Religion is sold to the masses daily. In 1925 it was sold to the masses in the form of printed material by Bruce Barton. In 1960 it was sold to the masses by way of a film entitled Elmer Gantry. Bruce Barton sold a different idea of Jesus than most people were familiar with. In the film, Elmer Gantry sold religion with bravado and arrogance which was not the typical way of selling religion either. In each work, religion is being sold but Elmer is a more exciting and relatable character than Bruce Barton’s Jesus. Elmer Gantry sold religion in a similar way to Barton’s Jesus but did so in a more relatable manner.
In both works, each character sought out to sell religion. Although the major characters in each work were selling religion, their reasons for selling it were completely different. When Jesus was preaching religion, his reasons were noble. In The Man Nobody Knows, Jesus sold religion to save people. He claimed to be the son of God and was doing God’s work. He not only preached to the masses but also apparently had superhuman powers which cured the ill. “A woman who had been sick for twelve years…she said within herself, if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” (Barton, 1925). Not only could he heal people with a single touch, but his powers were so great that he did not even have to touch them to be healed.
An ordinary person cannot relate to having superhuman abilities. Although Barton’s Jesus was portrayed to be greater than he was portrayed in the Bible, most people would be able to relate more to the Bible version of Jesus. Barton took Jesus and made him into an even greater character. The Jesus in Barton’s book is a very strong and muscular man who can use his words to influence anyone. ...
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...ate to him by reminiscing about a time in their life when they did something similar to Elmer. People cannot relate to being the powerful son of God like Jesus was. They can relate to being a normal person who uses their knowledge to get what they want but at the same time having flaws and being able to see and expose these flaws.
Works Cited
Bluestone, G. (1961). Adaptation or evasion: "elmer gantry". Film Quarterly, 14(3), 15-19.
Kauffmann, S. (1960). An Old Revivalist Revived. New Republic, 143(7/8), 20-21.
Ribuffo, L. (1981). Jesus christ as business statesman: bruce barton and the selling of corporate capitalism. American Quarterly, 33(2), 206-231.
Schultze, Q. (2007). The Man Everybody Knew: Bruce Barton and the Making of Modern America. Christian Century, 124(17), 38-41.
Weiler, A. H. (1960, July 08). Elmer gantry. The New York Times.
Drury, Bob and Calvin, Tom. The Last Stand of Fox Company. 1st ed. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009.
...but he was mindful of the great strength, the large gift God had given him and relied on the Almighty for favor, comfort and help. By that he overcame the foe, subdued the hell-spirit.
Horsley, Richard and Hanson, John. Bandits, Prophets and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus. Minneapolis: Winston Press, 1985.
some thing wrong he will be punished and for a good deed there is a
Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
...fighting his feelings about not seeing Jesus. He feels that he is lying to God and himself by getting up and being saved even though he cannot see Jesus. Even though the reader knows that he truly is being saved from sin. He is doing something good for himself. Therefore, we can see that he truly does not understand the meaning of God. He is a child on the verge of adulthood. He has every right to be confused and misinterpret religion because he is learning. Religion is metaphorical and imaginative; it is what you believe it to be.
When Hughes was thirteen he attended a revival with his Aunt it was his turn to "see Jesus," his entire community and church all waiting expectantly for the moment when he was finally saved from sin. Unfortunately for Hughes, salvation did not occur. His fellow peers that he would be delivered, to Jesus convinced him. He was so caught up in the idea that when it did not happen, and when it did not, he felt like an outcast amongst his religious community. People crying, and praying for him at his feet, Hughes did not want to be the reason for all the madness happening around him. He stood up and acted as if his salvation had come to him, although deep within he knew it had not. "My aunt came and knelt at my knees and cried, while prayers and songs swirled all around me in the little church. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and voices” (Hughes 111-112). Influenced by the wales and the cries, Hughes started to feel as if he was the problem, that something was wrong and it was up to him to fix it. As the congregation prayed for him alone, and his aunt cried and prayed by his feet, a wave of social pressure came to him at once. To stop the crying, and the constant praying there was only one thing to be done, although he knew he was never actually saved, he stood to his feet, and the religious community and church all rejoiced as they
Religion is essential to every human being. Not only does it serve as a foundation for one to form his/her own set of values and integrity, but it also acts as a source of conflict for many people. Internal religious conflict can be seen in the form of one’s personal struggle with his/her belief. However, personal struggles are mostly influenced by external factors, which cause disturbances to one’s faith and loyalty to their beliefs. On the other hand, external conflict is the concept of which chaos and upheavals occur in society from clash of beliefs. Both conflicts between religions and internal religious conflict are found to be central to the plot of many examples of 20th Century Non-Western literature. African and Middle-Eastern literature, in particular, addresses many aspects of religious conflict, both in the form of the individual and collective struggle.
Williams, O. F. Catholic Social Teaching: A Communitarian Democratic Capitalism for the New World Order. Journal of Business Ethics, 1993.Vol.12, no.12 p. 919-923.
As far as mankind’s history can date, religion has had quite an intimate relationship with people. Although maybe it hasn’t always been identified in the same way as we identify religion today, spread across the world we have the remains of pyramids, temples, and even written in ancient texts from centuries ago dedicated to god, to the afterlife, to what lies on the other side. And up to today’s times, religion has grown along with man.
Religious syncretism is a blending of two or more religious beliefs or practices into a new system, or the merging into a new religious tradition of beliefs from different traditions. This can occur for many reasons, but happens quite frequently in areas where multiple religions exist nearby to each other and are active in the culture. When a culture is conquered, the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in entirely wiping out the old beliefs or practices as they are too engrained. Certain religious followers see syncretism as a betrayal of their pure truth. They feel by adding an incompatible belief ruins and changes the original concept and practice of the original religion, thus rendering it no longer true.
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism lays a theoretical basis for the creation, development, and sustainability of modern industrial capitalism. This in-depth work shows the extent to which Weber managed to connect the various fields of sociology, history, economics, and religion into one cohesive argument. This work is an example of a broad-reaching work of social theory, and needs to be studied not only for the ideas contained therein, but to understand the methodological approach behind such a sociological masterpiece.
In society and culture, leadership has the paradigm of a great and powerful person, who makes change in a miraculous and unconventional way. Since the beginning of time, people have completed heroic acts against evil and sin, but in many cases it is those who have the lesser appearance and humble disposition who have established the greatest acts of heroism. In the Bible, the Israelites and Hebrews waited for God to send a high and mighty king to save them from the oppression of the Roman government, but instead they were blessed with a little baby boy, born of poor parents who grew up to be a carpenter, yet won over death giving all humanity the opportunity to save the most important aspect of life; their soul. Leaders are always are depicted as government officials or society’s finest, but it is more important to treasure and follow a leader whose life you can duplicate because of their character, because their life pushes you to be better and elevates you to be a better person. Jesus Christ not only is the greatest leader of the church, but has the greatest life for society and humanity to pursue.
At first glance, the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam look more different than alike, but this is only scratching the surface. It all begins with the oldest of the three religions, Judaism. From Judaism came the sect of Christianity, which emerged after the death of Jesus and has since become the largest religion in the world today. Nearly six hundred years later Muhammad becomes the founder of Islam, a religion that prays to the same God as Jews and Christians do. The biggest similarities between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are their belief in God, the practices of their religion, and their belief in an afterlife. The biggest differences between these three religions are how they view the role of Jesus in their religion and
My definition of religion has mostly stayed the same, but my perception of it has changed. At the beginning of the class, I assumed religion was something you believed based on your moral principles. I now believe that those moral principles are based on the religion that you believe in. Your religion changes your perception of the world and how to go about in it. Your religion tells you what is right and wrong in the world and answers all of the big questions one asks. Religion according to our book is, “A pattern of beliefs and practices that expresses and enacts what a community regards as sacred and/or ultimate about life” (Van Voorst 6). That definition was one thing that really got me thinking about my own personal idea of what religion