post for 4/24

Woohoo! We have finally made it to the (almost) end of the semester. I am excited and nervous for what is to come, for this week, and for the next years. I realized that I only have a little over a year till I will graduate and that is sort of scary. This class has been very interesting. We have examined many interesting points of view that I had never even considered before. We have closely examined liberation theory, which is the idea that God stands with the oppressed, and that Jesus came to liberate the oppressed. I had never really thought about it in those terms, but I think it is hard to ignore this idea. It is hard to understand Jesus as not being a liberator for the oppressed after taking the class.

One of my favorite things about this class was our discussions. I felt they were always very civil and respectful. That made this class very enjoyable and even fun.  One of the most interesting discussions revolved around gay marriage. Not everyone agrees about this, but we still had very eye opening discussions around this topic. I learned that Adam comes from the word Adamah, which means from the earth and that this was a non-gendered creature that later became Adam and Eve.  When the Bible discusses  Adamah it uses the word that in Hebrew can mean mankind. When Eve was created Adam is referred to as exclusively male or husband. I had never heard this argument and was surprised to learn that even ancient Rabbis believed this. I will remember this information as I progress on my quest for equality for all.

I also really liked how we did not have tests in this class. This class lends itself very well to discussions and even to writing papers. I was very pleased to discover that we did not have any tests.  Sometimes, I felt the homework was a bit overwhelming, but I would rather do more homework and less tests, so I guess it worked out in the end. I felt that the paper was a good way for us to be able to reflect on our own beliefs.

I really enjoyed taking this class. It was insightful and eve, at times fun. I enjoyed listening to others and learning from their perspective. I would likely recommend this class to others, especially if they wanted to have to question their beliefs. I really enjoyed examining the Bible in new lights. I really enjoyed this class.

(PS this week has been really stressful for me, which is why I forgot to get this done on time. I am very sorry)