Mark, Chapters 1-10

I think John has been understated. He paved the way for Jesus and was converting people to the Christian faith before Jesus, but John is a little detour in the life of Jesus, while I believe he deserves more because he did help Jesus' cause quite alot.

I find the symbolism of the dove as the holy spirit. A dove is harmless but we attribute to it a mysticism, an intelligence of sorts. We see it as peace and good intentions, but with a certain amount of power. It is white and therefore associated with being clean and pure. But the dove also has a feminine quality to it, which surprises me in Catholic/Christian religion where it is governed by predominantely male figures and women are reduced in power, the few real important roles held by them are: the prostitute (Mary Magdalene) which can be the evil of women but also the ability to gain redemption and be cleaned by God's power and the mother (The Virgin Mary) where she is deprived of sex (Jesus is conceived without sexual relations) and her role is to care for house, husband, and son. I am of course not a psychologist by any means but I would love to consult with a psychologist the gender roles and significance of women in the bible.