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Thread: Help with a Thesis for my religion paper

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    Default Help with a Thesis for my religion paper

    So for my religion class i had to explore a passage in the book of mark and talk about the world of the text, world behind the text, and world in front of the text... and write a paper on it, here is my paper:

    As an author Mark shapes, selects, arranges, and proclaims the stories of Jesus’ ministry. The historical context, contemporary relevance, and story itself must be understood to fully capture the meaning of the text. Because Mark wrote his gospel nearly 2000 years ago, there is a great depth that must be uncovered. Once dissected and analyzed, the story comes back together as one single cohesive unit. A prime section to look at is the story of A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed (5:21-43). In this passage Jesus revives Jairus’ daughter, and cures a different woman from her hemorrhages. This story can be investigated and used as a representation of Mark as a whole. The gospel of Mark is used as a medium for it’s author, Mark, to spread the word of Jesus, and therefore the Christian movement.

    The World of the text is a term used for the story that is told and how it is told. In this story, Jesus has just crossed the sea and is getting off the boat. Right away we see one of Mark’s common themes of water and the crossing of it. It is likely that Mark ordered the stories so that Jesus passes back and forth from gentile to Jewish territories. David Rhoads notes that “The boundary of Israel distinguishes Jews from Gentiles” (Rhoads 1994, 166). This gives the notion that Jesus will cross these boundaries in the effort to spread the word of god. The story never explicitly says the location that this is taking place, however it is clear that it is Jewish land because the girl’s father, Jairus, is the leader of a synagogue. From the water, Jesus is led through town and the scene ends in Jairus’ house. Many of the people that Jesus heals throughout the gospel are gentiles, therefore the healing of a Jew shows his equality. This gives the feeling that Jesus is not only reaching out to non believers to recruit them, but also not only rewarding people for their faith.

    The gospel of Mark is an account of Jesus’ life, and as a result it is not a surprise that Jesus is the main character of this story. In this selection of text, we mainly see the healer side of him, but he has moments of teaching as well. When the woman touches his robes and reveals herself Jesus simply says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and you will be healed of your disease.” Here he does not claim that it is his doing that she is healed, it is her faith. This is something that reoccurs throughout the gospel. Mark gives Jesus this attitude to portray him as a selfless, kind, shepherd of god. The way that Jesus is depicted in the story would have been very important to Mark because he needs to seem good enough to hold the title of son of god. If this image is not strong enough, the story seems less believable and the message as a whole loses credibility.

    Jairus is one of the main characters other then Jesus in this story. He is portrayed as a loving father who wants to help his daughter. The second verse of the story says, “Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly.” In this time the leader of a synagogue would have been viewed highly and publicly begging would have been humiliating. Throughout the gospel Jewish authority has a negative attitude towards Jesus. This makes Jairus unique because he sees Jesus as someone who can help him, rather than social competition. Once the scene of the woman with the hemorrhages completes, some people from Jairus’ house come to tell him that his daughter is dead but he does not lose faith. Jesus is essentially asking Jairus to take the same sort of leap of faith that the woman does in the previous story. Him doing so shows the strong faith that Jairus has and his commitment as a Jew.

    This story is unique because it is the only account of Jesus reviving someone in the gospel of mark. It is not completely clear that the girl is dead, but the title of the story affirms that it indeed is a resurrection. Jairus’ friends come and say she is dead, however when Jesus arrives to the house he says, “Why do you make make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” From this we cannot tell whether Jesus is just trying to comfort the family, or if he can see deeper and knows that this girl is not dead. Either way this is taken, Jesus comes off as a passionate, deeper knowing leader. The act of reviving in the story is significant because it is a different level than just healing someone.

    Although the gospel is depicted as a true and honest account, Mark uses literary tools such as intercalation and foreshadowing to strengthen the plot of the story. The intercalation technique is employed when Jesus heals the woman with the hemorrhages in the middle of his quest to heal Jairus’ daughter. Using this approach gives a higher sense of tension to the story of resurrection, which is the more powerful story of the two. When the twelve year old girl is revived, it foreshadows the later resurrection of Jesus himself. While in Jairus’ house, Jesus tells everyone to not lose faith similarly to the days preceding his own death. Then when her resurrection is complete, the same awe and amazement is observed as in his own. Although we see the similarity between the two, it is important to note the difference between the two. When Jesus is raised, he is brought to a new level of existence where he will not die again. The girl in the story is reanimated, but there is no notion that she will also live forever.

    The way that the story is told is important because it is the way that Mark intended it to be heard. It is clear that he carefully arranged and compiled his gospel to give the meaning he intended to his readers. If the story was told from beginning to end, without any of Mark’s alterations, there would be much less power to the stories. The world of the text is important to explore because without the higher strength of the stories, the image of Jesus would be lower, and the christian movement would not have spread as rapidly.

    The second facet that should be looked at is the world behind the text. The world behind the text is referring to the historical context behind a story that is being told, and of the time when the gospel was being written. In the article, “Crossing Boundaries: Purity and Defilement in Mark,” the author notes that, “If we are to understand the first-centur cultures and subcultures, we should be aware of the assumptions we make from our own cultures and subcultures” (Rhoads 1994, 146). As we live there are certain things that are normalities to us that we may overlook.

    In an attempt to fully understand the story, connotations of today must be interchanged with those of the first century. As a first example, the leader of a synagogue in the first century would have had a much higher status then modern times. As noted before, this makes Jairus’ act of begging much more significant. Also, the fact that the man in this position is coming to Jesus for help is much different than that of a normal citizen. The first readers of Mark would have also recognized Jairus as having a higher social class. Mark cleverly would have included this story to show that if even people of Jairus’ status went to Jesus for help, he must have been something special. Little things like this would have gone unnoticed to the reader but, because of their culture, would have had a subconscious impact on their impression of Jesus.

    There was a popular belief that holy people held some sort of magical power. When the woman with the hemorrhages runs after Jesus and just wants to touch her clothes it is likely because she wants the magical power to transfer into her and heal her. Cleverly Mark takes this story and has Jesus interpret it as faith. This change differentiates Jesus from the other holy people of the time, giving him more of a significance. Distinguishing Jesus from the other holy leaders of the time is important because the Jewish audience of the time was trying to decide whether or not he is the messiah.

    During the first century, it was not uncommon to hire people to mourn the death of a family member. The greater the number of mourners meant that the family was of higher status. In this story, when Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house it says, “people weeping and wailing.” As a current reader these people would be assumed to be friends and family, but understanding the common practices of the time, it is seen that they could have been hired help. The readers of the time may have picked up on that and seen Jairus as an even higher status, further distinguishing Jesus as a unique person. It is important that these various aspects of historical contexts are understood because they change the message that is given. Although the general story can be understood, these details give a deeper view into how the story was intended.

    The final “world” that needs to be examined is the world in front of the text. To examine this is to examine the contemporary relevance of the text and what it means to modern readers. As important as the other facets may be, the relevance in today’s world is just as important, if not more. If the stories that Mark tells no longer give meaning to society, there would be no reason to examine them or to try to fully understand them. The lasting importance of a gospel like Mark’s gives it the significance that makes it worthwhile to analyze.

    The story of Jairus’ daughter can teach the modern reader a lot. In the story Jesus asks both Jairus, and the people at his house to be patient and calm down. Patience is a trait that still exists and therefore this lesson is still relevant. Most people that read the texts of the bible now are already Christians and are not being persuaded to believe in Christ as the messiah. Because of this, the message received is likely to be the morals and the teachings that Jesus gives.

    It is also likely that current readers would see the woman with the hemorrhage’s strength of faith as a positive thing. Seeing this woman get rewarded for her faith would show as incentive for christians of today. Many people go to the bible searching for answers on how they should live or what they should be doing, and this would speak to them. Modern society may not believe that if they have enough faith they will be cured of a serious disease but they will understand that they will be rewarded in some way. In contrast, many people do still go to god when they become sick or ill.

    One other notion that the modern christians could receive from this passage is one of asking for help. When the leader of a synagogue, Jairus, asks Jesus for help, he is giving up his social image in the need for help. From this, readers can learn to step out of their social box and go to others for help. In the modern world, asking for help has a bad stigma when it really should not. This passage can reach out to contemporary people and help them forget this stigma. As Rhoads declares, “The New Testament is a profoundly social document” (Rhoads 1994, 140). Therefore, it is the social interactions that retain significance to the general public.

    Although the passage that was examined is only a small section of mark, the main ideas and themes resonate throughout the gospel. To understand the message of Jesus that Mark is trying to portray we must understand the literary tricks he uses, the cultural standards of the time, and the relevance in today’s society. Once these are all analyzed Mark’s intentions shine through. He uses his gospel as a means to circulate the idea of the greatness of Jesus, and in turn the Christian movement.

    After turning it in, we get a chance for a rewrite and my professor said one thing i could work on is "Thesis statement could be stronger. The purpose of your paper is not clear as stated."

    Any tips on how to improve the thesis or paper in general would be great, thanks guys!
    Last edited by dvdcrayola; 12-01-2010 at 08:13 AM.

  2. #2
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    Can you format it better? I'd love to read this. I'll just cuntpaste it later if you don't fix it up, but it'll make things easier for others if you do.

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    Quote Originally Posted by i luffs yeww View Post
    Can you format it better? I'd love to read this. I'll just cuntpaste it later if you don't fix it up, but it'll make things easier for others if you do.
    my bad

    that should be better, thanks luffs!

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    Just read it all and I have a few suggestions (granted these are things relating to my IB HL English class, so you may have a different standard in your class/school, but they're good things to look for in writing, in my opinion).

    First of all, you really don't have any transitions between thoughts. This is quite important because it makes the paper easier and more enjoyable to read. Second of all, your thoughts could go in more detail (some of your paragraphs should be grouped together, as well, which would help this). You don't have much information in each paragraph; just a few sentences (the third suggestion I have is to have longer paragraphs where you can; don't fill them with fluff). We have to have 12-15 sentences per paragraph (which I think is stupid, as a paragraph is just one set of ideas grouped together, but it is good practice to make sure you have enough information in each paragraph). You also don't have a very structured thesis or conclusion, as was half mentioned by your professor. Just make sure you state why you chose the section(s) you did and how and why a message is conveyed by them. And finally, try to avoid helping verbs (or passive verbs I think). It makes for a stronger paper if you don't use them. (Is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, has, have, had, do, does, did, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, could. The things you learn in sixth grade.. )

    Actually, another thing I forgot is avoiding first or second person. Makes it more formal and professional.

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