From Sacred to Lawn Decor

 I think it's safe to say just about everyone has seen this picture (or a variation of it) on poster in dorm rooms, on t-shirts, even key chains and necklaces. Like many people I didn't know much about Bob Marley I knew he smoked marijuana and sang in a thick Jamaican accent but that was about it. What was really interesting to me was how a religion can be assimilated into modern culture, and a long the way can lose the true roots. So, I did some thinking about what elements of religion are seen, and found this.


                   As we can see in the picture above this is a necklace of Jesus, it is white gold and encrusted with diamonds, clearly this does not reflect Christianity. Instead of representing Christianity it shows of wealth and affluence.


                       These to statues are the ancient Greek goddesses Hebe and Aphrodite, they are lawn ornaments. Although ancient Greek religion is not very prominent today it is still kind of disconcerting
 in a way that goddesses that were so significant have become cheesy lawn decor.

             I feel as though religion has lost some of the sacredness that it once had. At least people should try and learn things they wear or display in their home or lawn.

The Significance of Ethiopia in the orden boboshanti

       I found the ways that the orden boboshanti lived was very interesting. They do not simply go to church once a week or pray when they need something, but rather incorporate religion into their everyday routine. They live at the top of the mountain to be closer to God, but also wake up at 3am to pray as well as 9am and a few other times during the day. This reminded me of Islam in the sense of a having a strict schedule of prayer throughout the day. I took a screen shot of the mountain, but what I wanted to focus on were the little house that were painted in Ethiopia's colors. It is considered a privilege to be allowed to live on the mountain with the sect, there is also no electricity so living there means one must have a big spiritual commitment. Ethiopia is also talking about a few times and the importance of it as well as preparing "for the journey across the Atlantic." We see Ethiopia's colors a few time in this short video and I thought the house was a good representation of Ethiopia's significance in the orden boboshanti's everyday lives. I don't remember ever seeing someone painting their house red and green during Christmas...or any other time of the year. Multiple factors show just how dedicated the people of the orden bobshanti really are..

The Kebra Nagast seems very similar to the bible. Just in the way it is structured like "And then this happened. And then this was a result. And then something else took place." There were also aspects of the Kebra Nagast that reminded me of the bible like how all of the queen's slaves, servants, and court fallowed her on her quest for wisdom, to Israel, was sort of like Jesus and his apostles.

The Kebra Nagast seems to serve a clear function; justifying the worship on a monotheistic god. The original religion is depicted as sloppy and unorganized with no set rules or gods. Solomon can easily persuade the queen to have her people worship the "god of Israel" because he is wise and respected with a clear cut religion. Solomon also throws his power around when he tricks the queen into having sex with him thereby producing a child. Christianity is then imprinted on Ethiopia not only by the queens word, but also by her lineage. Basically, this story is an explanation why Christianity is a more suitable and "smart" religion than the previous disordered one.

Ambiguity and literal interpretations

In book 3 of Saint Augustine he talks a lot about sifting through the “ambiguity” of the bible. What I found especially interesting in book three was on page 85, “The greatest care must be taken to determine whether the expression that we are trying to understand is literal or figurative.” This is a question that is consistently argued about.

Different sects take the entire bible literarily while other groups try and take the readings with a grain of salt. I personally appreciate the fact that Augustine thought that looking at things and deciding whether they should be taken as literal or figurative is important when studying the bible. A lot of groups like creationists do not use this tactic and prefer looking for methods that disprove Darwin’s theory of evolution. I included a link to a page that lists all the ways and reasons that evolution is false and impossible.http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/how-to-disprove-evolution  I have actually heard a discussion before about the story of Jonah and the whale, where one girl told another (the other girl believed the bible to be completely literal in all ways) that it was physically impossible for the whale to have swallowed Jonah. The other girl proceeded to lists reasons how it happened, the discussion ended with two very frustrated individuals. I think it is kind of sad in a way that evolution in schools is almost “taboo”, that talking about it can lead to lots of repercussions from families.

I believe that if Augustine’s idea of distinguishing literal from figurative in the bible was followed than a lot of other things would come together more evenly. Obviously, people are bound to interpret things differently and will be more closed minded or open minded than others.  

A Wealth of Knowledge

After reading through book II in Augustine and How to Read the Bible I’ve found that there are some differences but a few similar traits. Both texts discuss how to properly interpret and understand the scriptures.

In How to Read a Bible, Billings talks about all different ways to decipher the bible and what different scholars think are the best ways to interpret it. In the end the consensus is that one does not need a perfect understanding but rather the willingness and ability to rejoice and love God and our neighbors. Basically, an individual will never stop learning and finding new things in the bible but they should be satisfied in not fully understanding but rather getting enjoyment and peace from the readings.

Augustine disagrees with being satisfied with limited knowledge. He says that the best way to start interpreting the scriptures is to have a perfect understanding in Latin. Augustine says a true brilliant person will not nit-pick about the exact translation but will understand the bigger picture. A person who is well educated but does not dwell on small details will get the most out of the texts. 

Interpretation vs. exaggeration

The discussion of the psalms and different translations has gotten me thinking about symbolism and how people interpret it differently, based on their own beliefs. Everyone sees things and reacts to things differently. For instance, if two friends are listening to a new song that comes on the radio they each will interpret it in unique ways, which relates to them personally. If one boy just got dumped the song may remind him his recent heart break and if the other’s parents recently divorced, the song to him may relate to the separation. Psalms work just like modern songs in that they have a meaning but there is leeway for interpretation. Symbols are also open to interpretation.

               

             When Christians looks at a cross they see at a symbol that represents Jesus, God, and their religion as a whole. For a minute let’s pretend that we have an individual who has never heard of Christianity or seen a cross and we gave him a definition like this: A ‘t’ shaped device made out of wood where individuals had their hands and feet hammered into the boards for torture or execution.  Now, let’s tell him that a certain religion uses the cross as a divine symbol, what kinds of things do you think he would assume about a religion that celebrates a torture device? It is basically like telling a person now that a new religion started worshipping the guillotine or a noose.

                

                 The man would probably have some pretty wild notions, but we did not give him any information about why the cross is significant or any information about Jesus, all he knows is that the cross is one of the main symbols of Christianity. So, without giving the reasons why a symbol is significant, different interpretations will misconstrue its actual meaning. Symbols have a lot of meaning when it comes to religion but without the understanding that backs that symbol’s significance, the interpretation will be extremely far off. Interpretation is good but there is a point where it can be so far off that the original given meaning is completely lost.

Differences of Circumstances

The Hymn to the Aten and Psalm 104 are strangely similar in some aspects. “Tree and plants grow, birds fly up to their nests their wings in praise for your Ka. ”  6     

“the trees of the lord drink their fill, the Lebanon cedars he planted, where the birds make their nest, the stork whose home is the cypresses.” Psalm 104 16-18

It is clear from these two excerpts that some of the psalm was borrowed from the ancient Hymn to the Aten.  Although there are some similarities there are some technical differences pertaining to the times they were written.  The hymn to Aten incorporated things like the Nile, the pharos of the time, as well as not just Aten but the embodiments of him (it?). The hymn to Aten is much longer and more descriptive and is constantly praising Aten and what he is able to do and provide, we see a little bit of this in the psalm but not nearly as much. The psalm is much more condenced and seems to give off the feeling of a close relationship to God that anyone can have as opposed to that relationship only being possible through divine kingship in the Hymn. At the end of the Hymn there is a very long drawn out praise for Aten and everything/everyone relating to him, the Psalm simply ends with “bless, o my being, o lord, hallelujah!” 35 The psalm is much shorter and to the point but clearly draws from the Egyptian hymn.