Neifile’s Tale in Boccaccio’s Decameron Essay

The story of the Local Charters, specially relating to Bishop Rudiger of Speyer, demonstrates Elukin’s theory of successful integration and relations between Christians and Jews in a local scaled setting. In 1084, a population of Jews departed from Maize because of a fire they feared to be blamed for, and were welcomed by the city of Speyer in Germany. Bishop Rudiger offered the Jews kindnesses such as safety, the right to practice their religion, the right to sell meat and good, and the right to have a legal status. The Jews not only were welcomed into the city, but helped the city thrive economically due to their rights to loan money with interest, rights that Christians do not have. The Jews spoke

In the early Renaissance era Florence and Siena were rivals in many aspects. The Battle of Montaperti was fought between the two in September of 1260. After their triumph over Florence, Siena used the monetary winnings for the building of the Palazzo Pubblico to serve the city in governmental, spiritual and social needs; it was comparable to the basilicas in ancient Rome in this aspect. The Palazzo Pubblico (fig. 1) was also made to compete with Florence’s already constructed Palazzo della Signoria1 (fig. 2). The city also focused the new funds on the elaboration of the cathedral interior (fig. 3). In 1308, Duccio di Buoninsegna was hired for this reason. Duccio completed the requested polyptych, or multipaneled, altarpiece three years

The foundation of the Christian faith is cradled within truth of the virgin birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As diverse as the world-wide Christian culture is, the truth in the birth and life of Jesus stands without border and language limitations. Just as each individual life story can be adapted to be relevant for a variety of audiences, the birth story of the Messiah was also. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are an example of the well-rounded and diverse narration of the birth story of Jesus—Matthew’s narration spoke to the history of the Jewish people and Luke presented to the citizen of Rome.

• Refers to rapid spread of Christianity among all classes of people, as well as Roman citizens that are sent to Rome for trial. “They have high ethical standards and if they repeatedly admit they honor Christ as God they are executed”.

In his recent article for the October 7th issue of Commonweal magazine, David Bentley Hart highlighted how different the Christians of the New Testament are from modern day Christians. Hart’s article, titled “Christ’s Rabble; The first Christians were not like us”, argues that the first Christians were so different than present day Christians that we would have a very hard time getting along with one another if we meet today. Hart, a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies, came to this conclusion after in-depth study of the text of the New Testament in its original koine Greek. His work translating the New Testament for Yale University painted a clear picture of the character of the first Christians and underscored how far from the original meanings of the text we have come.

Giacomo Puccini has written a number of operas, including Turandot, Gianni Schicchi, and Madama Butterfly. La Bohème is said to be “one of the most successful and enchanting operas ever written.” Written in the romantic period, the text and score interrelations play an important role in an overall aesthetically and historically pleasing opera. In a story of love found and love lost, Puccini uses text and score to create empathy for the characters of La Boheme. Puccini does so particularly in the aria Donde lieta uscì, sung by Mimi towards the end of Act III.

Before we can totally dive into how the Temple destruction changed Judaism, we must gain some knowledge of the Jewish faith itself, as well as Jewish terms. One of the first ideas many people may discover about the term “Jew” is its lack of use in the Old Testament scriptures.

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici was elected in 2012 to represent Oregon’s first district, which is located Northwest of the state. Bonamici is currently on two committees which are Education and Workforce and Science, Space and Technology. Her main priority as Congresswoman is to advocate for federal policies that can benefit working families a chance to succeed in the economy. Bonamici has been a big advocate in not only helping workers to become financially secure but also saving up for their retirement. Congresswoman Suzanne has been a strong supporter of raising the federal minimum wage, giving workers the opportunity to voice their opinion in their jobs, paid family leave and giving women the opportunity to have access to family

Levine’s book titled The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus proves to be a highly informative resource when trying to understand the intricate relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Levine’s primary objective seems to be a desire to address the idea that there is a vast, irreconcilable disparity between the beliefs and practices of Christians and Jews. Levine’s central argument focuses upon a common misperception of this dissimilarity: it is the result of Jesus being in direct opposition to Judaism. Furthermore, she contends that only a decided openness and interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Judaism can truly provide the most complete and compelling portrait of Jesus’s life and work. To me, the most edifying facet of Levine’s argument was her call to anchor Jesus within the historical and cultural context in which he was teaching in order to best understand his work and his message. Levine not only provides support for this idea throughout The Misunderstood Jew, but near the end of the novel also offers up ways in which both Christians and Jews can reconcile these two ostensibly conflicting perceptions of Jesus. Therefore, in this essay, I will analyze Levine’s arguments regarding the importance of historical/cultural context in Chapter One and Chapter Four while synthesizing it with her solutions presented in Chapter Seven.

Boccaccio also infused The Decameron with his opinions on the Catholic church, which even at that time was Italy’s primary religious institution. Catholicism may have been popular, but Boccaccio was very blatant in showing that he did not approve of the Church’s conduct. In The Decameron, religion was practiced by fools, the church was a breeding ground for mischief, and “marriage” was a transaction devoid of meaning.

The Decameron, by Boccaccio, is a frame story written in the mid fourteenth century. There are a hundred stories told over a span of ten days. On the second day, a man tells a story about a princess, Alatiel, who was sent away to marry a king. Before Alatiel reaches her destination, she has sexual experiences with a lot of different men. Alatiel is treated like an object and allows this objectification to happen because she is so fickle and does nothing to stop the men. The fickleness of Alatiel and the treatment of her as an object is evident throughout the story.

The lack of Abram's verbal acquiescence, however, may be interpreted in a different light. Although he leaves his home and moves into the land of Egypt, in apparent acceptance of the promise, once there, he sells his wife Sarai into prostitution out of fear that he will be killed (Gen. 12:11-15). God promised Abram previously that He would protect him: "I will bless them that bless thee and curse those that curse thee" (Gen. 12:3 ). Yet, Abraham fears for his life and exploits Sarai. If Abraham was blindly and fully obedient, as the traditional view assumes, why does he doubt God's promise of protection and consequently bring shame upon Sarai? The text depicts an Abraham who is struggling with personal doubt and who decides to take matters into his own hands rather than trust the possible promises of a God unseen.

Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare's dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success on the battlefield, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice's most able generals. The Moor's military proficiency placed him in a class by himself in the same way his ethnicity distinguished him from his Venetian counterparts. These are two intrinsic and highly identifiable characteristics of Othello. But a much lesser discussed idiosyncrasy of the Moor was his sexual disorder - impotency. As striking as this claim sounds there is much evidence in the drama to support the idea that Othello was impotent in both sexual and social relationships. Othello's sexual impotence stifled the consummation

“The grandeur of the ancient city is evident in the remains uncovered by archaeologists, including the ruins of the Artemision, the civic agora, the temple of Domitian, gymnasiums, public baths, a theater with seating for 24,000, a library, and the commercial agora, as well as several streets and private residences” (Holman, np). This was a big city, full of culture, and full of ungodly people and activities. Among the many religious groups in the city, there were many Jews there who were brought the gospel right after Pentecost (Orr, np). Because of the pluralism of religions in the city, new Christians didn’t know exactly what to believe or how to worship. On top of this, the city was constantly bombarded with false teachers trying to tell people that salvation came from works, not faith (MacArthur, np).

     Abraham stands as one of the most important figures in the Hebrew Bible, and is central to the understanding of God’s solution to the problem of mankind. Man, the mysterious creature that God wraught as a semi-experiment, is constantly prone to believe he is self-sufficient and capable of survival without God, the central problem God must deal with in the Hebrew Bible. To solve this problem, God decides to strike fear in the heart of man and to revolutionise his lifestyle by creating laws and empowering a chosen group of people, who will spread the word of God by example. These people are the Hebrews, and Abraham is the father of their race, the man from whom all