In my annotated reading of 3 Nephi 9–10, I focused on the big contrasts that occurred throughout the chapters such as shifts in tone and Hardy’s choice of formatting (poetry vs. prose, as well as where to break lines). I noted how the theme of justice/God’s righteous anger was immediately superseded by Christ’s love and care. It was interesting to look at this in terms of a generic plot structure, in which Jesus Christ would have be the protagonist and the antagonists could only be all of humankind, since it is human nature to turn away from God (as we could see in the pride cycle leading up to these climactic chapters). Finally, I focused on recurring symbols within the chapters, such as Jesus’s request for the people to become as little children (who would represent humility and obedience) and come to Him.
I really like that you brought out an antagonist and a protagonist in the text. I never thought about the Book of Mormon in that context.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Christ as a protagonist is something that may be a stretch when religiously reading the Book of Mormon, but only because that's not what we normally read it for. This thought matches a lot of what I was thinking with Talmage's Jesus the Christ, where all scripture gets redirected for a smoother connection to Christ. Everything in that book highlights the protagonistism of Christ.
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