--> Subjectivity of History <--
Oh my gosh, I just watched a documentary about the Da Vinci Code yesterday and I think it was ultra fascinating.
I think what caught me off-guard was how subjective history can get- due to censorship. I mean, how are we to know whether history texts are accurate if most of them are based on human perspective and human story telling? The Bible is one text that, objectively speaking, is highly controversial.
Firstly, one fact I found out is that there were originally 30 gospels and only 4 were picked to be the official ones in the Bible that we read and study today. and there's actually a gospel according to Judas!!! The misunderstood one? The one born to be condemned?
Secondly, regarding the Da Vinci Code documentary, there was a place called 'Migdal' where Mary Magdalene apparently got her name from. A writer insists that this name didn't exist in the 1st Century while historians dispute this. How does anyone know?!?! Did someone actually dig up a sign board from the 1st Century?!?!
Thirdly, all these years, I've always thought Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or the fallen woman.. and that she was the same prostitute that came and wiped Jesus' feet with her tears and hair (Christians should know which one I'm talking about..) but apparently, she WASN'T!! Mary Magdalene was NEVER a prostitute and she wasn't the prostitute that wiped Jesus' feet. We have believed this for so long because Pope Gregory the Great decided to declare this as fact in 500-something AD but the Church retracted this only in 1969!!
Lastly, apparently, there are some documents dating back ages ago, stating that the early French Royal Monarchy consisted of the descendents/offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Is this text to be taken seriously?? If such a claim was true, wouldn't this spell a disaster for Christianity and all we believe in?
So, here's a thinker: Is History all that accurate? Can we safely say that History is untampered by censorship or tainted with human bias and perspective? Is it all that objective???
History is so important because it definitely shapes the world we have today... If everything in the Bible was proven to be false, this spells the collapse of the Christian world as we know it today. Or what if we found out that Hitler never authorised the Holocaust and really, he didn't know anything about it or that Qin ShiHuang didn't build the Great Wall? All these questions are, of course, speculation on my part and not an attempt to create a controversy or stir outrage. But really, just think... Can we really believe History and the truth it 'proclaims'?
All right, here's my GP spew.. Lap it all up, my sporelings!! =)
A13- please hand in the application questions on Mon!!
S61- You have a Composition to do next Monday.
S32- Application Questions in next Monday as well!
S53- We're going through application questions next week..
Chloe Andrina
4:29 PM
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