I got one of my term papers back tonight and I rule!!!

[Reverend_Smitty]

I got my exegetical paper back from my Bible class that I am taking. I'm not a theology major, I've never written an exegesis before nor had I even heard of the word before I took the course. But I got a 100% on it and these were his comments "An excellent paper, well written, good organization, solid research, careful analysis of the text!" he also asked if I could print him out a copy because he wants to use it as an example for future classes!!! I noticed that a lot of people were not happy with their grades, but not me! Not bad for something that I started 2 days before it was due. I'm so happy right now, I could do a little dance...yay!!!

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Woo hoo! Nothing better than a good grade on an exegesis paper!

What was your pericope? And did you have a hermeneutic? Idd you do some Sitz im Leben? Some Uberleiferungsgeschichte?

Congratulations! Go have yourself a good dance!

[Reverend_Smitty]

5. lol...I have no idea what you are saying...

but I will have my self a good little dance, ahhh there I go just like that lord of the dance guy...I'll bet the person who lives right below me just loves it :evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Sorry, I figured since you did exegesis, you would know those

words.

What was the passage you exegeted? Through what lens did you encounter the text? Did you delve into the "life setting" of the text? Did you do some socio-historical criticism?

What kind of criticism did you use?

[Reverend_Smitty]

12. Matthew 5:1-12

I guess you could say I did a bit of socio-historical criticism along with a bit of redaction criticism because of the nature of the text

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Cool! That's a bit of a rough text for one's first exegesis

But then, any text, is really.

My first exegesis was on Exodus 4 something - the part in which an angel of God tries to kill Moses, so Zipporah quickly circumcises him.

you should indeed post the paper - especially since your prof. wants to keep it, that's worth others reading as well.

[THUNDER HANDS]

15. huh?

My first exegesis was on Exodus 4 something - the part in which an angel of God tries to kill Moses, so Zipporah quickly circumcises him.

Two questions...

1. Who is Zipporah?

2. Why did a circumcision save Moses?

The second question is the more pertinent one, but I'd love to hear the answer to both if you could.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Zipporah, Moses' wife

Exodus 4:
24 On the way, at a place where they spent the night, the LORD met him and tried to kill him.
25 But Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet with it, and said, "Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!"
26 So he let him alone. It was then she said, "A bridegroom of blood by circumcision."

That's the passage I had. Here is the text leading up to the that:

20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.
21 And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: Israel is my firstborn son.
23 I said to you, "Let my son go that he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.'"



In this translation, it's fairly clear what happened, but in Hebrew, there's a lot of pronoun problems, so it's somewhat unclear just who gets circumcised. Probably the son - and when I posted my first post, I forgot there was a son in the story, and just said it was Moses. There's a possibility of that, but not sure. As to why the circumcision did anything, I don't know - other than that circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant; and Zipporah, not being Hebrew, might very well have not wanted Moses to circumcise their sons. So this could be the final but of God's act saying to Moses - "You and your family will act like Hebrew people if you are to save the Hebrew people".

But who knows? The text doesn't say. It's all conjecture. This passage really comes out of nowhere - it has no set up, and no resolution nor is it ever mentioned again anywhere in the story. It just sits there, like the early editors were handed down the story in oral tradition and thought "This doesn't make sense, but it's such a apart of who we are, we better throw it in somewhere".

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. i think this is why i've never read the bible

it would just sound like gibberish to me. I don't get how people could interpret it literally. Hell, I don't get how people understand it at all.

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. I don't get the literal interpretation, either

Most times, you just can't. Especially considering the number of contradictions.

Bible literalists are, I think, Bible Idolators.

The real challenge of faith isn't that you accept it all at face value as the literal truth of God; but that you struggle with it, and try to figure out what God is saying, or what someone is saying about God, and/or what impact, if any, it has on one's life. And that takes a lot of interpretation.

Sorry fundies, but you can't read without interpretation. Much as YOU like to think you read without interpretation (and much as you might like to think that we can have a supreme court free of "activist" judges who don't interpret the Constitution, but just read 'what it says'), you are wrong - you, too, are doing interpretation. It's just that your interpretations tend to have no bearing in reality, nor even make any sense. I'd even say that they are often quite unfaithful to the text.

[flamingyouth]

2. Good on you

Must have been the DU name change. :7

[Reverend_Smitty]

3. Must have been a little divine intervention with the name change thing...

lol

[Maddy McCall]

4. For a prof to ask for a copy of your paper is the...

greatest compliment you can receive. My hat's off to you!

:toast:

[Reverend_Smitty]

7. Thanks!

Aside from two minor spelling errors, it was flawless ( I don't know how spell check didn't pick up on "sprit", or how I didn't pick up on it either). One of my personal bests!

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. "sprit" is a word - it's part of a boat

as in "bowsprit" etc.

:-)

[Sperk]

6. That's fantastic! Congratulations, what a nice feeling to have

your hard work recognized. :-)

Maybe you could post it on DU so we could have a look-see.

[Reverend_Smitty]

10. I actually don't have a copy of it on this computer

I worked on it on my PC at home, so when I go home this weekend I must print out a copy to give to my professor along with my final exam. But I could post it in the religion forum later on this week if anyone would be interested in reading it. It's on Matthew Ch 5:1-12 (the sermon on the mount)

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

11. Congratulations :)

[JohnnyCougar]

13. Congrats!

I just got my 50 page paper back.

I got a 28/30 = 93.33%!

It's an A

But now I have two 15 page papers due Friday. Yet here I am on DU.

Bad JohnnyCougar, bad! :spank: