John Barth

At the climax of Voltaire’s novel Candide, the main character Candide’s wife Cunegonde is enslaved in another country against her will. “A Bulgarian captain came in, saw me all bleeding, and the solder not in the least disconcerted. The captain flew into a passion at the disrespectful behavior of the brute, and slew him on my body.”(17) This image portrays Cunegonde being sexually abused and rescued by a member of the Bulgarian Army. This depicts the common theme between all of the female characters in the novel. Voltaire’s novel tells the story of Candide’s travel through Europe after he was banished for kissing the Baron’s daughter, Cunegonde. The narrator for the most part is objective, but occasionally transforms into Candide’s Consciousness. As Candide travels on his own for the first time, he joins the Bulgarian Army. Candide sporadically wanders from camp one night and is brutally flogged as a deserter. As he witnessed the awful battle, he manages to escape and heads towards Holland. He is taken in by a Baptist in Holland. He runs into a beggar, who turns out to be the Baron’s family’s oracle Dr. Pangloss. Candide contracts syphilis and discovers that the love of his life was brutally murdered by the Bulgarian Army. Candide portrays Cunegonde to be an attractive maiden and very innocent. However, he does not see her clearly. Cunegonde is always initiating the romantic encounters between her and Candide. Voltaire distinguishes Cunegonde as a meddling charater, she is…

J.D. Robb is a pseudonym used by Nora Roberts. One hundred and twenty-four of her novels have ranked in the Times bestseller list, including twenty-nine that debuted in the number-one spot. Some of her books have made it to movies such as Sanctuary and Magic Moments. Nora Roberts has made a name for herself in the romance shelf in stores. She has a book series named In Death that has over forty books. Most of those are best sellers. If you want to read a great future, homicide cop book Naked in…

Celie slipped into Mr. Cunnington’s classroom, tip-toed while hugging the wall, and glided towards Mr. Cunnington’s “executive” desk at the back right corner of the rectangular room. She paused, then crouched her petite figure behind the cool metal surface of the desk and leaned against the rugged wall that might’ve been white once upon a time, and sighed. It wasn’t everyday Celie made it this far, the trek across the room was fatal to anyone that arrived late. By now, Celie may have already…

maintains the basic dialectical structure that interprets eschatology as the crisis of history. I Robert Jenson: Narrative Overcoming of Crisis The early dialectical theology of Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann represent crisis as the historical condition—perhaps even the ‘fallout’—of divine revelation. Crisis names the consequence of the revelation of alien righteousness, wherein the world encounters the eschatological dialectic of divine judgment and grace. Revelation is opposed to history, on…

Globalization of Christianity in the South has been a prime focus and intrigue for the past couple of decades, more so now than before. Concerns regarding the preservation of Christianity rises as Christian influence of the public sphere in the Europe and North America dwindle while the spread of Islam rises. However, there is still hope for the Christian Religion, specifically the Protestant churches as Christianity spreads fervently in continents such as Africa, Asia and South America.…

In the beginning, there was only Adam and Eve, one people and one identity. At the eleventh generation came Noah’s and that was when we saw the first signs of different people groups. The people all spoke one language on the earth and when they tried to build a tower to reach God, God humbled them by confusing their language so that they did not understand each other and was forced to abandon the project. People dispersed over the face of the earth and hence we saw the separation of people, the…

It is the closest to human realty, and gives us the clearest view of the truth…” This statement right away shows theology as the main focus within this reading. The definition of theology, as stated and defined in the Felker-Jones textbook, is the study of God and how He affects how we live as person’ individually. Throughout his thoughts, Barth proves the idea that although theology is a key and crucial part to the Church, it is not only just used for pastors. He add another thought that…

Modern A&P John Updike’s “A&P” is a fine example of an early 1960’s “rite of passage” or “initiation into adulthood” story. According to the introduction of adulthood theme, heroic irony, and erotic experience in this short story, Updike’s work moves forwardly in essential subjectivity for a modern day writing in today’s society. John Updike is the author of many artistic and creative novels such as “Rabbit, Run” (1960), which is the prequel to his most famous “Rabbit” series.…

Siqi He HST 109 Prof. Barth Book Review Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different written by Gordon Wood, who is a great historian focused on the history of the founding era, successfully argues about the great character of seven founders of America which includes George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams as well as Thomas Paine and the great contributions they have made to the establishment of early America. From…

In Herman J. Selderhuis’ book John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life, Selderhuis looked at Calvin in a neutral way. He said, “I feel nothing for Calvin either way but is fascinated by him as a person (8).” Selderhuis used Calvin’s own letter in writing this book. “Calvin himself believed that we learn most about people from their letters (8).” People thought Calvin was a man without much emotion, but the letters showed a man with a heart. The chapters in the book show Calvin’s life in chronological order…