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So, I still haven't watched the lectures on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, but I started attending World Religions class again tonight because we were beginning the Judaism/Christianity/Islam section of the course. I actually read the Judaism chapter (and have started the Christianity chapter) in An Anthology of Living Religions (2nd Edition) and realized I'm actually almost all the way through Subverting Hatred (I'd been reading chapters out of order).
I spoke in class a whole bunch -- primarily to point out that we really shouldn't be pronouncing the Tetragrammaton when we're talking about it in a Jewish context -- and during the break I pointed out to the prof that in the Sodom and Gomorrah prelude, it's Abraham who ends the bargaining session not God, but while I had assorted quibbles with presentation, there wasn't anything that really rankled me (save the aforementioned "Can we please not say Yahweh or Jehovah, especially when we're talking about the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews?").
The prof read some portions from the Old Testament, and a couple of them I felt like: these resonate in my bones -- which throws me a little because a lot of the resonances are relatively recent (like post-college).
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country, your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves." (Genesis 12:1-3)He also mentioned that Israel means one who wrestled/struggled with God and survived, and Peniel always hits me hard these days. I think it was Andrew at CAUMC small group who posited that doubt is a good thing because it means that you're engaging ... something like that, I don't even remember exactly; what I remember was how powerful an affirmation it was that "wrestling with faith" is a really good thing -- and I've hung tight to that assurance ever since (my facebook Religious Views are "wrestling with faith [low church Protestant]"). And my mother about made me cry when she told me some months ago, "I love that you struggle with Christianity fiercely and faithfully and I trust the Angel will not let you go without a blessing."
"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 22:21)
More generally, I just felt so vibrantly alive and engaged throughout class; apparently these texts really are where I live.