In The Bible Cause, John Fea explores the American Bible Society (ABS) and the plucky Christians who built and sustained it. Published to coincide with the ABS’s 2016 bicentennial, the book offers a chronological institutional history peppered with quotations from letters written by supporters (and occasionally critics) and tales from agents working across the United States and the globe. At its heart, this book argues that two motivating commitments have driven the history of the ABS. Since its founding in 1816, it has sustained a belief in the power of the Bible to lead people to salvation and has maintained a cultural mandate to build a Christian society in the United States and throughout the world.…
This is one of the few moments in the narrative of pure love and comprehension. But it occurs in an instant when both father and son share with each other their lost faith in God.…
In the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), there is a man with two sons. When the sons grow up, the younger asks his father for his inheritance and goes off to experience life. This is an outrageous decision on the son’s behalf. He is going against his father’s rules and ideas. He spends all his family’s hard earned money indulging on parties, women and material objects. He tries to survive on his…
1 Samuel 31, 2 Samuel 1-10 – First Samuel ends with Saul’s death. Rather than facing the torment of the Philistines, he falls on his own sword, but the first chapter of 2 Samuel gives a different account. An Amalekite reports to David that he killed Saul after Saul asked him to run him through with the sword. Either way, Saul is now dead, and David is made king of Judah, while Ishbaal (Saul’s son) supposedly reigns over the rest of Israel. Abner supports Ishbaal at first, but after having been accused of sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines, Abner turns to support David. Before he can do anything to help David’s conquest, Abner is killed by Joab (commander of David’s forces) for killing Joab’s brother Asahel. Ishbaal is also assassinated by Rechab and Baanah, who are apparently motivated by the thought of reward from David for their service, but they are killed by David as a result. With no other leader to turn to, the rest of Israel accepts David as their king at Hebron. After that, David enjoys much military success against the enemies of Israel (Philistines, Moabites, Edomites,…
One of the comments that I was most interested in when reading the Crime chapter in Solomon’s Far from the Tree book, was the mention of three grand risk factors influence the creation of a criminal. A single-parent family since it might increase the probability of them having a low socioeconomic status. This later translates to a high chance at their child dropping out of school, not attending college, working low paying jobs, becoming substance abusers, and later on becoming single parents as well. Abuse and neglect, which often leads the child towards two paths. One includes depression and self-pity, since they see the world as an unsafe place. The other path is the one in which we would be interested since if influences the child to be aggressive and indulge in criminal behavior since they see the world as a war zone in which they need to fight in order to survive. The third factor is exposure to violence. Living in an aggressive household…
The Sermon in the Mount delivered by Jesus defines the important values of Religion. As the founder of Christian religion, Jesus, in his sermon, presented the evidences of ethics behavior of Christians, which are forgiveness, humility, Justice, love and perseverance. Agreeing to Jesus’ sermon, forgiveness must characterize Christians. In fact, Christian must forgive at the level of accepting a recidivist behavior. According to Jesus “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”. In addition humility is a requirement of Christians. Christians prove their humility by asking forgiveness even if they did not offense someone. As Jesus declared, if “your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front…
This book was very different than anything I have ever read. I am still deciding whether I liked it or not. It was hard for me to follow because it kept jumping back in forth in time. The first three chapters I hap kept re-reading to focus and grasp what was going on. I was extremely confused and it went from the opening scene in 1931 to Milkman being four years old in one paragraph. I do feel this is a book you need to read over and over again to fully gain an understanding of the messages and symbols the author was displaying through each character. I thought the book was interesting that although it dealt with racial issues and focused on how characters such as Guitar and Milkman had different views of status and discrimination, their was very little mention of white characters in the book. The majority if not all the characters were black decent and it was purely one sided view on how the black race dealt with racial issues in a small town at that time. I think Pilate was a crazy character and I didn't like how long it dragged out to find the true nature of why her relationship was the way it was with her brother Macon Dead Jr. I feel like the author was changing the subject and jumping around so much that you never fully get to know any one character. I didn't like how the author killed Milkman in the end, it was as if you finally made some self discovery and then he jumps to his death. The book just builds and layers and builds, and when you finally feel like you might understand where it's leading three of the main characters die within the last pages. Aside from racial views and Milkmans self discovery from his life as his fathers son, to discovering his family history and where he wants to be in the future, I didn't really connect with any other character in the book, or understand their significance in his discovering…
Atticus says, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” to Jem in Chapter Ten of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee after Uncle Jack instructs both Jem and Scout on the principles of using their air rifles. Miss Maudie also tells Scout, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing…” From both statements, the reader may infer that Atticus desires his children to treat any innocent living being, possibly humans in specific, with respect, and wrongdoings occur when behaving oppositely. As the novel and Atticus’ case with Tom Robinson progresses, the idea above may develop into the main theme as the people of Maycomb County treat Atticus, Scout, Jem, and others wrongly simply due to the racism and discrimination that occurred in a segregated atmosphere. Also, several…
Milkman travels all the way to Virginia on his own in a search for gold left behind by Pilate and Macon Dead, Milkman’s father. Instead, Milkman leaves the town of Shalimar, Virginia with not only a better understanding of himself, but also his family and friends he’d so desperately wanted to get away from. Though he ends up empty handed after this trek, Milkman learns the value of his quality life and material items. This trip also teaches Milkman things he would have never been taught in his old environment around his father, a man who was raised wealthy by his own father. Macon Dead Sr. was murdered when Milkman’s father and Pilate were only children, and he felt as though he had to continue on the legacy of having…
Joshua is explained as a carpenter, from Bethlehem. Mark 6:3 - Is he not the carpenter,* the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. ("Scripture." Scripture. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012). He repairs wooden objects and he fixes broken items, and makes toys for the little children. He is also described as a thoughtful and sharing man, who cares about others before himself. In the book it states how he broke a piece of bread, and handed it to a random person who he doesn’t know. Matthew 26:26-While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” ("Scripture." Scripture. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.)…
King James I, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was coronated to king of England in the year 1603 in which he was already an experienced monarch due to the fact that he has been ruling over Scotland since 1567. James believed that kings are a representation of god on earth and that kings cannot be judged or punished by the “mere” humans but by god. Even though he did not have any obligations to obey the law he did anyways to be an example to his followers. One significant attribute of King James was that he was the first one to reign sovereignly in the three monarchical kingdoms…
In "Song of Solomon" the women take somewhat of a backseat compared to the men. There are plenty of strong and important female characters in this work but they become disposable to the men. For example Macon Dead II loved the thrill of taking off Ruth's shoes and stocking but as time passed he simply hated her and wasn't afraid to hit her either. From Ruth's perspective she just craved loved and wanted someone to fill her void since he husband would no longer show her an ounce of appreciation. Ruth then decided that Milkman would be her champion and she would love him and hopefully that love would be reciprocated and this relationship would eventually lead her to breastfeeding Milkman even when he was too old for it and thus him receiving…
World renowned author, Toni Morrison, is known for her mystical references and interpretations. This is seen constantly in her 1977 novel, Song of Solomon. It is an eccentric story, one like no other, and any reader will see that from the first few pages. Morrison depicts eccentric characters and an African folktale to challenge readers into understanding the story’s deeper meaning. Song of Solomon focuses on the life of the protagonist Milkman Dead and his lifelong quest dedicated to discovering both his roots and purpose in life. Milkman has always been dependent and influenced by others; not once did he ever have to rely on himself for anything and being raised by his protective mother and sisters did little to help that. He has survived an unusual life, constantly having to endure strange and conflicting relationships between either his family, his best friend, or his lover. Everyone in the story contributes immensely to Milkman’s flight. Some help Milkman realize who he truly is and others help him see who they truly are.…
The parable of the Prodigal Son tells the story of a man who has two sons. One of the sons, perhaps the youngest, asked his father for inheritance.…
The Bible, similar to Shakespeare's works, is a resource for scholars to use to further underline whatever topic they are attempting to pass on. Scriptural suggestions are regularly used to highlight a dissimilarity or interruption in human instinct. The Bible is a book of ethics, lessons, and convictions so when an essayist insinuates certain stories, he or she is indicating how certain ethics or beliefs from years prior can show up again in the current times. By implying the Bible, the author permits his bit of writing to resound with numerous individuals and in addition indicate how certain standards can stick with it or change inside of people.…