In a world filled to the brim with alienation, despair, and loneliness one could assume that there is no allotted room for hope. During the Oral Tradition, 5th-11th Centuries, many Anglo-Saxon poems contained common themes of isolation and characters who led wretched lifestyles. Two of the most legendary poems descending from the Oral Tradition, “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer,” contain these elegiac elements. Similarly, both the seafarer and the wanderer reside in worlds of continuous exile and turmoil. Despite the gloomy worlds the characters inhabit they continue to persevere due to hope provided via religion; the belief that one day they will achieve eternal salvation.
The wanderer’s spirit and youthfulness appear worn down after much time in exile. Believing, “woe of heart withstandeth not fate; a failing spirit/ Earneth no help” (“The Wanderer” 14-6), the wanderer ascertains there is no panacea. Not even his sleep where he evokes memories of his kin and the mead hall provides him consolation. As his journey across the wintry seas continues he ruminates over the circuitous fleetingness of life. Wealth, friends, man kind, and maid are all ephemeral, leaving, “the foundation of the earth [to] fail,” (“The Wanderer” 115-8). Distraught and worried because the world he grew to recognize, to identify with, and to adore steadily begins leaving him. However, after much pondering the wanderer foresees hope. He discovers that a, “good man is [one] who guard[s] his faith/Never too quickly unburden[s] his breast/ Of its sorrow, but eagerly strive[s] for redress;/ Happy [is] the man who [seeks] mercy/ From his heavenly Father, our fortress and/ strength” (“The Wanderer” 120-5). Realizing that instead of reflecting on his sorrows, th...
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...eir shared belief that one day they will reach Heaven permits them to continue on their sorrowful and tiresome journeys.
Hope via religion provides the central reason that the seafarer, the wanderer, and many Anglo-Saxons persisted with their cruel lives. Deserted on the sea for a vast period of time the Anglo-Saxon warriors found it crucial to discover a reason to continue their journeys. Knowing that the hope of reaching Heaven is possible, warriors such as the seafarer and the wanderer persist until they reach that vital day. The wanderer comes to peace with the idea of God as, “our fortress and/strength” (124-5).Similarly, the seafarer acknowledges that one should praise God who is, the “Eternal, unchanging creator of earth” (124). Despite the grievances of their current circumstances, hope via religion prevents these Anglo-Saxon men from falling apart.
different religions. It is referred as “The Heart of the World”. This land unites Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Each religion finds Jerusalem sacred in its own way. Coming from this Holy Land, I have observed the significance of Jerusalem to these three monotheistic religions. Christianity Christians in Jerusalem fall into a category where they see themselves as a bridge that connects Muslims and Jews together by their faith. In the Old City of Jerusalem, or the Heart of the City, lies Via Dolorosa
More and more people are becoming less connected to religion. Ever since the 1960’s, Americans have sought to do away with tradition and rigid doctrine to usher in new philosophies and lifestyles. Very few people in today’s world of religion want to be preached at. While there was a time when preachers such as Billy Graham could bring down the house asserting scripture, people of this generation look to be inspired and entertained at religious services. Congregants enjoy the integration of popular
values and his standards to abound. Moreover, Christianity is the only religion that
The Role of Religion in Society The role of religion in society is definately a dynamic one. The relationship between both religion and society is always changing. Religion effects different societies in different ways and different forms, causing the forms of society to change according to a change in religion. Religion can be a driving force in society, but as a reactionary rather than in a radical way. Functionalism Functionalists believe that religion maintains social solidarity
Riveted is a scholastic book that targets to explain the different supports of accomplishing his "compelling foundations theory". The author, Jim Davies, exposes the developmental foundations of why we find things compelling, such as religion. Compelling is a way of showing interest and attention. Professor Jim Davies extended theories on learning and how they relate to Theory of Mind. Jesse Bering, a cognitive scientist thinks that people’s religious beliefs come from humans’ formation of what Davies
Today we toured the Piazza Navona, Campo Marzio, the Piazza Colona, and the via del fori imperiali, in addition to the churches of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and the Pantheon (Church of St. Mary and the Martyrs). On this first day, it was amazing to see in person what we’ve talked about in class and to understand how Christianity has affected Rome via its copious churches and how the early times of the city affected it even now. Regarding the Piazzas Navona and Colona, I enjoyed seeing how
Christian values slip through their fingers, ultimately leaving no hope of salvation because of the corruption that was occurring in the Church and values being forgotten at every new pope. Pope Innocent III was the first pope to name himself the ‘Vicar of Peter’ to then name himself ‘Vicar of Christ’ as he was convinced as pope he was “Christ’s Vicar on Earth, charged with the duty of wielding the spiritual sword, so as to uphold religion, justice, and mortality everywhere.” Pope Innocent was doing
allow any religion to set themselves in this classification due to fear of reproach from fundamentalist zealots among them. The latest attack, against the French polemicist magazine, Charlie Hebdo, is something that strikes at the core of the fundamental nationalistic ideologies in Western civilization, and the antibiotic of despotism and is an ideological dogma itself, freedom of speech. “French anticlerical thinkers have historically been critical of predominately the country’s state religion of Catholicism;
Philosophy’s Prejudice Towards Religion ABSTRACT: Religion acquired a bad press in philosophical modernity after a rivalry developed between philosophy and theology, originating in philosophy’s adopting the role of our culture’s superjudge in all of morality and knowledge, and in faith’s coming to be seen as belief, that is, as assent to propositional content. Religion, no longer trust in the face of mystery, became a belief system. Reason as judge of propositional belief set up religion’s decline
PHL 101: Comparative Religion First Written Assignment Rosaline Chungag Wayne County Community College Dr. Cynthia Miller September 26, 2015. Abstract Religion has been around since the evolution of man. It expresses different myth unorganized and varies regions to regions, and it gives people something to believe in. As people became more religion has involved into becoming more organized and has both positive and negative effects around the world. For this assignment I was researching
at least nominal adherence to a Christian-based religion, however, almost 30 per cent of the population do not relate to any religion. The rest of the population is a differing bunch that includes quick developing Islamic and Buddhist communities. Religion in Australia is frequently viewed as a social prosperity, non-religious people may aspire to these goals in different routes. For instance, via secular humanism. Sociologists tend to view religion as a social development intended to offer intending
to know the people of these magnificent islands a bit better. The culture of the native Hawaiian people is very colorful and unique because of its cuisine, hula dances, and religion. Now that we’re going to talk about culture, you should learn about one of the most important parts of any people’s way of life, their religion. The Hawaiians originally had a polytheistic
European history is well documented. It has also been passed down through the generations via songs, stories, ceremonies and media. To the initial European mind, the Australian Indigenous people had no history, as there was little or no evidence in the form of written documents. Therefore, any historical claims were deemed invalid so as J D Woods writes, “Without a history they have no past”. The Australian Indigenous people had no means or need to document and record their history as they constantly
but at the urging of a friend and with the hopes that his story would be a tool to help as many people as possible. He also chose to write his autobiography himself to help dispel the belief that slaves were “naturally inferior”, “utterly stupid”, “and do not apprehend their rights” (1) and that by writing his own story he could prove that the people held
defined in a variety of different ways, with different inter-religious analogies being used in an attempt to clarify the subject. However, in his book The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts, Baba Ifa Karade, an initiated practitioner of the Ifa religion, writes about the orisha in a way that, while simple, manages to avoid oversimplification. Additionally, his interpretation is free of the excessively esoteric jargon present in many insider descriptions of religious concepts, African or