Study Like a Boss
Mediator dei This encyclical began a defining moment in the history of the Church. It was promulgated by Pope Pius XII it became the first papal encyclical devoted specifically and entirely to the liturgy. Its relevance is still being felt till this day, and this is evident in the chain of events following it; for … Read more
I believe the era of reform increased the extent of social and cultural freedoms by adding more religious and social diversity in communities which gave Americans more choices. In the following paragraphs I describe three utopian societies, Mormons, The Shakers, and the Oneida community. Starting Mormons’ trek and Joseph Smiths absolute authority over the group … Read more
Between the numerous sects of Buddhism, there are many variations in how they are practiced. In Theravada Buddhism, certain festivals and customs stand out from the other ones, including the celebrations of Vesak, Magha Puja, and Asalha Puja. Starting off, Vesak, or Buddha Day, is a major cultural event, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and passing … Read more
In James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain, religion functions not only as form of worship but also as a covert site of sexual expression. In the novel’s opening chapters, Baldwin often characterizes religious worship in language that borders on the erotic. This undermines the popular conception of sexuality as detached from and even … Read more
A person’s development of identity is often influenced by the perceptions of the people around them. The novel Does My Head Look Big in This (2005) by Randa Abdel-Fattah explores how the beginning of discovering one’s identity leads to a personal journey which can be plagued by the judgements of one’s surroundings. Often, prejudice arises … Read more
One of the defining characteristics of the God of the Bible is that he is often surprising in that he continues to seek out his sinful people despite their many flaws, and can use any situation or person to demonstrate his glory. One would think that the Bible would be full of stories of perfectly … Read more
A New Strength in Church Ties The Mormon Response to the Great Depression The State of Utah has a reputation; the Mormon State. Rightfully so, as the majority of Utah is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This religion, while a sect of Christianity, is often looked at as the outcast. … Read more
Christians have been developing and practicing various Scripture engagement techniques for hundreds of years. This article is trying to help us understand the true methods of experiencing God in the Bible. The scripture engagement technique the article focuses on is Lectio Divina, this means “sacred reading” in Latin. This practice has been used for over … Read more
Gerd Theissen’s contemporary piece, The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form, is recognized for its engaging narrative that explores the social, religious, and historical contexts of the era of the New Testament. Throughout the work, Theissen weaves biblical references and historical citations to give the reader insight into … Read more
When people think about the religions of the world they only think of the differences and there is so much more then that because they really have a lot of similarities. The most common similarity that Christianity, Islam and Judaism have is that they all believe in the existence of one God. There are many … Read more
The first time I heard Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” song, I thought it was about a man’s devotion to a woman, and for some reason he associated it with a church. But as I continued to listen to the song, I understood that it had a deeper meaning. “Take Me to Church” is a … Read more
Although the Host demands a merry tale from the Monk, the Monk instead gives a series of cameo tragedies, all of which deal with the role of fortune in a man’s life. The Monk catalogues the fickleness of Fortune through a series of abbreviated tales about such people as Lucifer, Adam, Hercules, Samson, Nero, and … Read more
St Jerome’s letter emphasizes on using “Sense-for-sense” translation rather than “word-for-word” translation. He justified his method of translating sense-for-sense by listing examples of Cicero, Horace, Hilary the Confessor and other Classical authors, as well as the Evangelists and the Seventy Translator when translating from the sacred texts. Since the charges by the Clergy against St … Read more
In the 21st-century ethics as far as religious doctrines are concerned has taken a modernity turn. In the classical period religion was solely relied on to dictate morality but due to contemporariness catalyzed by education beliefs can no longer prescribe social principles. Issues are assessed and determined according to the will of people, social discussion, … Read more
Pillow Book Assignment Sei Shonagon, court lady to Empress Teishi, was born 966 CE during the Heian era. Also known as the author of the Pillow Book because of her accounts, and personal opinions she wrote down while she served the empress. To understand this book we need to understand the culture she grew up … Read more
I live in Charlotte North Carolina, in mecklenburg county. Growing up I was never taught the history of charlotte or even mecklenburg county, so I had to take matters into my own hands. While researching influential people from mecklenburg county I stumbled across the Brevard Family. The Brevard’s were French Huguenots who moved to Ulster … Read more
The poet Carol Anne Duffy presents two different attitudes towards religion in her poems “Prayer” and “Confession.” In “Prayer,” Duffy contemplates how, in the absence of organised religion, comfort can instead be found in ordinary, prosaic occurrences. These usually insignificant experiences instead become a source of consolation for the unknown people discussed in the poem. … Read more
A congregational minister who was influenced by strict Calvinist theology, Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” emphasizes the fragility and problematic situation that humans are in everyday as they struggle to create a division between them and “the pit of hell.” Edwards uses this subject in order to … Read more
Small towns are often considered a safe place to grow up. Many who are born into these small towns never leave, perhaps because they are too frightened to leave all that they have ever known. These towns, however, are not without their problems. Rural small towns, especially in the South, carry a stigma of being … Read more
As 1950s America engulfed itself in a widespread fear of Communism, government officials became extra vigilant in finding and punishing possible spies and traitors. Suspects were arrested for saying the wrong thing, being seen in the wrong place at the wrong time, and even for thinking the wrong thoughts. As mass nervosa ensued, Americans began … Read more
Elk Grove Unified School District V. NewdowFacts: Michael Newdow’s daughter attended public school in California. Teachers everyday lead their students in the reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Michael Newdow is an atheist and believes that the Pledge is religious indoctrination since it contains the words “under God” and violates the First Amendment. Newdow filed suit … Read more
The “Christ Delivering the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter” in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican City, Rome, Italy is a fresco created by Pietro Perugino with a dimension of 11’5 ? x 18’8 ? that represents the papacy having authority over the Catholic Church. The painting dates to the 15th century, specifically … Read more
The Medieval Period brought upon many new techniques and medias into the art world. Sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, mosaics, and metalwork were used greatly in the 1000 years of the Medieval. Many artists during these times were still influenced by life of the Roman Empire and iconography of Christianity. Following the Byzantine, art continued … Read more
Hades was the Greek god of the underworld, the ruler of the dead. Hades is known in the Greek world as “the god of the Underworld,” “the Invisible One,” “the god of wealth” or “god of Death,” and “the god of the Death Realm”. Greek also know hades as different names like Dis, Pluto, or … Read more
The Greek goddess Athena was the goddess of wisdom and war. She was one of the most powerful goddesses. She was known for her strategic skill in war. Also, for being fierce and courageous in battle. Athena’s parents are Zeus and Metis. There’s a myth that says she was born from Zeus’s head. The story … Read more
Puja the Hindu meaning of worship is the core ritual of popular polytheistic Hinduism (Fuller, 2004, p. 57). It primarily means paying respect or homage to one or more Gods through numerous actions that express the wish to please the chosen deity and offer service to them and hope for the blessing of God in … Read more
Like any nation with a new identity change, Israel suffers through some substantial growing pains after David took the crown of the joint country. King David did not address many of the shortcomings and sinful activity in his own family, and not raising his children to live godly lives repeats itself just a few years … Read more
Saint Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, and his life changed at that very moment. Perhaps he had never seen Jesus, who was only a few … Read more
Constantine the Great or Constantine I was the first Roman emperor to be Christian and began the evolution for the empire to become a Christian state. Constantine (Flavius Valerius Constantinus) was bored on February 27 on circa 280 in Naissus, Moesia (now called Nis, Serbia). Offspring of Constantius I Chlorus and Helena. His father was … Read more
Gerard Manley Hopkins is a rewarding and demanding poet, one of the three or four greatest poets of the Victorian era. His style was so radically different from that of his contemporaries. Without having a detailed knowledge of his life, beliefs and any other background we can read his poem with much pleasure. Through his … Read more
Religious storytelling was one form of popular religion used to teach commoners. Simple stories connected religious ideas to ordinary people, events, and objects that were relatable and also taught moral lessons in a way that commoners could understand, much like a Biblical parable. The content and intended purpose of the stories and lessons depended upon … Read more
Fashion as Material Culture Fashion comes with various facets that include clothing, footwear, makeup, body piercing or accessories, which come in various forms. Mostly fashion goes with a particular time after which it becomes obsolete until it recurs again. Some of the products that we buy are both fashionable and material culture. The material culture … Read more
“I shall offer reasons why I believe that atheism is a much more comfortable belief than theism, and why theists should be miserable just because they are theists.” (McCloskey, 1968) In his article On Being an Atheist, H. J. McCloskey provides the grounds as to why he’s an atheist by examining the problem of evil … Read more
In the poem, “Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins” (reprinted in Thomas R. Arp, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 7th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1998] 854), author R.S. Gwynn presents the reader with an account of a woman’s struggle to stay faithful to both her husband and to God. The poem openly alludes … Read more
“Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so … Read more
War can turn even the strongest of men humble. The novel Fallen Angels is about a small group of men who come of age in the Vietnam War. Richie Perry, the novels protagonist, enlists in the army mainly to escape his problemsa bad relationship with his mother, a lack of opportunity in Harlem, and an … Read more
Christian Worldview A worldview is the way someone sees the world. It’s their viewpoint on life and the world around them. This being said, what is a Christian worldview? A Christian Worldview is when someone views the world with the Bible in mind and the understanding that everything in it is entirely true[1]. Knowing that … Read more
Mary, Mother of God That Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and named as the “Mother of God” or in greek term “Theotokos” or “Birthgiver of God”. According to what I’ve researched in the internet, Mary’s divine motherhood was proclaimed at the Council of Ephesus in 431. According to CCC 509, “Mary … Read more
Islam is a monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad. The Muslim, reality begins with and centers around God (“Allah” in Arabic). Islam is the second largest religion in the world. There are over 1 billion Muslims around the world, which makes 2.7 of the population Muslims (Islam at a glance, 2009). The word … Read more
Practicing Jainism can be extremely challenging for the individual follower. The Jain follower takes full karmic responsibility for all of his actions, and yet his good intentions do not by themselves grant him any extra good karma. He can neither receive good karma from others nor transfer his bad karma to anyone else. If he … Read more
The influence of the philosophers, Cicero, in De Natura Deorum (“Concerning the Nature of the Gods”), claims that he was the offspring of the ancient gods Aether and Hemera, Air and Day. According to the Orphic hymns, Uranus was the son of Nyx, the personification of night. I n the Olympian creation myth, as Hesiod … Read more
The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953 in Camden, New Jersey. The church has been at the center of many controversies for many years. L. Ron Hubbard founded the church as the follow-up to his popular self-help book, “Dianetics.” The church grew exponentially in terms of membership over the years … Read more
The Gospel of Luke opens with a four-verse reflection on the Evangelist’s intentions regarding his Gospel and what he hopes to achieve in writing it. He expresses his desire to construct a revised edition of the story of the life and ministry of Christ and his followers; the author claims to have ‘carefully investigated everything … Read more
Introduction Ever since its inception, the practice of Scientology has been of great interest to many outside of it due to its unconventional customs. The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1950 (Wood). Hubbard passed away in 1986, naming no clear successor (Howell). David Miscavige rose to the challenge shortly after, … Read more
First of all, the question is what is Karma? The actual definition of this word from the dictionary is, “ an action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation” If you really think about it this definition has a very powerful meaning. I can … Read more
They say life is full of ups and downs. There are challenges we face in life that can hold us back from achieving God’s divine purpose for our existence. These challenges might come in different ways, but the Bible assures us that we are overcomers in Christ Jesus. Everyone wants to have a smooth free … Read more
Fallen Angels The characters, themes and literary devices used in Fallen Angels, a novel by Walter Dean Myers, make it the compelling, critically-acclaimed novel that it is. The three major characters in Fallen Angels, Richie Perry, Harold “Peewee” Gates, and Lobel, all have distinct personalities and backgrounds. Perry, originating from the streets of Harlem is … Read more
The atonement of Christ according to this Moral Influence theory is that Jesus Christ came and died in order to bring about a positive change to humanity. This moral change comes through the teachings of Jesus alongside His example and actions. This is the belief that the atonement of Christ is a demonstration of God’s … Read more
Counter-Cinema & Wollen Peter Wollen’s article, “Godard and Counter-Cinema: Vent d’ Est,” outlines the “seven deadly sins and seven cardinal virtues” of cinema and deliberates the formal elements that reflect counter-cinema, that film director, Jean-Luc Godard, utilizes in nearly all his compositions. (Wollen 120). Wollen lists the values of traditional cinema and disputes them with … Read more
The Protestant reformation (more accurately known as the Lutheran upheaval) is the product of the observance of a ridiculous amount of corruption amongst the highest ranking officials within the Catholic Church. Yet despite its origins, its events, people and publications left a lasting impact on Europe that is still felt to this day. The words … Read more
