Friday, October 8, 2010
#7 - Duality
It seems as if every aspect of the Gospels serves a dualistic purpose. Matthew's segments of 14 generations aren't just indicating his relationships to family, but serves as a sign for David. Gematria seemed like a really interesting application to me. The idea that a letter can serve as a number and a representative of an entire lineage, idea, or other concept provides a lot of potential for how a culture can communicate. Their writing isn't just a way to pass on information, but serves almost as a code that is shared only amongst those "in the know." It makes it easier to try and understand how the "underground" Christian community in 1st century Rome could have operated.
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I agree. I feel like it was incredibly interesting to learn about how these letters had numbers to go with them. It also helps us realize how much more ridiculously smart these people in the old days were. There passages had multiple purposes instead of just conveying one message.
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