- Agenda:
- Field Trip!
- Review/Moodle followup
- Three Worlds
- Selective Attention
- Set Theory
- Signs
- Ten Commandments
- Sermon on the Mount/Building a Fence
- Homework Help
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT OUR FIELD TRIP?
Last week, (see this to review), we didn't really get to the basic approach/model for studying Scripture that we use in both Bible classes. It's really just about reading the Bible as a text, in context (without prooftext or pretext), but the model is called "The Three Worlds." It's the approach that you will be required to use for your signature papre
Here's a brief overvew.
This below is how one student summarized the worlds (she has more detail here)
Literary World--The literary world of the Bible is simply the text itself, apart from anything outside the text. We mean the world (or, better, worlds) created by the text; the words on the page, by the stories, songs, letters and the myriad other types of literature that make up the Bible. All good literature (and the Bible is, among other things, good literature) creates in readers' minds magnificent, mysterious, and often moving worlds that take on a reality of their own, whether or not they represent anything real outside the pages (Hauer and Young ch 2).
Historical World--The historical world of the Bible isthe world "behind the text" or "outside the text". It is the context in which the Bible came to be written, translated, and interpreted over time, until the present. In studying the historical world of the Bible, we look for evidence outside the text that helps us answer questions such as, who wrote this text, when was it written, to whom was it written, and why was it written. We also probe the text itself for evidence that links it to historical times, places, situations, and persons (Hauer and Young 2)..
Contemporary World--The contemporary world is the "world in front of the text" or the "world of the reader." In one sense, there are as many contemporary worlds of the Bible as there are readers, for each of us brings our own particular concerns and questions to the text. They inevitably shape our reading experience. We are all interested in answering the questions of whether the Bible in general, or particular texts, have any relevance to our personal lives (Hauer and Young ch3).
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SELECTIVE ATTENTION
I recommend showing this video to a group or class ,and doing it this way.
Show the first (Regional Emmy winner) video below starting at 4 second mark, telling the group that no one should say anything, or make any noise, while watching; just concentrate hard on following the instructions:
You can see why calling it the "Invisible Gorilla" test might jinx things(:
Here is the backstory:
More? Click: theinvisiblegorilla.com/
How about this version:
TED Talk by Daniel Simons:
Christopher Chabris' talk at Google about Invisible Gorilla:
Here's a great spoof version:
Of course people have made endless variations:
THIS SIGNS QUIZ REPLACES TERMS QUIZ WEEK 5 (IF YOU CHOOSE) If you missed week 2, be sure to ask someone who was in class the secret to this quiz:
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One of the most helpful ways of understanding the Bible...and life..is SET THEORY.
You will need to know the three sets for Moodle and other assignments.
Many successful signature papers incorporate set theory:
We didn't show this clip in class yet, but it is helpful:
To illustrate set theory, we did an in'class exercise. Students had to decide which side of the rppm to stand on. based on which of each pair they preferred.
Pick a side of the room to stand on for each pair:
- Target or Wal-Mart
- Jew or Gentile
- extrovert or introvert
- Lenno or McCartney
- rock or country
- innocent or depraved? (text me for extra credit if you can explain this reference---that is where have you heard those two terms before in class material. Deadline : 6:10 PM Week 3 class)
- FUNERAL OR WEDDING?
FUZZY SET:
-When does a mountain begin?
-Is it about predestination or free will?
-Faith or science?
These can be debated...as the border can be fuzzy...Thus :
"Fuzzy sets"
"Fuzzy sets"
Here below is some help on Fuzzy Sets. These readings will help:
You Have Been Chosen.....Leadfoot"
I keep the "Little Green Man" positoned on my dashboard at just the right angle and wedge, so that if I drive too recklessly, he falls off.
Since his infamous line in the "Toy Story" movie is "You have been chosen"..
...I am thus reminded that as a "chosen" person, I should be driving sanely.
There's a longer story, and a deeper theological underpinning to all this; but you get the point.
Colossians 3.12: "As God's chosen, clothe yourselves....with patience."
Besides,I am a recovering Leadfoot. Here's that story; it's almost as embarrassing as the fact that I carry a toy green mascot in my car:
A man I know well had just gotten in a classic "first fight" with his wife. He did something uncharacteristic of him: He jumped in his car, and began speeding (literally) away from the situation.
Because he was a believer, he at least had the sense to pray; even as in his fast car he was contradicting his belief. But he prayed, for some reason this prayer; "Lord, I really need to hear from you!"
At that precise moment, a moment he was to remember the rest of his life, the man was strangely prompted to turn on the car radio. Immediately, a voice came over the radio:"Hey Leadfoot! Turn around, go back to your wife, and tell her you’re sorry!"Let me tell you, gentle reader; When that happened to me….
…I turned around, went back to my wife, and told her I was sorry!
And it doesn’t change my theology of "God was speaking audibly and directly to me" at all to reveal the way God spoke. At the exact moment I was speeding away from home, and shot up that prayer while turning the dial on, a Christian disc jockey who was broadcasting live felt prompted to say:
"Hey Leadfoot! Turn around, go back to your wife, and tell her you’re sorry!" link
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THESIS: The Ten Commandments are a wedding
Then scroll down for the question..
Was "wedding" on your list?
.....or "love"?
What does all this have to do with a wedding?
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AS A WEDDING:
We watched "HE LED YOU LIKE A BRIDE," a Ray Vander Laan "Faith Lessons" video from Mount Sinai. Here is the complete video, which elaborates on this
thesis. You'll be writing on this for Moodle 2.1.
thesis. You'll be writing on this for Moodle 2.1.
Here's a study guide for the video:..
see pp.197-251 here
"Waffly Wedded Wife"
And here that couple illustrate "Building a fence":
Bonus: the processional:
Often when I officiate weddings, and the groom is nervous, I try to lighten the mood. I pull out my little black book in front of all the groomsmen and fake a shocking, "Oh my goodness, I accidentally brought my funeral book by mistake!! But I'll just read from it anyway..i mean it's the same idea. Is that OK?" Then there is a laugh of relief when they realize I'm kidding!
But at Margaret and Paul's wedding.....
find my wedding book right away, so i did actually bring the funeral book instead. It didn't really matter, as after doing years of weddings I don't need the book, I just use it to stick little sticky notes in for the sermon, prompts, names etc....oh, and to look pastoral and cool.So I just crossed out the big title "FUNERAL" on the spine with a black marker, so folks wouldn't see it while I was up front (:
Then for a laugh and a few pics, after the service, I rubbed off the ink so you could read it.
SERMON ON THE MOUNT, Mathew chapter 5
Remember:
- Who was the sermon addressed to?
- Why did he teach on a MOUNTAIN?
- Why did Jesus sit down to teach?
When we read the "beatitudes," the first section of the Sermon on the Mount: -- do you catch anyinclusio? (Note the first and last beatitudes (only) of chapter 5 end
with a promise of the kingdom of heaven, implying that the other promises in between "being filled," "inherit the earth," "be comforted" all have to do with Kingdom
3)iINCLUSIO(N)):
a literary device in which a word, phrase, or idea is included at the beginning and ened of a text (and sometimes in the middle). Example: the "with you"s of Matthew 1:23 , 18:20 and 28:20
Check it out!
Ever notice Matthew starts with "His name will be called Emmanuel, which means 'God with us.'
And ends...very last sentence...with "I will be with you."?
No accident.
And neither is the midpoint and message of the gospel: "I will be with you" (18:20).
In Jesus, God is with us.
Jesus is the With-Us God.
F--and if Jesus is a NEW MOSES of sorts, then we should look at
SERMON ON THE MOUNT:
Discussion on how Jesus was interpreting/reinterpreting the law of Moses/Torah(Matt 5:17-48).
Some would suggest that he is using the rabbi's technique of "Building a fence around the law (Torah)>
For example, if you are tempted to overeat, one strategy would be to build a literal fence around the refrigerator...or the equivalent: don't keep snacks around.
See:
Discussion on how Jesus was interpreting/reinterpreting the law of Moses/Torah(Matt 5:17-48).
Some would suggest that he is using the rabbi's technique of "Building a fence around the law (Torah)>
See:
Some wonder of this is what Jesus is doing here. See:
Jesus' Antitheses - Could they be his attempt to build a fence around the Torah?
A Fence Around the Law
Greg Camp and Laura Roberts write:
In each of the five examples, Jesus begins by citing an existing commandment. His following statement may be translated as either "And I say to you... " or as "But I say to you ...” The first option shows Jesus' comments to be in keeping with the commandments, therefore his words will be an expansion or commentary on the law. This is good, standard rabbinic technique. He is offering his authoritative interpretation, or amplification, to God's torah, as rabbis would do after reading the torah aloud in the synagogue. The second translation puts Jesus in tension with the law, or at least with the contemporary
interpretations that were being offered. Jesus is being established as an authoritative teacher who stands in the same rabbinic tradition of other rabbis, but is being portrayed as qualitatively superior to their legal reasoning.
After citing a law Jesus then proceeds to amplify, or "build a hedge" around the law. This was a common practice of commenting on how to put a law into practice or on how to take steps to avoid breaking the law. The idea was that if you built a safe wall of auxiliary laws around the central law, then you would have ample warning before you ever came close to breaking the central law. A modern example might be that if you were trying to diet you would need to exercise more and eat less. In order to make sure that that happened you might dispose of all fats and sweets in the house so as not to be tempted. Additionally, you might begin to carry other types of snacks or drink with you so as to have a substitute if temptation came around, and so forth. In the first example of not killing, Jesus builds a hedge that involves not being angry and not using certain types of language about others. One of the difficulties is that it becomes very difficult not to break his hedges. This might drive his hearers to believe that he is a hyper-Pharisee. Some interpreters have wanted to argue that Jesus does this in order to drive us to grace—except grace is never mentioned in this context. This is a wrong-headed approach to get out of the clear message that Jesus is proclaiming: you must have a transformed life. By building his hedges, Jesus is really getting to the heart of what the law was about. In the first example, the intent is not just to get people not to kill each other (though that is a good thing to avoid), rather it is there to promote a different attitude about how to live together. Taken together, the 10 Words (Commandments) and the other laws which follow in Exodus-Numbers paint a picture of a people who will look out for one another rather than just avoiding doing injury to one another. This becomes clear in Jesus’ solution at the end of the first example. The solution is not to throw yourself on grace or to become paralyzed by fear, but to seek right relations with the other person. There seems to be an implicit acknowledgment that problems will arise. The solution
is to seek the best for the other person and for the relationship. This is the heart of the law. The problem with the law is that it can only keep you from sin, but it cannot make you do good. The rabbi Hillel said “what is hateful to you, do not do to others.” In 7:12 , Jesus provides his own interpretation “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.” He changes the saying from refraining from sin, to actively doing good. The thesis statement in 5:20 is “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This then is how to exceed, or go beyond the law. In each of the five examples, the way to exceed the law is to make the relationship right.
is to seek the best for the other person and for the relationship. This is the heart of the law. The problem with the law is that it can only keep you from sin, but it cannot make you do good. The rabbi Hillel said “what is hateful to you, do not do to others.” In
Instead of drawing a new line in the sand that you are not supposed to cross before you are considered guilty, Jesus, confirms that the center is "love your neighbor" and then just draws an arrow (vector) and tells you to go do it. There is never a point at which you are able to finally fulfill the commandment to love. You can never say that you have loved enough. In the gospel of Matthew, the supreme example of this is Jesus' own life and death. His obedience and love knew no boundaries. --by Greg Camp and Laura Roberts
Ted Grimsrud, in your "God's Healing Strategy" book suggests:
"A better way [as opposed to legalistically legislating morality] to approach [the commandments] would be to ask first, 'What does this commandment teach us about God?'...Hence, the point of the commandments is not establishing absolute, impersonal, even coercive rules which must never be violated. The point rather is that a loving God desires ongoing relationships of care and respect....Paul's interpretation of the Law in Romans 13 makes clear the deepest meaning of the law not as rule-following, but as being open to God's love and finding ways to express that love towards others: 'The commandments..are summed up in this word, Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (pp. 33-34)
on the 6 antitheses (caws studies) of the Sermon on The Mount, I didn't have time to tell my Paraguay stories about:
(oops...)
will tell next week.
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OK, below is the backstory of the "LAUGHING BRIDE," which illustrates "building a fence around the Torah":
How do you name the difference in the shift of the 6 antitheses? What does it feel like Jesus is doing? He's making the law______:
- harder?
- easier?
Where do you see bounded and/or centered sets in the Sermon on Mount?Is it addressed to a bounded or centered set? Hmm, see the beginning:
And the end:
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because to them he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Would you say it's BOTH? (FUZZY?)
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What do you remember about the prayer shawl (tallit) and the most important number in the Bible?
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I told you about Casey in Bakersfield..
who did something no one else has ever done..until TONIGHT!
iFve being a hugely significant number for Jews...it's the number of books in the Torah, AKA the Five Books of Moses, AKA The Pentateuch "(Five Books in One.") . Moses=5ness.
More "New Moses" symbolism in Matthew:
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Reminder:
