Class

I guess I would be lying if I did not admit that I was terrified of this class before it even started. I was not looking forward to studying and reading the bible. However, the first day changed my whole perspective of reading the bible and interpreting it's tedious messages. Dr. Sexon is an amazingly insightful and hilarious teacher. His words are powerful and his sense of humor is laugh out loud funny. I will definitely be taking his classes whenever possible in the future. As for the bible, I feel that we have just (Dr. S told us not to use "just") scratched the surface and I will be spending more time reading through it for the rest of my life. I wish that I would have gotten better at sitting down and blogging my thoughts about every class and what we read. I guess I kind of failed in that department. However, I have made a list of nearly every book which was talked about in class and I plan to read through them. Right now I have started Mules and Men and that book is amazing.

Frye is amazing; his knowledge and wisdom are ridiculously amazing. I plan to keep this book in the back of my head at all times. Gotta go; I will be back later to emphasize some other important aspects of our class that I really liked.

Paper

Eric Crouch

12/09/09

Lit 240

“But remember not a game new under the sun

Everything you did has already been done”

-Lauryn Hill

Although Lauryn Hill is not an artist that I particularly enjoy, I happened to catch this line while sampling a few songs on the internet. However, Ms. Hill rapped the central idea of what I was trying to capture for my connection with the Bible. Although the structure is somewhat confusing at times, the Bible is the most important collection of stories I have read. Although I have heard a few of the most common stories printed on the thin pages of the Good Book, I had no idea at how powerfully these stories have resonated throughout history. The classic story of Cain and Able has influenced countless writers and their stories, whether on film or on paper. Apart from valuable lessons and rules of early Hebrew life, the Bible encompasses prudential and skeptical wisdom which is abundant to those who seek it. My personal favorites were the Book of Ecclesiastes and Job; both of these stories have greatly influenced what I consider to be my favorite type of films. The Bible has been visible through many cultural outlets, such as sermon, film, and music. From John Donne's repentant sonnets and Milton's Paradise Lost to Nina Simone's Sinnerman, the Bible has created an ever-expanding foundation for every facet of literature and entertainment. In his book, The Great Code, Northrop Frye analyzes the tradition and role the Bible has played throughout the history of many cultures. Along with stories of wisdom, morality, and suffering, the Bible contains the most important and influential catalysts which continue to affect literature and film today.

The story of Cain and Able is not only found in the Hebrew Bible; Cain and Able exist in many religious texts as answers and examples for questions which revolve around the basis of humanity and morality. The National Geographic Channel's Cain and Abel: Brothers at War explained many common elements derived from the story of these two brothers. For example, the story of Cain in the Qur'an is basically the same except for the addition of a raven which kills another raven and then digs a hole and buries the dead raven under the sand. Cain proceeds to bury Abel; this is believed to be the origin of conceptual burial of the dead. This is just one of multiple adaptations of the Cain story. Many scholars featured on the show also believe that Cain's murder and denial also explain why God was so angry throughout Genesis. Cain repeated the same failure of responsibility just as Adam and Eve had. Also upon slaying his brother, he also destroyed the thousands and millions of people who could have descended from Abel himself. In theory, Cain destroyed more than just his brother, he killed everyone who would be created and prosper from Abel's blood (Cain and Abel: Brothers at War). After watching this program, all I could think about was one of the few passages I remembered from church: I am my brothers keeper. Are we our brother's keepers? After events such as 9/11, the holocaust and genocides that happen to this very day it is hard to believe so. Many people ask God why so many people suffer from these terrible events and all are left empty handed. If the story of Cain could be condensed to one theme, it would tell us that we are still our brothers keepers regardless of what has happened and it is not God's responsibility to fix everything, it is ours as brothers.

Even though the message of the first fratricide may be lost to most, Northrop Frye believes that the story of Cain serves yet another purpose. “...we have the story of the farmer Cain and the shepherd Abel. Disputes between a farmer and a shepherd are found centuries earlier in Sumerian literature, but there the farmer scores off the shepherd … But the Biblical writers tended to idealize the pastoral stage of Israelite life, in contrast to the agricultural stage...” (Frye 143). The writer, probably the Yahwist, believed that the pastoral way of life was beneficial or already had become beneficial to the Israelites. Frye also believes that Cain's offering was insufficient because God had already cursed the soil which Cain grew his fruits because of Adam and Eve's eating of forbidden fruit (Frye 144). Frye's analysis of the Cain story demonstrates how every story in Genesis was created from preconceived spiritual, cultural, and political beliefs. The story of Cain has been interpreted for many themes across multiple religions.

As for the character of Cain, recreations and remixes of his physical and moral attributes have surfaced in many works of literature and film. After confessing his sin, the Lord said to Cain, “When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth...” (Genesis 4:12). This passage defines an essential component to mythos; Cain is one of the first “stock” characters found in literature. According to Frye, the repeating character type of Cain is an archetype, “This quality of repetition is essential to myth in all its contexts. A society, even one equipped with writing, cannot keep its central myths of concern constantly in mind unless they are continually being re-presented” (Frye 48). The character of Cain can be seen in the earliest production of silent films to those that are being produced today. When I first read Frye's passage, I immediately thought of the Bourne Identity; films whose main characters are wanderers or fugitives are rampant among the American movie-going public. Cain's Machiavellian approach of prosperity and succession reminded me of the film There Will Be Blood; the outcome of the brotherly relationship Daniel Plainview falsely creates with Eli Sunday was extremely reminiscent of the fratricide Cain committed. The wanderer and fugitive archetype has surfaced throughout all outlets of entertainment and countless pages of literature. The story of Cain and Able is not the only one to surface to mainstream media; many other characters and themes have been reproduced and continue to circulate in many cultures.

Rules and Laws are plastered through most of the stories in the Old testament; however, wisdom can also be derived from these stories. There are two types of wisdom: prudential and skeptical. The book of Psalms and Proverbs are packed with prudential wisdom. Frye states, “Law is general: wisdom begins in interpreting and commenting on law, and applying it to specific and variable situations” (Frye 121). The application of law generally leads to production of tales and quick-witted sayings used in every culture. When I read this passage in Frye, I could not help but remember the quirky stories I was told in Sunday School. In the simplest form, these stories and tales such as Jonah and the whale and David and Goliath are to instruct faith to the young masses. Oddly enough the themes taught to young Christians are the same themes revolving around adult kinships. Prudential wisdom is plentiful throughout many books in the Bible and is intended for those who do not wish to dive deeper into the literal interpretation of the Bible.

Skeptical wisdom can also be found in many books of the Bible; skeptical wisdom reaches towards the true nature of human beings. Often times, skeptical wisdom is something not discussed at a kinship gathering. For me, the book of Ecclesiastes and it's glimpse into the emptiness human's often feel, offers skeptical wisdom at a grand level. “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever” (Ecclesiastes 1.1-1.4). This powerful passage asks the question: What is the point of living and to have lived when everything under the sun will someday be gone and replaced with something new? This question and passage should encourage every person of faith to question their God or Gods. The people of earth, especially Americans do not like to question the validity and true purpose of their material belongings and faith while in Death's waiting line. The story of human life for every human is a tragedy, as we all die in the end. the skeptical wisdom of Ecclesiastes created the building blocks for the template of a true tragedy. Immediately after reading Ecclesiastes, I had flash-backs from the movie Crash. Although Crash focuses on racism, the film forces it's audience examine and question racism in their own life and the world around them. Watching Crash tackle's a real problem in our society and exposes discrimination of all kinds in our country and within our hearts. Although the raw power of the words in Ecclesiastes are superior on a basic level to Crash, no motion picture can recreate the struggle of the inevitable as Ecclesiastes does.

When read skeptically, the poetic book of Job attempts to explain the cause of human suffering. Even though all ends well for Job, the middle section of his story is bound with tragedy and suffering. Frye states that Job's narrative is U-shaped; Job falls into a world of pain and suffering and at the end is re-payed with much more than he started out with (Frye 193). Job's pain, suffering, and homelessness are all just a test from the Lord; Frye says, “One issue in the great test is that of identity or property: how much can a man lose of what he has before the loss begins to affect what he is? God had previously drawn a rough line between Job's 'life' (2:6), but here we begin to see what 'life' means for humanity...” (Frye 195). One can derive that Job's vanities have defined his life and their revoke has caused him deep pain. On the other hand, the story points out that Job had not committed any crimes or sins against God; retributive justice was served incorrectly for Job just as it was served for every member of the Holocaust and every child born born with terminal diseases. Suffering, as in Job's case and in the lives of billions of people around the globe today, often has no direct cure. The emotions surrounding the subject of suffering are often not portrayed in their raw form in American pop-culture. However, in my opinion, the best movies and stories are tragedies; forcing people to think skeptically about their lives and the lives of others is itself an art. The film Me and You and Everyone We Know bares a striking resemblance to the story of Job. Richard Swersey, the Job archetype, has nearly everything stripped from him when his wife leaves him. Although his Swersey is left with his emotionally detached two children, he struggles to understand how pain was brought upon him and how he can piece his life back together. Like Job's narrative, Swersey's story is also U-shaped; for me, the most touching and inspirational parts of the story are Swersey's attempt at understanding and coping with his suffering. In a sea of prudential-wisdom films, there are still many Job's struggling to surface to the front wave of entertainment.

Sadly enough, films and literature which recreate the Biblical foundations of human nature are rarely screened past New York or Los Angeles. Nearly every main theme or elements of modern entertainment can be directly related to the books of the Bible. From the recreations of original sin to the multi-million dollar misinterpretations of the Book of Revelation, writers on-screen and on the page will always have a story to tell. The Bible offers many different archetypes and steps to achieving wisdom, spanning from light-hearted talking vegetables to the darkest insights of human nature.

Term Paper Ideas

I have been thinking about this for a long time and I have decided to go with option number two. I really enjoyed reading the slave and it is one of the best stories I have read in a long time. When we first received the options for the term paper I was determined to write about The Slave, but the more I thought about it, I reached for option two. What I know now about the Bible outweighs the option of the Slave. Before this class, I had no idea how powerfully the good book has influenced nearly every aspect of entertainment and artistic inspiration. I plan to use the knowledge of Frye as foundation for the explanation of the most important literature catalysts which originated from the Bible.

10/22 Class

• On the topic of suffering and why God allows horrible things to happen to innocent people (children and adults), I would like to post Sonnet 14 from John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Donne claims that he has suffered his whole life from Satan. In the last two lines, he cries out for the Lord to take him and bless him with purity at a somewhat brutal cost. Even at the expense of rape and torture he is yearning for the Lord to save him from the pain he has been given by not leading a pure life. If this was me I certainly not be begging the Lord to save me after a life of torture; It is amazing that poets and people alike believe that the Lord can allow awful (not aweful) things to happen to people and still expect to be saved at his mercy.

Here are some of the things that I found enthralling about todays class:

• 586 B.C.E was the destruction of the Southern Kingdom and the Lord's bedroom.
• His-story has allowed the Jewish people to live
• Sal was the first King, Dancing David was the second
• Proverbs is made up of prudential and practical wisdom (lo-brow).
• Wisdom is not necessarily knowledge.
• A clean pot never boils
• A penny saved is a penny earned
• Knowledge is an acquisiton of information
• High-Brow wisdom is skepticism and its depressing
• Fathers say look out for wine, women, and songs
• Mothers say look out for girls
• Superior wisdom-(Job)-investigation into the nature of the causes of suffering
• Ecclesiastes V.2

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

• Question God
• Ecclesiastes Ch 12. V 1-8.
• Joni Mitchell

The Sire of Sorrow (Job's sad
Song) Lyrics:
© 1994 Crazy Crow Music BMI
Let me speak, let me spit out my bitterness--
Born of grief and nights without sleep and festering flesh
Do you have eyes?
Can you see like mankind sees?
Why have you soured and curdled me?
Oh you tireless watcher! What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and
everything I fear come true?
Once I was blessed; I was awaited like the rain
Like eyes for the blind, like feet for the lame
Kings heard my words, and they sought out my company
But now the janitors of Shadowland flick their brooms at me
Oh you tireless watcher! What have I done to you?
that you make everything I dread and
everything I fear come true?
(Antagonists: Man is the sire of sorrow)
I've lost all taste for life
I'm all complaints
Tell me why do you starve the faithful?
Why do you crucify the saints?
And you let the wicked prosper
You let their children frisk like deer
And my loves are dead or dying, or they don't come near
(Antagonists: We don't despise your chastening
God is correcting you)
Oh and look who comes to counsel my deep distress
Oh, these pompous physicians
What carelessness!
(Antagonists: Oh all this ranting all this wind
[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/1TRR ]
Filling our ears with trash)
Breathtaking ignorance adding insult to injury!
They come blaming and shaming
(Antagonists: Evil doer)
And shattering me
(Antagonists: This vain man wishes to seem wise
A man born of asses)
Oh you tireless watcher! What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and
everything I fear come true?
(Antagonists: We don't despise your chastening)
Already on a bed of sighs and screams,
And still you torture me with visions
You give me terrifying dreams!
Better I was carried from the womb straight to the grave.
I see the diggers waiting, they're leaning on their spades.
(Antagonists: Man is the sire of sorrow
Sure as the sparks ascend)
Where is hope while you're wondering what went wrong?
Why give me light and then this dark without a dawn?
(Antagonists: Evil is sweet in your mouth
Hiding under your tongue)
Show your face!
(Antagonists: What a long fall from grace)
Help me understand!
What is the reason for your heavy hand?
(Antagonists: You're stumbling in shadows
You have no name now)
Was it the sins of my youth?
What have I done to you?
That you make everything I dread and
everything I fear come true?
(Antagonists: Oh your guilt must weigh so greatly)
Everything I dread and everything I fear come true
(Antagonists: Man is the sire of sorrow)
Oh you make everything I dread and
everything I fear come true

Susanna

So far, I think that the story of Susanna is one of the greatest I have come across in the bible. Even the way in which Susanna and her beauty are described sets it apart from the previous stories. To me, Susanna represents pure innocence and she seems to be very faithful. Serves the elders right for getting the Holy death penalty for attempting to "know" Susanna. The Lord in her story seems to be a passionate God, for he gladly rebukes the claims of the elders through Joseph. Maybe it is the absence of the Thou Shalt Not statements and lists of rules which also intrigue me about this story. Also, as we discussed in class on Tuesday, this story represents a simple structure for which countless numbers of stories, books, movies, songs, and many other forms of art and entertainment have evolved upon.

Plotts and thoughts

Just past some of the not-so-funny and mediocre jokes about being a jew are a few quotes I enjoyed in Plotts'.

• "God pays as much attention to the stitching as any contestant on Project Runway". While I was reading this part of the text in Exodus I could not help but think the same thing. I understand that God wants Moses and his people to create this lavish and extremely detailed tabernacle but come on. I question that these people who barely have food or water can produce a pomegranate. I understand the principle of the tabernacle, as it is a place where they are to make pure their citizens and worship God, but lines and lines of attention to detail is a bit dramatic. Which also leads me to believe, like Plott, that the editor or author of exodus maybe had seen the tabernacle and was simple describing it in its entirety.
• This book (numbers) is the work of a single tribe at war with everyone around it. The book of numbers so far has been somewhat interesting. The crap that these Isrealites are going through to make it to the promise land is bewildering. If I were an Isrealite, I too would be wishing that I was left in Egypt to be a slave instead of existing in a world where everyday was unpredictable and battle was inevitable...or maybe some, or all of these crazy shindigs that the Israelites have been doomed to experience did not happen whatsoever.....but it does make a hell of a story.

Well I shall be back later with more thoughts about Numbers.

Exodus till Section 16

I can not recall hearing the stories of this section as a child or young adult. Up until the ten commandments what the hell kind of acts were the Israelies committing? Were they just heckling each others neighbors and killing at will? I agree with Plotts on this section; the ten commandments are just a list of rules of how to live by a humanisitic set of rules. The commandments have not a drop of morals described in their text. One question I had about this section is why do all the Israelites keep moaning and groaning about starvation and thirst when they know that the Lord will help them? Obviously he saved them from the slavery of the egyptians and killed tons of egyptians in the process. After the ten commandents, the Lord defines the rules of slavery among Moses' people....I don not think that they teach this is in Bible Studies. Even though the rules of slavery are not the same as we would define slavery today, they are still pretty rash. Besides that, there are still many references to multiple Gods in the time of Moses, even by the Lord himself.