Informative Essay Sample on Theology in the Reformation Period

Informative Essay Sample on Theology in the Reformation Period Before the Reformation, people believed the church was everything. Churches collected money from the indulgence and used the money to build more magnificent churches. These baroque churches were filled of decorations. In addition, the cups, they used were decorated. However, the Reformation caused this to all change. As a substitute of a chalice, wooden cup was used. Reformation caused churches to be plainly designed. The features the wooden cup reflected the theology and the ideals of the Reformation. Between the chalice and wooden cup, there were many different features. A sixteenth-century Roman catholic priest in the celebration of the Mass used the chalice. The wooden cup was created from the Reformation. It was used to celebrate the Lord’s Supper after he left the church and became a follower of Martin Luther. The chalice was more ornamental than the wooden cup. Shimmering gold was used to form the chalice. All around the chalice were nicely printed patterns. On the contrary, the wooden cup was made out of plain wood. Not a single pattern or texture was added to the cup. Obliviously, the chalice was more creatively designed and expensive than the wooden cup. The chalice and the wooden cup represented two different two periods. The chalice represented the time before the Reformation. The wooden cup represented the time of the Reformation. Before the Reformation, the churches and religious items were creatively designed. After the Reformation, religious things were more plainly made. Overall, the two cups were totally the opposite of each other. Art portrayed the beliefs of different religious systems. The chalice represents a baroque style of art and the wooden cup represents the plain art style during the Reformation. Some people thought traditional church art and architecture and music in churches as a serious distraction from the Word of God. This cause some churches across Europe, the walls were stripped bare, and the only music heard was a congregational recitation of the Psalms. Baroque style permitted the Catholic faith to be displayed luxuriously in three-dimension artwork. The intent was to affect the worshippers’ senses and move them emotionally, leaving them filled with fear and wonder at the power and glory of the Church. In stark contrast to the baroque style, the wooden cup has no decoration. This style of art has no decoration to distract the worshipper from the Word of God. The intent was to create an atmosphere of quiet introspection and reflection on one’s own spiritual life in the presence o f God’s Word. For example, in the Calvinists’ church in Lyon, the preacher is absolutely at center stag. There are no decorations, paintings, statuary, or elaborate stained glass. The chalice and the wooden cup represent two different styles of art. Features of the wooden cup reflected the theology of the Reformation. Theology was the understanding of God. Reformed theology affirmed the freedom of the human’s will, regarding the idea that God was the author of sin as blasphemy. The Protestant Reformation was grounded on the biblical principle that the Holy Scripture was the sole authority over the human conscience. Reformation theology was that the Bible was the source of God’s word. Within the reformation theology, people believe in Eucharist. In addition, people for reformation believed that worshipping should be simplistic and with less ceremony. The wooden cup has this feature. The wooden cup is plain, which show the simplistic and less ceremony elements for the theology of reformation. Salvation was another part of the theology of reformation. The Reformers did not create a new church, but returned to the holy universal churchs creedal belief in the forgiveness of sins. The wooden cup greatly reflected the the ology. The cup was not decorative, but plain. The reformed theology was also plain and straight to the point. On the contrary, the chalice reflected the theology of before the Reformation. Patterns and decorations surrounded the chalice, which clearly showed people during that time love to decorate. During that period of time, people were considered about the look of the churches presented to god. However, the Reformation was the reverse, they did not care. The only thing that matter was the people’s trust with God. The wooden cup was just like Jesus’ cup. Jesus’ cup was plain and simple. The wooden cup successfully represents theology of the Reformation. Ideals of the Reformation were to be plain, cheap, thrift, equal opportunity to access religion and simplicity. The wooden cup reflected all the ideals of the Reformation. First, the wooden cup was plain, which matched with one of the ideals of the Reformation. Plain means to have a lack of decorations, which Reformers believed it. As for cheap, the wooden cup was cheap. Wood was found everywhere, but gold was very hard to find. In other words, gold is more expensive than wood. People living during this time period have very little money. With cheap things, anyone can afford the cup. A baroque church with many decorative was more expensive than a plain church. Expensive things required more money to create them. With all the baroque churches, the priest had to collect indulgence to gather enough money. With a plain church, it was cheaper and people could afford it. Most important ideal of Reformation was simplicity. The wooden cup showed this ideal by clearly showing its use, which w as a device for drinking liquid. A church was an atmosphere of quiet introspection and reflection on one’s own spiritual life in the presence of God. Decorations were not necessary for the churches. Churches could perform it job of preaching without the decorations. Another ideal of the reformation was thrift, which mean middle class. During the reformation, the ideal was for everyone to be in the middle class and then the economy would be balance equally. Equal opportunity to access religion was another ideal of reformation. Equal opportunity is closely connected with thrift. If everyone was in the middle class, everyone have the same need and have the same background. This would make everyone equal to one another. In order words, everyone gets equal opportunity to access religion. The wooden cup portrays the ideals of thief and equal opportunity because anyone in the middle class can afford the cup. Overall the wooden cup clearly showed the ideal of the Reformation. In conclusion, the wooden cup was a great example to reflect the theology and ideals of the Reformation. Theology was the understanding of God. Reformed theology affirmed the freedom of the human’s will, regarding the idea that God was the author of sin as blasphemy. Ideals of the Reformation were to be plain, cheap, thrift, equal opportunity to access religion and simplicity. These ideals were clearly represented on the wooden cup. Another great example was mentioned that reflect the theology and ideals of the Reformation. This was the plain church. Mostly any religious item showed the theology and ideals of the Reformation.

Media Violence and Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Media Violence and Children - Essay Example Its negative impact is beyond the scope of simple parenting skills. The situation requires vigilant engagement and extra effort on the part of parents so that this issue is effectively addressed. Parents must be involved in choosing the kind of media that their children are exposed to. Increased activism also becomes imperative. Parents should call for a mechanism of control and even some censorship, in addition to a standardized filtering system from policymakers. Media is an omnipresent factor in the lives of many people. It can be accessed easily by the public at any time and on their terms. The question becomes is society conscious of what is being delivered to them through these media sources. For example, individuals tend to turn on television for background noise during everyday chores. This is when adolescent may begin watching negative content unintentionally. Consequently, it is important to evaluate media content daily and discover if there is true value to what is seen or heard. Even cartoons, typically stereotyped as being innocent in nature, illustrate overly animated characters freely engaging in violence with no concern for consequences. In the classic cartoon, Tom and Jerry, the mouse plots various schemes of violence to stop a cat from catching him. Unrealistically and comically, this show encourages adolescents to devise vengeful tactics. Additionally, it portrays violence to be humorous and acceptable. If peer pressure were a factor in the lives of adolescents, they would be inclined to try a drug since in many movies and television shows drugs are practically advertised. In the show Weeds, the normalcy factor is not eliminated when the mother herself is a drug dealer who uses her children as a means of dispensary. There are many television shows that portray different scenarios, all in which we must caution ourselves in the sense that adolescents are immature. Sex and drugs are also prominent fixtures in violent media. In the

Do we think for ourselves or does society determine what we think (the Essay - 1

Do we think for ourselves or does society determine what we think (the social construction of reality) - Essay Example Society determines us; the life of an individual and how he/she thinks is determined and moulded by the society the individual lives in: this form the thesis of my paper. An analysis of different stereotypes and concepts will be carried out to help prove this statement. A critical society is one with individuals who value critical thinking as well as value those who are practicing it.   Its most distinguishing feature is that it stresses on thinking as central to the emancipation of mind, to the development and preservation of the species and to the establishment of just practices. Unfortunately, no critical society exists in the world.   The concept represents an ideal that is yet to be achieved and actualized.   However, there are some professions and culture on earth in which critical thought is the characteristic of everyday social and personal life. The world is occupied by superficiality, bias, prejudice, distortions, manipulation, lies, deception, short sightedness, hypocrisy, close-mindedness, righteousness, on and on, in each culture in every part across the world.   These problems in our thinking occasion untold negative implications such as fear, sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, suffering, pain, injustices of every thinkable kind. People have an incredible capacity for reasonability and rationality.   The history of our accomplishments, achievements and contributions, initiated and shaped by our society well documents this fact.   Nonetheless, for the better part, this capacity should be actively developed by the mind.   It is our second nature determined by our society. What is more natural to our mind, whatever comes first concerning human tendencies, and habitually takes priority, is an orientation emphasized on self-gratification, self-protection and self-interest.   This perspective is inborn, and most people would say it`s necessary for survival. To visualize that our societies are critical

Mandatory Service Program Essay Example for Free

Mandatory Service Program Essay There are many debates concerning advantages and disadvantages of mandating community service, however, the practice of compelling adolescents to take part in community service is increasingly common. People seek to understand the relationships between mandatory community service and volunteering. A key distinction between mandated community service and volunteering is the freely-chosen nature of the latter activity compared to the compulsory nature of the former (Arai et al.). Even though college students may not comprehend the value of community service now, this is a great opportunity for them to achieve something in the future. What harm can several hours of service per week possibly do to youngsters? Instead of attending pubs, drinking alcohol and doing whatever they like to do, they will be busy with contributing to the society. The statistics shows that students who participated in community service while studying at college are more likely to find a good job because they have something to put in their resumes. Such people are welcome in every circle. Current statistics from the Department of Labor report that in the United States among the 26, 8% of the adult population who volunteer, college students are the majority of them (76, 3%). That shows that individuals with higher levels of educational attainment are more aware of the importance of contributing to the community, more aware of the impact the may have and the responsibility they carry as citizens to improve lives and solve problems. By implementing a mandatory service program for all college students, the number of active students should be increased, and that should be the start. The reason why that should be initiated at college is that college is where there already a wide culture of volunteering, where individuals are more responsive to the need of getting involved. College students carry fundamental information that should help in crafting solutions to existing social problems. At the beginning, the service will, of course, be mandatory, but later most of the students may like it, may like to pay tribute to their society and be responsible for something useful and good that they have done. The study of Ontario university students compared a cohort of students required to perform mandatory community service to a cohort that did not, in terms of their attitudes toward volunteering and civic engagement a few months after high school graduation (Henderson). Metz and Youniss note in particular the benefits of mandated community service for students who are less inclined to servedefined in this case as students who had no volunteer experience prior to beginning their mandated service, and who delayed beginning their service until their final year before graduation. In their study, these less-inclined students, once compelled to become involved in community service, experienced firsthand the benefits of doing so, and were likely to stay involved and report intentions to continue civic involvement into adulthood. While more-inclined adolescents similarly reported intentions to continue their involvement, they were likely to do so regardless of whether they had been required to perform community service (Arai et al.). Among the group less inclined to service, students required to perform mandatory service showed a greater likelihood of civic interest and understanding, future voting, and conventional civic involvement after their experience (Lerner, Zaff). Mandated community service experiences are not significantly different from those entered into willingly. Length and breadth of service is similar, and with the exception that high school students who were not mandated to perform community service tend to use their schools to identify volunteering opportunities, and as places to perform service, the two cohorts are indistinguishable (Brown et al.). Some may not agree that service should be made mandatory to all students at college because partner sites could lose with the program instead of benefiting. The argument is that sites will not have a long- term commitment from the students participating in the program and that might hurt their projects. However, the students might be so deeply involved with their projects that they may choose to carry on with their work and continue to help. Their enthusiasm may influence others in their lives, such as their family members, in such a way they become supports as well. Another strong argument against mandatory service program is that in 2002, Covitt found that girls had more positive attitudes about required service than boys, and that white students had more positive attitudes than black students (Lerner, Zaff). Of course, it is impossible for all nations and genders to have the same attitude and the same point of view. But that is the actual purpose of community service: to unite everyone for solving common social problems and achieving desired goals. Nowadays civic engagement is deteriorating, people become members of different associations less and less, they are not interested in social activities and do not care about obvious problems. They turn a blind eye on everything that is farther from their reach. There are three possible ways for mandated behavior programs to attain their goals: they compel, directly, the very behaviors that are seen to be essential; they create behavioral habits so that individuals might then begin to participate in other similar activities; and/or the act of participating instills in individuals the attitudes that then serve as motors for other behaviors deemed to be beneficial (Brown et al.). Among programs aimed at students, effects are clearest when service is regular and sustained, when there are broad opportunities for public action, or when the service provides students with an opportunity to experience power. Factors such as the amount of enjoyment, support, respect, and appreciation students encounter in their placements are very important in promoting a commitment to subsequent volunteering (Brown et al.). Mandatory community service is, of course, one example of mandated civic behavior deemed to benefit both individual participants and society as a whole. In order for college students not to be hostile towards the program, they need to get some benefits from participating. And this way they will not feel forced to do anything. Their contributions will become more voluntary and, therefore, they will become better people than they were before. In conclusion, it has to be said that the number of reasons pro establishing mandatory service program is overwhelming and fears about consequences are not reasonable enough to fight against it. Students will be busy with something useful for their lives and will not notice how they begin to enjoy it. Both, the young people and the society will benefit from it.

Colonialism and Imperialism in Nectar in a Sieve Essay -- Nectar Sieve

Imperialism in Nectar in a Sieve  Ã‚      The characters in the book Nectar in a Sieve had to deal with Western imperialism and they had to adapt to the changing ideas associated with Western imperialism. Throughout the book Rukmani had to struggle with her beliefs and how to cope with these changes. From the beginning Rukmani coped with these changes, from culture to her way of life, until the end of the book where even then her life was not through being changed. In the first instance Rukmani had to deal with a husband that was several castes below her. Usually if the woman was below the man she could probably do the work that he does, being used to the labor that is. Yet in Rukmani’s instance the man was below her, which meant that she was not used to hard labor. â€Å"A man is indeed fortunate if he does not marry above him, for if he does he gets a wife who is no help . . . what patience indeed my husband must have had† (14). Rukmani was fortunate to marry a kind husband, and though she had no farming experience, she became quit good at it, and made profit from her vegetable goods. At first, traditional urban life continued as it always had, but then Western imperialistic ideas began to come into their midst. It started when a tannery was established in their small village town, then white men begin building, and prostitution became a menace to their lifestyles. The tannery had been a source for income during difficult times when famine struck their livelihood. After awhile Western imperialistic ideas began to manifest themselves in her sons lives, as when they became aware of the idea of union type strikes. This occurred when the white owners were cheating them of their proper earnings. â€Å"Then one day they di... ...s. People who live in rural communities often get lost and taken advantage of in big cities, but sometimes they do manage to survive. In the case of technology and medicine the natives of the land are always suspicious and unsure if these new ideas are safe. Rukmani’s move to the city was a bad idea, because she had no idea if her son could even afford to take care of them. They should have stayed in the small town, especially since her husband was sickly and this move would, and did, kill him at the end of the book. Eventually Rukmani had to move back to her small town because of his death. Western imperialism had a negative impact on non-Western cultures at first. Nevertheless, later when the rural communities accepted Western ideas they began to adapt to them. Overall most non-western communities prospered, and grew into industrialized lands.      

Othello Essay †Character’s and Their Obesessions Essay

Many characters in Shakespeare’s Othello become obsessed with the current state of a relationship. These obsessions then eventually lead the characters to failure when the obsessions become a goal, instead of something that occupies their mind. The transitions from an obsession to a goal can be seen through the actions of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona. Othello’s path to obsession begins with Iago planting seeds of doubt into his mind, which convinces Othello that Desdemona is being unfaithful. He says to himself, â€Å"She is gone. I am abused, and my relief/Must be to loathe her† (3.3.283-84), and later claims that he â€Å"will withdraw/To furnish [him] with some swift means of death/For [Desdemona]† (3.3.492-94). These lines reveal that although there has not been any solid proof, Othello’s mind is already constantly occupied by the mere possibility of Desdemona being unfaithful to him. His obsession finally becomes clear when he says â€Å"In th e due reverence of a sacred vow/I here engage my words,† (3.3.470-71). This line reveals that he is set on getting revenge for being betrayed and thus, has become a goal. It is his goal to get revenge so even when Desdemona after insists that she has done nothing wrong, Othello tells her to â€Å"confess thee freely of thy sin† (5.2.61) and that even if she denies it all, it will not change his mind, as he makes clear by telling her â€Å"Thou art to die† (5.2.65). Othello’s refusal to listen to Desdemona is what leads to his failure, for it was his goal to kill her no matter what she said and only after she is dead does he learn that she was actually innocent. Ironically, it is primarily how Desdemona behave towards Othello that makes him doubt her. After Cassio lost his position as lieutenant, Desdemona accepted the task of trying to convince Othello to forgive Cassio. The start of her obsession of getting Cassio’s job back is when Desdemona says herself that â€Å"My lord shall never rest,/I’ll watch him tame and t alk him out of patience† (3.3.23-24). As a result, she would bring up Cassio quite often and became obsessed with getting his job back. Her obsession and insistence of helping Cassio is presented well when she asks Othello if he can talk to Cassio â€Å"tomorrow night, or Tuesday morn. /On Tuesday noon, or night†¦but let it not/Exceed three days† (3.3.60-64). Her insistence is only elevated when she continues to talk about how good a person Cassio and how Othello should â€Å"let Cassio be received again† (3.4.91), even though Othello was demanding to see her handkerchief and was noticeably getting angry. As Desdemona said earlier  on in the play, â€Å"[she] shall rather die/Than give thy cause away,† (3.3.27-28), which presents this obsession as goal that she wants to achieve no matter what, even if it means ignoring Othello’s demands for a moment. She insisting too much on reaching her goal and as a result, ended up dying because of it. Iago’s obsession is similar to Othelloâ €™s in the sense that they both sought out revenge and similar to Desdemona’s in the sense that they both take it too far, but Iago sought revenge on nearly everybody he came into contact with. His want to make Cassio fall is apparent in the first scene of the play, when he says â€Å"Mere prattle without practice/Is all his soldiership† (1.1.12) in regards to Cassio being made lieutenant. It is evident that Iago is not satisfied with this outcome and plots to do something about it, as shown when he says â€Å"I follow [Othello] to serve my turn upon him† (1.1.44). It is established that Iago wishes to hurt Othello and Cassio in some way, which is only the beginning of his obsession of wronging others who he believes have wronged him. As the play progresses, we see that Iago has successfully gotten Cassio to lose his job and have Othello want to kill Desdemona. Othello even gives Iago the position of lieutenant, but Iago continues to use those around him as pawns. After being told by Othello that he must go kill Cassio, Iago talks Roderigo into killing Cassio instead, tell him â€Å"I will show you such a necessity in his death that you shall think yourself b ound to put it on him† (4.2.247-49). Later on, Iago says that â€Å"whether [Roderigo] kill Cassio/Or Cassio kill him, or each do kill each other,/Every way makes my gain† (5.1.12-14), which reveals that he only wishes to see his victims fall. This is finalized several lines afterwards with Iago says â€Å"No, [Cassio] must die† (5.1.24). He could have stopped after becoming lieutenant, but he decided instead to use Roderigo as a pawn once more and continued with his schemes. He tried to use anybody he could as pawn in his schemes, and this included Emilia as well. However, he did not account for Emilia to go against him in the end by admitting that â€Å"[Iago] begged of me to steal [the handkerchief]† (5.2.243). This goal to continue wronging others until the end eventually brings Iago to his failure, as he bit off more than he could chew. As presented in Othello, there were many cases in which one’s obsession led to their failure. Othello was set on killing Desdemona no matter what, Desdemona was set on getting Cassio’s job back no matter what, and Iago was set on  exacting revenge on those he feels have wronged him no matter what, but the result was that things did not turn for the better. The idea that a character’ failure is brought upon them when their obsession becomes a goal is evident in the three cases that were presented.

Jean Pierre Corteggiani From The French Institute Of...

Jean-Pierre Corteggiani from the French Institute of Oriental Archeology states that â€Å"the Nile is therefore life itself to Egypt.† He said that the eastern part of the desert of Sahara would be nothing without the water supplied by the Nile river. Water was life at the time of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The source of life of this river comes from the mountains of Ethiopia, 2,000 kilometers from the Delta. However, between the months of June to September when is storm season, the Nile river overflows becoming a sea converting nearby cities into islands. Therefore, Egyptians tried to keep a record of the Nile’s first signs of overflow by building Nilometers to measure increases in the water level. It took 10 years to control the annual overflowing. A thought of that time was that gods spread blessings all over the river, since the banks of this river gave the pass to agriculture. As new techniques were developed, so the ancient Egyptian civilization productio n increased as well. Nonetheless, the Nile river became the natural route for traders. On the golden age of ancient Egyptians, pharaohs ruled over those lands. Pharaohs were seen as a god. Touching a pharaoh could have been punished with the death, since they were sacred. Under their commands, gigantic pyramids were constructed. However, the logic of the edification of those pyramids and their builders are still a mystery. All that is known is that the construction of the mausoleum required high technical