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Since the end of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990, the Orthodox Church has undergone a transformation that has seen it shake the effects of repressions of the years of communist rule. Under the stewardship of Alexy of Leningrad, Orthodoxy has risen to become the state religion, with...
One of the most influential Catholic authors of the twentieth century, Thomas Merton, is also famous for proposing a very negotiable spiritual approach to the Christian life. He got converted to Catholic Church in his mid-twenties and published several books which deal with several of his spiritual reflections. “He attempted...
A great contributor to the studies of the Church, Cardinal Avery Dulles has been a phenomenal figure in Catholic studies. Among the several books he has published, the one dealing with the various models of the Church is regarded as especially significant. It is important to note that “when one...
In an attempt to explain the difference between the Jesus of faith and the Jesus of history, it may be noted that sometimes a remark is made as ‘The Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith.’ It is significant as it distinguishes between the historical Jesus and the Christ...
There have been several concepts concerning God and Bible that are not easily comprehensible by the human brain and reasoning but only that God can reveal to a man from His bountiful mercy. The Catholic tradition understands revelation in the background of God’s concern to humanity in revealing the secrets...
One of the great church fathers in his The Confessions deals with the most permanent spiritual questions that have roused the minds and hearts of thoughtful men from time immemorial. Interestingly the work which was written in A.D. 397 is not an autobiography as opposed to the general notion. It...
According to fideists, the leap of faith springs from God and the nature of immortality. Here God means He who has provides survival for human beings after death. Immortality here means the way of survival that God provides. To fideists, God and the afterlife cannot be separated. God to them...
The persuasive proofs for the existence of God and an afterlife include the philosophical approach for the existence of God. He argues that nature does not care about the fate of the entire human race. Nature, in its respect, is a rational world, a world of no hope for the...
The analogies that Lewis seeks to re-adjust to accommodate the Christian belief in the incarnation of Christ is he believe that God can make things that no other person can make. Like poets do or novelists, characters behave to have a partially independent life, but in a real sense, they...
The law of human nature, according to Lewis, governs human beings all over the earth. It makes them have the idea that they ought to behave in a particular manner, although it is always hard to avoid, so they keep doing wrongs. The law of nature governs natural occurrences like...
B.C. Johnson compares a lawyer defending a client to a person defending God against claims of the people who say that he is not ‘good.’ According to Johnson, the consequences of God’s actions can be understood consequently as they are oriented towards future good and moral results. So, if God...
According to Johnson, it establishes theist faith voluntarism which prevents scholars and moralists from finding the true reasons for God’s behavior. According to Johnson, ‘retreating to faith’ is an obscurantist position of people who refuse to see that God can be as well as good as evil and vice versa....
When a mystic claims that his or her mystical experience is of God, Stace has to say that the mystic is going beyond the psychological description of his/her consciousness and is indulging in metaphysical interpretation and speculation.
This is because if we believe that God is omnipotent and benevolent, it becomes problematic why he allows such much violence in the world. Hence, the ‘problem of evil’ is evident. As Johnson says, the evil (death of children in disasters) can not be justified by creating moral urgency because,...
Theodicy means logical proof of God’s existence, including defining his general abilities and qualities. Theodicy usually follows a strict logical Aristotelian pattern created within Thomist philosophy. Assuming some starting point as true, theodicy follows to deduce all corresponding conclusions, which makes it look scientifically grounded. According to Kant, however, theodicy...
Hick, in his justification of God’s benevolence, claims that earthquakes, famines, and other natural disasters are designed by God to improve the moral conditions of people, making them more helpful and compassionate to each other. Generally, this argument coincides with similar arguments defending God’s benevolence from the viewpoint of evil’s...
Watts takes his time to explain how the catholic faith has confused the soul and the spirit. He says that man is viewed as a dichotomy of body and soul. The body here means an intellectual substance entirely uncompounded and simple in nature and lacking corporeal qualities. These qualities include...
Projection is the mechanism whereby we represent the soul as to be outside, what we do not recognize objectively living or existing with it. At the superficial level, we project upon other people’s motives and attitudes which we are unwilling to recognize ourselves. At a deeper level, we project certain...
God has a purpose in a literal sense in the brain of the trinity, which saves Christianity from a monistic predicament. It gives significance even prior to the universe. The Father and the Son are the bonds of the holy spirit. In this literal sense, God has a purpose because...
Oriental metaphysics excludes meaningful relationships in a number of ways, according to Watts. He says that the soul and the body comprise the making of man. Man does not have two souls. The psychic man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to...
Watts gives three problems that have led to evil. Evil leads man to do bad things and sin due to the lack of divine grace. This kind of grace is offered to us all, but this results in some people not accepting it as others do accept this grace. Evil,...
He tries to say that evil did not just originate from nowhere but was created by God himself. The conditions created suggest that Catholics have to believe in a being conjured up out of nothing, malice so incredible as to doom himself of countless others to everlasting damnation. The problem...
The yogas by Smith that resemble those of watts include the concentration of consciousness so that awareness disappears. This concentration does not include las. Pure consciousness of the self comes. The second involves concentration with clear attention, which is the ability to retain. According to Wu-Hsin, traditionally, one doesn’t judge...
Rumspringa, which means running around without bounds, is an Amish coming age of sixteen tradition that gives the children the freedom to run free and experience life in a huge way. The Rumspringa is similar and related to the sweet sixteen American rituals where the father gives the girl heels...
The principle of the story “Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath” teaches that God will not leave those who believe in him in hard times. But faith will be put to trial, as the believer will have to make decisions that can sometimes be contrary to common sense. The same...
Main Characters Elijah, the widow, her son, God Plot Elijah learns that there will be no rain for the next few years. Elijah hears the word of God, who tells him to go and hide in the Kerith Ravine to the east of the Jordan. God promises Elijah that he...
The main idea of the author of the parable “Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath” was to demonstrate to readers that God is always with them, even in the most difficult moments. The story also says that “God has no hands but ours. The whole story of prophet Elijah’s wandering...
The Old Testament narrative about the prophet Elijah is part of the redemption narrative. At the beginning of the first story about Elijah, God sent a drought to Ahab’s land for his sins. However, stories about Elijah are also forerunners of stories of the new creation, as God asks Elijah...
The principle of trust in God, obedience to God, and humility during trials are also reflected in the person of Jesus Christ. He ascends to Golgotha and accepts a painful death, as it was the will of God. Even Jesus Christ doubts before taking death from the Romans. These doubts...
Meditation among the Hindus is very important where it has played a very important role in the yoga traditions. This is all about contemplation and recitation of sacred verses. It helps one to concentrate and understand a particular problem. The human mind is likened to muddy and turbulent water, and...
Reincarnation is the cycle that is followed when one dies. It is believed that after one dies, the soul never dies because it is immortal. The physical body is nothing else but a vehicle that the soul was using. It is believed that it is controlled by the Law of...
One difference between the Jews and the Christians is religion. That of the Jews is referred to as Jewish, while that of Christians is called Christianity. This is what could be regarded as the primary difference between the two groups. Jews do not believe in Jesus, and when a Jew...
To Buddhists, there are four noble truths and the first states that “Life is a Dukka” or that life is full of suffering or unsatisfactory. All humans are vulnerable to pains and sufferings and cannot shun disease, death, and old age. The second noble truth tries to establish the source...
Hindus believe in only one God, whom they refer to as Brahmn or Aum or even Shriya. They clearly declare that there is only one supreme God who shall be worshiped. They believe that he could be said as one or many but not that they are numerous. It is...
The Navajo people practice beliefs and traditions about health that are deeply rooted in their religious faith. Navajo healing practices entail restoring the well-being and harmony to an individual’s lifestyle. First, most of the Navajo ceremonies are for the protection from bad luck while others are done particularly for healing....
Death and dying are very grave issues and not many people are willing to talk about them openly. Certain rituals and practices are conducted to prepare the dying. In Islam, death symbolizes the transition from life on earth to the eternal abode. Muslims are encouraged not to resist death but...
In light of the idea that all lives deserve respect, including those of the tiniest animals, since all of them are the creation of God, new practices need to be adopted for nature conservation. Although the Bible does not restrict people to vegetarianism or deny them the possibility to hunt,...
The role of animals is mostly underplayed when examining the Biblical narrative and the ideas that it strives to convey. However, scrutinizing the Scripture, one will notice that the importance of animal life as part and parcel of the universe created by God is substantially high. Some scholars have challenged...
The perspectives on creation may vary to a certain extent based on one’s philosophy, set of personal values, and other important contributors to shaping the perception of the subject matter. Personally, I used to take the idea of creating mostly for granted, sparing very little time to contemplate the role...
In the context of creation care and its primary standpoints, animals take a very important place in a theological reflection. Although the human being is traditionally viewed as the crowning achievement of God’s creation process, animals are also seen as the products of His creative force and, therefore, must be...
The being of God often appears to be so grand and tremendous in its multiple meanings and ideas that it might seem to be impossible to embrace, thus preventing one even from making an effort to examine it. However, multiple studies on the complicated nature of God and the related...
The concept of sexuality remains a polarizing issue in modern culture and interpretations of Christian beliefs, in general, due to its tabooed nature and multiple challenges in delineating boundaries in its discussion. In the modern Christian Church, the understanding of sexuality has become more pliable and compatible with the contemporary...
The Triune nature of God is one of the cornerstone ideas of Christianity, which is typically referred to whenever a specific issue is addressed in prayer. Indeed, the process of praying typically ends with the mentioning of the Triune and addressing each of its elements, namely, the Father, the Son,...
Many new faiths echo the founding moments of the more established religions. Compare Buddhism to one of the other, traditional faiths. Try to look beyond rituals to things like the founding moments and figures, the view of human history and the future fate of humanity, and a fundamental understanding of...
Focusing on Christianity in general and not any single denomination, analyze some of the reasons for the decline of Christianity in Europe since 1675 and up to the present. Do not count Europeans who came to America as a decline in the numbers of Christians in Europe. While this did...
Compare and contrast the ideas among two or more sacred narratives. In answering this question, you should be comparing and contrasting the ethnic or elementary ideas among two or more sacred narratives. You can choose from the following – Biblical Genesis, Mayan Creation Myth: The Popul Vuh, or of your...
Provide an overview of your quantitative methodology and a discussion on whether the methodology was useful in answering your RQs, an overview of your survey results including SPSS outputs. Discuss both null and alternative hypotheses (and your tested findings). Provide an explanation/interpretation of the statistical data, which should include any...
Write a well-written 825-word essay with a clear and developed thesis statement in MLA style on the novel called “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Buttler. Please be sure to properly reference your ideas and present the issue from different perspectives. Make sure to use relevant credible sources and not...
Present or develop an issue in the philosophy of science, and then analyze it in details with respect to at least two of the theories. Include at least one theory that has been covered since the first paper. Discuss Kuhns idea of scientific revolution and paradigm and paradigm shift, creationism...
Write a reflection on the prompt below. In your reflection, you should discuss your agreement or disagreement with the quote and utilize one additional peer-reviewed source in your writing. Use the following prompt: “The way to serve God is to work from a Christian motivation to glorify God, seeking to...
In the period 600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E., different factors led to the emergence and spread of new religions and belief systems, such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Develop an argument that evaluates how such factors led to the emergence or spread of one or more religions in this time...
Choose a religion (one other than your own) and explore it in depth. Look around at your community or your personal contacts for someone who practices this religion. Ask that person to help you generate a reading list (at least sacret text of the religion). As you read, keep an...
Why and how gender segregation in religion is relevant to the field of sociology and sociology of marriage and the family.
Describe Hesychasm as a Theological Concept. Why is this topic important to the history of doctrine or the history of Christianity? What was the idea? Identify the causal factors behind this expression of Christianity. Why did it develop this way in this context? What were its implications? What happened, in...
Explain and discuss the meaning of and deep connections between reverence for creation and social justice. Expand these connections to include how perspectives from other religious traditions tie into these. What insights on ecology and social justice are offered by other religious traditions?
How does Anderson describe what it means to be a medium and how one becomes a medium in Iceland? Anderson describes the Icelanders he encountered as not being interested in formal or institutionalized religion yet being very spiritual or religious, and that there has come to be a syncretism between...
Select a major world religion (not Christianity), interview a participant or religious leader of the selected religion, and describe your interview and research discoveries. Based on your research of the religion by using academic sources and based on your interview with a participant of the religion you choose for this...
Choose a passage of Scripture from one of the Gospels that you would like to study in more depth. Present an overview of the Gospel from which you chose the passage. Study the passage carefully and present what you observed and discovered about the various elements. Explain the meaning and...
In answering this question, you should be discussing how the Ontological Argument is related to Descartes, argument from the idea of Perfection. The author is expected to summarize the William Paley’s Watchmaker argument and the atheistic arguments against the western notion of God. You are to use reliable sources of...
The true understanding of the meaning of the Kingdom of God on earth has always elicited a lot of debate. According to Rauschenbusch, the Kingdom of God involves the likelihood of mankind being endowed with intangible wealth in the form of love, equality, and justice; thus, earthly riches are irrelevant...
Why do women in Islam have to be modest? Is veiling oppressive to women for them to be required or encouraged to be covered by a hijab, burkha, etc.? Why should women follow the parts of the Quran that encourage modesty? Why is not modesty required of men? What is...
Discuss the semiotics in the context of how creation talks about God. Semiotics is a sign that represents an object and produces meaning in the mind of the interpreter. After reading ”What does it mean to be a child of God?” and watching 5 YouTube videos, discuss: How creation talks...
Discuss gender roles in Buddhism for women and men in general and gender roles and participation in major religious rituals. Also, include gender rules for religious leaders. Regarding these above issues, please find and add at least 5 or 6 best sources which should relate to each other. Also please...
Identify key concepts of both African traditional religion and Native American religions. Based on these concepts, what similarities are there among these two groups? How do they differ? How would you witness to someone who is a member of a traditional religion? Share if you have ever witnessed to a...
Discuss how Culture & Christianity relate to each other. Does contemporary description of Christianity fit with the way you see Christianity expressed and lived in your culture? How do Culture & Christianity relate to each other? Does contemporary description of Christianity fit with the way you see Christianity expressed and...
How do culture & сhristianity relate to each other? Book: Lewis, C. S. (1952). Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. A basic summary of the author’s most important ideas. Your rule of thumb will be that what is important to the author is important to you. Your assessment of,...
Create your own religion. Begin by describing the type of society that you will be “living” in. Your religion should be a reflection or product of that society. For example: Are you a tribal society? A foraging (hunter and gather) society? An agrarian society? A post-human society? Relate your religion...
Provide titles, architects, designers and patrons (if known), dates of creation, locations. Provide an overview of each floor plan (description, image and drawing) and distinctive and important architectural features. Discuss how the individual rooms were meant to be used and the importance of the prayer ritual and how each reflects...
Compare and contrast two faiths towards providing health care and wellness: the first being the Christian perspective, and the second a faith perspective that is unfamiliar to you. The purpose of this paper is to complete a comparative analysis of two faiths towards providing health care and wellness: the first...
Summarize and analyze the essential elements of the gospel (nature of God, nature of humanity, nature of Jesus, and restoration) and reflect on implications for the Christian worldview. Demonstrate your understanding of the Christian worldview, including the main topics you have covered up to this point. You will summarize and...
Conflicts based on supposed religious and cultural differences have caused much senseless suffering in our history: Can our generation move toward understanding and respect and peace, and make a difference? Do you have any personal experiences you would like to share?
Briefly introduce the audience to Buddhism, its connection to the environment; then shift to the Four Noble Truths principles, and sequentially interconnect them to climate change. Briefly introduce the audience to Buddhism, its connection to the environment; then shift to the Four Noble Truths principles, and sequentially interconnect them to...
Choose any of the eight world religion groups and answer the following questions: What is prime reality – what is really real? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is a human being? How do you explain human nature? What happens to a person after death? How do you...
Write a well-written 825-word essay in ChicagoAD style describing how the authors defined resource mobilization theory. Provide the information on how the authors applied resource mobilization theory to church growth. In addition, answer what data they used to test the theory using only credible sources to support your main ideas.
Summarize and analyze the essential elements of the gospel (nature of God, nature of humanity, nature of Jesus, and restoration) and reflect on implications for the Christian worldview. Write a 1,500-2,000-word essay using at least four resources. Remember, the Bible counts as one resource regardless of how many times you...
Your thesis should be about how Miller (through the play) tries to teach lessons about this theme and what they are. Your body paragraphs should analyze various messages that Arthur Miller claimed were problems (like what happens when people lie in court or when people get hysterical, etc.). Explain the...
What are the similarities and differences between Christian and Muslim prayers? What are the origins of Christianity and Islam? What are their main beliefs? How does Christian prayer originate with evidence from the Bible? How does Muslim prayer originate with evidence from the Qur’an? How has Christian prayer changed throughout...
Select either Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, or Buddhism and give a detailed summary of the religion you selected for this post. Summarize the religion citing its founders (if there is one), the date the religion was founded, the main deity or deities of the religion, its major teachings, and its pathways...
Describe the position and some of the proponents of pluralism, inclusivism, and universalism? What are the main religions in the world? Provide a description of the religion along with the religion’s history, doctrines and tenets. Who are the founders of each of religions? What are the uniqueness and exclusivity of...
Have you thought of your personal life path as a call to service? How do you envision the connections between your life choices/professional choices and service?
Watch the 3 YouTube videos, discuss what the love of God has to do with the love of neighbor.
Consider James Fowler’s theory of faith development. How many stages of adulthood does this theory present? Briefly describe each of them, what are specific characteristic? Is age an unchangeable factor each of the stages has, or a person can develop without age borders? What are the difficulties a person meets...
Highlight challenges faced and the implication of these on Muslim society. Discuss the alternatives to current discussions, current state of affairs, current articulations for progress.
Read “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis and answer the questions. Why is the incarnation an important element of Christian doctrine to C.S. Lewis? How does Christianity differ from atheism and pantheism? How does Lewis define free will and where human beings went wrong? Lewis describes the Christological Trilemma. Can you...
It is impossible to reconcile women’s rights with religious beliefs. For instance, it will be meaningless to equate women to men. Diverse religions also clearly distinguish men from women, changing this will be like committing an abomination. Nature too dictates the appropriate things to be done in society, and since...
The pillars of belief (Eemaan) are the principles lying at the root of the whole Muslim culture. The first pillar is the belief in the oneness of God; it is the foundation principle. The second pillar is connected with the existence of angels who are depicted as invisible beings with...
In Islamic law, Ijtihad is the process of legal reasoning and interpretation of the issues that are not clearly covered in the sacred sources. In its literal meaning, the word can be defined as striving or a physical or mental effort. Indeed, using reasoning in finding a solution is a...
There are certain characteristics of Islam that are important for humanity and religion in general, and therefore, are appealing to me. Firstly, I see the principle of collaboration and assistance as one of the most significant characteristics of Islam, as I think that religion has the power of unification. Secondly,...
The opinions of Kierkegaard and Tolstoy regarding religion are similar. Kierkegaard claimed that although it is an irrational thought, God is real. Tolstoy said that believing in God made his life meaningful. He also thought that life has no meaning if we live relying on rational thoughts only.
If there is such a thing as a God’s plan, the free will is impossible. In this case, every choice we make is predetermined, every event that happens is pre-planned by God, and all living beings and things are destined to play their role in the God’s big plan.
The five pillars of Islam help non-believers familiarize themselves with the essence of being a Muslim. The first pillar is shahaadah, which is the declaration of faith. The second is prayer (salaah), which serves as the most visible act of worship in the Islamic faith. The third one is sawm,...
There is a common misconception that Islamic law is monolithic and immutable, which is not true since ijtihad serves as an example of an ever-evolving legal process in Muslim states. Ijtihad is defined as individual independent reasoning. It is essentially an act of original interpretation of the issues not precisely...
The first characteristic of Islam that I can personally relate to is realism. I consider Islamic faith to be exceptionally realistic since it manages to reflect both positives and negatives of human nature. “Islam” means submission, which I do not give a negative connotation to. Instead, I believe that a...
No Self The question of whether one has either self or No self is asked often among the Buddha religion. In fact, the Buddha agrees that if one does not have a self, then, the person has No Self. The essence of the argument is that human beings ever seek...
The religious views regarding the use of GMOs vary as there are many faiths. For instance, Smith notes that “the oldest and biggest Christian denomination has sent mixed messages on GMOs in the past few years”. For instance, some believe that selling genetically modified food is wrong since there are...
The reinforcement of traditional values and, more importantly, religious laws in the modern Muslim community may raise several questions due to the incongruences between these regulations and some of the more recent ideas regarding cultural and political movements. While some of the regulations based on Muslim religious principles are quite...
According to Lamya’al Faruqi, the first tradition that affects the future of Islamic feminism is the extended family system that puts constraints on women’s freedoms and obstructs the goals of feminism. The second tradition is the differentiation of sex roles, which implies that women’s choices are limited. The third tradition...
Firstly, primitive women’s rights in Islamic countries are caused by the religiously confirmed status of women as portrayed in the Quran, where a man is considered the head of the family and a woman, although respected, is subordinate to him. Secondly, cultural and traditional pre-Islamic treatment of women as unequal...
The most severe principle within the Christian perception is thought to be beneficence. Beneficence implies altruistically benefiting others through any means, usually by expressing love and support. Typically, bestowing good on the others requires cost for the benefactor. The biblical commands proclaim to love and wish goodness to one another....
Mike and Joanne’s perception of their child’s health condition may help to rank the four principles according to the degree of their importance. Evidently, the number one value is beneficence because Christians believe that the expression of love, especially towards children, is a genuine endowment that can help in times...