Liberation Theology Essays (Examples)

Analysis of A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation
Summary
The first part of the book by Gutierrez addresses the issue of what is meant by liberation (1). It begins with a discussion of theological reflection, and the assumption underlying this concept is that it arises spontaneously in the believer. Gutierrez then goes on to explain that the world has changed and is thus in need of a new perspective of theology. Social and cultural changes are used to rationalize the development and application of liberation theology (13). No discussion, however, is given of social and cultural changes throughout all human history or why these did not necessitate the need for liberation theology in the past. The book does show clearly the approach is rooted in Vatican II (6, 24, 31, 40, 65, 76, 79). It explains that the Church is now pivoting towards underdeveloped nations—like Latin America—which is…

Bibliography
Gutiérrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation. Rev. ed.Marynoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.
O'Hare, Joseph A. "Book Review: A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation." (1973): 489-491.
Rogers, Jack B. "Book Review: A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation." (1976): 249-252.

Elaine Graham's

Transforming Practice: Pastoral Theology in an Age of Uncertainty

Major Schools of Thought and Actors

In Transforming Practice: Pastoral Theology in an Age of Uncertainty, Elaine L. Graham addresses Traditional, Postmodern, Empirical, Liberation and Feminist perspectives on Theology and ultimately on Pastoral Theology. In order to address these perspectives, Graham traces the historical development of each, current theological realities, and prospective "horizons." The result is an extensive review of the Pastoral Theolog (y)(ies) of the Church and its faith communit (y)(ies), viewed very strongly through the feminist pastoral perspective.

As presented by Graham, the Traditional perspective is built on Scripture that is rife with patriarchy and an overarching patriarchal hierarchy. hile providing conventionally binding values and norms, the Traditional perspective is decidedly male-centered: traditionally-based pastoral theology tended to focus on the traits of a good male pastor and was essentially restricted to the pastoral ministry of ordained males.…

Works Cited

Graham, Elaine L. Transforming Practice: Pastoral Theology in an Age of Uncertainty. London: Mowbray, 1996.

The seeking of salvation is an admission of ignorance while authority-based communication is an assertion of knowledge. The two are incompatible.

Instead, communication has to be understanding-based. All communication should recognize the suffering of the human beings and have the aim of discovering the nature of that suffering, to understand that suffering. Christians have heard it in the Prayer of Saint Francis, which reads: "..grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand..."

Even secular thinkers understand this concept, as demonstrated by popular Personal Development guru Stephen Covey's principle of "Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood."

In understanding-based communication, disagreements would no longer express judgment and authority, but trust and compassion. Trust that the other person has your best interests at heart and compassion for the other person who shares your suffering. Although doctrine and theology will inevitably…

References

Majesty and Meekness: A Comparative Study of Contrast and Harmony in the Concept of God, Craman.

Understanding Buddhism, Jacobson.

Buddhism and the Contemorary World, Jacobson

Beyond Ideology: Religion and the Future of Western Civilization, Smart

To combat subjectivity, he called for interpretation to be subject to church authority, which was the voice of reason. Reardon (1981) echoes this interpretation: "Hooker sets out to refute the puritan contention that in religion holy scripture affords the sole and absolute authority and rule" (p. 280). Hooker shows that the narrow principle of sola scriptura "disregards the larger context of the divine law in creation within which even the scriptural revelation must be placed if we are to understand its proper scope and purpose" (Reardon, 1981, p. 280). Not far from the Reformers, they upheld the idea that the directly inspired written word contains supernatural revelation. There is perhaps less emphasis on preaching and proclamation in the Anglicans than in the Reformers.

hat is the status of the creeds and traditions? In Anglicanism, the Nicene, the Athanasius, and the Apostle's creeds are stressed as true because they are taken…

Works Cited

Aland, K. (Ed.). (2004). Martin Luther's 95 theses. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Avis, P. (2007). The identity of Anglicanism: essentials of Anglican ecclesiology. London and New York: T & T. Clark.

Bayer, Oswald. (2008). Martin Luther's theology: a contemporary interpretation (Trans T.H. Trapp). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Beckwith, R.T. (1988). "Anglicanism." In New dictionary of theology (S. B. Ferguson & D.F. Wright, Eds.), pp. 21-23. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

God's taking sides can be pushed to saying that the rich cannot be saved, or that God does not love everyone.

The Holy Spirit and iberation Theology

As Boff and Boff ( 1987) state: "Every true theology springs from a spirituality -- that is, from a true meeting with God in history. iberation theology was born when faith confronted the injustice done to the poor."

In this sense the Spirit is essentially perceived in terms of the interconnection between humanity and God. Put less blatantly, the Holy Spirit is the conduit of the absolute or divine to the domain of human existential experience. This view of the Spirit resonates with the focus on experiential suffering in the world. In other words, the Holy Spirit is not abstract but is rather perceived as a spiritual source of intervention in the world, which coincides with the focus of liberation theology.

The issue…

Leonardo Boff, and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology /, trans. Paul Burns [book online] (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1987, accessed 4 May 2012), 91; available from Questia,  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o& ;d=102085764' target='_blank' REL='NOFOLLOW'>

"

Moreover, Malachi Martin describes the theology as "a freeing from political oppression, economic want, and misery here on earth. More specifically still…a freeing from political domination by the capitalism of the United States."

Furthermore, though it grew out of the unrest in Latin America "with its political domination by strong-arm leaders and monopolistic oligarchies," viewed by members of the Church as a direct result of American capitalism, the events in Latin America were preceded by a much more basic historical development -- the "rights of man" extrapolated from the French Revolution and re-coined as the "rights of the working man."

The spread of Marxist doctrine in the early twentieth century saw its incorporation into Catholic theology by several prominent professors right up to the time of the Second Vatican Council, upon which Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz certainly based her theology, and pursued her concept of "evangelical poverty": union with the…

Bibliography

Barla, J.B. Christian Theological Understanding of Other Religions. Rome: Universita

Gregoriana, 1999.

Fowler, M. Zen Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices. UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2005.

Isasi-Diaz, Ada Maria. La Lucha Continues: Mujerista Theology. NY: Orbis Books,

" It caused missionaries to deal with peoples of other cultures and even Christian traditions -- including the Orthodox -- as inferior. God's mission was understood to have depended upon human efforts, and this is why we came to hold unrealistic universalistic assumptions. Christians became so optimistic that they believed to be able to correct all the ills of the world." (Vassiliadis, 2010)

Missiology has been undergoing changes in recent years and after much serious consideration Christians in the ecumenical era "are not only questioning all the above assumptions of the Enlightenment; they have also started developing a more profound theology of mission. One can count the following significant transitions:

(a) From the missio christianorum to the missio ecclesiae;

(b) the recognition later that subject of mission is not even the Church, either as an institution or through its members, but God, thus moving further from the missio ecclesiae to…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bosch, David Jacobus (1991) Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, American Society of Missiology Series; No. 16. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991.

Gelder, Craig Van (2007) the Missional Church in Context: Helping Congregations Develop Contextual Ministry. Volume 1 of Missional Church Series. Missional Church Network Series. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing 2007.

Guder, Darrell L. (2000) the Continuing Conversion of the Church. Grand Rapids, NI: Eerdmans, 2000.

Hesselgrave, David J> (2007) Will We Correct the Edinburgh Error? Future Mission in Historical Perspective. Southwestern Journal of Theology.Vol. 49 No. 2 Spring 2007.

Theological position of Dwight N. Hopkins

The biblical presentation of human existence and its origin and our own experience of human life in this world are to accept the fact that Adam and Eve were real persons and they are the descents of all human beings. The biblical representation is not limited to the Genesis but it represents a broader perspective which is related to the God's creation. The biblical representation reveals the God's presence in this world in the form of light and playing a unique role and dignity for mankind. This is what we all experience in our daily lives. All human desire for God and need Him, depends on Him to fulfill their wishes and forgiveness of their sins. Thus all the aspect of human creation and their living is governed and known by God (Collins, 2010).

The essay on theological position of Dwight N. Hopkins will…

References

Barth, K.(1959) Dogmatics in Outline

Collins, J. (2010) Adam and Eve as Historical People, and Why It Matters. Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. Volume 62, Number 3, September 2010.

Cone, J.(1990) A Black Liberation Theology, Philidelphia, J.B. Lipencott

Fairbanks, S. (2010). The Dynamics of Faith and Revelation. Theology: Faith, Beliefs,

Sacred orld of Slaves

Based upon the reading of Sacred orld of Slaves explain 3 ways in which slaves used artistic expression (music, dance, narratives) to cope with being enslaved and move them in a direction of Liberation.

From slavery times, far more records about black spirituals have survived than for secular music, and the most common religious themes always involved freedom, an escape from bondage and Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. Black slaves may have had the evangelical Protestant religion of their masters imposed on them for purposes on control, but they also appropriated it and made this religion their own -- and the black church was one of the very few institutions that they did control before recent times. In essence, black theology was always a version of liberation theology, compared to emphasis that white evangelicals placed on individual sin and personal salvation, and…

WORKS CITED

Charnas, Dan. "White America Discovers Rhythm and Blues."

Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Thought from Slavery to Freedom. Oxford, 2007.

Catholic Church in Mexico underscored both its conquest and its independence. Organizationally, the church prior to the liberation theology of the 20th century has always been more cogent than the Mexican government. The church has traditionally been amalgamated with conservative interests that include the military and wealthier landowners. The institution of tithing and the role of the church as a colonizer through its missions helped to make the church the most powerful pre-revolutionary institution in Mexico. Additionally, at a time before the existence of broad-based commercial lending, the church not only acted as the principal lender in the colony and early republic, but served as the nexus for all public activity in many smaller communities. However, the influence of the church was severely limited under liberalism. Although the iaz government returned to the Catholic church some of its former glory, the 1916 Constitution ultimately spelled an end to the church's…

Despite this relatively recent accommodation, the Church has not remained quiet on the issue of poverty. Historically, as the government failed to care for the people, the Church assumed greater responsibility and became more vocal in complaining about the government's shortcomings. Today the Church, which once strove mainly to preserve its own authority, has emerged as an outspoken opponent of the government. Yet aggressive Church actions were evident early in the century, both in opposition to the anti-clerical language of the 1917 constitution and in the violent Cristero rebellion of the 1920s. From 1926 to 1929 Mexico faced strong resistance by Catholics who opposed the anticlerical component of the Constitution of 1917 that regulated the affairs of the Catholic Church. After the emergence of liberation theology among Latin American Catholic priests in the 1970s, Mexican clerics became vocal in their condemnation of oppressive government policies. In 1991 clerical officials leveled a broad range of charges against the government including torture, abuse of prisoners, political persecution, corruption, and electoral fraud. These charges were repeated by Pope John Paul II in his 1999 visit when he called for an end to "violence, terrorism, and drug trafficking." The Church has been critical of the government by supporting the rebellion in the southern state of Chiapas. Tension between church and state emerged again as recently as 1994 when the government attempted to blame the Chiapas uprising on the language and actions of various clerics.

Traditionally regarded as a woman's issue, birth control has become a mainstream political issue since the 1970s. After all, through the combined effects of cultural expectations to raise large families and the Catholic Church's ban on birth control, the population grew dramatically. Women who chose not to have children resorted to crude abortions. In 1970, the year Luis Echeverr'a became the first Mexican president to call for a reduction in the nation's population, as many as 32,000 Mexican women died from abortion complications. Although discussions of population control have long been taboo by the Catholic Church, 1972 saw a reversal when Mexican clerics called for reduced family size. Thereafter government support enabled family planning clinics and educational programs to be developed. By 1988 the Mexican annual population growth rate was nearly halved, to 1.8%.

Women in Mexico have been pushing for significant changes within the political and social arenas, and they are slowly gaining access to previously male-dominated spheres. For example, they are now elected as state governors and as representatives in the Chamber of Deputies. Increasingly they are leaving bad marriages in spite of condemnation from the Church and hostility from their own families. Indeed, there is growing liberation from the traditional roles and expectations for women in Mexican society.

Many may call this pragmatism, and by following in the path of Christ, even unknowingly, is to embrace pragmatism is one's life. Sara Miles spent her time among the poorest people on the planet, similar to Christ's instruction that performing acts of kindness to the "least of these my brothers, you did it to me." (Matt. 25:40)

So when she finally decided to enter a Episcopal church and celebrate the Holy Eucharist, it would seem a natural extension of her life experiences. Food had always been an underlying, but important part of her, and there she was sharing the body and blood of Christ. She had always been involved in social justice, albeit in a secular way, and had not embraced the Christian Liberation Theology that was popular at the same time. This could have been caused by her acquired distrust of theological dogmas. However, it seems that the sharing…

Works Cited

Good News Bible: The Bible in Today's English Version. New York: American Bible

Society, 1976. Print.

Miles, Sara. Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion. New York: Ballantine, 2007. Print.

Gustavo Gutierrez did just that in Latin America, employing Marxist analysis to interpret the Jesus' teachings in the Gospel. Gutierrez founded Liberation Theology, which is, essentially, the twentieth century take on Violence and the Cross. Christ is viewed less as Redeemer and more as Liberator.

Evans discusses this same interpretation in black theology, which is, essentially, a continuation of Liberation Theology: "In spite of the ravages of their kidnapping and the disorientation that they endured, African slaves retained an outlook on their experience that continually reaffirmed their worth as individuals and as a people…The Jesus whom they encountered as they were exposed to the Bible was a caring and liberating friend who shared their sorrows and burdens" (12). Yet, in black theology, Jesus does not bring grace through suffering that can perfect one's nature and lead one's soul to Heaven (as classical theology insists); in black theology, Jesus is the…

Works Cited

Evans, James H. We Have Been Believers: An African-American Systematic Theology.

Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992. Print.

Migliore, Daniel. Faith Seeking Understanding: an Introduction to Christian Theology.

Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991. Print.

Liberation Theology

Liberation theology, a movement within the social practices and doctrine of the Catholic Church that began in earnest in Latin America during the 1960s, is a method of interpreting Biblical exhortations and predictions in the modern world in a way that is directly and practically relevant in the day-to-day lives of people and societies throughout the world. The primary concepts of this brand of Catholic theology include viewing God as a liberator of humanity and the need for solidarity in sentiment and action with the poor and downtrodden of the world (Fahlbusch & Bromiley 1997, pp. 259). Simply put, liberation theology posits that God exists as a liberator for all of the people of the world, and that it is the job of the Church and its members to bring about this liberation of the world's population inasmuch as is possible through direct action assisting the poor and…

References

Consistent Life.prg. (2010). Accessed 19 May 2010.  http://www.consistent-life.org/ 

Fahlbusch, E. & Bromiley, G. (1997). The encyclopedia of Christianity, Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Overberg, K. (2010). "A consistent ethic of life." Accessed 19 May 2010.  http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0798.asp

Kung has no regard for Church doctrine -- only the doctrine of men and the "rights of man."

Use of Scripture

Likewise, Kung has no use for authoritative scripture -- it is outdated and too much a part of the past, which Kung wishes to displace in favor of "the future." The future must not be informed by the old prejudices of the past -- it must branch out, like Edwards' ecological theology, encompassing as many faiths and traditions as possible, uniting them all under the roof of the religion of the global ethic. What Kung aims to do, therefore, is reduce the importance of Scripture even more than Edwards does -- to an anthill amongst other anthills, while he himself provides the new doctrine: his doctrine is filled with a list of "we must's" -- the commandments of Kung -- the voice of the new revolution.

eligious Symbol

Neither…

Reference List

Edwards, D. (2001). Ecology at the Heart of Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Faris, W.B. (2004). Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification

of Narrative. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Kung, H., Kuschel, K. [ed]. (1993). A Global Ethic. New York, NY: Continuum.

With St. Paul, Luke traveled to several different destinations including Samothrace and Philippi -- where he appears to have lingered to guide the Church. The duo then reunite in Troas and Luke is with St. Paul during the latter's stay in a oman jail. As Paul says: "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11).

Exactly what Luke did with Paul during this time is debated: "St. Jerome thinks it is most likely that St. Luke is 'the brother, whose praise is in the gospel through all the churches' (2 Corinthians 8:18), and that he was one of the bearers of the letter to Corinth" (Knight, 2011).

Luke also brings special awareness to the importance of mercy and forgiveness, with the parable of the Prodigal Son and the tale of the woman whose sins were forgiven because she bathed Christ's feet in her tears.

But this special awareness is also…

Reference List

Allen, R. (1984). Contemporary Biblical Interpretation for Preaching. MI: Judson

Press.

Barla J.B. (1999). Christian Theological Understanding of Other Religions. Rome:

Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana.

Oscar Cullmann, Nolan, and Genezio Boff. Oscar Cullmann can be described as a Christian theologian within the Lutheran tradition. His most notable work involved the ecumenical movement. He was in part accountable for the formation of dialogue between the oman Catholic and Lutheran traditions.

Nolan was born in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. He is of English descent and is a fourth-generation South African. Influenced by Thomas Merton, Nolan became fascinated to the idea of spiritual life. Ultimately, Nolan joined the Dominican Order by 1954, studying in ome and South Africa eventually receiving a doctorate.

Born with the name Genezio Darci Boff, Boff hails from Concordia, Santa Catarina. Boff entered the Franciscan Order by 1959 being ordained as a Catholic priest by 1964. He spent subsequent years studying to earn a doctorate in philosophy and theology at the University of Munich, in 1970. His doctoral thesis studied measures…

References

Boff, Leonardo. Jesus Christ Liberator. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1978. Print.

Crossan, John Dominic. The Historical Jesus. [San Francisco]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. Print.

Cullmann, Oscar. Jesus And The Revolutionaries. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. Print.

Hendricks, Obery M. The Politics Of Jesus. New York: Doubleday, 2006. Print.

Spiritual Heroes

Mohandas Gandhi

"Knowing what you stand for limits what you fall for."

Gandhi stood for liberation through non-violence. Consequently, he could not be goaded into returning violence with violence and could not be dissuaded from his goal of India's freedom from British control (BBC, 2011).

hat contributed to the development of his focus?

The development of Gandhi's focus on liberation through non-violence was developed by being an East Indian lawyer who was still treated like a third-class citizen; also, his stress on non-violence was largely developed by his Hindu religious roots (BBC, 2011).

hat was his one thing?

Gandhi was the first to apply non-violence to large-scale politics, which led to the liberation of India from British rule (BBC, 2011) and inspired later leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:

a. "Knowing what you stand for limits what you fall for."

De Chardin…

Works Cited

BBC. (2011). BBC - History - Historic Figures - Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948). Retrieved from BBC.co.uk:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/gandhi_mohandas.shtml 

Forest, J. (n.d.). The Catholic Worker Movement: A Biography of Dorothy Day. Retrieved from catholicworker.org:  http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/ddbiographytext.cfm?Number=72 

Grim, J., & Tucker, M.E. (2005). Teilhard de Chardin: A Short Biography. Retrieved from Teilharddechardin.com: http://www.teilharddechardin.org/biography.html

U.S. Catholic. (2009). U.S. Catholic: In Conversation with American Catholics: Archbishop Oscar Romero. Retrieved from uscatholic.org:  http://www.uscatholic.org/oscar_romero

The Role of Christianity in Politics and Ethics
Introduction
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran arrested and imprisoned by the Third Reich and eventually executed for being found guilty of having taken part in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s writings have since become influential in the modern world for their focus on the role that Christians can play in politics. Since the separation of church and state that America set the stage for with its own secular foundations, many have been conflicted or confused about the role that Christians should have in modern politics. For hundreds of years, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church influenced the politics of Christendom and vice versa. With the Protestant Reformation there was a push towards secularism, and the Peace of Westphalia in the 17th century, which was forged without participation from the Pope, showed that states could handle their own affairs.…

Bibliography
Brock, B. “Bonhoeffer and the Bible in Christian Ethics: Psalm 119, The Mandates, and Ethics as a ‘Way’.” Studies in Christian Ethics, 18, no. 3 (2005).
Bonhoeffer, D. Ethics. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, Press. 2009.
Iyabo, O.A. “Christianity and Politics – Any Parallel Line? Christian Ethical Moral Point of View.”International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, 2, no. 7 (2014).
Nissen, U.B. “Letting Reality Become Real: On Mystery and Reality in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics.” Journal of Religious Ethics, 39, no. 2 (2011).
Olson, R.E. The Journey of Modern Theology: From Reconstruction to Deconstruction. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Pearson, T.D. “Bonhoeffer and the End of Christian Ethics.” Journal of Lutheran Ethics, 4, no. 8 (2004).
Plant, S. “The Sacrament of Ethical Reality: Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Ethics for Christian Citizens.” Studies in Christian Ethics, 18, no.3 (2005).
Tshaka R. &Senokoane, B. “The Christian Politician?An Investigation into the Theological Grounding for Christians Participation in Politics.”HTS Theological Studies, 72, no. 1 (2016).

..the astas have now penetrated the middle class. At present, the overwhelming majority of members are African, but there are also Chinese, East Indians, Afro-Chinese, Afro-Jews, mulattoes, and a few whites. astafarians are predominantly ex-Christians. "(Barrett, 1997, p. 2-3)

One of the early innovators and leaders of the movement,

Leonard Howell, stated a number of principles that have been the hallmark of astafarianism and still apply to a large extent today. These include the following:

1)hatred for the White race; (2) the complete superiority of the Black race; (3) revenge on Whites for their wickedness; (4) the negation, persecution, and humiliation of the government and legal bodies of Jamaica; (5) preparation to go back to Africa; and (6) acknowledging Emperor Haile Selassie as the Supreme Being and only ruler of Black people. (Barrett, 1997, p. 85)

Another essential aspect which is of cardinal importance in astafarianism is the concept of…

RASTAFARI: ACCORDING TO THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN

RELIGIONS. Retrieved 4 November, 2006, at http://www.inithebabeandsuckling.com/EAR.html

Rastafarianism. Retrieved 5 November 2006, at  http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/rast.htm . Royackers, M. (1999). Jamaica Genesis: Religion and the Politics of Moral Orders. Theological Studies, 60(2), 387. Retrieved November 7, 2006, from Questia database:  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o& ;d=5001267576Vertovec' target='_blank' REL='NOFOLLOW'>

Foreign Idea of a Cosmic Kingship

Religion is one of the constants that exist for all the peoples of the world. hen the as yet primitive tribes in South America and remote Pacific islands in the twentieth century, they had firmly ensconced religious beliefs. hen Cortes arrived in the "new world" and made his men burn their ships, he found many people who worshipped different gods. Luckily for Cortes they worshipped him also. It made his conquest that much easier. A thread that entangles itself in all that mankind does or has done. Religion has been the cause of war and peace, sacrifice of both the body and nature, and it has given the world some of its greatest art treasures. It has definitely worked its way into every part of every culture.

Religion also takes on many forms. People are trying to understand elements of the world around them…

Works Cited

Gibbs, Phillip. The Word in the Third World: Divine Revelation in the Theology of Jean- Marc Ela, Aloysius Pieris, and Gustavo Gutierrez. Rome: Editrice Pontifica Universita Georgiana, 1996.

Oakley, Francis. Kingship: The Politics of Enhantment. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006.

Scott, Peter, and William T. Cavanaugh. The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, 2008. New York: Basic Books.

Their template deals with subjects such as what women found satisfying and frustrating about work. Also the committee heard show do they balance home and work responsibilities and fit in volunteer activities, how do they find time for spiritual activities. In addition, how does the spirituality affect work and vice versa (Bishop's Committee on omen in Society and in the Church).

ith regard to birth control, more a more liberally minded Pope could base relaxation of birth control based upon the results of the 1966 Papal Commission on Birth Control. This Commission voted 30-5 to relax the concerns on birth control (1966 Papal Commission on Birth Control).

ith regard to priestly marriage, it would be well for the Church to examine the Eastern Orthodox Rite where marriage for priests is allowed. ith regard to poverty, the Church could build upon Rerum Novarum and a pile of Church encyclicals that deal…

Works Cited:

"Catholic Church and Birth Control: History of Birth Control Ban." Catholic Church and Birth Control: History of Birth Control Ban. Papal Commission on Birth Control, 1966. Web. 20 Apr 2010.

It would seem worthless to provide a religious education without catechesis alongside.

The benefits of the Christian praxis approach are far-reaching. They include both the personal development of the individual student and also the collective development of the society. Students introduced to the Christian praxis approach learn how to address real life problems from a Christian lens -- but one that denounces dogma in favor of genuine critical thought. While the story of Christ and the Christian experience are central to the praxis approach, so too are the student's own story and experience with suffering or joy. A personal benefit of the Christian praxis approach is to encourage compassion and the "right relationships of justice, love, and peace," (O'Murchu n.d. p. 46). On the collective level, the Christian praxis approach helps to usher in what O'Murchu (n.d.) calls a new world order that is rooted not in the past patriarchal…

References

Groome, T.H. (n.d.). Catechesis and Religious Education"

O'Murchu, D. (n.d.). The kingdom of God: The contemporary challenge.

Ryan, M. (2007). The way of shared Christian praxis. In a common search: The history and forms of religious education in Catholic schools

Though, Glass may very well be enlightened enough to do this, and nothing against him most people are only enlightened enough to take from each faith that which best meets their individual selfish idea of ambition. (PBS, American Masters; Philip Glass: GLASS: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts) in fact the synchronicity between this documentary and the article made me wonder if the ideas of the article were borrowed from the Glass work, as language, music and religion were all discussed in much the same way, with regard to Glass' life, excluding the fact that the article diverges from the Glass take on spirituality. It would seem challenging no matter the intelligence or skill of any individual to deeply understand and evoke any single faith let alone three or four in any meaningful way. The weakness of the argument is limited to the idea that the work expresses…

Works Cited

Braybrooke, Rev. Marcus "Can We Share in Others' Spiritual Traditions?" In Fisher, Mary P. & Baily, Lee an Anthology of Living Religions New York: Prentice Hall, 2007, 344-346.

Friedmann, Yohanan. Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Neusner, Jacob, Bruce Chilton, and William Graham. Three Faiths, One God: The Formative Faith and Practice of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2002.

PBS, American Masters; Philip Glass: GLASS: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts

This, he felt was the most effective and Christian strategy to resist evil. Also, the Pope's equal desire to embody the Christian virtue of dignity meant that he was not blind to capitalism's abuses, pointing out that severe imbalances in wealth exacerbate tensions amongst peoples in an often non-Christian fashion -- not always a popular principle to take in the est. Pope John Paul II devoted enormous spiritual and physical energy to his visits to the developing world. But he refused to support all popular causes, such as liberation theology or charitable organizations that made use of birth control and abortion. He called the idea of a priest-politician anathema to the Christian vision. During one visit to Latin America he condemned the so-called "popular church" created by left-wing priests as "a deviation." (alker, 20050 He did not support female priests, nor divorce or contraception, even though this might have increased…

Works Cited

Roxburgh, Angus. "The Pope's Role in Communism's End." 2 Apr 2005. BBC World News in-Depth.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/3007787.stm 

Walker, Andrew "Pope's Support for the World's Poor. 2 Apr 2005. BBC World News in-Depth.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/3008091.stm 

Weigel, George. (April 2001) "Pope John Paul II and the Dynamics of History." Watch on the West: A Newsletter of FPRI's Center for the Study of America and the West. The 2000 Templeton Lecture on Religion and World Affairs. Volume 1: Number 6.  http://www.fpri.org/ww/0106.200004.weigel.popehistory.html

Opus Dei

What is Michael Walsh's view of Opus Dei? Do you think he is justified in this?

Walsh has a decisively and divisively denigrating view of Opus Dei. His cynicism might be connected with general distrust of the Catholic Church because of its historic secrecy and overt hierarchical structures that prevent the free flow of information. Moreover, Walsh's criticism is launched against the conservative social trends and values that Opus Dei represents. Walsh therefore uses a diatribe against Opus Dei to confront broader ills in the Catholic Church.

Whether I think Walsh is justified or not is irrelevant. If what he says is true, and it might be, then it would not surprise me. The author is certainly justified in expressing his opinion, and even more so if that opinion is rooted in fact. It is true that the Catholic Church operates Opus Dei as a secretive arm, and…

The personal is the political. Spiritual values undergird secular norms. It is impossible to totally segregate religion from social engagement. At the same time, fusing religion and politics can be dangerous business. As Massaro (2012) points out, the two most obvious perils associated with the improper blending of Church and State include sectarianism and theocracy. Sectarianism, denounced by the Vatican, refers to deliberate isolation from the world, in self-sustaining and cohesive communities. As attractive as it may be to form religiously minded societies apart from the world, the real work—the hard work of creating the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth—cannot be done in those types of settings. Sectarianism is akin to apathy for the remainder of the planet, and is an isolationist policy that abnegates personal responsibility.
Another one of the dangers of fusing Church and State is theocracy. The dangers of theocracy are well known to those all around…

S. responded to the Great Depression by electing FDR, who brought out his Alphabet Programs which were supposed to put the nation back to work with public works projects. When that failed to restore the economy, the world elected to start with a new war: WWII. Germany had been buried by the Western powers following WWI -- and now the country threatened to assert itself once more. Russia was in the middle of its own revolution: Stalin was liquidating the kulaks and rounding others up and shipping them off to the Gulag. That did not help Russia's economy any more than FDR's Alphabet program -- but it did not matter: war was on the horizon. Japan was being strangled by Western powers: the American military-industrial-congressional complex essentially forced Japan to attack -- and then sat back and let it happen when Japan finally decided to bomb Pearl Harbor. Thus, America…

American Ideals and the Challenges of the post-WW2 Years
America changed quite a bit after WW2. It changed with respect to gender roles, with respect to racial issues, with respect to the economy, and with respect to politics. Everything was in flux after WW2—but it did not happen all at once. What happened first was the Cold War. Immediately the war ended, Americans returned home from the war and returned to the jobs they had held previously. The women who had been in the workforce now returned home—back to the domestic sphere, which was their traditional role. The Baby Boomer generation was soon being born and life was good. Jobs were being created and credit was easier to come by than in the past. But things were not perfect because the Red Menace reared its head and Joe McCarthy began hunting Communists in the government and in Hollywood. Tensions increased…

rise of Hindu Fundamentalism

At the turn of the century, religious fundamentalism has emerged as a well-known trend; a custom of mind found within religious communities and paradigmatically incarnated in certain typical individuals and activities. The harassed supporters try to protect their distinctive group identity by its expressions as a strategy. The supporters strengthen it by selective recovery of doctrines, viewpoint and practices from a sacred past, feeling that this identity will be at danger in the contemporary era. This assortment is cautiously done so that it is not only attractive to the spectators but also satisfactory. Actually, fundamentalist movements selects and chooses cautiously among inherited doctrines and practices, as well as cloaking innovations in the attire of ancient times, it maintains that selective retrieval is only reinstating the ancient ways. (eligious Fundamentalism in India and Beyond)

In a spirit of practicality these recovered fundamentals are polished, tailored and authorized:…

References

Amaladoss, Michael. "Hindu Fundamentalism in Contemporary India." Forum for Liberation Theologies, Annual Report 1999-2000. 9 December 2000.

Retrieved at http://www.theo.kuleuven.ac.be/clt/flt_anrep_9900_3.htm. Accessed on 02/26/2003

Ayodhya." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 2004. Encyclopedia Britannica. 23 Feb. 2004 Retrieved at http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=380124Accessed on 02/26/2003

Bhambri, C.P. "Hindutva and Multi-Culturalism" The Hindu. December 06, 1998, Pg: 25: Col: a Chatterji, Angana. "For Dissent against Hindu Extremism," July 28, 2002

POPE JOHN PAUL II'S 1983 VISIT TO NICAAGUA

Pope's 1983 Visit to Nicaragua

Pope John Paul II's 1983 Visit to Nicaragua

Katharine Hoyt (1983) wrote a personal letter to her family concerning the 1983 visit of Pope John Paul II to Managua, Nicaragua. From the very beginning her feelings about the visit were made clear when she declared that she would rather forget the visit ever happened. From her perspective, her fellow citizens, at least the Sandinistas, were hoping to get some recognition for the sweat, blood, and tears shed in their revolution; a revolution based on the goal of establishing a more egalitarian society. What she feels the country got instead was a blow to the gut that meant more blood in the streets.

The Sandinistas came to power in 1979 after overthrowing the Anastasio Somoza Debayle dictatorship, which had ruled for over 50 years (Ellman, 1983). The Catholic…

References

Ellman, Paul. (1983, Mar. 2). A pilgrimage peppered with minefields. The Guardian, 15.

Hoyt, Katharine. (1983, Mar.). The 1983 visit of Pope John Paul II to Nicaragua [personal comm.]. Hartford-HWP.com. Retrieved 10 Oct. 2013 from: www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/030.html.

Education Ethics

The author of this report has been asked to find an article relating to education. Of course, that topic is very widespread and wide-ranging in nature. The author of this report decided to center on ethics in education. Specifically, the article chosen was written by Maughn Gregory. Its title reveals that ethics education should exist and manifest as philosophical practice. There is material drawn from Socratic, critical and contemplative pedagogies. The remainder of this page and the next page will serve as a summary of that article. While it is indeed possible to engage in navel-gazing and over-thought when it comes to ethics in education, the topic is extremely important…without a doubt.

Article Summary

The article starts off by quoting the words of John Dewey when he said that moral education is growth from impulsive behavior to what is known as a "reflect morality" (Gregory, 2015). Further, Dewey…

References

Gregory, M. (2015). Ethics Education as Philosophical Practice: The Case from Socratic, Critical and Contemplative Pedagogies. Teaching Ethics, 15(1), 19-34.

doi:10.5840/tej201410173

Gospel: Gospel is a message that has contents on Jesus, God, salvation, the Kingdom of God, and everything that is done to reach out this message to the believers. Gospel is also one of the books in the New Testament talking about the life, death, resurrection, and the works of Jesus Christ.

• Original sin: Original sin refers to the tendency and deprivation to the evil that is seen as innate in all humankind and it is passed from Adam to all human beings, resulting from the sin engaged by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The sin is naturally adapted to every born human being, born of Adam being the initial sinner.

• Fundamentalism: Fundamentalism is a 20th-century religious movement emphasizing on a strict belief in the literal understanding and interpretation of the religious texts.

• Heresy: Heresy is a theory that is developed to be at…

eligious Group's Statement

William James' passage at the top of Gordon D. Kaufman's essay, "eligious Diversity and eligious Truth"

is both profound and poignant (187). Kaufman quotes James as saying "... The whole notion of the truth is an abstraction from the fact of truths in the plural ... " James also writes that "Truth grafts itself on previous truth, modifying it in the process

In the case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon Church, their "truth" has most certainly been "grafted" on previous truth, and the various "truths" that they build their religion upon -- plus, the "new truths" they seek to promote all over the globe -- make an interesting study for purposes of this paper.

The thesis of the paper is as follows: the doctrines, beliefs, basis of origin / foundation -- and the social strategies of…

References

Kaufman, Gordon D. Religious Diversity and Religious Truth. In God-Mystery-

Diversity, 172-206. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1969. Romanticism. In Attitudes Toward Other Religions:

Some Christian Interpretations, ed. Owen C. Thomas, 49-69. Notre Dame:

They both emphasize on the teaching of doing good and following rules to live right and happily. They both have vigorous missionary programs, in which they convert people to their religion. In the two religions, the people can worship in groups or individually. The religions have a leader of worship that is a monk in Buddhism and a Priest in Christianity. The two principles in the religion used parables to teach, and they are egalitarians. The teachings on respecting others and treating them as oneself are acceptable in both religions. They both emphasize on charity towards the poor and aspire for greater spiritual perfection.

Differences

The differences are irrefutable, as Buddhism does not talk of a Creator, God while Christianity believes in a divine creator of Universe (allace 26). In Buddhism, the emphasis is on mediation and mindfulness, whereas that of Christianity places stress on prayer. Additionally, Buddhism emphasizes on…

Works cited

Netland, Harold a, and Keith E. Yandell. Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal.

Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2009. Print.

Wallace, BA. Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Print.

King, Sallie B. Socially Engaged Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai-i Press, 2009. Print.

Discuss the theological method of U.S. feminist theologians as presented by Elizabeth Johnson: What is the central question being addressed? Who is the audience? What are some of the sources used to enflesh the question and articulate the revelatory answer? How does she use traditional Christian symbols? How would you evaluate her theological position?

Johnson's theological platform is similar to that of Cone's, but, instead, focuses on a feminist agenda. Her frustration lies with God, for instance, still being alluded as 'He' by both by the Old Testament and by Jesus, for instance. The connotation, therefore, is that men (since God is portrayed as masculine) are more godlike than women.

For Johnson, cultural biases amongst biblical scribes and interpreters as well as commentators and traditionalists of the Catholic Church have resulted in women's diminished role in western religious traditions in general, and in the Catholic Church in particular.

In "She…

References

Cone, J.H. A Black Theology of Liberation Lippinott: PA

Johnson, E. She who is: the Mystery of God in Feminist theological discourse. NY: Crossroad, 1992

According to Elwell this group of fourteen works, all of which have been translated into many languages including English form "the most monumental evangelical theological project of this century." (151) Elwell goes on to describe the works as, "written in an almost conversational style, these volumes deal with topics of theological concern, such as divine election, faith and sanctification, Holy Scripture, and the church, rather than presenting a tightly argued system of thought." (151) Finally according to Elwell and despite Berkouwer's shift in theology regarding human dealings, i.e. regret for spreading lack of tolerance for human differences of opinion Berkouwer, "never wavered from his commitment to the principles of Scripture, faith and grace alone." (151)

Berkouwer also wrote works of criticism against other theologian, most notably Karl Barth and Catholicism which are well read and famous in their theological arguments and as representative of his mid life shift in thought.…

Works Cited

Berkouwer, G.C. "Human Freedom" from "Studies in Dogmatics," Man: The Image of God GrandRapids MI: Eerdmans 1962.

Cameron, George a. "The Theology of G.C. Berkouwer: An introduction to my work on Berkouwer's theology, 'The Problem of Polarization: An Approach based on the writings of GC Berkouwer'" Retrieved October 7, 2008  http://www.theologyofgcberkouwer.blogspot.com/ 

Christianity and Judaism: The Deepening Dialogue. Ed. Richard W. Rousseau. Scranton, PA: Ridge Row Press, 1983.

Cobb, John B. A Survey of Methods. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1962.

Emptiness, as we also find in some Hindu philosophies like Advaita, is the eternal emptiness that is beyond dualism and which is rich with possibilities that far exceed the dualities of the ordinary world. In most Buddhist schools of thought we understand the search for Nirvana as the personal search for enlightenment and understanding of existence beyond ordinary duality. This is also reflected in Advaita Hinduism.

Another important area of comparison is the rejection of a personal God or the concept of God as part of the realization of Nirvana. This is evident in all forms of Buddhism and in Advaita Hinduism. However, the Dvaita school of thought and other forms of Hinduism tend to place emphasis on God or Gods as essential for enlighten.

There are many other similarities and differences between these two faiths, which would take as few books to discuss. In the final analysis we could…

Works Cited

Advaita. February 6, 2010.



Dasa, Shukavak N. A Hindu Primer. February 3, 2010.

As one performs their dharma, they earn karma, which is the cause and effect aspect of Hinduism. Karma explains good actions bring good results, and by obeying this principle and dharma, one can experience rebirth into a "better" life that puts one in a stronger position to achieve moksha. The ultimate goal for any Hindu soul is to achieve moksha, which is the liberation from samsara, the cycle of life and death (Chidester: 85). The critical aspect of Hinduism is realizing when the body dies, the Self (Atman) does not die. The Self is carried from life to life, through reincarnation, and the secret to death is to realize the Supreme Self hidden in the heart through meditation and grace (Kramer: 30). Realizing Self in Hindu customs is required to achieve moksha, and be liberated from the endless round of birth, death, and rebirth of samsara. Only when the Self…

Works Cited

Chidester, D. Patterns of Transcendence: Religion, Death, and Dying. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth Publishing, 2001. 1-216. Print.

Kramer, K. The Sacred Art of Dying: How the world Religions Understand Death. Mahwah, NJL

Paulist Press, 1988. 27-166. Print.

It is likely that in order to achieve this "release" from the tedium of one's worldly conception of one's self will only be achieved with the guidance of a Guru (or siddha) who provides inspiration but does not intervene on one's behalf.

The key scriptures in Hinduism are referred to as "Shastras" (a collection of spiritual guides and laws revealed by "saints and sages" along the historical route through which Hinduism traveled (Das, p. 1). The deities (gods and goddesses) that are associated with Hinduism number into the "thousands or even millions," Das explains (p. 2). These many deities all represent particular aspects of "Brahman," which is the supreme Absolute, Das goes on. Notwithstanding all those deities, the most powerful and visible of the deities is the "Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva -- creator, preserver and destroyer, respectively" (Das, p. 2). It is also known that Hindus worship trees,…

Works Cited

Das, Subhamoy. (2010). How Do You Define Hinduism? Hinduism for Beginners. The Uniqueness of Hinduism. About.com. Retrieved Dec. 14, 2010, from  http://hinduism.about.com .

Lorentz, Melissa. (2008). Basic Beliefs of Hinduism. Minnesota State University. Retrieved Dec.

14, 2010, from  http://mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/hinduism/beliefs.html .

Mysorekar, Uma. (2006). Eye on religion: clinicians and Hinduism. Southern Medical Journal.

The Japanese myth partly resembles that of Adam and Eve present in the Bible and in the Quran. However, the first beings in Japan are considered to hold much more power than their equivalents in the west. Another resemblance between the Japanese legends and those in the west is the fact that the kami are considered to live in the high planes of Takamagahara, somewhat resembling mount Olympus, from Greek mythology. Japanese mythology is different from other mythologies through the fact that all of the deities involved in it are good in their character.

In the sixteenth century, when Buddhism entered Japan, the locals had a hard time keeping Shinto as their main religion, since it had not been an organized religion. Even with the fact that Buddhism had been spreading quickly around the country, the presence of Shinto could be felt everywhere, in people's lifestyles and in their culture.…

Works cited:

1. Amudsen, Christan. (1999). "Insights from the Secret Teachings of Jesus: The Gospel of Thomas." 1st World Publishing.

2. Herman A.L. (1991). "A Brief Introduction to Hinduism: Religion, Philosophy, and Ways of Liberation." Westview Press.

3. Kato, Etsuko. (2004). "The Tea Ceremony and Women's Empowerment in Modern Japan." Routledge.

4. Kumagai Fumie, Keyser Donna J. (1996). "Unmasking Japan Today: The Impact of Traditional Values on Modern Japanese Society." Praeger.

Mind and Body

A review of the required literature, Robert Thurman's "isdom" (Thurman), Karen Armstrong's "Homo Religiousus" (Armstrong), and Oliver Sacks' "The Mind's Eye: hat the Blind See" (Sacks), gives significant insights into how the mind and body must work together to create our lived experience. Though the three authors may initially appear to discuss somewhat different topics, they have vital commonalities. The readings will lead the thoughtful reader to a three-pronged thesis: that mind/body coaction ideally involves knowledge of the genuine "self"; that there is a common experience of "self-delusion"; and that "universality" is of ultimate importance. The "self" is approached uniquely by each author. Thurman's is a Buddhist perspective explores the different concepts of "self" from self-ish to the self-less ideal. hile Thurman does not speak specifically about mind/body interaction, his deference to the power of the mind is clear. Armstrong also speaks of the self's importance, though…

Works Cited

Armstrong, Karen. "Homo Religiousus." Miller, Richard E. The New Humanities Reader, 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing, 2011. 22-38. Print.

Sacks, Oliver. "The Mind's Eye: What the Blind See." Miller, Richard E. And Kurt Spellmeyer. The New Humanities Reader, 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing, 2011. 303-317. Print.

Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom." Miller, Richard E. And Kurt Spellmeyer. The New Humanities Reader, 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing, 2011. 460-473. Print.

threat posed to it by the estern Secular or Christian orld View

Is fundamentalism an expression of cultural regression? Or is it an act of creative nationalism? Truly, religious and nationalist fundamental can manifest itself in both guises. On one hand, during the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, the fundamentalist expression of religion became a creative response of liberation in the eyes of the many whom had been oppressed by the Soviet, communist, and fundamentally anti-religious regime. On the other hand, fundamentalism can also be used to express fears of estern economic and cultural domination, rather than to express an alternative political voice.

For instance, for a woman to wear the veil in a once-Muslim Soviet republic was an act of transgression against a state, a state that would punish her for behaving according to her religious beliefs with heavy penalties. To learn the language of the Koran rather…

Works Cited

Huntingon, Samuel. "The Clash of Civilization." 1993.  http://www.alamut.com/subj/economics/misc/clash.html 

Kurtz, Lester. Gods in the Global Village. U of Chicago Press, 1995.

Nandi, Ashis. The Savage Freud and Other Essays on Possible and Retrievable Selves. Delhi; London: Oxford UP, 1995. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1995.

John McNeill's book, Taking a Chance on God, is that a gay identity is fully compatible with a rich Christian faith. McNeill argues that the church's rejection of homosexuality is based on a pathological relationship with God that is based on fear. He argues that the Christian God of love is completely incompatible with this God of fear, and that both tradition and scripture support relationships between people of the same sex.

Ethically, McNeill's book argues that all human relationships based on love are morally good, including homosexual relationships, and implies that the church should fully include homosexuals. McNeill's arguments are marred by his reliance on the historical interpretation of the Bible, and rejection of other views as simply inaccurate, literal interpretations. Ultimately, McNeill's argument that homosexuality is biologically determined by God is convincing, and suggests that his proposal that homosexuals should be fully included in the church should become…

Works Cited

McNeill, John. 1996. Taking a Chance on God: Liberating Theology for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Lovers, Families, and Friends. Beacon Press, 2nd edition.

Christianity in Europe

The Decline of European Christianity, 1675-Present

The demise of Christianity in Europe coincides with the rise of the Age of Enlightenment at the end of the 17th century.

Up to that moment, Europe had been relatively one in religious belief. True, religious wars had been raging for more than a century, with the fracturing of nations in the wake of the "Protestant Reformation." ut even then, Europe had acknowledged a single Savior -- wherein lay His Church was the major point of contention. ut today Europe exists in a post-Christian state. Its Christian identity has collapsed under the weight of Romantic-Enlightenment ideals, expressed dramatically in the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century and adopted politically throughout the continent as a result of a more man-centered, rather than God-centered, vision of life. This paper will trace the decline of European Christianity and provide three reasons…

Bibliography

Israel, Jonathan. Radical Enlightenment Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-

1750. UK: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Jones, E. Michael. Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control. IN: St.

Augustine Press, 2000.

All human beings are considered corrupt and sick and, because of the original sin, are in close relations with the powers of evil, rending them unable to make a significant contribution to their liberation. Ironically in some way, it can be said that Lutherans believe in faith. Faith is understood as trust in God's love and is viewed as the only appropriate way for man to answer to God's initiative. "Salvation by faith alone" is the distinctive and criticized (by catholic adepts) slogan of Lutheranism. Opponents of this doctrine argued that this position does not do justice to the Christian responsibility to do good works; the answer was that faith has to be active in love and that there is an indivisible connection between good works and faith: the former follow from the latter as a good tree produces good fruit.

Worship. The Lutheran church is, by its own definition,…

Reference:

 http://www.newadvent.org/-Articles  on the Reformation and Martin Luther

2. Encyclopedia Britannica - Articles on Protestantism and Zwingli, 1997 Edition, Vol. 26 and 12

3. Encarta Encyclopedia - Articles on Calvin and Zwinlgi

Esposito finds that the premodernist revival movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries contributed to the pattern of Islamic politics that developed and left a legacy for the twentieth century. These movements were motivated primarily in response to internal decay rather than external, colonial threat (Esposito 40-41).

At the same time, many areas of the Islamic world experienced the impact of the economic and military challenge of an emerging and modernizing est beginning in the eighteenth century. Declining Muslim fortunes also reversed the relationship of the Islamic world to the est, from that of an expanding offensive movement to a defensive posture. Muslim responses to these changes ranged from rejection to adaptation, from Islamic withdrawal to acculturation and reform. Some responded by secular reform, and by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Islamic modernist movements had also developed in an attempt to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity…

Works Cited

Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University, 1992.

Binder, Leonard.

Islamic Liberalism. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1988.

Eickelman, Dale F. The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1989.

St. Augustine and the Buddha

A Comparison of orld Views

ere St. Augustine and the Buddha to have a conversation, they might find their points-of-view quite interesting. Of course, Augustine might feel a bit inconvenienced by having to crouch down under a bodhi tree, but once there he could easily find common ground with this introspective Easterner. Both the Buddha and Augustine were in agreement regarding the deplorable conditions faced by much of humanity in this world. At the core of the Buddha's teaching was the belief that the physical world represents little more than an aspect of continual suffering and trial. Imperfect beings all, we human beings desire too much, and it is because of our desires that we imprison ourselves in this physical shell. e will suffer so long as we want, and so long as we want we shall remain moored in this imperfect world. Yet the…

Works Cited

Saint Augustine. Confessions. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

Corless, Roger J. The Vision of Buddhism: The Space under the Tree. 1st ed. New York: Paragon Press, 1989.

Keown, Damien. Buddhism A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o& ; d=48034343

Jainism Beliefs

Three tier universe

According to Jainism, the universe assumes three levels: lower, middle and upper. Jains regard the universe to be imperishable, unending, and with no Creator. However, certain elements of the universe may alter in due course. The upper level, or 'siddhasila', comprises pure, free souls residing in a permanent state of sheer peace and bliss. The middle level of the universe comprises embodied creatures like humans, animals, plants, and inanimate beings (things), bound by the Law of Karma. The third level (lower world) comprises beings undergoing different phases of punishments, on account of the sins committed by them in their earthly life. After completion of punishment, they go back to the middle world (Jain, 2015).

Jiva and Ajiva

According to Jainism, the entire universe has two independent, unending, imperishable and coexisting parts, namely, Ajiva and Jiva; these are, in some ways, similar to the Samakhya School's…

References

Jain, S. (2015).Major Beliefs of Jainism. Retrieved October 16, 2015 from  http://www.hinduwebsite.com/jainism/jainbeliefs.asp 

Library.(n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2015 from  http://www.patheos.com/Library/Lenses/Side 

By-Side?path1=x1357&path2=x1357&path3=

Robinson, B. (2010). Sikhism: Its beliefs, practices, symbol, & names. Retrieved October 16,

Rise and Spread of Christianity on the Classical World

It's often assumed that the religion of Christianity perhaps greatly and generously impacted the classical age; after all, it was in this period that its foundations were established and it ultimately became the formal religion of the classical age. But corroborating this understandable supposition isn't easy. One might realize the fact that Jesus's religion was a considerable progress from the paganism followed since ancient times. The eventual success of Christianity proved to be a blessing for humanity. Nevertheless, revealing the precise level and nature of its benefit to humanity is tricky[footnoteRef:1]. One can easily indicate individual lives in Christianity which were aided and purified. However, proving that it improved the overall society, political principles, economic standards and civil customs, the level of overall living, and overall moral standards is an entirely different matter. [1: McGiffert, Arthur Cushman. "The Influence of Christianity…

The interviewed individual is an American female, Leela Smith, aged 53, who spent several years of her life in the Indian city of Kochi, Kerala as a homemaker, adopted an ayurvedic diet that was followed by her entire family, and home-schooled her youngest child. Further, she took training in Carnatic music, learned hatha yoga and Sanskrit, and adopted Kalaripayattu, Kerala's health system. In the year 2002, the whole family returned to the United States, and now resides in Oahu (Editors of Hinduism Today Magazine 2007).

The interviewee, Leela, claims it was in the year 1978 that she had her first taste of Hinduism at age fifteen, at a hatha yoga session held in her neighborhood in San Francisco, California. With time, she grew more interested in yoga, and took to reading about it and its great benefits to an individual's physical and mental wellbeing. She also decided to give up…

" Patriarchy perpetuates its crimes through "denial, tokenism, obfuscation and reversal" and traps its victims (particularly the women) in the semantic web of lies which, in the words of Daly, "constitutes the reality of the Foreground, and obscures ultimate reality, which is the Background." She advises women to take a leap of faith to break free from the necrophilic embrace of patriarchy to dis-cover their true human potential and "reclaim their primordial power, their gynergy, in order to spin new, gynocentric and biophilic realities."

Utopian Society of the Future:

Another controversial theory advanced by Daly in her book, Quintessence, describes a utopian society of the future, on a continent populated entirely by women, where procreation occurs through parthenogenesis, without the participation of men. She further asserts, "If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an…

Reference

Biography of Mary Daly." (n.d.) Radical Elemental Feminist. Retrieved on August 25, 2007 at  http://www.marydaly.net/biography.html 

Bridle, Susan. (1998). "No Man's Land." An Interview with Mary Daly: Enlightened Magazine. Retrieved on August 25, 2007 at  http://www.wie.org/j16/daly.asp 

Daly, Mary. (1985). Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation. Beacon Press: Boston, 1985

1968). The Church and the Second Sex. Beacon Press: Boston, 1968.

Christianity and Hinduism -- Similarities and Differences

Christianity and Hinduism

This paper will provide a comparison and contract of Christianity and Hinduism with particular regard to the subjects of monotheism and eschatology. Christian monotheistic practice and Hindu monotheism will be highlighted, and the end-times philosophies of each religion are reviewed with regard to structure and caste system.

Monotheism

Christianity has always stood out as a monotheistic practice, celebrating belief in the one God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, "all things visible and invisible" (Bolt, 2004). Many sects within the Christian faith believe in the Trinitarian principle, which is the idea or concept of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one body (Bolt, 2004; Sunday, 2005).

Most do not consider Hinduism a monotheistic practice; but it is actually if one believes in monotheism as the belief in one God. Hinduism is not polytheistic, because it simply recognizes…

References:

Bhattatiri, Mepathur Narayana.2003.Narayaneeyam-Bhagavata, Condensed

Edition.SriRamakrishna Math. pp. 234-239.

Bolt, Peter. 2004. The cross from a distance: Atonment in Mark's gospel, a new studies in biblical theology. Downers Grove: Intervarsity.

Gulshan, Esther. 2010. The torn veil, a biography. CLC Publications.

Black Catholic women, post-Vatican II have entered theological academies and finally now have the platform to articulate their own, unique vision in line with the tradition of the Church. Womanist theology turns subjects into "doers" of theology, and demand theology is no longer done 'to' women (Hayes 131).

Part hree of the book focuses on "Pastoral Concerns," and the practical needs of spiritual leaders in ministering to an African-American congregation. In the essay "African Catholics in the United States: Gifts and challenges," Paulinus I. Odozor frankly addresses such issues as the need for better communication between the laity and the clergy, the economic challenges of the African-American community, and the need to create a stronger family structure for African-Americans (Odozor 2000). he essay "Pan-Africanism: An emerging context for understanding the Black Catholic experience" allows Clarence Williams throw an even wider perspective upon the international Black Catholic community, and the common…

The second section, entitled "Theological and Ethical Reflection," is more specifically focused on the Catholic experience of African-Americans. This is where the book's title Uncommon Faithfulness is thrown into sharpest relief, given that it is often assumed that an African-American Christian will come from the Protestant evangelical tradition. The authors of this section attempt to offer a radically reconfigured view of this notion. For example, feminine-centered theology that is so central to the African-American tradition is also central to Catholicism. Essayist Diana Hayes links Womanism, Catholicism, and 'God-talk' all as critical building-blocks of African-American theology. Despised slave women in the Bible also strove to find dignity as mothers and worshippers. Black Catholic women, post-Vatican II have entered theological academies and finally now have the platform to articulate their own, unique vision in line with the tradition of the Church. Womanist theology turns subjects into "doers" of theology, and demand theology is no longer done 'to' women (Hayes 131).

Part Three of the book focuses on "Pastoral Concerns," and the practical needs of spiritual leaders in ministering to an African-American congregation. In the essay "African Catholics in the United States: Gifts and challenges," Paulinus I. Odozor frankly addresses such issues as the need for better communication between the laity and the clergy, the economic challenges of the African-American community, and the need to create a stronger family structure for African-Americans (Odozor 2000). The essay "Pan-Africanism: An emerging context for understanding the Black Catholic experience" allows Clarence Williams throw an even wider perspective upon the international Black Catholic community, and the common need for political and economic liberation.

Overall, the tenor of the essays is positive and helpful in nature. But certain aspects of the book leave the reader unsatisfied: there is relatively little attention devoted to hot-button political topics such as abortion, and how political liberals might feel uncomfortable in a community of Catholics opposed to abortion, although they might otherwise be politically sympathetic to Catholic social justice aims. Homosexuality within the Black community is not addressed, except in the context of the need to show sympathy for HIV / AIDS victims. Tensions between Black Protestants and Catholics are often only addressed as an aside. Only the first essay unpacks the tensions between Christians and non-Christians at length in its examination of how appropriations of the Bible were used to condemn slavery even while masters attempted to use it as a means of social control. "The church knows no race," proclaims one Catholic -- but this sentiment might be one reason some African-Americans struggle to articulate their identity simultaneously as Catholics and as Black men and women (Raboteau 17)

History of Judaism: From biblical origins to the modern period." It discusses Genesis 1-11 and what these texts tell us about the origins of Israelite religion? What do the major episodes in these 11 chapters of the Torah tell us about the differences between classical Mesopotamian paganism and the origins of Israelite thought and religion?

History of Judaism: From biblical origins to the modern period

Genesis is the book of beginnings. That is what the word itself means, and it takes us back into the very dawn of human history. It opens with an awareness of the greatest material fact in all human life; a fact that we are all subconsciously aware of almost every waking moment, that is, that we are living in a universe. Then this galaxy itself is moving at incredible speed through the vastness of space in conjunction with millions of other galaxies like ours. It…

Bibliography

Langer, Ruth, Jewish understandings of the religious other., Theological Studies, 06-01-2003, pp 255.

Clifford, Richard, A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period, vol. 1: From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy.(book reviews). Vol. 56, Theological Studies, 09-01-1995, pp 566(2).

Nahum Sarna, "Understanding Creation in Genesis" in Frye, Is God a Creationist?, pp 155-173.

Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam are a few of the "universal" or "universalizing" religions. Strayer frames the universalizing religions in terms of the spread of different cultures and ideas throughout the world. Religions are integral to social and political power and control, and thus have a transformative effect on society as well as on the individuals within that society. The nature of universalizing religion is such that they can be all-pervasive, permeating almost every dimension of life including political, economic, and social institutions. However, universalizing religions are distinct in that they actively seek new followers; they believe their message is indeed universal and contains universal truths embedded within it.

Although universalizing religions use different methods of spreading their faiths, they share in common the desire to influence human thought and even public discourse. Of the universalizing religions, Christianity and Islam have historically revealed the most aggressive evangelical tendencies but Hinduism and…

Works Cited

Kong, Lily. Christian evangelizing across national boundaries. Religion and Place, 2012, pp. 21-38.

Premawardhana, S. Religious Conversion. John Wiley, 2015.

"Religions of the World." Retrieved online:  http://lindblomeagles.org/ourpages/auto/2015/2/18/44701116/L6_ReligionsReading.pdf 

Strayer, R.W. Ways of the World. [Kindle Edition]. 2012.

According to Aiken, this liberation is only achieved after twelve years as a monk and eight rebirths. Souls who do not achieve liberation are either reborn as another life on earth or suffer punishment in one of the eight levels of hell.

Once a householder undertakes the path to liberation of the soul, according to the Jain Center of America, he must take and follow the five vows:

Ahimsa -- nonviolence

Satya -- truthfulness

Asteya -- not stealing

Brahmacarya -- celibacy or monogamy

Aparigraha -- detachment from material possessions 'All the venerable ones (arhats) of the past, present and future discourse, counsel, proclaim, propound and prescribe thus in unison: do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture or kill any creature or living being' (Uttaraadhyayan Sutra)

Hibbets explains that ahimsa (nonviolence) is the most fundamental value to the Jains. Because they believe that all living things (animals, plants, insects,…

Works Cited

Aiken, Charles Francis. "Jainism." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. Web. 5 May 2011.

Anonymous. "Jainism." ReligionFacts. N.p. 18 January 2008. Web. 5 May 2011.

Hibbets, Maria. Extremists for Love: The Jain Perspective on Nonviolence. Beliefnet. N.p. Web. 5 May 2011.

"Jainism." Jain Center of America. Web. 5 May 2011.

Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr.

As great a figure as the Noble-prize winning civil rights leader Martin King Luther Jr. may be accounted in the annals of world and American history, and in political, religious, and social rights activism, no man's thought stands alone -- no man's thought springs from simply his own brain in isolation. Every great thinker and leader is part of a larger and complex history of human thought and social influences. Martin King Luther Jr. was a Christian minister and philosopher whose nonviolent philosophy of civil disobedience was profoundly influenced by Biblical, New Testament documents of Jesus and other Christian spiritual writers, as interpreted through the African-American tradition. King also wrote during a time period when the philosophy of the Indian nonviolent leader Gandhi had shown the world how, through nonviolence, the oppressing power's wrongful influence could unintentionally act as a public relations force of…

Works Cited

Blethen, Frank. "Diversity: the American Journey." Martin Luther King, Jr. Retrospective. Editorial. January 17, 2003. The Seattle Times.

King, Martin Luther. Jr. "I've been to the Mountaintop." April 3, 1968. AFSCME Organization. Original Primary Source Retrieved 2005 at  http://www.afscme.org/about/kingspch.htm 

King, Martin Luther. Jr. "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." April 16, 1963. Historical Text Archive. Original Primary Source Retrieved 2005 at  http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle& ; artid=40

Norrell, Robert J. Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee. Chapel Hill, UNC Press, 1985.

eligion

Qualifications of the divine and the nature of supreme reality are core concepts of any religious tradition. Hinduism and Buddhism conceptualize the divine and the nature of reality in complementary yet distinct ways. Buddhism emerged from Hinduism, in a manner not wholly unlike the way Christianity emerged from Judaism. Therefore, there are several core similarities in the cosmologies and the conceptualizations of divine reality between these two faiths. Moreover, the religious practices and philosophies of Buddhism and Hinduism tend to be more similar than they are different. These similarities should not obscure the real and practical differences in the ways Hindus and Buddhists conceptualize and communicate matters related to the nature of the divine, and the nature of supreme reality. In particular, Buddhism avoids distinctions between a divine and a profane realm; there are no actual Buddhist deities or gods. Hinduism boasts a plethora of gods and goddesses, although…

Reference

Cline, Austin. "Hinduism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places." About.com. Retrieved online:  http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/Hinduism_2.htm 

"Basics of Buddhism." Retrieved online:  http://www.letusreason.org/Buddh1.htm 

Freeman, Richard. Interview data received February 21, 2013.

The Heart Sutra. Translated by Kumarajiva and Pevahouse. Retrieved online: http://www4.bayarea.net/~mtlee/heart.txt