Class notes Tuesday 10/10

We need to meet in groups during our class time Thursday. Andrew and I talked and we're thinking the Acts group can meet in the classroom and if it's too noisy, we'll go elsewhere from there.

The class average on our first test was 82%, but Dr Sexson stressed that he places more emphasis on our e-journals and our writing in those. Next test - November 14th

On to Moses -
Exodus 1 is the voice of J b/c it's not a list but a narrative, but the voices of the authors do get mixed up in Exodus

There is no historical record in Egypt to suggest a huge group of Hebrews left Egypt b/c it is important to the Israelites, but not the Egyptians. It is not A piece of Hebrew history; it is THE piece of history.

German word heilsgeschichte (holy history) - history that is imbued with mythical import

Even the Hebrew women are of mythic strength - the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, cannot kill the babies b/c the (Hebrew) women deliver them without need of help.

The classic mythology is the male ruler fears someone will challenge his rule; he doesn't want a male stronger than him to be born. Example of wild west and the gunslinger, such as High Noon - the old dude challenged by the young whippersnapper (Dr. S's words!)

Lord Raglan wrote The Hero: a collection of people's stories from around the world. Lord R found that no matter where he went, the stories were the same and based upon heroes, so he compiled 22 main points about heroes. Moses, among many others, fits this pattern. Moses also becomes the archetype of the fugitive when he commits murder. Moses escapes to Midian, sits by a well (there's that water imagery again!) and meets a beautiful woman, Zipporah, who becomes his wife and they have a child, Gershom.

And speaking of heroes, according to Wikipedia, Smallville (Superman's hometown) was never designated as belonging in a certain state; it was merely an idyllic American, Norman Rockwell-esque city. However, the Superman movies of the 1970's and 80's placed Smallville in Kansas.

Be sure to read Frye Chapter 9: The Double Mirror: Exodus and Gospel. Pharoah's wanting to kill all baby boys mirrors the Gospels with Herod's killing all boys. AKA "Massacre/Slaughter of the Innocents."

More heroic names: Homer and Jethro, which was also the name of a country group when Dr. Sexon was growing up. H&J, in a weird coincidence, wrote the lyrics to "I'm My Own Grandpa," which ties in nicely with another hero we have spoken of often in class: Oedipus. Freud explains that a father and son rival for the mother - totem and taboo - and the father doesn't want to give up his authority so he kills the son.

Definitions: epiphany and theophany In Exodus 34, we have the question of whether or not you can look at God's face - Moses sees the "backside of God as he streaks on by" (Dr. S's words)

One last note: Maria is from Whitefish, MT, born November 17, 1981, to Robert and Nancy.