%% market:: [[Eleanor Konik]] %% Lately I identify as a pure protestant in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson. One of the gifts my husband got for me early in our relationship was the Jeffersonian bible. On a cultural, philosophical and ethical level, the core fundamentals of what I view as Luther's message are fairly applicable to me: I believe in my own ability to interpret Protestant Christianity's core text -- the Bible -- with as much fidelity and skill as a priest. It helps that my undergraduate minor was in Religious Studies. ## College College blew my mind when we compared the different gospels. Not because I was ignorant of Biblical contradictions and inconsistencies -- I'd started noticing the lack of internal logic pretty early on -- but because I'd gotten so close to adulthood without really internalizing the reality of Biblical propaganda and the fact that the different authors of different sections had genuinely different agendas. College was where I learned that the last of the gospels was written decades after the rest, that scholars -- not just insubordinate children -- made a study of biblical contradictions, and more importantly why they might exist. I've always been interested in why. The Gospel of John being propaganda didn't surprise me; the Bible existing as a piece of Catholic propaganda intended to unite and pacify the population is a pretty common accusation. But I hadn't previously given much thought to the idea that John was directing his propaganda at the Jewish people of his time. This introduced a whole extra level of academic rigor to me, and I've been interested in Biblical studies ever since. The fact that Paul's title of "The Apostle" was essentially self-appointed -- he did not live contemporaneously with Jesus, unlike the other Apostles who were his actual friends and followers -- was a fascinating piece of history. I took those courses over ten years ago. Obviously this is well-trod ground in academic theological circles. ## Rome I bring it up only because it mirrors something that I recently came across, reading _Religions in Rome by Mary Beard_ that my college classes didn't cover. TARGET AUDIENCE. ROMULUS. MOSES. COMPARISON.