I'm writing this now cause i probably wont get a chance to write this weekend. Me and Christina are going to Trinidad!! We'll be working with leatherback sea turtles (the largest turtles in the world). The moment i've been waiting for :) I'll be heading back to chapel hill tomorrow to pack and get my travel stuff, so i will try to make it to senior lg, and get some bball in before i leave.
anyways, this chapter was good. I had to write a paper about how the canon was formed when i took the new testament class, and it was really refreshing to see a different perspective that the author had. I like how she talked about how the books were already pretty much universally agreed upon and the gathering of church leaders was merely to verify it in opposition to heretics who tried to make false teachings. I think it really speaks to a side of Christianity that can't be easily seen in history: oral tradition and practice. It was really interesting to hear about Martin Luther's account of sundays where people would gather to read the scriptures as long as they could, and how we know this today as "going to church".
When i was doing research for my paper last year one thing people tested for in recieving books for the canon was whether the authors were divinely inspired. Because that gives their writings authority. A lot of times I think about just how much influence Paul had in writing the majority of the new testament (although he probably didn't intend for it to be like that seeing as they were letters) and the issue of divine inspiration. Particularly, in 1 Corinthians 7:12, Paul is writing about his opinions on marraige saying "To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord)...." By acknowledging he's writing his own opinion, it really draws a line for you in terms of divine inspiration/authority and a suggestion from a human. I feel like sometimes Christians look to Paul more than they look to Jesus even if subconsciously or not on purpose. It's really good that the author brought up how certain books came to be in the Bible, cause i think it's really important to understand these things.
I can't wait to read the next chapter about other religious texts for other religions. That question has been on my mind when i was reading all the other chapters :)
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Agh, sorry I fail. I don't have the chance to write up an actual post (I feel like a sad Dukie cuz "I'm already behind"), but I just wanted to say that I appreciated this chapter because it helped answer a few questions I had about why some German Bibles had extra books, why Catholics also have them, and what significance does that have. I am excited to read the next chapters too because the issue of "what about other religions?" has also been on my mind.
As a short update, this past first week of classes made me doubt my decision to take a normal load here because trying to learn new material in another language is so much more intimidating than I thought it would be. I at least have fellow Duke Engineers with me in my two technical classes, but it's still a lot to deal with. My German lit and culture class is also turning out to be a lot more work than I expected, but I guess it has to be that way so that the program can stay legit. My PoliSci course on the EU and NATO seems like it'll be tough but interesting. We've got classmates from all over Europe (and Asia since there's a Russian and a Uzbekistan guy too). Now for the second week...
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