Week 12

As I began the second chapter of Paul it caught my interest. It gave us tools, in a way, which helps us to read a letter written in the first century. The interesting thing was that it wasn’t just any letter; specifically it is a Pauline letter. The main point that he tells us to remember is that many of our issues reading these letters did not exist back when they were written. I also find this very interesting because it shows how much our writing has changed and now we have problems reading the ancient writings.

Back when the letters were written those people did not view them as almost Shakespearean type writing, it was simple normal to them. Now we have to decipher it with the help of scholarly thinkers. I find this difference very interesting. Back when the letters were written even a common man could understand them. I find this almost funny how much things have changed and evolved so that we can’t even completely understand them.

Another interesting fact that he mentions is that we not only need to translate these letters in our minds, but also change them to stories. Each of these stories then has to have a message to us. The next main thing I think Borg focuses on is what the context of words mean in his letters. The biggest example that sticks out to me is his use of daughter. Back then a daughter was nothing to happy about; they needed to be cast out, or left. The next aspect I found interesting is the three different types of Paul; "radical" Paul is found in Philemon, the "conservative" Paul is founds in Colossians and the “reactionary". In this chapter Borg compares and contrasts the attitudes towards slavery. He also compares and contrasts the Radical, Conservative, and Reactionary texts. The Radical text, Philemon is read as a carefully structured rebuke to Philemon to free Onesimus voluntarily. In contrasts the Conservative text emphasize the duty of slaves to temper somewhat by pleas to the master to be nice. The reactionary text on the other hand concerns the duties of the slaves without many duties of them also without any attention to duties of the masters.

Overall I found this chapter very interesting. It was interesting to hear how we should read letters. However I really did enjoy the tools he gave us to interpret them. One of my favorite aspects of this chapter was the fact that we now have to learn how to read these letters. I find this somewhat entertaining because we have to get scholars to interpret what they are trying to say. Sometimes the norms of our generations completely evolve into something different. Like the way we write. At that time it was appropriate and understood, now the righting norm has changed. These chapters were very interesting and helpful.

Week 11

This week we started the book “The First Paul”. As I began to read I realized that I was one of the people who hardly knew a thing about him. There were two other categories, appalling and appealing. I found it interesting that there are these two different groups and that some people either think he is appalling or very appealing to them. I know that for most people that are known publically there are going to be people that have these two different views of him or her. However I never thought of it this way. I also was very unaware that Paul was responsible for the creation of Christianity, at that time a new religion. It seems somewhat funny to me that he wasn’t even aware of this creation either.

It is interesting that Paul wrote many letters and that his life work eventually led to a new denomination. Along with that I think it is interesting that even though many are unaware of it, hundreds of Protestants have Paul as their theological ancestor. All of these facts that I have discussed, I was unaware of. I had no idea that he had such a huge influence in many people’s lives. I know there was many that didn’t like him, but that had to affect them in some way too. When Borg says, “but how he matters and how much he matters vary greatly among Christians”, shows my point of how he influenced people in different ways (4).

It is so true that many people in life can have different understandings about everything. It is very rare in life to have someone see something the exact same way as you. If you as the three people walking next to you to write down and describe the sunset, you will get a different description from everyone. This is because we all see life differently and Borg makes a good point about that. As Borg says, “ there are very diverse understandings of Paul’s importance,” (4). The one sentence that Borg wrote that stood out to me the most is, “But all Christians agree that Jesus was admirable, attractive, and appealing. Not so with Paul”(4).

This sentence stands out to me the most because I have never heard such a thing said. I mean how does he even know that everyone agreed on that? Where in the Bible or in life does it say that everyone agrees on those aspects of Jesus? I mean I could understand how he might think not everyone that Paul was appealing, but I feel that there are many people that might not think Jesus was admirable, attractive, or appealing. There is always so much controversy with peoples opinions I just don’t see how everyone agrees on those three aspects of him.

Week 10

The final part of Borg’s book is a look on his own personal views and feelings towards religion and Christianity. I think how he wrote his book tells a lot about himself. It seems that for the majority, he’s the type of guy that would just like to hear himself talk. The way he wrote his Epilogue only further proves this point. I also found it interesting how he says that none of this book is totally objective. I mean it seems as if he just thinks that this is the best opinion about everything and that no one will have anything different from it. However I remember reading a chapter where he discussed how everyone has a different interpretation of the bible. Cant this be the same for his book and peoples outlook on Christianity? Borg believes that the main divisions lie between the “conservative” and the “progressive” types of Christians. It surprised me to hear that 80% of the populations of Christians in America are Evangelicals, or conservatives. I feel that I do not know any Evangelicals, or very few at least so it makes me wonder why? Is it because of where I live? Or is this just not part of the world that they tend to live in? I think it was interesting how Borg started talking about the rights and wrongs of Evangelicals and then moving on to discussing church. He said that long ago going to church was more accepted among individuals. It seems like now days, there is a higher and higher decline of people attending church. The few that do stay is because they are truly passionate about church and want to stay. It makes me wonder why there is such a decline in going to church. Are people just too busy these days, trying to support their families? Or is it another reason like not being accepted for the church you are going to? Whatever reason it is I think it is sad. If there are people out there who want to go to church, but don’t, simply because they are looked at differently, that is not right. If people thought of church as something you must attend in order to be closer to God, would there be more people actually going? I feel that everyone interprets the Bible and the issue of going to church or not differently. When Borg states that he thinks America’s views of Jesus were causing a division in Christianity, I do not agree with that. He says the three phrases; “WWJD, Jesus Loves Me This I Know, and For God So Loved the World” are controversial. I personally don’t think they are. There might be a different interpretation through the viewpoint of others eyes, but I don’t think it would be entirely that much. In conclusion I think that Borg has a good idea of how Christianity should be like. He also has a feeling of what the proper way to practice it is and he shows it in the best form he knows how, writing. This book was a very interesting book to read. It not only gave me a perspective from someone else, but it made me look back upon my own view. There were things I agreed with in here and things I didn’t, however both were still interesting to read about.