Reflection On Atonement

To what extent are the protagonists of ‘Atonement’ and ‘The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead’ similar and different?

As I was reading the chapter on forgiveness in Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by McMinn (2011), the personal life experience that jumped out to me was when I had to make the decision to truly forgive my ex-boyfriend and his parents for the emotional pain they caused me. After living in New Jersey for a month and spending time with my boyfriend and his family, working, and taking care of an elderly lady with dementia my world came crashing down on me. My ex-boyfriend’s parents discovered sin in his life and told me I could no longer pursue a relationship with him because of the sins he had committed. After finding out the sinful things my ex-boyfriend had done, I chose to forgive him. I also chose to give him a second chance at a relationship with me, but my effort to salvage our relationship was futile.

Atonement by Ian McEwan 1. Some key events of Atonement are- • Briony sees her sister and her sister’s boyfriend out the window. Briony thinks something bad is happening, but her sister is only swimming into the pond to find parts of a broken vase. • Briony realizes that she doesn’t want her play to be performed so she rips up the poster of her play and stops rehearsing it. • Robbie accidently gives Briony the letter for Cecilia that tells of his sexual desire for her instead of the one that tells how sorry he is for breaking the vase.

As human beings we are often reluctant to let go of our anger and unwilling to forgive others. This becomes especially true in the case of loved ones or family members. The poem, “How Do We Forgive Our Fathers?,” written by Dick Lourie, addresses the different dilemmas associated with a child forgiving his/her father. In his six-stanza poem, the poet discusses how a child should forgive their father for traumatic events imposed on the child. This includes reasons for forgiveness, appropriate time to forgive, and whether or not to even forgive at all. Detailed through the different stanzas, the poem suggests that until one learns how to appropriately forgive another for wrongful behavior, they will never be able to let go of resentment and

Ian McEwan’s Atonement deals with significance and the complexity of truth. Briony is the main character in Atonement who is young woman with a broadened and striking inventive capacity. Her reality emerges from her engaging vision of life which contains just dreams and disappointments. Atonement highlights the subjective nature of truth through shifting narrative voices. Atonement represents the subjective idea of truth the energy of subconscious and reality in return for a good lesson.

What are some of the central biblical metaphors of Jesus' passion and atonement? Metaphors of Atonement (3 Examples) a. The Sacrifice of Christ (Cross of Calvary, The Skull) b. The Victory of Christ (Over Death) c. The Ransom of Christ (Free Gift) Passion a.

After Transformation and Atonement, the hero faces the final stage of his journey: The Return to everyday life. Upon the return, the hero discovers his gifts – One becomes richer and stronger – perhaps a great leader - and spiritually enlightened. The hero shares the gift/treasure of experience, knowledge, and wisdom - gained through the journey – with the broader community.

Religion is the main driving force for many people and a source of hope for countless others. Christianity is based on the Hebrews and Judaism. Without these religions the single largest religion would not have come to fruition so it is important to know how these religions set the foundation and how Christianity took its first steps and leaps from there.

Both Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Ian McEwan’s Atonement center upon the theme of atonement. In The Kite Runner, the protagonist, Amir, seeks atonement for his inaction when his best friend, Hassan, was brutally attacked and raped as a child. In Atonement, the protagonist, Briony Tallis, tries to attain atonement for her implication of her sister’s lover, Robbie, in a rape, and playing a pivotal role in his later conviction. While the central themes of the novels are quite similar, the circumstances, effects, and methods of the characters’ search for atonement are quite different.

Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner is a historical fiction depicting the grim reality of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union’s invasion of 1979, and those affected by the events. Hosseini provides a vivid rendition of turmoil in Afghanistan by telling the tale of the protagonist, Amir, and his struggles throughout his life. The events of the novel force Amir to flee war in Afghanistan and find safety in America. Eventually, however, Amir must return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in order to find redemption for his dark past. His return culminates into a run-in with members of the Taliban as he attempts to free Assef, a character that will ultimately lead Amir to complete atonement. Amir engages in a physical confrontation with the Taliban members and, although he is successful in his fight, the injuries he sustains are life-threatening. An orbital fracture, a split upper lip, a punctured lung, a few broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and broken jaw. Amir’s injuries, however, represent more than the fight for Assef’s freedom; these injuries symbolize Amir’s negative past with his father, Baba, his childhood friend, Hassan, and himself and prove the necessity of both physical and mental healing.

This client was Christian and from my estimation now looking back was just beginning their walk with Christ and not on the same maturity level that I was at that time in my walk with Christ. At that time I knew how forgiveness first and foremost is obedience to God, and secondly how it can set you free from so many emotional problems, McMinn said, “Forgiveness, in its theological and spiritual context, is profound, life-giving, and transforming. When we remove the religious context and think of forgiveness only as a clinical technique, we risk losing the essence of forgiveness.” (2011, p. 254) After reading this chapter it made me re-live an area in which I was not fully equipped to help client maneuver their way through. This particular chapter has allowed me to see how vital forgiveness is in a therapeutic session, and how it must be used carefully. It is made me aware of how important my Christianity is to forgiveness, but also to assess the level my client is currently on before beginning a session on forgiveness. Reflection

Isolating an incident from its surrounding details can sometimes shed greater clarity to its meaning. Coles says he would ask G-d to forgive the dying Nazi. Without any of the story’s particulars, what he’s essentially saying is that one man may forgive for the misdeeds done to another. Effectually, it is no different from what the dying Nazi wanted to do. Both of them are asking a third party to forgive an offense done to a second. In the Code of Jewish Law, it is written, “But what is between man and his friend, the Day of Atonement does not atone for until he asks (forgiveness) of his friend” (Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried, 1992, p.279). Basic Jewish law understands the injustice of asking G-d to forgive when the evildoer himself has made no

It can be said that in God's eyes, Christians are only dirty glasses which are stained inside and out with their own sin. These glasses were once clean, not plagued with stains. Now the glasses bear with them these ugly stains, the stains of sin and wrongdoing. The dirty glasses had to accept their punishment for becoming dirty, and the punishment was being destroyed by a hammer. The hammer is God's instrument against sinners. As the hammer made its decent on the glass, a pan covered the glass and took the blow of the hammer to save the glass. This pan represents Jesus because Jesus sacrificed himself to God so that God would forgive us for our sins.

Before answering the title question, two clarifications need to be made. Firstly, there is difficulty when speaking of the atonement as there is seemingly no Dogma. This is an opinion held by Robert Jenson who states, 'you can deny any offered construal of how the atonement works, or all of them altogether, or even deny that any construal is possible, and be a perfectly orthodox believer'. Due to this, over the years theologians have formulated a myriad of types, models and theories. Alister McGrath helpfully groups these into four themes (the cross as a sacrifice, the cross as a victory, the cross and forgiveness, and the cross as a moral example). It is by these four that we will divide the atonement and address the question. The task in

Joe Wrights film “Atonement” psychologically explores the feeling of guilt through the character, Briony Tallis. By this I mean that through different scenes in the movie we see how Briony deals with her guilt and how it shapes her life. Certain scenes that the audience can interpret in this way include Briony looking out window, the apartment scene and Final interview.