Friday, March 20, 2020

Religious Studies Essays

Religious Studies Essays Religious Studies Essay Religious Studies Essay Essay Topic: Nashville Name: Course: Instructor: Date: Religious Studies The relationship between religion and literature is illustrated where several themes are integrated with the views of religion. It also focuses on explaining the connection between people’s concerns, related, religious inclinations and the literary styles used to articulate the information. Several themes have been illustrated in various sources containing religious information including films, books and different articles. However, this document will focus on discussing several themes in the religious movie known as Fireproof. Fireproof is a movie that narrates about a firefighter who deals with the problem of his wife wanting to divorce him. However, his father pleads with him to postpone the divorce for a period of forty days and offers him a book known as the Love Dare (Richard 13). The book is meant to solve the firefighter’s marriage problems with his wife, because it informs about the temperament of true love and gives steps of guidance in solving relationship issues. One of the themes found in Fireproof is forgiveness, and it relates the scene where the firefighter is forgiven by his wife, to the religious forgiveness that an individual experiences when he is in a relationship with God (Solomon 23). It illustrates the importance of an individual’s marriage or relationship to God as a valuable investment because through this relationship, all other things in life thrive. Therefore, fireproofing or safeguarding this worthy union protects the believer from being tempted to transgress. In addition, the believers become unionized with God and hence are able to maintain peace with their enemies (Solomon 23). The next theme found in Fireproof is faith, and it is illustrated where the firefighter decided to trust in the book his father gave him as he was about to give up with his marriage and divorce his wife (Anker 6). The firefighter made the choice to believe that he would find some hope once he begun reading the book about saving his marriage. Faith is also witnessed at the concluding scene, whereby he decides to be a born again Christian. He runs to the backyard of his father’s house and weeps on a statue of a cross as his father meets him to comfort and pray for him. He finally takes a step of faith by giving his life to Jesus Christ with the hope of experiencing peace and happiness in his life, marriage and family. The theme of unconditional love is illustrated at the concluding scene where the firefighter experiences divine forgiveness. The next day after giving his life to Christ, the man appears to be very happy and peaceful as compared to other times when he seemed to be in a cranky mood. Therefore, this means that the love of God is unconditional and limitless since anyone is allowed to experience it and hence He wants people to live through honoring in order to experience that love (Chris and Rao, M.D 262) The other theme in the Fireproof movie is the theme of addiction. It is displayed in the scene whereby the firefighter is addicted to accessing internet pornography. As a result, his wife complains several times about this habit and it ends up being one of the reasons for wanting to divorce him. The man struggles with quitting the habit but becomes unsuccessful until the day he gives his life to Jesus Christ (Stephen 57). From that day, he develops a profound strength and faith that helps him overcome this habit. For example, instead of using the computer when he arrives from work, he forms an interest in reading the bible. Biblical principles have also been used as a form of literature in Fireproof based on the strong foundation of marriage. The movie explains the principle on how every relationship has to face certain challenges because different circumstances in life always find a way to interfere in relationships. However, these problems faced by couples are meant to strengthen the marital relationship since it enables each person in the commitment to display positive strong qualities including love, patience and persistence that makes it easier to overcome these challenges. In addition, these qualities determine the commitment of a spouse to build a strong base on the relationship (Gabriel 121). The next theme shown in the film focuses on obedience. It reflects the Christian view of obedience by explaining that if a person obeys God’s commands, he is likely to overcome any challenge in life that is thrown at him. For example, after the firefighter decided to trust in God by leaving his old habits like his addiction to pornography, he was able to appreciate and treat his wife with more love and respect and as a result, their marriage bond became stronger despite facing the challenge of losing their younger son to Cancer (Lynn and Mark 125). The next biblical principle illustrated in the film, is on how man has been ordered by God to love his wife. In the scene where the firefighter became a believer, he realized that he was peaceful and happy once he learned to appreciate and love his wife than in the past when he was always complaining and being moody to her. This shows that for him to experience God’s forgiveness, he had to take a step of loving his wife and abandoning his old gruesome ways of treating his wife. The film also illustrates the dynamic of family through the aspect of love and togetherness. For example, after the reconciliation of the married couple, they focus on loving their children by praying and convincing their older son to give his life to Jesus Christ in order to experience the same peace and happiness they felt (Catt 218). In addition, it shows that family is built on the strong foundation of marriage since the parents were able to focus more on their children when their marriage was reconciled than before when they were facing challenges (Douglas 142). Reference Anker, Roy M. Of Pilgrims and Fire: When God Shows Up at the Movies. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2010. Print. Catt, Michael C. The Power of Desperation: Breakthroughs in Our Brokenness. Nashville, Tenn: B H Pub. Group, 2009. Print. Connelly, Richard. Lost Art of Romance: How to Romance a Lady. S.l.: Trafford On Demand Pub, 2009. Print. Cowan, Douglas E. Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen. Waco, Tex: Baylor University Press, 2008. Print. Kendrick, Stephen. Holy Clues: The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. Print. Solomon, Stephannie E. R. Living with the King: Meditations That Teach, Transform and Transcend. S.l.: Authorhouse, 2009. Print. Suszek Lynne and Suszek Mark. First Wash the Inside. Nashville, U.S.A: Lockman Foundation, 2009. Print. Mckee, Gabriel. The Gospel According to Science Fiction: From the Twilight Zone to the Final Frontier. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007. Print.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Louisa May Alcott - Author of Little Women

Louisa May Alcott - Author of Little Women Louisa May Alcott is known for writing  Little Women  and other childrens stories,  connections to other Transcendentalist thinkers and writers.   She was briefly a  tutor of Ellen Emerson, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, nurse, and was a Civil War nurse.   She lived from November 29, 1832 to March 6, 1888. Early Life Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, but the family quickly moved to Massachusetts, a location with which Alcott and her father are usually associated. As was common at the time, she had little formal education, taught mainly by her father using his unconventional ideas about education. She read from the library of neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson and learned botany from Henry David Thoreau. She associated with Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, Theodore Parker, Julia Ward Howe, Lydia Maria Child. The familys experience when her father founded a utopian community, Fruitlands, is satirized in Louisa May Alcotts later story, Transcendental Wild Oats. The descriptions of a flighty father and down-to-earth mother probably reflect well the family life of Louisa May Alcotts childhood. She early realized that her fathers flighty educational and philosophical ventures could not adequately support the family, and she sought ways to provide financial stability. She wrote short stories for magazines and published a collection of fables shed originally written as tutor for Ellen Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emersons daughter. Civil War During the Civil War, Louisa May Alcott tried her hand at nursing, going to Washington, DC, to work with Dorothea Dix and the U.S. Sanitary Commission. She wrote in her journal, I want new experiences, and am sure to get em if I go. She became ill with typhoid fever and was affected for the rest of her life with mercury poisoning, the result of the treatment for that illness. When she returned to Massachusetts, she published a memoir of her time as a nurse, Hospital Sketches, which was a commercial success. Becoming a Writer She published her first novel, Moods, in 1864, traveled to Europe in 1865, and in 1867 began editing a childrens magazine. In 1868, Louisa May Alcott wrote a book about four sisters, published in September as Little Women, based on an idealized version of her own family. The book was successful quickly, and Louisa followed it a few months later with a sequel, Good Wives, published as Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, Part Second. The naturalism of the characterizations and the non-traditional marriage of Jo were unusual and reflected the Alcott and May families interest in Transcendentalism and social reform, including womens rights. Louisa May Alcotts other books never matched the lasting popularity of Little Women. Her Little Men not only continues the story of Jo and her husband, but also reflects the educational ideas of her father, which he was never able to communicate effectively in writing. Illness Louisa May Alcott nursed her mother through her final illness, while continuing to write short stories and some books. Louisas income financed the move from the Orchard House to the Thoreau house, more central in Concord. Her sister May died of complications of childbirth, and assigned guardianship of her child to Louisa. She also adopted her nephew John Sewell Pratt, who changed his name to Alcott. Louisa May Alcott had been ill since her Civil War nursing work, but she became worse. She hired assistants to care for her niece, and moved to Boston to be near her doctors. She wrote Jos Boys which neatly detailed the fates of her characters from her most popular fiction series. She also included the strongest feminist sentiments in this final book. By this time, Louisa had retired to a rest home. Visiting her fathers deathbed on March 4, she returned to die in her sleep on March 6. A joint funeral was held, and they were both buried in the family cemetery plot. While she is best known for her writings, and is sometimes a source of quotations, Louisa May Alcott was also a supporter of reform movements including antislavery, temperance, womens education, and womens suffrage. Also known as:  L. M. Alcott, Louisa M. Alcott, A. M. Barnard, Flora Fairchild, Flora Fairfield Family: Father: Amos Bronson Alcott, Transcendentalist, philosopher and educational experimenter, founder of Fruitlands, a utopian community which failedMother: Abigail May, relative of abolitionist Samuel MayLouisa was the second of four daughtersLouisa May Alcott never married. She was a guardian for her sisters daughter and adopted a nephew.