There are several attributes used to describe the transcendence of God, such as eternal—having no beginning or end; omnipresent—present everywhere; omnipotent—all powerful; and omniscient—all knowing. However, some theologians add the attributes of God being immutable and impassible, which are sources of debate today within Christianity. God’s immutability means he is unchanging and God’s impassibility means he is incapable of suffering or being affected by anything.1 Furthermore, two theologians, Jürgen Moltmann and Hans Kung have written on this subject in order to define and bring further clarity to God’s immutability and whether or not God is impassible. Moltmann focuses on the suffering of God, and Kung zeros in on the unchangeableness …show more content…
Most people would say no, he cannot change. One might even quote the author of Hebrews by stating, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”8 If Jesus is God, then God is the same forever. However, the big question revolves around the incarnation of Christ. Did God change himself by taking on human flesh? Kung answers this question by emphatically proclaiming, “God in becoming man neither loses anything (becoming man means no loss to God) nor gains anything (becoming man means no gain to God), and anyway that becoming man is something different from the coming to be of man and the world.”9 His point is that the incarnation neither changed God’s character or any of his transcendence. He is unchangeable. In addition, Kung emphasizes that is it God that became flesh, not that flesh became God.10 Similarly, Olson states, “The Great Tradition of Christian thought has affirmed God’s essential immutability such that God’s nature cannot and does not undergo any alteration whatever except in being united with humanity in the incarnation. Even then, the incarnation is said not to have changed God but only to have added to the divine life the human nature of Jesus
In this essay, I will compare the philosophies of transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism through the writings of Thoreau and Emerson vs. Melville. In Thoreau’s excerpt of “Walden”, he tested the transcendentalist philosophy through experience. Emerson’s transcendental writing style is displayed in “Nature”. In Melville’s excerpt of Moby Dick, he exhibits anti-transcendentalism in his work.
The Ontological Argument, which argues from a definition of God’s being to his existence, is the first type of argument we are going to examine. Since this argument was founded by Saint Anslem, we will be examining his writings. Saint Anslem starts by defining God as an all-perfect being, or rather as a being containing all conceivable perfections. Now if in addition of possessing all conceivable perfections t...
Throughout the world, most people believe in some type of god or gods, and the majority of them understand God as all-good, all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). However, there is a major objection to the latter belief: the “problem of evil” (P.O.E.) argument. According to this theory, God’s existence is unlikely, if not illogical, because a good, omniscient, and omnipotent being would not allow unnecessary suffering, of which there are enormous amounts.
Transcendentalism is based on the belief that institutions in the society corrupt an individual’s purity. Transcendentalists believe that people are at their best when they are truly independent and self-reliant. They also believe that from independence and self-reliance, a true community is formed. Even though Transcendentalism is not recognized, it still exists in the modern society. Though not clearly outspoken as in Emerson and Thoreau’s times, many people in today’s society still have transcendental beliefs. Transcendental ideals are found in songs, films, books and other works such as media and advertisements. One example is the song “Get up, Stand up,” by Bob Marley, it is found to be influenced and has inspiration of transcendental elements such as Solitude (individuality), self-reliance, non-conformism (anti-institution), anti-materialism, nature and spirituality.
When I was first exposed to the concept of Transcendentalism in my English class, the idea seemed farfetched and rather abstract. Upon further readings and research, I discovered that the concepts, although they originally seemed esoteric, where works of true brilliance. Society has made it hard for individuals to exist when things like popular culture seemingly brainwash youth into doing whatever is considered “cool”. Transcendentalism is a powerful concept which should be acknowledged by my generation, for the points encompassed in Transcendentalism are more vital today than ever. Transcendentalism is the philosophy of striving to live a life of independence, simplicity, and oneness with nature.
Modern day transcendentalists are not easily found anymore in society. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what a transcendentalist is. By being your own self, following your own standards and being yourself, you become transcendental. By looking at the Robertsons’ way of life, they would make a tremendous example of modern day transcendentalists. Their religion, love of nature, and individualism create a transcendental lifestyle.
Many people have theories and philosophies about life in general. There have been hundreds of thousands of books published by many different people on the ideas of people in the past and the present. Transcendentalism falls in amongst all of these ideas. There have been articles, essays, poems, and even books written about this subject. Transcendentalism has effected many people since the philosophy was first introduced. The idea was complex and hard to grasp for many commoners and therefore it was understood by few people, and some would think that the idea was not understood at all and that was part of the idea. Henry David Thoreau once stated about himself, “I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations” (Reuben 1).
The Reform Movements was a significant era during the 19th century. A gradual era which was motivated by the Second Great Awakening and Transcendentalism. These Reform Movements were a principal portion of the Antebellum era, an era which began after the War of 1812 and the came to an end during the beginning of the civil war. This era incorporated issues such as; the fight for women's rights, free public education, a benevolence environment in prisons/asylums, the opposition of alcohol and slavery. Americans strive to resolve these issues in order to modify the United States chaotic organizational systems so that they can become more reasonable, but hope for those Americans who strive was extremely difficult. Overall every Reform Movement
In the unit “The Spirit of Individualism” there are two parts, “Celebrations of the self” and “The Dark side of Individualism” with pieces that present very different perspectives on human nature. “The Dark side of Individualism” portrays human nature as greedy, confused, easily caught up in fame, and addicted to wealth and possessions. In “Celebrations of the Self”, human nature is viewed in a more positive light. The characteristics shown are self reliance, independence, wisdom and selflessness. “The Dark side of Individualism” pieces are written in a more macabre tone, whereas “Celebrations of the Self” pieces have a more positive and uplifting tone to them. The generalizations of human nature are different because of the pieces in “The Dark side of Individualism” and “Celebrations of the Self” have entirely different views on life and human nature.
Imagine that you are able to teleport to the not too distant future. In this world you discover that disease and poverty are no longer causes for human suffering, world hunger has become eliminated from society, and space travel is as easy as snapping your fingers. Cryonics, nanotechnology, cloning, genetic enhancement, artificial intelligence, and brain chips are all common technologies at a doctor’s office. You gasp as a friendly sounding electronic voice cries out, “Welcome to the future Natural!” You are unsure of whether being called a Natural is an insult or not, so you feign a half-hearted hello at the posthuman in front of you. Getting over the initial shock you ask the posthuman, “Who are you?” The posthuman gives an electronic sounding chuckle and shakes his head. He replies, “I am a Posthuman, and you Natural, are in Utopia. Welcome.”
A wonderful description of the nature of God’s existence that includes the absolute possession of characteristics that have to be uniquely God was said, “First, God must exist necessarily, which means that God’s existence differs from ours by not being dependent on anything or anyone else, or such as to be taken from him or lost in any way. God has always existed, will always exist and could not do otherwise than to exist. Also, whatever attributes God possesses, he possesses necessarily” (Wood, J., 2010, p. 191).
It is free will which keeps men away from being enslaved, physically and spiritually. Once a man has free will, he can make decisions on himself, thus he is not belonged to anybody else but himself. This free will is valued by Transcendentalists; it makes a man free of outsider’s control, and the man can create instead of imitating. Transcendentalists also expected the people make their own decisions based on conscience instead of what the authority is saying. In order to achieve that, one needs free will. A great transcendentalist, Emerson, expressed this idea in his essay Self-Reliance. In his essay, Emerson asked people to seek the truth from themselves instead of somebody else. Emerson supported that idea with the examples of great masters such as Newton, Washington, and Bacon. These great masters did not find truth from somebody else but themselves. Nobody taught them, therefore they taught themselves. By creating instead of imitating, those great masters left great legacy for the society. Transcendentalists also believe in action. According to Transcendentalism, everything in this universe is connected to each other. One’s action is going to affect others, and the effects of that action are eventually coming back to him. If an injustice is going on, one cannot excuse himself from not acting to justify the injustice. Not acting to correct injustice is an act to participate injustice; the injustice is eventually going to happen to whoever is indifferent to that injustice at the first time. Another great transcendentalist, Thoreau, used himself as an example of this idea. Thoreau was opposed to the Mexican war and slavery, because he thought those are injustices done by the government. While he strived to correct those injustic...
According to the New York Times, teenagers listen to an average of 2.5 hours of music in a singular day. The messages coming through in each song may vary between drug/alcohol reference or transcendentalism. No matter where there is music, there is a lesson to be learned through ideas that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau created. Though transcendentalism is a relatively foreign word to most, it can be defined by using five i's: individualism, inspiration, intuition, idealism and imagination which are displayed on all platforms of music today. The different music genres may vary between music from the late 1990's and children's movies today.
The concept of God can be a difficult one to grasp especially in today's world - a world in which anyone that believes in God is trying to define exactly what God is. To even attempt to grasp such a concept, one must first recognize his own beliefs in respect to the following questions: Is God our creator? Is God omnipotent (all-powerful) or omniscient (all-knowing) or both? Does God care? Is God with us? Does God interfere with life on earth? These questions should be asked and carefully answered if one should truly wish to identify his specific beliefs in God's existence and persistence.
...ng Son of God is the transformation of his followers. How many times does a person that is extremely wrong and sinful suddenly change his life style. There is obviously a Saviour out there that transforms lives and keeps them for eternity. No person can suddenly change on their very own. Jesus Christ is truly alive. He is a changer of hearts. He will one day come to claim his own13