Essays on Priesthood

Sumer was located in the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia. The location is present day Iraq and Kuwait. The place derives its name from the Akkadian language of North Mesopotamia. The inscription means the land of civilized kings. The Sumerians called themselves the black-headed people and therefore the land was land of the black-headed people in its simplest existence (Roaf, 2009). The Sumerian region was claimed to have been inhabited at first during the period 4500BCE. This has brought a point of contention as human activity had been purported to have taken place much earlier. Archaeological evidence provides these ...

Last year I had an exciting experience of attending a Catholic church on the day of Maundy Thursday. It was the evening service. Everything was quiet and mysterious. The crucifix and the altar were decorated with the violet cloth and there were not any flowers in the church. People were kneeling and praying, touching their bids, whispering their prayers and some Latin words could be heard. The Holy Mass started. From the very beginning, it was quite ordinary. The people were singing and the priest with his ministers started the mass with the incense that was burned in the ...

During creation, GOD created man in HIS own image which shows that human beings are different from other. The Bible has stated that our bodies are the temples of CHRIST, and we should always use them in acts that glorify our creator. The Theology of the Body tries to explain and expound on human sexuality, the purpose of our existence as young people can be explained through understanding the theology of the body. It is through an understanding of this theology that young people will be able to understand what love is the theology gives the importance of having ...

Many children express their desire for a dream profession. Often, this desire changes as they grow up, but from a very young age, I knew I wanted to enter the priesthood. I met a priest in my formative years who helped me shape and grow into this dream; he has helped me time and again to find the right path to realize my eventual goal of entering the priesthood. It was recommended, by multiple members of the clergy, that I attend the University of Illinois at Chicago to study philosophy, as it is superior to many of the alternatives due to the ...

Introduction

Clarence Thomas is the second African American to sit on the United States Supreme Court, preceded only by Thurgood Marshall who served on the United States Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991. Clarence Thomas was nominated to the United States Supreme Court in July 1991 and was approved by the United States Senate by a very narrow margin in October of 1991. Throughout his term on the United States Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has been both hailed and criticized. He has been both compared to Thurgood Marshall and nicknamed an Uncle Tom. Throughout this paper, I will discuss United States ...

Book Reviewed

Metaxas, E. (2010). Bonhoeffer: Pastor, martyr, prophet, spy: a Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Introduction and Thesis

God has a purpose for each and every human being. From the biblical teachings, God uses certain individuals, especially the least expected, to achieve His plans for human beings. All difficulties can be overcome by these chosen individuals, although before humans it may appear impossible to realize certain things, but to God nothing is impossible. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a good example of how God works through people to show his greatness, especially a time when it appears to be no hope. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born ...

Essay/Literary Analysis

Introduction “Thread” is a short story written by Stuart Dybek (“Dybek”) and published in Harper’s Magazine in 1998. Literary Analysis “Thread” tells the story of a fourth-grade boy who has just joined the Knights of Christ one year after taking his First Communion. It is a strict examination of the Catholic Church by Dybek as seen through the eyes of a small child. The child is clearly Dybek as it reflects many of the influences found in his life growing up in a dreary and poor working-class neighborhood in Chicago. He speaks about the boys acting as Knights having ...

Avvakum was a country priest in Nizhni Novgorod, born of religious parents and orphaned at a young age. He is known for his support of the old ecclesiastical ways brought by the zealots. Avvakum was a preservative of the old strict rules of fasting, praying and ensuring proper moral behaviors. His support for the old ways was against the ideas of Nikon, a Patriarch whose support was for the religious ways of the Greek Orthodoxy. Avvakum was the leader of the preservatives, while Nikon led the other group adopting new religious ideas. According Riha, the differences between the two groups that led to ...

Phineas Priests

Phineas priests accept they are defended in killing individuals who, they say, "ignore God's laws" by performing premature births, wedding somebody of an alternate race, or being a gay person. They depend on the bible founded story of Phineas, described in Numbers 25, to add God's gift to their shocking convictions and fierce actions. Paul Hill, the man declared guilty the fetus removal center homicides of Dr. John Britton and his escort, James Barrett, supported his kindred hostile to fetus removal radicals to submit "Phineas activities." He utilized the same Old Testament section to support such movements. The far right ...

Introduction

The word terrorism does not have a universally accepted definition. The term has however been defined by a number of international instruments over time to denote the use of force, violence and intimidation to achieve political goals. Applied in the context, therefore, this definition will denote the use of armed violence by a terrorist group with the aim of intimidating a government and also to destabilize it. Terrorists use violence all over the world for their religious or political gains and in most of the times, such violence leaves scores of people dead and others injured. The U.S Code advances a number of ...

Introduction

The Fertile Crescent is a region that is crescent shaped that contains a fertile land that is usually called the arid and semiarid in the western Asia, Nile delta of the north east of Africa and the Nile valley. James Henry Breasted who was an archaeologist named the term Fertile Crescent. The countries that lie in the Fertile Crescent are Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Egypt. In the modern countries are Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. It is presumed that education began since the human existence where parents pass on the traditions on values to their children who will do the ...

At the time when the modern world celebrates the establishment of equal rights for everybody in the laws, education, medical treatment, the religious demands are not equally preserved for all the members of society. The study of women in world religions offers a big pool of arguments and opinions arguing that the stronger sex takes over the religious lead. This essay is aimed to present the past and current religious trends concerning women. I will analyze what religion means to feminism and how it has affected the feminist thought. I will present my research of women’s life in the ...

Homo sacer is a person who according to the Roman law he or she may be killed by anyone willing to do so but not as a religious sacrifice. These persons are outcasts in the society. The killers are not regarded as a murderers. They also don’t have any religious right nor are their dead bodies approved as sacrifices. Anyone in the society can become a homo sacer. For one to find her or himself in this condition, they must have collided with the gods through breaking of oaths .Aton oath is regarded as a curse brought about by one self. One who ...

Abstract

This paper is the final research paper for the course, and discusses the Salt Lake Temple – one of the list of suggested topics. Research was undertaken using extensive searches of internet and library resources, in order to locate information on the size and location of the temple, the timeframe of its construction, the civilization and culture responsible for its creation and existence, and just how it was built (methods of construction, materials, tools and equipment) and the composition of the workforce responsible. The final section of the paper discusses how the temple might be built differently if it was ...

Introduction

Cardinal Leon-Joseph Suenens served as a Belgian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church from 1904 to 1996. Before his promotion to cardinalate in 1962, Leon served as an Archibishop of Mechelen-Brussel from 1961 to 1979. He was a powerful leader in the Second Vatican Council who advocated aggiornamento in catholic churches. Pope John selected Cardinal Leon-Joseph due to his commitment in the renewal of the church. He was a strong man who once saved the church from organizational chaos hence, gaining popularity among Vatican councils. Throughout his service in the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Leon had many influences towards the council in terms ...

Introduction

In the early 1500’s, a young German university teacher and monk known as Martin Luther began feeling that major reforms were required in the most famous church at that time, The Roman Catholic Church. There was one particular practice in the Roman Catholic Church that Martin Luther hated and this was indulgences selling. Indulgence selling involved the exclusion or release of individuals from punishment for sin in exchange for money. The individuals were given what was referred to as “letters of pardon”. In 1957, Martin Luther made a conclusive list of personal objections to the practices of the Roman ...

The years of James Joyce's life mark major transitions in world history, as well as in world culture. When he was born, in 1882, the worldwide transition from an agrarian way of life to the industrial paradigm was still in fits and starts. Wars were still fought hand-to-hand and on horseback. Literature was still primarily a mostly straightforward affair, as were the visual arts. Matters of perspective, the bailiwick of the modernist artists, were still yet to be the matter of much experimentation. However, the arrival of the Impressionist painters began to erode a unified perspective by considering how subjects might ...

With less than a hundred and fifty thousand members of Zoroastrianism left in the world today (Writer 245), it seems that soon this religion may cease to exist. The Zoroastrians of today are adopting new beliefs, and some have even drifted outside the traditional form of Zoroastrianism. Today, members of Zoroastrianism are in conflict and disagreement with each other because their beliefs and values have shifted. Since the major principles of the beliefs and practices of Zoroastrianism have not been preserved due to the interruption of the modern world, one of the oldest religions in the world is losing its ...

Europe experienced many changes in the 16th century, among them the protestant reformation, also referred to as the protestant revolt. The pioneers of this movement were Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldreich Zwingli, and John Knox among other early Protestants (Spitz 45). The major aim of the Protestant movement was to break away from the practices and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Former events within Europe including the Western Schism and the Black Death had gradually destroyed the faith people had in the Catholic Church leading to the Protestant reformation. Ambitious political leaders that wanted to extend their powers ...

The Cyclical Nature of Reformation

So, you’re sitting in a church service, chafing against your uncomfortable clothes, tired of sitting in that pew. The minister is droning on in a language you can’t understand. This whole sin/forgiveness/grace thing has you confused, if not depressed, and you’re tired of being asked for money every time you come in the doors. The minister has nicer clothes than most of the people in the audience before him, and you’re sure that the profit from the items for sale out in the foyer goes at least partially to buy those fancy clothes. You feel resentment and ...

St. Augustine of Hippo was born on November 13, 354 in Thagaste; known today as the Souk Ahras in Algeria, a Roman provincial city in Africa. Augustine was educated since he was 11 in Madaurus, found at least 19 miles south of Thagaste. He received education from Madaurus despite its background as a pagan Roman city. It was Augustine’s mother Monica whom taught him the basics of Christian education and enrolled him in a Catholic school. Upon his childhood and his awareness while being with fellow Christians, he understood three things and kept it very close to his heart: the Divine ...

Vodou has one deity in their religion, who is known as Bondye. (Olmos, 105) There are three different sides to Bondye, one of which is lwa – this side consists of a wide number of spirits who have their own different personalities, alignments (good or bad) strengths and weaknesses, and their own powers. The spirits usually come from ancestors or other practitioners who are long since dead and gone. - the lwa “provide the link between human and the divine.” (Olmos, 105) Rado and Petro lwa are the good and bad sides of Vodou, respectively; Rado represent peaceful, happy spirits, and ...