Elisabeth Lesuer was a very faithful, and intelligent woman in the late 19th century early 20th century. Being brought up in the upper-middle class, she was able to be educated privately in languages, arts, and literature. She has also studied much of the Catholic Faith. She meets the love of her life Felix Lesuer in 1886 while he was attending the University of Paris. The two married in 1889. While going to the university, Felix quits Catholicism, but the two had an agreement that Elisabeth can remain faithful, but Felix did not practice in the faith at all. Later in time, though, Felix started giving Elisabeth readings against Christianity weakening her participation in Christianity; One day this backfired on him when handing her Earnest Renan’s History of the Origins of Christianity, the first volume of which, The Life of Jesus, denies Christ’s Divinity. After reading this, Elisabeth does research on this matter, and experiences deep adult conversion, and returns passionately practicing the Faith,which she saw as the truth. Begins writing her spiritual journal in 1899 called Journal et pensées de chaque jour. The journal just showed how committed she was to that faith, even though her social society was against it, and how she would get by being faithful, without making Felix mad, and anyone else against the Faith she knew in her life. Elisabeth’s journal explained why she was so faithful, and how she would study, and pray the Faith in ways that didn’t upset those
A voice is given to the mother in this poem, who is representative of all women who have suffered under the churches morals and values and still hold a high regard for religion, in this case, Christianity. It is clear from Heaney’s depiction of suffering that the mother does share a maternal bond with
Additionally, Davis’s monograph explores detailed information regarding the shift of many people at the time from Catholicism to Protestantism, which is extremely important to the
The late seventeenth century, when the enlightenment began, was a period of great turmoil, which persisted at intervals throughout the succeeding century. Reason had led many thinkers to the conclusions that kings and queens were ordinary mortals, and that conclusion implied new kinds of uncertainty. Society in this period worked by the means of well-defined codes of behavior. Religion during this period was still very important to many people. Moliere’s “Tartuffe” is a great illustration on how religion affected people at that time. Moliere was very brave to write this story based on how the Catholic Church was influencing and blinding people. Women also played a huge part of the enlightenment period and society during this time. Women of the upper classes occupied an important place in the Enlightenment society, presiding over “Salons,” gatherings whose participants engaged in intellectual as well as frivolous conversation (Puchner 7). In the literature that we have read, society overlook women capabilities and their logic thinking. The story that was a great example of this is “Tartuffe “and “The Love Suicides At Amijima”. Throughout these two text you can easily point out the difference between a man and a woman role in society. In this essay, I will dive into how society played a factor in “Tartuffe” and “The Love Suicides at Amijima”.
The nuns who still live at Aubazine are more concerned with the worship of God than the antecedents of fashion, yet they were kind enough to allow me to visit them, on the understanding that I observed their rules of prayer and silence. Gabrielle came here with her two sisters in February 1895; I arrived at the same time of year, a bitterly cold season, when winter had not yet loosened its grip on the mountains (and I felt lost in the deep despair of a looming divorce). Only a handful of nuns remained, the orphans long since vanished, though their dormitories were untouched, the children's iron beds lined against whitewashed walls hung with crucifixes.
Elizabeth Johnson is perhaps one of the most preeminent Catholic theologians of the new millennium. The fact that she is a woman religious who writes from a feminist perspective adds to her unique and distinguished career. This paper will examine the revisionist method espoused by Elizabeth Johnson, in an effort to understand her approach to Christian feminism. An overview of revisionist methodology will be presented so as to understand the framework in which Johnson works. References to some of Johnson!s writings will then be presented in an effort to illustrate her revisionist method. Finally a survey of various critics will then be presented in an effort to determine what has made her method, approach and style groundbreaking in the
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. - Matthew 6:9. The idea of “God the father” is one that is rooted deep in our society predominantly the ways in which it rejoices men. The almighty all and powerful God is outlined as a male figure in the bible, constructed using almost entirely masculine language. This simple fact has provoked men to assume the position of authority, to oversee over his family. This simple fact leads to an imbalance of power between men and women subconsciously oppressing women within our society. In Mary Daly’s “After the Death of God the Father,” Mary explains how the Judeo-Christian culture has served to bring structure to a sexually imbalanced man driven culture." This male-controlled society has its establishments in the most discernible parts of Christianity.” Mary’s work is a continuation of what is known as “The women's liberation movement” furthering the conversation of societies hold on a woman and bringing change. In this critical evaluation of Mary Daly's work, I will discuss the thesis and argument of the reading, along with an analysis of its assumptions and implications.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Christianity played a significant role in everyone’s lives. Hence, Eleanor was educated in scriptures and prayers. The power of Churches in Europe transformed from weak and decentralized into strict and centralized establishments that excluded women. Beginning in the ninth century, a series of reform movements, such as the Carolingian, Cluniac, and Gregorian, restricted women’s involvement in clerical and secular affairs by further recognizing the division between female and male actions and duties. According to Turner, “[Nobility] salvation was a matter of negotiations with God represented by his ministers on Earth.”
Elizabeth I, monarch of England, and Marie de l’Incarnation, a French nun, both invoked God and other forms of religious power to stake their claims to authority. Elizabeth’s role as a queen came at a time when her country was going through political turmoil. Marie’s role as a missionary in New France was to civilize the indigenous people. Although working to better their countries, both of these writers are vastly different due to their social positions. While Elizabeth had the substantial task of ruling over her country, Marie was serving her country as a missionary; however, both writers utilize religion to accomplish their various duties.
female characters presented in her study “progress from trying to find sanctuary in the church to
In fact, the reformation oppressed women socially and religiously. Men also suffered some setbacks as well, but this paper will focus on the setbacks of women. Before the reformation, women had basically three options for a “career.” They could marry and become a housewife, become a nun, or work a prostitute.
Jonathan Edward’s Personal Narrative shows a drastic shift in religious, social relationships, from the church and sacred texts informing you about how you should act to be virtuous, to the ordinary person and traveling preacher having the religious authority that the church previously had. This shows in the lines, “I made a solemn dedication of myself to God,” and, “That my sins appear to me so great.”
Thus, we see that in a sense, Catholicism acted as a catalyst in the development of female education. Paradoxically enough though, at the same time, it limited the possible level of knowledge they could attain. The thought of the supposedly foolish, sinful female sex breaking the bonds of ignorance made many people fear the possibility of women reading “forbidden” books. Dante’s “La vita nuova”, the Petrarchan sonnets and the “Decameron” are a few examples of books that were considered lasciviously dangerous and kept off-limits (Grendler, 1989). Indeed, women could be educated, yet within a certain framework. Their level of knowledge only went up to a point, in order to make sure they grew up to be exemplary, pious, Christian housewives.
Religion in the Middle Ages takes on a character all of its own as it is lived out differently in the lives of medieval men and women spanning from ordinary laity to vehement devotees. Though it is difficult to identify what the average faith consists of in the Middle Ages, the life told of a radical devotee in The Book of Margery Kempe provides insight to the highly intense version of medieval paths of approaching Christ. Another medieval religious text, The Cloud of Unknowing, provides a record of approaching the same Christ. I will explore the consistencies and inconsistencies of both ways to approach Christ and religious fulfillment during the Middle Ages combined with the motivations to do so on the basis of both texts.
Though the prioress is a religious figure who is suppose to be practicing moderation, piousness, and charity, she is instead refining behavior that is expected of the courts, which is unnecessary in religious institutions. The extensive description of her elegant attire and courtly manners paints a portrait of excessive pompousness and arrogance. The extravagance of the nun’s clothes also shows that rather than living in humble poverty, the nun is living a lavish life, which portrays her in a corrupt light because she does not abide by the teachings of the convent. The nun further demeans religious codes through her obsession with worldliness. The nun’s boundless love for her dogs, and the tears that she sheds for animals demean the respect and love that she should be directing towards God because she shows that she loves the material more than she does anything else. Her brooch that reads “Amor vincit omnia” (162) is a display of her affection towards worldly material items because her love is imprinted on her brooch instead of being expressed through her actions. The nun’s focus on worldly items reflects the corruption that was overtaking religious institutions as more individuals within it began to incorporate the ambitions and ideals of aristocracy into their religious practices.
Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d'Arthur is a classic piece of literate that reveals the depths of mankind in numerous ways. Man is a complicated creature, greatly influenced by a variety of circumstances and often the choices made in those times mold man into who he or she will become. The lens for which one views beauty and goodness can be greatly affected by these experiences. As I have spent time reflecting on Mallory’s writing, it is apparent that he used several key themes to explain his views of man; those being identity, fate, love, family, and redemption. These themes parallel much of scripture and when paid attention to, can help one understand the truths of Scripture on their Christian journey.