Progressive paper
Hi Zhenxuan,
I really liked your paper on Jesus as a storyteller. I think it is coming along well!
I think the title of this course does a little bit of an injustice to who Jesus is. Jesus is not some mere compelling storyteller like J.K. Rowling or your grandfather. Jesus acts more like a secret agent from a far-off country who has a specific mission in mind. Jesus doesn’t want to be stoned in Galilee so he encodes his message so that he can live to die on a cross in Jerusalem. Jesus wants to establish his church with his disciples, but he doesn’t want a mob to declare him their king in the streets, so he encodes his message for those who have “ears to hear”. He executes everything strategically and perfectly. He marches to Jerusalem, fulfills all kinds of prophecy from the Hebrew Bible lays down his life, defeats the power of humanity’s hard hearts and evil, and lays the foundation for the growth of his future chosen people.
Does the thesis concretely sum up what your colleague is arguing or asserting thus far?
Thesis: This paper aims at showing the inspiration behind the application of storytelling by Jesus, how he formulated his teachings, and how the stories helped him attract many people.
I think this sums up what you are arguing so far quite well. I might avoid using, “this paper”. I think it was mainly his miracles that attracted people.
Do you have any questions about the thesis that may help your colleague dig deeper?
Although, those who knew the Torah and had humble hearts to accept it likely meditated on his teachings and came back with something of a grasp of what is happening (those who have “ears to hear”), Jesus’s parables are often like riddles about himself and his kingdom than they are illustrations to help us better understand abstract concepts.
Check out this short 5:30 minute video about the parables if you want a little more about what I’m trying to say. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX-aAg4_U2Q
The Bible Project (the people who made the video above) is a really great resource for visual outlines of books of the Bible, understanding Biblical genres, themes, etc.
Do the two sections in the paper thus far connect well to the thesis? How do they add insight to the thesis? Do you have any suggestions of further connections?
I see two major points that you are making, that Jesus told stories to be compelling and attract many followers, and that Jesus told stories to elude opposition and tactfully point out how the Jewish people have departed from the teachings of the Torah. I would try to choose a reason for his telling stories and defend that. It seems like your section on Mark focuses more on stories to meant to conceal the message from opposition and your section on Matthew talks more about Jesus telling stories to attract crowds. I would either choose one reason or else change your thesis to focus on how the different Gospel accounts portray Jesus’s storytelling differently (which I don’t think is fundamentally true, but there are small differences).
What one new thing have you learned by reading this writing?