Preston Mundt Man's desire vs. God's will What place should the church have in one's life? This has been a debated question for many decades. In William Blake's poem, "The Garden of Love", Blake declares his hatred toward...

During the peak of Puritan ideology, the people strived for the warmth and relief of God's grace. Their numerous sacrifices determined what kind of people they were, and how much faith in God they possessed. Puritan literature reflects the desire for grace because the citizens of the colonial age b...

FREEDOM In "Paradiso", Dante is led by his guide Beatrice, and ascends through the heavenly spheres of Heaven, where he is granted a vision of God's heavenly court. In each sphere, Dante meets many souls who have been rewarded for their cardinal virtues, such as prudence, fortitude, justice, and ...

The fundamentals of Christian spirituality lie in the triune God that is the center of Christian faith. In Ronald Rolheiser's book, The Holy Longing, he strives to give the reader a deeper understanding of and ability to practice this Christian spirituality and its different dimensions within the ...

"You will desire your husband but he will be your master, (3:16 Genesis). The story Genesis discourages the notion of gender balance by portraying women as less than man. In this creation story, God creates the heavens and the earth, everything in between, and Adam (man) from dust. The Lor...

Simon Birch In order to flourish a tree must have strong roots. They are essential in the growth of the tree and without them it will eventually wither away. The same can be said about a person and his roots. Not knowing who you are or where you come from can make things very tough. It can fill...

Poetry Analysis - - The Village Atheist "The world and it's desires pass away; but, the man who does the will of God will live Forever." - 1 John 2:17 Using literary and poetic devises to stress the importance of hope, intuition, and desire over worldly objects, The Village Atheist warns th...

Hope Leslie a novel written by Catherine Maria Sedgwick in the 1800's is a tale for our time. As I was drawn into this tale I was struck by the very current views that are expressed by its various characters. Even though it was written in the 1800's, and set in the 1600's, Sedgwick...

In Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe builds a dramatic poem around the basis of human strengths and weaknesses, two traits exemplified by Goethe through his main character, Johann Faust. Throughout his life, Faust becomes knowledgeable in math, science, and the Holy Scripture, yet desires to find...

People have varying outlooks on nature. Some are content to unnoticingly rush through their God-given surroundings. Some are so enticed with it that they have an unending desire to study and understand every aspect of it. Still, some have a deep, unquestioning appreciation for nature. &qu...

Not only that there will be a redemption, but that there must be a redemption act present in several ways in John Milton's poem "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity". The redemption act--not being a reaction of God to Humanity's Fall, for such a dependency on Humanity by God is not ...

Faith involves God's revelation – God's action (self-communication) in the dynamic of faith.1 There is both an experience of faith, as well as a content of faith. Kelly refers to the experience of faith as fides qua (the [subjective] faith by which we believe) and the content of fait...

Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two of the most recognizable early American poets. In addition to this contemporary similarity they are also both American Puritans, with significant opinions and beliefs that reflected the ideal of the puritan, with respect to God in history, the importance of ...

Comparison of Creation Myths It is in the nature of humans to wonder about the unknown and search for answers. At the foundation of nearly every culture is a creation myth that explains how the wonders of the earth came to be. These myths have an immense influence on people's frame of reference. Th...

Putting the words atheism and morality in the same sentence might raise an eyebrow or two. Many people believe that Atheists do not have morals because they do not believe in a god. I, however, disagree with that statement. Not researching the beliefs, or non-beliefs, of atheism causes assumption...

For the past three hundred years, both the Satanists and the anti-Satanists have given diverse views on the character of Milton's Satan. From Dryden to Empson and from Johnson to C.S.Lewis and Stanley Fish, we see that both parties have interpreted and stressed the case in their favour. But the...

A Good Man is Hard to Find How does the grandmother overcome the reality of her mistakes and gain her redemption? In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor creates characters who are constantly convicted for their actions. She vividly shows how their lives are drastically changed by...

Human beings are inveterate seekers, people on a quest. Centuries ago, a North African by the name of Augustine wrote that "Our hearts are restless til they find their rest in Thee," speaking of mankind's desire for God. More recently, the American novelist Frederick Buechner, has referred to that i...

Is it possible to fabricate profound passions and emotions, or are genuine reasons compulsory to evoke such feelings? All of John Donne's verse, his love sonnets, and his religious poems, can be distinguished by a blend of passion and reason. However, the reasons for his poems are essential to comp...

Douglass and Chopin, both well respected figures of literature, have different styles of diction and detail. Edna often felt dragged down by religion, and as time goes by she learns to express her disregard of the traditional duty of the clergy. The traditional set-up of the church in those tim...

'A Room with a View' by E. M. Forster is an excellent novel that depicts various significant historical aspects that concerns the 20th century. The author skillfully conveys his message through his characters by emphasizing on their constant desire to travel, contradicting the individual...

Antonio's faith In the novel Bless Me Ultima the main character is a young boy by the name of Antonio Mares. Antonio is the son of a man who is used to a nomadic like lifestyle and his mother is accustomed to the life of living on a farm. This of course results in creating duality and con...

Christlikeness One thing that has really spoken to me in this course was studying the contrast of two ways to read scripture (to reinforce current beliefs vs. receiving fullness of Christ). I didn't so much read scripture to reinforce current beliefs b...

The Misfit, the bad seed in Flannery O'Connor's short story, is commonly deemed a logician of no mean wit. He has been pictured as a modern Pascal who wagers wrong ( Cobb ), a rigorously empirical Doubting Thomas ( Scouten 63 ), a mental ''thoroughbred with a curious and active nose'' ( Currie 149 )...

The central theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown,"is the conflict in Goodman Brown between joining the ranks of the devil and remaining "good." It is a very difficult personal journey for Young Goodman Brown, as he travels through the woods to follow an inner ...