Ishmael Essays (Examples)

Because you are a gorilla whose views and values are closely connected to the environment, I understand that you might not be able to tackle some of the deeper reasons for the insanity that has come to characterize human behavior. I do not feel that human nature would allow for the structural changes you envision, either, because the world is now deeply entrenched in a global market economy that informs the worldview of most of the planet's six billion people. In such a pluralistic world, it would be impossible for anyone with a Leaver mentality to make much of a political impact. Changing the world, I am afraid, is a process that depends on two main variables: working within the system, and working within the individual. Working within the system while working on oneself is the optimal combination of actions. The individual who takes full responsibility for his or her…

Daniel Quinn's Vision Of History
Beauty is often described as being in the eye of the beholder. In this sense beauty is viewed as a subjective consideration and so its appreciation is a matter of taste and perspective. Likewise, events that take place in the history of the world can often be subject to interpretation depending on the viewpoint of the observer or researcher. But what about the idea of the "world's history?" Not any specific event or series of events that took place at a given time in history but the actual history of the world in the most general sense (Interview). Is this subject to interpretation?

The View According to Man

According to Daniel Quinn in the book Ishmael, the answer is a resounding 'yes.' There are, indeed, different ways to view the "world's history." On the one hand is the dominant Taker view represented by modern society in the 'person'…

Ishmael Reed discusses and expands on the concept of the American "melting pot" in his essay "America: The Multinational Society." Citing Yale Professor Robert Thompson, Reed celebrates modern American culture as being a "cultural bouillabaisse" consisting of a rich melange of people from all parts of the world. One of Reed's main points is that historians tend to overemphasize the influence of Western European influences on American culture. The author states that the historical and modern impact of non-European cultures on America is dismissed in popular culture as well. According to Reed, the entire world is condensed into the borders of the United States, from Africa to South America to Asia. The United States is not simply a story of Puritan idealism. Therefore, Reed suggests that all Americans should re-envision the nation not as the pinnacle of "Western Civilization," but as a culmination of all the cultures of the world.
Based…

environmental ethics in "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn
This paper looks at the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and how the environmental ethics as outlined by Quinn relate to the world and man today. How man by looking at the damage he has carried out in the name of progress and listening to his neighbors and their roles can help to halt and possibly heal the earth before its destruction is complete.

Ishmael: An Environmental Ethical Issue

There are few books that have the ability to hold the key to saving the environment in which we live in. Many books of this ilk are either tired or over-hyped and in many ways bring forth an image of under-done images that provide as much aid and help in halting the destruction of the earth as nuclear waste or by becoming a vegetarian, recycling as much glass, plastic and aluminium cans as possible, or installing solar…

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was first recorded in soldiers after the Civil ar, but was not recognized as a common occurrence until after the Vietnam ar, when symptoms developed in over 30% of combat veterans (Harvard Men's Health atch). After they are removed from combat, former soldiers often experience nightmares, flashbacks, outbursts of anger, and the inability to sleep (Cohen 1).
Beah experienced all of these symptoms when he and some of his comrades were removed from the fighting and taken to a rehabilitation center. Years of exposure to and participation in acts of brutal violence had created what Beah referred to as a "void" inside of him (4). As his memories of war began to surface, he would have hallucinations of blood pouring from the water faucet or the shower, and in the few hours that he was able to sleep, he would dream of his throat being slit by…

yellow back radio BOKE-DOWN
Assertion

Yellow Back adio Broke-down is a highly interesting piece of fiction that introduces readers to deeper aspects of black narrative and exposes him to a freedom of style that was hitherto missing from African-American literature of 20th century. But this free-flowing style of writing matches the main purpose of the novel i.e. To attack institutionalization of everything from culture to literature to religion. In his book, eed exposes the problems that arise from restricted thinking and dogmatic religious beliefs. But these problems are attributed solely to white society and its false beliefs of supremacy. In his novel, eed attacks the white society and culture and mocks everything that it believes in including institutionalized Christianity. The author thus maintains that white people have no right to feel superior when even their religion is powerless against the animistic religions of ancient African. By turning his protagonist into a hoodoo…

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Since

Ishmael - by Daniel Quinn

After reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, it's very difficult to understand how this innovative and thought-provoking author had a hard time finding a publisher for his unique and powerful book. Quinn has taken the history of our civilization and quality-of-our-planet themes - very familiar to any informed reader in 2004 - to new heights and new levels of understanding. And he did so with a distinctive dialog format, borrowed from Plato's Republic and re-structured through a narrator who engages in a telepathic dialog with a very wise gorilla named Ishmael. While there are in this book some oversimplifications, the richness and power of the ideas offers convincing evidence that population growth, if not restrained in some way, will be our planet's undoing. The fact that Quinn won the Turner Tomorrow Award ($500,000 plus the attendant publicity for fiction that "produces creative and positive…

True Meaning of Snow
David Guterson is the young, American author of Snow Falling on Cedars which heavily consists of human nature and human emotions. Snow Falling on Cedars, narrates the trial of a Japanese man accused of murdering a white man in the post-orld ar II era. Throughout this literary work, Guterson uses elements of nature: land, trees, water and especially snow, as literal and metaphorical tools to develop and resolve conflicts.

David Guterson uses the same aspects and characteristics of nature in two different ways. First he describes in visual detail the literal or actual effects that elements of nature have on the characters in the novel. But more importantly Guterson uses nature to convey substantial and symbolic meaning in the lives of the characters in the story.

One of the elements of nature that Guterson uses as a tool to develop the conflicts in Snow Falling on Cedars are…

This continuing trading out of one tyranny for another is also built into a recurring theme in the text.
Multiculturalism

Early on in the novel, a scene of mob violence -- that is, of a white mob practicing violence upon black students, including with the use of a baseball bat -- is described, and Puttbutt's reaction to the scene is prompted and recorded by the ubiquitous television media. Puttbutt describes the problem as one that the black students themselves have created and perpetuated, with the help of the black faculty agitators, not simply acting as an apologist for the white students but actually blaming the victims for their differences. Though Puttbutt is also angling for tenure and security, there is a sense of irony and staire in his speech that cannot be ignored.

Specifically, when he refers to the "poor white students" who let things like affirmative action and quotas "get themselves…

" (4)
This disbelief would fade with relative quickness though as in a matter of less than a day from this intrusion into his life, Baeh would see more bloodshed and death than any child should ever know. The horrific sequence in which the war first becomes visible to the author tells with unflinching honesty the degree to which violence had come to rule his former home. This would be part and parcel to his rehabilitation though, with four years of war behind him. Baeh would have to remind himself that he had been a victim and not the perpetrator during the four years of his childhood that were deployed to this brutal conflict. A perfectly fitting metaphor for the moment of his innoncence being taken from his is that in which he describes a woman carrying a dead baby. Baeh tells that "the image of that woman and her baby…

But 'tis enough."(Melville, 161-162) the comparison of the whale with a wall emphasizes Ahab's maddening endeavor to break the ultimate resistance of truth and conquer it. Thus, he is not fascinated like Ishmael by the metaphysical, he wants to own it and vanquish it: "That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me."(Melville, 162) in Ahab's struggle with the inscrutable, he never ceases to be a personality himself, refusing to be daunted by its overwhelming force. The ultimate desire to kill the whale shows Ahab's obsession with obtaining an absolute victory over the unknown. The captain is obviously haunted by the same high perception of reality as Ishmael is, with the addition that his strife is…

Regionalism
This report analyzes regionalism in several contexts as they pertain to the movie Snow Falling on Cedars. The movie is pervasively filled with considerations relating to regionalism, outsiders vs. insiders, how insiders and outsiders mesh and the very dicey results that can ensue, how all of this plays off of national and international situations and conflicts and so forth. This movie establishes that many unique and different things can influence who interacts with who, how and why and the things that impact all of this are not just limited to race and nationality.

Movie Setting & Synopsis

The year and country this film is set in has a ton to do with why people feel the way they do and why there is such a bred animosity towards Kabuo, to the point that his guilt is almost assumed and someone very important in the movie actually withholds information that would exonerate him.…

Covenants are sacred pacts between God and human beings. The covenant between God and Abraham described in the Hebrew Bible establishes a spiritual quid pro quo relationship. God promises Abraham that he will become a great patriarch; in exchange, Abraham's progeny promises to worship the one God. God's promise is fulfilled in procreative powers and land ownership. In exchange, the human beings must prove their merits with specific behaviors such as by performing rituals. The covenant with Abraham forms the root of the Hebrew Jewish faith, but is later reinterpreted by Christianity and then reinvigorated via Islam. As a social and political tool, the covenant has also carved serious ideological rifts among the people of the Book.
There are several historical aspects of Abraham's covenant with God that makes it unique. First, the covenant represented the birth of the world's most notable monotheistic faiths. Abraham's own father manufactured idols, and Abraham…

Bible
Genesis as a whole establishes fundamental Biblical theology, defining the role of God in the world and God's relationship with and responsibilities to humanity. The establishment of patriarchal rule is a central theme of Genesis, evident in passages like Genesis 17:1-4. Although not Abram's first encounter with God, this interaction highlights several key elements of God's covenant with Abram, elucidates the necessity for total submission to God, and characterizes God as almighty and omnipotent. Also central to this passage is the promise to bless Abram's offspring, thus establishing Abram as the patriarchal leader of two distinct but biologically related lineages: that of Ishmael and that of Isaac. In Genesis 17:1-4, God bestows upon Abram the blessing of being the "father of many nations," and not just one great nation. The difference between God's injunction in Genesis 17:1-4 and the previous promise issued in Genesis 12:2 is powerful and has social,…

Countermeasures and Neutralization
In past ten years, the accessibility to information and capabilities has increased; thus, the technology of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has increased drastically. The defence department of many countries need to take actions in order to prevent the chances of any attack (Graham, 2004).

During Cold war, the usage of nuclear weapons cause massive destruction that was faced by the innocent people of the countries, this is why weapons of mass destruction are taken as great threats. For the security of the people and the environment, the massive growth of destructive weapons should be slowed otherwise soon the individuals would get the opportunity to harm the entire nation. Such destructive powers reside with nation states, which are politically, economically, industrially and socially very strong (Graham, 2004).

Terrorists on the other hand have few assets but they are usually ready to give away everything for the achievement of their goals.…

In 300 BC, Jews were again exiled to Egypt by Ptolemy. His capture of Jerusalem led to the deportation of thousands of individuals to Egypt, and still others left of their own accord. Those that were left were often assigned to Ptolemy's garrison, since they were extremely loyal. These exiled Jews formed the Jewish colony in Alexandria, but again, the Jews were spread even further apart into the Diaspora (Harding, 58).

In 70 AD, Judea was yet again destroyed when Titus, son of emperor of Rome Vespasian, destroyed the Temple. Jewish captives were put to death, or taken to Rome (Harding, 92). Following the revolt of Bar Kochba in 136 AD, even more Jews were exiled. Still more Jews left due to economic conditions, and were scattered in Cyprus, Syria, Alexandria, and elsewhere (Isseroff, 1).

The resulting Diaspora produced a longing for the Jewish homeland, and an overall sense of a rejection…

Myths - "The Other Side of Wonder"
Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear.2

So run the lines from Cheng Tao, describing signifying, identifying myths - always there explaining existence and every facet of life, explaining the reason behind every man's actions:

So, myths.

For what is a myth? Lillian Hornstein3 describes it best. "A myth is the traditional tale common to the members of a tribe, race, or nation, usually involving the supernatural and serving to explain some natural phenomena. Given as an example is the tale of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, abducted by Hades and brought to the underworld but allowed to return to earth and visit her mother for six months. Thus, we have the varied alternations of the season on earth.

Shall we consider the social-cultural effects of myths positive or negative?

To the globalized man who through the years…

American Lit
Definition of Modernism and Three Examples

Indeed, creating a true and solid definition of modernism is exceptionally difficult, and even most of the more scholarly critical accounts of the so-called modernist movement tend to divide the category into more or less two different movements, being what is known as "high modernism," which reflected the erudition and scholarly experimentalism of Eliot, Joyce, and Pound, and the so-called "low modernism" of later American practitioners, such as William Carlos Williams. Nonetheless, despite the problems of reification involved with such a task, I will attempt to invoke a definitions of at least some traits of modernism, as culled from the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics:

First, [in modernism] "realization" had to replace description, so that instead of copying the external world the work could render it in an image insisting on its own forms of reality... [and] Second, the poets develop collage techniques for…

Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville, and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. Specifically, it compares and contraststhese three characters in relation to the evil that dominates them, indicate what the attitude of the author is regarding each one, discuss the source of their evil nature or acts, the nature of the evil deeds they commit, and the results of these evil designs.
It will also select the character that should be the most strongly condemned and fully justify why. Each of these novel's characters is dominated by the evil influence of another character, and each of them faces this domination in a different way. Each character grows stronger from this evil influence, and learns how to remove the evil influence from their lives.

Evil is present in all of these novels, and much of each novel's theme revolves around the age-old premise of good and…

S.-supported dictators.
Thus, while the term "Arab" is useful for describing a particular group of people with a shared language, culture, and history, one cannot readily assume that all Arabs subscribe to a pan-Arabist ideology, especially in light of the often overlapping "Muslim world," which many Arabs would identify themselves a part of (above and beyond any shared connection due to their Arab heritage). In reality, a shared linguistic and cultural background is really the only thing that unites Arabs, but because the world's largely white, Christian reigning powers have for so long actively disenfranchised and brutalized the Arab world, either through direct action or proxies, this shared linguistic and cultural background has been the only unifying feature which allows for any resistance. In many ways, one may see the emerging democratic movements of the Arab Spring as the successful replacement of both pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism, because the desire for social…

Likewise, other passages create more problems than they solve from a modern perspective: "Why did Rachel remove the teraphim, the sacred images, when she left her father's house? Why Rachel and not Leah, the eldest? Teubal, though, points out that if these events are viewed in terms of the fundamental humanity of the individuals involved, their actions and motives becomes more clear to modern observers. "These episodes, and many others in the Genesis texts, are bewildering only if they are seen as occurring in a patriarchal society." Notwithstanding the high regard that women were almost universally provided in terms of their supportive counsel and motherly devotions, these attributes did not carry with them any sense of social authority in a patriarchal society, but were rather confined to the homes of the individuals involved. According to Teubal, "The vivid stories depicting Sarah's removal of Ishmael from the line of inheritance, Rebekah's…

Genesis 12-23.
The call of Abram (Genesis 12:1-9)

God promises. (Genesis12:2-3)

To make his name great.

To bless those who bless him.

To make him a great nation.

Abram leaves Haran and journeys through Canaan (Genesis 12:4-8).

With lot his wife Sarai and all his possessions.

He was 75 years old.

Abram pitched a tent and an altar at Bethel.

Abram in Egypt.

Abrams moves to Egypt because of famine.

Sarai claims to be Abram's sister in Egypt and is taken up by pharaoh who is later punished with diseases by God for his refusal to let Israelites go.

Abram is sent away by pharaoh with his wife and wealth.

Abram and Lot separate. (Genesis13:1-18)

They quarreled over the land.

Lot moves to Sodom and Abram remains in Canaan.

Abram rescues Lot. (Genesis14:1-24)

A. Other kings rise against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and seized their wealth including Lot.

B. Lot, now an escapee reports to Abram.

C. Abram sets out with 318 men and rescues his nephew and…

A view of this event captures an incredible sea of worshippers flowing like a human river in the footsteps of the prophet Mohammed, who it is said arrived at this spot some 1400 years ago to pay homage to Abraham.
The role of the woman as it is understood through the ritual reenactments are quite different from the unequal stance which is often assumed of Muslim women today, with Hagar and Ishmael given tribute as well. Exiled to the dessert valley that would become Mecca, Hagar would give birth to the numerous Arab peoples, and would be enabled to do so by the salvation of the angel Gabriel. In many ways, this story parallels the matriarchal role of the Madonna to Christianity, who was likewise guided by an angel in a time of crisis. Islam tells that Gabriel was sent down to bring water to Hagar in the desert in…

Cross and the Crescent
The main role of Richard Fletcher's The Cross and the Crescent is that it presents a concise history of the relations between Muslims and Christians in a period characterized by histeria and fear in the United States, regarding anything related to Muslims. This history of Muslim-Christian relations comes at the opportune moment, as it explains in a very balanced way the relation that these two different cultures had in time, partly explaining the actual conflict between these two worlds.

While the discussions in the Middle East between Christians and Muslims were peacefull, the same can not be said about the way Muslims were seen in the Christian world. They were always regarded as a potential threat, due to some historical events that pointed in this direction (for example, Constantinopole was constantly under attack).

Not all relations between Muslims and Christians were of a violent nature, as there existed…

Jake Barone
Mrs. Ritter

Humanity and Empathy

ar Tears Families Apart

The thought of "war" conjures images of men in combat, but what of the families left behind? Throughout history, families have watched their men go to war. In more recent history, they have watched their women go to war as well. These soldiers are sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers. The families they leave behind are affected when someone goes to war. There is continual worry when a soldier is deployed; families worry for their soldier's safety and pray for his safe return. People go to war all over the world and the stress experienced by families is the same. There are no cultural or ethnic boundaries when it comes to the effects of war on a family. ar tears families apart and family life may never again be the same as it was before the…

Pentateuch consists of the first five Books of the Bible. The Pentateuch is the same as what many people mean when they refer to the Torah, which is the first five books of the Tanakh. These books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In both Jewish and Christian tradition, Moses is considered the author of most of the Pentateuch and the belief is that God dictated the books to Moses (Fairfield, N.p.). However scholars generally agree that the books actually reflect compilations of earlier writings by various different authors. Taken together, the five books introduce the reader to God. They explain that God is the creator of the universe and everything in it, how the world has imperfections despite being a divine creation, God's unique relationship with man, and the beginnings of the special relationship between God and his chosen people (Fairfield, N.p.).
The Pentateuch begins with Genesis. Genesis is…

Qu'an simila to and diffeent fom the Holy Bible? Give examples fom each wok to illustate thei similaities and diffeences
The Qu'an is the holy book of Islam, the eligion established by Muhammad while the Holy Bible is the saced book of Chistianity. Thee ae a numbe of ways in which the Qu'an is simila as well as dissimila to the Holy Bible. Fo states, both of them consist of chonicles, teachings, poety, and epimanding. Seveal chonicles encompass the simila basic occasions and individuals. The Qu'an and the Bible both teach the ceation of the wold by a distinct almighty, all-knowing God who commands human beings to follow the moality set out fo them. Fist of foemost, one of the key simila doctine is that God, efeed to as Allah in the Qu'an, and Yahweh in the Bible, is the only ceato of all things in the univese and whose…

Point ONE: Billy Budd: Critic Eugene Goodheart is the Edythe Macy Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Brandeis University. He writes that while critics are generally divided between those who see Captain Vere as "an unwitting collaborator" with Claggart and those who feel Vere was correct to have Billy sent to the gallows. In his piece Goodheart explains that Billy is "…variously seen as Adam before the fall, as a noble barbarian, as Isaac the sacrificial victim…and as a Christ figure" (Goodheart, 2006, p. 81).

Point TO: Goodheart makes the most of his assertion that no matter what allegorical link to Billy, the protagonist is symbolic of innocence. hen Billy lashes out at Claggart, it is due to his innocence. He is first of all innocent of the charge that he was leading a mutiny, Goodheart explains. Secondly, Billy is innocent when it comes to the existence of evil (Goodheart, p. 82);…

370).
The most egregious sins that can be committed by a Muslim include to deny the unity of God by ascribing divine status to any person or object. This sin is called shirk. Emphasizing the importance of shirk to Muslim morality, all iconography is strictly forbidden in Islam. Iconography in a mosque, the Muslim place of worship, would be akin to idol worship. The second major sin of Islam is kufr, or atheism.

The religious beliefs of Islam are based around a core set of tenets known as the Five Pillars. The first pillar is the Shahadah: there is only one God, and the prophet Mohammed is God's messenger. At the same time, Islam encourages respect of and unity with "all prophets" of God and "all revealed scriptures," (p. 381).

The Second Pillar is prayer, five times a day. Ritual washing is also integral to Muslim prayer. When praying, the worshipper faces…

The Koran preaches that "the message of Abraham was the very same as Muhammad's, but it would become corrupted by the Jews" (Kjeilen para. 15). In the Koran, Abraham is a messenger who teaches others about the Islamic God. Kjeilen writes that sources outside the Koran tell many stories about Abraham, one of which includes his circumcision. This is not nearly as significant as it is in the Hebrew texts.
Thus, both religions use the hero of Abraham to evoke their missions. The Biblical Abraham makes a compact with the Jewish God and resigns himself to Judaism. In Islam, however, Abraham is a hero in that he is a prophet, spreading the Islamic message to those who have not heard.

orks Cited

Brians, Paul. "The Story of Abraham, from the Hebrew Bible." ashington State

University. 1998. Department of English. 10 June 2009.

Kjeilen, Tore. "Abraham/Ibrahim." Look Lex Encyclopedia. 2009. 10 June 2009.

This ritual takes place on the eighth day after birth and the ceremony itself involves both religious and surgical elements and may be performed by a surgeon of a specially-trained Mohel who has both surgical and religious knowledge. After the circumcision is performed, a festive meal almost always follows as a symbol of thanks to God and to the prophet Abraham.
One of the most complicated religious rituals of Judaism is the ar Mitzvah for boys and less frequently, the at Mitzvah for girls. These words mean "the son or the daughter of the commandment and mark the coming of age of a male or female child" (Harvey, 325) who is then seen as an adult and is responsible for observing the commandments set down by Moses and to fill adult roles in the congregation of the synagogue. This ritual traditionally occurs on the Sabbath following the child's thirteenth birthday…

He notes that many of the young men who were in rehabilitation with him returned to fighting, but he managed to escape and finally come to America, where he went to school and finally wrote about his experience. During his rehabilitation, the people working with him would tell him what happened was not his fault. One social worker said, "None of what happened was your fault. You were just a little boy, and anytime you want to tell me anything, I am here to listen" (Beah 160). Her encouragement helped him overcome his fears and his self-recrimination, and helped him move along the road to true rehabilitation.
ehabilitation takes time and patience, and this woman, "Nurse Esther," had both. She is largely responsible that Beah was able to assimilate back into society and live a normal life.

She helped him realize that he could not feel guilty about what had happened,…

One cannot help but see the foreshadowing of Jesus' birth in Ruth's determination to travel to Bethlehem, upon the conviction that it will be blessed by the Lord.
Like Ruth's tale, the story of Esther tells of a woman's strength, conviction, and loyalty to the Jews. Esther's husband Ahasuerus is tangentially involved in a plot to kill the Jews, mirroring the Roman persecution of Jews during Jesus' time. Ruth risks her own life to rescue the Jews, while Mary gives her son for the protection of the Jews. The paper will investigate the significant contrast between the story of Esther and the story of Mary; Esther's protection of the Jews results in the death of thousands of Gentiles, while Mary helps bring a message of peace. The stories also both involve rulers attempting to kill Jews.

The dissertation will also compare Mary to Rebecca. One of Rebecca's remarkable features is that…

Dhimmis (minorities of other religions) participated as equal citizens in this renaissance and Muslim scholars made more scientific discoveries during this time than in the whole of previously recorded history (Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2007). The break between the hiis (those who considered Ali to be legitimate ruler of the nation) and the unnis (those who revered Muhammad and all four rashidun) occurred during this period. Mystic Islam (best known as ufism), or esoteric groups were born during this period as well as Muslim philosophy.
Today, approximately 80-90% of Moslems are unnis whilst 10-20% are hiites. The key difference between unnis and hiites is that unnis believe that the first four caliphs were rightful successors to Mohamed and that caliphs should be chosen by the whole community. The alafi sect (otherwise notoriously known as Wahabbissm) is an extreme Islamic movement derived from unnism. hiites, on the other hand, believe in the…

Both faiths ascribe to a heaven and a hell, belief in angels and the devil. Moreover, Islam and Christianity teach against crimes against humanity to include violence, gambling, adultery, lying, theft and murder. Both teach that children are to respect their parents and husbands and wives are to be respected. Both Islam and Christianity teach against same sex marriage, homosexuality, fornication, and vulgarism. Both teach of modesty in presentation to the rest of the world. Observation of societal laws is also important to believers in Islam and Christianity (Asad 60).
Traditions

Islam and Christianity both believe in zakat or charity; extending one's self to those less fortunate. Both traditions teach fasting as a way of getting closer to God as well as enhancing each individual's God like qualities. Despite recent extremist practices by some Muslims, both Islam and Christianity are faiths based on a tradition of peace (Asad 103). Although some…

In other case the motive was rooted first in ideological assumption -- and that assumption was that ASP superiority was a given.
The issue of race and class finally came to a head as America continued its expansion westward. But the issue was political as well: hat right did the Federal Government have over State Government to say whether slavery should be abolished? ho was really in power in America -- the States and local government -- or federal national government? The Civil ar, of course, answered the question brutally and bloodily in 1865. But racism and classism did not end. In fact, the problems of race and class would continue even after the war for as long as American policy was determined by ASP elitism. That policy has not changed to this day.

In conclusion, issues of race and class were ingrained into the American fabric from the very beginning…

Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
The book I chose to review is Abraham: a journey to the heart of three faiths by Bruce Feiler. Feiler is an interesting author for scholarly books, in that his work is not bound by traditional scholastic guidelines. ather than studying about something in an educational setting, Feiler immerses himself in an experience. He has written about religious and secular topics, but is best-known for his books on religious topics. In addition to working as an author, he is the writer/presenter of the PBS miniseries Walking the Bible, which is based on his book of the same name. Abraham is one of his most highly critically-acclaimed books and received an unusual amount of attention for a religious-based, non-fiction book. Not only did it become a New York Times bestseller, but it was also featured on the cover of Time Magazine. In the…

Abraham showed that all things actually belong to God -- not to us.
This lesson may be remembered by me when Providence deems that I should lose something I value. Whether it is a car that I have sunk lots of time and money into, or a friend that I have known and loved for a long time, or a job that I have always wanted -- when these things are taken away from me I can reflect that my forefather Abraham also had things taken away from him. ut Abraham's example of perseverance is a great example of how I should act.

Even after God told him that he demanded circumcision -- a sign of blood -- Abraham did not reverse his feelings toward God; instead, as though by shedding blood, he spiritually strengthened himself all the more. As William John Deane states, "It was shortly after the institution of…

The Albeck edition includes an entire volume by Yellin detailing his eclectic method.
Two institutes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have collected major oral archives which hold extensive recordings of Jews chanting the Mishnah using a variety of melodies and many different kinds of pronunciation. These institutes are the Jewish Oral Traditions esearch Center and the National Voice Archives. Both the Mishnah and Talmud contain little serious biographical studies of the people discussed therein, and the same tractate will conflate the points-of-view of many different people. However, sketchy biographies of the Mishaic sages can often be constructed with historical detail from Talmudic and Midrashic sources.

Many modern historical scholars have focused on the timing and the formation the Mishnah. A vital question is whether it is comprised of sources which date from its editor's lifetime, and to what extent is it comprised of earlier, or later sources. Common questions include…

III. The Abrahamic Covenant:

This too is an unconditional covenant characterized by:

God gave to Abraham a promise of a great national which is inclusive of all the lines of Ishmael and Abraham's two other sons Isaac and enjamin. This is founding Genesis 8:21-9:17.

IV. The Davidic Covenant:

In this covenant God says "Thou has said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: "I will establish your descendants for ever and build your throne for all generations. [Selah] I have found David, my servant, with my holy oil I have anointed him; so that my hand shall ever abide with him, my arm also shall strengthen him." [Psalm 89 excerpts] This covenant is characterized by:

temple in Israel kingdom in perpetuity throne

Royal authority in David's lineage

Disobedience reaping chastisement

The promise for the Messiah to come through David's line confirmed.

V. How the Covenants are the Same/Different and the…

American Ethnic Literature
Analyzing the Nature of American Ethnic Literature

America has a distinct history: like ancient ome, its inhabitants have come from all over and few of them can truly say to be natives of the place. This fact alone makes American Literature a compelling label: what makes American Literature American? This paper will attempt to answer the question by showing how many ethnicities have converged in one nation allowing various writers with different ethnic, social, political, economical, and social perspectives to define and/or illustrate a time and place.

As Morris Dickstein states, "When America was merely a remote province of world culture, its educated elites were Anglophile, Francophile, or broadly cosmopolitan. Education was grounded in classical learning, a respect for the ancients over the moderns, and a deeply ingrained respect for old Europe's artistic heritage" (p. 155). This type of background made American letters similar to European. What happened, however, was…

Flight to Canada/Death of a Salesman
Flight to Canada, written in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, is sort of an atypical slave narrative taking place in the antebellum south (however, this is an antebellum south where airplanes already exists and Lincoln's assassination is seen on television) and depicting Raven Quickskill's and his fellow fugitive's escape from their master Arthur Swille. The entire plot revolves around the relentless search for Raven who is on his way to "Camelot" (i.e, Canada) while his fellow fugitives, Stray Leechfield and 40's go to whatever lengths possible in order to find their own freedom. However, what Reed illustrates in the story is that one cannot so easily escape slavery because slavery exists everywhere and some forms are harder to escape than others, but some bring on slavery themselves. In Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, Willie Loman also believes in a sort of Camelot -- the…

There is a definite chance that both parties could resolve the prolonged conflict successfully if they find and act on ways to be in command of their shared lack of trust. On the other hand, if the conflict is seen in terms of a neoliberal point-of-view, Israel's military efficiency and powerfulness is a great threat for Israelis. To cut a long story short, the main goal on which all the main five parties agree is the achievement of peace between Israelis and Palestinians but it is only possible if they give up their most preferred results; Israel giving up its favorite result of unrestricted occupation of Palestinian land and Palestine holding back its preferred outcome of unconditional withdrawal. The conflict could be resolved if both parties could also find some common solutions for complex and convoluted detachable issues including "the degree of sovereignty of a Palestinian state, the distribution…

Women in Judaism: An Evolving Role in Religion and Society
Many laymen to Judaism look inward into the religion and view Jewish women as oppressed, their lives and choices dictated to them by the men who surround them. From rabbis to husbands to the ible itself, the belief has generally been that women have been essentially inferior to men since the dawn of the religion centuries ago. However, in taking a contemporary view toward women in Judaism, and in marking the significant strides that the sex has made throughout the centuries, one can immediately see that all it takes to understand the power and respect that Jewish women afford themselves is merely to take a closer look. In viewing the changes and struggles that Jewish women have been through throughout the centuries as well as taking a strictly-religious view in understanding the way Jewish people view God to have made them,…

Roots of the Feeling of Moral Superiority in the U.S.
The United States has been criticized in recent years for assuming an air of moral superiority and for trying to impose their opinions on the rest of the world. Even when the tragedy of September 11 happened, some countries were happy to see America suffer. hy would they hate us? Partly it might be because they envy the wealth and freedom that American citizens have. It is also because they think Americans believe they are always in the right, (my country, right or wrong). Did this attitude emerge with the founding fathers? e can see American attitudes to ourselves and also to other countries in non-fiction and fiction of the first two centuries, from the 1770's to the 1970's.

In "Common Sense," 1776, Thomas Paine declared "Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America...The Almighty hath implanted in us these inextinguishable feelings…

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Judaism

Hebrew history, as told by the Hebrews, begins in Mesopotamia, in the cities of Ur in the south and Haran in the north. With Abraham, the story of the Hebrews begins, and it is clearly stated that Hebrew origins lay outside Canaan. The command to leave his ancestral home and journey to Canaan was accompanied by a promise (Gen. 12:2) The exact location of the nation-to-be is not specified but was, of course, known to those hearing or reading the account, Abraham journeyed to Canaan, Egypt, the Negeb, Hebron, Gezer, Beer-sheba and back to Hebron where he and his wife Sarah died.

The journey itself was more than a pilgrimage, for it represented the starting point of a continuing adventure in nationhood. Nor are the travelers without vicissitudes, but throughout famine, earthquake, fire and war, god protected them.

The close relationship between the Hebrews and the people of…

GENESIS HISTORY OR MYTH?
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It contains incredible stories of the creation of the universe, man's fall from grace, the story of Noah and the great flood, and the stories of the first generations of man. This book is perhaps one of the most controversial as well. The contents of the book are not as source of dispute. However, the interpretation of the content is a source of great scholarly debate for many reasons.

The first source of debate is exactly what type of work Genesis constitutes. Conservative Christians consider Genesis to be a history. Using this interpretation, events in Genesis happened exactly as written. Other more liberal interpretations consider Genesis to be something other than a historical account. There are many liberal viewpoints on how to categorize Genesis. Some believe that Genesis is an allegory, others a myth, and still others compare it…

Black Experience in American Culture
This is a paper that analyzes the black experience in American culture as presented by Hughes, Baldwin, Wright and Ellison. It has 20 sources in MLA format.

African-American authors have influenced American culture as they have come forward to present issues that the society would rather have forgotten. Authors such as ichard Wright alph Ellison, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin have come under fire as they have written about the racial and biased experiences throughout their life [Capetti, 2001] and through their narratives they have forged a link between the past, the present (themselves) and their future (the unborn generation).

These literary works are an effort on their part to prove to their nations that regardless of the perceived realities their existence and lives have valuable. The slave past some of these authors have had created a void in their lives that at times left then feeling ashamed…

Scrimshaw: As History and Currency of a Bygone Era
The art of Scrimshaw is an art of idle hands. Scrimshaw, as we know it today dates back to the early part of the nineteenth century. Sailors on long idle whaling expeditions would use the leavings of the hunt to create art. haling required many more crew than was actually needed to man the ship, as the animal required many men to finish the kill once it was injured and also many to ground it, bring it on board or on shore and hundreds sometimes to quickly finish the butchering and harvest. (Paszkiewicz 1)

haling was even seen as a punishment for young evil doers and in that way

Scrimshaw could be compared at least somewhat to prison art, probably its closest folk art neighbor. "haling, after all, was better than most systems of peonage that flourish to-day, for it released its victims after…

Arab-American in Detroit
Detroit started to become a settlement for Arab migrants, who mostly originated from Lebanon, during the 19th century. Today, Detroit is among the American states with the largest Arab settlers. Arab settlers started to migrate in America during the early years of 1900s to work as laborers in factories. This is in time with the emergence of steel and automobile industries where most of the workforce comprises blacks and Arabic men. As the American industries continued to advance, more Arab laborers took their chances in the United States. Aside from America's economic advancement, as motivation to the immigration of Arabs, family unification and conflicts in the Middle East are among the other reasons (Gold, 2001).

The perception that all Arab-Americans are religious Muslims is incorrect. This is because the Arab-Americans, particularly in Detroit, adheres diverse religions. They may have originated from a Muslim dominated region, but most of them…

Great ar in American history does not signify any greatness for the disastrous affects it left behind. The aftermath of the civil war had been damaging for the Americans, which resulted in their rebuking the African-Americans, with a biased attitude towards their slavery. The book 'A lesson before Dying' emphasis on such a community, where the outcome of the wars were still hanging on their shoulders, yet it was becoming more difficult for the blacks to sanctify their identities. Leaving a young boy's life in danger, when he's unjustly announced with the death sentence. hile ' Snow Falling in Cedars' brings out the Japanese-Americans and their hardships while they try to live discreetly around coastal environment. It shows the side after orld ar II, when Japanese were taken into the concentration camps and even after they were released they had to fight a battle with the same people they…

Primordialism
Ethnicity is one of the more fluid concepts in sociology because one's ethnicity is largely defined by membership in a social group. The social group shares a common background, whether through experience or ancestry and they share characteristics that set them apart from other groups. Many times these characteristics are stereotyped, but the stereotypes are derived from a reality where the majority of members of the group do, indeed, share those characteristics. Moreover, one's ethnicity is not limited to a single background. A person can have multiple ethnicities by having a family that derives from multiple different ethnic traditions. However, a person can also have multiple ethnicities because larger ethnic groups can be further subdivided into smaller ethnic groups, sometimes referred to as tribes.

Ethnicity is also intertwined with race, which is an interesting concept. Genetic analysis has revealed that there is greater similarity than difference among humans from different races.…

History Of Christianity
The Conversion of Constantine

In the peer-reviewed Catholic Historical Review, author Charles Odahl explains that there was an "arduous military campaign" to regain control of Rome from "usurper Maxentius" in A.D. 312 (three hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ). The campaign was brutal and so Constantine the Great sought "supernatural assistance" against the enemies of Rome (Odahl, 1995). Of course previous emperors had sought power and influence from "traditional pagan cults" and had persecuted the Christian Church, and it hadn't worked out well in terms of military successes. So Constantine was said to have invoked (through prayer) "the Highest God" of the universe to help his troops; and because he believed he had an answer from the Christian God, he ordered placed on troops arms the "caestia signa of Christ" (the Cross). Because Roman troops won the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge (on October 28, 312), that…

PASTORAL THEOLOGY (MISSION): A Review and Assessment of Book Chapters on Mission
The key ideas in these chapters are that the idea of mission is rooted in the Bible and in the actions of the early Church, as the missionaries spread throughout the world taking with them the ord of God and giving it to those individuals and groups of people/communities who embraced it and wanted to live their lives according to this ord. The ord was the Mission Statement, so to speak, of the early Church, and the Bible makes this very clear. From the beginning, God's chosen had an affinity with the non-chosen, that is, the Gentiles, of whom Our Lord counted Himself as one. Thus, the perspective of the early missionaries was this: they were not going out to preach to people they did not know but rather to people who were indeed their brothers in sisters in…

The stories of patriarchs reveal differential customs and social norms, creating problematic and marginalized modern interpretations. In what Breuggeman (2003) calls the "traditioning process," it has become customary to manufacture meaning within the Biblical texts in order to perpetuate their relevance. The political, social, and theological messages contained within patriarchal narratives are therefore similar to those located in other Biblical texts and depend on faith for their renewed value.
Boadt (1984) points out also the means by which patriarchal figures and their corresponding social norms are codified in Biblical texts. The process of canonization and "traditioning" depends on acceptance of patriarchal codes and processes, including the means by which families are structured. In terms of both faithfulness and dysfunctionality, to read the patriarchal narratives and particularly the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar requires a dual consciousness: to step at once inside the mindset of Biblical times but also to retain…

Book Censorship: An Advocacy EssayI. INTRODUCTIONToday, the debate over book censorship in the United States is not only heated and emotionally charged, it has resulted in actual violence in the nations communities. The reasons that some groups want books in the schools and libraries censored are multiple, but they all boil down to fundamental disagreements concerning what types of materials young people should be allowed to read and discuss. Certainly, there is little disagreement concerning providing young learners with outright pornographic materials or literature that promotes violence, baby-killing, drunkenness, incest, or fratricide, but censorship advocates are on a very slippery slope when it comes to defining materials that are sufficiently offensive to warrant censorship. Indeed, the Holy Bible includes all of the foregoing issues as well as others that many people would find objectionable if they were in any other source. In this regard, one authority points out that, Censorship…

In fact, he identified himself entirely with it, even in his own self-reflection. In the reflective poem "leroy," published in 1969 under his newly adopted name Amiri Baraka, a nostalgic comment on his mother becomes a lofty vision of himself as the bearer of black wisdom -- that "strong nigger feeling" (5) -- from his ancestors forward to the next generation. He refers to this legacy that he is passing on as his "consciousness" (11), an indication that he had by this point in his life entirely adopted his race as his identity.
This wholehearted self-identification with race, along with a keen awareness of his cultural power as a poet, combined to create an artist absorbed with his own capacity for social comment and change. After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Baraka became disenchanted with the somewhat passive anti-establishment attitudes of the Greenwich Village artistic community, and moved…

Jacob's Unique Mission / Position/Opponent

Perhaps one of the most useful ways to understand the unique position and mission of Jacob, rather than merely thinking of him as someone who could simply do what they wished without consequence, and to think that he was "wrestling" with a merely human opponent, is to look deeper into why Jacob was indulged by God as he was.

If one thinks about a modern situation, such as the deployment of American troops in Iraq, in comparison to Jacob, the issue becomes much clearer. Like the Iraq soldiers, Jacob is playing by rules that no one else is using, against a sort of invisible enemy that may or may not exist. Also like the Iraq situation, Jacob, it seems, is waging more of a symbolic than concrete type of war; in Jacob's case, it appears that a struggle with faith is taking place, while God is mentoring,…

Tale as Told by another Character: Sweat - Zora Neale Hurston
Sweat

The spring came along with its flare of sunny afternoons in Florida on that particulate Sunday afternoon. For a given number of women in the small village populated by the black persons would be thinking of what the family would have for supper. However, for Delia Jones, she was still in bed, thinking of her previous life when she was still young and pretty. Then the thought of her poverty and suffering stricken husband hit her mind, and the trail of cursing and lamentations flowed from her mind; and eventually found their way into verbal words oozing from her mouth like the waters of the spring streams of the Amazon. Sure, this situation was getting to the peak of the humiliation and underpinning of poverty and suffering that she could take.

Delia sat up in her bed of feathers mattress laid…

Unequal Pairs in Genesis
The source of hostility experienced by humankind has a long record and an intricate web of linked causes and ascription of causes. The highly charged concerns that human beings experience in the contemporary world are as a result of something more central and at the heart of people. Abel and Cain were brothers, but brothers who felt humiliated and threatened by actions and attitudes of each other. They were brothers who sought for exceptional favor and blessings from the same Creator they worshipped in distinctive ways. However, God accepted the sacrifice presented by Abel and rejected that of Cain. The rejection of Cain's sacrifice and acceptance of Abel's sacrifice demonstrate the need for people to choose between salvation and eternal torment, righteousness and wickedness.

The story of Cain and Abel follows upon the tale of sin of humanity, and represents humanity's further estrangement from God. The anecdote of…