In In Memoriam Essay

“Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Death of Ivan Ilych” both portray a character who is dealing with a serious terminal illness and advance knowledge of their deaths. One story is based on the realistic life of an American professor with the story’s characteristics tone from the 1990’s while the other is set during nineteenth century Russia. Even though Morrie Schwartz and Ivan Ilych both suffered from the illness, their dissimilar lifestyles and beliefs led to different perspective on facing death. One views the knowledge as a blessing and an opportunity to share his life experiences before making his final good-byes, the other agonizes in pain and begs for an

The point that he is trying to make is that God has afforded humanity the opportunity to rectify their sins. This act of restraint has given humanity the chance to fixed their ways and return to Christ.

many people create meaningless buildings and sculptures just to please the eye which is why they need to people need to identify reasons a memorial would benefit them.

Although Darwin’s (1809-1882) work in evolutionary observation might appear radically different from those focused on other areas, the theories he developed from these observation lead to such groundbreaking publishing’s as The Origin of Species. These intern caused an upset within the then accepted norms of philosophy and religion, had a profound impact on the academia, and further

faith, which changes his and the reader’s perception of religion for the remainder of the book.

He asks himself why the God he loved so much would cause them to despair so much. He answers himself, the God he knew wouldn’t condemn the Jewish to such a fate, “Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.” This was a very important moment for him, something that he cared so deeply about that he spent countless hours studying, crying over, and discussing for a deeper understanding had been ripped from him. It took a part of him with it, because he had believed in his God so deeply before. He believes that no God is protecting them, if he was then this wouldn’t be happening to them. “Where is God? Where is he?” He hears the cries of the people who call out in desperation for someone to save them. They are imprinted in his mind and we see how important this perceived abandonment by God is to him. On page 87 you can see how he struggles with the realization that he and his father were alone, “And, in spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heart, to that God in whom I no longer believed.” You can see that he is trying to reach out to a God or a reason that all of this is happening, something that would validate his struggles. Even though he no longer believes in God, he wants to believe that there is a point to their

He tells the narrator about the reality that humans will never understand the truth about God and God’s design, but it is still important to be active in striving for this truth. To be a good Christian means living a life searching for the good, and this can be done by following the path of Christ towards salvation. This process is on going in life and will continue even beyond our deaths. The human soul is immortal and is made to resonate with God as we are made in his image, but we will never reach transcendence as Jesus did, it is our gift and our curse.

The poem is is clearly meant to be depressingly pessimistic; it tells of mankind being eradicated by war and how the natural world would continue without pause. Instead I find it rather comforting. I guess I enjoy the thought that even with all the horrible acts humans commit, even if we destroy ourselves entirely, the world will not cease to exist. Our death will not be the end of all things. If there is one thing to be learned from evolutionary and biological history, it’s that life always finds a way. Despite how fragile and brief it may seem, life will continue, despite all odds. It’s a deeply terrifying thought, for when everything is taken into account, does mankind really matter?

“Contemplations” by Anne Bradstreet is a poem of thirty-three seven-line stanzas. It has an ABAB CCC rhyme scheme. This complex poem exists as a justification of writing as a unity with God that ends with the questioning of humanity’s placement in the hierarchy of the universe. The theme is presented as a tightly woven structure of different concepts, nature and religion go hand and hand. The poet is conflicted because she has hopes of being able to glorify God, but is hindered by a sense of her own insufficiency. The word contemplation is another word for meditations; therefore, this poem provides the reader with several different scenes of meditation. Some of the scenes include the poet mediating on how God made nature and how it is supposed to mirror Heaven. The poet believes that humans need to meditate on this fact on a daily basis and remind themselves of their placement within the universe. “Throughout the poem the poet ultimately resolves that God alone is eternal and human-made objects, designs and history will fade eventually”

a structure, established to remind people of a person or event”. Though some may think this

This appears to be a reference to God, and they expect to see a display of God’s power as the speaker is brought into the hereafter. This is the only mention of the afterlife in the poem. Even this mention of the afterlife has more to do with the process of dying and being brought into heaven then what happens after death. The focus is not the unknown after death, but what happens as one dies. The event that everyone is waiting for is the death of the speaker. They want to see something amazing, and do not seem to concerned with what happens to the speaker after the passing.

The book seems to be the wisdom of experience coming from someone looking back and reflecting on their life and wishing to warn the next generation. To advise the reader or listener that whatever their earthly pursuit outside of God will end in emptiness, even disaster, but then calls the individual back to hope if the focus is on living for Him.

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”

This poem is therefore widely a statement of pantheism, which is a position that god and nature are the same. According to Matt Slick, (2011) the word pantheism is derived from Greek words "Pan" meaning all and the other section from "theos" meaning God. This then implies that all nature found in the universe, from the stars, mountains, planets, wind, rain, storms are all part of what God is hence pantheists contest that God is all and all nature is part of God. This should not be confused with the Christian perspective that God created all nature but these are inferior to him and are in no way equal to him.

The poem has many different hidden meanings but they are all based around a common theme of faith.