The Power Of Knowledge :: essays research papers

A person’s feeling can be depicted by the way he or she draws their pictures. Superiority and inferiority can be shown by the way the artist makes a person or ship larger or smaller than another person or ship. This is shown in the Spanish picture where the French ships are on the coast of America. The French ships are small and the Native Americans appear to be larger. In another picture it shows a tribe of Native Americans gathered around each other in a village. The first picture shows the Spaniards belief that the French are inferior to the Native Americans and themselves. They depict this by drawing the Native Americans much larger than the French people and even their ships. The power of the Spaniards is proven when they combine forces with the Native Americans to annihilate the French in Florida. The Europeans believed power was about conquering people. They conquered people in the name of God and Christianity. If they could not convert them they would destroy them. Their only knowledge was of God and what he wanted them to do. The Native Americans believed power was in the tribe. The picture of the Native Americans showed how they all come together. They thought a close –knit society was the best way of life. They created villages where people lived close to each other. They had a number of different occupational groups in their society. The Native Americans knew how to use the land far better than the Europeans. The Native’s farmland was located around the village. That also showed the how tight their bonds were. Because they all worked together on the farm and all took home some of the profit. On the other hand, the Europeans tended to keep a distance from each other. They had no sense of community. They did this because they wanted more land to farm. The more land they farmed the more money they could make. The Europeans had no real idea of who their neighbors were they lived in isolation. The main difference is the The Power Of Knowledge :: essays research papers A person’s feeling can be depicted by the way he or she draws their pictures. Superiority and inferiority can be shown by the way the artist makes a person or ship larger or smaller than another person or ship. This is shown in the Spanish picture where the French ships are on the coast of America. The French ships are small and the Native Americans appear to be larger. In another picture it shows a tribe of Native Americans gathered around each other in a village. The first picture shows the Spaniards belief that the French are inferior to the Native Americans and themselves. They depict this by drawing the Native Americans much larger than the French people and even their ships. The power of the Spaniards is proven when they combine forces with the Native Americans to annihilate the French in Florida. The Europeans believed power was about conquering people. They conquered people in the name of God and Christianity. If they could not convert them they would destroy them. Their only knowledge was of God and what he wanted them to do. The Native Americans believed power was in the tribe. The picture of the Native Americans showed how they all come together. They thought a close –knit society was the best way of life. They created villages where people lived close to each other. They had a number of different occupational groups in their society. The Native Americans knew how to use the land far better than the Europeans. The Native’s farmland was located around the village. That also showed the how tight their bonds were. Because they all worked together on the farm and all took home some of the profit. On the other hand, the Europeans tended to keep a distance from each other. They had no sense of community. They did this because they wanted more land to farm. The more land they farmed the more money they could make. The Europeans had no real idea of who their neighbors were they lived in isolation. The main difference is the

Сhaucer’s Use Of Biblical Material In ‘The Miller’s Tale’

The biblical references and implications in ‘The Miller's Tale' mockingly inter-relate the tale's sexual and vulgar content and its religious elements. It is a parody on and critique of the Church, mocking all sacred: the stories from the Bible, the saints, even the Holy Family. The ‘dronken' miller commences his tale in ‘Pilates voys', implying that the story will be condemning Christianity, since Pilates, according to the Bible, has condemned Jesus with his words. As the scholar clerk Nicholas and parish clerk Absolon represent St. Nicholas and Absalom, Son of David, miller sinfully compares two saints with two lustful and immoral men, who are concerned more with secular than the spiritual matters. Since carpenter John metaphorically represents Joseph and Noah, and his young wife Alison therefore represents Virgin Mary and Noah's wife, the miller this time immorally correlates Joseph/Noah and Virgin Mary/Noah's wife with a madman and a promiscuous, sly wife, when the Church forbids promiscuous behavior and implies that mad behavior is associated with the Satan. Further religious mocking is portrayed by the actions of Nicholas in the tale, as he does exact the opposite of what St. Nicholas did. While St. Nicholas was very zealous in his efforts to maintain ecclesiastical discipline and honor, especially in relation to the marriage laws, Nicholas the clerk has no concern for honor and respect toward marriage, as he is successfully pursuing a married woman. When one Countess left her husband for a paramour, St. Nicholas commanded that she should be excommunicated unless she returned to her husband. Nicholas in ‘The Miller's Tale', however, is even using religion to break the sanctity of marriage and influencing Alison to commit adultery, a sin. Nicholas, the clerk, invokes and manipulates the biblical story of Noah and the flood to convince the ignorant carpenter John of the impending flood, and further advance his own plan to sleep with Alison. By using his knowledge and religious references to invoke authority, Nicholas is successful in his deception, since the carpenter does not doubt the teaching of the Church. Furthermore, Nicholas hypocritically tells John that he and Alison must abstain from sleeping together because they will be awaiting God's grace. John believes everything Nicholas says; even that Nicholas is so knowledgeable that he knows God's business. John's knowledge, on the other hand, is limited, as he does not know there was no mention of Second Flood in the Bible, or that Noah built only one boat, not an additional one for his wife, nor does he know much about Noah's Arc, as his confusion of ‘Noees flood' and ‘Noweles flood' (line 710) shows. Carpenter John then agrees to make three boats, so that his wife Alison, Nicholas and John himself can be saved from the flood. Although Nicholas presents the story of Noah's flood as very similar to the story in the Bible, frequently calling upon ‘Goddes privetee' and ‘Goddess grace' to validate his reasoning, the story he tells contrasts greatly the story in the Bible. The original story helps to explain the power and compassion of God, since God sent Noah the flood because man had become corrupt and lecherous. These same sins are causing this fake ‘flood', thus strengthening Satan, and this time the plan is Nicholas'. In this way, Nicholas uses the sacredness of religion to pursue his private erotic-aesthetic sensual pleasures, with no sacredness attached; therefore he almost embodies Satan. Bible is degraded, in this way, being portrayed as only a tale book, one of many texts which can be played with and rewritten. Although the carpenter shows genuine fear of the flood and says it's not men's business to know about God's secret affairs, suggesting he respects and fears the power of God, by placing his complete trust in Nicholas, embodiment of Satan, he destroys his own piety. Like a joke on God, Nicholas does know God's secret affairs and what the future will bring. Nicholas further states that his plan will work because a clerk can fool a carpenter any day – a class distinction and condescension in contrast with the teachings of the Church. The entire scene encompasses several sins. First, the whole story is a lie and thus a sin. Lust, another sin, serves as the driving force behind this lie. Finally, Nicholas and Alison's intercourse out-of-wedlock for pleasure serves as the sinful result of the story. The miller therefore contorts the most holy image of Noah into a dreadful satanic scene of the tale. The fact that a man such as Nicholas sings ‘Angelus ad Virgenum' is itself mocking of the Church. Carpenter John's wife Alison portrays promiscuous behavior almost continuously throughout the tale; from the sinful encounter with Nicholas, agreement to deceit her husband to her indulge in adultery. When Nicholas tells her to sleep with him immediately, or he will ‘spille' (l. 170) so ‘God [him] save', it is another pun on religion as this ‘spille' could perhaps mean ‘waste the seed', God forbid, as opposed to depositing it with Alison's ‘mercy' (180). Right after she and Nicholas made a plan how to arrange their next adulterous encounter, Alison goes to church, juxtaposing the profane and the sacred in the same way. She is further sarcastically characterized by her name, as in Old English and German it means ‘honest', ‘noble' and most, or least, of all ‘holy'. After her husband tells her of the evacuation plan, Alison tells John she is his faithful wife – something he accepts and believes as a word of God, and John follows Nicholas' instructions just as Noah obeyed God even though everyone laughed at him. While John sleeps in the boat, Alison and Nicholas are in the bedroom until the morning church bells ring. The reference to the couple's intercourse in the same breath as the church bells is meant to perhaps show that man's plans sometimes unintentionally mirror God's order, or that their time in the bedroom ‘is up'. Their ‘doings' in the bedroom are even compared to ‘revel and melodye', music in God's praise, further mocking the Church. Absolon, who represents Absalom, Son of David, is a parish clerk who spends much time in taverns and looking at and flirting with other women, especially Alison. The miller suggests that this irreverent priest only performs his duties to engage in other secular, sinful practices. As a religious pun, Absolon in the tale has a ‘natural attraction' to women and all things secular, while Absalom, Son of David, was known for his ‘unnatural revolt'. By pursuing Alison, Absolon clearly shows that he has no intention of keeping his vow of chastity. It is emphasized that Absolon is combing his hair before going out, which is an added joke to confirm whom he represents, since Absalom, the Son of David, was also famous for his luxurious hair. Absolon knows that Alison has a husband, for she wears a head covering typical of married women, but he ignores this fact and lusts after her anyway, making his pursuit even more sinful. The head-coverings of the married women were designed to protect their hair, which St. Paul had deemed as holy. However, even this holy image is twisted into that of Satan later on in the tale. Absolon them goes to Alison's house, believing she is alone, and performs a parody of a morning prayer, asking for Alison's grace and mercy instead of God's. When he asks for her kiss, he kisses ‘beard' and realizes it was her pubic hair. In this way, Alison's pubic hair corrupts the holy hair image, because she uses it to conduct a dirty, sexual joke to combat the lustful longings of Absolon. Her ‘beard' is also perpetrated against, so it presents another pun on the holy hair image. Having vowed revenge, Absolon comes back to Alison's house with a hot ‘colter' (plowshare), which is a backward use of the Biblical adage turning swords into plowshares. Nicholas gets his punishment, and as he screams, word ‘water' triggers the double action of John cutting the rope that suspends his tub as he thinks the flood came, and Nicholas acting to soothe his pain. While the Church (Catholic Church, Jewish synagogue, etc. ) teaches respect for authority, ultimately invested in God, the Father, to whom the Jesus, the Son, submits, it regards adultery as a mortal sin, and teaches prudence and severe restraint in sexual matters. ‘The Miller's Tale' is the opposite, as the father figure, John, is overthrown by youth, Nicholas, and ironically, by the invocation of God's authority. From a pious point of view, this story laughs at the belief that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the miller is insinuating that Jesus was conceived by Mary's unfaithfulness to Joseph, not by any Holy Spirit. As an added pun, if Absolon also symbolizes the worshippers, as he worships Alison, then the wind Nicholas passes in Absolon's face is the award for any pilgrim, worshipping ‘true' beliefs in the Holy Tale of Conception and Sanctity. The miller further implies that Church's preaching against greed, blasphemy, gluttony, adultery and all things related to the Satan is hypocritical, as he parodies the sacred discipline and Church by showing characters representing the Church, behaving in all the forbidden and blasphemous manners.

Judaism, Christianity, And Islam - 1053 Words

The world is made of three major religious traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Judaism is the oldest monotheistic religion dating back to 2000 B.C.E. Monotheism is the belief in one all-powerful personal deity who created, sustains, and will judge the cosmos. This belief confirms that Jews worship one God. Often this God is beyond our ability to comprehend, but God is nevertheless present in our everyday lives. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are also grouped together as the Abrahamic religions, for in their sacred text they each claim descent from one common ancestor, Abraham, who was called by God to renounce the worship of other gods and live by faith in the one true God. As for Judaism being classified as an Abrahamic religion, shows that religions although different, share characteristics of others. In Christianity, throughout the sacred book, the Holy Bible, are many stories of Abraham, his family and followers. Judaism is a tradition grounded in the religious, ethical and social laws as they are articulated in the Torah. Jews refer to the Bible as the Tanak, an acronym formed from the first letters of the three sections of the text in Hebrew, Torah (law), Nevi’im (prophets) and Kerhuvi’im (writings). Other sacred texts include the Talmud and Midrash, the rabbinic, legal and narrative interpretations of the Torah. These Scriptures also form the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The relationships Jews have with human nature and their being is in order to beShow MoreRelatedJudaism, Christianity, And Islam992 Words   |  4 PagesJudaism, Christianity and Islam are three of the most recognized monotheistic religions worldwide. These religions are often referred to as the Abrahamic religions because of their history to the founding father, Abraham. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are closely related with varying differences. Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism. We take a look at some of the major similarities and major differences of these widely practicedRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, and Islam1538 Words   |  6 PagesJudaism, Christianity and Islam Christianity and Islam are the most influential religions in the world. Judaism has only fourteen million followers across the continents which makes Judaism the 12th largest religion. Although Judaism is not as large as Christianity and Islam, It still has an impact on the world. Prophet Abraham is the called in Islam the father of all prophets and because of that, sometimes Christianity, Islam and Judaism are called Abrahamic Religions. There are many known differencesRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam1052 Words   |  5 PagesAubrey Fletcher 3/9/15 Humanities Professor Michaud 417868 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam There are roughly 4,200 different religions in the world today, among them the largest are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions are more similar then one would think. Christianity is the largest religion in the world with 2 billion followers and are called Christians. Islam is the second largest religion in the world with 1.3 billion followers. They are called Muslims, which means â€Å"oneRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam875 Words   |  4 Pageshave believed in a higher power or powers. Christianity, Islam and Judaism, the three most dominant religions are no different. They are all Monotheistic meaning they believe in one sole higher power or God. Though they share this common idea and many other similarity, they have many distinct features of their own that make them different as a whole. Many past religions have believed in the idea of multiple gods, Polytheism. Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in one Supreme creator, MonotheismRead MoreChristianity, Islam, And Judaism1636 Words   |  7 PagesChristianity, Islam, and Judaism All three religions believe and worship the same God but they do it in different ways. Judaism happens to be the oldest religion today but they don’t have an official creed. They aim to teach you about God, the Messiah, human beings, and the universe which makes Jewish beliefs very important to them. But it is important to understand that being Jewish is more of a race and culture than it is a religion. Some Jewish people may have no interest in Judaism. Judaism hasRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam1679 Words   |  7 Pages Completely Different but Surprisingly Similar Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all three different religions that many may not think can even be compared. At a glance, the religions are derived from different locations, the members of the religions look and act different, and some of the widely known practices are what make the religions so distinct. However, they are more similar than most people think. In the core of the three religions, many of their beliefs and practices show to be extremelyRead MoreChristianity, Islam, And Judaism Essay1967 Words   |  8 PagesChristianity, Islam, and Judaism represent the three most influential religions in the world throughout history. Judaism is, however, not as widespread as both Islam and Christianity, but it still has a profound impact in the world. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are also known as the Abrahamic religions because their history is traced to the ancient individual, Abraham who is first referred to in the Hebrew Bible. There are many similarities as well as some differences between these religionsRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam902 Words   |  4 Pagesmost famous three religions -People of the book- are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Judaism is the oldest organized religion in the world; however, it only has 14 million followers around the world most of them centered in North America and Israel. Christianity, came after Judaism and have two billion believers around the world, and that’s about one third of the world population. Finally, Islam came after Judaism and Christianity. Even though Islam came afterwards, it spread quickly around the worldRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam1016 Words   |  5 Pagesthat keeps many people going in life but at the same time, the same reason our world has so many problems and has been torn apart. Through studying the main tenets in call, Judaism, Christianity and Islam were analyzed for weeks. Christianity and Islam take the cake for the two biggest religions in today’ s population however, Judaism plays the smallest role. These three religions, although different, are easily able to be compared and contrasted because of all of the history and information we have attainedRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam1087 Words   |  5 PagesJudaism, Christianity, and Islam are among the best known and most widely practiced religions today, and have had enormous cultural, ideological, and historical impact on the peoples of every continent. Arguably more so than any other ideological systems, Abrahamic religion has been among the most influential forces in human history. The shared elements of their traditions have allowed them to develop in part through a multi-faceted dialogue with each other. These faiths, despite sharing a common