Pauline Epistles, An Overview

I think that the class in Pauline Epistles was very effective. It was effective to me not because I was spiritually fed, though at times I was, but because I grew intelectually in my knowledge of first century society. I can read the Bible for myself, yet it was good for me to be taught about the workings of the Mediteranean world and how they impacted Paul. Without fail the best read in this class, and maybe in my whole college career thus far, was Bruce Winter's After Paul Left Corinth. This book was so intriguing and it helped me so much to really discover some of the motives and thoughts of Paul. Another thing that I really enjoyed was the group project. It is by far, the most fun project that I have had here at this school. I enjoyed the oppurtunity to be creative, as well as the challange to set myself in the mind of Paul.
I think so often in Christianity we approach everything with a mythical perspective. We want to feel all warm and fuzzy inside and we do not really challenge ourselves academically. I think this is suicidal for the Christian religion. We must be a people that learn the Word of God, that learn the aspects behind it, that learn the criticism of it. If truly desire to grow the faith and to grow in our faith, I think we must understand this. I enjoyed this class because it did challenge my intellect. To be quite frank: I think the church needs less hocus-pocus and emotion and more in depth study and interpretation of the word fo God.