Author Archives: ajanzen2

I think that the character of Gandalf could be a symbol of God. In the passage, Gandalf was depicted as being very wise, good, and having much more knowledge than the other characters. This is similar to the Christian god, who is good, caring, and omniscient. Additionally,  Gandalf was able to read the inscription onContinue reading “The Council of Elrond”

According to the CCC, the Catholic Church is one because of her source, founder, and soul. The catechism points out that although the people and congregations of the Catholic church are all different and diverse, they are all one because they are bound by their profession of faith, common celebration of divine worship, and theContinue reading “CCC 811-870”

In the reading, I noticed that the church emphasizes that Jesus’s resurrection was not “a return to earthly life”. Earthly life is defined by ending in death. Even the people that Jesus raised from the dead returned to earthly life and would eventually die again. Jesus’s resurrection was different because after he was resurrected heContinue reading “CCC 599-655”

This was my first time reading Revelation and all I can say is that it was pretty wild. I had heard a lot about it being strange and little scary yet beautiful, and it lived up to the hype for me. Of the letters to the churches in Asia, I found the one to ThyatiraContinue reading “Post 13: Revelation”

In Romans 4, Paul uses the figure of Abraham to argue that “the uprightness of faith” is more important than following the law. Paul notes that Abraham was given a blessing by God before he was circumcised. Therefore, although circumcision can serve as a sign of uprightness, it doesn’t inherently make a person upright, good,Continue reading “Post 12: Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians”

In this reading, John seems to emphasize Jesus’s divinity. One place where I saw this was in Jesus’s prayer before his death and resurrection. Jesus said, “And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. In his prayer, Jesus associates himself with God and makesContinue reading “Post 11: John 16-21”

One main difference I noticed between Luke and John is the writing style. The writing in John is very poetic and pretty, with a lot of metaphors and similes. The writing style in Luke was simpler and tended to feel more to the point. Although both books are mainly focused on writing an account ofContinue reading “Post 10: John 1-6”

One thing that I noticed about the structure and arrangement of Luke is that the book is mostly comprised of short parables and things that Jesus said. Other than the beginning and end of the book, there isn’t a lot of information about things that happened to Jesus throughout his life. Additionally I noticed isContinue reading “Post 9: Luke”

Something that I found interesting is the Synoptic problem and the debate over whether Matthew, Luke, or John came first and which books influenced the others. Before reading this article I had assumed that all of the gospels were written around the same time. I was also very surprised by how similar some of theContinue reading “Post 8: Intro to New Testament”

The main wisdom I found in the Book of Job is to stay faithful and hopeful in difficult times. In chapter 1 after Job lost nearly everything, it seemed like his life was over. Job’s friends even gave signs of mourning when they came to visit him: “they wept aloud and tore their robes andContinue reading “Post 7: Job”