Close Reading: The Transfiguration

[This paper was written for the Synoptic Gospels class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 330

October 28, 2013

The Transfiguration

            All three synoptic gospels have the account of Jesus’ transfiguration in them.  The Transfiguration was the point where Jesus literally “transformed” his image in front of Peter, John, and James.  For this analysis, I am using The Living Bible translation.  Later on in the paper, I will perform what Thomas Jefferson did and clip all three gospels apart, and put them together in the order I think would work the best as telling the story of the Transfiguration.

From The Book of Psalms: What I Sometimes Feel

From the book of Psalms:

Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God.  Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer. (4:1)

Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. (5:2)

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. (6:2

O Lord, my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands-if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me or without cause have robbed my foe -- then let my enemy pursue me and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust. (7:3-5)

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (10:1)

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face form me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? (13:1-2)

Reading Log #2

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 330

October 14, 2013

Reading Log #2

            I decided that since I was reading the synoptic gospels in the King James Version of the Bible, I wasn’t going to focus on reading the gospels as a specific implied reader, or even focus on specific aspects.  (I will not refer to this version as the Authorized Version, to avoid confusing who authorized it, since no records exist as to who actually authorized it.)  Instead, I was going to focus on what I think the Lord has told me to pay attention to (what I would highlight or underline).  I read all through Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  For some reason, I caught more out of Matthew than I did for Mark and Luke.  I guess since all three gospels have similar arrangements, the things that caught my attention in Matthew probably would have caught my attention in Mark or Luke, had I started with Mark or Luke.

Social Networking Pastors

[This paper was written for the Ministry in Congregations class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 180

October 10, 2013

Social Networking Pastors

            I’m slightly disturbed that there is a closed group on Facebook called ELCA Clergy: Uncensored.  You can see a screenshot (censored, of course) on another page.  You can see that it has nearly 700 clergy on it.  When you type “ELCA” into the search bar on Facebook, the ELCA Clergy: Uncensored page is the third on the list in numbers.  I’m not a disgruntled ELCA clergy, so I’m not allowed on the page.  I can’t help but imagine the hate that is on that page. 

Reading Log 1

[This paper was written for the Synoptic Gospels class at Capital University, where I am currently seeking a minor degree in religion.]

Jesse Harmon

RELIG 330

September 16, 2013

Reading Log #1: Styles

            I’ve noticed the writing styles of the three synoptic gospels are very different from each other.  I’ve seen Matthew as being a persuasive letter to the Jewish people.  Mark always seemed like a news article, while Luke was an informal informational letter.  I will be exploring why I think each Gospel has these tendencies by looking at the scripture, not as a bits and pieces, but as a whole.  I will be using the New International Version of the Bible for this experiment.  It would be interesting to compare word-for-word and thought-for-thought versions of the Bible.

The Feeding of the 45,026

I love it when things in the Bible suddenly stand out to me that I hadn't noticed before.

Today while reading the KJV of Matthew's account of Jesus feeding the five thousand, something stood out to me. It says, "And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children."

Notice, "besides women and children." This is what got me.

Now let's say each man had one wife and three kids.
1 man
1 wife
3 kids

Take all this, and multiply it by 5000 (the number of men).

We get...

5,000 men
5,000 women
15,000 kids.

Add all these up, and we get...(drumroll please)....25,000 people. Now, add in the 12 disciples and Jesus. 25,013 people fed.

Now, let's do the same for chapter 15's feeding of the 4000 men.

4,000 men
4,000 women
12,000 kids

We get a total of 20,000 people being fed. Now add the 12 disciples and Jesus. 20,013.

Add both chapter 14 and chapter 15's numbers together. Let's say that no person has been fed in both occasions, except the disciples and Jesus. We get, 45,026 people being fed.

So why do we say "the feeding of the 5,000" instead of the "feeding of the 37,000?"