Disabilities are difficult to categorize because they are socially constructed, at least to some extent. What was considered a blemish during the writing of the Hebrew Bible has changed throughout time. The list of blemishes in Leviticus 21:16-24 was expanded in the Qumran scrolls which lists nearly 150. In this case, the list in Leviticus 21:16-24 was taken as a symbolic reference of essentially all disabilities, instead of a fixed list. How the list should be viewed and categorized has given way to a variety of explanations. Most scholars have said that the list is fixed. They differed over categorizing the twelve blemishes as being visible since all blemishes aside from the “crushed testicle” can be seen. Scholars also debate if the list …show more content…
Jacob Milgrom, explained in Leviticus 17-22: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, that a crushed testicle is included with the other blemishes in order to create a “structural and thematic parallelism between the priestly list and the animal list which includes multiple blemishes involving the animal’s genitals (Lev 22:24).” A crushed testicle disrupts the claim that the blemishes are visual and helps show that it was arbitrarily chosen to match the animal list. Schipper and Stackert, on the other hand, rejected that the lists are similar and modified the claim that the list is of observable blemishes. They affirm that the blemishes are visible traits and that the crushed testicle, while not visible, because it is covered with holy garments required to be worn, fits in this “visible” category because it is a blemish that is still observable to the divine. The central piece of the work of Schipper and Stackert is their interpretation of why priests who have blemishes cannot perform tasks at the altar. Like it has been mentioned, priests are required to wear specific holy garments or they cannot officiate at the altar. The garments, however, are made out of the same materials as the curtain of the Tabernacle, therefore, allowing them to blend in. Drawing minimized visible attention is critical for priests while performing their duties, so that they do not draw attention away from the glory of God. The physical blemishes …show more content…
As in the case of the priestly blemishes, at issue are the deity’s preferences and expectations, which are defined here visually. The sacred vestments allow the priest to “blend in” with the sanctuary itself as he performs his service, making him as unobtrusive as possible as he attends to the divine sovereign and his desires. Yet the sacred vestments do not entirely conceal the priest from divine perception; this is not their purpose, and as we have seen already, they are inadequate to meet such a goal. Rather, they serve as a sort of camouflage, diminishing the priest’s conspicuousness so that he not rouse the deity’s
Then there is the physically crippled who know what happens if they outlive their usefulness. Next to that there's the physical barrier of being a black person in a racial, conscious society. All in all, being crippled physically, socially or emotionally was just a way of life back in the thirty's. Lennie is the major cause of George being crippled socially and emotionally.
Handicaps can be defined as a hinderance that gives a disadvantage. In the story Harrison Bergeron, handicaps are given to anyone considered to be pretty, smart, and out of the ordinary. Masks are worn so beauty is hidden, an ear piece prevents intelligent thought, and the extraordinary are chained up.
The author in this chapter states that writers use physical marks on characters in order to show their individuality and their importance in contrast to the characters who are less important and without any physical marks. In the quote, he goes further and states that markings are indicators of possibilities for the character. Throughout the examples the author presented, he explained the symbolic meanings of each mark of a character. The mark on a character will always reveal something about the character that possesses the mark. The mark may be an indicator or a past injury, or foreshadow an event later on in the story. Marks doesn’t always have to be scar or a mole, it can also be a disability. Disabilities are very symbolic and can represent the emotional pain of a character, the past of a character, and the limits that the character is bound to. If a character has “a limp in Chapter 2, he can’t go sprinting after the train in Chapter 24.” Disabilities hinder the character in ways that impact the entire course of the story. In this chapter, the author also discusses the possibility that characters are a reminder to not only the character but to the reader that people are different from the start of
These sacred pieces light the flame into the speaker’s passion for her religion in many ways. She begins to pay more attention and really contemplate why she is on earth? What is she here to do in
As the high priest’s son he himself wanted to become a good priest but to become one he had to look at the place of gods with his own eyes.
In 1697, another Christian mission of Franciscan priests attempted to set up shop in Calusa Territory. Father Lopez, the mission’s leader, described seeing a “house of masks”. I will discuss, and give details of, a mask found at Pineland Site Complex later in this paper. During the Franciscan’s short stint in Calos, the Calusa were observed participating in their masked
The interior of the Pantheon is an open circular floor plan and, was painted blue and gold to resemble the vault of heaven (The Humanistic Tradition). The interior of the Pantheon was purposely meant to outshine the exterior. Unlike the Pantheons more interior design the Cathedral has a more exterior design. The interior of the Cathedral of Chartres has a network of open and closed spaces. The exterior of the Cathedral is lined with sculptures that are linked to the Old and New Testaments. Along with t...
Sacrifice within the social context can be transgressed into two aspects, one relating to the offender, and the other being the offended one, God. “If individuals entered a state incongruent with good relations with God, they had to undergo rites to restore them to a normative status” (Davies, 1985;155). Thus the sacrifice encompassed this social dimension. The part played by God in the social ...
As I walked up the street toward the front of Grace Cathedral, I was in awe at the size and ornateness of this cathedral. It was tall and wide and looked very much like the churches we had been studying in class in the prior weeks. As I got closer and closer I began to make out The Ghiberti Doors, also known as the gates of paradise. These are the main cathedral doors made out of bronze, and are replicas of the originals which stood centuries ago at the east entrance to the Baptistry of Florence Cathedral (the Duomo) Italy. I approached and spent about fifteen minutes, just examining all the different engraved scenes within the ten sections in the two doors. After I had finished looking at the Ghiberti Doors, I entered through one of the side doors, since you are not able to use the Ghiberti Doors, because they weight too much. Before I stepped inside the cathedral, I pulled out my text analysis and read over it, so that when I entered I could examine whether or not this cathedral exuded the same sacredness as the cathedral in the text analysis. I feel this Cathedral really does exude not entirely the purity of heaven, but does seem to somewhat separate you from the outer world, as Abbot Suger spoke of. Also, it brings in some of the surrounding beauty from St. Denis, such as the sapphire and stained glass, as well as the gold plating.
Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron is a series of tales written during the Late Middle Ages that is meant to entertain the reader. While the entertainment value of Boccaccio’s work in undeniable, the Decameron also provides the reader with information about society at the time, and Boccaccio’s own worldview. One of the most prevalent themes throughout the Decameron is the portrayal of clergymen and members of religious communities as negative influences on those around them, constantly behaving in a manner unfit for those who are supposed to be moral and spiritual exemplars. Throughout the tales told by the lieta brigada, many priests, and friars are portrayed as being extremely lustful and greedy, frequently indulging in sex (often with the wives of other men), and living lives more befitting of a minor lord than a monk. Those clergymen who are not portrayed as out rightly immoral are usually stupid, and are unable to stop others from acting immorally because of their ignorance. Despite this, a few of the clergymen in the story are shown as ultimately having good intentions, or improving in morality through the actions of another. To understand all of these criticisms of the clergy, we must look at them through a historical lens, and observe the behavior of members of the Church in the Late Middle Ages. Finally, these analyses of the Decameron’s portrayal of clergymen may give us insight into Boccaccio’s own faith, and allow us to understand the motives of the author. In this essay, I will analyze the portrayal of clergymen and members of religious communities in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. I will focus on the licentiousness, greed, and stupidity of these members of the Church, while also evaluating the few portrayals of good me...
attributes and takes on attributes of a priest without sacrificing the natural human tendency to
Mairs is a “lover of words” and understands the difference between crippled, disabled and handicapped. She is knowledgeable about words. The word cripple “made its first appearance in the Lindisfarne Gospel in the tenth century”. Her knowledge explains her reason for not calling herself disabled or handicapped. Disable can mean a “mental” disability and she doesn’t think she has been put at a disadvantage like handicapped implies. “My God is not a Handicapper General”. Mairs continues to write in a straightforward tone stating, “I like the accuracy in which it (crippled) describes my condition”. Mairs knows who she is and doesn’t sugar coat her condition by calling herself a name that is more
The Zuni’s, according to Benedict, are a culture that is very consumed with ceremony and ritual. The Zuni’s value the absence of excess, moderation, ceremony and tradition, “He keeps the middle of the road, stays within the known map, does not meddle with disruptive psychological states…even in the exaltation of the dance he ‘remains what he is, and retains his civic name” (79). This quote symbolizes the extreme devotion and belief infested in the Zuni culture. A strong sense of restraint and composure is found in the end of the quote, “even in the exaltation of the dance he remains what he is.”
We do tend to expect certain things when we enter a place of worship, or peruse an active ministry, and truthfully, when taking in Christian oriented art. There are a couple reoccurring emblems, symbols, well-worn themes, and subjects which have been deemed safe, coming under overuse, carrying the weight of a saltine in the impact it makes on people, including us. While intentions are almost always well meaning, these conventions appear to the secular as a genre of its own in culture and art, quite often ringing with an unsavory note of incompetence. That’s already an unpleasant attribution to a faith that has changed the world, having built the infrastructure of empathy that has survived ages and permeates the social development of our western culture. It speaks to a deeper issue within the Church itself, which is a woeful lack of inspiration.
Our society has many ways of manifesting its obsession with physical perfection. In our society people go to extreme lengths to achieve perfection. The 'Birthmark';, written more than a century ago, is an early version of our modern obsession with physical perfection.