...Apostle Paul visited the religious and cultural experience of the Greco-Roman world through cities like Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, and Rome; this lead him to the brazen act of spreading christianity beyond Palestine. In Rome, there were an innumerable amount of religions that were assimilated after a people's conquer; this was due to the fact that polytheism, in Rome, was accreditted. Eventually, the Pantheon was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in the early second century in honor of his building program that pushed architects to build new and better landmarks as well as sculptures from artisans; also being Emperor, he was tasked with making temples. Easily distinguished Christian art is traceable to late of the second century, and early of the third. Although, the Old Testament writes off graven images, this did not defer future artisans from continuing their Greco-Roman culture, which was heavily based off of imagery, buildings, sculptures, and etc. As the religion, Christianity, continued to expand and gain more converts, many of whom were raised to appreciate images from previous religions, naturally wanted to continue their way of doing so. For example, there was a change in burial practices in the Roman world, and I quote, "Outside the city walls of Rome, adjacent to major roads, catacombs were dug into the ground to bury the dead. Families would have chambers or cubicula dug to bury their members. Wealthy Romans would also have sarcophagi or marble tombs carved for their...
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...with man after sin entered the world. This plan revolves around making His name known throughout all tribes and nations. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Bible presents God’s missionary purpose for humanity. For this reason, Christians involved in missions will travel to dangerous places to proclaim God’s name and saving power. According to the People Groups website, since the year 2014, there are a total of 11,168 people groups in the world and 6,544 are unreached people groups. All unreached people groups are in dire need of the Gospel and it is God’s intention to have His people reach them. One unreached people group who are in desperate need for God is the Koreans in North Korea. With a population of 25,360,100 and a communist government that regulates all aspects of freedom, including religion, for its people, explains why North Koreans are approximately one percent evangelized. North Korea is ranked as the number one country where Christians are most persecuted for their belief. God remains faithful to His intent on reaching all peoples and Koreans are not the exception. In order to bring the Gospel to them, much planning, preparation, and training must take place before taking such a dangerous journey. It is the intention of this paper to devise a strategy to bring God’s name to this unreached people group. This paper will first discuss their background, historical events, language, society, and religions. Second, this paper will include...
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...Christianity Belvin Sherrill Professor Cecil Mayhall Rel 212 March 20, 2014 Provide a brief overview of the religion you selected that includes: * A description of the central beliefs of the religion. * A description of the sacred text(s) of the religion. * the origin of the religion, including key figures associated with the religion, if applicable The central belief of the Christian religion is that Jesus is the Son of God who is also the second person in the holy Trinity. You have God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that he lived on earth spreading and teaching the words of his father. Jesus taught, prophesized, and preformed miracles in the name of God he healed the sick, made the blind see, the deaf hear and he did other miracles during his life on earth at the end of his life Jesus was crucified on a cross and said that he was dying for the sins of the world and three days after he passed away Jesus was resurrected and he spoke to his followers one more time and then Jesus ascended into heaven to be seated on the right hand of God his father. In the book of John chapter three sixteenth verse it says for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life which is why God let his Son be born on earth to show God's love for humanity and God's forgiveness of human sins and that by faith in Jesus one may attain salvation and eternal life. This fact is the main teaching in...
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...World Religions Report Stanley Akesson HUM/130 April 7, 2013 Thomas Thiessen I have decided to compare the Christianity faith of United Church of Christ (UCC) along with Islam. Christianity was started with Jesus and ended with the belief and practice which centers on the resurrection of Christ. I will show how the faiths split and divided into three major branches over the centuries. Protestantism, evolved in the 16th century during the Reformation. United Church of Christ (UCC) was part of the in the 1950’s Congregational Churches of the English Reformation with Puritan New England roots in America, and the Christian. Islam was started by The Prophet Muhammad and according to Muslim belief, the angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad. His life's work is recorded in the Qur'an, the sacred text of Islam. The Holy Quran is a compilation of the verbal revelations given to the Holy Prophet Muhammad over a period of twenty two years Summary of Interview Reverend Joseph Blotz, became a Minister of Faith Formation in August 2010. He is currently assigned to the United Church of Christ (UCC) in Mansfield, Connecticut. Where did everything come from? Reverend Blotz describes where everything comes from with the many stories from the Bible of how the world and everything came to be. It is God’s action that brought the world into existence and order. What is the ultimate problem with the world? A large problem with the world is ultimately broken relationship between God and people...
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...Assignment notes Christianity vs. Judaism: The major differencesHere, in great brevity, is a summary of some of the major differences between Judaism and Christianity. | Principle | | Christianity | | Judaism | Nature of God | | Trinity | | Unity | Nature of Messiah | | Divine, Sin Sacrifice | | Only human, Righteous King | Atonement | | Blood Required | | Prayer and Repentance | Sin | | Everyone stained by Adam and Eve ("original sin") | | All begin with clean slate | Righteousness | | No one | | Within our power to choose | Satan | | Fallen angel | | Agent of God | Torah | | Written only | | Written and Oral | Commandments | | Not eternal or valuable | | Eternal and of ultimate value | Exclusivity | | Only Christians go to heaven | | All righteous have a place in the world to come. | Land of Israel | | Irrelevant | | Crucial | Jews | | Replaced by the church; or irrelevant | | God’s chosen people | Judaism is one of the world’s oldest religions, dating back up to 2000 years BC from the time when God first called Abraham to leave his home and follow Him. At that time, God made a covenant (or agreement) with Abraham in which He promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation and that one day his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan if Abraham followed him. God’s plan was gradually revealed through the Old Testament and built on with further promises to Moses, David and the prophets...
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...the many religions of the world and that were focused on during this class, I chose to focus on Christianity, specifically Catholicism. As the oldest Christian religion and notably the most unique and specific, Catholicism is revered throughout the world. It is the most talked about, both in society and religiously and the most controversial among the different Christian religions. As a world religion, there are some similarities that are shared with the other religions. The first similarity is the deity God that is worships. Among the Christian, Jewish and Islam world, God is the only deity that is worshipped. How he is viewed and worshipped is the only difference. The second similarity is between the Jewish, Islam and Catholic religions. This similarity is the traditions and rituals. Even though these traditions and rituals are performed in different ways and for different reasons, they are the foundation that holds our religions together. Finally the last similarity between the Christian, Jewish, Islam and Catholic faiths is that they originated from the same genealogy. In the Bible the reader gets to the story of Abraham. It is during this story that two faiths emerge, Jewish (Hebrew) and the Islam religion. The rest of the Bible focuses on the Jewish history and leaves behind Islam. However, it is during the time after Jesus’ death that the reader is introduced to the Christians that formed the Catholic (universal) faith. After several hundred years people became disgruntled...
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...In this world, there are more than 4,000 religions. Approximately thirty-one percent of the world are christians. Twenty-three percent are muslims. Many more come behind them, but which ones affect society negatively? Which ones affect society positively? Religions are only as good as the people who practice it. Many people may state that a certain amount of religions affect society positively; however, others might state that they affect society negatively. Around the seventeenth century, Science arose and the scientific revolution came with it. The Law of Planetary Motion by Kepler, Galileo’s telescope observations, and all of the experiments with gases by Robert Boyle, are all scientific occurrences that have happened in the seventeenth...
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...John Wesley was a powerful personality whose passion and devotion to his cause and beliefs led him to explore and change people's view on Christianity and on the interpretation of the Scriptures. During his lifetime Wesley's determination and occasional dictatorial nature allowed him to influence people and help them change their opinion on religion. John Wesley's achievements spanned the majority of his lifetime. From his journeys to preach from England to Georgia, U.S.A. To other parts of Europe. Him writing a few hundred sermons. His longevity enabling him to see the beginning of Methodism's development. In which both of them were highly involved with do to their position in the church “were leaders of the evangelical revival in the Church of England in the eighteenth century.”1 The two of them with their position helped establish a new denomination, the Methodist Church, which was to grow and flourish in Britain and across the world. John Wesley was described as “that extraordinary man whose life and acts have taken their place in the religious history, not only of England, but of Christendom.”2 Through his work and powerful persona he became one of the most famous and recognizable people in England. “His universality of influence and range of achievement in matter of faith and conduct outstripped the leading politicians, philosophers and divines of his age.”3 John Wesley was “born in 1703”4 and was a well educated young...
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...The book being reviewed for this essay is titled A Question of Identity: Iberian Converso’s in Historical Perspective, written by Renee Levine Melammed. It is divided into eight different chapters that deal with the complicated relationship between Christians, Converso’s, and the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. The plan of forced conversions in 1391 was indeed successful, but nobody was prepared for the aftermath of what transpired. How to deal with the massive influx of converts into Christianity was an enormous problem, and the question of identity became the central area of concern. As one will see, religious incentive was the dominant motivator for forcible conversion that ultimately led to the problematic question of identity amongst the...
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...SUMMARY OF PETER BERGER, THE SACRED CANOPY CHAPTER 1: RELIGION AND WORLD-CONSTRUCTION CHAPTER 2: RELIGION AND WORLD-MAINTENANCE CHAPTER 3: THE PROBLEM OF THEODICY CHAPTER 5: THE PROCESS OF SECULARIZATION CHAPTER 1: RELIGION AND WORLD-CONSTRUCTION Berger begins his interpretation of religion by observing that very little in human life is determined by instinct. Because we humans have a relatively short gestation period in the womb (compared to other species), we don't have time to develop very elaborate instinctual equipment. We have very few instincts, and the ones we have are quite weak. So we have few specific responses to specific stimuli "patterned" into us. This means that in every situation we have a very large range of options for responding. We are constantly forced to choose how to interact with the world. In Berger's terminology, we must choose how to "externalize" ourselves, which means how to relate to and shape the environment around us. (Berger claims that in this respect we are different from all other animal species. He may well be wrong about other animal species; other animals may be a lot like us. But that doesn't mean he is wrong about human life.) Every time we externalize ourselves we change the environment, which creates a new set of choices to be faced. since the relationship between self and world is always changing, we are always "off balance." What we want more than anything else, according to this sociological view, is to be in balance--to...
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...A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that aim to explain the meaning of life, the origin of life, or the Universe. From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people may derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. The practice of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of a deity, gods, or goddesses), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain mythology.[1] The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or set of duties;[2] however, in the words of Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social".[3] A global 2012 poll reports 59% of the world's population as "religious" and 36% as not religious, including 13% who are atheists, with a 9% decrease in religious belief from 2005.[4] On average, women are "more religious" than men.[5] Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally...
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...Religion is a topic that has been universally debated tracing back to the beginning of time. Religion shapes our lives and the way we live our lives as well as the way people behave. There are too many religions to study and discuss in a single paper; therefore, this paper will take a closer look at Christianity as it is the most common religion in the world covering 33% of the world’s population (Fisher, 2005). Why do so many people believe the words of the Holy Bible and claim the Christian faith? Is Christianity the truth? To truly understand Christianity, we must dive deep into the Biblical teachings and share the primary foundation of their beliefs. “Christianity is a faith based on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus” (Fisher, 2005, pg. 284). In the beginning of this story we must start with Jesus’ mother, the Virgin Mary was visited by an angel, whom told her that she would conceive a baby and he would be the Messiah. She should name him Immanuel, which means God with us. An angel visited Joseph as well, who told him that Mary was blessed by the Holy Spirit and would have a son, who would save the people from their sins. Mary and Joseph obeyed God, the baby was born in a stable, laid in a manager and they called him Jesus, meaning God with us (Matthew 1:18-25, New International Version). At the age of 30, Jesus started his mission and selected a group of 12 disciples to help him share his message. He went place to place and preached about God’s love...
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...4-MAT Review: Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity Liberty University Summary The book, Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity (2010) by David N. Entwistle, readers are first presented with the concept of the conflict between the integration of Christianity and psychology. Psychology is founded on the truth while Christianity focuses on an individual’s faith. This leads one to question whether Christianity and psychology are possible to coexist. Entwistle offers a statement that is fundamentally an examination of the entire book: “The integration of psychology and theology is virtually inevitable due to their mutual interest in understanding the ambiguities and mysteries of human behavior and healing human brokenness” (Entwistle, 2010, p. 51). Entwistle mentions an individual’s worldview. A worldview is defined as how an individual looks at the world as well as the assumptions that are seen within the world. A person’s worldview effects the way in which they look at their own expectations and experiences. And with this comes a natural perception of assumption. Worldviews can be learned in many different aspects: family, school, media, and religion. There are two aspects that both psychology and theology have in common: human behavior and the healing of shattered lives; however, each approaches the aspect of human behavior with different assumptions, approaches, and goals (Entwistle, 2010). Entwistle explains psychology seeks out natural...
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...Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity Liberty University Summary David Entwistle’s (2010) book, Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity: An introduction to worldview issues, philosophical foundations, and models of integration, opens the reader’s eyes to unexpected possibilities, beginning with the often combative regimes of faith and reason using Tertullian’s symbolism of Athens as the seat of reason and Jerusalem as the seat of faith; which is the basic ongoing battle between science and religion (Entwistle, 2010). What Entwistle addresses is his belief that integration of the disciple of psychology and Christianity is possible, each contributing to the whole allowing effective therapy, where the therapist becomes a type of shepherd that invites the client into the goodness of God and introduces Christ as his savior. Psychology attempts to understand, describe, and diagnose human behavior but Christian theology seeks to understand “what it means to be human” (Entwistle, 2010, p. 3). In the end Entwistle (2010) reoccurring theme throughout the book is that this integration is possible because “all truth is God’s truth” (p. 13). All the reasoning, precise measurements, and descriptives of psychology are possible because of God’s work in creation. Entwistle expands on the concept of worldviews and how each individual interprets everything around them. Each person will search for the truth but it will be biased according to the individual’s worldview...
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...according to the text refers to the fear or awe a person feels in the presence of a spirit or a god. 2. Taoism and Confucianism are nontheistic religions, that is, religions for which belief in God or gods is nonessential. While gods are not alien to either Taoism or Confucianism, belief in/of gods is not central to either tradition. What are a couple of other religions that can be called nontheistic religions? a) A few additional examples of some nontheistic religions are Agnosticism, Atheism, Buddhism, Secular Humanism and Scientology. 3. What is Paul Tillich's definition for religion, and why do Hopfe and Woodward consider its development too broad? a) Paul Tillich defines religion as, “that which is of ultimate concern”. Hopfe and Woodward consider the development of Tillich’s definition of religion too broad for a world religions course because a philosophical exploration of Tillich’s definition of religion, yields many an individuals personal belief of what is of ultimate concern hardly lending to the general understanding of popular or mainstream religions they hope to accomplish in this text. 4. Explain E. B. Tylor's theory concerning the origin and evolution of religion. What is animism, and to what, "ultimately" and "finally," did Tylor think it evolved? a) E.B. Tylor’s theory regarding the origin and evolution of religion is that primitive people developed a sense of other or soul from their experiences with death and dreams. Animism is the belief that nature...
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