the text is analyzed. In source criticism the goal of the scholar is to find and differentiate where it came from and when. Sources are not always explicitly stated and may just be stated out of tradition. Such as Exodus being written by Moses and the gospels being attributed to their respective authors. Textual criticism focuses on the how the text was in its original form when it was first written down. The idea of the shorter and more complicated text being more accurate is a nifty one. I really liked this form the best! Textual criticism involves types of errors that can accumalated due to transcription. These slight mistakes may greatly affect how we interpret the text. Of the two, I think it would be easier to discern the source rather than word errors. But never the less, both seem to be very useful. The Book of Tobit tells the story of a very diligent man named Tobit who fought for proper burial places for fallen Jews. After returning back to Nineveh after being exiled, he is left blinded by the droppings of a bird after sleeping outside. Later on Tobit has a son by the name of Tobias in which the remainder of the book is about. Tobias leaves Nineveh to collect a sum of money owed to his father. Along with him an angel sent by God by the name of Raphael transforms as his kinsman. After a long journey, Tobias is attacked by a very large fish and after defeating it he takes its liver, heart, and gallbladder as potentials for medicines. Later in the story, Raphael tells Tobias to go and marry a woman by the name of Sarah. Sarah is a woman who prays for death because of her despair. Each time she is married her husbands are killed during the night of their wedding before the wedding is finally official by a demon of lust. Tobias is told by his kinsman/angel to marry Sarah and use the fish’s heart and liver to ward away the lust demon from Sarah and him forever. When this works, Tobias returns to Nineveh to cure his father of blindness. Tobias uses the gallbladder of the fish and it cures his father from being blind. Later, Tobit dies and Tobias buries him before the town is destroyed by God as prophesized. Tobias and Sarah return to Media after this occurs. The Maccabaeus was Jewish rebels who held a revolt against the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanies’ of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty. These rebels founded the Hasmonean royal dynasty and established Jewish independence in the Land of Israel. When we are first introduced to the adult Jesus, we are shown or rather depicted a man who’s different than those in his environment. As many may believe, it was Jesus who brought forth the idea or rather implemented Christianity as a religion. Because of this, one may say that Jesus is counter cultural. From his many miracles, feeding millions off one loaf of bread or raising a man from the dead, everything Jesus did or was a part of was defiantly counter cultural to everything else around him. Jesus predicts, well rather prophesizes his own death, and to be even more counter cultural, he states that he shall rise up from the dead. If this doesn’t have counter cultural written all over it what does? Jesus can also be seen as counter cultural because he cared for all people and wanted everyone to know who God was and for them to all go to heaven. When followers joined him he asked them to leave everything behind literally, and for some this may seem as a counter cultural thing to do. Jesus believed in serving all, not just his friends, but even his enemies. Personally I can understand why it’s so hard to live as Jesus did because it simply goes against the norm of our society. Jesus did things out of the goodness of his heart even when they seem unrealistic for any “man” to do. At the birth of Christ many thought him to be the King of Jews, but unlike the normal kings that are born in glamorous places, Jesus’ counter cultural behavior starts at birth with him being born in a manger. Lastly, Jesus died for all of our sins, so ask yourself a question; if you could be crucified to rid the world and all its people of all their sins (keep in mind their sins alone you know ones you didn’t comment) would you die for them? Of course many will answer no, or even “H” no! So of course Jesus can be seen or was counter cultural for his many parables and miracles that succeed what society thinks are normal! Jesus was crucified because he posed a threat to the Jews religious leader as he called himself the king of the Jews and had the people realize he was the coming messiah. Jesus called himself king, but it was meant to refer to the Kingdom of God. Jewish religious leaders who were intimidated with Jesus’ influence over the people used this claim and twisted Jesus’ meaning behind it. They Jews religious leaders turned Jesus over to the Roman government and told them that Jesus was claiming to be a earthly king which was the exact opposite of what Jesus was saying. So under Roman law, according to the leaders clam Jesus was guilty of rebellion against the emperor which was a crime punishable by crucifixion. But before they were allowed to actually crucify Jesus he had to bring in front of Pontius Pilate. At this time Pilate had the opportunity to release Jesus after realizing that he had not committed any crime, but instead he had the people choose between releasing Jesus or a murderer. The Jewish religious leaders chose to have the murderer released and Jesus crucified. Pilate washed his hands clean from the act insisting he had no part in what would occur. Roman soldiers took Jesus to the hill to be crucified and had him carry his cross to his death.