Pauls Letter To The Galatians Essays - , Term Papers

Paul's Letter To The Galatians A Humanities Essay That Teaches The Study of The Bible As A Historical Document PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS: When Paul attended the Jerusalem Conference in 48 or 49, a decision was made that gentiles would be allowed to become Christians without becoming Jews first (ie. have a circumcision, and follow the Jewish Laws). Paul, being the one that defended the gentile's right to be Christians, became the apostle to the gentiles. Why would Paul, a Jew, want to be an apostle to gentiles? According to him, Jesus appeared to him in AD 32 or 36, and told him to preach the good news to the gentiles (Gal 1:16). Paul uses scripture to explain why gentiles should not be required to be circumcised, or obey Jewish Law; however, there are no direct quotes in scripture that say this. One would wonder why Paul, someone who grew-up in a "good" Jewish family, would not follow in the footsteps of Jewish Christian Missionaries, and require Christian converts to become Jews first. He certainly had to fight to have his belief accepted! In my opinion, Paul tried to follow the example of the original apostles (who knew Jesus) by "converting the multitudes." I think Paul understood human nature better than the other apostles preaching circumcision to the gentiles. Perhaps he thought that gentiles would accept Christianity more easily if it was natural to their lifestyle --I'm sure that the thought of circumcision, and strict dietary laws scared gentiles from Christianity! It seems that the "Judaziers" preached a God that was hard to please. Paul's major problem confronted in his letter to the Galatians is the preachings of the Judaziers. Apparently, men who preach circumcision and the Law had been trying to "pervert" the Galatians, and change their beliefs away from Paul's preachings (Gal 1:7). Paul is so angered that the Galatians are so easily convinced (Gal 1:6), that he actually wishes the Judaziers to mutilate themselves (Gal 5:12)! So, the letter to Galatians uses 4 specific tactics to make Galatians come back to the teachings according to Paul. Paul begins by defending his credibility as an apostle. He writes a brief autobiographical history, stressing that he once persecuted Christians, and then converted when Jesus appeared to him. Also, he tells the outcome of the Jerusalem Conference, probably to convince them that other apostles have accepted his theology. This part of the letter is a bit like a resume of qualifications. I could imagine that the Judiazers who came to Galatia after Paul, denounced him as an apostle: that he never met Jesus, and was not truly educated to be an apostle. Next, Paul writes that "obedience to the Law could not earn approval by God; approval is possible only through faith in Christ" (Perrin, pg. 184). Faith in the crucified Christ will bring righteousness, not the Law (Gal 2:21). Having circumcision will do nothing to make one better in the eyes of God. Then, Paul uses an allegory of The Two Covenants: Abraham's child of a slave woman represents Jerusalem living under the Law, and the child of the free woman represents Jerusalem being free! This tactic, along with Paul's use of familiar Jewish argument style, quoting scripture after scripture to prove a point (Gal 3), are common preaching styles; probably taught to him during whatever rabbinic training he got (perhaps when he spent time with Peter). Paul also tries to appeal to the Helenistic enthusiasm in Christianity in Gal 3:1-5. Although Paul makes some very convincing arguments in favor of his beliefs, I cannot agree with his interpretation of Christ Jesus Christianity. Compare these two quotes from New Testament Scripture (The first is by Paul in Galations. The second is a quote of Jesus in the Book of Matthew.): "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." (Gal 2:16) "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.

Book Review on Undaunted Courage

Book Review on Undaunted Courage Book Review on Undaunted Courage Book review: Undaunted Courage by Steven Ambrose In his book, Undaunted Courage, Steven Ambrose brings to our attention the life history of young Lewis before the expedition to the pacific coast. He gives us an impression that Lewis was an intelligent young boy, an attribute that saw him lead the expedition. According to the author, Lewis’ childhood was promising and his future was bright. He made good choices in his youthful life. The Lewis and Clark expedition was influenced by the relationship between Lewis and Thomas Jefferson, who was a family friend. The author comes up with a summary of the 2000-mile expedition in an amazing prose. During the exploration, Lewis wrote his characteristic voluminous journals expressing their two years joy as well as the mysteries they were experiencing. President Thomas Jefferson chose Lewis to lead the expedition whose purpose was to explore and discover a northwest route to the Pacific Ocean and opening commercial ties with the inhabitants of the area. Lewis is a perfect choice to lead the expedition because of his military background where he was a captain. Again, it is indicated in numerous instances that he was very intelligent, something that began since he was a small boy. Lewis is presented by the author as a reasonable man with a natural gift in scientific observation. He is even said to have been a skilled and experienced naturalist. These are some of the qualities that made him catch the eye of the president of course considering the two were friends from home. In his troop, the second in command was Lieutenant William Clark, a friend to Lewis who still was a younger brother to an activist and a war general, George Rogers Clark. The troop went by the name ‘corps of discovery’ and consisted of 30 other recruits. The expedition started in May 1804 and they sailed the river using canoes with others walking on foot along the banks. The leader had strict instructions from the president to keep a journal, which he wrote about the daily events taking place around them. This included daily measurement in latitude and longitude and his scientific observations. As the expedition goes on, a Canadian decided to join the ‘corps of discovery’ with his teenage wife who later on plays a big role in the survival of the voyage. Lewis is disappointed as there is no connection between the river Missouri leading to the pacific so the troop had to traverse through the great falls of the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains. By this time, their food reserves were running low and were forced to trade their horses against foodstuff for survival. The troop reached the pacific coast in November 1805, were they put up a fort that was named Fort Clatsop. The following spring, the expedition having suffered low supplies begun their voyage back. Lewis and Clark however decided to split the troops into two and explore the east and west water routes. At this time, the corps encountered a hostile military engagement but the troops remained intact without losing anyone of them. However, two lives were lost in the attacking community. Upon their return, Lewis and Clark are received back home as heroes and Lewis is appointed as governor. This was the beginning of his troubles since he was not a good politician and eventually he became an alcoholic, as he was depressed. He unfortunately loses his life at an early age of thirty-five years after committing suicide. Ambrose has used the journals from the expedition and presented the story in a systematic way that reveals the history of Lewis’ background. In my opinion, the presentation of the chronological events that took place in regards to Lewis prior, during and after the expedition is very clear and informative. The author has dedicated his efforts to establish and impart basic knowledge on the details and circumstances surrounding the historic expedition by Lewis. This is an excellent piece of art that I would recommend anyone to read as it is based on the accounts of the historic expedition in the pacific. Feel free to buy a book review online, on any topic you need. All custom book reviews are written from scratch by professional review writers.

Eculturation and Cognition of Children Research Paper

Eculturation and Cognition of Children - Research Paper Example Learning of culture in any community or society takes place at an early stage when a child is born and may continue throughout the lifetime of the individual. Therefore, the aspect of learning and using key aspects of a particular culture constitute a process to an individual, which anthropologists have termed as enculturation. Therefore, this research paper will explore the concept of enculturation and how it impact or influence the cognition process of children. Research methodology to be utilized will largely constitute qualitative research techniques. Secondary data will be relied upon in generating useful information for this study and reliable library books, electronic books, journals and useful websites will be utilized. Enculturation and Cognition of Children Talcott Parsons, one of the credited scholars in the field of sociology is remembered for noting that new generation of children being born are as a result of a process known as ‘recurrent barbarian invasionâ€℠¢ (Grunlan and Mayers,1988, p.77). The scholar went ahead to explain this concept by stating that children being born into this world do not have culture of their own. ... As they enter the world, the children slowly are expected to live and cope within the different cultural context they find themselves in and to do this they require to adopt certain and specific cultural aspects. Therefore, such children have to go through a process of acquiring these cultural aspects and it is this process anthropologists have termed as enculturation while sociologists have termed it as socialization (Grunlan and Mayers, 1988). What is enculturation? The concept of enculturation was originated by an anthropologist known as J.M. Herskovits. In a scholarly work published in 1948 and titled ‘Man and his Works, the Science of Cultural Anthropology’, Herskovits defines and describes enculturation as â€Å"the aspects of the learning experience that mark off man from other creatures and by means of which he believes competence in his culture† (cited in Somani and University of Maryland, 2008, p.15). Herskovits went further to expound on this definition by stating that, enculturation constitute a process that is characterized by conscious and unconscious conditioning that is carried out by any particular society’s set customs limits. As this process takes place, Herskovits observes that apart from achieving all adjustments to social living, there is also derivation of all kinds of satisfaction that constitute part of social experiences and in most cases are achieved from individual expression and not from association with others in the group (Somani and University of Maryland, 2008). As a procedure, Herskovits contend that all individuals in one way or the other have to go through the process of enculturation in order for such individuals to fit well and become members of any particular society. According to the writer, the