Fall 2009 New Brunswick Theological Seminary

Tuesday, 6:20 - 10:00 PM

The Religious Act: Asking the Question

The lesson of truth is not held in one consciousness. It explodes toward the other. To study well, to read well, to listen well, is already to speak: whether by asking questions and, in so doing, touching the master who teaches you, or by teaching a third party.”

--Emmanuel Levinas “Beyond the Verse: Talmudic Readings and Lectures” (1994)

Friday, September 25, 2009

Blog Post 1: "Are You Saved" by Jonathan Magonet, Due Sept. 29

According to Jonathan Magonet, in the context of Exodus, what does it mean "to be saved?"
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 27, 2009 at 7:31 PM

    According to Magonet, Israel’s Exodus from Egypt anticipates what is to come. God hears the cries of the people of Israel and responds to it by sending Moses as their leader. God frees them from slavery, there by saving them from “cruelty, futile labour, callousness and the ever present threat of violent death.” (139).
    The treatment of slaves is only the tip of the iceberg so to speak. It is expected that the stranger in a strange land not be oppressed, all people that they were to come in contact with were to be treated with love and acceptance, regardless. The Israelites were to model this behavior at all times, not revert to how they were treated when enslaved.

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  2. MaudelinSeptember 27, 2009 at 11:16 PM

    Magonet's view of being saved is crytalized in the text on page 138 where the author points out that the Exodus from Egypt should not be viewed from a historical perspective of deliverance that is past but rather as a continuous truth that continues into the future. Additionally, Magonet points to the Creation Story where humankind decided that they had the ability to go it alone.

    As Magonet suggests, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he had listened to the cries of the people and had decided to "save" them from the humiliation of "slavery, cruelty, futile labor, callousness and the ever-present threat of violent death" that had become reality for the people of Israel (p.139). The author further posits that the issue of how slaves and strangers are treated is not to be considered an issue to be considered in the context of Israel's liberation but should be a lesson for the world today and in the future (p.141). In essense the lessons learned by the Hebrew people of Israel and Egypt are the saving lessons that are to be taken away by humankind today.

    Magonet's perspective that "salvation, both as an internal and an external state, lies in the free choice of a free person and a free society to subsume their will to that of God - as expressed in part in the way they treat each other" (p. 143)should be a constant reminder to humankind that recognizing God as creator and the "other" as brother/sister is not a matter for debate.

    For me therefore, being saved is to accept like Magonet suggests the truth found in embracing salvation as a guarantee of a future communicated with certainty that embraces comfort in trouble or triumph (p.145).

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  3. KWilliamsSeptember 29, 2009 at 2:10 PM

    According to Magnonet's view, Salvation "is both a promise of something to come and a present potential reality; it is a consolation in times of trouble and a challenge in times of prosperity and success." (p.145) He uses the Exodus narrative to highlight what "being saved" is to the believer. He states that the Children of Isreal were leaving "that" land, a land "which has come to symbolize all that is worst in human existence: slavery, cruelty....in the end, the ever-present threat of violent death" (p.139) That is what being saved removes a believer from: slavery, callousness, etc. He perfectly sums it up at the end of the chapter: "Salvation is God's gift to human beings, and in no small way, it is a human gift to God." (p.146)

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  4. Kelvin SpoonerSeptember 29, 2009 at 5:12 PM

    Salvation from a Jewish perspective is different from the Christian perspective. To be saved for a Christian means accepting Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. Since Judiaism does not conform to that belief system, salvation has an entirely different meaning. According to the author, salvation is connected to how well one lives his/her life in accordance to Hebrew law and tradition. One can obtain salvation if it is connceted to observing the Sabbath, living in harmony with God and establishing justice and freedom for all under one God.

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