Sermon Essays (Examples)

Sermon on the Mount and the Prince

Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the teachings of Jesus and theories of Machiavelli would see just how starkly different are the two in their approach to everything especially leadership. Jesus was a symbol of compassion and forgiveness and in his Sermon on the Mount, he presented summary of his teachings which included the golden rule "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets" and the beatitudes such as 'the meek ... shall inherit the earth" and "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Obviously Machiavelli wasn't the man Christ was addressing because his rules of leadership and ruling are widely different and radical. Machiavelli's political theories were grounded in that belief that a ruler, "who wants to keep his post must…

There may have been some women there who have had one, and I'm sure it would hurt to be called that; in fact, I think they would stop listening. Also, there might be men whose wives, or daughters, or girl friends (or even mothers) had had an abortion, and they would be offended by the label murderer applied to women they loved or cared about. People stop listening when they get offended.

A also thought that he had not prepared the speech for us. I thought it was a speech he had given many times before, and he probably didn't change it or adapt it to our church congregation. In our congregation, the issue is a divisive one. It would maybe have been better if he had found that out and then adapted the speech for an audience not already completely persuaded. He talked in a sort of confidential manner…

While God’s word was delivered to specific people at a specific time in a specific place, the quality of the Word is such that it lives on and can be applied to all people in every place in every time. The reason for this is that the Word of God is universal and carries a meaning that gets to the heart of what it means to be human and to be a child of God. To do the will of God is always Christ’s message. Whether that means that one must fight against temptation, or exercise more charity towards one’s neighbor, or to honor God by keeping His commandments, the message is there for everyone to receive and apply it in his or her daily life. The job of the preacher is to condense that message and make it fresh for the audience so that they feel it and feel…

Sermon

Every youthful generation is going to have its own tastes in clothing and recreation, its own musical style, its own favorite musical artists, always in contrast to their parents and the previous generation. Adults should be patient and understanding, and good Christians should not condemn or condone a wild rock and roll star that sins, but instead pray for that person.

Good morning my friends, my congregation, and my neighbors! I hope that you saw the Lord's brilliant handiwork this morning in that glorious sunrise. If you were up as early as I was, you witnessed God's wonderfully multicolored landscape painting. Those high cirrus clouds reflected heavenly pink, orange, purple and red brushstrokes on the magical canvas that God shares with us each day.

May we bow our heads for a moment and speak to our God: "Oh Lord, we are so grateful for this wonderful life we have…

sermon "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men," by John itherspoon, given on 17 May 1776. Specifically, it will consider who itherspoon is responding or directing his sermon to. hat does he say? How is this sermon significant? itherspoon's sermon came at a crucial time in American history, and his words are still powerful and poignant today.

The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men

itherspoon's sermon is significant for several reasons. He urges his fellow citizens to think deeply about their lives, and their sins as they prepare to head off to war with Great Britain. He directs his comments directly to these men who will soon shoulder arms and march off to war, and "beseeches" them to accept God before they leave their families and friends, many of them for the last time. He pleads,

herefore, my beloved hearers, as the ministry of reconciliation is…

The sermon is evidently being delivered to a black congregation. The suffering of Sister Caroline is shown to be uniquely black in nature because of the references to her suffering in the vineyards (cotton fields) for long, hot hours. Sister Caroline has furrows of care in her brow because of the suffering that is part of the African-American condition. Life is so hard that death is shown as a respite. In contrast to the elevated language of "Go Down, Death: Funeral Sermon," the poem "Incident" is short and pithy. It directly addresses the subject of race, detailing how the poet was called a racial slur as a child, by a boy her own age. The poet describes herself as excited about going to Baltimore but her innocence is quickly shattered. The brevity of the poem underlines the fact that being called the 'n-word' was all she could remember of her…

Those responsible for murdering atrocities such as Crusades, the witch trials and the Inquisition do not seem, from today's perspective, to have any love in their hearts.

One must perhaps also recognize that these perpetrators of murder and terror felt that they were promoting a type of love. Those who burned witches and heretics for example tended to believe that they were saving the souls tortured in this way from the eternal fires of damnation. They may have seen this as a type of ancient "tough love." From today's perspective, and surely from the viewpoint of Jesus' original meaning, this was not the type of love that was meant.

Today, religion has taken a new and interesting form, as has the many sayings of Jesus. I believe that today's more tolerant attitudes have brought new possibilities for the fulfillment of Christ's commands. In this way, I also believe that the…

We can all make a difference even if just in our own mental outlook.

Second we are told to "reprove" and to "rebuke." These two harsh words underscore the enormity of the efforts we are about to make. Also, they illustrate further the proactive nature of this passage. These are active verbs, suggesting direct ways to deal with sin in the world. eproving and rebuking, like preaching, are communicative words. This passage is about how the word of God can and should be delivered from generation to generation throughout the world.

To reprove and rebuke, we must ourselves be pure of heart. Aim to purify your mind so that your actions reflect God. Then in recognizing the sins of others we can see opportunities to preach the word. eproving and rebuking may take on the spirit of scolding but we do not seek to judge others. ather, we reprove and…

He lobbies against practices that were common in the seventeenth century and instead claims that people should focus on performing more traditional tasks that would make it possible for them to be equal and for discrimination based on intellect or wealth to be removed from the English society. From his perspective, much needs to be changed in order for people to live in agreement with how God wants them to live. The writer is determined to have people comprehend the importance of equality in a society that is experiencing great suffering. He cannot accept people's interest in material matters and advises against all forms of discrimination, regardless of society's standards.

Winstanley can virtually be considered to be an opportunist when it comes to the way that he applies religion to a political matter. He knows that people in England are severely influenced by religious passion and that it can be…

Dunbar writes his entire poem in a dialect that is nearly indecipherable at first glance as well.

All of the collective characters in Death of a Salesman, Beloved, and "Antebellum Sermon" have experienced some kind of difficulty in their pasts (some obviously more horrific than others); however, there is the commonality that all seem to oppress what they have faced in their pasts. Sethe and Paul D. choose to not deal with the past while other characters like Stamp Paid fights against it, which is still a form of oppression. illy chooses to live in his world of illusions rather than deal with the mistakes that he has made in his life. Sethe, Paul D, and illy Loman all actively choose to not accept their pasts and this means that there will never be resolution for them in life. On the other hand, "Antebellum Sermon" has the narrator talking about…

Homiletical Outlining an Expository Sermon
Introduction
An expository sermon tries to illustrate, explain and give the practical application of scripture in life. It aims at helping the audience to identify the factual interpretation of scripture in their life. Such a stance is an ideal of high order. It is a reigniting of the preacher’s soul that glistens with conviction and an enthusiastic touch (Knott, 1930; Hamilton, 1992). Every writer and preacher broaching homiletics views expository sermons as an approach par excellence. The preaching of expository sermons is a fabulous area for the preacher. It inspires the preacher, profoundly, to study scripture. Expository preaching encourages the preacher to look for sermon content from the Bible as opposed to other sources such as works of science and philosophy. It is a misplaced notion to think that the Bible isn’t as rich in material for sermons as those other sources. Most people who…

Introduction
The text of Luke 14:16-21 tells the parable of the great banquet. The host of the banquet tells his servant to invite the guests—but the guests have various excuses for why they cannot come. The host becomes angry and commands his servant to “go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame,” and they shall be the guests at the banquet. The meaning of this text is simple: it alludes to the question regarding why Jesus would “eat with sinners” (Lk 15:2) instead of rejecting them the way the Pharisees did. Jesus came to the Jews and it was the Jews who rejected Him because He did not fit their idea of what a Savior should be. They expected an Earthly or worldly savior—one who would lift them out of their subservient position beneath the…

Freud, Socrates, Christ

I, Socrates, have only questions for the author of Civilization and Its Discontents, Dr. Sigmund Freud. It surprises me greatly that Dr. Freud should so misread the great tragedy of Oedipus Tyrannos by my fellow Athenian, the poet Sophocles. Does Freud really believe the motivations of Oedipus to be some sort of universal constitutent of human behavior? As my distinguished colleague Frederick Crews (Professor Emeritus of English at U.C. Berkeley, which remains even to this day a hotbed of Socratic-style impieties, if I do say so myself) has noted about Dr. Freud's work, it frequently makes the claim of scientific discovery without any actual reference to the empirical verifications of the scientific method: in other words, it is made up out of whole cloth.

I mention this because even in Civilization and its Discontents, your strange Dr. Freud considers his notion of the "Oedipus complex" to be…

gospels in the ible, each purporting to tell the true story of Jesus' time on earth. In these four books, the famous "Sermon on the Mount" is only recorded in full one time (in Matthew), though a much abridged version is recorded in Luke and supposedly told when Christ has descended from that same mountain. (Maybe he was giving a synopsis of his longer lecture) Understandably, no single short book could possible encompass all the events of any man's life, let alone the life of a wise prophet and Messiah. It seems odd that this sermon is not elsewhere recorded not because each of the gospels should be expected to tell of the same episodes ( as if there we no others), but rather because generally speaking they do stick to the same canon of stories. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic gospels because they are…

In the second edition to Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, Bryan Chapell provides a guide to expository preaching based on the fundamental principle that the purpose of preaching is to promote union with Christ. According to Chapell, union with Christ has personal, community, and theological or cosmological implications. The second edition to the Chapell text includes several amendments and additions, encouraging libraries to stock both copies. Moreover, the author outlines some thematic changes to the second edition including greater explication of what Chapell (2005) calls the Fallen Condition Focus, or FCF (p. 14). While it may seem obvious that the FCF is the central story of Christ, redemption and resurrection need to remain the core focus of preaching. Preaching is also need-based, according to Chapell (2005), offering specific solutions to individual dilemmas while also offering a spiritual solution to all human problems. All themes common in preaching, from gratitude…

As Christians, we prepare ourselves daily for our Day of Judgment through our faith in Christ. The first prophets of the Bible like Ezekiel warned of the impending Day of Judgment, a time when people would be “scattered on a day of clouds and darkness,” (Ezekiel 34:12). It is up to you, each of you, to cultivate the right attitude and belief so that if our day or reckoning were to happen right here and now, or tomorrow, that you would be prepared. You want to be ready at all times to enter God’s kingdom.

Ezekiel the prophet gave us an important clue to how to prepare ourselves for the Day of Judgment, by referring to the difference between the sheep and the goats, or the sheep and the rams. Sheep are the gentle, the meek, the humble who shall inherit the earth. The goats or the rams are different.…

The observances of the Lenten period beginning on Ash Wednesday deepen our relationship with God through enactment of the suffering of Christ. We have scripture to guide us and prepare us mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Joel 2, verses 12 to 18 refers to the “fasting, weeping, and mourning” that characterizes Lent. The fasting puts us in touch on a deeper level with the suffering of Christ. Yet we are immediately warned not to allow the sacred re-enactment to become an empty ritual. We are advised, “Rend your hearts, not your garments.” The outer expression of our mourning is unimportant and can even become egotistical if we do not simultaneously rend our hearts. Lent is our opportunity to ready ourselves to receive the mercy of God. We are ready when, and only when, we become willing to repent.

There is also power in the collective fasting that characterizes Lent. Although Jesus’s…

The beauty of God’s covenant with us is that each and every day we have the opportunity to renew our faith and reinvigorate our lives through love. Participating in the sacraments is an act of true communion, for when we participate in the Eucharist we are engaging in a two-way dialogue with God. A covenant is a commitment, a bilateral agreement between God and each of you. Christ made it possible for us to cultivate this special relationship, for it is only through His sacrifice that it becomes possible for us to experience the power of the covenant in a direct way. When you participate in the Eucharist, try to remember its deeper meaning, to consider the importance and value of the covenant and what it means for the salvation of humanity.
The Eucharist is the direct extension of the new covenant between God and His people. Let us consider…

Freud's Writing by Socrates and Socrates' Writing by Freud

Socrates Commenting on Freud's Civilization and its Discontents

Sigmund Freud presents a very interesting set of principles in his work Civilization and its Discontents. Here, he describes his belief in the true identity of the nature of man. More than anything else, man is aggressive. This aggression is essentially caused out of the tension and conflict between innate primal desires and the demands of social mores. Such aggression is often channeled through the death drive, the primal need to destroy which must be released in one way or another, even in a modern context.

In this view, society then attempts to civilize that aggressiveness so that we can live together without killing each other. It redirects primal and sexual energies into more positively viewed energies and behaviors. In Freud's view, religion serves as an institute of society, and aims to tame…

Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the hands of an Angry God"- write about your response to Edward's sermon as a member of his congregation.

(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html)

Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is fascinating from a historical perspective but absolutely frightening from the perspective of someone who might have been listening to the sermon when it was delivered in 1741. The "fire and brimstone" approach to religious teachings is unpalatable. Religion should engender love and trust in humanity, not fear, anger, and near hatred. Edward seems angry, and is trying to encourage the congregation to join him by cultivating a sense of fear and self-loathing. However, I am reacting with my modern sensibilities. If I were a member of a New England congregation, I might actually be as mad as Edwards was, and receptive to his ideas. I might have come from a religious background that fomented fear of…

Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses," (Acts 13:38-39).

Peter also delivers powerful sermons in the book of Acts. Like Paul, Peter addresses his sermon in Acts 2 to a Jewish audience. There are some key differences between Peter's sermon in Acts 2 and Paul's in Acts 13. Peter uses the miracles of Jesus as a rhetorical device, as a means to prove the power of Christ and to urge his listeners to pay attention. Paul relies more heavily on the faith of the Jews in the laws of Moses, although Peter does mention the prophet Joel and notes, "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people," (Acts 2:17). Therefore, both Peter and Paul show that Jesus Christ is a direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy. "Jesus of Nazareth was…

In addition, simply from observation, there were people from a vast array of lifestyles present. One way that was obvious was in the attire that people were wearing. Some were dressed in conservative clothing, while a few people were dressed in clothing that could almost be labeled "provocative." In addition, there was a couple who were clearly bikers. There were worshippers of all ages present, though the majority of people seemed to be middle-age or younger.

I can not even begin to estimate how many worshippers were present, but the former stadium was almost full to capacity, which means that there had to have been tens of thousands of worshippers there.

Like many worship services, the service began with music. However, there was no mere choir singing at Lakewood; although a choir did sing, the day also featured a performance by a Christian-music band and a singer whom appeared somewhat…

Yet, before one can understand Johnson's call for a taking back of the feminine Christ, one must first understand how the feminine Christ was lost.

The starting point is with the ministries of Christ and to the point of his resurrection. This short period of time is the only time that Jesus himself was in charge of defining his philosophy, although even he recognized the fact that history would define him and not himself.

Jesus' ministry involved numerous acts of kindness, preaching and forgiveness. Many of these acts are seen as miracles, or "Signs" as the Gospel of John refers to them. These included exorcisms, walking on water, turning water into wine, and raising people from the dead. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus' ministry lasted for a period of three years. The major event of the ministry phase was the giving of the Sermon on the Mount, where…

The relationship of humanity and the divine merely changed and improved upon because of its newfound directness.

How might the Sermon on the Mount challenge contemporary Christians?

Jesus' words in his "Sermon on the Mount" conflict with many of the values of contemporary society, including the values of many professed Christians. The Sermon demands that the first are made last and the last made first, and the lowly are not simply honored but that the poor will be seen as greater by God in the life to come. The materialism of contemporary society and the inequality in a world of capitalist striving is seen as antithetical to what it means to be a Christian. Jesus' message is radically against the accepted tenor of the contemporary world, and requires Christians to live in conflict with the values and even the economy of modernity. The meek shall inherit the earth, and what…

Gender, Sexuality, and Identity -- Question 2 "So, is the category bisexuality less or more threatening to the status quo than is homosexuality?"

The passage suggests that in fact, rather than presenting patriarchic constructs of identity with less threatening formulation of human sexual identity, bisexuality does the exact opposite -- it presents common social norms with the more threatening notion that human sexuality is not an either/or 'Chinese menu' option of stable choices. The practice of homosexuality, even when it is deemed taboo and beyond the pale of the human sexual order is still a 'comfort' to the heterosexual norm. The construct of homosexuality suggests that human sexuality exists in an either/or dichotomy. So long as one is attracted to the opposite gender one is, in essence, safe from the presumably aberrant, even pathological orientation of homosexuality.

However, bisexuality presents a potentially fluid rendering of human sexual desire, whereby even…

In that respect, it was racism and social exclusion that isolated African-American musicians of those eras and led to the evolution of different music. In principle, African-American music of the early 20th century evolved in the same way as Darwin's famous finches of the Galapagos Islands: community isolation.

Substantially because of the effects on African-American soldiers of returning to a segregated society after their combat experiences during Word War II, racial pride popularized expressions of unity and terminology of self-elevation such as the use of "Man" among and between African-Americans. It is likely that this intensified and grew tremendously in common usage by the onset of the Civil Rights Era of American 20th Century History. In principle, African-Americans probably used "Man" as a specific way of rejecting and putting to rest the long-used pejorative "Boy" used for generations to subjugate African-American males regardless of their chronological age or their relative…

On June 27, 1844, hundreds swarmed the jail and brutally murdered the Smith brothers, leading their followers to conclude that they were martyred (Sisk).

At Joseph's death, righam Young was president of the Twelve Apostles of their church and became the leader of the largest faction within (Sisk 1992). Some who separated from Young's group formed their own, called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, under the leadership of one of the brothers of Joseph Smith. In 1846, Young's group declared that the "saints" would leave Nauvoo and they settled in Utah the following year and, for the next 20 or so years, many moved to Salt Lake Valley to join those "saints (Sisk)." The growth was so tremendous that many ascribe greater magnetism to Young than to Joseph himself in attracting followers. It is noted that the current-day Mormon Church has millions of such followers…

Thompson "Disenchantment or Default?: A Lay Sermon," The Romantics.

In the article "Disenchantment or Default?: A Lay Sermon," author E.P. Thompson explores the restoration of literary works by Wordsworth and Coleridge. Specifically, Thompson is interested in the moment when the poet became politically aware and disenchanted with the environs around him, turning his distaste into pieces of literature. While making his argument, Thompson delves heavily into the possible psychological profile of the author and his break with Godwinism. By doing this however, Thompson makes a critical mistake which all literary scholars and critics are meant to watch out for: that is confusing the narrator of the literature with the author himself.

Remarkably, Thompson determines that the change in Wordsworth's writings came at a time when he stopped writing towards an ideal and instead directed his writings at a real person. He writes, "It signaled also -- a central theme of…

They could only be disposed of, as it were, by leases till the year of jubilee, and were then to return to the seller or his heir."

This would preserve familial and tribal heritage as well as prevent the wealthy from being able to incur large masses of land, thus keeping certain families in extreme poverty. It gives all Israelites their liberty, as well as treats them all as equals, as the land would be regenerated every fifty years. "The chief point was that there should never be a build-up of power by a few to control the land and the people; therefore, there was redistribution of the land as it had been divided in the beginning."

Each family or tribe is given the opportunity to return to his or her land, and be renewed. "Those that were sold into other families, thereby became strangers to their own; but in…

They are the same age but Buck's family is wealthy and, for all intents and purposes, he should be refined but he is not.

Twain uses satire with the Grangerfords by making fun of Emmeline, who keeps a notebook full of notations like car wrecks, other kinds of bad luck, and suffering because she would later use those records to compose poetry.

The Grangeford's are also used for Twain to point out the hypocrisy of people. They are "church goers" and one of Mr. Grangerford's sermons is about brotherly love yet his family is feuding with another family for a reason no one can remember.

Examples of imagery in Chapter 19 include the days and nights swimming by, sliding along slowly. e read about the bullfrogs "a-cluttering" (323) and the cool breeze "fanning" (323) their faces. The intent on this scene is to bring the woods alive for the reader.…

Ross (1988) notes the development of Romanticism in the late eighteenth century and indicates that it was essentially a masculine phenomenon:

Romantic poetizing is not just what women cannot do because they are not expected to; it is also what some men do in order to reconfirm their capacity to influence the world in ways socio-historically determined as masculine. The categories of gender, both in their lives and in their work, help the Romantics establish rites of passage toward poetic identity and toward masculine empowerment. Even when the women themselves are writers, they become anchors for the male poets' own pursuit for masculine self-possession. (Ross, 1988, 29)

Mary ollstonecraft was as famous as a writer in her day as her daughter. Both mother and daughter were important proponents of the rights of women both in their writings and in the way they lived and served as role models for other…

The poems Catullus wrote to the woman Lesbia are among his best known. How would you characterize their affair?

Catallus describes a conflicted and stormy affair with the women of Lesbia. Sexual tension is evident in his poems, which have a strong erotic content. Therefore, his affairs were passionate and physical.

If the gender roles were reversed and the woman were the narrator, do you think this series of poems would read differently? Explain.

The poems would read differently not because their content would have changed but because they would subvert social norms. As a male, Catallus is allowed, almost expected to write such explicit details about his physical affairs including references to love and hatred. Females would have been more subtle because of the widespread social persecution they might suffer if they admitted to promiscuity or tumultuous romantic interludes especially with married people.

Catullus ends up calling his lady…

They were followed in 1936 by the Harlem River Houses, a more modest experiment in housing projects. And by 1964, nine giant public housing projects had been constructed in the neighborhood, housing over 41,000 people [see also Tritter; Pinckney and oock].

The roots of Harlem's various pre 1960's-era movements for African-American equality began growing years before the Harlem Renaissance itself, and were still alive long after the Harlem Renaissance ended. For example:

The NAACP became active in Harlem in 1910 and Marcus Garvey's Universal

Negro Improvement Organization in 1916. The NAACP chapter there soon grew to be the largest in the country. Activist a. Philip Randolph lived in Harlem and published the radical magazine the Messenger starting in 1917.

It was from Harlem that he organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car

Porters. .E.B. DuBois lived and published in Harlem in the 1920s, as did

James eldon Johnson and Marcus Garvey.…

After considering the particular language of Philippians 2:5, it becomes clear that one may read this clause as containing either no verbs, a single repeated verb, or a verb and a noun referring to related concepts. In all likelihood, the most accurate interpretation of this verse is a combined reading of all three, because only by considering each interpretation can one begin to understand the multifaceted state of being it attempts to describe. Appreciating how the verse serves as an introduction into the particular way Jesus managed to enact God's will through his human existence allows one to understand how the notion of kenosis refers not only to Jesus' emptying out of his own human will in order to enact God's, but also the process which is presupposed by any Christian; that is, Jesus' existence as both God and man serves as the idealized example of the Christian life itself,…

Confucius, likewise, although scholars say that Confucianism is not a theistic religion, stresses the will or mandate of heaven having an influence upon the lives of all, but focuses on the obligations of individuals in a society, not upon isolated religious acts of goodness. Buddhism, another cross-national religion also focuses on acts, such as the importance of meditation, rather than individual spiritual perfection, but focuses on such acts in a trans-national focus and stresses 'right understanding' as opposed to social relationships as in Confucianism. Confucianism does not stress the distinction between earth and the dead. It creates a network of continuity between ancestors of the past and one's present shows of respect, through good conduct, towards ones ancestors. Unlike Christianity, which stresses the better place of the Father in heaven, Buddhists do not believe in any type of God, the need for a savior, prayer, or eternal life after death.…

high degree of misinformation I had received from traditional teachings about the church and the beginning of Christianity. Moreover, I was struck by the notion that most other people in the Western world receive this same degree of intentional misinformation, so much so that I have even heard people defend the idea that knowledge of the historical church is irrelevant to modern Christianity. Reading through the class material, I was struck by how critical this historical information was to the understanding of the actual church. One critical piece of information is the idea of Jesus as the head of the church, despite him not establishing Christianity as a separate religion. Another critical idea was that prophets could play a continuing role in Christianity, when my traditional understanding had suggested that after Jesus there would be no more Jewish prophets. I also found myself wondering about the very obvious and significant…

Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life

"He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the priest establishes a mandate for Christian Living. Historically, at the Last Supper, Christ used bread and wine as a supreme metaphor for the rest of our lives. Jesus was in turmoil. He was aware of what was about to befall him -- namely, suffering and death. This was the last major lesson he would teach before his arrest following Judas' betrayal. Eschatologically speaking, the above set the stage for the Christian ministry of the apostles, evangelists and priests. Indeed, every Christian is called to give of him or herself for the Glory of God and the Glory of Mankind. The message at the Last Supper was powerful. People have put themselves through…

Preacher and the Ancient Text

This was an extremely technical text which offers deeper insights for anyone who desires to have a deeper understanding of all biblical issues and literary themes. This is because this text is able to offer a more nuanced perspective of major biblical pillars in terms of their own historical and literary viewpoint, while interlacing it with strong theological content. One of the deeper insights that were gleaned from studying this text was the fact that this book offers a superb means of explaining some of these more intricate pillars.

One of the more lucid insights that were gained from studying this book was as a result of the fusion developed from the hermeneutics and homiletics and the holistic approach that was engaged in. All insights gain were as a result of the link that Greidanus is able to forge in regards to the different arenas…

One touching simile described by Jeanie Burton in this sermon is that of a child coming into her father's room and climbing onto his lap. When the father asked the child what he could do for her, the child merely says, nothing, I just wanted to feel close to you, father. This is exactly what one will feel for God at this stage of loving Him. This shows one's ability to get out of one's own self in order to love God just for what He is. (Love Grows Up)

The fourth stage of love as described by Bernard in his 'On Loving God' is that of love of one's self for the sake of God. This is an extremely surprising and radical viewpoint, and the fact that a theologian discovered it in the twelfth century is in itself quite amazing. Jeanie Burton, the preacher of this sermon, stated that…

This is evidenced in the first chapter's list of Jesus' linage, recalling similar lists in the Old Testament, tracing the line of Israel. Second is the nativity gospel, or story of the hero's extraordinary origins, along the lines of Moses' story of persecution and salvation from death as a baby from Genesis. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is a dogmatic illustration of the role of Jesus as teacher to his followers. Jesus also teaches his disciples and others through parables, through miracles, and by quoting and interpreting scripture in a prophetic style. The final genre of the Gospel of Matthew is that of the Passion story, the narrative present in all of the gospels, of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere of the Gospel of Matthew is of a world of great hypocrisy. There is a tension between the exterior world and the interior world. Jesus teaches his followers…

Edward Taylor

Education

Private Life

Profession

Purpose of orks

Intended audience

Central goal of writings

riting Style

Early works

Comparison between writings in England and America

Comparison to other authors

Personal Style

Use of Imagery

Major Themes

Major orks

Preparatory Meditations

God's Determinations

Other works

Taylor's orks Compared

The Life and orks of Edward Taylor

No study of Puritan literature would be complete without the works of the man often called the best Puritan writer of them all, Edward Taylor. Except for a brief few, the works of this great Puritan author remained unpublished during his lifetime. In 1939, they were discovered by Thomas H. Johnson at Yale, and have since become a valued and praised addition to the other works from the Puritan era. So important are these works that the Norton editors refer to them as "one of the major literary discoveries of the twentieth century" (Rowe). These…

John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, is hailed as one of the fathers of Protestant church reform. His undying passion for his beliefs as well as a strong bond of friendship with several religious women, sustained him in his work until he died. His work comprises a number of sermons and religious writings that carry on his legacy to this day. There is some disagreement regarding the year of his birth, but critics believe this event to be somewhere in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The Dictionary of National iography for example places Knox's birth at round about 15141, while Miles Hodges places it at 15052.

According to the Dictionary, Knox was born at Cliffordgate in Haddington. An interesting fact is that he occasionally adopted his mother's maiden name, Sinclair, as an alias when he found himself obliged to hide from persecutors. His father, William Knox came from…

44). She affiliated with the African Methodist Church (AME), preaching from New York State to Ohio and down South as well. She published her autobiography in 1849 and received "strong resistance and biting criticism," according to Frances Smith Foster (1993). "Lee used her alleged inferiority to emphasize the power of her message and in so doing, she…implies an authority superior to those whom she addresses" (Foster, p. 57). Indeed, Lee used the New Testament assertion that "the last shall be first" and in her autobiography she said she was an example of God's "ability to use even 'a poor coloured female instrument' to convert sinners…" (Foster, p. 57).

Another worthy source utilized for this paper is Dr. Edward R. Crowther, Professor of History at Adams State College in Colorado. Crowther published an article in the Journal of Negro History explaining how African-Americans got away from the white man's church after…

Jesus Feed 5000 people

Seven astounding signs are there in the Gospel of John. The first one is the process of evolving water into sweet wine. Second is the instance of curing the son of royal. Third is the instance of curing of an invalid man, suffering since thirty-eight years. Fourth one is the nourishing of the 5000 starving people. The fifth one involves strolling on the water at mid-night. Sixth one is blessings to the blind man so as to enable him to see. The seventh one involves nurturing of the dead Lazarus. These symptoms provide us sufficient grounds to raise our spiritual thinking that led to regard Jesus as God. The fourth astounding symbol in John's gospel is about feeding 5000 starving people. All such wonders were performed not to exhibit His enchanting power. These were performed since Jesus had great propelling heart for His people and desired…

Greidanus, Sidney. "The Modern Preacher Ancient Text." Eerdmans Publishing: Grand apids, 1988. Please write separately pages shown.

Chapter eview: 1, 6 &

According to Sidney Greidanus in his book The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text, although we in modernity often like to say that talk is cheap, words are the way in which God communicates with human beings and preaching is an extension of this fact. The earliest preachers, the apostles, acted as representatives of God on earth and used words to transmit their messages. "Preaching is the proclamation of Christianity to the non-Christian world." [footnoteef:1] Preaching, however, is not merely the musings of the preacher 'off the cuff' or personal ruminations but must be securely grounded in Christian texts. It is very important that all forms of Christian preaching are yoked in their intention and scope to the Bible. [1: Sidney Greidanus, The Modern Preacher and the Ancient…

Pericopes From Mark and Matthew on Divorce

A pericope, hermeneutically speaking is defined as a selection or extract from a biblical book such as one of the gospels. It is especially used to reference a selection from the Bible, appointed to be read in the churches or used as a text for a sermon used to teach or instruct upon a specific rather than a general matter of Church doctrine and comes from the Greek meaning a "cutting" or a textual extract. ("Pericope," The American Heritage Dictionary, 2004) The synoptic Gospels of Mark and Matthew show many parallels in their relating of the events of Jesus' life in their selection of such textual extracts. However the order of these two gospels is slightly different in terms of the way they set and vary the different blocks of Jesus' teachings. ("Introduction to the New Testament," p. iii)

The overall chronology of…

plea to the hearts and minds of people who are being knowledgeable of the distinctive qualities and assert from the Episcopal Church. The charm from the Church tends to be realized all over our land. Its extensiveness of empathy for every situations of people, the highly convincing perspective regarding the joys of life, the liberty from peculiarity of practice and faith, have unveil the Episcopal Church to the awareness of a lot of people whose religious association have been interfered with or destabilized. e always come across some evident problem, Steve Klein (2007), which makes a lot of people not to join the Episcopal Church. The Church tends to be rather odd, or cold, or complex. It tends not to fulfill the condition that training which is done earlier results to majority anticipation in a church. The services are somehow rigid and obscure; the ways are complex; it has strange…

On its own, Matthew 23 offers rich opportunities for an expository sermon or homily. Biblical commentaries enhance the original text and offer new angles and fresh ways of approaching the material. All commentaries on Matthew 23 will offer some fruitful information that can be incorporated into a sermon or bible study. Depending on the angle the preacher or theologian wishes to take, a commentary should focus on one or more elements contained in scripture, also taking into account historical and cultural contexts.

Harrington (1991), Pilch (1995), Senior (1998), and Witherington (2006) each offer unique perspectives on Matthew 23. Of these, the most thorough and enriching seems to be Donald Senior’s, because the author includes correspondences and also places Matthew 23 within the context of prophetic wisdom. Harrington (1991) also describes the passages clearly and in great detail, allowing for a greater understanding of the role of the Pharisees, and why…

This again stresses that God's love has nothing to do with Israel's attractiveness and everything to do with God's grace.

"Kept the oath" (v. 8). God's love is faithful. We should not be surprised that God chose Israel in its weakness. This is exactly what God did in Genesis 12:1-3. The promise of children and a land made to an old, childless couple seemed impossible. Yet they conceived, and the promise of land is about to be fulfilled for Israel now, on the verge of the Jordan, attesting to God's faithfulness.

"Covenant loyalty" (v. 9) is an excellent rendering of the hendiadys "the covenant and the loyalty." (Hendiadys consists of two nouns joined by "and," expressing a single idea.) The word for "loyalty" (hesed) is of the essence in covenantal situations, since it refers to the mutual commitments pledged by each of the parties. On the human side, it becomes…

1960's approximately 200,000 people in the United States claimed to be of the Buddhists sect (Nattlier). Some of these began to think of themselves as Buddhist after a personal experience such as visiting Asia, reading in depth about the religion or talking with others who had experienced the religion firsthand. However, most of them were Hawaiian residents whose parents and grandparents had immigrated from China and Japan. Today these numbers are much greater. It is estimated that somewhere between two and three million followers live in the U.S. (Nattlier). A more conservative guess represents a tenfold increase since the '60s. Some of this increase may be due to individuals coming to the United States from Buddhist countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Taiwan. However, Americans of non-Asian ancestry are also becoming Buddhists. Overall, there have been two Buddhisms -- Asian immigrant Buddhism and American con-vert Buddhism -- and three…

Theological Analysis

hat does this passage say about the relationship with God?

Robert Imperato observes that "Matthew connects Jesus repeatedly to Jewish prophecy throughout the text" (17). The point he emphasizes, however, is that the Jews had a special relationship to God, through the Mosaic covenant contained in the Old Testament.

Yet, Jesus makes it clear, according to Imperato, that He is giving "a new interpretation of the Law" (17). In fact, Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies, identifying Himself as the Son of God, and the Messiah in whom the prophets must place their trust if they seek salvation.

Therefore, Christ sets out the guidelines for the new relationship with the Lord that all must have who do indeed wish to cry out, "Lord, Lord." The Lord, through Christ, is showing that the way to salvation is not through legalism, or through adherence only to the Old Law,…

Self-Made Man and the Recipient of Divine Grace:

Benjamin Franklin vs. Jonathan Edwards

Despite the fact that both Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards are honored as two of the greatest authors of colonial America, they could not be more different in their ideological orientations. Edwards (1703-1758) is perhaps most famous for penning the image of the human soul as a spider in the hand of a merciful God, suspended above the flames of hell in his sermon "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God." All human beings, Edwards implied in his image, were essentially fallen beings. A true Puritan, Edwards believed there was no way for hard work to win divine favor; one could only hope to be the recipient of divine grace. In contrast, Franklin (1706-1790), despite living during roughly the same time period as Edwards, was the consummate self-made man. As well as being credited as one…

Spiritual Transformation Through Community

Importance of Community for Spiritual Transformation

Accountability

Process of Growth

iblical and Theological Foundations

Jesus Christ

Love

Holy Spirit

Community Transformation

The broad theme that this research project will endeavor upon is to what extent is there a necessity of community within spiritual transformation. Transformation can be thought of on many different levels that include on a personal as well as a corporate level transformation. It is reasonable to assume that every individual in the ody of Christ must align themselves fully on an individual basis so they are in a position to make their optimal contribution to the community and the church can move in its fullness of power and purpose. However, it is also reasonable to believe that the power of the collective Christian community is far greater than just the sum of its parts; that ultimately, there should be a Christian community transformation…

" He is right that many Americans who call themselves Christians and who attend Christian worship services do not live their lives based on the Beatitudes. And then Kavanaugh also says "Nietzsche seems to have understood the Sermon on the Mount better than many Christians." ell wait a minute. If Nietzsche found the Sermon on the Mount "scandalous," and attacked it as "demeaning of the will to power," how can that be construed as understanding it better than many Christians?

To even bring Nietzsche into a discussion about "The Alternative Kingdom" is ludicrous. In Nietzsche's the Birth of Tragedy (p. 23) he says the "Christianity was from the beginning, essentially and fundamentally, life's nausea and disgust with life, merely concealed behind, masked by, dressed up as, faith in 'another' or 'better' life." In his essay, Human, all too Human, Nietzsche denounces the Christian idea of "...sins perpetrated against a god,…

..if you really want the Christ and truly love him, there is nothing that will prevent his coming and taking up his abode with you provided your love for him manifests..." through loving inner spirit of Christ instead only the outside. One may appear to be a Christian yet the Lordship of Christ in the life of the Christian means that present is love, compassion and forgiveness for others. The Christian loves the 'inner spirit of Christ because to desire only the outside of Christ will not allow Christ true Lordship in our lives. Loving the inner spirit of Christ requires loving the spirit of love...faith...compassion... The spirit of forgiveness." (Lindsey-Weinman, 19?

-2000)

Humanity tends to only: "...desire the outside of Christ..." (Lindsey-Weinman, 19?

-2000) the Christian loves more than simply an image of Christ as 'Lordship of Christ' does not mean loving the image of Christ in his white…

Certainly, common sense tells us that the wisdom literature of different societies is similar. Christianity must have struck a cord with the simple people of Greece as it did with the simple people of Jesus' time that lived the simple life and trusted in providence for their sustenance once that had done what they were morally obligated to. They needed to be happy and content with their station's in life. This way, they would not suffer from the anxiety of worrying about what would happen tomorrow.

While this was mentioned above, we must again state that while the Roman's may have ruled the Mediterranean world, it was the Greeks who colonized the minds of the area's inhabitants. The minds of Jewish peasants may have been against Greek pagan thought, but otherwise embraced the Greek world with a Judaism that spoke Greek. They thought more like the Greeks than they would…

There are many examples in the literature of the intention and purpose of the early colonists to eradicate the Indian population. The genocidal intentions against the indigenous population of America do not however begin with the English colonists, but starts with Columbus. The following quotation refers to his second voyage to the New World.

Columbus took the title "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" and proceeded to unleash a reign of terror unlike anything seen before or since. When he was finished, eight million Arawaks -- virtually the entire native population of Hispaniola -- had been exterminated by torture, murder, forced labor, starvation, disease and despair.

Genocide of the American Indian Peoples)

Historian David Stannard also states quite categorically that "the destruction of the Indians of the Americas was, far and away, the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world." (Genocide of the American Indian Peoples) The…

Therefore, the research conduced on the word of God can be a useful means through which a priest can become a better preacher by adapting his sermons in such a manner as to insure that he does not exclude certain parts of his community and addressing only the ones that believe or the ones than need to be shown the path of God.

Another important role played by theology for the priest is the knowledge that this exercise provides in better understanding the word of God in the way that it becomes accessible to all the community, regardless of background. More precisely, the Holy Book although speaks of generally applicable truths, has a lot of interpretations. The study of theology allows the priest to be in deep contact to these interpretations and be aware of the teachings and adapt its sermons. Also, it is important for the preacher to understand…

Justo L.Gonzalez, The Story Christianity, 1 volume (preferably 2010 edition) ii.

The Crusades -- interpretation and history

There is much controversy regarding Crusades, their purpose, and the general effect that they left on society. Largely accepted as conflicts that started with the purpose of protecting the Byzantine Empire and Christianity as a whole, Crusades have taken place over the course of several centuries and have had a strong influence on religious ideologies in the Middle East. Although there were many individuals who actually fought in the name of what they perceived as being divinity, a large number of people took advantage of these conflicts by exploiting believers and by gathering wealth that was being brought from the East. In spite of the fact that they were religious in character, the Crusades were also meant to strengthen political and economic conditions in Europe by securing its place and influence in the…

Religious Field Search

AHMADIS: THE OTHER FACE OF ISLAM

For the purposes of this paper I visited the local Ahmaddiya Muslim Community or as they prefer to called Ahmadis. Ahmadis are a sub-sect of the Islamic Community. What attracted to me to study this community was that unlike the general image we have of the Islamic community, this community is non-violent and is considered heretical by the larger Islamic community for having a prophet in succession to Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith. In many Muslim majority countries the Ahmadis are banned and in many others they have been ex-communicated from the Islamic mainstream. Apparently -- as I discovered- one of the other contentious issues between them and the rest Islamic community is the controversy over Jesus Christ's death, which I found interesting given that I considered Jesus an exclusively Christian figure. To my amazement it turns out that…