Essays on Monasticism

Religious Studies Response

The Crusades are a chain of planned armed operations during the period of 1096 to 1487. The campaigns were initiated by the Popes aimed at upholding the Christian supremacy. The initial Crusades started in 1095 when Christian forces from the Western Europe acted according to the Pope Urban II’s request to wage a battle against the Muslim occupation of the Christian Holy Land. Jesus Christ preached the brotherhood of man and that love itself is God. The crusades would not have happened if the Popes considered the teachings of Jesus. Jesus would have never approved the crusades. (history.com) ...

Max Weber in his book Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism sets out to systematically investigate what makes Protestantism different from Catholicism and how it changed the course of European history. Weber in his own words sets out to not “substitute for a one-sided materialistic an equally one-sided spiritualistic causal interpretation of culture and of history” (Weber 125). In order to do that Weber investigates the Reformation, its doctrines and how they impacted the history of Western Europe. Weber seems to ultimately to focus on Calvinism and how its doctrine of predestination led to two different and connected ...

1. Individual place in society according to Horse Boy

The Horse Boy is a documentary film with a crafted footage that depicts spontaneous social interaction that contributes to its appeal and image. The perception of a social anthropologist that studies autism makes a conscious decision to focus on the experiences of autistic people, Instead of people around them. Parents of autistic children desire attention for one to understand their experiences and perspectives. The Horse Boy is a crucial reminder of the obvious fact that every autistic adult has a history of being an autistic child. Parents play an influencing role to the children lives ...

Part 1

New monasticism chapter Monasticism is a modern kind of religion. It is a modern movement within modern Christianity. It focuses on a model based on the monastic way of life. Monastic has various differences as compared to the traditional monastic life. Monasticism guides the followers on what they have to do in the society. The communities emphasize on various factors. These include thoughtfulness, prayer, and contemplative lives among the people involved. It also guides people on how to practice hospitality and their duty toward needy people in the community. This includes care for the old people. The followers tend to live ...

The question of whether or not religion and politics need to interact has been remaining debatable arguably since both were invented. Many a time has history known religion interfere into secular political affair, leading to controversial decisions as well as bloody quests of faith and unjustified use of violence that it implied. Times have changed and now after their pleading guilty to some unfair religious practices, such as the Catholic Holy Inquisition, to put a simple example, religious groups are campaigning against human rights abuse and want equal participation in debatable questions granted by political elite. However, the question now becomes: ...

Who were the major "players" in monastery economies (think of Vezelay, for example). What did they have to gain- or lose- based on their roles in this economy? How did the cult of saints fit into this monastery economy? What visual and textual evidence do we have? The legalization of Christianity undoubtedly gave rise to a number of monastic orders who flourished extensively over Europe with the establishment of several monastery economies. The Dominicans and the Benedictines were among the most successful especially the latter who took to copying sacred texts and commissioning works of art with considerable zeal. ...

ANSWERS ON ESSAY QUESTIONS REGARDING HISTORY

FURTHER LOOK AT HISTORY

Religious Diversity in the Indian Society

C.N. Venugopal, Religion and Indian Society (New Delhi, India: Gyan Publishing House, 1998), p. 30.

G.S. Ramesh, Philosophy of Indian Society (New Delhi, India: Global Vision Publishing House, 2005), p. 14.

India is considered to be of many religious belief systems around the world. Besides, most of the major religions throughout human history originated from Indian culture. Nevertheless, as with the case of other religious beliefs, these diverse religions are based on either the political, cultural, or social perspectives of their founder(s).

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Sustaining Culture and Education in Europe

Monasteries were unrivalled in their production of books, and the architectural landscape of medieval Europe was shaped by ecclesiastical buildings, including monastic. The laity bestowed on monastic orders large sums of money or pieces of land and with these gifts, the monasteries were able to finance their cultural endeavors. However, monasteries were essentially worlds in microcosm. Their contributions to European culture existed in an enclosed world set apart from the difficulties of secular life (Clark, 2007, 3). The books they produced, along with illuminated manuscripts, were for their own use and not enjoyed by the public. In addition, churches, ...