|
English 240: Ancient Literature Questions on The King James Bible Alfred J. Drake. Hours: Classroom, by Appt. | ajdrake@ajdrake.com Genesis 1. Why does God create the earth and the heavens? Does the text explain, or should we not expect the narrative to explain such things? 2. How does the text handle the first sin--what do you think leads Eve to sin? 3. How does God respond to the sinful behavior of his creatures? Does the text clarify his reasoning in acting as he does? 4. What patterns do you see emerging in the aftermath of the Fall? To what extent do the children of Adam and Eve repeat their first progenitors' error--does sin remain the same in its source even as the varieties of sin multiply, or would you explain the pattern of error some other way? 5. How does God respond to the continual mistakes of his creatures? What promises does he make, and why? Job 1. How does the prose frame correlate to the poetic sections of Job? What contrast or contradiction do they suggest for your interpretation of Job’s attitude towards his struggle? 2. What advice do Job’s friends and wife, respectively, offer him? How does he respond? 3. To what extent does Job understand the cause of his predicament? Does it matter whether he understands? 4. What view of God comes across in this book? Is his behavior obviously just? Or is his conduct a challenge to readers just as much as to Job? Explain. 5. What view of the Adversary emerges from this book? How would you characterize his role? What challenges does he offer to God's justice and omnipotence? 6. What does Job do, or not do, that leads God to restore him to good fortune? Is it a matter of repentance, or something else? The Gospel According to Saint Matthew Chapters 1-2 1. Catalogs of “begetting” are traditional in the Scriptures, but how does Matthew’s choice to open his narrative with one enhance the difference established by the coming of Jesus? 2. Why does Herod react as he does to the events surrounding young Jesus? What misunderstanding is he acting upon? Chapter 3 3. What expectations does John the Baptist raise regarding the mission of Jesus? Into what relation does he place himself with Jesus, and vice versa? Chapter 4 4. What resources does Jesus call upon in resisting the devil during the temptation in the wilderness? What is the immediate result of his success? Chapters 5-7 5. How do you interpret Jesus’ comments about sin and righteousness in connection to the Old Testament, at least insofar as Jesus himself characterizes the earlier scriptures here in his Sermon on the Mount? 6. What means does Jesus employ to confirm his authority as a spiritual teacher of both his disciples and the multitude gathered before him? Chapters 8-9 to be continued....*. Further Questions In what sense is Jesus a challenging, radical figure? What about his advice might give offense, and to whom? What quality or qualities that the Gospel attributes to Jesus might some observers find in modern hero-figures such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and possibly others? How does Matthew establish Jesus’ divine authority? To what extent are we shown the suffering and humanity Jesus takes upon himself? What is the risk of not showing us this suffering--i.e. of not letting us in on Jesus' thoughts and feelings as he goes through his ordeals? What is the risk, on the contrary, of showing those things?
|