Daniel Briskman, Period 1, 12/6/21

Daniel Briskman, Period 1, 12/6/21

Literacy & Learning

Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or non-fiction covered in class.

     Today in class, Mr. Misciagna gave a compelling presentation on the Book of Revelation. Each group was purposely tasked with reading only one part of the text for homework, and Mr. Misciagna synthesized these seemingly separate sections and left us with a greater understanding of the structure and meaning of the passage. While it seemed like we were reading different events of the apocalypse, we were actually reading different versions of the same events—the Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets, and Seven Vials sections seemed similar and repetitive because they all told the same story from different perspectives. We also learned that Revelation was purposefully written so that its structure applies to other passages in the Bible. Revelation follows a narrative of judgement, protection of few, and then restoration, which applies to the Book of Job, Noah’s flood, and the 10 plagues from the Old Testament. Mr. Misciagna even made the connection that the 42 months of the Great Tribulation match the 42 chapters of the Book of Job. I was also interested in Mr. Misciagna’s comparisons between the Great Tribulation and current events, which I will discuss later in the blog post. 

Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

     One idea that particularly interested me during the lesson was that the Book of Revelation follows a narrative of judgement, protection of few, and then restoration. Mr. Misciagna mentioned that this same narrative is followed in other parts of the Bible, but I also made a connection to the concept of the afterlife we explored in the video about Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians hoping to make it into the afterlife tried to procure Books of the Dead that contained spells to help them overcome various trials thrown at them after death. The succession of trials is similar to the judgements in the Great Tribulation. In the last trial, the morality of the deceased was judged, and only a few would make it into the afterlife—eternal happiness. The ones who did not pass the trial, however, were fed to a beast called Ammit, which symbolized justice and divine retribution. Only those who lived moral lives (and/or had some help with the spells from the scroll) were able to overcome death and make it into the afterlife, just like how in Revelation only those who stayed loyal to God were able to survive the apocalypse and make it into the golden age. Ultimately, it seems that many of the themes that Mr. Misciagna brought up in class, especially recompense, restoration, righteousness, and rejoicing, are rather universal and can be extracted from many cultures.

How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

     This lesson and the unit as a whole ultimately makes me contemplate what value and role religion has in society. Some feel that religion is merely a tool to maintain power. For example, one classmate mentioned during a lesson that the Book of Job may have functioned as a mechanism for the Church to control people by telling them that they need to stay loyal to God despite their suffering. I connected this idea to my knowledge from world history about Ancient India, which had a strict social hierarchy called the caste system with priests at the top of the hierarchy. The priests, called Brahmin, told the lower classes that through living moral lives they could be born higher up the hierarchy in their next life. This false hope was used to convince the poor to be subservient and selfless at their own expense. Similarly, some would say that the Books of the Dead we learned about took advantage of a common fear of death, or rather a fear of not making it to the afterlife, for profit. On the other hand, some would argue that religion has value in giving us a system of ethics as well as insight into ourselves and our society. For instance, Mr. Misciagna explained how some people are making connections between current events and the Great Tribulation. Just as people under the government of the Antichrist were not able to participate in commerce without the “mark of the beast”, people nowadays may not be able to buy or sell something without having taken a vaccine distributed by the government. Perhaps such prophecies serve the role of warning us as to what could happen if we do not live morally and work together to create a moral society. The idea of restoration may also give us the strength to persevere in times of crisis, like Job did. Overall, the topic of religion is something I will continue to think about, and I am glad to be exposed to new perspectives regarding it.