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The role of religion in society and politics
Essay On The History Of Christianity
Essay On The History Of Christianity
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Multiculturalism: Christian Orthodox Serbs in Balkans
Being a part of a certain culture means having common ground with some other people. Most of the time we are not even aware that we belong to a certain culture, but every human being belongs somewhere, and not only to one group but to more of them. Our beliefs, customs, traditions, place of birth, religion can determine our belonging to a group. Christianity itself is everywhere in the world and even though long time ago it was one religion; branches of Christianity are countless today. Three most important branches of Christianity are Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy even though Orthodoxy is less known in western world. The main division of the church occurred in year 1054, when church separated in two branches, Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and this event is known as east-west schism. Culture I chose to talk about is culture I am part of as well, is Serbian Orthodoxy and believers with origins from Balkan area. The reason I chose this culture to talk about is because they differ from every other religious culture in their own customs, traditions and beliefs and because religion interferes in their everyday life, even politics.
Religion is a very sensitive topic, especially in the part of the world called Balkans. When we are talking about religion it is a part of someone’s spiritual life and people are mostly educated about it and they know the reason why do they call themselves Christian, Muslim, Jew, etc. When we go to Balkans, territory of ex-Yugoslavia, religion is a part of someone’s spiritual life, but it is also connected to political beliefs and it is usually determined by birth. Balkan has three major religions and people usually relate it to their ethnicity...
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...ately it will take long time to settle peace among all Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, but with new generations coming, the bigotry itself will fade away.
Works Cited
Wilmer, Franke. “Identity, Culture, and Historicity: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ETHNICITY IN THE BALKANS”. World Affairs, Vol. 160, No. 1, Ethnicity and Politics (SUMMER 1997), pp. 3-16. World Affairs Institute. Heldref Publications. JSTOR archive. Web.
Fr. Dosenovich.”Specifics of Serbian Orthodoxy”. Orthodox Research Institute. Calendar of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada. 1986.
Majstorovic, Steven. “Ancient Hatreds or Elite Manipulation: MEMORY AND POLITICS IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA”. World Affairs, Vol. 159, No. 4 (SPRING 1997), pp. 170-182. World Affairs Institute. Heldref publications. JSTOR archive. Web.
Official web page, “Crkveni calendar” (trans. Church Calendar)
The adoption of Eastern Orthodoxy by the Slavs marked a new era for the culture of Russia. In the Primary Chronicle we come across many tales that illustrate the transformation from staunch paganism to strict Orthodox Christianity that was adopted by the state. The tale “Vladimir Christianizes Russia” is one such story that glorifies Vladimir’s great triumph in choosing Eastern Orthodoxy and delivering the Slavs to salvation. Through justifying the adoption of Christianity, emphasizing the importance of aestheticism in ceremony, and illustrating the overwhelming Slavic transition from paganism to Christianity we are able to glean the importance of Vladimir’s success in transitioning the Slavs to Eastern Orthodoxy.
I had the great privilege of visiting the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. I visited this Church to witness the Salutation to the Theotokos, an annual service held to honor the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. In this paper I will discuss the history of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church along with a detailed description of the architecture and interior of the church. I will also explain the service I attended, Salutations to the Theotokos and my perspective of the service. But In order to fully understand all that I must first explain, leadership within the Church,and iconography.
In 1992 (and with resolutions created earlier) Kosovo's Albanian majority also voted to secede from Serbia and Yugoslavia, hoping to unite with Albania. The conflict in Kosovo could be seen as t...
struggle, however, fought under the guise of ethnic hatred. Bibliography Glenny M, "The Balkans, 1804-1999", 2000. Lampe JR, Yugoslavia as History. Twice There was a Country, 1996. Kegley and Wittkopf, "World Politics", 2001.
...s it liable and unique. It is descriptive and provides a lot of information but in the same time it is also analytical because it presents different aspects and primary sources of the Serb’s history. The parts of the book which relate to the origins of the First World War and the Balkan crisis are focused on the conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, so it does not analyze all origins of the War, but it does analyze in depth the influence of Balkan nationalism for the outbreak and provides a large number of evidences for his arguments. The book compares and contrasts political and cultural history of Serbs and it is credible and objective. Relating to the First World War he also provides many primary sources and perspectives of different scholars. The book is authoritative and it is easy to notice that Corovic is an acknowledged expert on the subject.
Christianity has evolved over several centuries into three major branches, and from there they have been further divided into numerous denominations. The branches are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Roman Catholicism is headed by the Pope and is known for several distinctive beliefs and practices that set them apart from the rest of Christianity. Eastern Orthodoxy is not one united church; instead it is an association of thirteen self-governing bodies denominated by the nation where they are located. Each church is headed by a Patriarch. The Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized as the universal patriarch, he is the closest counterpart to the Roman Catholic’s Pope, he enjoys special honor but has no real power the
Glaurdic, J. "Inside the Serbian War Machine: The Milosevic Telephone Intercepts, 1991-1992."East European Politics & Societies 23.1 (2009): 94. Print.
Their action to prevent this was to dissolve the rest of Yugoslavia and created Serbia and Montenegro. This was the end of Yugoslavia.
There are many knowledgeable books that introduce religions as well as specific religious traditions. However, students are naturally introduced to abstract methodological issues such as observer bias, rather than the religions themselves. If religions of the world are not approached with purpose and method, then students are likely to gain “stereotypes… of misinformation supplied by certain sectors of the media” (Chryssides & Geaves, 2014). Thus, in order to see how religion is lived in day to day life, one must “walk a mile in [the] moccasins [of religious people]” as Smart (1998) says. Therefore this essay will attempt to answer why it is important to study religion off campus and how this may challenge traditional understandings of religion.
Rueschemeyer, M. (1998) Women in the politics of postcommunist Eastern Europe. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
The last two decades of the twentieth century gave rise to turbulent times for constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, eventually leading them to split apart. There were a number of damaging aspects of past history and of the political and economic circumstances that contributed to the breakup and eventually caused the situation to snowball into a deadly series of inter-ethnic conflicts. Yugoslavia was reunified at the end of the war when the communist forces of Josip Broz Tito liberated the country. Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a relatively liberal form of government in comparison to other East European communist states at the time and experienced a period of relative economic and political stability until Tito’s death in 1980. In addition to internal power struggles following the loss of their longtime leader, Yugoslavia faced an unprecedented economic crisis in the 1980’s. As other communist states began to fall in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, some former Communist leaders abandoned communism and founded or supported ethno-national parties, blaming the economic suffering on the flaws of communism and other ethnic groups. The ethnic violence that followed would not have been possible without the willingness of politicians from every side to promote ethno-nationalist symbols and myths through media blitzes, which were especially effective due to low levels of education in the former Yugoslavia. Shadows of the events of World War II gave these politicians, especially the Serbs, an opportunity to encourage the discussion and exaggeration of past atrocities later in the century. The ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia can be traced back to a series of linked damaging factors such as the de...
In the past two decades, there has been much turmoil throughout Serbia, and without any consistency or certainty for the nation, it has led to frustration and anger for the people. They have an unfortunate past of Human Rights violations and particular regions, such as Vojovodina, have been placed on Human Rights Watch by the European Parliament. Many of these issues began with the ethnic cleanings issues during the war in Bosnia. After June of 1999, International Red Cross identified 150,000 Serbs who had fled from terror, intimidation and primarily ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Metohija, a province of Serbia. Only about 6,000 people have been able to return home since, making Serbia Europe’s country with the most refugees. The UN is in the process of trying to get as many of these people to return as possible, but efforts have proved difficult. In addition, in this same province, nearly 1,000 Ser...
In conclusion, religion played a vital role from before Constantine and after Constantine. The church has changed, but people’s views on God stayed the same. Most of these people, at first did not believe in God but after some faith, they all converted to Christianity. The people included in this paper are extremely important people that lived their life differently than others because of what they believed. They are all great examples how Christianity has changed their lives since they converted.
In placing all importance in religious symbols, Geertz does not account for any social, historical, political or economical factors which may influences one’s life, world-view and belief system. Geertz essentially argues that religious symbols create belief, but Asad denies this, arguing instead that religious symbols only serve as a catalyst for belief. Thus, because social conditions will differ from culture to culture, Asad believes it is pointless to try and find common ground between all religions. Instead he insists that looking at historical facts, which may gives us an insight into the kind of institutions and ideologies were present at the time to allow a certain way of belief to become prominent, is the preferable way of studying