The Religion Of Matthew Lewis 's The Monk

In Lasallian schools the core principle of concern for the poor and social justice invites students and staff to be in solidarity with the poor and advocate for those suffering injustices. This means that people should have awareness of the poor and those who are victims of injustices and respond to their needs by means of community service and advocacy. This core principle is illustrated in the novella, “Saint Emmanuel the Good, Martyr” by Miguel de Unamuno. The main character, Don Emmanuel is the parson of the city of Valverde. The congregation of this parish look up to Don Emmanuel, admire him, and are overtaken by his words in mass. However, the narrator reveals that Don Emmanuel was not a man of faith. “Metamorphosis” by Kafka, presents a story of a young man who one day wakes up and is transformed into a bug. As a result of this transformation, he is mistreated by his family and considered useless in society. In the case of Saint Emmanuel the Good Martyr, there is a character that does not believe in God, yet practices concern for the poor and social justice on a daily basis. On the other hand, we have a character that yearns what Don Emmanuel gives to the citizens in Valverde, care and concern.

Here the tales speak of the abuses of the church and clergy by explaining that the clergy “tell a hundred or more false stories.” Due to the printing press in the 1520’s the message read to a wider audience gaining much support from the laity who also criticised the clergy.

The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle

The minimalistic and modern painting by Caspar David Friedrich called The Monk By The Sea is a luring piece of art from over 200 years ago. ‘Modern’ and ‘200 years ago’ do not generally go together well, but what Friedrich achieved in this painting still invites the lovers of simplicity to see a deeper meaning in the current times. Friedrich’s uses simplicity to show a complex meaning in the painting The Monk By The Sea. Influenced by the relationship with God, nature, and Friedrich’s own personal life, he expresses this complex meaning through the composition of color, lines, and technique.

Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis, is written as set of guidelines of Christian belief. Lewis does not say there is any particular way to believe but he does make a point that the topic of religion itself is serious. As you consider whether you want to believe or not, you have to recognize how much thought it requires, and how thought provoking a process this decision is. Lewis covers Christianity in four different books within his book. In book one, Lewis discusses the Law of Nature and makes note of a tendency in humans of appealing to a standard of absolute truth in quarrels and arguments. He calls this standard the Law of Nature or the Moral Law. The Law isn't the same as the law of gravity

The film fails to demonstrate each of the sister’s perspective as they fight against Trujillo’s regime and their personal struggles as women in the Dominican Republic during the 1960s. While the novel focuses on all the sisters’ lives as they fought for freedom and equal rights in the corrupt government, the film focuses on Minerva’s perspective as the first sister who decided to stand up against the unfairness of Trujillo’s rule. The focus on Minerva’s perspective in the film, leads the viewer into believing that the other sisters weren’t as important as Minerva when trying to fight Trujillo, “But then again, here in that little room was the same Patria Mercedes, who wouldn’t have hurt a butterfly, shouting, “Amen to the revolution.” And so we were born in the spirit of the vengeful Lord, no longer His lambs.” (Chapter 8) The quote said by Patria in Chapter 8, shows how she risks her faith when trying to protect the life of the innocent. She would rather throw down a vicious dictator than have young innocent people killed. The film fails to demonstrate the strong themes of women and courage expressed through the novel. The film chooses to skip over many important events, such as Patria knocking over the statue of the Virgin Mary to save her

The significance of religious leaders during this era is evident by the fact that the writer of this poem places the bishop at the beginning of the table. Due to the fact that the “medieval society was a religious society” and that these religious leaders held a special relationship with God, it is no surprise that these individuals held the second highest social class position in the medieval time period (Feudalism and the Three Orders (Overview) 2).

McGrath’s Christianity’s Dangerous Idea attempts to tell the story of Protestantism from its early beginnings up to its present-day form. A similar and parallel story is found in Justo Gonzalez’s The Story of Christianity in which he also gives a narrative of the origin, growth and development of the Protestant movement from the Reformation to the present day. However, Gonzalez not only gives an account of Protestantism but of Christianity as a whole while McGrath concentrates his study on Protestantism alone. In addition, McGrath not only narrates but also gives a prophetic

Additionally, Davis’s monograph explores detailed information regarding the shift of many people at the time from Catholicism to Protestantism, which is extremely important to the

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

For instance, she wishes to dress smart only in case an accident should occur so that her body would be identified as a woman. She shows her being a “good woman”, contrary to a “good man” who “is hard to find”. But by doing so she reveals how artificial a Christian she is, that appearance for her is more significant than a “good Christian” spirit. It is her who divides the world into “good” and “evil” but she little realizes the actual parameters of these values. Her subjective point of view makes the borderline somewhat blurred, even the name of Jesus in her speech “sounded as if she might be cursing”. In fact, she is far from an epitome of virtue and it is only the fatal encounter with the Misfit that makes her realize the error of her ways. Hence, to some extent, the Grandmother may be treated as a common Everyman.

This confession is not only informative for the reader about the religious community and the effect of religion in Spain within the 15th century, but it also allows the reader to use critical thinking and be observant to the deceiving forms Teresa used for this “confession” to be

Another key aspect of Canary’s theory is that of the four cognitive processes – stereotypes, attributions, person perception, and interpersonal goals. According to Canary, stereotypes are “when categories are about people and are based on their group membership” (Canary 114). In Russo’s story, Sister Ursula writes about how, as a child, “she understood that her mother’s being a prostitute made her ‘the whore’s child,’ that her mother’s wickedness diminished her father’s value” (8). This excerpt from Sister Ursula’s story establishes how the negative stereotypes around her mother’s lifestyle impacted her childhood. Even today, prostitution is considered dishonorable in society, especially within religious circles, and thus, Sister Ursula’s mother’s stigma was attached to her as a child, which caused her to be inherently disliked in the nun community. Again, this could be a contributing factor to Sister Ursula’s cold and steadfast demeanor, as she had to grow up protecting herself from the judgmental gazes of her superiors and peers.

C.S. Lewis covers many topics in his fourth book contained in Mere Christianity titled BEYOND PERSONALITY: OR FIRST STEPS IN THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. He addresses such topics as theology, what it means to be the Son of God, the three personal God, the relationship of God and time, the cost of being a Christian, how God works to turn us into image of Christ, why Christian growth is both hard and easy, and also what he thinks about our old personalities before becoming Christians. These are all relative topics that apply to us and our daily lives. Learning and understanding this book can help a Christian tremendously in forming a deeper relationship with God.

Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Volume I: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. Second Edi. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2010.