God 's Grandeur, By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Henry Beston in Night on the Great Beach explains how we have destroyed some of the best parts of nature. We really don't appreciate the little things of nature. He goes in to great detail on how we have ruined night and continues to describe the little aspects of nature that we miss. Beston see nature as something that we don't respect anymore, but he has great love for it. It says to me that I don't appreciate nature. I never sit back and just enjoy it.

Change is constant with a society that is always recreating itself. From the Enlightenment period to the Industrial Revolution there is a massive difference when comparing these two societies of their norms and daily life.

Often times we are at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the person of the Holy Spirit. Beth Felker Jones in her work entitled “God the Spirit” serves as an introduction to the study of the Holy Spirit in a distinctly Wesleyan and Ecumenical Perspective. Jones is working against the notion that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is often the most neglected of all Christian teachings (1). She recognizes her experience within the Wesleyan tradition as one that shapes her pneumatology and this book. She asserts that one of Wesleyan Christianity’s special gifts is it’s “leaning against any tendency to neglect the Spirit” (4). Even with this framework she aims to place the Wesleyan perspective in a larger ecumenical milieu that shows the continuity of a Wesleyan pneumatology with the Tradition of the Church. Overall, her approach is very accessible, as she assumes very little and writes in such a way that allows her to cover large dogmatic topics clearly and concisely. By merit of simply being an introduction only style book, there is the risk of glossing over topics and not providing enough in depth discussion to fully understand and comprehend the doctrine discussed. A reader should feel confident that Jones has indeed provided us with a solid introduction to Wesleyan pneumatology that has the ability to bear fruit and initiate growth in the life of the believer.

In Stanley Hauerwas’s article titled “Go with God” he presents a letter to students who are going off to attend college. It’s a guide that proposes certain expectations and helpful information for students heading off on this new endeavor. He makes a point that going to college means much more than a diploma and hopes of high paying job. “To worship God and live faithfully are necessary conditions if you are to survive college. But as a Christian you are called to do more than survive” (Hauerwas). The advice in the letter reinforce its main theme: to be a student is a calling. This challenges the reader to think beyond the normal expectations of why we go off to college.

Religious spaces, characterized by Thomas Tweed, are “differentiated,” “interrelated,” and “kinetic.” As a sacred city with spiritual significance in three major religions, Jerusalem is depicted thoroughly in the Hebrew Bible and illustrated as one of the spaces Tweed defines. The Bible emphasizes that Jerusalem was chosen by God and honored by Israelites, which differentiates it as a special, singular space; the description of Solomon’s Temple shows that the Holy City was interrelated to economic power and involved in the judgment of civil cases. Moreover, the conquest, development and destruction of Jerusalem illustrate the city as a kinetic space, reflecting the unsettled history of the Iron Age. These characteristics all make Jerusalem a religious and political center from the ancient Near East time to present day, guiding the footsteps of believers around the world.

     In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the reader is given a particular glimpse into Janie's life with reference to the men she has known.  Janie's three men are all very different, yet they were all Janie's husband at one point in her life.  Although they all behaved differently, in lifestyle as well as their relationship with Janie, they all shared certain similarities.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston presents a story of self-love as Janie goes from one love to the next in hopes of finding someone to value her. Initially Janie sees that she is more than just a possession and being mistreated. She knows that she can find better. Later she finds Joe and believes that she is valuable because of her looks, and he just sees her as a possession and not his wife but this does not last. Eventually Joe dies, and Janie is single again and must decide on what to do for love. This time around, Janie finds her own voice, and she finds love with Vergible “ Tea Cake” Woods who embraces her as a full person. Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods wanted to talk to Janie to and listen to her whatever she has to say. Vergible “ Tea Cake” did not force Janie to do anything that she did not want to do. In her other relationships, they were dominate and want to control or use her for their own image. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s journey from one marriage to another reveals her discovery of her own value. How does each man view Janie? What does she learn in each marriage? How is she different in the end of the book from the beginning? How does Janie feel about herself and each of her husband 's? Does Janie value herself?

According to leading psychologist Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy Of Needs model, human beings have a variety of needs that must be met before they progress. The need to be included and belong to a group is second only to the need for safety and food and water. If this need is not satisfied, the chronic anxiousness developed from wanting to be included could cripple success in correctly choosing between the decisions and judgements of daily life. This anxiousness is prevalent in literature and is expressed as fear of not belonging and become a social outcast. This fear of not being accepted into a population causes conformity, behavior that adheres only to accepted standards, which ultimately inhibits social progress.

While reading Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards I came across some points that caught my attention. This story is based on how a pastor tries to persuade his congregation from the sins and make them to be fearful of the divine wrath, of God. I personally can relate to this story because of my religion. I am Pentecostal and I can see why Edwards would use such words towards his congregation so that they won’t perish and go to hell. My Pastor uses similar approaches like this when she preaches. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Edwards uses frightening words and religious metaphors to divert people from the congregation from the sins and condemning them to hell if they provoke the wrath of God and to establish that everyone should be fearful of him.

Nature has always had a role in providing for humanity. However, what does it provide for humanity? The poems that Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh, and William Williams present touches upon the topic of this. To help support their perspective on how nature provides for humanity, and what it provides, the three of them use both imagery and structure to go into detail as to why their perspective is so.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston explores the life of a southern black woman, Janie Crawford whose three marriages of domineering control of men make her acknowledge her independence and self-satisfaction as an African-American woman. Set in the early 1900s, Hurston reveals the dominant role of men in southern society and one woman’s journey toward finding herself and God.

Edwards identifies self-love—“a man's love of his own happiness”—as one of the most prominent motivations behind humanity’s actions and decisions. Self-love as a primary motivation begins with the Creator—God: “God's goodness and love to created Beings, is derived from, and subordinate to his love to himself” (Edwards, 270). Since Edwards defines self-love as a love of one’s own happiness, it is reasonable to conclude that appreciating the uniformity, symmetry, or harmony of nature makes one happy. Also, delighting in the beauty of nature is delighting in the image of God since Edwards believes that nature is a replication or mirror image of the magnificence of God. According to the Book of Genesis, “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them…” (NIV, Gen 1:27). So when humanity delights in nature, humanity not only recognizes God but also itself in nature and thus delights both in God’s splendor and in its own beauty—the latter is

“God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins and “The World Is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth concur on the concept of nature versus the way society tends to treat it; however, they express it in different ways through tone and figurative language, such as metaphors and allusions. Gerard Manley Hopkins seems to have an abstract outlook on the concept of nature, taking it as a whole into great consideration and includes his personal religious beliefs within “God’s Grandeur” such as how the holy ghost is watching over nature as it persists, which brings a positive side to the depressing reality (13-14). “God’s Grandeur” uses many types of figurative language and poetic elements; however, the many metaphors and similes stand out the most for being the majority of the poem as well as conveying the horrors of humanity to his audience. Hopkins writes, “It will flame out, like shining from shook

Eliade, in his book “The Sacred and Profane,” poses an interesting conjecture that all people are inherently religious. What one does and the decision they make in their lives are all reflections on what they find sacred. Sacred in this context is an extension of one’s belief held up in high esteem to the point where what is deemed sacred is god like. Religion is the frame that interprets what is sacred and gives it a name and a face. Christians, for example, view Christmas as a sacred time as it is the season of the birth of their savior; Jews view the Passover as sacred as it represents a time in their religious history where God passed over the Jews while sending a message to their enemies. What is sacred can manifest itself in any shape, form, or time; truly entering the fourth dimension of space. If something sacred is god like, what is sacred to those who do not have a God? How can something be sacred if there is not a frame of reference for the thing to be sacred? How can every decision a person makes be reflect what they find sacred, if they do not have a religious language to reflect this phenomena?

Some of the recurrent themes and motifs in Hopkins’ poetry include the idea that the world resembles a book written by God, through which he expresses himself in order to provide humans with an opportunity to understand and approach him (Gardner 11). In ‘God’s Grandeur’ Hopkins can be seen to express his concern about the spiritual crisis of the Victorian period. During this time of urbanization and industrialization, Hopkins voiced his distress about human indifference to destruction. This poem is one of the very few which he wrote during the time when he served as a priest.