Special Edition Bible Study: Eternal Sunshine
what is bible study?
The simple answer is that bible study is a weekly time where we sit down and read ATEEZ’s diary books with intention so that we can learn more about the lore, and more importantly, the universe and our place in it.
The history of ATEEZ bible study is long and meandering, but ultimately, we were inspired by the work done at Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast where religious scholars apply religious reading practices to the work of Harry Potter. Similarly, what we wanted when we started was a weekly time where we sat down and looked at a single page in the diaries, and then go as deep as possible on that page.
We have always taken the lore very seriously, referring to the diary as our bible when it comes to questions of lore. And when Halazia came out, we both felt the lyrics and music video contained religious symbolism and iconography that further pushed us towards using religious terms as we discussed it. So when we decided to really Do This Thing, we leaned all the way in, making Halazia our official bible study hymn, and the lyrics became our official closing prayer.
Both of us were raised in very religious backgrounds, attending Christian churches, and so a lot of the terms we started using at the beginning of this project were just terms that we had been exposed to our entire lives and were already in our personal lexicons.
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There is no actual religion involved in the course of our bible studies. We do not advocate or try to promote any religion, and when religion is brought up in the course of our bible studies, it’s merely as a means to discuss our own personal histories.
Instead, the religious language and terminology is used more to evoke the right headspace and shared understanding that what we’re doing here is Important to Us. By taking the diaries as seriously as possible, we are on our personal quest to see not only what we can learn about Ateez and their lore, but also more importantly, ourselves and our place in the world.
Be the light,
Halazia.