WRSP 510 Book Review Paper

Chapter 3 surveyed a wide variety of interpretations of the story of Martha and Mary. I particularly appreciated William Carter's analysis of Martha and Mary's story. He likens these sister's partnership as one in ministry. Some people tend to be like Mary whereas others have a tendency to be more like Martha - incline to let the business of our lives of service distract us from reserving time to spend with Jesus. As the conversation between Jesus, Martha, and Mary persist, it is interesting to note that Jesus mildly admonishes Martha for being concerned (not for serving), while service is a good thing, sitting at Jesus' feet is a better choice.

"And isn't it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the truth is? For I assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are. " Truthfulness. He will never willingly tolerate an untruth, but will hate it as much as he loves truth... And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom than truth? (Plato, 380BC)

" This helped to highlight the fact that although his mother went through a hard time, she was still able to find peace through God, and the fact that Jesus had gone through a torture like that of her son. (Cone, 65-66) (Cone,

‘Health we must have; and health is proportion; so that when a man comes into your room and says he is Christ… …and has a message… …and threatens… …to kill himself, you invoke proportion; order rest in bed; rest in solitude; silence and rest; rest without friends, without books; without messages; six months’ rest…’ (Page 110).

Martha beings writing in her diary on January 1, 1785. We learn that up to this point she has had six children, delivered her first child as a midwife in July of 1778, and is now living in Maine. Later the family has to move due to the original home owners returning, and Martha is worried about the difficulties of living so close to their neighbors. However, she marries of two of her daughters during this time and we learn what the traditional marriage practices were in those days. By march of 1804, Martha’s husband has been thrown in jail and she becomes worried about the untrustworthy hired help. Martha describes the difficulties of being a woman on her own. Although Martha was good at what she did it was still hard to provide for her family. Other male doctors in the town received $6.00 for their work, while she only received $2.00.

Mary’s earliest memories were of education in fact, these were her only memories. Her security blanket was a set of q-cards. Her pacifier, a dose of caffeine. Her story book, the McGraw-Hill math text book. When her parents looked down on Coeus with tenderness, and care she was subjected to looks of disgust, and loathing.

“Her values had been formed in an older world, in which a woman’s worth was measured by her service to God and her neighbors rather than to a nebulas and distant state.” As the eighteenth century came to a close the thirteen colonies started to head towards a more untied mindset rather than the competitive relationship they all shared from the day they all were established. Martha had been mainly raised in a more isolated independent social upbringing, where neighbors took care of each other in their own bubble society. One example of how the townspeople took care of each other is when multiple neighboring women would stay at someone, who was either delivering or extremely ill, overnight. This demonstrated the early support system that was demanded in order to survive in an almost isolated small town.

“...Mary didn’t seem to care for books, but I . . . I dreamed of them in my sleep. I loved them in a way I couldn’t fully express even to Thomas. He pointed me to certain volumes and drilled me on Latin declensions. He was the only one who knew my desperation to acquire a true education, beyond the one I received at the hands of Madame Ruffin, my tutor and French nemesis.

Her death, moreover, comes through the agency of an apparently gratuitous and incomprehensible evil. Her ability to accept such a death is therefore the supreme test of her faith. That the grandmother at the moment of death truly embraces the Christian mystery is her great triumph. Although, in Christian terms, such a moment is always a gift, it is one for which the recipient has prepared throughout her life. The grandmother’s most essential attribute is therefore not her meddlesomeness or her smugness, of which there has been considerable evidence throughout the story, but her maternal compassion and concern, and it is through this maternal love that she has her moment of revelation. As O’Connor once described it, “she realizes . . . that she is responsible for the man before her and joined to him by ties of kinship which have their roots deep in the mystery she has been merely prattling about so far.” The action of grace is not confined altogether to the grandmother but begins to undermine The Misfit’s own egotism and sadism. Insisting on the possibility of redemption for even this most evil of her

her sins, without keeping in mind their own sins. Another verse from the Bible that shows the

“I must stand up in my pulpit, and meet so many eyes turned upward to my face, as if the light of heaven were beaming from it!” (131). Hester to Dimmesdale

Jesus—perhaps the most discoursed name in history. He has transformed and influenced many lives including mine. To some people, He was a prophet. To others He is a mere legend. To me, he is a father and a friend, but most of all, He is my Lord and Savior through justification, sanctification, and redemption.

This piece was originally meant to be a reinterpretation of “The Last Supper” however, in her version the women would be the honored guests. The piece expresses the way women had been confined, and reflects both women's achievements and their oppression.

Michelle Armster was the speaker for the first worship service. Her sermon testified on the defiant and courageous actions of Christian women, from Mary and Martha to members of the church many centuries later. She reminded us that Jesus’s ministry was not intended for those who are accepted or comfortable within society, but for those who are oppressed and marginalized. Jesus’s ministry challenged the iniquities of corrupt institutions and enabled the silenced to boldly testify for God.

For centuries The Five Ways, drawn from St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica have been studied, scrutinized, and at the epicenter of heated debate.