Catholicism: Its Meaning, Identity and Culture Fr.M.Peter Amaladoss, Arul Anandar College, Karumathur. Catholics are often seen to be just a little odd. They worship saints and statues; they have pictures of saints in the stained-glass windows of their often garish churches; they wear medals and carry rosaries that are superstitious charms; they obey a foreigner in Rome; they don’t think for themselves but do what their bishops and priests tell them to; they are clannish; they are morally lax, given to drinking and dancing; they think theirs is the only true church; there is so much superstition mixed into their beliefs and practices that sometimes they seem barely Christian, and so on and so forth. In the midst of such thoughts and opinions, there arise certain questions, and the following are some with which this essay deals: Why have this large international institution, the Catholic Church, in the first place? Why have popes and cardinals and Jesuits and Dominicans and Franciscans?
James was trying to juggle different religious demands. This caused James to expresses his hostility against the Catholics in 1604 at the Hampton Court Conference. This was to satisfy the Puritans whose demand who could not satisfy and shows that the religious divisions were serious, as he had to hop to one faction to another trying to keep the country satisfied. The situation deteriorated further when in February James expelled all priests and Jesuits and reintroduced recusancy as well as announcing his ‘utter
Tetzel also implores his readers to become a part of these indulgences to assure their ascent into heaven. According to the Catholic church, and Tetzel who so strongly believed in these rituals, wished to open the eyes of the mind. Tetzel explains to his readers the constant struggle of life man endures while living on earth. Tetzel describes letters obtained from the vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ, that will liberate man's soul from the hands of the enemy. Tetzel continues to enlighten his readers to the fact, there is no way to count the many sins a human being can commit on a daily basis.
Chaucer created a variety of flawed Church officials on this pilgrimage and most are portrayed in a subtle satiric manner, however, the Pardoner is scathingly and sarcastically depicted as a petty, mean, self-serving irredeemable hypocrite. He is morally bankrupt and the exchange with the host at the end indicates the contempt most pilgrims had for him. The film A Simple Plan develops the avarice theme to show how easily the American Dream degenerates into a nightmare when happiness is equated with material wealth “you work for the American Dream, you don’t steal it”. Raimi extends the story into a full length film, set in an iconic small American town, and focuses on the characters of and relationships between the three men, in a retrospective narrative framed by the voiceover of Hank, talking about what constitutes happiness and how one can tell if one is
It is doubtful that Darrow was as white or Bryan as black, or even Scopes himself as absolutely ignorant and innocent in resolute belief as is depicted. Characters such as the newspaper reporter and Scopes’ love interest have been given more ‘spirit’ to help the plot through. This, however, opened up the film to possibilities of backlash. It is fairer to approach the criticism, perhaps, in the words of the critics themselves. Robert Harsh, for example, declares in ‘Exposing the Lie: Inherit the Wind’ that "Christians, particularly William Jennings Bryan, are consistently lampooned throughout, while the skeptics and agnostics are consistently portrayed as intelligent, kindly, and even heroic.
Essay 1 Under scrutiny, held captive by controversy, caught between an innate desire to speak freely and defend my faith, I find myself stuck between the boulders of religion and freedom of speech. In his piece of art known as "Piss Christ," Andres Serrano depicts a crucifix submerged in a glass of his urine. His work sets the stage for a collision between freedom of artistic expression and the interests of a large sect of society in which I find myself immersed - Christianity. This piece of work not only unsettled and surprised me initially, but enraged me as well. I see myself as a rational observant to my surroundings and typically weigh a cost benefit analysis of the passion that I voice on many aspects of society.
Kevin Lee HUMN111 Mr.Dipietro Question 1- Free Will In the Confessions, one of Augustine’s favorite topics is free will. He has written many papers on this topic along with the sections in Confessions. After Augustine turns away from Manichaeism, his main argument in discrediting it is the apparent lack of free will associated with the evil counter-god that Manicheans believe in. It is a distinct possibility that Augustine’s obsession with the issue of free will stemmed from his digression from Manichaeism before his conversion to Catholicism in 386. His skeptic attitude towards most theological ideas also explains his in depth evaluation of free will, even after he converted.
With them, one could wipe off one's sins. Yet, mere money wasn't enough - the sinner also had to repent his deeds. In the middle Ages, it was typical to divide people into three groups of social station: those who fought (the bellatoeres, the nobility), those who prayed (the orators, the clergy) and those who worked (the laboratories, the peasants). The priests, the monks and the nuns thus had a remarkable task in society; their prayers and Masses were serving God on behalf of the entire society. The position of the church in the middle Ages is reflected by the fact that it was almost alone responsible for education until the late middle Ages.
The speaker commands God to change him immediately through the means of brutality imploring God: “Batter my heart … (1) / your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.” (4). The speaker’s expressive, forceful, tone, depicts the desperation he suffers as he searches for God’s love in a sexual and violent manner. Similar to the demanding tone of Sonnet 14, “Death be not proud”, portrays the speaker as one who unafraid of using a mocking tone as he utters: “Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so”. This attitude insinuates Death is not worthy of his reputation of morbid fear. The speaker continues to mock Death’s position as he implies that Death is inferior to: “poppy or charms [that] can makes us sleep as well” (11), he is nothing more than: “a slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men” (9).
After a period of time however, he affiliates a mindset of aestheticism, appreciating considerably beauty and art. We are also aware that Stephen is a representation of Joyce’s alter ego, and a large amount of the occurrences in Stephen’s life mimic occurrences from Joyce’s own early life. Stephen was born into a very traditional Irish family. He had many siblings along with a very religious Mother and Father. There is a sense from Steven’s Mother and Father that they encourage him to rebel, due to their strong religious views.