Do Now

1
Do Now

• What would you expect a story about creation to
  include?

2
Religious Texts

• The Old Testament
• Genesis 1-3 The Creation and The Fall
• Genesis 6-9 The Story of the Flood
• The Book of Ruth
• Psalms 8,19, 23, and 137
• The Quran

3
Middle East
4
Ancient Israel
5
Genesis

• When reading these religious texts, remember to
  think of them as pieces of literature.
• The most important example of Hebrew literature
  is the Hebrew Bible, known by Christians as the
  Old Testament.
• It has influenced three major religions Judaism,
  Christianity, and Islam.
• The Bibles authorship is a question that has
  intrigued people over the centuries.
• Many believe that the Bible is the word of God.
  Through the workings of divine inspiration, human
  beings wrote down Gods message.

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Genesis

• Despite the diversity of the Bible, the text is
  unified by a few constant themes or insights into
  life.
• These themes include
• The power, goodness, and mercy of a single God.
• The covenant, or solemn agreement, into which God
  enters with the Hebrew people.
• The tendency of humans to stray from a right, or
  moral, path.
• The forgiveness people can win from God.

7
Genesis

• Archetypal setting
• A time, place, or landscape feature that has
  similar significance for different peoples.
• This connects people to powerful, universal human
  experiences.
• One example is a paradise like the Bibles Garden
  of Eden.
• Common archetypal settings have
• Opposites.
• A landscape that comes from watery chaos.
• A circle that is a symbol for the completion of
  something.
• A great tree that connects heaven and earth.

8
The Book of Ruth and Psalms 8, 19, 23, and 137

• These stories were first told orally and passed
  down by storytellers and townspeople.
• The Book of Ruth is an example of the Hebrew
  short story.
• These stories are still relevant today.
• Many of them teach a universal lesson or contain
  a story about a universal human experience, such
  as loss, love, or forgiveness.
• Psalms are religious poems set to music.
• Psalms are Hebrew songs that praised a single
  god, but did not have a single author.

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The Book of Ruth and Psalms 8, 19, 23, and 137

• Both use parallelism.
• A biblical style that involves stating an idea in
  the first half of a verse and then, using a
  similar grammatical structure, repeating,
  negating, completing, or otherwise elaborating on
  it in the second half.
• Completion of an idea (Ruth 220)
• The man is related to us he is one of our
  redeeming kinsman.
• Repetition with variations (Psalms 84)
• What is man that You have been mindful of
  him,/mortal man that You have taken note of him
• Parallelism creates balance, variation, and
  flowing rhythm in prose and poetry alike.

10
The Quran

• In the eyes of Muslims, the Quran (sometimes
  referred to as the Koran) is viewed as the most
  important scripture in the world, but not the
  only one.
• Muslims believe that Allah sent a series of
  heavenly books to the world.
• The Torah
• The Psalms
• The New Testament
• The last of these is the Quran, which Muslims
  believe to be the final revelation of Allah.

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The Quran

• Imagery
• Language used to create word pictures by
  appealing to one of the five senses sight,
  hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
• Imagery makes descriptions more vivid and
  abstract ideas more concrete.
• An image is a single instance of imagery.
• Hot, dry wind
• Cold, wet rain

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Classwork

• Complete classwork worksheet.

13
Homework

• Read Genesis 1-3 The Creation and The Fall on
  pages 44-49 of your literature textbook and
  answer the corresponding questions.

14
Do Now

• Look at your definition from yesterday of the
  archetypal setting. How does what we read so far
  fit in with this definition?

15
Genesis 1-3The Creation and The Fall

• In what ways did you find this account of the
  Creation and the Fall interesting?
• Why is it significant that man is created in
  Gods image?
• Find four places where God names things. How
  does the act of naming seem related to creation?
  What does Adams naming of the animals show about
  him?
• What common problems of being a human does this
  section of Genesis help to explain?

16
Classwork

• Complete classwork worksheet.

17
Homework

• Read Genesis 6-9 The Story of the Flood on pages
  50-56 of your literature textbook and answer the
  corresponding questions.

18
Do Now

• With what biblical stories are you familiar?

19
Genesis 6-9The Story of the Flood

• Why do you think the story of Noah has such
  universal and timeless appeal? 
• What reason does God give for destroying
  humanity? How is Gods reaction both similar to
  and different from his earlier reaction to Adam
  and Eve?

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Genesis 6-9The Story of the Flood

• In what ways is Noah different from the rest of
  humanity in his day? In addition to Noahs
  virtues, why do you think God spared Noah and his
  family?
• What is the main moral lesson that readers might
  learn from the story of the Flood?

21
Classwork

• Complete classwork worksheet.

22
Homework

• Read The Book of Ruth on pages 66-72 of your
  literature textbook and answer the corresponding
  questions.

23
Do Now

• Why do you think the people who recorded the
  Bible included The Book of Ruth?

24
The Book of Ruth

• What happens to Naomis family during the time
  they live in Moab? How do these events affect
  Naomis attitude toward life?
• In what way does Ruth respond to Naomis
  instructions in Ruth 31-4? What does Ruths
  response reveal about her?
• Do you think Boaz is an honorable man? Why or
  why not?

25
The Book of Ruth

• In what way is God present in the story, even
  though he does not appear directly?
• Does this story teach an effective lesson against
  prejudice? Why or why not?

26
Classwork

• Complete classwork worksheet.

27
Homework

• Read Psalms 8, 19, 23, and 137 on pages 73-76 of
  your literature textbook and answer the
  corresponding questions.

28
Do Now

• Why do you think people find comfort in reading
  religious texts such as the Bible?

29
Psalms 8, 19, 23, 137

• What does Psalm 8 6-7 say about mortal man?
  According to Psalm 8, what role do human beings
  play in the universe?
• In Psalm 19, what achievements do verses 2-6
  celebrate? What aspect of God do verses 7-14
  praise?
• To what does the first line of Psalm 23 compare
  God? Given this comparison, to what can the
  believer be compared? What do these comparisons
  convey about the relationship between God and
  human beings?

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Psalms 8, 19, 23, 137

• In what way are verses 5-9 of Psalm 137 an answer
  to the command in verse 3? What is ironic or
  unexpected about this answer? In what way are
  verses 5-9 also an answer to the question in
  verse 4?
• Why do you think songs or poetry like Psalm 137
  are especially valuable to people in captivity?
  Explain.

31
Classwork

• Complete classwork worksheet.

32
Homework

• Read The Quran on pages 84-86 of your literature
  textbook and answer the corresponding questions.

33
Do Now

• Why is it important to learn about different
  religions?

34
The Quran

• Which of these selections from the Quran did you
  find most interesting? Why?
• Whom does the Exordium address? Who seems to be
  speaking? Why does the speaker wish to be
  guided?
• What kind of behavior does Night equate with
  goodness? What drives someone to be a good
  person?

35
The Quran

• According to Daylight, what has the Lord not
  done? In what ways should human behavior reflect
  the Lords behavior?
• What does Comfort say comes with every
  hardship? In what ways does this Surah offer
  comfort?
• Night describes the behavior of a good man. In
  what ways is this description applicable to good
  people today?

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Classwork

• Complete classwork worksheet.

37
Homework

• Bring three questions for tomorrows test review.