Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
FINAL GRADES!!!!!!!
Congratulations on completing the Bible course. Some of you returned from last semester. Some started only the second semester. We took a long journey through biblical culture and literature, exploring many issues over roughly a thousand year history.
If I were staying here another year I'd open a two-semester course on just the New Testament, where we could explore the varied theological perspectives of the NT writers (Paul's future eschatology, John's realized eschatology; the tension between an indicative state of grace ("you are saved in Jesus") and the imperative to stay in grace ("therefore reflect that grace by acting as Christians"), as the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann put it.
There are the various millennial issues (the Second Coming of Jesus), the Rapture, etc.
There are ecclesiological issues: did Jesus found a church? If so, what kind of church? And so on.
There's the tension between Gnostic dualistic ideas and a monistic view carried over from the Hebrew Scriptures.
There's the nature of "world" (a basic theme in NT literature) vs. Spirit.
There are the many christologies (who Jesus was, who the Gospels said he was, etc.)
There's the difference between prophecy and apocalypse.
We covered all these issues, but, due to time constraints, were prevented from going into further depth.
Do not think we have exhausted biblical issues. If you get a chance with another Bible teacher, I would advise you to follow up. Of course, with Internet resources, you can continue these studies on your own.
Best of luck!
Richard.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Re: SYMBOLIC ACTIONS
I still can not understand the "symbolic actions" you think you can give a clarification on the subject?
I will appreciate it very much
Thank you!
Symbolic actions are actions that symbolize or represent (show) a prediction of something that will happen. It's a dramatic way of staging the prediction instead of merely telling it!
Isaiah walks naked to show what it will be like when a nation is conquered: people will be walking naked as prisoners.
Jeremiah puts a lock around his neck. Even so will Israelites become prisoners.
The false prophet, Hananiah, breaks the lock, predicting victory.
The true prophet, Jeremiah, again puts a lock around his neck, this time made of iron, so Hananiah can't break it. Point made.
Jeremiah smashes a jar; so God will smash Israel.
Jeremiah watches a potter at work, changing his work. God molds and changes his people the same way.
Jeremiah tells the people to fill their wineskins with wine, since they will all get drunk or are already drunk in their values.
Jeremiah tells kings to step down from their thrones, since they will be forced down when they are conquered.
Ezekiel stages the conquest of Israel by builiding a brick model of the city and then a ramp, showing how the nation will be conquered.
Ezekiel does not mourn his dead wife: a conquered people will have no time to mourn their dead.
Jeremiah is commanded by God to remain childless and unmarried: a warning to the people that when disasters come it's better to be childless and unmarried.
Amos is shown a bowl of fruit by God. The bowl of fruit is ripe; so Israel is ripe for punishment.
Jeremiah buys land in Israel. Just so will the people buy land in the future, resting secure in Israel despite their present woes. (Symbolic actions are still used today; recently Taiwanese officials ate US meat to show it was safe to eat!)
Hosea marries a whore; so God married whorish Israel, and accepts her, despite her adulteries and prostitutions.
Jeremiah dirties his linen cloth, which makes it good for nothing. Even so Israel has been dirtied in God's eyes.
Ezekiel joins two sticks together, predicing the unity of Israel and Judah.
In Ezekiel, God revives dead bones; even so will Israel be revived.
Zechariah breaks a stick into two, showing their separation.
In Zechariah, the good shepherd quits in disgust, asking only slave wages, and the sheep are scattered. (Later quoted in the New Testament.)
Jesus cleanses the temple and drives out the animals. Even so have the animals proved useless as sacrifices; the sacrificial system is at an end now that Jesus is making the supreme sacrifice.
Actually, almost everything Jesus does in the New Testament can be understood as a symbolic action. But Jesus' symbolic actions regard the present, not the future.
By curing the lame and blind, Jesus is symbolically saying the future has arrived; the blind and the lame are cured, as Isaiah predicted.
By giving new laws that replace the laws of Moses, Jesus is saying the new Moses has arrived.
By resisting the Devil in the wilderness, Jesus is saying the New Israel is now able to obey God's law despite temptations, unlike the old Israel in the wilderness, which was unable to do this.
Even Jesus' eating and drinking suggests the eschatological banquet, usually promised at the end of time (Isaiah 25:6ff.): by eating and drinking with people of all kinds, Jesus is saying the end has come: this is the promised banquet at the end of time, already here.
In general, however, in scholarship "symbolic actions" are mostly used of the Old Testament prophets.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
FINAL FILM GRADES (June, 2010)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
List for Monday's Oral Exams. Please check and keep in touch by cell phone (more inside)
This is the signup list for the Final Oral Exam based on the questions I emailed previously.
There is no exact way to predict your time though there's an obvious "ballpark figure," as we say; that is, a reasonably rough estimate. I would estimate 10-15 minutes for each student.
As I understand, we agreed to start at the regular class time, 1:10 on Monday.
The exam will be in my office. Be sure that MINNIE knows how to get there, although it's her responsibility.
Students who have a class after 3:10 may wish to go first so we are not rushed for time. Otherwise we'll return another day next week, probably the usual Wednesday time.
Obviously it's better to be a little early. Bring along a book or listen to Michael Jackson CDs through earphones. (But the Moonwalk is forbidden in the halls.)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
FINAL EXAM questions for 28 June 2010
FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS FOR 28 June 2010
1. It's well known that Rod Serling produced his Twilight Zone series to discuss social issues without censorship problems (since the issues were disguised as science fiction). Discuss possible social/political interpetations of "It's a Good Life."2. Discuss what Michael Jackson means to you. This, of course, can be positive or negative, but one must always illustrate one's position or give examples.
3. Discuss the limits of conformity or nonconformity: how much freedom should the individual have compared with the rights of the state to restrict that freedom? You should give specific examples: dress codes are required in the military, for example, in some businesses, and for some clergy. Or, in the famous judgment of the US Supreme Court, "Freedom of speech doesn't give a person the right to yell 'fire' in a crowded theatre." There are numerous examples of this kind.
4. Discuss your favorite musical artist and what you find of interest in the recordings (music. lyrics, voice); give examples.
5. Narrate an acrostic on your name in the style of "Mother" and other examples. Use your English name with a brief introduction.
Example: "My English name is TOM, which I think perfectly captures who I am.
T stands for toughness: I'm tough in the face of adversity.
O stands for obstinate. I can be obstinate if I know I'm right.
M stands for me: I'm responsible for me and no one else. I can't blame society or parents or teachers if I fail by social standards; and I know that only I am responsible to achieve my goals."
Alternate version (less thematic; that is, less unified by a single idea or character trait):
T stands for travel. I love traveling to different places, whether foreign or local.
O stands for obsessed. I'm obsessed with my appearance and spend a lot of money on how I look.
M stands for money. My main goal in life is to make a lot of money."
6. Mr. Bevis, in a Twilight Zone episode ("Time Enough at Last"), loved books. Discuss the book you think has influenced you the most.
7. Discuss what makes or made you sad and how you deal/dealt with it.
8. If, like Martin Sloan in "Walking Distance," you could choose to go back to your past, which period would you choose and why?
(This is from last semester's assignment.)
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Summary of Christological Issues in the New Testament (NOT REQUIRED)
Summary of Christological Issues in the New Testament
Christology is the question of who Jesus was, who others said he was, or who he himself said he was.In terms of vocabulary, Jesus Christ means "Jesus, Messiah" (only later was Christ used as a surname). There is no suggestion of divinity in the term, Messiah.
Similarly, the word Lord can mean "sir," and does not imply divinity.
"Son of God" or "sons of God" is a commnon Hebrew phrase (see Psalms 2; 110) and does not imply special (divine) sonship, merely adoptive sonship, as in Nathan's promise to David in 2 Samuel.
It's true Jesus felt close to God and called God "father," but he also advised his disciples to call God "father" (as in The Lord's Prayer).
The Gospels reflect a tension among early Christians between a low and high christology: a belief in the humanity of Jesus (however exceptional) and a belief that Jesus was divine.
The tension can be seen in verses that seem to "correct" earlier versions of Jesus. For example, Mark is often "corrected" by Luke or Matthew; so, for example, where Mark has the cursed fig tree wither after a delay, Matthew has it wither immediately. Where Mark's Jesus tries twice to cure a blind man, Matthew's Jesus tries once. Where Mark's Mary thinks Jesus is crazy, this is omitted in later gospels. Where Mark's Jesus has to be told of a storm, in Matthew he knows it. In Mark Peter tells Jesus "you are the Christ" but in Matthew he adds, "son of the living God" (16:16).
In Mark Jesus doesn't know who touches his robe, but he knows in Luke.
These corrections reflect on Jesus' wisdom too. Jesus wrongly calls Abiathar high priest in Mark 2:26 when it was Ahimelech who was high priest (so the other gospels omit the name).
In Matthew, Jesus confuses the murdered prophet Zechariah with the minor prophet, corrected by Luke (MT 23:35; 2 CH 24:20f).
Jesus attributes Psalm 110 to David, but modern scholarship disputes this. Jesus calls Jonah a prophet while modern scholarship reads Jonah as fiction.
In Matthew Jesus asks for an ass and a colt, misunderstanding Hebrew parallelism, which poetically repeats an idea; Luke omits the second animal.
None of this reflects on who Jesus was, merely on who the apostles and writers thought he was. The fact that the Gospels begin with a low christology (Mark) and end in a high christology (John) does not mean this was fabricated, merely that the apostles and evangelists were slow to realize who Jesus was.
This is reflected in the various christologies in the New Testament. These include a Parousia (Second Coming) christology, and christologies of Resurrection, Transfiguration, Baptism, Ministry, Conception (the Nativity stories in Luke and Matthew), and Preexistence, as in John's Incipit (also see 1 Corinthians 10:4; 2 Corinthians 8:9). That is, Jesus as Christ is revealed at different stages.
Acts 3:20: "and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you, even Jesus." The assumption is Jesus will be Lord only after his Parousia (Second Coming).
Catholic scholar, Raymond E. Brown, on whom I rely for this summary, sees a Parousia christology in the prayer, "Maranatha" ("Our Lord, come!") (1 Corinthains 16:22, Revelation 22:20). That is, Jesus is not Lord until he comes again. In other words, the christological event is in the Parousia.
Acts 2:33: "Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit." (Based on Psalm 110 as Acts makes clear by quoting it.) This is a Resurrection christology: Jesus becomes Lord only after his Passion and death.
We see this also in Acts 13:33: "What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: 'You are my Son, today I have become your Father.'"
Paul repeats this Resurrection christology in Romans (1:3-4): "Born of David's seed by the flesh; but Son of God by the Holy Spirit, by his resurrection from the dead: Lord Jesus Christ." Again Jesus is Lord only after his Resurrection.
The second Psalm is used for a baptism christology in the Synoptics (Mark, Matthew, Luke), modified by combining it with Isaiah's Suffering Servant, 42:1 ("in whom I am pleased").
A Ministry christology is evident in Jesus' miracles (loaves and fishes, calming of the sea, etc.), the new laws in Matthew 5 (the Sermon on the Mount: a christological event in which Jesus speaks as God), and the I Am sayings in the Gospels, notably the seven in John, but also, "Before Abraham was, I Am."
The Transfiguration (Jesus appears with Moses and Elijah) is another christological event and repeats the Baptism verses, where God announces Jesus' Sonship.
Some scholars believe the christological event was progressively pushed back to an earlier period, thus (as we have seen) from the Parousia, to the Resurrection, the Transfiguration, Baptism, Conception, Beginning (the Preexistence Christology of John's Incipit: "In the beginning was the Word").
Hence John's Jesus is fully assured on the Cross ("It is finished") (compare: "Why have you forsaken me?"). And John's Jesus cleanses the Temple at the beginning of his ministry instead of at the end, a christological event that defines who Jesus is from the first (as do other "signs," such as turning water into wine at Cana).
These different christologies may reflect not uncertainty who Jesus was but an historical discovery of who Jesus was, necessarily limited by human understanding. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians: "From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer" (5:16), combining an anti-World polemic with the christological event of Jesus' Resurrection, which places "life" in another world.
2 Gospel Songs
Two Gospel Songs
Use the consoles below, but you have to clear your cookies and cache or you may not see them. Otherwise, go here and here.
AMEN
"Amen" is a common word in the Bible, meaning "certainly" or "surely." But in the Old Testament it's always used after a person has spoken. Jesus reverses its usage by speaking it first, as if to insure the importance of what he says. The song refers to scenes from the Gospel of Luke, including the manger and the scene of Jesus in the Temple, which only occur in Luke's Gospel. But the song, as it's sung in the movie, Lilies of the Field, for which Sidney Poitier won the Oscar as Best Actor, is a complete catechism (a church lesson on the life and Passion of Jesus).
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen sing it over Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen See the little baby Wrapped in a manger on Christmas morning See him in the Temple Talking with the elders Who marvel at his wisdom Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen Hallelujah Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen Down at the Jordan where John was baptizing and saving all sinners. Amen, amen, amen. See him at the seaside Talking with the fishermen And making them disciples Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Marching to Jerusalem, over palm branches in pomp and splendor. See him in the garden praying to his Father in deepest sorrow. Let before Pilate, then they crucified him, but he rose on Easter (Amen!). Hallelujah, he died to save us and he lives forever! Hallelujah. Amen, Amen, Amen. Use the consoles below, but you have to clear your cookies and cache or you may not see them. Otherwise, go here and here.
AMEN
"Amen" is a common word in the Bible, meaning "certainly" or "surely." But in the Old Testament it's always used after a person has spoken. Jesus reverses its usage by speaking it first, as if to insure the importance of what he says. The song refers to scenes from the Gospel of Luke, including the manger and the scene of Jesus in the Temple, which only occur in Luke's Gospel. But the song, as it's sung in the movie, Lilies of the Field, for which Sidney Poitier won the Oscar as Best Actor, is a complete catechism (a church lesson on the life and Passion of Jesus).
PEOPLE GET READY
This is Soul singer Curtis Mayfield's version of an old Gospel metaphor of a Gospel Train.
People get readyThis is Soul singer Curtis Mayfield's version of an old Gospel metaphor of a Gospel Train.
There's a train a comin'
U don't need no baggage
U just get on board
All U need is faith
To hear the diesels hummin'
U don't need no ticket
U just thank the Lord
So people get ready
There'a a train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
Coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There's hope for all
Among those loved the most
There ain't no room
For the hopeless sinner
Whom would hurt all mankind
Just to save his own
Have pity on those whose
Chances grow thinner
For there is no hiding place
Against the kingdom's throne
People get ready
There's a train a comin'
U don't need no baggage
U just get on board
All U need is faith
To hear the diesels hummin'
U don't need no ticket
U just thank the Lord
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Final Home Listening Assignment, due 21 June 2010
IT'S A GOOD LIFE
View this famous episode from The Twilight Zone (1, 2, 3), then answer the following questions. Also, for the final week of classes, you should be able to discuss this episode in a free exchange of ideas.
1. According to the narrator, Rod Serling, what had arrived in the village?2. What doesn't the monster like?
3. What kind of thoughts do the inhabitants have to think?.
4. How old is Anthony?
5. How many heads does the gopher he made have?
6. What kind of soap was the store out of?
7. What kind of soup does Anthony love?
8. What kind of teeth did the animal Anthony created have?
9. What kind of party are they going to have for Dan?
10. What was Anthony looking at in the barn?
11. What does Anthony say he's going to make for everybody?
12. How many kids came to play with Anthony?
13. Where did Anthony put the dog he thinks hates him?
14. Which tune does the uncle say he will play?
15. What doesn't Anthony like when the music is playing?
16. What kind of brandy is Dan drinking?
17. How many bottles of Scotch are left in the village?
18. What does Anthony turn Dan into?
19. Where does the father ask Anthony to wish Dan to instead?
20 What is it doing outside?
21. What kind of day will tomorrow be?
22. What kind of thoughts should we think if we should meet Anthony?
2 New Testament Songs
2 New Testament Songs
Go here for both songs or click on console below.
I, JOHN
The song is based on the book of Revelation, the final book in the Bible. "John" refers to John the Divine, the reputed author of the book of Revelation. The lyrics stay fairly close to the images in that book, including John's vision and the description of the New Jerusalem. (The lyrics are not mine but from the Internet and I don't have time to correct them, though I made a few changes.)
Oh well, I, John, he saw a mighty numberGo here for both songs or click on console below.
I, JOHN
The song is based on the book of Revelation, the final book in the Bible. "John" refers to John the Divine, the reputed author of the book of Revelation. The lyrics stay fairly close to the images in that book, including John's vision and the description of the New Jerusalem. (The lyrics are not mine but from the Internet and I don't have time to correct them, though I made a few changes.)
A way up in the middle of the air
I, John he saw a mighty number
Way in the middle of the air
Got to mighty move, John, you saw mighty numbers
Way up in the middle of the air
Well there were three gates in the east
And there were three gates in the west
Three gates in the north
Three gates in the south
And that makes twelve gates to the city all square wide
God Almighty!
John, you saw a mighty numbers
Way up in the middle of the air
Well John declared that he saw a man
He held twelve bright stars in his right hand
Well his eyes flashed fire like the burning sun
Old John got scared and he wanted to run
Well he wanted to run but his feet wouldn't go
Cause he felt the gospel cutting like a two-edged sword
And he heard a voice that said John, you take a look
And read what you see and then you write it in a book
And he saw twelve angels in the east
And there were twelve angels in the west
Twelve angels in the north,
Twelve angels in the south
That's a total of forty-eight angels to the city, four squared wide
BOSOM OF ABRAHAM
This Gospel song alludes to the famous story of Lazarus (the poor man) and Dives (the rich man) in Luke's Gospel. Actually the rich man has no name in Luke but he was given one later on by Christian tradiiton. "Dives" is related to the word for "rich." "Rock" in the song has no relation to "rock" in "rock 'n' roll" but suggests rather the ecstasy of the Holy Spirit (as in "Holy Rollers" churches). The "bosom of Abraham" refers to Heaven, named after the first patriarch and symbol of perfect Faith. Incidentally, Elvis, the King of Rock 'n' Roll never won a Grammy for his Rock music but won three Grammys for his Gospel music. He is the only singer inducted into 4 different Halls of Fame: Rock, Country, Gospel, R&B!
This Gospel song alludes to the famous story of Lazarus (the poor man) and Dives (the rich man) in Luke's Gospel. Actually the rich man has no name in Luke but he was given one later on by Christian tradiiton. "Dives" is related to the word for "rich." "Rock" in the song has no relation to "rock" in "rock 'n' roll" but suggests rather the ecstasy of the Holy Spirit (as in "Holy Rollers" churches). The "bosom of Abraham" refers to Heaven, named after the first patriarch and symbol of perfect Faith. Incidentally, Elvis, the King of Rock 'n' Roll never won a Grammy for his Rock music but won three Grammys for his Gospel music. He is the only singer inducted into 4 different Halls of Fame: Rock, Country, Gospel, R&B!
Well! You rock my soul (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock rock rock (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock my soul (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock hmm, rock oh yeah,
Oh Lordy Lord,
Oh rock my soul
Why don't you rock my soul {repeat}
Well a rich man lives (with his glory and honour)
He lives so well (won't you praise the Lord)
Children when he dies (with his glory and honour)
He'll have no home in heaven (won't you praise the Lord)
Why don't you rock my soul (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock rock rock (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock my soul (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock hmm, rock oh yeah
Oh Lordy Lord
Whoa rock a-my soul (Why don't you rock my soul)
Won't you rock my soul (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock rock rock (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock my soul (Down in the bosom of Abraham)
Rock hmm, rock oh yeah
Once again Lord
Oh rock my soul (Why don't you rock my soul)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Show Me the Way to Go Home: JAWS and Its Sexual Subtext (NOT required)
Show Me the Way to Go Home: Jaws and Its Sexual Subtext
Jaws (1975) was Steven Spielberg's first major success as a director. The film established a new box-office plateau, earning 100 million on first release.It was the director's first major collaboration with composer John Williams, with whom Spielberg had partnered previously on Sugarland Express and with whom he would form one of the longest director-composer relationships in history, producing a series of legendary film scores, starting with Jaws, for which Williams won an Oscar.
The score is dominated by a two-note motif for cello combined with a three-note motif for tuba, associated with the shark. A harp glissando is used as an underwater motif.
Yet the music is significant for what is unscored. Thus there is no theme for the married couple, Martin Brody and his wife, Ellen, a clue to the film's subtext.
It's true the film can be enjoyed as an adventure thriller, in some ways even a horror film, translating land demons into sea monsters. Or Jaws can be enjoyed as a slasher movie in the style of Psycho, with the shark an aquatic version of Norman Bates, its sharp teeth replacing Bates' sharp knife. Indeed, Williams' music often evokes Bernard Herrmann's great score for Psycho, as well as Stravinsky's legendary percussive ballet score for Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), with shades of Prokofiev.
Regardless of the genre in which Jaws is placed, the film has a subtext of another kind. This is evident from the beginning when a sexually aroused male, seated around a campfire near the ocean, and in an inebriated stupor, stumbles to catch up with a female group member who has just flirted with him. Her mauling, by a shark, moments later, establishes the film's theme: there's safety on the shore and away from women.
This sexual subtext is suggested in our introduction to Brody, significantly, in his bedroom. He awakens, leaving his wife in bed as he stares listlessly outside his window at the sun streaming in across the water, disturbing his sleep.
This bedroom scene is tantalizingly ambiguous. Brody's wife, Ellen, lies in bed, as if in post-coital satisfaction. But it becomes evident the couple have been asleep, recently awakened by their radio alarm.
Their little boy returns from morning play and shows his injured finger to his mother—a phallic symbol of boyish mutilation fears—a theme that runs throughout the film, as we see images of mutilated bodies in both real life and shark manuals. As in a later scene with the three shark hunters on the boat, the boy's display of his wound has an element of bravado in it, as if denying his fear even as he voices it.
This fear is echoed in Brody's anxious concern over his son, prompting him to warn his son away from the swings, the way that Brody himself avoids the water. Later the boy says that swimming pools are for "old ladies. Brody concurs, asking only that his son please "the old man," linking himself with old ladies and their unmanly fears.
Similarly, the shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) is evidently hunting sharks as a displaced form of sexual bravado, obsessively singing of leaving fair Spanish ladies. As his obsession increases so does his defiant singing of the sea shanty. Later he proudly shows his body wounds, including his "castrated" phallic tooth, whose replacement he defiantly removes in a show of denial, as if to say, "I don't mind being wounded/castrated—I enjoy it."
The shark expert, Hooper, now feels compelled to exchange stories of wounds with Quint in what quickly becomes an implicit homosexual scene, including crossed legs, mutual exposure of flesh, and comparative measurement of scars, similar to what adolescent boys do at puberty. Meanwhile Brody modestly studies his own wound—what looks like his belly button. The assumption is that the male is wounded at birth.
Hooper hits the nail on the head when he calls one of his wounds a love wound, while Quint mysteriously declines to explain another wound, evidently a debrased (removed) tattoo of a woman who left him—wounding him. At this point Hooper sarcastically refers to Quint's mother, linking Quint's love wound also to motherly love.
Brody's eyeline match to the harbor's arch of a shark's mouth, complete with jagged teeth, stirs his manhood and he subsequently decides to pursue the shark. In mythology this symbol is called the Vagina Dentata, or vaginal teeth, linking the pursuit of the shark with the quest for masculinity.
This Brody achieves when he shoots the shark, exploding an incendiary device previously implanted in the shark. The effect is of sexual orgasm, the gun being another phallic symbol.
Having achieved sexual satisfaction vicariously, away from women, Brody and Hooper float in apparent post-coital bliss along the maternal waters of the Great Mother. Spielberg could have followed with a brief sequence showing how Brody's conquest of the shark bonded him with his wife in confident masculinity. But he chose instead to end with two men in apparent homosexual bliss floating down maternal waters, like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Jim floating down the Mississippi. "Home" for these men is anyplace away from women.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
JAWS underscore cues and source music
Jaws Music Cues
Students, you can't study an underscore unless you familiarize yourselves with the themes and cues ahead of time. Go here (suite), or here (main title by itself). Or play consoles, below. Especially important, of course, is the main shark theme, a two-note motif played in accelerated tempo, usually in counterpoint with a three-note French horn motif.
As a deliberate choice by composer John Williams this theme is heard only when the real (not a fake) shark appears or is present, though not always heard when the real shark is present. In one instance, for example, when Brody, on the boat, sees the shark unexpectedly, a stinger is used instead of the shark theme, which follows only after the stinger.
Source music is also important in the fim, namely the two sea shanties ("Show Me the Way to Go Home" and "Farewell and Adieu Ye Fair Spanish Ladies") that develop the film's themes.
In terms of editing, note the intercutting on the first song and the use of POV sound and camera, that is, from the point of view of the shark. Thematically the song develops the theme of regressive comfort: the childish comfort of home, safety, domesticity, which the three male characters fight against in an attempt to heal their (sexual) wounds.
The second song is associated with Quint and suggests a disturbed sexual subtext (flight from women).
Monday, June 14, 2010
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM (a christological moment in pop music!)
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM
THIS HIT SONG from Jesus Christ, Superstar is a christological moment in pop music! Mary Magdalene sings of whom Jesus might be (man or God). To hear Sarah Brightman's interpretation of the song, go here. To hear the original cast recording, go here. (There are other versions on youtube.)All the songs from the musical are on youtube; while the lyrics are easily available on the Net. There have been several recordings of the musical, including the album version (before it was staged it was released as a "concept album"). After the success of Evita producers began to capitalize on the Webber-Rice marquee value and Jesus Christ, Superstar was finally staged. Then Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was amplified from an early school production to a marketable musical and it too was successful.
All of these musicals (including Godspell, by Stephen Schwarz (the same composer who wrote, "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt) are literate and educational. At the very least they involve the viewer in the emotional life of the biblical texts without much tampering of those texts.
The Italian director, Pier Paolo Pasolini's great film version of the Gospel of Matthew, called The Gospel According to Matthew (1964; Pasolini deliberately leaves out "Saint") is also valuable. It is stunning in its simplicity after a tradition of glamorizing the life of Jesus in Hollywood. The film is lovingly dedicated to the popular pope, John XXIII, called "Giovanni" in the dedication. Pasolini uses several pieces of classical music in the film, including Bach's somber Violin (sometimes, harsichord) concerto in E major and Mozart's impassioned, "Masonic Funeral Music." You might wish to familiarize yourselves with these pieces before you see the movie.
All the movies are fairly short and the musicals are quite tuneful, with witty and incisive lyrics. As stage productions they've been done literally hundreds of times around the world and are among the most well known adaptations of the biblical stories.
You might wish to arrange group viewings. I know your time is limited, especially near the end of the semester. But these films are well worth watching, for enjoyment as well as for other points of view on the biblical literature.
Mary Magdalene
I don't know how to love him
What to do, how to move him
I've been changed, yes really changed
In these past few days
When I've seen myself
I seem like someone else
I don't know how to take this
I don't see why he moves me
He's a man
He's just a man
And I've had so many
Men before
In very many ways
He's just one more
Should I bring him down
Should I scream and shout
Should I speak of love
Let my feelings out?
I never thought I'd come to this
What's it all about?
Don't you think it's rather funny
I should be in this position?
I'm the one
Who's always been
So calm so cool
No lover's fool
Running every show
He scares me so
I never thought I'd come to this
What's it all about?
Yet
If he said he loved me
I'd be lost
I'd be frightened
I couldn't cope
Just couldn't cope
I'd turn my head
I'd back away
I wouldn't want to know
He scares me so
I want him so
I love him so
Sunday, June 13, 2010
New Testament: ACTS to REVELATION (Final Handout of Academic Year) June 2010
THE NEW TESTAMENT
Acts
The Book of Acts is part of the The Gospel of Luke but separated to keep 4 Gospels together. "Acts" means "actions" (history). At first, they have to replace Judas with another apostle, to make 12: 1
24: And [in the upper room] they prayed and said, "Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen 25: to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place."
26: And they cast lots and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.
Casting lots was an acceptable means of finding out God's choice. The Jewish priesthood did this too.
2
1: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were together in one place.
2: And a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting.
The 50th day after Jesus' resurrection occurs the outpouring of the Holy Spirit predicted by Joel:
3: And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, resting on each of them.
4: And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
14: Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said,
16: "[T]his is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17: `And in the last days it shall be, God declares, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18: and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.'
44: And all who believed were together and had all things in common;
Early Christians were communistic. Prophetic anger was directed at social inequality: "You sell the poor for a pair of shoes" (Amos).
45: and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need.
6
7: And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem, and many priests were obedient to the faith.
This tells us that even Jewish priests of the Temple were following Jesus at the time.
8: And Stephen, full of grace and power, did wonders and signs among the people.
12: And [other Jews] stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they brought him before the council,
13: and set up false witnesses who said,
14: "we have heard him say Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us."
7
1: And the high priest said, "Is this so?"
2: And Stephen said: "Hear me.
48: The Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,
49: `Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
50: Did not my hand make all these things?'
57: But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed upon him.
58: Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
This is the first appearance in the Bible of a man named Saul, a Jew who hated Christians and helped kill them. Later Saul sees a vision of Jesus, changes his name to Paul, and, as "Apostle to the Gentiles," turns a Jewish religion into a world religion. The influence of Paul is beyond measure.
8
1: And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Luke refers to one of many persecutions against Christians. Note the irony here: persecution helps to spread the church!
9
1: Saul, breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2: and asked for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3: Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him.
4: And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5: And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;
6: but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what to do."
7: The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
8: Saul arose from the ground; and he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9: And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
17: Then Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
20: And in the synagogues immediately Paul proclaimed Jesus, saying, "He is the Son of God."
23: When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him,
25: but his disciples took him by night and let him down over the wall, lowering him in a basket.
11
26: In Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. From a Jewish sect, the Jesus movement is becoming its own religion.
13
46: And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly [in a synagogue at Antioch], saying, "It was necessary the word of God be spoken first to you [the Jews]. Since you turn from it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47: For the Lord has commanded us, saying, `I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the far parts of the earth.'"
Isaiah 49:6
15
4: When they came to Jerusalem,
5: the Pharisees said, "It is necessary to circumcise [the Gentiles], and to charge them to keep the law of Moses."
At issue is whether the Jewish Law has value after Jesus. One group of Jewish Christians wishes to follow both Jesus and the Jewish Law (the Torah) (including circumcision).
7: Peter said,
10: "Why do you try God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
11: But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."
The Grace of Jesus replaces the Law.
20: We should write to them only to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood.
These "laws" come from the more universal Noachide Covenant. God tells Noah: "You must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting" GENESIS 9:4-5). Idolatry is also forbidden by the nature of monotheism (one god).
20
35: Paul said, "In all things I have shown you that by toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of Jesus, `It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
A quote of Jesus not in the canonic Gospels! We assume Paul is quoting correctly. So this is another Beatitude from Jesus.
28
The Jews arrest Paul, but Paul appeals for justice as a Roman citizen.16: And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier that guarded him [until his defense. And the local leader of the Jews said,]
22: "We desire to hear your views."
23: And Paul testified to the kingdom of God, trying to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets.
30: And he lived there two years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,
31: preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ openly.
This is the last we hear of Paul, as he waits to defend himself before the Emperor. Not a wise choice, since the Emperor was the madman, Nero! It's assumed Paul died a martyr shortly afterwards.
The rest of the New Testament contains 21 Letters and the Book of Revelation. The Letters are classified as Pauline Letters (named after Paul); Johannine Letters (named after John); the Deutero-Pauline Letters (once attributed to Paul but doubted by scholars for biographical or textual reasons); Catholic Letters (that is, "general" letters, with no specific church addressed); and Pastoral letters (concerned about church leadership). The Catholic (General) letters are seven, including Peter (2), John (3), James, and Jude. The Pastoral letters are to Timothy (2) and Titus. The Pauline letters are from Romans to Hebrews, but some are considered "deutero-Pauline" (that is, doubtfully by Paul, such as Hebrews, placed last among the Pauline letters). Others are debated, such as the Pastoral letters and 2 Thessalonians. The letters, written mainly for private or circular (circulated among churches) reasons, have had great influence on Christian thought.
Letter to the Romans
1
A key motif in Paul is the Cross (called the Theology of the Cross). The Cross represents the death of both the Flesh and the Law for Paul, compared to Life in Jesus, with whom the Christian dies to have life. 16: I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed; as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live."
Paul uses Habakuk 2:4 in a text that influenced Martin Luther and the German Reformation, which broke from the Catholic Church based on this Pauline text, simplified as "by faith alone." However, Paul means "faith" compared to the Jewish Law, not faith as compared to Works. This issue is revived in the Letter of James, which preaches Works and Faith. Paul tries to keep a balance between Jew and Greek (non-Jew) as both heirs of the "promise." For the Promise is by Faith, not Law.
2
13: For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
Paul never opposes faith to works, but faith to the Law. Works (doing good) must follow faith. By "hearers of the Law," Paul means the Jews. The later argument (below) is close to Jeremiah 31:31:
14: When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
15: They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts,
27: Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
29: Real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God.
3
28: For we hold a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.
Paul says "works of law," not "works of faith." James will emphasize this point (one of the Catholic letters).
4
13: The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14: If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
17: as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations."
Since the Promise (to Abraham) came before the Law, and since God's Promise cannot be canceled, the Promise is above the Law; moreover the Promise is to "many nations" (not only Jews).
5
14: Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Here we get a typology: Adam was a type of Jesus: but Adam (the first man) brought sin, while Jesus (the second man) brought freedom from sin; hence the incipit of John's Gospel, starting a new beginning: "In the beginning," but now starting with perfect obedience instead of disobedience.
19: For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.
We saw this in the Gospels: Jesus, unlike the Jews, is tempted but obedient.
6
3: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Baptism is a type of death from which the sinner is raised to new life. In following Jesus, the sinner's body is crucified with Jesus, freeing the Spirit, like Jesus did. This is Paul's Theology of the Cross, which is repeated in the Christian, who dies to the flesh to live in the spirit, with Jesus:
6: We know our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
7: For he who has died is freed from sin.
8: But if we have died with Christ, we believe we shall live with him.
11: So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
8
14: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Just like Jesus, Son of God, was led by the Spirit, so the sinner, led by Jesus, can become a son of God.
15: For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!"
Jesus set the model for this relationship with the Father (God), though Isaiah calls God "Father" too [64:8]. The next verse has also had great influence, since it argues for predestination, such as influenced some Protestant sects (Calvinism, for example). But the main point is that, in following Jesus, each person can be taken under the special protection of God as Father the same way Jesus was.
29: For those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.
31: What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?
9
Paul now has a problem: For God called the Jews as his Chosen People (Israel) and God's Word cannot fail; Paul gets out of this problem by saying that "Israel" is an idea (Faith), not of the Flesh. Therefore the "Promise" made to Israel still stands, since all who have Faith are part of Israel and will be saved. 6: But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7: and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named."
8: This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.
9: For this is what the promise said, "About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son."
11: [Thus] God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call. . . .
Paul's clever argument is that the Promise to Israel was fulfilled in Sarah, not through "children of the flesh" (through natural birth). Again he emphasizes that the Promise is fulfilled through no human effort ("works") but by faith alone. In the same way, in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Nicodemus that only those "born again" will be saved (that is, not those born Jews, of the Law, but those born of Faith).
1 Corinthians
1
27: God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
28: God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
29: so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
This is typical Pauline style: the Theology of the Cross is "foolish" compared to Greek Wisdom or Jewish Law (with its hope for a Messiah of power). Again, his goal is to free the Promise to all (not only to Jews) and at the same time to prevent "boasting" because the Gift is Free: apart from Works or human effort.
13
One of the most famous texts in the Bible, in praise of Love. This shows that Faith, though free, must bear fruit in Love (charity, works). Faith in itself is "noisy" (screaming in church, for example) or mere prophecy or knowledge (such as Gnostics valued).1: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2: And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
7: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8: Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9: For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10: but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
13: So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Verse 13 is where the church got the three "Theological Virtues": faith, hope, and love. These virtues are called "theological" since they come from Grace, or God. We hope when there is no reason to; we love the unlovable; we have faith in what we don't see. The tricolor Italian flag honors these virtues: Red=love, white=faith, green=hope.
15
Here Paul explains the difficult idea of resurrection, using typology at the beginning: if Adam represents death, Christ represents Life. But no-one knows what that Life will be except it will not be corruptible, like the human body, but incorruptible. Paul makes a distinction between bodily and physical resurrection. Jesus had a body but it was not physical since he could walk through walls.
20: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
22: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
35: But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?"
36: You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
38: But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
47: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
49: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50: I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
53: For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.
54: When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
55: "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?"
2 Corinthians
5
The reader can see some Gnostic ideas here (the body as a trap of our divine potential); but for Paul the earthly body is real as is the hope of the Resurrection in a Heavenly Body:1: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2: Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling.
17: Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
See Revelation: "Behold, I make all things new." Under the Jewish Law, no-one could be "justified," or "right" before God, no matter how many animal sacrifices were made. Only the perfect sacrifice of one without sin (God's Son) could make man righteous and sons of God with hope of a Resurrection like the Son of God (verse 21).
12
Scholars have debated Paul's "thorn in the flesh." The best guesses are epilepsy or homosexuality. It's ironic but instructive that the two most famous prayers in the New Testament were unanswered: Jesus prayed to God to have his cup of suffering removed and Paul prayed three times to have his problem removed, but both were denied. Paul again preaches his Theology of the Cross (here, "weakness" perfecting power).7: To keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.
8: Three times I prayed the Lord about this, that it should leave me;
9: but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Letter to the Galatians
2
More Theology of the Cross: only by dying in Jesus can the Christian live to God; and this is by Faith, not Law. Or Jesus died in vain. 20: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
21: for if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose.
3
If the Promise was given to Abraham, before the Law was given to Moses, it follows the Promise is fulfilled in Faith, not Law. Since the Promise cannot be taken back, the Promise replaces the Law! Since Abraham was not circumcised before the Promise, Faith replaces Circumcision as guarantee of the Promise.1: O foolish Galatians!
2: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by faith?
3: Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
6: Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."
7: So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
8: And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed."
9: So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith.
10: For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them."
The second part of Paul's argument is that the Law can never justify: for who can fulfill the Law? By Faith alone will they live, not Works of the Law:
11: It is evident no man is justified before God by the law; for "He who through faith is righteous shall live";
12: but the law does not rest on faith, for "He who does them shall live by them."
13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us -- for it is written, "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree" --
14: that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
16: Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many; but, referring to one, "And to your offspring," which is Christ.
Paul picks at words: Scripture says "Seed" (Offspring) not "Seeds." Paul reads this to mean Jesus.
17: The law, which came 430 years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God.
18: If the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19: Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made.
If the Law has value, God's Promise is void: then God is not God! So the Promise voids the Law. But why the Law at all? Because the Law was needed until Jesus (the Seed of Abraham) came. Note: "sons of God."
24: So the law was our custodian until Christ came,
26: for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
All are one in Christ:
28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29: And if Christ's, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs to promise.
4
22: Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman.
23: But the son of the slave was according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise.
24: Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
30: But what does the scripture say? "Cast out the slave and her son; for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman."
31: So we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
5
Faith is not an end in itself, but must bear fruit (love, joy, peace, etc.). Faith in Christ means to be crucified with/in Christ, hence without worldly desires:6: For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision helps, but faith working through love.
18: But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
22: [For] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23: gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
24: And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
6
14: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
15: For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
Ephesians
2
8: [B]y grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, but the gift of God --
9: not because of works, lest any man should boast.
13: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.
Paul is addressing Gentiles, "saved through faith" as a free gift of God (not through the Law or circumcision). The Gentiles ("far off" from the Jewish Promise), are saved "in the blood of Christ" (not the Jewish Law), breaking down the wall that separated Jew and Gentile. For Jesus ended the Law in his flesh (the Crucified Jesus making flesh the means of Spirit):
14: For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility,
15: by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. . . .
2
Jesus, though God, became nothing ("emptied himself") in order to be a model of obedience.5: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8: And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Colossians
2
Only by dying with Christ can the person live in Christ, not following human laws which are of no use; because the Law, being of the world, can not overcome the world. The Law reminds us of the World, only the Cross overcomes the World:
Only by dying with Christ can the person live in Christ, not following human laws which are of no use; because the Law, being of the world, can not overcome the world. The Law reminds us of the World, only the Cross overcomes the World:
11: In Christ you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;
12: and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
20: If with Christ you died, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations? . . .
1 Thessalonians
Paul tries comforts the church in Thessalonica by preaching Resurrection:
Paul tries comforts the church in Thessalonica by preaching Resurrection:
4
16: And the dead in Christ will rise first;
17: then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
18: Therefore comfort one another with these words.
5
1: As to times and seasons, you have no need to have anything written to you.
2: For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
4: But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
5: For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
2 Thessalonians
2
The idea of predestination is an insurance of God's salvation, not condemnation, in the same way that Jesus was predestined to come in the flesh and have his prayer to be spared unanswered: 13: But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
14: To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15: So then stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.
The early church had problems with different "gospels" and Paul wished to preach only the Gospel of the Cross: the Christ who really suffered, died, and returned to life.
1 Timothy
One of the three Pastoral Letters (advising church conduct), though Paul probably did not write it. The warning to Timothy is against Gnostic ideas, which forbade marriage and certain foods. Paul is consistent: the Flesh cannot save, only God's grace. To give up marriage or foods is to depend on our will (the flesh) and to be under the Law, which only adds to our offenses. The Law creates Sin by temptation; so the end of the Law, in Christ, is the end of Temptation.
One of the three Pastoral Letters (advising church conduct), though Paul probably did not write it. The warning to Timothy is against Gnostic ideas, which forbade marriage and certain foods. Paul is consistent: the Flesh cannot save, only God's grace. To give up marriage or foods is to depend on our will (the flesh) and to be under the Law, which only adds to our offenses. The Law creates Sin by temptation; so the end of the Law, in Christ, is the end of Temptation.
4
1: Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
3: who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4: For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving;
5: for then it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
2 Timothy
More of Paul's Theology of the Cross and the "power" that comes from it.1
6: I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;
7: for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
8: Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God. . . .
3
16: All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
4
3: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
The early church had to fight "false teachings" for centuries; in fact, these "false teachings" continue to this day, since each has their own "interpretations" of what Jesus said. One of the main "false" teachings was Gnosticism, such as John mentions too. The main Gnostic idea was "Docetism," which preached that Jesus only "seemed" to have a real body, but really didn't. But the "two-nature" theology Paul preached (Jesus as Man and God) was the belief the church accepted.
4: and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.
7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Titus
In this Pastoral letter, "Paul" (a "deutero-Pauline" letter) preaches agaisnt the Law that prevents certain foods being eaten: "to the pure all things are pure." "Knowing God" means having faith in God, not following dietary laws.1
16: They claim to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed.
Philemon
This Pauline letter pleads with a man named Philemon on behalf of a runaway slave, deserving of death under Roman law. But Paul argues the slave (Onesimus) should be treated as a fellow Christian:1
1: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved and fellow worker,
10: I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment.
12: I am sending him back to you,
16: no longer a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17: So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
18: If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
25: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Once a "Pauline" letter, now called deutero-Pauline. It's placed last among Paul's letters, right before the Catholic (General) letters. The appeal to Scriptures is Pauline, though Paul would have known the sources!
2
The writer refers to Psalm 8, but Paul would have known which Psalm. In John, Jesus' cloak is seamless, suggesting Jesus as High Priest: 6: It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him?
17: Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to atone for the sins of the people.
18: For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
5
5: Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee";
The Messianic Psalm 2:7.
8: Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
9: and being made perfect he became the source of salvation to all who obey him. . . .
7
Based on the meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18ff. "Paul" argues Melchizedek is a type of Jesus, above Moses and therefore above the Mosaic Law:1: Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him;
2: and to him Abraham gave a tenth of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
3: He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he's a priest for ever.
11: Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what need would there have been for another priest after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
27: [Jesus] has no need, like those priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
9
This is a typical argument "to the stronger": If a animal can purify from sin, how much more so can the perfect Son of God:13: For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh,
14: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15: Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the offenses under the first covenant.
12
3: Consider him who endured hostility against himself, so you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
11: All discipline seems painful; later it yields the fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
15: See to it
16: that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
17: For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, though he sought it with tears.
James
This Catholic letter seems to have been written to answer a misreading of Paul as preaching faith without works; James preaches that faith without works is dead. The reference to the "12 tribes" of the "Dispersion" may be a Christian code:
This Catholic letter seems to have been written to answer a misreading of Paul as preaching faith without works; James preaches that faith without works is dead. The reference to the "12 tribes" of the "Dispersion" may be a Christian code:
1
1: To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
22: Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
2
14: What does it profit if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?
15: If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food,
16: and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?
17: So faith by itself is dead.
21: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
22: You see that faith was completed by works,
26: For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.
4
13: Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain";
14: whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
5
1: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries coming upon you.
4: Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5: You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.
7: Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain.
8: You also be patient, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
11: Behold, we call those happy who were steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord. . . .
1 Peter
Attributed to Peter, a Pastoral Letter. Refers to the "useless" Jewish law compared to the "blood of Christ," which ended sacrifices:1
18: You know you were ransomed from the useless ways of your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19: but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
20: He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.
23: You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24: for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25: but the word of the Lord abides for ever." That word is the good news which was preached to you.
Peter uses Isaiah 40:6-8 typologically to refer to Jesus.
2
The Gentiles (not the Jews) have become the "chosen race" and "God's own people":9: [Y]ou are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
16: Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God.
24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Refers to the "Suffering Servant" song of Isaiah. Verse 16 addressed the problem of what "freedom" in Christ means: not freedom to do evil, but freedom from evil.
3
20: God's patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
21: Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22: who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
This is a typological reading of the Flood in Genesis. Chapter 5:10 encourages Christians who suffered under Roman rule:
5
10: After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you.
2 Peter
As a hope in the end of the world faded, Christians began to doubt the Word of God, so Peter tries to explain the situation. 2 Peter is considered the latest document in the New Testament:3
4: saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation."
7: But . . . the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8: But do not forget that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9: The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
10: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the earth will be burned up.
13: But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14: Therefore, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish.
THE JOHANNINE LETTERS
Attributed to John, called Johannine. They share motifs with John's Gospel (light vs. darkness, and emphasis on "love"); it's believed a "school" sharing John's ideas wrote the letters, part of the Catholic Letters:
Attributed to John, called Johannine. They share motifs with John's Gospel (light vs. darkness, and emphasis on "love"); it's believed a "school" sharing John's ideas wrote the letters, part of the Catholic Letters:
1 John
1
John fights false doctrines, probably Gnostic ideas ("walk in darkness"):5: This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
6: If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. . . .
2
9: He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still.
12: I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake.
13: I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
These ideas are similar to John's Gospel: overcoming the world, the identify of Jesus and the Father, and love. The doctrine of Docetism is opposed as the "antichrist," or "he who denies the Father and the Son." Docetism would argue that Jesus only "seemed" to be the Son (person). Note here (and other places) where, according to the scholar Rudolf Bultmann, demythologization has already taken plae. The "antichrist" is no longer considered a mythical demon but a real person. Demythologization is apparent in the Gospel of John too, where the escathological expectation is already present/now: the community of believers has already established Heaven on earth, though not completely.
15: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
22: Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
3
17: But if any one has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
18: Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.
4
4: Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
5: They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them.
8: He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.
10: In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.
18: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
19: We love, because he first loved us.
20: If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
5
4: For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
5: Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Note above the sense of a realized eschatology in John (regardless who wrote the texts): the world has already been overcome; hence God's kingdom is here. Below is another attempt to combat Docetism, as if Jesus merely appeared to suffer and die: Thus Jesus came not only by water, but by blood (the purpose of the scene of Jesus' piercing in John's Gospel. Note also, once again, as in the Synoptics, the world belongs to Satan; but the community of Christians, in perfect love, belong to God's kingdom and cannot be harmed by Satan. This is John's "realized eschatology":
6: This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood.
19: We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.
2 John
The opening is Christian code: the "elect lady" is the Church, while "her children" are the Christians. Verse 7 refers to the Gnostic heresy called Docetism, that Jesus did not really come in the flesh and suffer:1
1: The elder to the elect lady and her children:
4: I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children following the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father.
7: For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
3 John
1
11: Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. He who does good is of God; he who does evil has not seen God.
Jude
A Gnostic "heresy" argued that since the Flesh was of no account, sins of the Flesh were of no account either; the Spirit only mattered. Enjoy the vivid imagery in the final verses:3: Beloved, being eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to fight for the faith.
4: For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were destined for condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
12: These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
13: wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever.
1: Then I looked, and on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
2: And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing their harps,
3: and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
13: And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"
Apocalypse gives hope to the hopeless (the Romans persecuted Christians).
14: Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Jesus as Judge.
15: And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."
Revelation
Revelation may be the most difficult book in the Bible, yet its images have influenced Western art for centuries. It may well be that its difficulty was its goal; so that its images could be used for whatever purpose new generations saw to use them for. It was one of the books that made it into the Bible only after long debate. But now it's hard to imagine the (Christian) Bible without the bookends of Genesis and Revelation: the beginning and the end. Apart from a literal understanding of the text, the book can be read mainly as a biblical pep talk to the underdog; as if to say, "Look, it may seem like you're losing now, but wait a while longer and you will see a great reversal when the powerful will be punished and the weak will see God and share in the Heavenly Banquet.
Revelation may be the most difficult book in the Bible, yet its images have influenced Western art for centuries. It may well be that its difficulty was its goal; so that its images could be used for whatever purpose new generations saw to use them for. It was one of the books that made it into the Bible only after long debate. But now it's hard to imagine the (Christian) Bible without the bookends of Genesis and Revelation: the beginning and the end. Apart from a literal understanding of the text, the book can be read mainly as a biblical pep talk to the underdog; as if to say, "Look, it may seem like you're losing now, but wait a while longer and you will see a great reversal when the powerful will be punished and the weak will see God and share in the Heavenly Banquet.
1
1: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
2: who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all he saw.
"Seven" is a symbolic complete number: the "seven churches" are all Christian churches:
4: John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,
5: and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
6: and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him;
8: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Jesus is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Suffering inspiresApocalypse, as people lose patience. John was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the Gospel ("the word"). The "Lord's Day" is Sunday, which replaced the Saturday Sabbath:
9: I John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
11: saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches."
17: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last,
18: and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
19: Now write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter.
4
2: At once I was in the Spirit, and a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne!
3: And round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.
The rainbow is the Noachide Covenant of peace. 24 refers to the combined 12 Jewish tribes and 12 Christian apostles, joining Old and New Testaments:
4: Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, in white garments, with golden crowns upon their heads.
6: and before the throne there is like a sea of glass, like crystal. On each side of the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:
7: the first living creature like a lion, the second like an ox, the third with the face of a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle.
This refers to Ezekiel. In Christian tradition, the lion=Mark, the ox=Luke, the eagle=John, and the man=Matthew.
8: The four living creatures, each with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"
From Isaiah, 6.
5
1: And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals;
2: and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?"
4: And I wept that no one was worthy to open the scroll.
5: Then one of the elders said to me, "Weep not; the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so he can open the scroll and its seven seals."
Only Jesus (the Root of David) can fulfill Justice.
6: And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth;
7: and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
It's the sacrificed Jesus (the slain Lamb) that saves.
8: And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls of incense, the prayers of the saints;
9: and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood ransomed men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10: and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth."
Because of this text and a later one (below), harps are identified with Heaven. Note that prayers are saved in Heaven, thus encouraging believers to continue in their hope.
6
These are the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, conquest, war, famine, and death.1: Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as with a voice of thunder, "Come!"
2: And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
3: When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"
4: And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another; and he was given a great sword.
5: When he opened the third seal, behold, a black horse, and its rider had scales in his hand;
7: When he opened the fourth seal,
8: I saw a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death.
9: When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God;
11: Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
In other words, suffering is part of God's bigger plan, giving those who suffer for the church hope.
12: When he opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
17: for the great day of wrath has come, and who can stand before it?"
7
1: After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
2: Then I saw another angel
3: saying, "Do no harm till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads."
God protects his elect from harm.
4: And I heard the number of the sealed, 144 thousand sealed.
That is, 12,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel.
9: After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10: and crying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!"
13: Then one of the elders addressed me,
14: And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15: and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16: They shall hunger no more,
17: and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
11
The Ark was hidden under the Jewish Law, and then lost. Now it is restored and visible to all:19: Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. . . .
12
1: And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
2: she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.
The Church and the 12 apostles.
3: And another sign appeared in heaven; a red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads.
4: His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth;
5: she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne. . . .
An image of the Devil, probably with reference to Rome's seven hills.
7: Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
8: but they were defeated and there was no place for them in heaven.
17: Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and testify to Jesus.
The Devil instead causes mischief on earth, murdering the "saints" of the church (followers of Jesus).
14
2: And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing their harps,
3: and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
13: And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"
Apocalypse gives hope to the hopeless (the Romans persecuted Christians).
14: Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Jesus as Judge.
15: And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."
17
1: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters,
5: and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations."
This is Rome, which persecuted Christians; the "seven mountains" are the seven hills of Rome.
6: And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
9: This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.
18
21: Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So shall Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and shall be found no more. . . .
19
1: After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying, "Hallelujah!
11: Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
This became the source of the cowboy hero riding a white horse (the bad cowboy rode a black horse).
16: On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.
19: And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who sits upon the horse and against his army.
20: And the beast was captured, and thrown alive into the lake of fire.
20
This is the Book of Life that Moses mentioned ("blot me from the Book of Life"), as well as Daniel:12: And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done.
15: and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
21
1: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2: And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;
3: and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them;
4: he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."
Refers to Isaiah; the Promise made to Abraham is now fulfilled, since God and his people are One.
5: And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."
6: And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
7: He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son."
9: Then came one of the seven angels and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10: And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem
12: It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed;
13: on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
14: And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
16: The city lies foursquare.
21: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
22: And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
23: And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
22
13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
16: "I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star."
20: He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen.
"Come, Lord Jesus" echoes the name Emmanuel (Immanuel) from both Isaiah and Matthew: "God is with us," and the need, from the beginning, to restore God's presence in the world since Adam and Eve's disobedience. So the Bible comes full circle, from the "Beginning" to the "End" back to the Beginning again and a Creation that God made "good."
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