At the conference last week, there were many different papers that had come from a seminar on the Apostle Paul. They all worked to reinterpret Paul's work for the modern age, focusing on how he applies to concepts like islamophobia and environmentalism. He is an interesting figure for sure, first bashing Christianity as a Jew, then converting and bashing Judaism. Current scholarship is working on reinterpreting him, and this is a phenomena that we also encountered in our study of the Torah and the role of women in
Half the Kingdom. I think this is a hugely worthwhile action- we must update and adapt our understandings of these texts to keep them relevant and informative in the framework of our modern world. This occurs in Islam as well: As we saw with the Imam last week, Qur'an interpretation changes to add inclusivity over time as well. The discussion of the gender fluidity was a fantastic example of thought changing and adapting over time. We are constantly reframing context as we gain more information, forgetting that which needs to be left in the past to move forward.
I wonder where alternate texts come into this conversation. We are editing historical narratives, but what happens if we look for alternate narratives based off the work that history has forgotten? Or what happens if we acknowledge all the other influences that the past has had. For example, so much of popular understanding of Christianity comes from
Paradise Lost, but no one addresses this.
We discussed narratives at the conference, and it has clearly got me thinking about the narratives we engage with in class.
This post resonated with me because I was able to further think about what we read and talk about in class: some of the material we read is labeled a major source of knowledge because it is a concrete text. However, we can deepen our understanding of any one text by gathering information from other sources.
ReplyDeleteAll this is very interesting. It is clear that we read the Bible, Qur'an, Scriptures through post-Biblical, post-Qur'anic filters, like Milton's Paradise lost, or the Qur'an interpretation traditions the Imam referenced. But I think it's also important to emphasize that these very filters of interpretation themselves play a huge role in "scripturalizing" these texts as sacred Scriptures, but making the the mfous of intellectual, emotional, and artistic attention and application!
ReplyDeleteI liked your commentary on narrative. It was very thought provoking for me because it made me think about how people interpret societal narratives. For example people who do not support BLM do not accept that narrative. There are many alternative narratives to this depending on the individual. I believe that every individual's narrative is dictated by the different narratives they believe in.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to change how we interpret the scripture but I disagree on the idea that the old stuff should be left behind. I believe that we can still learn from the old stuff and that it should not be forgotten, if only to remind us that it was wrong and that there is now a better way.
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