Class Summary for 09/21/09

• The three patriarchs of the Torah: Abraham, Issac, and Joseph.
• Remember, the boring parts of the bible are important too.
• Jeanne Dielmann (a movie about boring things)
• Mythology once again, we follow it because we always have; tradition.
• The Serpent
• The serpent has not always been associated with evil.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumerian)
• Gilgamesh goes after a plant that will make him immortal, he gets it, then decides to rest before eating it. A snake comes along, and eats it up, shedding its skin.
• The snake has the knowledge of good and evil.
• WISDOM!
• Gnosticism 
• Lilith, Adam's first, extrabibilical wife. 
• Lacuna
• Cain and Abel!
• Cain brought Yahweh fruits and vegetables, Abel brought firstling sheep. God likes Abel better.
• JEALOUSY!
• Cain is marked for killing his brother, becoming a "fugitive and a wanderer" (Gen 4.14)
• Other fugitives: Jean Valjean, Harrison Ford in The Fugitive.
• The story of Joseph is the first great novella.
• Thomas Mann, Joseph and His Brothers
• The Great Code: Every text is a commentary on a previous text.
• Catholics are into Angelology.

Change: Oct 1st, guest speaker, "Women in the Bible"