Reading the Bible

After getting almost two thirds through the Old Testament I can say that I am not disappointed that I read the Bible. The Bible is able to connect what we thought was original or rhetoric from another source to the master and model of all writing that takes place today. Plotz discussed the revelations that he had daily from reading the Old Testament.

"It was as if I lifted a veil off my culture. You can't get through a chapter of the Bible, even in the most obscure book, without encountering a phrase, a name, a character, or an idea that has come down to us from 3000 years ago. The Bible is the first source of so much: from the smallest plot twists (the dummy David's wife places in the bed to fool assassins) to the most fundamental ideas about morality (the Levitical prohibition of homosexuality that still shapes our politics, for example) to our grandest notions of law and justice"

The less you know about the writings of the Bible the better. Then you get to come into the text with a fresh eye and take in millenia of culture and society that still exists today. In taking out the faith that most people think you need to decipher the Bible, it becomes a story about the trials of life and how these situations were solved and you get to answer why things are not done the same anymore. I came into this class as an indifferent agnostic, no different from Plotz himself. I have been able to leave this class with an understanding and a defendable stand point on my personal beliefs and a better understanding of the world around me. Thank you, Dr. Sexson, for opening up this world of information, which I think has helped me grow as an individual more than any other class.