Matthew Distefano’s From the Blood of Abel is a provocative examination of the problem of human violence through the lenses of mimetic theory and Christian theology. Distefano marshals theology, sociology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy and history to lead readers through humanity’s horrifically violent past and present, and challenges us to look more closely at the ultimate hope Christianity can provide. Distilling insights from René Girard, Ernest Becker and Michael Hardin, Distefano offers a vibrant and astute assessment of humanity’s seemingly implacable violent tendencies and skillfully shows how the Bible effectively—and often surprisingly—addresses our most fundamental problem.
Violence is defined as a behavior involving physical or mental force intending to hurt, damage, or kill someone. In the words of Zak Ibrahim, peace is defined as the proliferation or the increase in the existence of Justice. But where does love fit in to these conversations? Violence cannot necessarily transform into love, but the presence of it is surely important. Violence involving our most loved ones, helps us find love and compassion in the toughest of situations, and leads us toward paths of peace. In this essay, examples will be drawn from Zak Ibrahim 's keynote presentation, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Beautiful Boy; a film directed by Shawn Ku, and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” becomes very effective for the intended audience when knowledge of the customs and traditions that shape the impacted audience
Edwards illustrates the power and wrath of God by using emotional language and playing on his audience’s fears in order to persuade them to believe in Christ. He explains all of these potential dangers and tragedies that might happen and if it wasn’t for “God it would immediately burst forth upon you” (3). Edwards uses their uneasiness to better educate the readers of God’s power over their lives. He not only instills a sense of nervousness in the reader, but also motivation to act upon those feelings. By
Throughout Southern literature, the authors of Southern text use religion to convey emotion through grotesque-life changing events and concepts. An article titled “Flannery O’Connor’s Rage of Vision”, by Claire Katz discusses how O’Connor’s literature feature religion and Christianity to throughout the literature. The author states, “Since O’Connor had identified her theme as Christian, it is no surprise to find critics discussing this prototypical pattern in religious terms; the protagonist is humiliated in order to recognize his state of sin, and is thus open to grace and redemption.”(55) Therefore, this essay will examine and explain the abstract Christian components illustrated among multiple texts written by Flannery O’Connor and provide textual evidence to support the abstract findings from within the texts.
Melinda is very perceptive and bright, but her vision is sometimes clouded by her suffering. She's only fourteen-years-old, and she's dealing with one of the worst things that can happen to a person: rape. Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman, was abused by a senior student, Andy Evans. She calls the cops to report the rape, but leaves before they show up. The party is busted and everybody thinks Melinda got them in trouble on purpose. Nobody at school will talk to Melinda, including Rachel Bruin, who's been her best friend forever. Worse, just about everyone bullies her. She wants to explain why she called the cops but she can't find the words. Due to her trauma and inability to tell anyone about what happened, Melinda spirals into a dark
Julian E. Wright Dr. Sharon Fulton Literature Humanities/Essay 1 27 February 2014 Violence in Dante’s Inferno and Ovid’s Metamorphoses Scenes of great violence, as the prompt says, are often written into dynamic narratives of great literary merit. From Dante Alighieri’s Inferno to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the inclusion of violence as a literary technique is used to propel the narrative forward, all while adding action, intrigue, and engaging the reader. Despite it’s validity as a literary technique, the inclusion of violent scenes in literature serve much more than the simple purpose of pushing a plot along a set of structured points. Scenes of violence provoke thought in areas ranging from human nature to the nature of
With the passing of decades, humanity has been mentioning more and more the presence of violence in our daily lives. We see it online, news, social media, it is absolutely taking over a great fragment of our lives. But is this violence aspect of humanity a recent thing? If we take a look back to earlier human civilization, there has always been a violent essence in the way we think and act. The main focus of this essay is to discuss, and compare 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup to The Things They carried by Tim O’Brien.
Violence and war is notable throughout history. However, it is lazy to say that this proves humans are naturally violent. Rather than using nature as an excuse for those who chose to act violently it’s important we recognize that we have a choice to decide how we act. In Howard Zinn’s, “Violence and Human Nature” He shows that violence is not an instinct but that the environment in which they live in provokes them to act violently or peacefully depending on their choice (43). In City of God, a film concentrating on the gangs of Rio de Janeiro during the 1960’s to the 1980’s, specifically the township of Cidade de Deus, we are introduced to various characters who all make different choices under different motivations. Rocket, the little brother to a member of the Tender Trio, who are essentially the Robin Hood’s of the City of God, to act non-violently despite his environment and the influences around him.
The integration of behavioral health and physical health services reduces utilization, increase cost-savings and better health (Roby & Jones, 2016). Rivers Integrated Care Clinic is a reverse integrated care setting established two years ago with only 60 patients enrolled in integrated care services and 3800 patients enrolled in behavioral health services. Specific integrated care goals and quality measures are necessary to evaluate benchmarks and health outcomes of triple aim at Rivers Clinic. These outcomes must be created using key metrics goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and within a timeframe (Ward, 2016).
THESIS: In Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" vivid imagery is utilized through ethos, logos, and pathos in an attemt to sway the acts of sinners to be morally correct."
Known as a safe read throughout the literary world, Christian fiction is devoid of true human condition such as the grotesque and the sexual. Richard Terrell proposes in his essay Christian Fiction: Piety is not Enough, that Christian fiction cannot rely on being religious anymore to earn the title of “good fiction”. He addresses the issue of Christian fiction limiting itself to a certain range of topics because it is a “religious” work and these limitations result in mediocre writing. Though the credibility is weak throughout Christian Fiction: Piety is not Enough, the elements of logic and emotional appeal are effective in convincing Christian readers that today 's Christian fiction is subpar.
Religious text: these texts sometimes teach us how to deal with violence a certain way. Even fairy tales can be violent. Ex: Disney ( point to teach kids how to deal with this).
Another example of humanity’s struggle with violence theme happened when Kino killed a man in self-defense. Kino was caring and friendly; he would never intently mean to harm or kill anyone unless someone was bringing harm to him and the things that he loved. One night a “dark one” on the path attacked Kino as he was walking toward his brush hut. The “dark one” wanted Kino’s pearl and would do anything to get it. In return, Kino also wanted the pearl and would protect it at all cost. The following quote demonstrated the violent actions that resulted due to this attack, “He heard the rush, got his knife out and lunged at one dark figure and felt his knife go home” (59). Kino’s violent actions towards the dark figure revealed the theme of violence. This dark figure, who attacked, Kino wanted his most valuable possession and Kino was not going to give his pearl up for any reason. Kino protected what was his, his pearl. Kino felt he attacked the “dark one” in self-defense, but the way the town’s people thought it was different. Violence, once
The history of human nature has been bloody, painful, and even destructive. Nonetheless, before understanding their environments humans used to kill each other based on their own mindset on the ideal of violence, and what it actually meant. Pinker describes narratives of violent acts from the past, that today are foreign to us. He gives us a tour of the historical human violence and how the violence in human nature has changed throughout time. The main idea from Pinker’s book,“The Better Angels of Our Nature ', is “for all the dangers we face today, the dangers of yesterday were even worse.” He provides its readers with explicit violent stories beginning from 8000 BCE to now, and describes how violence has evolved from a blood lost to more of a peaceful existence.
Violence, it has been a main tool in the Christian arsenal since the middle ages. From the Crusades to the Inquisitions of Spain, violence is ever prevalent. Even in this day and age, intolerance and violence continue to be preached. But is this violence an instrument of God or man? Is violence an inherent part of this religion? Some would say that it is indeed built in to the very fabric of its being. The Old Testament is full of the smiting of infidels and those who defy God. The Book of Revelations tells of the violent and fiery demise of this entire planet. There are instances of mass genocide, the killing of innocent children, holy wars, you name a violent act and God has called for it. The story of