An Introduction To Christian Mysticism A Review Of Revelation Of Life

An Introduction To Christian Mysticism: A Review of Revelation of Life Eternal Nicholas Arseniev was a professor of New Testament and Apologetics at St. Vladimir's He wrote over 174 articles and books and died in 1977. His Revelation of Life Eternal is described as "an introduction to the Christian message." It pulls together many different mystic perceptions and beliefs, and it is an excellent entry into the diverse world of Christian Mysticism. The introduction quickly pulls the reader in by asking several basic questions about why religion even exists at all. These questions are first answered with broad answers, then Arseniev focuses on why Christian Mysticism is the answer to these questions: "We have to believe in God, because this is Truth--life-giving Truth His Reality is something very earnest, very real: it is the only true Reality And He has to meet us, or rather we have to meet Him, for He meets us at every step" (8). This book is especially valuable to those of us who have little or no knowledge of Christian mysticism. It is broken into two parts, and each part is divided into chapters. Many of the chapters follow the pattern of the introduction by asking a broad question first, then defining it within the terms of the beliefs of the mystics. Basic Biblical stories are reviewed through easily comprehended but not patronizing language, allowing the reader to learn the background information for the beliefs of Christian Mysticism. The many sources consulted for the information shared in this book allows the reader to have some faith in what is being read. Many saints, religious books, and scholars are quoted, thus supporting the theories posed. The first chapter "Principles of Religious Cognition" explains why religion is indeed necessary and why humans are naturally drawn to question things that religion alone can answer. From proving this basic need for religion, Arseniev has a platform to prove his personal religious beliefs--those of Christian Mysticism. A few chapters later some of the problems in early and false religions are explored. As each different issue is dismantled, he is able to set up the premise of Christian Mysticism, which has lasted for hundreds of years--contrasting this with religions that have fallen. Plato is explored, thus pulling in platonic and neoplatonic beliefs, which have become integral part of contemporary mysticism and influenced many of the sources with which Arseniev refers. Christ's importance is explored in chapters about the Transfiguration, Resurrection, and Atonement--three of the basic supporting factors within Christian Mysticism. The book is wrapped up with chapters about the impo rtance of God's humility and love, most importantly God's ultimate love for us. I enjoyed this book for many reasons. The language is easy to understand, but it is beautiful and descriptive at the same time. I had little knowledge of Christian Mysticism before reading this book, so I found it to be an excellent introduction. As I read each chapter, the questions posed persuaded me to continue reading, because I became very interested in the answers to the questions. The questions were answered using reputable sources and answers that appealed to common sense and experience. I was actually surprised by how interested I became in the Orthodox church. This book appealed to the knowledge I already had of different religious beliefs, thus pointing out that Mysticism indeed could affect my life directly and keeping my interest high I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the Orthodox church but has little past experience with it. Nicholas Arseniev's book Revelation of Life Eternal is an excellent introduction to the basic beliefs within Christian Mysticism. It gives the beliefs and the history of religion in general before focusing on the development of Christian Mysticism. It is an excellent source of information on Christian Mysticism for anyone who has little or know knowledge of the subject beforehand

Rousseaus Thoughts on Women and Education

Rousseau's Thoughts on Women and Education Jean-Jacques Rousseau is considered one of the key Enlightenment philosophers, and his writings reveal that he was concerned with â€Å"equality among men,† but he certainly did not make womens equality his focus. Having lived from 1712 to 1778, Rousseau was a major influence on the intellectual thinking of the 18th century. He inspired the political activism that led to the French Revolution and influenced Kant’s view of ethics, rooting them in human nature. His 1762 treatise Emile, or on Education and his book The Social Contract influenced philosophies about education and politics, respectively. Rousseaus main argument has been summarized as â€Å"man is good but has been corrupted by social institutions.† He also wrote that â€Å"nature has created man happy and good, but society depraves him and makes him miserable. The experiences of women, however, did not inspire this degree of contemplation from Rousseau, who essentially deemed them the weaker sex, content to be dependent upon men. Rousseaus Contradictory Views on Women While Rousseau is often praised for his views on human equality, the reality is that he did not believe women deserved equality. According to Rousseau, women needed to rely on men for their wellbeing because they were less rational than men. He argued that men might have desired women but did not need them to survive, while women both desired men and needed them. In Emile, he writes about the difference between what he believes women and men need in education. Since the main purpose in life, to Rousseau, is for a woman to be a wife and mother, she doesnt need to be educated to the extent that men traditionally have. He argues: â€Å"Once it is demonstrated that man and woman are not, and should not be constituted the same, either in character or in temperament, it follows that they should not have the same education. In following the directions of nature they must act together but they should not do the same things; their duties have a common end, but the duties themselves are different and consequently also the tastes that direct them. After having tried to form the natural man, let us also see, in order not to leave our work incomplete, how the woman is to be formed who suits this man.† Some critics view Emile as evidence that Rousseau thought woman should be subservient to man, while others contended that he was writing ironically. Some have also pointed out the fundamental contradiction in Emile about women and education. In this work, Rousseau suggests that women are responsible for educating the young while arguing that they are incapable of reason. â€Å"The whole education of women ought to be relative to men. To please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and honored by them, to educate them when young... How can women educate anyone, even young children, if they themselves lack reasoning skills? Rousseaus views about women arguably grew more complex with age. In Confessions, which he wrote later in life, he credits several women with helping him gain entrance into the intellectual circles of society. Clearly, smart women had played a role in his own development as a scholar. Mary Wollstonecrafts Case Against Rousseau Mary Wollstonecraft addresses some of the points Rousseau made about women in Vindication of the Rights of Woman and other writings in which she asserts that women are logical and can benefit from education. She questions whether a woman’s purpose is only the pleasure of men. She also directly addresses Rousseau when she writes with great irony of his affection for an uneducated and ignorant servant girl. â€Å"Who ever drew a more exalted female character than Rousseau? Though in the lump he constantly endeavoured to degrade the sex. And why was he thus anxious? Truly to justify to himself the affection which weakness and virtue had made him cherish for that fool Theresa. He could not raise her to the common level of her sex; and therefore he labored to bring woman down to hers. He found her a convenient humble companion, and pride made him determine to find some superiour virtues in the being whom he chose to live with; but did not her conduct during his life, and after his death, clearly show how grossly he was mistaken who called her a celestial innocent.† The Difference Between Men and Women Rousseaus views on women invited criticism, but the scholar himself acknowledged that he had no solid foundation for his arguments about the differences between the sexes. He wasnt sure what biological differences made women and men distinct, calling them one of degree. But these differences, he believed, were enough to suggest that men should be strong and active, and women should be weak and passive. He wrote: If woman is made to please and to be subjugated to man, she ought to make herself pleasing to him rather than to provoke him; her particular strength lies in her charms; by their means she should compel him to discover his own strength and put it to use. The surest art of arousing this strength is to render it necessary by resistance. Thus pride reinforces desire and each triumphs in the others victory. From this originates attack and defense, the boldness of one sex and the timidity of the other and finally the modesty and shame with which nature has armed the weak for the conquest of the strong. The Link Between Opportunity and Female Heroism Before Emile, Rousseau listed the numerous woman heroes whod impacted society. He discusses Zenobia, Dido, Lucretia, Joan of Arc, Cornelia, Arria, Artemisia, Fulvia, Elisabeth, and the Countess of Thà ¶kà ¶ly. The contributions of heroines should not be overlooked. If women had had as great a share as we do in the handling of business, and in the governments of Empires, perhaps they would have pushed Heroism and greatness of courage farther and would have distinguished themselves in greater number. Few of those who have had the good fortune to rule states and command armies have remained in mediocrity; they have almost all distinguished themselves by some brilliant point by which they have deserved our admiration for them†¦. I repeat it, all proportions maintained, women would have been able to give greater examples of greatness of soul and love of virtue and in greater number than men have ever done if our injustice had not despoiled, along with their freedom, all the occasions manifest them to the eyes of the world. Here, Rousseau makes it plain that if given the opportunity to shape society as men had, women could very well change the world. Whatever biological differences between men and women existed, the so-called weaker sex had shown repeatedly that they were capable of greatness.

Queen Elizabeth I Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Queen Elizabeth I - Research Paper Example But not many people really know that much about her, regardless of how recognizable she might be. However, Queen Elizabeth I was much more than a just a leader and inspiration, as well as, patron of the fine arts. She was, also, in many ways, a woman well ahead of her time. She defied, both, the expectations of her â€Å"weaker† genders’ ability to lead and the societal and biological conventions expected of her gender. History King Henry VIII is remembered as the British King who grew quite round and had a rather large number of wives; several of whom he had executed. Henry’s first wife, a devout Catholic, gave him his eldest child, Mary. He had this marriage annulled, which ended, both, his married relationship but, also, the relationship of England with the Catholic Church. His second marriage, to Anne Boleyn, produced his second daughter, Elizabeth, born on September 7, 1533. Anne Boleyn, sadly, was beheaded on her husband’s order for the crime of adul tery, when Elizabeth was only two years old. In a solely political move, Henry had both of his daughters legally eliminated from consideration as his heirs; he did this, most likely, to make room for a male heir. It was Henry’s wife, Jane Seymour, who finally produced him his only male heir, Edward, in 1537. Edward would take the throne with his father’s death in 1547, however, he ruled for only 6 years before his own young life ended in 1553. Edward had named, his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, to be his heir. Mary, whose legitimacy to take the throne had been reinstated, disagreed with her half brother’s choice. She, ultimately, took the throne, from Lady Jane Gray, within nine days of her taking power. Mary became Queen; her primary agenda became to stamp out the Protestantism, which her father had promoted during his reign, and reinstate Catholicism as the national religion of England. (Wilde) Until this point, Elizabeth’s life was rather typical of any Prot estant child of English nobility. She received a good education; she excelled in the areas of music and languages. When Mary took the throne, Elizabeth has supported her half-sister’s decision. However, Protestant plots against Mary, encouraging the placement of Elizabeth on the throne, resulted in Elizabeth being, technically, arrested. She was released quickly, having had no involvement in any such plots. However, It has been thought that Mary remained suspicious of Elizabeth until her death in 1558.(Wilde) Elizabeth’s life changed rapidly as she became Queen Elizabeth I, sovereign of England and Ireland; the beginning of what would be a, nearly, 45 year rule.(Prichard 618) Discussion Thrust into the crown, Elizabeth immediately inherited all of Mary’s problems as she took the throne. The two most paramount concerns were the religious division of England and the current war with France. In one of her first actions as Queen was to put an end to the religious tu rmoil; during her time as Queen, Mary, had burned Protestant churches and executed 300 Protestants as heretics. Elizabeth quickly passed the â€Å"Act of Supremacy,† which reestablished the Church of England and the â€Å"Act of Uniformity,† which established the formatting of a universal prayer book.(Wilde) She ended the war with France and imprisoned, her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, for conspiracy against her and attempts upon her life. Mary, Queen of Scotland, also, had a blood connection to the throne and supporters that

Analysis of The Quote by Ellie Wiesel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of The Quote by Ellie Wiesel - Essay Example It is not only about violence, murder, and terror. All these negative causes are not so numerous in our lives. On the other side, people are more inclined to be lazy, greedy and, finally, indifferent to each other, in particular, and to the environment, on the whole. Needless to say, indifferent people are helpless in loving somebody. It is impossible for them, as they feel free to neglect the virtues of the moral and right attitude toward each other. Hence, indifference gives birth to a host of negative feelings where hatred and cruelty are at the core. Among the rest of the quotes by Ellie Wiesel, the aforementioned highlights the roots of the human tragedy today as it was in the past. In other words, seeing indifference in one’s actions and attitudes toward a person or the mankind, there is no way other than the redemption. Redemption from everything one dreamed about and thought of in a sweet memory. Day by day, this feeling would likely grow up until one loses the temper and does harm to the environment where he/she lives. The consequences may simply overgrow into a collapse of living in mutual understanding of peace. What is more, Wiesel is right when she strikes out the concept of â€Å"hate† as lower in the meaning compared to the concept of â€Å"indifference.† It is natural to anyone to get rid of any haunting prejudices about the negative meaning of indifference just because it is an ability to make a change. No one is likely to pinpoint the threat of indifference able to ruin lives of people in need. An abrupt halt of passion and desire to help and to keep up with those in need is like a heart failure for a serious patient, so to speak. Thus, indifference is a hidden trick of the devil on his way toward total destruction of morale and humane as the pivotal virtues of the societal life.   

Myki Project Boundary Essay Example for Free

Myki Project Boundary Essay Changes to the boundaries occurred during the development of MYKI project: * More than 350 changes were made to the specifications by the TTA, increasing the complexity, time and cost of the project. * Example of alteration made during development phase is the removal of city saver fare option that has been applied in Metcard system. * Change in relationship/management issues between TTA, vendor and sub-contractors. The continuous modifications of the project specifications and outcomes were mainly caused by the project’s ambiguous initial contractual precedence and specifications, such as the consideration of which necessities are within or outside the contractual boundaries, leading to disagreement on priorities and costs in later phases of the project. The impact of undefined boundaries and constant amendments to the contracts and requirements: Project Delay Initially, the MYKI project was scheduled to be completed in July 2007, but full operation has been behind the schedule by approximately 5 years * The optimistic 2-year deadline could not be achieved due to subsequent changes carried out by TTA to the original scope of the project, causing technical difficulties to re-surface and complexity to increase. Internal Audit was conducted in 2010 to evaluate whether MYKI project is still worth pursuing after the long overdue, indicating the government’s loss of trust to the project and vendor. As the results of the audit shows that cost of scraping MYKI will be higher than completing it, the Government decided to continue the project. Over Budgeting * The overall cost has increased by 35% from initial estimation of $999 million to $ 1. 35 million. * It is forecasted that additional cost is required for project completion and complete replacement of Metcard. * $ 50 million cost will be required annually to keep operating the MYKI system. * As the delay was prolonged, Metcard must be kept in operation for a longer period of time, requiring additional operating cost, which was accounted in the MYKI project funding. The funding of a project is an important part of project boundaries and significant over-budgeting by at least 35% indicated the breach of the set boundaries Fractured relationship between TTA and Kamco The relationship between TTA and Kamco has worsened due to the inability to meet deadlines and continuous amendments to the project’s requirements. Mistrust was developed, as more deliverables and contractual obligations were not achieved. However, the vendor cannot receive all the blame because TTA also kept changing the specifications and targets. Preventing Breach of Boundary  The main problem is that TTA selected vendor that has limited experience in developing smart card ticketing system. Kamco, as the project vendor, followed the correct procedure of agreeing and committing to all changes made by TAA throughout the project. However, it will be difficult for a company Kamco to come up with the most effective method to resolve any modifications to the contracts due to their limited experience and knowledge in this project type. Their ways to tackle these issues may be inefficient, leading to excessive use of their budget. TTA should realises this and must ensure that the initial project boundaries and scope is well defined, preventing any major change during the development phase. TTA should have given the project to proven and experienced vendor because MYKI itself is a new and unproven project that requires innovative and effective problem solving skill through experience in this type of project. The thought that the vendor can learn as they are conducting the project entails high risks which can lead to possible over-budget and delays. On the other hand, the vendor must also be able to refuse any changes made to the initial contractual agreements. They should be able to say â€Å"no† to any amendments during the negotiation as these may risk the project itself. Kamco neglected one of their role to refuse any agreement that may risk the project and ruin their future reputation. The project manager should take his role in convincing the project authority, TTA, that any changes would delay the projects and consult the best solution to meet the most of TTA’s expectations without significantly increasing the cost and time of the project. In this MYKI project, communication issue has also been one of the factors that caused boundary breach.

Act I Scene I as an introduction to Julius Caesar :: William Shakespeare

The scene opens in a street of Rome. The play starts with an air of excitement. The workmen of Rome are rejoicing in Julius Caesar's triumph over the sons of Pompey, his old rival. Since the very beginning of the play, there is an atmosphere of disunity. The Tribunes rebuke the crowd angrily and order them to return to their work. A touch of humor is imparted to the scene by the Cobbler who indulges in puns. There is a verbal dexterity. The Cobbler is a brilliant player on words. This would please the Groundlings. The Cobbler is being rude to the Tribunes. This shows the disagreement that exists between the Plebeians and the Tribunes. Flavius and Marullus, the Tribunes, are very hostile to Caesar and are jealous of his growing popularity and power. Marullus rebukes the people for being ungrateful He treats them as "senseless things". Since the start itself, we see how popular Caesar is. All the Plebeians are his followers. He has got the support of the commoners. Pompey was a great founder of cities and he restored cities. He was a great general and a great organizer. History repeats itself. When Pompey won the battle, people followed him, now that Caesar is victorious, they support him. A short time ago, they had enthusiastically acclaimed Pompey, now Pompey?s sons have lost their lives in a war against the very man for whom they have now declared the day to be a holiday. Marullus and Flavius are very disappointed with the people ho are unfaithful to Pompey. They scorn the people and the Plebeians ?vanish tongue tied in their guiltiness.? The final speech of Flavius clearly indicates the widespread feeling that Julius Caesar is growing too ambitious and that his pride needs to be taken down a step. ?These growing feathers, plucked from Caesar?s wing, will make him fly an ordinary pitch?. Caesar is being compared to a bird with wings which may fly high and dominate the people. Marullus and Flavius fear that Caesar will fly so high that he will become a dictator. Flavius intends to pull down all Caesar?s images so that the latter would feel less confident and think that he is not very popular. This will make him less confident and prevent him from being a dictator.

Monetary Policy Action Effect on Economy Essay

The Federal Reserve’s decision in August 2006 to leave interest rates unchanged underscores the degree of uncertainty in the U. S. economic establishment about the near future. For the past two years monetary policy more or less went on in a straightforward manner; the Fed’s policymakers raised their benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter point at 17 successive meetings as the economy emerged from a period when deflation looked a real threat back to a more normal world of strong growth and steadily rising inflation. Currently, there are, broadly, three views among economists about what happens next. The first, an optimistic assessment in keeping with recent economic history, favors the â€Å"soft landing† approach. The Fed has raised rates by just enough, according to this view, to restrain growth so as to squash inflation back into its box. The Fed funds rate now stands at 5. 25 per cent; with inflation in the 2. 5 per cent to three per cent range, that represents a real rate of about 2. 5 per cent, a reasonable amount of restraint. On this view, the Fed probably won’t have to do anything more on interest rates for the foreseeable future — just watch in satisfaction as the economy slows to its desired pace. The second view is pessimistic and fearful. It believes that the Fed has already gone too far. The housing market, the driver of so much demand for the global economy, is off sharply. Many Americans are desperately refinancing short-term adjustable rate mortgages they took out three years ago when rates were at historic lows. They are finding themselves with thousands of dollars less a year in disposable income than they had last year. Debt levels are sky high and the savings rate is negative. As consumers rebuild their tattered balance sheets, they will cut spending sharply, with catastrophic consequences. High oil prices are making matters even worse. On this assessment, the next move in rates will be down, if the Fed is to avert a really unpleasant shock to the economy. Some economists think the fed funds will be below 4. 5 per cent by the middle of next year as Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, struggles to avert a full-blown recession. The third view might be called fatalistic realism. It accepts the second proposition that, on current policies, a recession is coming, but insists that it is absolutely necessary and it says that the Fed, far from pressing on the economic accelerator, should keep its foot on the brake. For the Fed, and the world, a recession may be the price that now needs to be paid to avert a longer-term catastrophe (Baker).