Recent orders
Theology the Basics
Theology the Basics
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Professor’s Name
Course Name and Number
Assignment Due Date
Theology the Basics
Theologies have a different perception of the nature of the Christian God and depend on many nations and regions, and they have various special names, distinctive functions, and spheres of influence under the same. The Christians believed in the same God as Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Christian understanding of human nature mainly demands the complete recognition of total dependence upon God. God as a father is linked to God’s image, and it is embedded in the faith of Christians (McGrath, 2018).
German Lutheran theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg has discussed the point concerning God in Systematic Theology (1990) and said that the aspect of fatherly care is specifically the indication by the Old Testament and its realization of God’s care of father for Israel. He has argued about sexual differentiation while understanding God (McGrath, 2018). God’s care for the Israelites can be mainly articulated in dependency on the love of a mother and specifically shows little sense of sexual difference when considerate of God as Father (McGrath, 2018). Therefore, many theologies have brought up the detail that God is not to be Male; the idea of God has been recognized as “mother” and “friends” because “God the Father” does not completely indicate God is a male.
Athenagoras, in his theology, argues based on Bible, and he is extremely confident that God’s providence guides the righteous through all the challenges they face and governs the lives of men. God as the father, provides control of the world and works like a potter working upon clay by giving it fashion and differentiation, order, and shape, and he indicates that man and God create activities (Rankin, 2016). Athenagoras believe that the body resurrection mainly illustrates God’s completeness in the reliance on his power.
Aquinas has aimed at providing the basic understanding of who God is, how God is, and the operations of God of will and knowing. Aquinas’s approach differs from those of other theologians in the assumption of the existence of God and nature, which is mainly deduced from God’s idea (Harkins, 2020). Aquinas argues that God has to process knowledge because of his immaterial nature of the highest degree, and the five ways used by Aquinas indicate that God exists. These five ways mainly include motion proof, efficient causality proof, necessity, contingency proof, governing things proof, and gradation of being.
Goodness is completely inseparable from the connection with the nature of God. There is only one God, and Christians know about this, for God is unlike any individual he created and is not composed of parts. The basic idea is related to the personal commitment of God to the people of God and the people of God. God brought us life, and thus, God is our originator, and this is indicated throughout the Old and New Testaments, where we have been more dependent on God since the beginning.
Conclusively, theologies have completely changed their thoughts and feelings toward their understanding of God and existence. I think God exists from the perception of theologies. God is recognized as the father, and the Christians worship him and know that he is the same God during the time of Israel. He is the same God for Isaac, Abraham, Moses, and Jacob and continues to be the same God. God provides for all and guides the righteous when faced with difficulties in life.
References
Harkins, F. T. (2020). Thomas Aquinas: The Basics. Routledge.
McGrath, A. E. (Ed.). (2018). Theology: The basic readings. John Wiley & Sons.
Rankin, D. (2016). Athenagoras: philosopher and theologian. Routledge.
Theology on Human Suffering
Theology on Human Suffering
Students Name
Professors Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Date
Theology on Human Suffering
Human Suffering can be explained as a point in life where human beings experience a version of unpleasantness, and it is characterized by a person feeling threatened. Humans can experience suffering in two forms, either physical suffering or mental suffering, and the way it affects vary from mild to unbearable. People’s attitudes towards human suffering will depend on who is going through grief or how society perceives that kind of suffering. One of our modern society’s problems is that human beings have not understood the nature of pain and suffering. Suffering happens to be a mixture of emotions and thoughts, which is more complex than suffering physically. Emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual concepts are the constructing aspects of a human being. Theology and Religion have got concepts on human suffering, and in this essay, these concepts and examples of offering service to people in need will be discussed.
Theological Concepts on Human Suffering
In our modern world, technologies and advancements in the medical field have been made to achieve positive patient outcomes by relieving patients from suffering. Psychology, palliative care, pharmacology, psychiatry, and anesthesia work towards ending suffering. The anguish can be mental, physical, emotional, or existential. Historically, vast literature bodies have raised concern on human suffering, and theology has not been exempted. Theology is the study of religious beliefs and the existence of a supreme being. Theology has studied various religions in the world and their perceptions of human suffering. Religion tends to explain to human beings about spiritual matters that science cannot define. The way the world comes to existence remains a puzzle that scientists have not been able to solve, making explanations of Religion more powerful. Around 93% of the world’s population is religious, meaning they believe in a supernatural being responsible for global things.
In different religions, suffering plays a vital role in various matters like bringing consolation to human beings, building human moral conduct like compassion and spiritual growth. According to human beings, suffering is senseless, and they do not understand why if there is a God who loves them, then why does allow them to go through all that suffering. In Buddhism, the four noble truths try to explain the concept of suffering. The truths outline the nature of human suffering, its cause, how to stop suffering, and how believers can follow to end this suffering. The path to ending suffering, according to Buddhism, is characterized by doing better than harm, meaning people should follow this path to end suffering.
Religion gets critics from a significant percentage of people in the world. An example of this critics is Karl Marx’s perception of Religion, where he thinks that Religion is a relief of a creature that is being oppressed in a ruthless world. In support of what Karl Marx perceives, in most cases, Religion gives hope to people when they feel like giving up. Christianity offers hope to people on suffering by showing how Jesus suffered for our sins, and it is through this suffering, we were set free. From the Bible’s teachings, some people went through suffering like Job, and because of their strong faith in God, they endured (McCarroll, 2019). Jobs suffering is proof that Religion tends to give people hope to keep pushing even when they are at difficult moments.
According to Hinduism and Judaism, human suffering can be because of someone’s harmful doings of the past or current life. These two religions teach those that believe in it that they should endure the suffering for spiritual growth. They think that a person who bears the suffering at the end achieves liberation from the suffering. From this Religion, it is evident that the aim at making people do less harm to others for them not to go through suffering. In Islam, those in despair should endure, ask no questions, accept and not resist, for this is a test from Allah on one’s faith. Muslims believe that suffering makes people remember God, thus reviving the connection (Rouzati, 2018). The Religion also teaches people to learn to take other people’s suffering as their own.
Service Examples
Relating to the theological concepts about human suffering, the lesson one can get from all religions is that human suffering happens and does not happen to make people feel hopeless. Still, it acts as a test of faith. Religion teaches human beings to be kind to one another and avoid doing evil deeds. All human beings are prone to sin, and everyone is at the risk of facing any suffering. Therefore, it is important to show concern to people facing any suffering, giving them hope to keep fighting. Churches are channels of installing hope to people, and they achieve this when they teach people that there is freedom at last after suffering. When people are suffering, they tend to lose hope and want their life to come to an end. Human beings should show love and care to suffering individuals for them to restore their faith. Various groups have been formed in all parts of the world where they carry out charity works like feeding the poor, visiting those in jail, and fighting for the oppressed.
References
Hill, B., Knitter, P. F., & Madges, W. (1997). Faith, Religion & Theology: A contemporary introduction. Twenty-Third Publications.
McCarroll, P. R. (2019). Keeping It Real: Decolonizing Christian Inter-Religious Practice as an Exercise in a Practical Theology of the Cross. Religions, 10(3), 203.
Rouzati, N. (2018). Evil and human suffering in Islamic thought—towards a mystical theodicy. Religions, 9(2), 47.
Theme of Guilt in The Black
Theme of Guilt in The Black Cat
Student’s name
Institution
Course
Tutor
Date
Pluto, in the story of The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe serves an important purpose of demonstrating the narrator’s guilt. The protagonist in this story goes back to alcoholism and whenever he sees Pluto, the titular cat, he is filled with guilt. He later kills the cat. This Act worsens his guilt and he is forced to realize that his guilt is a cause for his alcoholism. This is evident because the narrator tries to cover up his guilt by pointing out that the cat had been dead at least two days and that it was still rotting. He argues that this was quite normal because of an excessively warm climate. This confirms his guilt, which drives him to murder Pluto before he can be discovered by being forced to pay horrifying amounts of money.
The narrator also kills his wife and a friend in the story. This is to make up for the murder of Pluto. The narrator’s guilt is demonstrated when he states “I think, never more to see my wife, or any human being.” This shows that he feels guilty for life and tries to protect himself from feeling any guilt by taking drastic actions. He immediately goes to bed with his wife while she is at home and tries to get off quickly by claiming that he has a headache.
Pluto begins as an innocent and playful kitten who brings joy into the narrator’s life. The narrator finds joy in playing with the cat and there is a bond between the two. When Pluto disappears, the narrator feels that he has lost something special and precious in his life. He realizes that he will never see the cat again; this means that Pluto is dead.
The narrator begins to drink at this time because the pain of losing Pluto drives him to it. The moment he sees the ghost cat, very much alive, he wants to get drunk as quickly as possible, not caring whether it is good for him or not. In the last scene, the cat’s wails reveal the location of the wife’s body and announce the protagonist’s guilt. This shows that he is not willing to face and accept his guilt. Later, the narrator will be destroyed by his guilt. This story contains evidence that the narrator feels guilty because he killed Pluto. He is too afraid to face it and he never admits his guilt in any way. He sees Pluto at night in the black cat, and he sees him again during the day. This makes him think about Pluto all day, filling him with immense sadness and grief which drives him back to alcohol. He says that he would rather drink than feel such sadness; this is evidence that he feels guilty for killing the cat.
The conflict in The Black Cat is the conflict of good and evil, or those human emotions which make us act against what we know is right. Guilt is that emotion which causes us to act against these emotions. The narrator is aware of his guilt when he sees Pluto at night and again during the day. However, he also believes that it is normal and usual; however, when his wife discovers what he has done, and stops drinking to bring shame on him, the guilt becomes unbearable.
The conflict of good and evil represents an internal conflict with the forces of our nature or personified in The Black Cat as Pluto. Evil is represented by Pluto who is an evil cat who haunts the narrator for all his life. He may not have met him first in life but through his inner conscience he knows that this cat is evil and will do anything to ruin him.
The theme of guilt is clearly portrayed in the story of The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator feels guilt and ends up making other mistakes that deepens the guilt. The Cat tries to help the narrator but is instead killed by him.
The narrator of Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Black Cat, feels guilt and ends up making other mistakes that deepen the guilt. The cat tries to help the narrator but is instead killed by him. Though Poe leaves us on a note of uncertainty, this should not stop us from seeing guilt in its many forms: as an overwhelming thought that leads one to do wrong; as a mental state that becomes clearer over time; and as an act where people feel regretful or remorseful for their actions. These behaviors may be exhibited with or without explicit expressions of self-blame, shame or embarrassment about one’s wrongdoing.
The narrator, protagonist, in this story illustrates a man who could not handle his guilt and who took it out on his cat. The narrator is a young man who has devoted himself to studying the sciences and mathematics. He has given himself over to his work, with the result that he feels isolated from the world. He lives alone in a country villa where he has isolated himself, spending most of his time reading and writing. According to this theme, a person should not live with their own guilt, instead one should try to fix it through various strategies (Sheoran, 2016).
Reference
Sheoran, P. (2016). Effectiveness of NLP in dealing with guilt induced anxiety, depression and stress: A case study. Mental Health: A Journey from illness to wellness. İndia, 179-88.