BIB 100 (FR02-12/USP): Jesus and The Christian Community

Friday, January 27, 2012

1/27/12: Quiz 2 Answers, Culture, Ten Commandments, Laughing Bride, South Park

Quiz Monday:
Questions and links to answers:

Quiz 2, next Monday:

1)List as many answers as possible to the key question of the course that we have covered so far. (see just about every post, or type "Who is Jesus" in the search bar at top of page)
2)Define :
a) text: any ____ in any ____ designed to communicate _____ ( see post from 1/9 )
b) sign, any ____ in any ____ designed to communicate ___ about _______ . ( see post from 1/19 )
c)culture: a way of thinking, feeling, valuing and acting by _______________.. ( see post from 1/22 )
d)gospel genre: biography/_____ with a targeted ________ purpose (TTP) ( see post from 1/25 )
3)List two things that stand out about Jesus' genealogy ( see post from 1/23 )
4)In England, they drive on the ________ side of the road ( see post from and "Gaithers on Crack" video on 1/27 )
5)The Bible never says there were __, it never says they were_____, it never says they were ___. But the real shocker? We know for a fact they were not at the ___________ and they were not________. ( see post from 1.23 )
6) From the "Dance Party on the beach" video (1/25), when did the Kingdom begin, according to Jewish tradition? ( see post from 1/25 )
7)From the videos on 1/27. What is the "unexpected" historical world image of the 10 Commandments? ( see post from 1/27 )
8) Tell one story from a campus field trip. Why do we take these trips? ( see post from 1/13 )

--
Thanks for tipping me off to the Dave Chappelle skit where he plays a black guy who joins the Klan.

It does fit in well with our discussion about race and culture.

Remebering our definition of "culture," we watched "The Gaithers on Crack" video:

..and we also watched a bit of Gaithers themselves, but we didn't finish it, as some of you thought they were on crack (:

--
We enjoyed the Laughing Bride's wedding video:

Part of the weddiing we didn't show:

"question of the day"..

Off the top of your head, list words and ideas that come to mind when you think of the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai.

Then scroll down for the question..

Was "wedding" on your list?

.....or "love"?

What does all this have to do with a wedding?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AS A WEDDING:

The Ray VanderLaan videos on Mount Sinai are not online , but the

episode is on this DVD.

The one we wt=ached todaydealt with the many"historical world"hyperlinks from Ten Commandments to wedding.

Too bad the video is not online, but most of the study guide IS..

see pp.197-251 here

\

This of course affects how we read not only the Ten Commandments. but the Sermon on the MOUNT..
as we'll see in a few weeks

Oh, since you asked, my wedding photos are HERE(:
(see if you can find Michel's picture there)

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Watch South Park's "Do The Handicapped Go to Hell?" episode below (edited)...The rest of the episode may be terribly offensive to some, I am not endorsing it all...but this section below contains wonderful conversation starters on a number of important questions re: the class..especially "Who gets into the 'bounded set' of the Kingdom?" (from the video: handicapped? Jews? the baptized? those who confess? take communion? Jews? Christians?

The video is in the player below..and on my Facebook page HERE

Quiz 3 will have a question (see the entire quiz at QUIZ tab at top of page-) which says, "List some theological/biblical questions/issues that are raised by the SOUTH PARK excerpt we watched on 1/27)." SHHHH! Secret: One extra point for anyone who gives two answers to this by posting them in the comments section below (If you don't have an account, just post as "anonymous," but be sure to mention your name in the comment so you get credit-----------------------------------------------------------------------

check the schedule: you have a couple days off coming up, and as you'll see, you may want to start reading the "UPSIDE DOWN" BOOK, AS IT WILL BE DUE SOON, AND WILL FEATURE PROMINENTLY ON THE

MID-TERM

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

1/25: Historical Memory , Dance Party on the Beach , Kingdom Time Travel, Gospel Defined

catchy song..sing along:

Historical world...by now you can name a few people in this photo:

and this is my JCC prof, Les, and wife Erlene..

His wife died a few years ago..so what do you do, crop her out of the picture?

Our campus historical trips call attention to the shared history/heritage/memories Jesus and the disciples shared with Israel.

Have you ever visited a spot where a store, your hone, or another place used to be...but it was torn down, remodeled, burned? It just doesn't feel/look right.
Someone deleted your holy ground...but not your memories?

This concept will be important when we talk later about the Jewish temple being destroyed. How do you think religious Jews feel today to see this temple mount with no temple (destroyed AD 70) and a mosque built right on top of the site (600s)?

So this below is the FPC amphitheatre.. it was (not "IS") thecoolest spot on campus back in the day: plays, movies, concerts, weddings. Even graduation ceremonies were held here. Can you spot where on campus this WAS? Can you guess what's been built over it? No one asked my permission to bulldoze my memories.

Oh, yes, that is me in the photo, waving to you from 1982:

We'll take a field trip today to visit the remains of this holy site.
In fact, you can see it as soon as you open the door of our classroom.

R, I, P.

That reminds us of he key place for Israel; the seminal event, the central memory in the Jewish mind in Jesus' day, whih was

The dance party on the beach.

The very place the Kingdom began.
As a 'beach-head," if you will.

I'm glad no one has built a taco stand there..

Here it is..

The Jews believed that --in a limited but vital way--- the Kingdom had begun on earth.. at a specific Old Testament time and place... and worked "forwards" from there. Even though this "seminal event": (Van DerLaan's phrase) happened 1000+ years before Jesus, and no one alive in Jesus' day was there when it happened, it was as if they were. Common memory.

Thus today's video field trip..

to The Exodus and the "Dance Party on the Beach." This video, which we will draw from all semester is not online in any form (though you can buy it as episode 5 on this DVD). The points to remember are how this was the seminal/foundational/formative microcosmic event of (perhaps all) Scripture, in that:

1)It presents a pattern and prototype of any deliverance from bondage/slavery; and every "way out" (Ex-Odus)
from an old way/world to a new way/world. We had some good discussion about "in-between times" in our lives that we recognized (maybe only in retrospect) as pivotal and formative. Crossing the sea is often meant to call to mind crossing a barrier (remember the Jordan River video from Week One) into a while new world, creation or order; from allegiance to forbidden gods to The One God. Jesus is seen in Matthew as the New Moses in that just as Moses led God's people out of bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Pharoah, who is a hyperlink to Herod, see chapter 4 of H & Y textbook) and an empire that infected them (Egypt), so Jesus leads God's people out of spiritual bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Herod) and an empire that infected them (Rome). This is a classic intertexting/hyperlinking/parallelism.

2)It is really the first time God's people are formed/forged into a community; they have "been through stuff together" and are inevitably bonded and changed through a corporate experience. They have experienced "communitas" and "liminality" (both terms will be on exams) together.. Thus:

3)Also, remember (for the test) the Jewish tradition that the Kingdom of God functionally, and for all practical purposes, began (or landed in a foundational way on earth) when God's people there on the beach danced and sang, "The Lord is reigning" ( Exodus 15:18 )...remembering that "reigning" could be translated "King" or "Reigner". Thus, God's Kingship "began" when God's people publicly recognized it after seeing God in action in dramatic way as King. Vander Laan: "The Kingdom begins when God acts"
...Exodus 15:18:

"The Lord is reigning from this point onward."
"The Lord is King from this point onward."

This "literary tecnique" above (of two phrases being so related as to be almost synonymous/interchangeable is called, in computer language,

DROP-DOWN BOX

a "DROP DOWN BOX. We will picture it by this symbol:

In the same way as when you encounter a drop-down menu on a website, and you know you can choose different options, when we talk about "drop-down boxes" in the "text message" of the Bible, will mean a place where you can choose between two options/terms.

You might notice in the video that VanDer Laan also gave   another example:

   veanvehhu

in teh Hebrew text of the song the Israelites sang on the beach

could be translated either    "praise"
or                                                 "oasis."

This of course makes it a "fuzzy set."

---

Here's one more symbol, which we;ll call "Kingdom"

Remember, when we talk about tHE Kingdom in the Bible

the Kingdom that

Kingdom of God
Kingdom of heaven

is itself a drop-dpwn-box.

Both refer to the same reality.

You may remember why the two terms, and why only Matthew uses the first.

In fact, the first person to post in the comments below this post the reason why wins a prize,

But what is this reality.

First of all, when you thing KINGDOM,

think

REIGN AND RULE (of Jesus) >NOT REALM
PERSON AND PRESENCE (of Jesus >NOT PlACE

This delivers us from a limited geographical definition.
Even thougth it's hard not to use "WHERE" language when talking about a kingdom.

Many Jews of Jesus' day (and actually, the Greeks) thought of the Kingdom of God as largely a future identity/reality/location.
So when Jesus, in Matthew 4:17 announces that he, as King, is ALREADY bringing in the Kingdom,

this not only subverted expectations, but sounded crazy....and like he was claiming to bring the future into the present.

The Jews talked often about "this age" (earth/now) and "the age to come." (heaven/future).
"Age to come" was used in a way that it was virtually synonymous with "The Kingdom."

Scripture suggests that:

The "age to come" (the Kingdom)
has in large part already come (from the future/heaven)

into "this age"
(in the present/on the earth

by means of the earthy ministry of Jesus: King of the Kingdom.

Thus, Hebrews 6:4-8 offers that disciples ("tamidim") of Jesus have
"already (in this age) tasted the powers of the age to come."

In Jesus, in large part, the age to come has come.
The Future has visited the present,

"The presence of the Kingdom of God was seen as God’s dynamic reign invading the present age without (completely) transforming it into the age to come ” (George Eldon Ladd, p.149, The Presence of the Future.)

Here are some articles that may help:

Thus Kingdom comes from the past (the beach)
and the future (age to come)...both..so fuzzy set.

Finally, more on the "breach-head" concept from Dom Williams

Jesus proclaimed a kingdom come and coming, both future and present at the same time. Here we are on dead center. Jesus believes in the reestablishment of God's rightful reign in Israel and among the Gentile nations. His mission inaugurates that reign. While God's kingdom is present in his ministry, it is not fully present. There is a future fulfillment when Satan, sin and death will be completely destroyed. At the same time, Jesus comes to manifest God's direct rule here and now, healing the sick, casting out demons, bringing justice to the poor and defeating our enemies. This means that the future messianic kingdom has dawned; it has broken in upon us. Furthermore, it is God's intention to spread this kingdom around the world (to the Gentiles) and down through history until its consummation .In sum, the kingdom is really here but it is not fully here. Believers, then, live in the tension between the kingdom come and coming, the "already and the not yet."
For the New Testament, history is determined by two ages: this present evil age and the coming age of salvation.(See Matthew 12:32) Oscar Cullmann in his classic book, Christ and Time, shows us that this structure is not optional for understanding and retaining the biblical message. Illustrating the meaning of Jesus' coming, Cullmann uses his classic example of the World War II distinction between "D-Day" and "V-Day." When the allies established the Normandy beachhead on "D-Day," the war in Europe was really won. Yet, "V-Day" remained in the future and the battle went on. Likewise, when Jesus came as God's Messiah (Deliverer), it was "D-Day," the beachhead of God's kingdom was secured. It literally broke in upon us as the future became present. Nevertheless, we await its final consummation. When Jesus returns it will be "V-Day." The Christian life is then lived in this tension between the kingdom come and coming.
This illuminates our present experience. It explains both the reality of our triumph in Christ and the continuing spiritual warfare which we fight on many fronts. It explains the reality that we have died with Christ, and the flesh still wars against the spirit. It explains why some people are dramatically healed by the power of God and also continue to get sick and die. It explains why we have strength through weakness and life through death. If we break this tension we either end up in the resignation of "cessationism" (God doesn't work miracles today), or the triumphalism of perfectionism (God always works miracles if we have the faith to believe him). The good news is that the future kingdom is now at work in the present. We are not waiting for the end; we are living in the end. By the power of the Spirit we are enabled to live between the times.
For us, the Christian life will always be lived in tension. All whom we evangelize will not be converted. All whom we pray for will not be healed. But some will as the kingdom breaks in. Jesus teaches us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." This is not a magic prayer bringing the perfection of heaven down to earth, which would be dualistic Platonism. This is an eschatological prayer asking for the future kingdom to break in upon us in the present. It is also our prayer for the consummation of all things. Paradoxically, as we live in the end we wait and pray for the end to come. Paul writes, "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ will all be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God, the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet." (I Corinthians 15:22-25) link

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also..for the quiz:

What is a "gospel"?
:
1)"good news"..literally what the word means.
2)as a literary genre: biography/history..(but) with a targeted theological purpose (T.T.P.)
Not purely biography, though it IS that
Not purely history though it IS that
Kind of a fuzzy set.

3)Subversion of empire...The emperors could issue pronouncements/edicts called "gospels." That the story of Jesus is presented as a "gospel" satirizes/subverts that idea (This is the REAL good news)

Sunday, January 22, 2012

1/23:Quiz 1, Culture, Genealogy, Christ-Mass, Quiz 2 Questions (shhh)

Here's a text message:

"I get my sushi at 7-11"

That will make sense in a minute.

After the quiz...

I think you'll lile this video dare you not to laugh:

Questions:

How was he able to get away with telling jokes on different cultures?
Have you experienced racial prejuidice/racism?
How is Jesus the definitive bicultural person?
-For those who are African-American or Asian-American, how does it feel that "Jesus was Asian" and spent time on both continents?
Does this video make you think "bounded" or "centered?

This video connects to several themes for today and the next several weeks.

Before we go on, answer these questions. We'll return to them later

1)In England, they drive on the _________________ side of the road.
2)What continent is Israel on?
3). Man, you can sure tell ________ is at work nowadays in the secular world. All you have to do is look around!
4)What's wrong with the term "reverse racism"?

What is ethnocentrism?
How do you define "culture?"

As we begin a couple weeks in which we pause to retrieve the "Old" Testament backstory (uh, 'front-story') to the "New" Testament Gospel of Matthew, we introduce the topic of
CULTURE

We often take "culture" for granted, as it is simply the way we (one or more person) thinks and feels.
(Note: we didn't say "race"...and we are defining "culture" broadly. So, all marriages are cross-cultural, even if both persons are of the same race, as everyone thinks/feels differently, and has different "cultural" preferences.
It's "all around us...even when we go to church," just as Morpheus said to Neo about 'the matrix':

Because of this, we are often blinded to our culture and how we "see through it." Do fish even know they are in water?
It's easy to assume our cultural identity or preference is the "best" or "right" way (as in a bounded set that everyone should be in)....or the way everyone else sees/interprets things.

"We don't see things as they are,
we see things as we are."
-Anaïs Nin

"Gaithers on Crack: a conversation on cultural preferences":

So, re: culture, and the central question of our class,
Who is Jesus is Matthew?:

He is:

a) someone who is cultural:
he was a member of a culture ( Remember your social inventory, when you reflected on your cultural, and biculturalism. Was Jesus bicultural in any way?
How did you respond to the suggestion that Jesus was Asian? What other 'cultures' was he part of?).
Consider: "All divine revelation is culturally mediated." (Leonard Sweet, "Aqua Church 2.0," p.. 67...context).

b)someone who often was, and whose message often was, counter-cultural. ('the first shall be last," etc.... see The Upside Down Kingdom textbook)

c)someone whose ministry and message were cross-cultural (not just to Jews, etc).

CULTURE: a way of thinking, feeling, valuing and acting by one or more persons.

Wow! All communication is texting, and all communication is cross-cultural.
All marriages are cross-cultural

This all connects us to the amazing genealogy of Jesus in chapter 1

Today we begin walking through the gospel of Matthew, so we begin by asking "What is a "gospel"?

1)"good news"..literally what the word means.
2)biography/history..(but) with a targeted theological purpose.
3)Subversion of empire...The emperors could issue pronouncements/edicts called "gospels." That the story of Jesus is presented as a "gospel" satirizes/subverts that idea (This is the REAL good news)

We began looking at the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1
(for quiz 2, be familiar with page 270 of theH and Y book (section on genealogy) and the following:

Since "genealogy" is literally "genesis" ("beginning"), there is an inclusio from the first sentence of Matthew to the very last sentence ("till the end of the age"). Point: Who is Jesus in Mathew?
He is the Beginng and End.

We also noticed that strikingly, against Jewish tradition, women were mentioned in the geneology.
Not only that, but most were controversial and GENTILES (outside the bounded set of Judaism.

We noted yet another inclusio from beginning of the gospel (Gentiles highlighted in the geneology in chapter 1 and end of gospel ( "Go and make disciples of all nations [literally "Gentiles"] 28:18-20).

By the way, how many controversial Gentile women show up here?

5...hmm. Must be no accident

Who is Jesus in Mathew?

The One who is not ashamed to include four triple outcasts: gentile/women/people with a shady reputation in his family tree. The fifth woman was Mary, who fit all three categories except "Gentile".

Note this:

It is also organized into three tesseradecads (sets of fourteen). Hmm, 3? 14? No accident. (Note: Luke's version: Luke contains three blocks of 21 names and one block of 14 names)
David is prominent here. And his name in Hebrew adds up to 14.. Hmmm consonants DVD = 14 ( See article on Isopsephy..
graffiti in Pompeii dating frotm around 79 AD reads Φιλω ης αριθμος ϕμε, "I love her whose number is 545." 666 is clearly the name/number of Nero Caeser, the Roman Emperor

Numbers simply "stood out"...almost as in synesthesia

link

Try this mouseover test.

Check out my friend from FPU days. Lee and Larry are identical twins:
one legally black and one legally16 shades/degrees between black and white.

:Larry is on the right in this photo

Lee is on the right in this photo

I am glad they are in my family tree..both of them.

white. They told us about some legal definitions where there were white.

Imagine you are a member of the Ku Klux Klan. You get to a board meeting and you see these names nominated for board members:
Which names would stand out?

John Smith
Pete Redneck
Snoop Dog
Joe White
Barack Obama
Jay Z
Tom Wilson
Bobby Jo MacCereety
Bill Cosby
Sham McGrath
Pierre LePew
Kobe Bryant

You might as well print the list like this:

John Smith
Pete Redneck
Snoop Dog
Joe White
Barack Obama
Jay Z
Tom Wilson
Bobby Jo MacCereety
Bill Cosby
Sham McGrath
Pierre LePew
Kobe Bryant

if you had a group of very very conservative Mennonites. Which names might they suggest that by definition can't appear on a list of Mennonites.

Friesen
Weibe
Rodriguez
Vang
Fast
Janzen
Wojocowski
Unruh
Minassian
Suzuki
Neufeld

Is being Jewish/Mennonite/Christian a matter of unchosen ethnicity or chosen faith?

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Matthew 1: Birth

Hope you have fun on our manger scene test.

How many of you could win big money on this bet on what the text message of the Bible really says:

It nowhere says there were three.
It no where says they were wise
It nowhere says they were men.

And we know for a fact the weren't at the manger.

But the real shocker:

We know for a fact they were not Jews. Uh, oh, RED FLAGs.

Hhhhmmm. racism and centered set themes again...and we are only in chapter 1!

Read the text(:

Ray Carrol writes:

Let me use a local “live nativity” near my house as an example. They’ve prided themselves with their biblical accuracy. I did a drive by the other night. They’ve even rebuilt Bethlehem. How did they do?

Star over the manger – nope. The star appeared almost two years later over Jerusalem. Wise men – nope. Weren’t at Jesus’ birth – two years later.

The bible actually never says there were three. Angels – nope. The angels appeared, on the ground to the shepherds, not at Jesus’ feeding trough.Innkeeper? Nope. Where is an innkeeper mentioned? Yeah, no room at the inn. But the inn mentioned was more like a house crammed with people during the census. It was probably more comfortable for them with the animals.

Why do we feel the need to romanticize the scene? It was a girl around 15 years old giving birth in a tough environment. The only people who showed up were nasty, stinky shepherds with their smelly sheep. But they were praising God. A humble birth for an amazing Savior among low people. =Ray Carroll

David Fitch writes:

'Here’s a provocative manger scene.. It’s by an artist at our church named Brian Christensen. Don’t know if you can make it out but but all of the characters of the manger scene – Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men – are over to the right watching the television. On the left is the baby Jesus all by himself.When we put this display up in front of our church property (it’s displayed in front of a friend’s house in this picture) we got some irate letters and phone calls"
-David Fitch

As we noted, Herod becomes a complex character as he is:

RACIALLY ARAB
RELIGIOUSLY JEWISH
CULTURALLY GREEK

link

POLITICALLY ROMAN

..this is Kenneth Bailey's helpful fourfold phrase about Herod, read it in context in a helpful section right here.
Be familiar with the info about Herod on page 218 of Hauer/Young.

Of course. always remember the visual fro"Shadow of Herod" video.

Who is this? Someone posted," That's the guy who waited on me at 7-11"

How about this:

Click here

Homework Help

Don't forget to be up to date on reading for Wed. (see schedule)