This morning, the Freedom & Justicees (get it? Haha!) had our first official lecture. CHECK IT OUT...
I. The Old Testament: Covenants, Law & Command
II. The New Testament: Justice as LOVE
a. Universal love and the transcendence of family
b. Christ's "PERSONAL" LOVE
c. Communal love: caring and sharing
III. The NEw Testament: Justice as LAW AND COMMAND
a. Violence and the sword -
As you can see from the above outline, today's lecture was all about JUSTICE IN CHRISTIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT. Though it was bright and early and I was only running on a mere five or six hours of sleep, I could not help but be immediately and fully engaged in Professor Kramnick's lecture. It was so interesting. I do not want to go all philosophical on my readers, but I would like to mention on thing from today's lecture. Let's call it your Daily Dose. (:
One thing that becomes evident right away when reading antiquated philosophical readings is the various contradictions present within the writing. I always used to think such contradictory thoughts took away from a piece's overall impact of influence. Today in class, however, Professor Kramnick said, contrary to my prior beliefs, that the heart of Christianity's incredible success arises from its ability to embody all these contradictions. Because it can all at once call for love and violence, it represents some of the greatest ironies of all time. I had never previously viewed the Bible's contradictions as such, but Professor Kraminick truly altered my perspective for the better. I feel as though my eyes have been opened in even just one lecture. I cannot wait to dive into the rest of the week's, and next week's, and next next week's lectures. Imagine what I'll walk away with from this experience.
Another cool thing about F & J is the fact that our schedule is different every day. Our days consist of a combination of a few or all of the following: Lecture; Discussion Session; Guest Lecture; and/ or Writing Workshop. Every Tuesday and Thursday, we will be oh so fortunate as to have a guest speaker come in and do a lecture for us in the afternoon. Today, we had university council Nelson Roth. His story was truly intriguing. He told us about one of the most famous cases in all of Ithaca's history. It was unbelievable! It makes me all that more excited to head off to college, finish law school, and eventually practice in a firm where I will be surrounded by all the beauties of crime and punishment.
Currently, I am in my dorm room. I have finished over half of tonight's reading assignment, but I have much, much more to do. I will be heading down to the dining hall with Justine and Ramiah soon, so I must conclude today's blog. Stay posted for tomorrow's happenings. Much love from shining NY!
- xoxo, Julia.
P.S. Mr. Ramsey: I know today was your last day in Cornell. I hope you enjoyed sitting in on the lectures of Freedom and Justice and Hotel Operations Management, and hopefully the six of us were able to make your stay in Ithaca, NY memorable. We all greatly appreciate what you have done for us not only on this trip, but during the entire ILC journey in general. I wish you a safe flight to Providence, Rhode Island. Hope to hear from you soon!
Okay, who are you and what did you do with the Julia we sent back East?
ReplyDeleteHere you've only been in the F&J class for a couple of days and you're starting to write like you're really getting it. This is outstanding.
Of all of the classes we send our cohorts off to this is the one I think I might enjoy participating in the most (without all of the heavy reading, though).
Being able to make the comparisons between the different philosophies formulated throughout the centuries would be such great fun.
And by the way, Julia, Charles wrote some very kind words about his stay in Ithaca and being around you ladies. These were good things and should bring smiles to your collective faces.