Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Living Religions of the West
Religion -- Question
Describe how an ethics may define and respond to "nature," and show how this is accomplished in the Jewish rituals of Bar and Bat Mitzvah and in the New Testament story of the rich young man told to follow self-renunciation.
Religion is often construed, especially by modern critics, as something that acts in an unnatural fashion upon the human character, especially in terms of how religious laws govern human impulses. In other words, religion is thought of an imposition, for better or for worse, upon the natural and unfettered structures of human physical and moral development. Indeed, some aspects of ethical religious traditions are monastic and see 'nature' and natural or at least bodily human impulses as inherently contrary to the moral life, and thus demand renunciation from the world and natural bodily impulses and appetites. However, religious law can also be seen as a creative and comforting response to natural, developmental challenges and crisis, particularly those faced by adolescents coming to terms with their place in society.
A familiar way to construe Jewish responses to the confusing and chaotic structure of life is to refer to the 613 commandments as a kind of comforting ethical response and structure. Viewed as such,...
Through the function of this ritual, the boy becomes aware of the fact that now he assumes the weight as well as the freedom of adulthood. Thus, the Bar Mitzvah can also be seen as an ethical, pedagogical response to a dangerous time of life, that of male adolescence, where an individual's sense of self is rather blurry and indeterminate. Because of his temporarily confused developing physical state, the body's body image is in a state of flux. Because of the societal and emotional questions of early adolescence asked by the boy's self and his community -- child or man -- the boy's self, identity, and body presents a potential site of danger. The ritual act of confirming the boy's ethical obligations to the community presents both the community and the boy with structure and a comfort that he is a part of the community, albeit in a new fashion. With the social changes regarding women in America, the Bat Mitzvah now does the same with girls, acting, through its addition to the Jewish ritual structure, as another kind of comfort, that women as well as men have social obligations to the Jewish community that are significant…
Religion is truly a lived experience. In today's volatile world, with world events hinging on various interpretations of religious texts perhaps more than in any other time in human history save, perhaps, during the Crusades, humanity is increasingly aware that religion is not a stoic object of study. Rather, it is a living breathing force in which we live and which inhabits us, whether we seek it or not. Robert Orsi's
transcendence and the kabalistic idea of En Sof. It has one source. Explain the concept of "transcendence," and illustrate the concept with the kabbalistic idea of the En Sof and the mystic view of Ra'bia. Religious beliefs are concepts that people have of divine existence, and since these concepts are ones that have developed ages ago, it is difficult to criticize them because of the time frame within which they emerged.
Social Collectivism in Religious Rituals: The Cases of Judaism and Islam Religion, as a sacred engagement of an individual to a spiritual experience, is laden with numerous elements that reinforce and inculcate within the individual the philosophies and teachings of the religion. One manifestation of these philosophies and teachings are through religious rituals, which are activities that an individual or group engage in to "personally experience" their faith and identity as
A key celebration in the village invites a festive dance in which the performers fall into a stupor and try to stab themselves with knives (Heinrich, 2005 p. 78). Rituals in life are pertinent events for religious display and artistic expression. Events of puberty, marriage life and burial offer opportunities for Balinese to express their notions regarding statuses, society and the afterlife. The Balinese denomination organizes their faith in a
9%-11.2% while the proportion of Hindus decreased from 84.9%-82.7%. He could not attribute the proportional changes to differences in migration or mortality, but to differences in fertility. Census and survey data show fertility is higher among Muslims than among Hindus, he claims. The total marital fertility rate for Muslim women was 11% higher in urban areas and 20% higher in rural areas than the rate for Hindus in those same
Religion The Cuban community in South Florida has evolved customs and a culture all its own. Central to those customs and cultural expressions is religion. Whether Sephardic Jew or Catholic, the Cuban in South Florida is touched by religion in all aspects of his or her life. Family gatherings and community celebrations are often organized around religious events, holidays, or rituals. This is true for any religious community, but for this