David Edelstien's Review

Christianity is divided into thousands of denominations across the world, each denomination has a specific set of beliefs and norms which contribute to, and sometimes challenge the overarching themes of Christianity and The Bible. Christopher M. Moereman in his book, Beyond the Threshold explains Normative Christianity, and the specific beliefs and practices within. Kyriacos C. Markides in this book, The Magus of Strovolos uses the teachings of Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, also known as Daskalos, to further illustrate the specific beliefs and practices within Esoteric Christianity. After reading and understanding the writings of both Moreman and Markides, it is clear to see there are ideas which distinguish Esoteric Christianity from Normative Christianity. This essay will explore these ideas which include the idea soul, the idea life after death, and the teachings of Daskalos.

Journal One in The Alternative by Galen Leonhardy, tells the story of a teacher who helps open an alternative school in Kozol Creek, Idaho, and the struggles he faces in attempting to implement a collaborative education process. The author writes of teachers who let students run free through the halls or simply ignored kids because they did not know how to handle them. He also writes of teachers who strive for a more personalized education by learning who their students are and understanding the environment from which they come. I have also dealt with both kinds of teachers in my educational experience, as I was a student of an alternative school. Mr. Lamar, to me, represents what a teacher should be. His personal dedication to making a difference in students’ lives and his willingness to go the extra mile by empowering students to take responsibility for their education changed how I perceived my own education. Mrs. Patton, on the other hand, is a teacher I would much rather forget. Her militarized style of teaching made learning an afterthought to the daily complications we encountered in the classroom. Both Mr. Lamar and Mrs. Patton taught me the importance of being included in your own education.

Avatar required 10 years to complete and was a visually stunning. A film with visionary technology, graphics, and film techniques. Director James Cameron developed and pioneered many of these techniques while creating this film, and propelled motion capture technology and film to a new level. The characters were well written and the actors chosen fit their roles very well. One of the characters in this epic film was Mo’at the spiritual leader of the Omaticaya clan. (Khare, 2009)

“I never read reviews. I'm not interested. But I value a lot the reactions of the spectators.”- Hayao Miyazaki.

It goes without saying that The Hero's Journey is an intriguing path for a story to follow. The Hero's Journey is a narrative pattern created by Joseph Campbell. James Cameron’s Avatar is a story about Jake Sully. Jake's brother was killed and because the two share the same DNA, Jake must take his place as an Avatar. Throughout this movie, friendships are formed, enemies are made and many lives are lost. In this essay, the path of The Hero's Journey will be looked at. Specifically, the Ordinary World, Meeting the Mentor, Tests, Allies and Enemies and the Ordeal. Avatar perfectly captures The Hero's Journey throughout the movie. From the Ordinary World to the Returning with the

In the year 2009, James Cameron wrote and directed one of the most remarkable films I have ever seen ‘Avatar’. This science-fiction saga has a story line that is engaging and captivating for its audience. Avatar took place on a moon called Pandora. Humans discovered very valuable natural resources on Pandora and did whatever it took to obtain what they needed from Pandora. The people of Pandora are Na’vi’s, a 10 foot tall, blue-skinned humanoid alien group that lived in the rainforest or Pandora. The Humans found a way to interact with the Na’vi’s by artificial yet organic avatars that were controlled with a human mind and conscience. Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine who was given the task to manipulate the Na’vi’s into leaving their home. Sully entered

Avatar uses a variety of film genres and styles. One of the styles is the Cowboys versus Indians theme. It is clear that Avatar is a product of post-colonialism: it shows the Na'vi as the relatively harmless yet environmentally respectful and spiritually in tuned indigenous population, while the humans are a corporate military whose only goal is mine the resources of Pandora. The film presents an anti-military narrative. The soldiers are portrayed as cruel, violent, and brainless brutes, with only mercenary intentions. They are the stereotype of the ultimate warrior. They perpetuate the “might is right” myth. All of them are males, except for a female helicopter pilot, who ultimately defects to the

Failure is perhaps one of the most influential things in people’s lives because it can alter the course of our actions, by teaching us persistence or leading us the opposite way. Through his book, Dr. Cleamon Moorer guides the readers through an intimate journey about his progression from failure to promise. In the small town of Detroit, Moorer was raised by Christian parents, who taught him love, obedience, and enforced discipline, but most importantly, they nurtured his faith in Jesus Christ. Cleamon Moorer flourished in academics during both elementary and middle school, however, his mischievousness throughout those years earned him many disciplinary sessions. In high school, misbehavior became history, yet, his GPA suffered in the low C’s. But with his father’s tough discipline and Moore’s own effort and faith in God, he later received candidacy for the National Honor’s Society. As his college experience began, Cleamon Moore was honored to attend GMI and work along many of his classmates at GM, but when the courses became more difficult after each semester, his grades fell below the required minimum, hence, he became a “flunk-out”. Yet, he did not abandon his education; he never gave in to failure, in fact, he leaned from it. Then, with years of tenacity, patience, and faith, he ultimately became a professor at the same university at which he had failed.

do in the home and labor market. Also, he states that when their marriages deviate

Dr. David Feddes revealed Unapologetic apologetics has at least four elements that I want to highlight: dialogue, defense, clarification, and making a positive case. Dialogue includes talking together, reasoning together, listening and learning to talk another person’s language. Part of communicating the gospel is speaking in the language, and in the figures of speech, and with the examples that other people can understand and relate to. In order to relate to other people, you need conversation with them. You need to understand how they think in order to communicate how you think. Dialogue, talking back and forth in an effort to understand each other, is a big part of apologetics.

Wade was able to speak freely to other avatars without fearing being judged and was able to find a significant other through OASIS as well. His two lives juxtapose each other as Wade was isolated in reality, but desperate for social inclusions in OASIS. Moreover, Wade’s actions reinforces my opinion of literature having the ability to oversimplify reality as his experience encourages readers to seek happiness even if it means to lose individuality.

When comparing James Cameron’s Avatar with Walt Disney’s Pocahontas, you may find several similarities in the movies; but don’t be fooled, because it is the differences of these two movies that sets them so widely apart, rather than the similarities that supposedly bring them together. Many people seem to have the opinion that Avatar is just a futuristic, visually stunning version of Walt Disney’s Pocahontas but in reality, they are nothing alike as they have two entirely different themes. The themes expressed throughout the movies aren’t the only thing that separates them; the plots are also much unrelated. While

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated show that is set in a magical world. The world is divided into four elemental powers. The elemental powers are earthbending, airbending, firebending, and waterbending. The world is made up of humans and animals. The show is fun to watch and it was made by nickelodeon. There are a lot of people in the story to the cartoon was hard to make because the architecture of the world is very complicated.

The apocalypse is a common subject addressed in films and such Doomsday scenarios have become increasingly popular since the beginning of the Cold War. These films provide a different cause for the downfall of human kind and approach the subject with various degrees of despair and hope. Despite the obvious differences in approach that different directors take, these films all serve to highlight not only the negative qualities of human kind that led to and are represented by the agent of destruction but also to highlight the strength of the survivors who keep the will to fight for their lives despite the bleak circumstances. For the most part, The Mist, adapted from a Stephen King novella, sticks closely to the archetype. The Mist, a

The film was unable to live up to its own expectations given prior to release. Ross douthat from the national review says "Nolan 's movies, alas, don 't support these panegyrics. The result has been backlash: From the blogs to the glossy magazines, critics have lined up to declare the new movie overrated, and Nolan a grim gamesman who lacks the human touch" From well known magazines, to blogs, even movie critics have deemed the film overrated. lucius shepard from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction says, "In the end we’re left with another over-hyped summer movie, a mash-up that quotes from a