Although I wish to assume Barbara Brown Taylor’s intentions here are admirable, I find A Tale of Two Heretics adds to the anti-Jewish negativity rather than detracts from it. Throughout the rest of her sermon, she seemingly presents the Pharisees as legalizers who are incapable of witnessing God’s covenantal plan. Firstly, she does so by presenting the Pharisees as callous individuals who are less concerned with the healing of the blind man and more concerned with the blind man’s potential sin. Taylor juxtaposes the Pharisees inquisition with the blind man’s miraculous healings with the result being the blind man’s expulsion from the community. Taylor represents the Pharisees as arrogant, blind leaders who deem the former blind man to be a …show more content…
Taylor suggests that the Pharisees have defended the sanctity of the Law “according to their standards” and do so to weed out heretics. But, because Jesus and the rest of his followers are Jews, it is clear to Taylor that the Jews and the Pharisees are operating under different binaries of the same Law. One may go so far as to wonder if Taylor is de-Judaizing the Pharisees. I believe Taylor has made this distinction in order to maintain her semblance of not supporting anti-Jewish rhetoric while still opposing the Pharisees. Nevertheless, Taylor unfortunately concludes her sermon by questioning whether the Pharisees are missing the point. Are the Pharisees so caught up in legalizing the Law, they are unable to recognize the Son of Man within their midst? Barbara Brown Taylor inadvertently declares the Pharisees to be blind and the former blind man to be enlightened. The blind man has witnessed the Son of Man and is deemed a heretic, as determined by the Pharisees. Jesus, too, for his declarations about being from God is also a heretic. Is Barbara Brown Taylor suggesting that God is endorsing the heretics and disregarding the Jews? It precariously appears to be this way: “If that made Jesus a heretic, then the blind man hoped he would be allowed to become one
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes and The Scarlet Letter. Both authors persuade the reader to feel pain of the stories subject. In Little Girls in Pretty Boxes the author used pathos and interviewing to share the stories of these overly dedicated youth. Joan Ryan wrote to show how these young, talented, sophisticated women can hide the harsh reality of the sport. In her biography she listed the physical problems that these young girls go through. They have eating disorders, stunted growth, weakened bones, depression, low self esteem, debilitating and fatal injuries, and many sacrifice dropping out of school. Whereas the Scarlet Letter is a fictional drama that uses persuasion and storytelling to involve the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses
In the book The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley, the book is a twist to what readers would expect. In the story, a girl name Alette is chosen for a certain mission and she goes in not knowing what to expect. Alette goes on these journey and face with challenges that she must overcome, but it is more about the destination then than the journey itself. One of the important theme throughout the book is transformation.
Ranging from newspapers and radios to walkouts opposing warfare, teenage girls are active participants in a variety of social movements. In Jessica Taft’s book, “Rebel Girls” the experiences and perspectives of girl activists serving as agents for social change are illustrated. Taft introduces readers to a wide scope of girl activists from various whereabouts such as Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Taft’s work brings authenticity to the voices of female activists who are engaged in the struggle for social justice, where she is emphasizing their importance to social movements. The book also presents the process in which girls construct their activist identities.
Novelists and historians of historical events try and keep the accuracy of events that their stories produce. While historians deal primarily with facts and try to portray their writings as accurately as possible and to explain events that have happened to the best of their knowledge, novelists use more dramatic aspects to help further along their story and to end with a positive light that some events in history has not had the luxury of achieving. Historical fiction writers can toe the line between what had actually happened and what could have been to help portray to the readers a story that has historical accuracy, but has their own unique twist to their story. The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent is one of those books that the author has tried to keep the historical accuracy of the Salem witch trials, but has taken liberties with the events that had transpired over three hundred years ago.
A sin during the mid 1600’s is quite different than a modern one. For example, in the 17th century people believed that defying a rule of God makes the culprit worthy of being publicly shamed or even killed. Now, sin does not have nearly the same impact for if a person disobeys God they can confess to their priest and be forgiven of their sins. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the concept of sin in a Puritanical community during the mid 1600’s in Boston, Massachusetts. Here, religion is a focal point in many citizens lives and religious freedom is one of the primary reasons the puritans came to America from England. The novel begins with Hester Prynne, a single mother just being released from prison, who is seen as an adulterer.
The year was 1960 when Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published. It was an immediate success even winning the Pulitzer Prize. The novel was the first published piece for Lee who was not widely known. The story itself was set in the American South during the Great Depression, which Lee was from and lived during that time. The story examined the angst of childhood, morals of society, racism, and the concept of perception.
Prejudice is defined as an opinion formed without taking the time and care to judge fairly. In the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, there are several themes presented like bravery, prejudice, and growing up. The main theme in this novel though is prejudice. In the book, it is not just a case of black and white but the entire novel is about prejudice in many forms including class gender and racial prejudice. Throughout the story, we see all these events in a young girl’s eyes named Scout.
“I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.” Frederick Douglas’s infamous quote was used to explain how slave masters seem to value a different form of Christianity than he was used to. Slave masters would explain to slaves and slave families that Christianity wrote it into their bible and laws that they were meant to be slaves and pick out particular passages that they would manipulate to support their views. For centuries, slave owners have looked for way to justify the need for slaves and a way to manipulate slaves into believing that slavery was their true calling. They would use Bible stories such as the Curse of Ham as well as the Mark of Cain in reference to African Americans to legitimize slavery to their slaves. Slaves often spoke on this in their narratives of the time as slaves. Harriet Jacobs was another enslaved child that spoke on this misuse in her narrative “Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl”, Jacobs spoke from a more domestic view of slavery. She often questioned religion for this very reason, how can something so cruel possibly be of God? Olaundah Equiano was different from Jacobs in the respect that he never doubted his own religion, simply believed that he worshipped a different Christianity than Whites did. Just as education is presented as a paradox in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas” so too is the issue of religion and Christianity. On the on...
...e to the audience that the Bible adheres to the deserved emancipation and support of African-Americans, rather than enslavement and oppression. For example, Douglass preaches, “ A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as ‘scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.” By using Matthew 23:23 to assert American Christians as righteously indignant, Douglass infers that if the White American people are truly Christian, they will obey the doctrines of The Bible and negate their duplicity by showing love and mercy to black people.
In his piece, The Scarlet Letter and Revolutions Abroad, Larry J. Reynolds aims to link Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, to historical revolutions both past and present. He explains that one can draw parallels between the story and revolutions by examining the structure, themes, setting, language, as well as characterization within the story. As to why these parallels are present, Reynolds doesn’t give much explanation but justifies his claim by saying the revolutions and disrupts abroad were constantly on Hawthorne’s mind.
A person’s reaction to sin can be more damaging than sin itself depending on how they react. The Scarlet Letter clearly integrates the idea that how a person handles sin determines the outcome of their character. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth all have different reactions to sin throughout the Scarlet Letter and this affects their character and their outcome.
Most people have heard of the Judeo-Christian origin story, starring Adam and Eve, a serpent, eaten fruit, and an angry God. Although the origin story is thousands of years old, there are still parallels that can be found in modern literature, such as in the pages of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathanial Hawthorne. Similar to the origin story, The Scarlet Letter, set in the mid-seventeenth century, describes two Salem, Massachusetts residents, Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and their troubles with sin, guilt, and shame. In the devout town of Salem, Hester and Dimmesdale commit adultery, regarded in Salem as an act comparable to murder, resulting in Hester’s physical shame, the scarlet letter, and Dimmesdale’s emotional shame, because
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of the most respected and admired novels of all time. Often criticized for lacking substance and using more elaborate camera work, freely adapted films usually do not follow the original plot line. Following this cliché, Roland Joffe’s version of The Scarlet Letter received an overwhelmingly negative reception. Unrealistic plots and actions are added to the films for added drama; for example, Hester is about to be killed up on the scaffold, when Algonquin members arrive and rescue her. After close analysis, it becomes evident of the amount of work that is put into each, but one must ask, why has the director adapted their own style of depicting the story? How has the story of Hester Prynne been modified? Regarding works, major differences and similarities between the characterization, visual imagery, symbolism, narration and plot, shows how free adaptation is the correct term used.
At first, I was not sure how I would identify with this book. It was a self-help book about how to live a wholehearted life. Brene Brown wrote the book The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to be and Embrace Who You Are. She is very insightful and uses quotes and data to back up her research and reasoning. I cannot count how many times I wanted to share what she had written with many people I know that could use the information or feel this way or that about what she was talking about at that moment on that one page. Sometimes I found the answer to a question I did not know I had or just an insight into something that I have been struggling with. Every human has some imperfection that they wish they could get freed
Two hundred and twenty two years ago, a democracy was born and its citizen has been guaranteed “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Is this pledge fully adopted? The high almighty, arbitrary, rich, wealthy people surely have an advantage over the meager, poor lower class. The rich has money, and money can be a powerful source to silence evil deeds in which a pauper cannot do, but must suffer the consequences. In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, she portrays the weak, the vulnerable, and the innocent as mockingbirds. Setting the novel in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930s plays a crucial role in illustrating the mockingbirds of the society. The prejudiced South carried people like Arthur “Boo” Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell who have never had any intentions of harm, and only brought joy, but suffered greatly because of their position in a rigid, prejudiced society.