Soul Consideration Essay

In Isabel Allende’s Inés of My Soul, one woman, Inés Suarez, challenges the traditional role of women and society by embarking upon a journey alongside her companion to conquer a part of the New World. Throughout the expedition, Inés faces challenges because of her gender, yet she also manages to use her gender and the traditional gender role to her advantage.

People have long said that money is a corrupting influence in the hands of man. I would venture to say that anything that is widely accepted to have exceptional value is corrupting, but I over-step the bounds of my project.

     In Langston Hughes’ essay “Salvation,” Langston talks about the first time he is going to be saved from sin. Langston is a young boy around the age of thirteen. He is going to church to see Jesus for the first time. In which case, he truly experiences religion for the first time in his life. Throughout this essay Langston uses many narrative techniques such as, imagery, metaphors, and irony to explain his interpretation of that one night when he did not see Jesus.

The Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South is one that is well known and familiar to us all. We all know of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the charismatic preacher who was undisputedly the leader of the civil rights movement in the South. We have all also heard of Rosa Parks, the black woman who would not give up her seat in the bus and was thus arrested for it, she was the catalyst that sparked the civil rights movement. They were the famous people often mentioned in the Civil Rights Movement. However, they were not the only people engaged in the Civil Rights Movement, there were many more, and their stories are just as important as that of Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. That reason

Despite centuries of deliberation, the origin of the human soul remains a point of contention among theologians, as the Scriptures appear to support either the creationism or traducianism hypothesis. This issue is far from an insignificant anthropological quandary, as ontological commitments produce numerous philosophical and theological ramifications when considering doctrines relating to the nature of man, original sin, and the incarnation. In the absence of conclusive biblical evidence, Stephen P. Greggo seeks insight from natural theology, attempting to address the topic from a developmental psychology perspective. This paper will offer a critique of Greggo’s article, demonstrating its failure to provide a valuable contribution to the theological discussion of soul ontology.

Immortality has been a major subject of philosophical contemplation throughout the history of written language, but even with its popularity it has been held for the most part as impossible. Likewise, most cultures in the past and present acknowledge the fact that physical bodies have limits and will never be able to transcend to the level of immortality. In spite of these commonly held beliefs, many societies have some presence of belief that there is life beyond the physical realm that we are all accustomed to. In today’s society, a majority of people believe that there is life after death in the form of the soul living on, based on the dominant religions of the world (Lugo 9-13). Looking at Christian scripture, it can be seen that immortality of the soul is possible. 1 Corinthians 15:53 says, “ For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.” This transfiguration from death to immortality has been present for

Does the soul exist? If so, what is the soul? Moreover, what is its function in daily life? For millennia, schools of philosophy have investigated these questions and attempted to answer them by devising complex philosophies, which were in some cases completely alien to our modern ideas. In this essay, I will discuss the Egyptian, Taoist, and Aristotelian views on the soul’s function and composition during life. Then, I will compare these philosophies and discuss which aspects of each philosophy I find the most plausible from a realist’s point of view. Concerning the composition and function of the soul, I argue that the Aristotelian and Taoist philosophies are equally plausible, but that the Egyptian philosophy also had plausible aspects. Ultimately, however, it is difficult to determine which theory the most plausible (from a realist’s perspective) without tackling the bigger question “does the soul exist?”

The second semester of this course has opened up several different strands of conversation, including sexuality, erotica, politics, mothering and women’s connection to water. The atmosphere in the class has changed slightly from the last semester, as the class has become more familiar with each other’s views and perspectives. This has increased the dialogue and discussions, though attendance is lower I find when I did go to class that the discussion was often interesting and in-depth. This atmosphere allowed students to bring their children without fear of being judged, which is very uplifting as acceptance in classrooms is sometimes not present. I found this very prevalent during my seminar lead, as my classmates seemed to be even more excited

The vivid story of the creation account found in Genesis 1 and 2 often gets lost in the question of “how” rather than the question of “why.” Desmond Alexander points out that the creation story “often hijacked by those who are almost exclusively preoccupied by the modern debate on the relationship between the biblical view of creation and that of contemporary science” (Alexander 119). Gary Schnittjer helps by adding, “Problems occur when readers use the scriptures to answer their own questions—questions that the biblical text was not designed to answer” (Schnittjer 1048). The creation story is not as much a detailed explanation of how the world was created, but rather a theological description of God’s purpose and relationship in creating humanity (Schnittjer 816). Even more, the Genesis account provides a means to interpret the rest of the “the story of which it is a part” (Schnittjer

The exact definition of a soul is a spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal regarded as immortal. Even though this is the main definition of the soul, everyone thinks differently about it. In my opinion, I think a soul is the main part of you. Your body is just a shell that keeps the soul there. In the end, your soul will go to either heaven or hell. Even if this is what I think, not everyone agrees.

In the past few decades, Christians have gradually and increasingly acknowledged that human relationship to the natural world should be included in theology. However, this theology has still enjoyed only limited development and acceptance (Cobb 82). Humanity needs to further its understanding of itself as an integral constituent of creation, rather than seeing itself as above, below or outside creation. According to the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Bible, humanity is an inextricable part of nature. In the Genesis creation story, God forms humans (adam) from humus (adamah), making them true earth-creatures (Guengerich 15). Because God created all things, all things in the world are in relationship,

Living in a country where we are entitled to freedom of religion, many of us have grown to have our own beliefs and ways of viewing religion on a whole. There are others who have been pressured by family or friends to believe in God and him alone. Sometimes with the pressure of others, we can begin to believe in something that we truly do not feel is right. In the essay “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the main character faces a struggle of wanting to be saved by God. Does he want to be saved for his sake? Or has his salvation been influenced and forced upon by family members?

Ancient religions tend to believe that the body is merely a vessel for the soul. Some, in their quest to achieve a more significant spiritual attachment with God, have lambasted their bodies as symbols of weakness and seek to rectify it through self-mutilation or starvation. In Judaism, for example, the Old Testament commands that the body be kept sacred. This restricts self-mutilation and even tattoos. However, fasting is still permitted and even encouraged. Aside from the commanded Old Testament fast days such as Yom Kippur, there are other Rabbinic fast days throughout the year, and stories abound of Rabbi’s fasting routinely as a means of drawing themselves closer to their soul and to God. Tradition even claims that Moses fasted for forty days upon the mountain before receiving the Old Testament from God. Within Christianity, however, many went even further. Instead of just fasting, many actively starved themselves and inflicted bodily harm upon them. Fasting does remain a significant part, though, as proven by Jesus fasting for forty days and other Saints following his example. This was a trait of Saints, who insisted on going through severe trials and tribulations in order to conquer their own bodies. Some Saints would even make the ultimate sacrifice of Martyrdom. Often, this was more pronounced among women who had the additional “impurities” that were not as pronounced in men.

The distinction between body and soul is crucial and often bypassed. The Vatican teaches that body and soul is one (Sachs, 51). While this sounds contradicting, it is not. Body and soul make up what a human being is, it is essential for us to be considered alive. Father McFarland stated on September 21, 2015 in “Fully Human Person”, that the soul is God’s breath into the body. We pair the two terms together- body and soul- because one without soul the body does not have a being. John R. Sach’s suspects that the average Christian thinks of the soul as the real self, a self that is non-bodily immaterial and therefore immortal; and the body is a dwelling place for the soul that is temporary.

Once when I was working with a private student at my office in NYC I noticed that she was talking non-stop and her eyes were darting here and there. Her energy was wild. What I mean by wild is that she engaged her energy in an unaware way. In an effort to help her begin to gain awareness of her relationship with her energy, so that she could gain greater stability within, I posed the question, “Margaret, do you know where your energy is?” She looked at me, then around the room, above and behind her and finally turned to me saying, “Uh well … No I don’t.” I smiled at the honest and sincere way in which she engaged the question. “I believe you,” I told her. Margaret really didn’t know where her energy was. The thing Margaret didn’t know is that her energy is her.