Social Location

                I was raised in a Roman Catholic household. I grew up in a very religious community as I attended Catholic school at the same parish I attended church at. As I have grown older though, I have found myself growing away from my religious side. I would still consider myself Roman Catholic, but I am not a very good Roman Catholic, and I no longer attend church regularly as I did in my childhood. The Bible was always viewed in my household growing up as something that has many great lessons to teach you, but that should not always be taken literally. Being a catholic, I have always felt that the sacraments are far more important to myself and my religion than the bible. As I have grown up, I have maintained both of these views towards the bible. I have always felt a spiritual relationship with God, and in that relationship, the bible has played little to no role. In the religious community I grew up in, the bible was always something of importance, but it was never as important as the sacraments. In Roman Catholicism, the Pope sets the standards on how the bible is interpreted. The Pope is considered infallible on matters of spirituality, and his interpretation of the bible on major issues is considered “the norm” for all Catholics. I have been exposed to the bible in my life mainly at mass and in religious classes at Catholic school. This exposure to the bible definitely gives me a very catholic and conservative perception of it. I, personally, believe that the bible is something that is full of many good lessons, but that it is not something that you should take too literally.

                I am Caucasian. The only way my ethnicity affects my perception of the bible is that it has caused me to always picture Jesus as being Caucasian, which is obviously very unlikely his actual ethnicity. I am a male, and I believe my culture perceives males as patriarchs or leaders of households. I feel as if I do not often consider my gender while reading the bible. I am from a middle class family. Being from a middle class family, reading the bible always reminds me that there are others in far worse situations and that I should feel the need to help these people. I aspire to be a structural engineer, and Science and religion are to very different subjects and thought processes, so I do not often find my career aspirations affecting the way I interpret the bible. I find it hard to identify “my community” in a sense that would be large enough to be a real community, and I still be able to identify the priorities of this community.

                I identify myself as a moderate republican. I believe pretty strongly in the separation of church and state, so I do not often think about the bible in my political views, or my political views while reading the bible.  I have had many influences on the way that I read the bible, but most importantly would have to be the many religion teachers I had growing up.

                While reading  the bible, being catholic is the most important factor in my interpretation. I feel as if the other demographics I fall under play a far less important role. Through this exercise, I was surprised by how little else I feel plays a role in my understanding of the bible. I was also surprised by how much trouble I had identifying a community I am in and its priorities.