Due to the fact that this book indeed deals with the historical roots of Pentecostalism, Dayton has the prerequisites to write this well informed and objective work. After reading the work, it is obvious that Dayton intends this book to be read by an academic audience. If one is not familiar with Pentecostal faith or doctrine, the text is difficult to grasp. The subject itself is more intended for the Christian scholar meaning that it deals with the history of the Pentecostal church. To the majority of the laity, this would not be desired knowledge unless one expressed a keen interest in the subject.
Lewis denied any intention of Christianisation, some similarities to the Biblical gospel are too obvious to be ignored. For example, Aslan’s death and his resurrection are distinct allusions to the sacrifice of Christ. Furthermore, the snow which covers Narnia throughout the year is a symbol of death and can only be defeated by the birth of Jesus which is represented by the event of Christmas. Hence, this essay discusses two of the most striking symbols and shows their Christian meaning by comparing them with the Biblical gospel. To begin with, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe presents a very Biblical portrait of Christ in the character of the lion Aslan, the King of Narnia.
One of Jesus’ most significant miracles is the calming of the storm. This is so significant in my opinion because early Jews believed that only God had control of the elements but it was believed that because Jesus calmed the storm, he clearly has a connection with God. Another character from the documentary is Saint Paul. He was sent by the heads of the Jewish religion to kill all Christians but whilst doing so he witnessed a blinding vision of the risen Jesus. Therefore he converted to Christianity and preached the word of the Lord to the people of his time.
During the middle ages, people still used Galen’s ideas and Dioscorides book of herbal cures, along with religion. When the Romans left Britain, it became a Christian society, so rather than looking to a myriad of gods, people prayed and worshipped one God. People also started to blame the devil for illness. With this change in religion came new ideas on how to stop and cure disease. A group of people, known as flagellants would whip themselves and torture themselves, in the belief that if they punished themselves god would not need to punish them with disease or illness.
In a first moment Pagans were fine coexisting with Christians, actually it had been planned by Merlin and Viviane, this way Arthur would be responsible for ruling a place where both religions were supposed to coexist peacefully. However, Christians hold the belief that women are the root of all evil and inferior to men that is why Christianity represented the patriarchal society, which believed that religions where people worship a Goddess had to be evil simply because women are evil, and the matriarchal society was represented by Paganism. In this point the
Zoroastrianism was considered a dualistic religion as it had to do with the fight between Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu. This is very similar to the concept of Christianity in the battle between God and Satan or good and evil. The basis of the dilemma between good and evil in Christianity and Zoroastrianism are similar as well. In Christianity the contention between God and Satan is supposed to have began after Lucifer was expelled from Heaven after disobeying God, leading to the fight between both. In Ahura Mazda, the contention between Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu developed because Angra Mainyu wanted to have control over everything.
Christianity had yet to grip it's stronghold on the region. However, by the time it was starting to be written down and not just passed along by oral tradition, Christianity was well ingrained into the fabric of everyday society. Many historians belief the first telling of the epic began in the eighth century, and while Christianity was already a presence in the area, it was nowhere near as prevalent as it was in the eleventh century, which is when we find the first written account of the Beowulf story.(wiki). The parallels between Christianity that make Beowulf out to be a Christ like figure, in a story that is obviously pagan in nature is strong evidence to indicate that the story was used as a tool to make the conversion easier. Examining other historical examples of the Church using pagan holiday traditions, such as winter solstice events that are implemented in the celebration of Christmas, reinforces the argument of religious propaganda.
“A mark was put upon him to warn others that killing Cain would provoke the vengeance of God, that if someone did something to harm Cain, the damage would come back sevenfold” (Wikipedia). Grendel represents darkness, were as darkness represents evil and opposite being light which represents good. Within the Christian faith Jesus Christ represents light, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Bible). In the Bible, there is the constant battle between good and evil, the battle between Beowulf and Grendel was also the battle between good and
This doctrine was rejected by orthodox Christians. Arianism is the belief that Jesus is superior to the rest of creation but is less divine than God, this making Jesus not actually God. The death and resurrection of Jesus has key beliefs within it. These include that Jesus died for our sins, the reflections on the death of Jesus, the belief of the resurrection is a fundamental tenet of Christianity and the nature of risen Jesus. The belief that Jesus died on the cross for our sins was initiated as Jesus promoted he was sent to Earth by God to save humankind.
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.