The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez

In Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes, Justo L. González invites the reader to read the Bible in fresh ways, and gain insight from the perspective of “those who claim their Hispanic identity as part of their hermeneutical baggage, and who also read the Scripture within the context of a commitment to the Latino struggle to become all that God wants us and all of the world to be—in other words, the struggle for salvation/liberation.” (González 1996, 28-29) Published hot on the heels of the quincentennial of Columbus’ voyage to the new world, and abreast of discussions taking place in the larger Hispanic community, González’s book is both timely and well researched.

        The poem The Calling written by Luis J. Rodriguez is about the speaker describing how he has possibly lived with a mental illness while he spent some time of his life alone in his home. In the first stanza, he mentions how he whittled away his youth in jail cells which could resemble that his house is a jail cell and he’s trapped. While he was locked up in his room, he had possibly thought about what has happened in his life and it has brought some sense to him. The speaker in the poem used repetition when he repeats the same word barrio in the poem. The tone of this poem may be gloomy and mournful, but towards the fifth through eighth stanza the tone seems to lighten up when he mentions escaping

One of the many things that puzzle people even today; is how Jesus was portrayed and how he became a part of history throughout the centuries. Fortunately, within the book Jesus Through the Centuries, written by Jaroslav Pelikan, readers are able to get a sense of what societies viewed Jesus as and how he was/is important to many aspects of the world such as; the political, social, and cultural impact he had left. As Pelikan discusses this very topic and theme in his book, we see how there’s a connection between his audience in this book and Jesus’s are closely similar. When he got his motivation to write about Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav had an open audience, which was intended for anyone of all ages, races, and beliefs to read

Book 3 of Mere Christianity contains 12 separate chapters, which has far too great a scope to address properly here, so a glimpse will have to suffice. In the first, Lewis examines three components of morality; the relations between men, the interior moral mechanics of a man, and the relationship between a man and the God who made him. Lewis makes the case that, since we are destined to live forever in one state or another, it is desperately important that we pay attention to the sort of Being we are becoming. Lewis points out that most of humanity can agree that keeping relations between men running smoothly are important, but varying world views and religions-or lack of religion, have produced some disagreements on the necessity of keeping one’s own ship in order, as it were, and it completely breaks down when the relationship between a man and his Maker are addressed, as there is virtually no agreement there.

The meaning of theology is simple; it is the study of God and religious belief. The definition is plain to see but it’s important to go beyond what is already known. On a deeper level, what is the meaning of theology in respect to a religious community and to a person trying to find themselves in God? How is everyone involved in doing theology all the time? In this paper, there will be an in depth analysis on what theology is, why it is important, and how people are engaged in theology all the time.

We have now come to the fourth and final book of Mere Christianity. In this book, the author takes us to the place in our Christian growth where we begin to rely more heavily on the power of God and less on ourselves to become the being that God originally intended for us to be — a son of God. He begins with an explanation of the difference between “making” and “begetting.”

Luis Jimenez’s piece titled El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) from the Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery represents the react against the seminal post-war American movement. The works of art were chosen by a Contemporary and Modern collection created during the past century. The commonality amongst the works of art that lead to them being displayed together was the abstract expressionism; all the paintings reacted against the seminal post-war American movement. This piece was made in 1998 as a depiction of the murder of Esequiel of Redford, Texas while he tended his goats. The piece’s present location is the Arkansas Arts Center, and its original location is the Lawrence Lithography Workshop in Saint Louis, Missouri. The piece is water color and crayon on paper, and it can only be seen from one side by looking up because it is hanging on the wall. The subject of the work of art by Jiménez is a young man tending his goats

Throughout his book, Tillich references faith as an ultimate concern to emphasize the importance of faith in the personality of individuals. Furthermore, Tillich believes faith is a vital part of human nature and that even the rejection of faith is, in itself, an act of faith. This displays Tillich’s understanding that faith will never disappear from society because it is a piece of the puzzle in what makes up humanity (Tillich).

Theme in “Defender of the Faith” can be interpreted in many varying ways, some of which are life-long lessons and others to the relation between faith and the individual.

Many people believe that that the motivation of the Christian church is to radically “change the world”. However, through his book To Change The World, James Davison Hunter explains how this common believe is a misconception. Rather, he shows readers that, from a sociological perspective, while Christians thrive in many areas of life by reaching others individually, they fundamentally components of creating cultural change.

Later, Williams begins a dialogue about religion. The translated dialogue speaks firmly about the existence of the Christian god and the affirmation of those beliefs. The author is a clear devotee of Christianity. And although he

We have now come to the fourth and final book of Mere Christianity. In this book, the author takes us to the place in our Christian growth where we begin to rely more heavily on the power of God and less on ourselves to become the being that God originally intended for us to be — a son of God. He begins with an explanation of the difference between “making” and “begetting”.

Manana: Christian Theology From A Hispanic Perspective examines the basic ideas and concepts of Christian theology through the lens of the Hispanic culture. Justo Gonzalez, who writes the book, is a Cuban immigrant who feels as though the world in which he grew up helps him understand not only the Hispanic culture better, but theology and how it relates to Hispanics. Gonzalez explores different divisions within Christian theology in the book such as Biblical theology, reading the Bible in Spanish, Trinitarian theology, theology of creation, anthropology, Christology, and pneumatology. He draws a great picture and idea of

In the first chapter of “Christianity Rediscovered” by Vincent J. Donovan he is introducing us to the idea that missionaries now have a poor reputation due to their history. He says “History has offered the opportunity to deflect and distort the meaning of missionary work in every age”. For a long time a missionary was a person spreading the word of God and after years of doing so we have diminished many different beliefs, practices, cultures and history. At the time it was thought to be the right thing, to spread out and share the gospel to help people find meaning and acceptance. In today’s age a missionary is a lot of different things, in many cases it is more focused on the health and physical wellbeing of the people. Many people still share the gospel through missionary work, but in other cases it is more of a material aid. Donovan introduces the book as a voyage of discovery he wants us to put our normal beliefs aside to see his perspective of living a missionaries life and struggling with the fact of if you are helping or hurting.

Finally, the third section will dwell on the controversial topic of faith, and human’s need for belief. Religion has done an excellent job in manipulating human’s need for trust. Therefore, the combination of these three sections should compel the reader to better understand why such a false belief, such as religion has had such success throughout history.