At the board again

Seven stages of Bible: 1. creation 2. revolution 3. law 4. wisdom 5. proverbs 6. gospel 7. apocalypse
Old Testament: gospels, apocalypse, epistles
New Testament: about one personality
Kerygmatic- New Testament- evolution of prophesy
Mark- earliest, shortest, uses the word "immediately" 42 times, urgent
Paratectic- raises everything to the same level like with the use of the word "and"
Mark 13: When will the 2nd coming be, and what will the signs be?
--two types of answers: literal and realized
literal eschatology: the world will end
realized eschatology: the kingdom of God is right here, right now



On eschatology... I'd have to say that I've gotta go with the literal theory. I would kind of hope that is what will happen. All in all, I'd say that a lot of aspects of the world are getting progressively worse, and somehow I don't foresee much change in that. It'd probably be a good thing if we all got blown up (or to a lesser extent, saw the end of the world as we know it) before we create our own personal Hell that we would be forced to continue living in. How could that be the kingdom of God?



screed- an argument
Hebrew Bible- what haven't you done (i.e. thou shalt not kill)
New Testament- what have you done (love your enemies)
A gospel is not factual biography- it is kerygmatic testimonial
Mark 13- the little apocalypse
Apocalypse- to remove the veil- a destruction of the way of seeing of the order associated with two things

Happy Thanksgiving weekend

Well, it's Saturday, and because of the storm, my parents decided to kick me out of the house a day early. Maybe it was a good thing- I just checked the road report, and apparently the road I live on is now closed. Hmm. Anyhow...



Parable- unfamiliar, uncanny, sacred, disrupted expectations, sacred
Expectations- seem familiar, ordinary, mundane
Hebrew Bible= Tanak- Torah (Law), Anavian (Prophets), Ketobim (Writings)
Canon- established sacred writings- canonized
Messiah- annointed
New Testament- 1. gospels (good news) - narrative, life of Jesus, sayings, meaning of Jesus- Luke/Acts 2. epistles - letters to a community - many by Paul 3. apocalypse (Revelation)
1. exclusive Yahwism - montheism 2. Social Justice
Mark (1st written), Matthew, Luke - synoptics
John - latest of the gospels; not synoptic because more spiritualized
Thomas - rediscovered 20th century/ placed anywhere from earliest to 4th century- mostly a collection of Jesus' sayings (reason for earlier view)
Esoteric- a secret saying- secret/ mysterious/ unnameable
Mashal- proverb

Bits and Pieces

Displacement of myth - the predecent behind every action
Tragedians- what is the worst that can happen? (Shakespeare)
Deus ex machina- God fro the machine
Life is fleeting- basis of voodoo-> all is fleeting, nothing lasts
Turn to the day, enjoy your lot in life
Eschatology
Parable- an attack/ turning upside down of the structure of our expectation
We suffer so that poets/bards will have something to sing about
Hope
"You will never win me over with your honeyed words. I will resist you forever, you tyrant." Prometheus-- what doesn't kill me makes me stronger
Job 31- Job challenges God- Job 38- God answers- God tells Job that he was right and his friends weren't

Everything is futile?

I can't say I agree with that. I'm a firm believer that everything has a point: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Every good thing that happens has a point, and every bad thing we suffer through has a point (and it's not, I repeat, NOT all because we deserved it). I've heard (and I believe!) that there are three reasons why bad things happen: first off because of the choices that someone else has made. No one can control that-why would you want to?! Individuals always have their agency, and that is such an important thing in life- it gives it meaning!!- henceforth dispelling some of this futility of existence problem. And a person can't blame the "futility" of one's own existence on another's actions either, since we can decide for ourselves how we act, either in response, or personal initiative. One of the best teachers I have ever had said something that has stuck with me ever since (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing it): "You can either act or be acted upon. It's your decision."
Second: because of choices you make. I should not be surprised or frustrated that there is something (I haven't decided what yet- right now it's more of a bush, but it is well on its way to tree status) LIVING on my counter if my roommates and I take the chili out of the fridge and leave it sitting on the counter for a few weeks. Scary? yes. Scarier-we left it over Thanksgiving break. Yuk. Suffer the consequences.



Third reason: we need to learn something. I've noticed that when a negative situation in my life consistently keeps happening, it is best to try and see what I could learn from the situation and go from there, because whatever it is will persist until I get it right. And then I guess I need to add a semi-fourth reason: because it is just a natural law and it is something that happens. I have a friend who recently had his wisdom teeth out and he was absolutely miserable for about a day. I'd say he suffered some pretty extreme pain, since he is anti-pill and refused to even fill his prescription of Vicadin. I guess that could fall into the second category of suffering because of a personal choice, BUT wisdom teeth are also a natural phenomenon. Pretty much everyone has them and has to deal with some degree of suffering incited by them just because it is natural to have them. It is just something that happens just because.
Since I've already gotten this far in, I guess I'll just keep going. I've already written my thoughts on Ecclesiastes: I've heard that at least part of it was written to show what the world would be like if it wasn't for Christ. Everything we do would be pointless. Because there would be no reason for us to be here other to exist for whatever time we are alloted, or else we would not have a chance of making it anywhere but Hell, since there would be no one to save us from our sins. Anyhow, random tangent aside, Ecclesiastes could possibly be saying that because of Christ, life is not futile? I've already said I don't believe life is futile. I believe it has a point, and I think it is a gift, and what we do with it is up to us as individuals.

from Calvin & Hobbes- Bill Wallace**sidenote- if you have never read Calvin & Hobbes... you need to : ) check it out at:
http://www.ucomics.com/calvinandhobbes/


Click on the comic for a clearer view of it

Types of Wisdom

Wisdom: 1. insightful understanding of what is true, right, or enduring; 2. native good judgement

Polonious wisdom is more common sense stuff (like Proverbs and the second definition), while Hamletian wisdom is speculative and not quite so concrete (think definition one and Ecclesiastes and Job). Hamletian wisdom makes you think a little bit more, and is more adaptable to the individual. Polonious wisdom is pretty set (not many people would argue that if you play with fire, you are gonna get burned sometime).




On another note, I would kind of like to argue that the book of Ecclesiastes is not pessimistic. I've heard that at least the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes was written to depict what the world would be like if Christ did not exist, and if that is the case, it is not pessimistic, it is realistic. Because we would then be stuck on a chunk of dirt floating around in space for no apparent reason, or else just automatically condemned to fire and brimstone for all eternity. Regardless of the meaning, I don't think it's a bad thing. Just a different perspective...

"We suffer into the truth"

"dike" means justice
obscene- off stage, things that take place off stage
en-theos- possessed by the gods
pietho- translation/persuasion
polonian wisdom- Polonias from Hamlet- traditional-(Proverbs)- more obvious
Hamletian wisdom- speculative wisdom-(Ecclesiastes, Job)-less obvious, speculative
wisdom personofied by a female
theocracy- ruled by the gods
Doctrine of Retributive Justice- no one suffers who does not deserve it
hebel- fog, mist, breath
futile
do not confuse wisdom literature with Proverbs

Examples of proverbs used in my family:
-Monolithic biavicide- it's Latin- it means killing two birds with one stone
-To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail.

"Wisdom" -electronic painting

Nothing in particular

Matricide- killing your mother
tragedy- how do we deal with suffering?
Calasso's origin of tragedy is the "dance around goats" or the "dance of goats."
The function of Dionysus/wine: drive people out of their minds
chthonic- of or pertaining to the underworld
The Furies- the Greek spirits of retribution (blood crime)
Epiphany- sudden manifestation of the energy or power in a realm beyond your understanding
The Furies represent a personification of the psyce- thoughts of guilt
Metaphors of nets, yokes, chains, ropes
chthonic->underworld->maternal->witch->Medea->cunning->Hecate (Shakespeare)->the eye that men w/ in a patriarchy look at women and see the demonic
Euminides- the kindly ones- the Furies become the Euminides in the 3rd book of the Oresteia
Pg 171- Clynemestra: "What we did was destiny."

A couple notes

Ethnocentrism
What is consistent through all four chapters (Mountain, Cave, Garden, Furnace?) -> Movement along the Axis Mundi, which is the center of the world
All of these things are metaphors of ascent (mountain, garden) or descent (cave, furnace)
Tragic literature- people better than they are
Comedies - people worse than they are
Drama comes from "dromenon" which means something that is done
Ritual -> Dionysus
3 tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
Hubris- arrogance
How do we put an end to the cycle of blood guilt and revenge as in the Oresteia?
"Clytemnestra Slaying Her Husband" by A. Russell

Here is a link to a painting of Orestes and the Furies:
http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/huma/oresteia.html

Oresteia Question

This might be one of those "softball questions" that we keep talking about in class, but I am still a little bit confused as to why Aegisthus is even at home during the Trojan War... I don't know why, but I kind of had the idea that pretty much all the guys in that culture during that time went to off to war whenever there was a war... Let me know if there's something I'm missing.

Quick Thoughts

K- this is going to be a short post, but since I recently got the internet I'm hoping my posts will be more regular (as opposed to twelve posts every couple weeks).
So, first of all:
"Sarke" means "no exit" That's a pretty intense word when you think about it.
Frye -> Hell is how you experience time.
So to answer the question posed way back on October 21 (how can it be the middle of November already?????) on a time when I experienced time as Hell... I had a couple few weeks in high school that are probably as close as anything else I can come up with. And I know Hell has to be a lot worse than high school could ever have been, so I'm working on not going there. High school was bad enough. Anyhow... there's my thought on eternally repeting time.