Veneration of the dead

As times change, values and ideas often change as they are invariably shaped by their context. However, some remain constant throughout time and are universal. The 1592 Shakespearean drama Richard III and Al Pacino 's 1995 docu-drama Looking for Richard [LFR] were written four hundred years apart yet both texts address perpetual values and ideas that are common to both eras. Through a simultaneous study of both texts, the responder is able to understand the influence of context on aspects of the…

condemned by God in Deuteronomy 18:10-15. However, Christians must distinguish between necromancy, or the conjuring of a dead spirit, and prayer to the saints, an act in which a believer enters into a conversation with believers who have gone before them. Likewise, the intercession of the saints is not praying to the dead in a sense, because Christians who have died are not dead, but in reality more alive than anyone on earth. For example, the Bible says in John 11:25-26 that those who put their…

Justin Martyr’s first apology is written to the Roman Emperor of the time, Titus Aelius as well as his son Verissimus the Philosopher and another, Lucius the Philosopher, son of Caesar. To clarify, this letter was not exclusively written to these three, but rather it was written as an open letter to Rome as well*. Thus, expanding the impact of Justin’s apology beyond the ears of a few power individuals who might suppress such a letter from the public. Justin’s intent with this letter was to…

Suicide is a mystery. It is a collective experience as ancient as death. Unlike death, however, suicide is a surreptitious as the person that engages it. Several ancient Asian civilizations revered it as an honorable end. Others have not, however. Many African Tribes believed suicide to be accursed. Still others elsewhere throughout time remain ambivalent towards the praxis of taking one’s own life. The motivation and consequences of suicide vary drastically, making it a difficult subject to…

consequences of the decision she made. When she returned home the next day she was almost killed. Members of the gang she belonged to attacked her. They told her that she was lucky that they would not kill her. The leader of the group told her that she was dead to them. Eva’s father had a very high rank in the Hispanic gang that was why they had pity on her. Something that is not usual for gang members. Eva was the, “jumped”, attacked numerous times…

On the African continent, a long stretch of its modern history is plagued by European imperialism. Such that it has been the backdrop of many famous works of literature. Among them, two Nigerian authors: Wole Soyinka and his play, Death and the King’s Horsemen; and Chinua Achebe with his novel, Things Fall Apart. The two African natives tell stories of cultures clashing and the respective men in the midst of that clash. Honor becomes a major role in the mediums and is largely the impetus for…

of greatness. According to Johnson, no other test of the greatness of literary works exists “than length of duration and continuance of esteem.”¹ Johnson even says that Shakespeare has begun “to assume the dignity of an ancient, and prescriptive veneration.”² He finds that as Shakespeare has won the applause of the readers…

‘’ The Black Stone of Ka’abah ’’ by Ivan Bunin Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine for hearing the words of the Lord. And the people shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food, but shall not find it. Prophet Amos 8: 11…

I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. The definition of savior according to the dictionary is a person who saves someone or something from danger, and who is regarded with the veneration of a religious figure. According to Luke Timothy Johnson, Jesus is the Messiah who the New Testament declares is the Son of God who came to this earth to suffer willingly and die for our sins. I am going to compare the description above with some other ideas about who many theologians think Jesus is. First, I…

Aryan race represented by Marguerite and transmitted through Nazi discourse and propaganda. The prisoners, however, seem to be drinking from a different kind of black milk, since they don’t seem to participate in the enjoyment of violence or in the veneration of a physical ideal opposite to theirs. Their black milk is more closely related with the “grave in the air” that is repeated throughout the poem as well. While the speaker of the poem and the speaker of certain lines within it are…