Hey everybody!
I was just thinking how its interesting that we read the Bible the same way we are taught to read fiction/fantasy, by suspending disbelief, which is probably one of our first reaction when reading about the lifespans of most of the people in Genesis or the miracles of Exodus for the first time. Our reading for tomorrow's class is Esther, which is qualified to begin with as most probably fiction (either in the intro or footnotes). I think it would be incredibly hard for none of that to slip into any other parts of the Bible and I was wondering whether anyone else thinks that some of the extreme and violent actions mentioned in it that we were talking about yesterday might have been meant as allegory but have been lost in translation in the parts we consider to be historically accurate?
Let me know what you think!
Anu
I personally think that some parts are definitely exaggerations and the stories were changed with the orality, which is why we come to appreciate somehow a new interest in writing, and the emphasis in the written word like we discussed last time in class.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the differences in response would be if you were to ask this in the context of reading the bible in a secular vs. religious sense. Either way, I think that the important thing is that the same messages are portrayed, despite exaggerations or historical errors in the plot.
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