Scholars and critics have come to various conclusions about the themes and meaning of Beowulf. Although there are many underlying messages and strong ideas throughout the epic, some are more universal and noteworthy than others. Beowulf is a blending of Christian traditions with a folk story that extols virtues of loyalty, courage, and faith in the face of extreme dangers and even death. It presents a model of man willing to die to deliver his fellow men from terrifying evil forces. Throughout the Beowulf, there is a clear blending of Christian traditions and folk story type elements.
Although both poets seem to portray God as grand, personal force of energy in their writing, their personal view and relationship with God oppose one another. Hopkins was “Reverend father Gerard Manley Hopkins.” He was a Roman Catholic and a Jesuit priest. Thomas Hardy was a Victorian Realist who had mixed feelings on religion. The irony and struggles of life and a curious mind led him to question the traditional Christian view of God. Never the less they both believed in a greater power and the evidence is in these poets writing.
In this famous work, Lewis conveys an imaginary, dream-like encounter between souls in hell and souls in heaven. Thus, it is in his works of fiction that his religious concerns are memorably animated. The novel’s popularity demonstrates that the means of imaginative fiction can be successfully used for religiously-motivated ends. In his biography of Lewis, Douglas Gresham argues that Lewis had the most fun with imaginative works of literature; he notes that “Lewis thrived on the imaginative portrayals of Christian doctrine envisioned by George Macdonald” (212). The imagination permits, to be sure, the exploration of things religious precisely because it involves other-worldly events and characters that fit some of the fantastic concepts in religious stories or figures.
Wink sees these institutional intelligences as "fallen angels" -- having forsaken their life-affirming mission in order to promote their own interests. Supporting all of the fallen institutions is "The Domination System," a cultural vision in which a dominating hierarchy is the only conceivable source of order and "good" violence is the only defense against "bad" violence. The Domination System plays the role of Satan in Wink's mythological interpretation. The mission of Jesus, according to Wink, is the overthrow of the Domination System. He sees a nonviolent "Third Way" in Jesus' teachings, a way that is neither passive acceptance of domination nor an (ultimately self-defeating) violent revolution against it.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne demonstrates through Reverend Dimmesdale how not repenting for sin can affect a man's soul, which changes the ways that he relates to himself, to others, and to God. The most noticeable effect of sin on Dimmesdale is how it changes his character, and the ways that he sees and relates to himself. Dimmesdale is a highly respected and eminent clergyman, who is renowned as one of the most godly men in Massachusetts. Hawthorne attests to this when he writes of Dimmesdale, "His eloquence and religious fervour had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession"(26). However, Dimmesdale possesses an unusual manner about him for a man of his position.
In The Epic Beowulf both The idea of God and Fate intertwine into a complex story of heroism. Even though Beowulf was written in an area where Christianity had not yet been accepted, the author brought many Christian Themes and traits into the storyline. Beowulf Says himself, “May the wise God, the holy Lord, assign glory to whichever side seems fitting to him” (Hieatt,p.21), and “He whom death takes there must trust to the judgment of the lord” (Hieatt,p.14).It is clear that Beowulf has a strong believe in God and that God is the judge of all things, mortal or non. In the Bible it says “Many live as enemies in the cross of Christ. Their destiny is Destruction” (Philippians 3:18-19), and “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:30).
Love is simply a religion in Wuthering Heights, which is protection from the fear of death and the obliteration of consciousness. As a whole this love would clarify the inescapable connection between love and death. Furthermore Bronte uses biblical imagery to present love between Heathcliff and Catherine when he says “because misery and degradation and death and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us”, which emphasises the inseparability because no higher divine could interfere. Bronte also uses allusions where she becomes defensive of her love and says “who will separate us pray? They’ll meet the fate of Milo!” This allusion is also used as a device to show how protective Heathcliff is of their love by threatening anyone who would come between them by in addition making a mythical reference, when he says “ They’ll meet the fate of
I believe that Ovid’s intention was to parody the genre of the epic poem by repurposing the teachings of Christianity, while at the same time providing an alternative understanding of how human life, society and socially acceptable norms may have come to fruition. Similar to the layout of a traditional epic poem, such as Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s poem appears to follow the same structure at first glance. Ovid found himself in a situation where the greatest work ever had recently been created. In order to create something equally as great, he would have to find a way to make it unique and relevant to the culture of that time period. Instead of following the criteria of an epic poem, which was typically based on one central storyline, Ovid’s poem involves many stories.
But while all uncanonical apocalyptic writings manifest a state of mind of crippling despair regarding the present torments and a total distrust in the success of human efforts to scarce the evil on earth, The Revelation of Saint John the Evangelist is the most robust expression of religious optimism. It is the last book of the New Testament
The materials of the story were influenced to a considerable extent by Christian-originating ideas which made the poem subject of various interpretations, yet the poet achieved the balance he attained for his poem by avoiding clashes between Christianity and Paganism by intermingling Germanic pagan tradition which agrees or at least does not controvert Christianity except in few places, like the giants who are honored by one and contemned by the other. One of the most significant examples of mixing both elements is the passage about his fight with the nine sea-monsters in which a reference to fate or wyrd, paganism, is uttered "fate let me/ Find its