Stories at Large (Nov 29)
This sacred book, known as an anthology (a collection of works), is used by Christians.
What is the Bible.
In our lesson, we talked about how many Christians forget the Bible is primarily story and instead use it like a factsheet or a question and answer book.
When we say the Bible is primarily story, we sometimes think that means it's unimportant, but when that happens, it's not that we misunderstand the Bible - we misunderstand story!
The Bible is divided into these two parts.
What are (what we call) the Old and New Testaments.
Our "Old Testament" is also known as the Hebrew Bible, used by Jewish people.
We believe Christians are brought into the story through Jesus, narrated in the stories of our New Testaments.
These stories are all part of this genre: The Lion King, The Sound of Music, Hamilton, Frozen, Cats, Aladdin.
What is a musical.
In the Bible, the Psalms (a book of poetry) were often accompanied by music as a way to tell the story and communicate in an artistic way.
This character is Justin's favourite Avenger. (Bonus 100 points if you can say why.)
Who is Iron Man/Tony Stark.
Justin loves how Tony's story revolves around atonement, guilt, transformation, and the brokenness that can come from trying to help (and, of course, the background commentary on the American military industrial complex 😉).
Katniss Everdeen was born in this place.
Where is District 12, providing the backdrop for her rebellion against the Hunger Games and the empire of Panem.
Side note: The Hunger Games actually has a lot of fantastic plot elements that echo the Bible's themes of empire, exile, and liberation.
This god from Norse mythology wields the legendary weapon Mjolnir.
Who is Thor, god of Thunder, son of Odin, Prince of Asgard.
This sport, which involves two people in a ring trying to overpower each other by grappling and throwing their opponent to the ground, was used in our lesson as an metaphor for how we read the Bible.
What is wrestling.
We talked about how the Bible refuses easy and lazy answers. It demands we wrestle with it like a good book we can't quite get our finger on, like a movie that causes us to reflect about life, with characters that we cheer for or root against, and plots that cause us celebrate, turn away in disgust, or dream a better future.
This is the way we defined "medium."
What is "the way or method a story is told."
Medium has a big affect on how we understand story. Reading a book, listening to a podcast/audiobook, watching a movie or stage production are all different mediums that change the way we understand a story. (E.g. Harry Potter as a book vs. a movie.)
The Bible as we have it today is a book, but for a long time it was told and listened to as part of oral traditions, passed down through generations by mouth.
This is often the most suspenseful part of a story, where the conflict is resolved, and where the major turning point occurs.
What is the climax.
We talked about plot diagrams and the classic flow: beginning-->initial incident-->rising action-->climax-->resolution.
We talked about how there isn't one big climax point of the Bible but multiple: Israel being freed from Egypt, Moses at Mount Sinai, King David's reign, the fall of Jerusalem (the first time), Jesus' birth, Jesus' death/resurrection/ascension, and the description of the new creation in Revelation.
Setting typically describes these two things. (100 points/each answer).
What are:
1. Time
2. Place
We also talked about the social setting (the people, culture, norms, beliefs) and the physical setting (the tangible location). These things all provide meaning and backdrop to the story.
This multinational media conglomerate owns smaller companies like Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar, and ESPN.
What is the Walt Disney Company.
We talked about how powerful Disney is, as a massive company telling some of the most important stories of our generation. Disney movies rarely just entertain - they also try to say something about what is good and right and true. Think of films like Toy Story, Inside Out, Avengers, Soul - Disney movies don't just entertain; they also always have a moral message.
This word that starts with the letter b means: a prejudice or favour towards a certain way or thing (often caused by a something prior); a predisposition that influences someone's attitude or belief
What is "bias."
We talked about how everybody comes to the Bible with a bias and reads it through a lens. When we better understand our own biases, we become better Bible readers. When we understand others' biases, we better understand why we may come to different conclusions, when we read the Bible.
Bias is not necessarily a bad thing as long as we are aware of it!
This new technology developed in the 15th century changed the Western world by allowing the mass production of books. (It was developed centuries earlier in Asia too.)
What is the printing press.
The printing press made it much cheaper and quicker to make lots of books. Before the press, books and scrolls were copied by hand.
One of the effects of the printing press was that it got the Bible into the hands of everyday people and away from the priests and church. It revolutionized the way people engaged with the Bible and paved way for the Protestant Reformation.
This character in the Bible is also known as the god of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob and the patron deity of Israel, ultimately incarnate as Jesus.
Who is YHWH (pronounced or sometimes written: Yahweh).
We talked in our lesson about how Yahweh is one of the central characters of the Bible, who we commonly refer to as "god" or "lord" (though those are more of pronouns or titles for Yahweh). Yahweh is god's personal name, revealed to Moses in Exodus. (Jewish people don't say or write the name, so be respectful when you're around them.)
The Bible is primarily concerned with Yahweh's actions (creating, blessing, speaking, etc.); Yahweh is almost always defined relationally to people; and Yahweh experiences a complex range of motivations and emotions, like a character in any story.
Our Bibles (the stories and its characters) originate from this community of people.
Who are the ancient Jews/Jewish community.
We emphasized the Bible's origins as Middle Eastern (or Ancient Near Eastern). Though it has been become largely associated with Europe and North America, it doesn't come from there!
There is a tension between needing to respect and understand the Jewish context of the whole Bible (e.g. Jesus was Jewish) yet also respecting the modern differences between the Jews and Christians. Too much either way and bad things happen!
Fill in the blanks: Psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and theologians study how people not only tell stories about things ________ them but also stories about things __________ them.
Outside/Inside
In this lesson, we talked about how people are narrative beings. We both tell/absorb stories and we live them. From the moment we wake up, our brains are narrating a story about who we are, what's important, why we're here, what's good and right and true, and what everything means.
And humans have a desire to narrate those things to other people. We don't just list out our history as a list of facts. We interpret life and tell stories!
Name four things that affect our lens/bias, when we read the Bible that we named in class. (100 points per answer for up to 400 points.)
Family
Friends
Church & denomination
Life experience
Economic status
Gender
Teachers
Racial background
Language
This is the way we defined "genre."
What is: a system of expectations that gives meaning (characterized by similarities, differences, form, style, or subject); helps categorize.
Genres aren't always clear, but they help organize, give us an idea or vision of what it is trying to be, and help with interpretation.
We talked about how people often misread the Bible, because they get the genre wrong!
"Israel" literally means this.
What is "wrestles with god." It comes from the story of Jacob wrestling with god.
Israel is a major character in the Bible. Though it is made up of many people, it is often personified as "one character" who are the people of god.
The people of god in the Bible are those who wrestle with Yahweh. This affects how we understand our relationship with the same god - we should be unafraid to wrestle with this god and with the Bible.
These are the three types of conflict we talked about. (150 points each; 400 points total if you get all three.)
Internal (conflict within a character)
External (conflict with the character and an outside force or another character)
Larger questions of morality, truth, and values (overarching conflicts of the "metanarrative")
Stories are used to pass things on from one generation to the next. Name two examples (we covered four specific things in our class, though there are undoubtedly more!).
Traditions/Culture (examples: language, norms, history)
Morals (right and wrong, good and evil)
Values (what is important)
Wisdom (how to put all those things together to make decisions)
Name two ways we become a better Bible "audience/reader." (250 points each correct answer; four ways were given in this lesson.)
1. Work to understand your own lens/bias (be self-aware and reflect honestly)
2. Listen carefully to others (they have a reason for their lens and reading too)
3. Read the Bible in community (it shapes, challenges, and checks us)
4. Be open to reading the Bible in new ways (there are a lot of really earnest, loving people reading the bible differently)
This biblical genre is commonly mistaken as primarily used to predict the end of the world.
What is apocalypse.
Apocalypse means "revealing" - it is about truth unveiled. In the Bible, it is used by oppressed people groups to speak about the evils of Empire and how God would bring justice against them now or in the future. These writings hold their meaning and become true across time.
These three phases form the major plot-pattern in the Bible. (200 points per phase. If you guess all 3, max 500 points.)
1. Crisis (evil empires and exile)
2. Solution (liberation and covenant)
3. Result (home and people)
We talked about how Israel's liberation from slavery in Egypt is a paradigm (model/example) for the Bible's overall plot. Over and over again, Yahweh's people experience crisis (which usually involves and empire and being exiled from home), Yahweh works powerfully to free them and form a relationship with them, and the result is a new home and people (whose job, in turn, is to help bless and free others).
In many ways, this is the story we all live into personally and as the Church.
According to our lesson, why is conflict key to storytelling? (A wide range of answers acceptable here with a sliding scale of points awarded for accuracy and relevance.)
Conflicts present struggles that challenge us to think about our own values, desires, actions, and what we believe is good, right, and true.
Good stories have conflicts that force us to look at ourselves, the world, and others, and reflect on it all.
The Bible comes to us with a conflict about god, humanity, and good and evil. It forces us to think carefully about it for our own time and challenges us to imagine how the god of these stories is still at work today.