Reflecting

Going into this class, it was going to being the first time I ever focused on religious text. As odd as that is to say from a religion major, it is unfortunately true. Growing up, the closet church that was the Lutheran denomination that my family followed was 3 hours away. As a result, I grew up only saying I was "christian", and did not really know anything about the actual text of the Holy Bible. Needless to say, I was anxious to dive into this class and explore this untouched territory of my life.

First and foremost, what I enjoyed most about the class was the actual interpretation part of the course work. From the Mid-rash, to reading the Surah's, and finally creating our own sermons, I think they had the largest impact out of the course. I say this because it put us in the shoes of scholar practitioners within the respective religions, but it also has had an impact on the way I look at things in my everyday life.
For example, the four points that Samuel Proctor lay out for the sermon not only helped in writing the sermon, but I have begun to apply it to various parts of my life. Fun hobbies I have, or games I play with my friends I now see with the lens of his third point of genuine community. Not only that, but the four points inspired me to apply them to my other classes. Such as, I wrote about how a blog post called, Poetry is Not a Luxury, but Audre Lorde is is akin to its own religion, but also the recitation of the poetry is its own sermon. In other words, religion and scripture is everywhere, we just have to see it.