Paganism

Matteo Ricci created a link between the Western world and China by attempting to introduce Christianity to the Chinese people. Matteo Ricci is a pioneer because he took Western lifestyle to China. Chinese scholars were very intrigued by the knowledge introduced to them from Renaissance Europe and so they explored this new information. By showing the extravagance of western civilization and religion Matteo Ricci and the Jesuits became cultural mediators, and they created a foothold for Western…

During the fifteenth century the Renaissance was wedged between the power of political families and religious institutions. These institutions acquired great wealth that has influenced and developed ideas associated with their cause or self-image they wanted portrayed to the public. Italy, during the Renaissance was not a nation but rather a collection of republics, city and states and kingdoms. One republic that flourished was Florence, known for its cloth and wool industry as well as their…

Rousseau claims that the precondition of decency in terms of being human and most importantly a citizen is to believe in God. Therefore, he does not separate a place in his ideal state for atheists by accusing them being unsociable. Bayle, on the other hand, is against the notion that while religion makes people moral, atheism makes them immoral. He puts forward other motives of human behavior other than fear or love of divine and claims that an atheist might be virtuous as much as a religious…

“particular Presbyterian form of worship” works to draw his readers away from something completely familiar—a religion influenced by the Old World—to question their own belief system by positing a new, much more open form of Christianity, which accepts Paganism and its practices as an act of being kind to fellow man, rather than dismissing it for simply being Pagan (Moby-Dick 57). Notably, Melville could have completely undermined this notion of defamiliarizing religion if Ishmael felt any…

Christians have been persecuted around the world for centuries. Under the protections provided us by our Constitution, we have enjoyed the relative freedom to believe and worship as we choose in the United States. The separation of church and state is part of the genius of our Constitution, but it is the First Amendment free exercise clause that is increasingly being infringed upon, constraining religious liberty, particularly Christianity. I believe we are entering into a war to retain this…

Old English literature is also referred to Anglo-Saxon literature. The Anglo-Saxons were settlers from Germany that originate from the names Angeln and Saxony. The Anglo-Saxon period lasted for 600 years, from 410 to 1066. They went to Britain after the fall of The Roman Empire, around AD 410. Roman armies were needed, so they left Britain in the fifth-century to fight for their land. The Anglo-Saxons were basically their own leaders in the new land and did not contribute much, or anything to…

neighboring cultures as well as understand who and what they were created to be. This ontological understanding is seen throughout the pages of the Pentateuch as it sought to cleanse and redeem the Israelites from the effects caused by immersion into paganism throughout their time as slaves in Egypt. The creation narrative of Genesis aimed to debunk pagan mythology; teaching the covenant community about God, and his relationship with mankind and the…

Prior to the age of religious reformation and the Late Middle Ages, witchcraft did not hold such a negative connotation. In fact, it was divided into two – white magic and black magic. White magic was used by healers, wise men and women, as well as others who fit this category. Black magic, on the other hand, were practiced by those who sought to harm others, thus used their abilities for evil. It was this kind of magic that got a person labelled as a witch rather than the titles used for the…

Medieval monastic communities are partially the reason that many ancient texts are still around to this day. The monastic communities considered their work life to be a part of their prayer life. Monasteries often housed a scriptorium where texts were either copied or created. These scriptoria led to several famous texts being written such as The Rule of Saint Benedict and Beowulf. Though monastic communities were important in maintaining literature, several works were written outside of the…

Governmental Cycles in the Roman Empire Rome was the one of the most influential empires in history. Present-day countries, such as the United States, look up to Rome for its remarkable accomplishments: its invention of civil law, representative practices. However, with the impressive resume it has, Rome still fell in 476 C.E. The reason for Rome’s decline is still debated by scholars today. Some believe it was the rise of Christianity that hurt Rome while others state the weakening of the…