Worship and Ritual in Christianity

The JCM reading on worship and ritual in Christianity was interesting. I liked the way it discussed different Christian perspectives, rituals and ideologies based on the history of the New Testament. I also thought the reading did a good job summarizing and examining Christian perspectives and relationships to Judaism and Islam. It seemed to me that most Christian rituals are the ones Jesus and the New Testament scholars considered.

The part I enjoyed most was the part about European missionaries and indigenous Africans. I was born in a region where European missionaries (Catholics and Protestants) competed over indigenous people for conversion. As the reading put it, there were some misunderstandings and differences between the missionaries and indigenous people. The persons the missionaries wanted to convert did like some Christian rituals because they were against their cultures. For example, pouring water over heads for baptism seemed strange to Africans because it was a symbol of action, not a sign of religious identity. “In Christianity, Ritual and prayer is ritual, and ritual is prayer. Ritual and prayer are most often called ‘worship’ by Christians” (JCM 236). I am not sure about the first religions and traditions we studied early, but is Christianity the only religion, which considers prayer and ritual to be the same? I do not see ritual and prayer as different words because they have distinctive meanings.

Christian Scripture

JBK posted very interesting questions. Even though we talked about Christian scripture in class yesterday, I still have some issues with it. Christians seem to rely on the New Testament scripture more than the Old Testament one. I think Christian scripture is both New Testament and Old Testament. But I noticed that many Christians think that the New Testament is the most important scripture of the two. Also, I noticed that some Christians do not see the Old Testament as the same as the Hebrew Bible because they perhaps do not want to rely on the interpretations of the Jewish scripture. As a Christian I personally enjoy reading the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) because its stories are more interesting than those of the New Testament.

Islamic Art and Rules

It was very interesting to learn and know the rules of what kinds of pictures and drawings are not or accepted in Muslim homes and places of worship. I know that calligraphy is a very important kind of art in decorating Mosque . The reading mentioned that Muslims have to be careful about their way of displaying pictures because most prayers are done at Muslim homes. I did not know that display of images and pictures of prophets are forbidden in Islam. I thought Mosques were decorated with pictures of people, animals and other things when I looked them (Mosques) from outside. In Islam, “Statues are believed to bring danger of idolatry” (JCM, 407). It seemed to me that Islam is the only Religion, which rejects statues and display of human and animal pictures in Muslim homes. But I was wondering about Muslim leaders who have their statues displayed everywhere in their countries. How does Islam consider those statues? What kinds of materials besides Arabic letters are used to embellish Muslim Mosques?

Jewish Women and Judaism

I always think of my tradition (Southern Sudanese) as a discriminatory tradition because women are prevented to do certain things (because they are not basically as smart as men). Even though I watched the first movie wandering why there were no Jewish women studying the Torah, I did not expect that Jewish women would almost not be allowed to study the laws that played the important roles in the history of their tradition. But today in class I wandered more by seeing women in one of the great tradition (Judaism) challenging the way they were not encouraged to learning the Torah.

It was a fascinating movie because the women tried hard to find their common ground between religious and historical tradition. I thought the women played an important role not only by praying at the Holly Wall in Jerusalem (to show the men they are part of this tradition), but also addressing the issues of their religious civil rights, and the struggle for self-definition in a man dominant tradition and religion. I do not know why Judaism does not allow women to study and learn the Torah, Is it because God created man and woman differently or was this created by men who wrote or interpreted the Torah? Did God prohibit Jewish women from studying the Torah, or did this develop over the years of Jewish traditional change?