Protestant Reformation a Prologue to Christian Civilization

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY PROTESTANT REFORMATION: A PROLOGUE TO CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF DIVINITY IN CHAPLAINCY BY SULEIMAN ABBA LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA MARCH 2013 Abstract The Early Church was a minority religious movement which faced significant threats of persecution in their daily practice of faith. As a result there was no detailed structure of worship as seen in the present day Christian worship. However, worship in those days paved way for the current settings of various churches which have greatly evolved over time. Worship was characterized by several aspects such as†¦show more content†¦In Rick Warren’s book titled ‘Purpose Driven Life’ he noted that every part of a church service is an act of worship. These include, Praying, Scripture reading, singing, confession, listening to sermon, taking notes, giving offering, baptism, communion, ushering and etc. Early Christian Worship Being a crucial and important factor of worship during the early days of Christianity, the Lord’s Supper was conducted mostly during church meetings and assemblies where the ceremony was conducted in addition to giving thanks to the Lord and singing his hymns. Generally, worship involves religious actions or devotion to a higher power which for Christianity means God. Christian worship is typified by various aspects such as praying in various designated venues, singing religious hymns and reading the Bible and engaging in communion or Eucharist among others. This paper critically analyzes the various practices of early church such as the singing of psalms and hymns, gathering in church assemblies, vocal thanksgiving, the Lord’s Supper as well as the practice of baptism. Christian worship is the adoration and contemplation of God and is defined by various elements such as meeting in venues such as churches in order to offer prayers, reading the Bible, singing and engaging in communion or Eucharist, collecting offerings as well as teaching and listening to sermons. These aspects of worship have evolved

Night Creature Blue Moon Chapter 16 Free Essays

I’d slept the day away and only had an hour before Ca-dotte was supposed to show up. The damn twine had rubbed a raw circle around my neck. A cold compress plus a liberal application of vitamin E took away the sting. We will write a custom essay sample on Night Creature: Blue Moon Chapter 16 or any similar topic only for you Order Now To hide the mark, I put on a sleeveless mock turtle-neck instead of a tank top; then I transferred the totem to a gold chain my mother had given me for my sixteenth birthday, which I’d never worn. I doubted she’d approve of the way I was wearing it now, but the chain was my present and she wasn’t here. My rationalization for a lot of the things I did that my mother wouldn’t approve of. I chose shorts instead of jeans. Judging by the heat of my apartment, we’d enjoyed the first true day of summer while I’d been asleep. I threw open a few windows. I couldn’t see turning on the air-conditioning when the setting of the sun was only a few hours away. Besides, I had good legs and, being tall, I had a lot of them. Swimming toned much better than jogging. I preferred round, feminine muscle to stringy sinew and emaciated calves. I turned my cell phone on long enough to dial a pizza, then shut it off again. If there were messages pending, they were no doubt from Clyde. I’d have to deal with him later, and later was when I would deal with him. Right now I was going to enjoy the evening. A little pizza, a little Cadotte. If things went well, I might even be in a good mood by the time I went to work. I was hoping sex could erase the memory of that very strange dream. I’d never been into bestiality, so what was the matter with me now? The stone shifted between my breasts, making me jump. I’d been standing at the floor-length window, staring at the summer sun. I hadn’t moved. Why had the totem? The dream had me spooked, that’s all. Dreams were just dreams, despite any woo-woo propaganda to the contrary. They were not truth or predictions, not buried secrets or hidden hopes. They were just images that meant nothing at all. But what images! Illusions tumbled through my mind of bodies entwined, sweat-slicked skin, heated flesh. These were followed by the tactile memory of soft fur, a smooth tongue. A man and a beast become one – or had that been a woman and a beast? The doorbell rang and I started. I was rolling the totem between two fingers like a worry bead. The stone was warm. I dropped the icon back down my shirt as if it were on fire. Woman and beast? That was a bit too kinky for comfort, and my mind shied away from the thought. Cadotte stood in the hall with a pizza. I was so hungry I wanted to eat them both. What was wrong with me? Nothing that a little pizza and a lot of sex wouldn’t solve. â€Å"I met the delivery boy coming up.† â€Å"I’ll pay you.† I opened the door wide, inviting him in. â€Å"Yeah, you will.† He crowded me close, kicked the door shut, then kissed me – hard, deep, and wet. Maybe sex, then pizza was a better idea. He stepped back and tilted his head. â€Å"There, all paid up.† â€Å"With one kiss?† â€Å"You’re a very good kisser.† I was left standing stunned in the hall when he strode into the apartment. I got so few compliments, and I’d never received one on how well I kissed. I had no idea what to say. I wasn’t required to say anything. By the time I reached the sofa, he had his mouth full of food. He’d brought wine. I got him a glass and a corkscrew. â€Å"You don’t drink?† He eyed the single glass. â€Å"I have to work in four hours.† â€Å"That doesn’t answer my question.† â€Å"Sure I drink.† I’d rarely met a cop who didn’t, unless at one time they’d overindulged and were now on the wagon. Police work, even in a tiny town like Miniwa, was stressful. Cops drank. Period. A lot of them smoked, too. Or did chew, like Clyde. Thankfully I’d been able to manage my stress, so far, with the occasional Bloody Mary and a twilight swim. â€Å"I suppose working third shift makes a beer at the end of your day a lot less than appealing.† He opened the wine. I’d never thought of it that way, but Cadotte was right. When I got off at 7:00 a.m. I didn’t want alcohol; I didn’t even want coffee. I just wanted my bed. Although if I kept having weird dreams, pretty soon I wouldn’t want that. â€Å"Mmm.† Cadotte had his mouth full again, so I joined him. Fifteen minutes later we were done. Cadotte scooted back on the couch, half-full glass of blood-red wine cradled in his long fingers. His thumb stroked the bowl and I lifted my gaze from his hand to his face. He took a sip. A drop clung to his lip, and his tongue swept out to capture it. His earring glittered in the glare of the setting sun. I wanted to take that earring in my teeth and tug him into the bedroom. â€Å"Shall we get down to business?† â€Å"Mmm-hmm,† I murmured, captivated by the way the light turned the golden feather from red to orange and back again. â€Å"Do you have the totem?† â€Å"Huh?† He smiled and set his glass on the coffee table with a click. Cadotte knew the effect he had on women and I found myself wondering: Was he playing me to get to the totem? Paranoid? Moi? Definitely. Nevertheless, I straightened, shook off the sexual inertia, and turned away. â€Å"It’s gone.† â€Å"Gone? What do you mean, gone?† â€Å"Disappeared? Stolen? Poof? Take your pick.† I was getting mighty good at lying. He got so quiet, if I hadn’t heard him breathing I might have thought he’d gone over the balcony- – this time in the opposite direction. â€Å"Oh well,† he said at last. â€Å"I guess it’s a good thing I sketched it.† Paper crinkled and I spun around. He leaned over the coffee table, smoothing a white rectangle. Then he pulled a bunch of other papers from his back pocket and set them all side by side. â€Å"Y-you aren’t upset about the totem?† He glanced up. He’d put on his glasses. My heart went ba-boom. â€Å"Upset? Why should I be? It wasn’t mine.† â€Å"Wasn’t mine, either,† I grumbled. He studied me for a moment. â€Å"What happened?† I didn’t think I should tell him about the evidence room fiasco. Clyde would say that was police business, and since I was in enough trouble with Clyde already, I decided to keep my lips zipped on the subject. â€Å"I really can’t say.† â€Å"You’re in trouble?† I was, so I nodded. Cadotte beckoned, then patted the sofa at his side. â€Å"Come here.† My paranoia seemed just that in the face of his lack of concern over the missing totem. Of course, what good did it do him to be upset? The thing was gone – or so he thought. When I joined him on the couch, our hips bumped. I shifted away. He followed, pressing his jean-clad thigh to mine. When I cast him a quick glance, however, he was staring at the paperwork and not at me. I left my leg right where it was. â€Å"See this?† I followed his finger to an extremely accurate pencil drawing of the totem, larger than the actual stone; the markings had been enlarged as well. They were much easier to see this way. â€Å"You’re good,† I said. â€Å"You have no idea.† That surprised a laugh out of me. The sound made me realize how seldom I heard it. Pretty sad. I was twenty-six and already the laughter had died. Perhaps with this man I could get it back. Cadotte shuffled the stack of papers – printouts from the World Wide Web. â€Å"What would we do without the Internet?† I murmured. â€Å"A lot of work. I can find more there in an hour than I could find in a week at the library. Aha!† He snatched a sheet out of the center of the pile. â€Å"Look at this.† Placing the two papers next to each other, he slid them closer to me. The Internet printout showed an ancient, emaciated being with long teeth and even longer fingernails. â€Å"Matchi-auwishuk,† he whispered. The trees rustled outside, and a sudden breeze came through the open balcony doors. As if expecting it, Cadotte put his hands on top of the papers. The breeze stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Okay. That was weird. I glanced at him, but he didn’t seem disturbed. By the breeze. Instead, he scowled at the drawings. â€Å"I don’t remember seeing that.† I pointed at the Matchi-auwishuk. â€Å"I used a magnifier to identify some of the smaller markings. It’s there. Take my word for it.† I would. Until he left and I scrounged up my own magnifying glass. â€Å"And take my word on this.† He shoved another piece of paper at me. A shiver ran from my neck to the base of my spine. The Matchi-auwishuk had been ugly, but this was downright creepy – given the circumstances. The figure was half-man, half-wolf. â€Å"What in hell is that?† â€Å"The wolf god.† The drawing was exemplary, the naked man impressive – sleek and muscled – perfection except for the paws growing where his hands and feet should be. A tail sprouted from his backside and ears from the top of his head. Instead of hair he had fur, and a snout blossomed where his mouth and nose had once been. But those little foibles weren’t what made me shrink away from the table, irrationally terrified of touching the picture or having it touch me. Nope, what bothered me about the drawing were the damn eyes – sly, intelligent, human. â€Å"Where did you find this?† â€Å"There’s an old and obscure legend of the Ojibwe. The wolf god can be brought to life during a blue moon if the way is paved by an army of wolf men. And women.† I turned my head so I could see his face. He wasn’t laughing – so I did. ‘ â€Å"What does that have to do with anything?† â€Å"‘ Jessie, aren’t there a few too many coincidences here? The totem, the madness of the wolves, and the blue moon?† The blue moon. I remembered telling Zee about it the night Karen Larson had been bitten by a wolf. The night I’d found the totem. The night I’d met William Cadotte running around naked in the woods. â€Å"What’s a wolf god, and how is it brought to life?† He shuffled some of the papers, scowled, pushed his glasses up in an absent gesture. â€Å"I’m not sure.† â€Å"What good are you then?† â€Å"We’ll get to that later.† He winked. Even in the middle of his delusion, he was propositioning me. Why did I think that was cute? Cadotte returned his attention to the gibberish he’d been reading. â€Å"All I’ve determined so far is that a werewolf army is needed – â€Å" â€Å"Whoa!† I jumped to my feet. â€Å"Werewolf army? Where did that come from?† â€Å"What do you think wolf men and wolf women are?† â€Å"A figment of your imagination?† â€Å"Mine and whoever else has decided they want to be the wolf god.† I rubbed my forehead. â€Å"Back up a minute. Someone is going to be the wolf god?† â€Å"I guess so. I haven’t been able to determine how that happens, exactly, but the making of a werewolf army between the two moons is the beginning.† â€Å"Between what two moons?† â€Å"Two full moons in a single month – â€Å" â€Å"Makes a blue moon,† I finished. â€Å"When the becoming takes place.† He glanced at his watch. â€Å"That’s in five days.† I plopped down on the couch. â€Å"You believe this stuff?† â€Å"It really doesn’t matter if I do or not.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because someone believes, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the legend come to life.† How to cite Night Creature: Blue Moon Chapter 16, Essay examples

Does Science Explain All Essay Example For Students

Does Science Explain All? Essay Does Science Explain All?In the beginning there was darkness. Then there was light. Then therewas consciousness. Then there were questions and then there was religion. Religions sprouted up all over the world as a response to some of humanitysmost troubling questions and fears. Why are we here? Where do we come from?Why does the world and nature act as it does? What happens when you die?Religions tended to answer all these questions with stories of gods andgoddesses and other supernatural forces that were beyond the understanding ofhumans. Magic, in its essence, were the powers wielded by these superiorbeings that caused the unexplainable to happen. Fast forward a few thousand years to the present. In our age and timethere is little left unexplained. Science seems able to explain everything withmathematical logic and concrete evidence right before our very eyes. Thesubject of science is taught in almost every school on Earth. Gone are the daysof magic and wonder. The magic of so-called magicians like David Copperfieldare a jest. When people attend a magic show everyone looks for the invisiblewires and hidden projectors. No one really believes the magician hassupernatural powers, except for maybe a handful of children in the audience whostill have faith in Santa Clause. Science does seem to explain all. It has enabled humans to fly, cureincurable diseases, explore the depths of the oceans, stave off death, walk onthe moon and wipe out entire civilizations with the push of a button. It isbecoming more and more widespread in that people are putting their faith inscience above that in the gods. What parent wouldnt rather bring their sickchild to a doctor than have faith in the healing power of some mystical entitythat may or may not exist. However strong and almost perfect the view of science is in todayssociety it cannot and does not cover the entire spectrum of the human experience. Nor does it explain some of the striking similarities present in the variousreligions of Earth. These similarities occur in civilizations not only far fromeach other but also in cultures separated by seemingly impossible to traverseoceans of water. Many of these similarities occur in the cosmological orcreation myths of the various religions. In the Bible and other in other comparable ancient literatures, creationis a theme expressed in parables or stories to account for the world. In almostevery ancient culture the universe was thought of as darkness, nothing and chaosuntil order is induced by the divine creative hand. The type of orderenvisioned varied from culture to culture. In the Biblical perspective, it wasenvisioned that light should be separated from dark, day from night; and thatthe various forms of plant and animal life be properly categorized. Althoughthe figure differ from myth to myth, all the ancient stories intend to give apoetic accounting for cosmic origins. When viewed in terms of creational motifs,the stories tend to be similar. Some myths of creation include myths of emergence, as from achildbearing woman, or creation by the marriage of two beings representing theheavens and earth. A common feature of some Hindu, African and Chinese myths isthat of a cosmic egg from which the first humans are hatched from. In othercultures, it must be brought up from primordial waters by a diver, or is formedfrom the dismembered body of a preexisting being. Whether the deity usespreexisting materials, whether he leaves his creation once it is finished, howperfect the creation is, and how the creator and the created interact vary amongthe myths. The creation story also attempts to explain the origins of evil andthe nature of god and humanity. .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 , .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .postImageUrl , .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 , .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:hover , .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:visited , .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:active { border:0!important; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:active , .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987 .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u5fc987f69236338859910fe0aee50987:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Bill of Rights EssayAn example of two different religions containing various aspects of eachother could be that of the creation myth of Christianity and aspects ofcreationism found in African religion. The creator god in the African religionis Nyambi. Nyambi creates a man, Kamonu, and the man does exactly as his goddoes in every way; Similar to the way the god of Christianity creates man in hisown image. Also Nyambi creates for Kamonu a garden to live in, the same way theGarden of Eden was created. Another motif repeated between these two religionsis that of the Bibles Tower of Babel. Kamonu, after his god left him behind,tried to build a tower to reach his god but like Th e Tower of Babel it collapsedand the humans failed to reach heaven. In Mesopotamian culture the epic tale Gilgamesh is almost totallyidentical to the Biblical story of Noah and the ark. In the tale of Gilgamesh,Gilgamesh is warned by Enki that a divine judgment has been passed and the worldis to be destroyed by a giant flood. Gilgamesh is instructed build a boat tobring his family and animals so to escape the flood. Another powerful example of the commonality of myth transcendingcultures is in the Trimurti of Brahman in post classical Hinduism when comparedto the holy trinity of Christianity. Brahman, the Hindu essence of ultimatereality is at the very core of Hinduism, post classical Hinduism sees him inthree aspects. Each of these three aspects of Brahman is expressed by a godfrom classical Indian literature: Brahma, the creator; Shiva, the destroyer;and Vishnu, the preserver. Very similar to the Holy Christian Trinity of: God,the father; Christ, the son; and the Holy Spirit. In both Hinduism andChristianity the trinities are three and at the same time one entity. In the mythology of many of the Central Asian Pastoral Tribes thesupreme deity of their religion is confronted by an adversary representing thepowers of darkness and evil. Very much like the relationship in the Christianmythos between God and Lucifer, this figure of evil attempts to counter theplans of the celestial good being and aims at gaining dominance over the worldand at establishing a realm of his own in which he would rule over humanity. The forces of good and evil are not equally balanced, however, and there isnever any real doubt about the final supremacy of the sky-god. Yet according tosome myths the representative of evil and darkness succeeded in leading peopleastray and bringing about a fall similar to that of Adam and Eve. Other mythological motifs not involving Christianity or the Bible isthat of a god or a hero making the dangerous journey to the underworld , orHades, to retrieve a lost love. The Greek mythological tale of Orpheus and theJapanese Shinto myths both contain very similar aspects. In both of thesestories, Orpheus and Izanagi, lose their spouses to death and venture into theterrible underworld of Hades to try to wrest them back. In both stories theyare on the way to getting back each his wife as long as they dont look backtowards her. In both tales both Izanagi and Orpheus look back, losing thechance they had at having their loves returned to them. These are just some of the universal myths contained within variousreligions of the world. How do all these myths seem to transcend thegeographical and cultural boundaries of Earth? Carl Gustav Jung, a leadingpsychologist and contemporary of Freud, came up with a theory involving thecollective unconscious of a persons psyche. The collective unconscious,according to Jung, is made up of what he called archetypes, or primordialimages. These correspond to such experiences such as confronting death orchoosing a mate and manifest themselves symbolically in religion, myths, fairytales and fantasies. .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 , .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .postImageUrl , .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 , .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:hover , .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:visited , .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:active { border:0!important; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:active , .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78 .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ucb88e36df9485d1fe464686042d07b78:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Self-discovery through Adversity EssayJoseph Campbell, considered by most to have been the foremost expert onworld religions and mythology, believed to be a fact that; mythologies andtheir deities are productions and projections of the psyche. It was his beliefthat religions and myths come from ones own creative imagination andunconsciousness. He further believed that humankind is intrinsically linked inthat some part of human nature creates these myths and religions out of a needfor them. We all have the same basic psychological makeup just as we all havethe same basic physical makeup. Recent scientific studies suggest that the average human uses only tento fifteen percent of his or her brain. What happens to the other eighty-fiveto ninety percent of it? Does it just sit there and have absolutely no use? Ordoes it perhaps contain the universal commonalties of what links us all as agreat big tribe of human beings; containing our greatest hopes, our worst fears,our dreams and creativity. Perhaps it does contain a link to the realm ofmysticism and surrealism which artists such as Salvador Dali tried so hard torender on canvas. Science doesnt know what it contains. Its in our skullsand were not even sure what it contains, maybe the answers to our ownprimordial questions. WORKS CITEDWorld Religions From Ancient History to the Present editor: Geoffrey Parrinder,copyright 1971, The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. Essays On a Science of Mythology Carl Jung, copyright 1949, Pantheon Books Inc. Myths To Live By Joseph Campbell, copyright 1972, Viking PressReligions of the World Lewis M. Hopfe, Copyright 1976, Prentice-Hall Inc. Mythology Edith Hamilton, copyright 1942, Little Brown Inc. Encarta 95 copyright 1995, Microsoft corp. Philosophy