Week of January 27, symbolism

    The week prior to the week of January 27 we all saw the inauguration as a class on Tuesday, and discussed the many forms of symbolism that we found throughout the ceremony. we found there were multiple views on the symbolism behind Lincolns bible. Some feel that it is strictly religious and it was due to that the bible is Obama's holy book. Others say that the symbolism is behind the ownership of the bible itself. Being that it is Lincoln's bible makes it special or sacred, even if not in a religious way,because Lincoln was president at the time of the United States Civil war. He is also the president that passed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all the slaves in the US and started the movement to even greater equality in our Nation. The fact that really makes our forty fourth president of the USA special is that he is the first African American president. This is where the connection between the bible belonging to Lincoln and Obama as president such a strong symbol.Personally I believe that the fact that it was Lincolns bible that was used did have a significant impact and sacred meaning to it, however I can also believe the other side to a certain degree.

    Below is a Video clip found on NTVKenya's YouTube.com page that shows some of the reactions of people feeling optimistic and hopeful now that we have an African American president in office now. It touches on the link between Obama as the first African American president and how it the bible of the man who began the movement to free the slaves many years ago. This would have never seemed possible and now as specified in the clip, "its a dream come true". If I was Obama at that moment he was being sworn into office I would have been attributing my accomplishment to many different people but thinking of Martin Luther King additionally.

    


    Other forms of symbolism that is not depicted as much in the video include how diverse things were on that day and are almost foreshadowed for the future. The cameras going over the crowd showed a wide range of nationalities as well as the special musical performance was performed by the best of each musical instrument class coincidentally all of a different nationality. Diversity I can see becoming more accepted and promoted in America now that we can see it is in effect already.

    We did a reading that links to the irony that we use Lincoln's bible and Obama is being sworn in as the first African American president. This reading was found in "Material Christianity" by Colleen McDannell. In Chapter one there is a section on material culture. The simple definition of material culture is something that tells about someone in someway or adds a certain feeling to an environment. This links to Lincoln's bible being used to inaugurate president Obama into office. I believe many people think more strongly about the idea behind the situation than about the inauguration itself. Change is good and to finally have an African American president as president will be a change from our prior forty three presidents of the United States of America.


    One thing that we can use to transition to the reading we have done for this class is to think about this quote in regards to the importance of Lincolns bible as a symbol and recurring theme last week. "Material Christianity" we see "In spite of the difficulty of defining "religion," scholars and theologians frequently accept a simple division between the sacred and the profane. They also see an evolutionary, modernizing trend that has caused Western societies to become increasingly secular."(4). It then goes on to talk about how material Christianity how Americans don't see the scrambling change but it is occurring.
    Are we as Americans really taking the sacred from material Christianity or are we leaving it as sacred? If we are maybe the fact that it was Lincoln's bible is more significant than it seems.