Conquerors And Crucifixion
736 Words
3 Pages
In Riches’ sixth chapter, “The Bible in the Post-Colonial World,” the motif of this class of this class, that different people read the Bible in different ways for different reasons. People read the Bible to confirm their worldview, not to counter it. In a strange paradox, both the conquerors and the conquered find themes in the Bible to support their own truths; to conquerors, the Bible confirmed that they were superior to those that they had conquered, and the Bible deemed that they were righteous, while the conquered used the Bible to demonstrate that they were not lesser than the conqueror and in fact should be liberated from those conquerors. The difference in the two is that the conquerors seem to focus on very specific passages, many
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The story of the taxes is an important one in the Western world, for it can be read as an argument for the separation of tax and state, with Jesus separating the state requirement of taxation from that which is sacred. The separation of church and state is clearly a hallmark of Western culture, and the Biblical support for it through this passage finally allows for both the secular and believers to agree to this construct. The second story in Mark, that of the crucifixion, is interesting in its similarities and differences to the other crucifixion stories. The story in Mark is extremely similar to those presented in Matthew and Luke, but somewhat dissimilar to the one presented in John, with many key details changing. This supports the generally accepted argument that both Luke and Matthew borrowed from the Gospel of Mark. These three very similar Gospels when compared with John, which is very different from the rest, raises a very interesting question about how conflicting accounts of the same events can all be considered sacred. When events described in John directly contradict those of John, an example of which is Jesus carrying his cross alone in John, while he has help in Mark, forces the reader to question how both can be the absolute truth, and which can be sacred. This makes the Christian faith particularly interesting, as Christians can accept two conflicting
The story of the taxes is an important one in the Western world, for it can be read as an argument for the separation of tax and state, with Jesus separating the state requirement of taxation from that which is sacred. The separation of church and state is clearly a hallmark of Western culture, and the Biblical support for it through this passage finally allows for both the secular and believers to agree to this construct. The second story in Mark, that of the crucifixion, is interesting in its similarities and differences to the other crucifixion stories. The story in Mark is extremely similar to those presented in Matthew and Luke, but somewhat dissimilar to the one presented in John, with many key details changing. This supports the generally accepted argument that both Luke and Matthew borrowed from the Gospel of Mark. These three very similar Gospels when compared with John, which is very different from the rest, raises a very interesting question about how conflicting accounts of the same events can all be considered sacred. When events described in John directly contradict those of John, an example of which is Jesus carrying his cross alone in John, while he has help in Mark, forces the reader to question how both can be the absolute truth, and which can be sacred. This makes the Christian faith particularly interesting, as Christians can accept two conflicting