What Is The Christian Faith In Elizabeth Johnson's Why Christian?

Even though he will not let himself be beaten for no reason, if he has made an inadvertent mistake, he will try to correct it, as he does with his grandmother, after accidentally embarrassing in church. “Later, I convinced her that I had not wanted to hurt her and she immediately seized upon my concern for her feelings as an opportunity to have one more try at bringing me to god. She wept and pleaded with me to pray... I promised; after all, I felt that I owed her something for inadvertently making her ridiculous before the member of her church.” (Wright 119) And he follows through with that. He prays, daily, for an hour. That hour is torture, but he keeps his promise, abiding by his moral code. He is different from the boys and girls of his church congregation, and class: they have been indoctrinated and do as they are told, docilely. One boy walks up to Richard, prompted by the congregation, who think that Richard is doomed to burn in Hell, and tries to convert him; it is obvious that the boy has no real conviction in God of his own, rather, the belief in God has been forced upon him by his parents and community. “Though older than I, he had neither known nor felt anything of life for himself; he had been carefully reared by his mother and father and he had always been told what to feel.”(Wright 116) Meanwhile, Wright, in stark contrast, resists the attempts of his Grandmother and extended family to indoctrinate him into religion, instead deciding to

In Pentecostalism, a variant of Christianity, the Bible is studied in many versions, to deepen the understanding of the adherent regarding Christianity, which can better help them make informed decisions in terms of the religious practice, which imposes validity in the dynamism of Pentecostalism (Walsh, 2008).

When you think “Christian Worldview,” what comes to mind? I know I automatically think; God, Jesus, Christians, and Prayer. As I have learned through my Christian Worldview class, I have learned that there is a lot more to it and this paper will provide you with what I have learned. Throughout this assignment, I will explain about God, Humanity, Jesus, restoration, my analysis of the Christian Faith, and my reflection.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and enlarge his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. He wanted to understand what changed her like this. He wanted to relate with his wife so he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel began his journey and interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament. Strobel splits the case for Christ into three basic sections: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and Researching the Resurrection.

In the 1600’s the Puritans were the main religious group of that time period and they had very strong ideals on how religion and government should go together. Jonathan Edwards, who shared many of their ideals, preached a sermon called, “ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and it had a very big impact on the congregation. Nathaniel Hawthorne, although he was a writer in the 1800’s, he was fascinated with the Puritans and their lifestyles and wrote a short story called, “ The Minister’s Black Veil.” Both authors use specific details, tone, and imagery to convey their meaning and style, Edwards harsh and accusatory style was more effective than Hawthorne’s melancholy and mysterious style because Edwards helps the reader understand the effects sin can have in one’s life.

Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In Literature of America, complied by Jan Anderson and Laurel Hicks, 19-25. Pensacola: A Beka Book, 2010.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” tells the tale of a man whose Puritan beliefs were shaken to the core because reality turned out to be much different than he was taught in catechism. Goodman Brown showed readers how much he believed in his family’s goodness when he claimed “We have been a race of honest men and good Christians… We are a people of prayer, and good works, to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (Hawthorne 247). Because of this, Brown is surprised when he comes to know that people he thought were holy were in fact advocates for the devil and sinners- especially his wife Faith. People that he held in the highest regard were nothing but the lowest of the low to him now. He becomes surly, loses all faith in humanity, and develops a bitter worldview after this revelation.

Well respected puritan minister, in his sermon, Jonathan Edwards,”Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” (1741), establishes the consequences of why God won’t accept them in the Puritan Religion. Edwards purpose is to impress upon the Puritans’ Religion is to get God to forgive everyone so they can be accepted into the religion. He adopts a desperate tone because he’s so worried about the Puritans’ because God is wrathful and will punish them for their sins. Edward supports his claim by employing, repetition,imagery, and pathos to make the readers frightened of sinning and the consequences with it.

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” are two engaging literary pieces that have many similarities along with a few differences. The themes of sin and repentance are strong in both works, but when those broad themes are broken down, the contrasting ideas can be seen. Jonathan Edwards, author of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” delivers his message by using harsh language and fear-inducing tactics. Nathaniel Hawthorne develops his theme by employing a parable, a more subtle strategy. Hawthorne’s style is more effective due to the way he draws the reader in with an interesting story and does not make him/her feel like they are being put down.

The purpose of this book is meant to create a foundation for Christian lifestyles. It addresses the origin of Christian values, and portrays the evolution of Christian worldviews throughout history. It briefly explains the biblical narrative and develops ideas in which Christians are able to live out their faith and deal with other worldviews existing in our world today.

This book was assigned as a requirement of my English Writing I class at Bryan College. This prompted me to believe that this book has been vetted by the university and is a credible source. This book is a collection of writings written with a Christian point of view, published by Baker Academic, a publisher who publishes primary and secondary textbook geared towards Christian learning. This essay is excerpted from Colson’s and Pearcy’s book How Now Shall We Live? published by Tyndale House Publishing, a publisher of all forms of Christian literature.

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”.

Religion is powerful in that it controls followers’ behaviours and beliefs throughout their entire lives; it is a form of social control. Catholicism is one of the most widely known religions influencing more than 2 billion people around the world (Ross). Within Catholicism not everyone are seen as equals; men have greater privilege than women. The bible and church are from a male’s point of view (Christ 86) and passages within the bible are used to enforce a sexual hierarchy. In fact, the oppression of women begins with the first story in Genesis about creation, which portrays females as being inferior to men and even of an evil nature. This one passage is the main source of justification of oppression of woman in the church (Daly 13).

Feminist theory and Christian worldview can be integrated but to what extent? Too much emphasis on the abstract, detached mind leads us astray. To be fully human does not require sex or gender but it does require God’s image. That, it seems, does not disappear with gender or sex, for both God and the angels are personal yet without sex or gender. As such, the thin essential properties of humanity, being rooted in God’s creative work, remain forever whereas the human cultural creations of gender and sex do not. In the beginning we are sexed and gendered (Genesis). In the end, we are neither (Galatians), hence the solution to the apparent contradiction of the Christian scriptures on gender.

When young Goodman Brown entered the forest, he strongly believed in his Christianity, but when he left, he did not have any faith left in him. The devil tempted him and Goodman completely lost it. “I have been was well acquainted with your family as with every one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say” (YGB 18). He had no idea that the