March 23, 2010

Looking at Barbara Reid’s The Gospel According to Matthew page 96 to 98, and the correlating Gospel text, Matthew 19: 1-15. I find lessons in divorce that might help our divorce-focused society out.
The issue of divorce comes into play when a group of Pharisees ask Jesus whether “’It is lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?’” While Moses made it reasonable to divorce a woman (evidence brought forth by the Pharisees in verse seven) a reasonable cause for divorce had been strongly contested. An example given by Reid is that of Shammai and Hillel. “The latter held that a man could divorce his wife even for spoiling a dish for him, whereas the former argues that only sexual misconduct was grounds for divorce.” Jesus takes a firm stance against divorce, “whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery” (19:9). Jesus concludes that “it is better not to marry,” which was probably a radical statement for a society where it was unusual to not be married.
But the issue appears to be a bit different when you see it from a 21st Century perspective. I’ve heard people announce that when a man and woman file a prenuptial agreement on dividing their assets when getting married, divorce is almost destined to happen, and that if you’re going to expect a divorce in that manner, it is not worth their time to get married.
I believe that this argument as credence. However, in a society like America, the rising divorce rates have made marriage, which was once a serious and important institution, into something that can usually be seen as momentary and as a great tax break.
Marriage has lost a lot of the reverence that it was given by past generations. As it slowly becomes a middle ground that both religion and government can lay their hands on a world of issues arise, not the least of which is the high divorce rate. The high divorce rate leaves the country with a large number of single mothers, and a lot of scarred children.
Reid goes elaborates on page 98 to discuss why Jesus blesses children so quickly after denouncing divorce. The core of her explanation is on the fact that children “may be the ones who suffer most when the parents are contemplating divorce” (98). This is another theme that we see strongly reflected in current culture. It is not uncommon to hear about parents who “stayed together for their children” to only put their children through unpleasant arguments and stressful living conditions. What may be worse is when children blame themselves for their parent’s divorce, or have to split their time with parents who live in different states, ultimately seeing very little of one parent.
While in some cases it may be better for parents to get divorced than to argue all the time and cause stress on their children, in our society it may help to take Jesus advice, and another look before deciding to tie the knot.

Jesus at the Movies No. 1

Emily Rice
Religion 124-08
Professor Bass
March 15, 2010

The Ophthalmologist vs. The Professor
The world around us is not always fair, and it is not always just. Religion and society often build upon the fact that the world, or God, is just and will watch over those who follow a set of moral guidelines, such as those established in the Ten Commandments or the laws that guide the actions of people in society. In the film Crimes and Misdemeanors written and directed by Woody Allen, the main characters have distinct personalities, and with these personalities they have a strong image of God or reality, and an ideology of justice that those views reflect. Ophthalmologist Judah Rosenthal and Professor Louis Levy are characters that show distinct differences in their opinions of the world.
Judah Rosenthal is the main focus of the plot. He goes through the most drastic character change during the movie. Rosenthal begins the story believing that “the eyes of God are on us always” describing those eyes as “unimaginably penetrating intense.” Rosenthal sees God as a just God; a God that judges fairly and punishes the wicked. Despite this he appears pessimistic and judges the world as harsh and empty of value. The strongest insight we have into Rosenthal’s character comes after he hires his brother to kill his girlfriend Delores. He describes God as “a luxury I can’t afford,” again perpetuating the image that he sees God as just and fair and because his actions were unjust he fears punishment.
While Rosenthal believes that God punishes the wicked his actions, as a whole, don’t reflect this belief. Within the first few minutes of the film we learn that Rosenthal is cheating on his wife, and has been for several years. We later learn that he has embezzled money, and see him hire a killer to murder his girlfriend when she threatens to tell his wife about their affair and his misuse of funds. The only action that coincides with Rosenthal’s belief of a just God is seen in his deep guilt about murdering Delores. The guilt comes close to destroying him. He remembers what his father told him, that “the eyes of God see all,” which is echoed back to him by Ben the Rabbi. Because he believes in a just God he waits for punishment. He expects, as his father taught him, that murder will out. However when four months pass and he remains unpunished, Judah’s image of God changes. He no longer sees the world as just. Rather than follow in the steps of his father, accepting that murder will out, he leans towards his schoolteacher aunt, who believed that the reality of the situation boils down to the fact that you can get away with anything, as long as you aren’t caught and don’t allow morals to destroy you.
Professor Louis Levy presents an opposing picture. In the documentary that Clifford Stern creates Levy argues that it is “out of our capacity to imagine a truly loving God.” He provides the evidence that although the Jews were able to think of a loving God one of the first actions of that God was to ask their leader to sacrifice his only son. Levy’s personal opinions are reflected in this analysis and he appears unable to imagine a loving God, despite having a positive view of the world. Levy strongly argues for the importance of love, arguing that without love life isn’t worth living. Although Levy doesn’t imagine a truly loving God he does see humanity as loving and argues that it is humanity’s capacity to love that gives the universe meaning. While he sees God in a pessimistic light he appears to find hope in humanity by the fact that most people will keep trying to find love and take joy from the simple things in life, like their “family, work and the hope that future generations will understand more.” Halley Reed describes Levy’s overall view of life as “large and life affirming.” And Stern agrees acknowledging that in all the footage he has of Levy he says how great life is.
Although Levy sees the world optimistically his worldview doesn’t seem to affect his actions. Levy commits suicide; leaving the simple suicide note: “I’ve gone out the window,” which Stern denounces as an incomplete and confusing note for someone that he had hailed as an intellectual. The characters express a deep seated confusion over why a man who had a positive life philosophy, and had been through a hard life, would kill himself now. Reed hypothesizes that despite the fact that Levy had established a strong philosophical system in the end that philosophy was incomplete. However, there may be more to Levy that both Stern and Reed miss, Levy presents the argument that life isn’t worth living without love, “a great deal of love.” If he feels that this is true, it may make sense that even an optimist will give up on life.
In Woody Allen’s film Crimes and Misdemeanors the worldviews of Judah Rosenthal and Professor Louis Levy show opposing elements of life. In the beginning of the film Rosenthal sees the world as a just world where God punishes the wicked. However when his life doesn’t support this thesis Rosenthal’s views on life change, instead of justice Rosenthal sees an unjust world where crimes and misdeeds go unpunished. Although this reality keeps him out of jail, in the end of the film he appears to have lost faith in the world. Levy, on the other hand, seems to have a life philosophy which is described by key characters as a positive and life-affirming view of reality. However in the end he commits suicide. Although from the picture of Levy we see, it seems unlikely that he has lost his hope for the world’s future generations. From the eyes of Rosenthal and Levy the universe is not a friendly place, it’s a place without real love or justice, but it can sometimes have a few glimmers of hope.