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WEEK 16 (MAYBE 15) (PLS HAVE MERCY)

This week in class, we had (I think) a fun assignment, and this assignment allowed us to go into more depth of Paradise Lost. And it also gave us the opportunity to really understand the material, and what the characters were really trying to tell us. To be more clear, we had to read Paradise Lost, which was about Satan and other demons getting kicked out of Heaven and deciding whether or not to raid Heaven and get their revenge. I really enjoyed this assignment because we really got to understand each demon's point of view, and their explanation of their feelings and thought processes. I also appreciated the fact that not all demons agreed with each other, and that some just wanted to vibe in Hell. If I was a demon I would probably agree with the demons who just wanted to make most of the time they had in Hell. To be honest, I understand why the demons would be upset with god kicking them out of Heaven just for being bad. This being because I assumed God to be forgiving to every...
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WEEK 12 (?)

This week in class we had our first video lecture, which honestly was a little surreal. It's honestly crazy how much of an "in-class" person I am. I'm not going to lie and say that I was understanding everything, but I really did try my best to understand while watching the lecture. The cool part of having a posted video lecture is being able to go back if you missed any information. Anyways, this lecture was about Changing Roman Empire & Church Councils. But before doing anything else I checked on the timeline of the process of Christianity becoming the official religion of Rome. I never knew there would be a timeline, I for reason, just assumed it that Rome and Christianity came up together. In the lecture, it was also discussed and revised the term heresy, which by definition means an opinion that is at odds with what is generally accepted. And in this situation it meant the same thing expected specifically at the orthodox church. To be more clear, one was co...
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WEEK 8

This week in class we discussed a lot of different interesting concepts. But the one that caught my attention the most was the discussion on the Greek/Roman Contributions to the Image of Satan, like The Dionysian Mysteries. When it comes to The Dionysian Mysteries, the cults are thought to be indigenous on the Greek isles predating Greek civilization. We also talked about "the imagery of the invocation". We also talked about the Bacchic mysteries (as they were known in Italy after their arrival in 200 BC). It was also mentioned in the lesson that Dionysus merged with the local fertility god Liber (whose consort, Libera, inspired the statue of liberty.  It was also mentioned that the roman Bacchic Cult emphasized sexuality, inventing terrifying ordeals for its "mystery initiation". As well as that, from my understanding, for this reason, the Bacchic Cult was banned by Roman authorities in 186 BC for sexual abuse and other criminal activities (including murder. But...
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WEEK 7

This week in class we continued to learn different vocabulary during class lessons that connected to what we read. During class we talked about Kelsabonkyp - which is the Blood Bowl Sutra. Which to be more clear was where women are sent due to the belief that women’s menstrual cycle pollutes things. While learning this I couldn’t help but feel that women have really been through a lot for such a long time. Anything women do, even without their control, has been used against them. When in reality, the menstrual cycle doesn’t really have anything to do to anything other than biology. What I feel like we focused on more was the word “syncretism”, and all the different definitions it has had. Syncretism has been defined as “when one culture overtakes another". But the problem with that definition was that it failed to acknowledge the effects that cultures have on each other. Then we moved on to another definition, which was "when cultures mingle", an example of this was t...
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WEEK 5

This week in class we talked a lot about the readings as well as learned new terms that we should be familiar with. We learned about the term "canon", which I already knew about, due to being apart of the "fandom" community. But I learned in this class that it was an actual word, and it means "officially accepted test of a tradition". Which from my understanding similarly meant the same thing from when I learned of it, regarding theories of my favorite TV shows or books. I also think it's kind of funny that this term can be used in a historical context as well as be used to make a bunch of people fangirl/boy.  Also, this week we started to talk about Yima, Yama, Bhrgu/Bhrigu, and Shukra. We learned that Yima and deluge's story was similar to the story of Noah's Ark. Something important that we learned was that Adi Parua was apart of a larger book, the Mahabharata, from where the Bhagavad Gita originates. We also learned that Yama and Yima w...
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Week 4

In the fourth week of class, we talked about "The Evil Eye", and what we learned about the Evil Eye was that it basically was used in terms of "jealousy". From my understanding in class, if you got the Evil Eye that means you were envious of someone that has something that you don't, and that it is a sort of "metaphor" for experiencing that type of envy. We also learned that this Evil Eye was seen as an illness of some sort. Meaning if someone is suspected to have or has the Evil Eye, they would then be classified as "sick" and thus treated for the disease with its cure. This really interested me because in Mexican culture (my culture), we also have something that we refer to as "el ojo malo" (the evil eye). Except in this context, you show  the "evil eye" to a newborn baby, which is the worst thing you can do. To be more clear, when a woman has a baby, you must allow everyone who wants to hold the baby hold them. And th...
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Week 3 RELS 6.66

In the third week of class, we had to have read Enûma Elišh, Job, Zechariah and "The Birth of Satan". Enûma Elišh was an interesting read because it told a story that made me think about a theatrical film that could've been produced by Lifetime. The story was about older relatives being upset that younger individuals enjoying their youth, and having the chance of being murdered as a result of it. Which then just turned into the passing of the "crown", that made you the "ruler of the gods". The story of Job was my favorite of the reading we had to have read by the end of week three. The reason for this is because I feel that it is a perfect example of minding your own business but still getting messed with. This being because it was about a man named Job who got everything taken away with him. just because Yahweh (and Satan) felt like doing so. If I'm being honest I did not really understand Zechariah. This being because I did not really understan...
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