The Truth About Orthodox Christianity :: essays research papers fc

As described in The Grand Inquisitor by Dostoevsky The writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Helen Ellerbe show substantial evidence that the orthodox Christians did in fact steal from humanity the divine freedom it was promised by Jesus Christ. This thesis is supported in Dostoevsky's "The Grand Inquisitor" from his book The Brothers Karamazov. The dark side of Christian history by Helen Ellerbe also supports this theory. The Inquisition itself shows credibility to the theory that orthodox Christianity was established to conquer and control the freedom of humans. 2. Orthodox Christianity has a history of trying to deceive humanity. In her book, Ellerbe proclaims that: "Orthodox Christianity fostered humanity's shift towards a world view that pays little heed to the idea of divinity." (Ellerbe 165). In addition, the Grand Inquisitor "...claims it as a merit for himself and his Church that at last they have vanquished freedom and have done so to make men happy." (Dostoevsky 1081). 3. Reading "The Grand Inquisitor" while considering the history of early Christianity, the question can be asked, "Did orthodox Christians really believe in God?" Or is the God they believed in a guise that Christianity has put forward to have humanity believe in Him through its teachings only. The Roman Church had taken God's celebrations of nature and converted them to Christian celebration. In The dark side of Christian history, Ellerbe supports this when she writes "Unable to convince people of the absence of God in nature, the early Church instead incorporated aspects of the very nature worship it condemned..." (Ellerbe 143). 4. The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478. King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I requested the Inquisition. At first, The concern of the Inquisition in Spain was over the conversion of Marranos: Marranos were Jews that were converted to Christianity using force and pressure by society. It is estimated that by the end of the 14th century about 100,000 Jews had become Marranos, although the greater number of Jews openly adhered to their faith even at the risk of expulsion. Some Marranos actually accepted Christianity, but most of them practiced Judaism in secret, while others waited only for an opportunity to throw off their Christian disguise (Encarta 99). Later, the Inquisition turned to people of Islam and attempted to convert the in the same way they had done to the Jews. And, even later, to those suspected of being Protestants. The Spanish Inquisition was similar to the first inquisition that was started in France.

Existentialism: American Beauty Essay

American Beauty is a movie that sets in suburban America. The story is about Lester, whom is a middle-aged writer working in a magazine company. He was having a midlife crisis where he felt lonely and numbed by continuous unchanging routine of his everyday life. In the movie, his wife portrayed as a successful real estate agent, but she was also going through her own midlife crisis in both her career and personal life. Lester’s daughter, Jane Bumham had alienated her parents and was going through puberty. They have a new neighbor who is a U. S. Marine Corps Colonel Frank Fitts, and he has a son, Ricky Fitts, who is a drug dealer. Lester was going to get fired from his company that he had worked for fourteen year. Lester managed to cut a deal by threatening the manager to give him a year’s worth of salary or else he would distribute the gossip news, which would sabotage the company. One day, he and his wife went to see their daughter’s cheerleading dance and during the performance Lester saw Jane’s friend Angela Hayes. He then starts having fantasies of her. On the other hand, his wife was also having an affair with a successful colleague. Disregarding his wife’s life, Lester started to make changes in his life after hearing Angela complimented him and suggested that if he worked out, she would like him even more. Therefore, he started working out after being fired from his job, and got a new job at a fast food restaurant. During work, he found that his wife was having an affair and he asked her for a divorce. On the other hand, the marine corporal, Frank, has trust issues with his son, since Ricky had a history of using drugs (smoking weed). One day, Frank starts to get suspicious about Ricky’s actions. Then when Lester called Ricky to get more marijuana, Frank saw them getting together in a room. He thought that they were sexually involved. In reality, they were just smoking weed. When Ricky went home, Frank abused him and mistakenly believed that he was homosexual, which caused him to kick Ricky out of the house. So Ricky decided to ask Jane to runaway with him to New York. At the same time, when Lester and Angela was getting intimate with each other, she suddenly confessed that she was a virgin. Lester realized that he shouldn’t be taking advantage of her and Angela started crying, so he comforted her. After the incident, both of them bonded and shared their problems. On the last scene of the movie, it showed Lester holding an old picture of his family reminiscing the past then Frank suddenly showed up with a gun and shot him. The movie, American Beauty, portrayed many existential themes from philosophers like Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre. In the beginning of the movie, Lester indicates he lived like a dead man. He goes through the same routine everyday, which is similar to Franz Kafka’s character Gregor Samsa in the short story â€Å"Metamorphosis†. Before Gregor’s transformation into a metamorphosis, he was a salesman for a long period of time where he felt that had lost his character, goals and even estranged himself from his family. Lester and Gregor have committed themselves to the society, which caused them to be alienated by their families. In the beginning of the movie, Lester’s daughter critiqued her father as a â€Å"loser† and his wife also looked down on him. Gregor had similar situations, he was also alienated because his job required him to travel, and therefore, he couldn’t spend time with his family. According to Kafka, one has to go through alienation because that awakens us to blossom into a new life. He believes that an individual have to balance themselves between individuality and society. Even though Gregor’s transformation gave him a new life, it was too late for him to live for himself. On the other hand, Lester was lucky enough to experience the change when he heard Angela’s suggestion to get fit. This tip encouraged Lester to adjust his dull and melancholy life. He starts working out and live for himself, instead of living up to other people’s standards. Kafka’s view of existentialism is that an individual has the responsibility to find balance between leisure and work. Lester’s character has some similarities as Kafka’s life. Kafka was employed at an insurance company, where he had experienced the suffering from working in the dull cubical office. He used writing as a way to escape from the tedious life he had, and it was the only method that could explore his creativeness. Even though Kafka was not an existentialist, his writing depicted many existential themes and shared similar thoughts with other philosopher like Friedrich Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche is a philosopher in the late 18th century. He has a great impact towards existentialism. His existential theme is about individuality and constructing identity. Through his book called Gay Science, Nietzsche indicated that there were more liberation and freedom after religious wars and persecution ended. He believed that people were getting detached with religion. Even though the movie â€Å"American Beauty† did not have any religious related themes, it still portrayed the theme of liberation. It was freedom that saved Lester from being drowned by his miserable life, especially when he was being disregarded by his wife and alienated from his daughter. In addition, in the end of the movie, Ricky Fitts, the neighbor’s son was released from his father because of a misunderstanding. He was trapped under his abusive father’s rules and control. When Ricky was living under his father, he was like the â€Å"last man† in Nietzsche’s short story: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The â€Å"last man† lacks passion and has no drive: â€Å" †¦ they do not like to hear the world ‘contempt’ applied to them. Let me then address their pride. Let me speak of them of what is the most contemptible; but that is the last man† (Soloman, 73). Lester also has similar characteristics of the â€Å"last man†. Before his transformation, he even confessed that he was living a life of a â€Å"dead man†. Nietzsche saw the â€Å"last man† among the middle class and he was afraid that they would be suffocated by the dreadful office space. This greatly relates to Lester’s working environment and the suburban area where he lived. Everyday felt like yesterday, nothing changes. There is no creativity or passion in Lester’s life and Nietzsche believed that people should be pushed and encouraged to break the cycle. Lester’s transformation speaks of Nietzsche’s existentialist theme: â€Å"we philosophers and ‘free spirits’ fell, when we hear the news that ‘the old god is dead. ’ As if a new dawn shone on us†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (68). The â€Å"new dawn† that Nietzsche mentions in his book have similar portrayal in the movie, which is Lester’s transformation of his new life. From a miserable and coward person, Lester changed into a new courageous and free spirited individual. He was able to confront his wife and make his own decisions without being afraid of her looking down on him: â€Å"It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you’ve forgotten about† (American Beauty). Overall, Nietzsche’s theme reveals that people have the ability to make their own decision and put their destiny into their own hands just like what Lester did with his life. Similar to Kafka and Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre also emphasized the importance of individuality. He believes that â€Å"existence comes before essence,† people creates their own destiny and it is not God that controls our fate (206). He also explained that human nature did not emerge because God created us. Sartre did not believe in God; therefore, he believed human created the existence of human nature, like how Lester altered his life. Sartre also indicated that individuals should take responsibility towards their actions. Lester broke away from the society and left his past life to construct a new character without other people to disapprove his decisions. However, he also threw away all the responsibility as a father and husband. Lester quit his job and got a lower salary job, which left his wife in charge of the mortgage. Even before the transformation, the relationship between Lester and his daughter drifted apart causing them to ignore each other. He failed to take a responsibility as a father and nurture his child instead he tried to flirt with his child’s friend. From Sartre’s book Existentialism is a Humanism, he wrote: â€Å"Our responsibility is thus much greater than we had supposed, for it concerns mankind as a whole† (208). He believed that an individual’s action could have a huge impact on others, just like how the neighbor, Colonel Frank Fitts killed Lester at the end of the movie. Frank has to live carry that guilt forever. It was his decision to kill and therefore it would be his responsibility to accept the blame. However the movie did not indicate what consequences Frank will be facing, or what kind of responsibility he will get after the murder. The director leaves the decision to the audience to decide what his fate is going to be. Lester did mess up his family and take no responsibility during his physical and mental transformation. In the end of the movie, when Angela, his daughter’s friend, told him that she was a virgin, he realized that he could not take advantage of her. This message reminded him that she was just a teenager that needed attention. He took a parental responsibility by comforting her and explored her frustrations, which applied to Sartre’s theme of taking responsibility while making alternations in life. Through out the movie, American Beauty, it has exposed many existential themes that connected to multiple philosophers including Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All of them emphasized the importance of individuality, passion and creativity, which was depicted in the movie, especially on the main character, Lester. He altered his life and cured his mid-life crisis. It was through existentialism where he was released from the trap of society and the controlled environment. In the end of the movie, every character found an answer towards the purpose of life. Even though Lester’s life ended getting shot in the head, he was actually happier than he was before and managed to live the life he wanted. Reference Solomon, Robert C. Existentialism. 2nd. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

Road to Perdition Essay example - 1016 Words

Director Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition is the officially-approved US film of the moment, overwhelmingly endorsed by the media and starring â€Å"America’s favorite actor,† Tom Hanks. An unstated assumption is that the movie’s pedigree makes it an obligatory cultural or quasi-cultural experience for certain social layers. It is a gangster film with darkened images meant to impart an art-house quality. Set in the early Depression era, it is also insinuated that a social insight or two can be found lurking in the shadows. Road to Perdition, even more than Mendes’ previous much-acclaimed film, American Beauty, is fool’s gold. The filmmaker has once again wrapped up crude banalities in shiny tin foil. But at least the latter film made some pretense†¦show more content†¦A description in the movie’s screenplay highlights this point. Michael Jr. is â€Å"watching in silence, cautious yet fascinated by the mysteries of a father’s ritual. ... Sullivan removes his cufflinks and places them in a box of his personal things ... removes his tie and gracefully lays it on the bed ... takes off his jacket, revealing a holstered COLT 45, removes the holstered gun and places it on the bed.† In fact, this loving father and husband is nicknamed â€Å"The Angel of Death.† The portrayal of mob czar Nitti as a respectable and fair-minded businessman is equally ridiculous and reprehensible. Nitti, known as The Enforcer, ran the crime syndicate while Capone was in prison in late 1920s and early 1930s (he eventually committed suicide in 1943). This is the sort of company Nitti kept: â€Å"In 1933, Frank Nitti’s leading labor terrorist, Three Fingers Jack White, recruited Fur Sammons to help fight the Touhy gang in the labor wars of 1933. â€Å"It was an excellent choice, Sammons was a certified psychopath and a killer and he took enormous pride in both these facts. He specialized in labor terror although, like White, Sammons’ record was long and varied. â€Å"In 1900 Sammons and four others kidnapped an eleven-year-old schoolgirl off the street, raped her and than beat her so savagely she almost died. The girl weighed 85 pounds. They broke her nose,Show MoreRelatedThe Road to Perdition821 Words   |  4 Pages1. Analyse how one or more scenes showed the complexity of a character or individual in a visual or oral text. The Film ‘The Road To Perdition’, directed by Sam Mendes. Is a story where a father and his son travel across the wide and vast country named America. They are on the run from an unrelenting assassin. The film is set way back in the 1930’s America when the country was in the grip of immense gloominess. Embargo was still the law of the land and gangsters like Al Capone were at the heightRead MoreEssay on The Road to Perdition1580 Words   |  7 PagesThe Art of Film Film Review #1 The Road to Redemption The most appealing thing about Road to Perdition is its over-arching theme of redemption. Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks), an Irish mafia heavy, wants more than anything to keep his son from following in his criminal footsteps. Even though father and son will eventually drive to a place called Perdition to lay low, the story’s title suggests that Michael has for many years been traveling the road to hell. He understands as much, and wantsRead MoreHow Is Hong Kong Independent Essay934 Words   |  4 PagesHong Kong is an inalienable part of China, and this is our common sense is known since our childhood! For the Chinese, our identity is the most important part of the Chinese, so I understand how they impact to the students inner. 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He is showing us the cruelty of inner struggle and the fact that this struggle can only be won through the power of grace and redemption. Sonia struggles withRead MoreIrreconcilable Realities, an Essay Written by Aaron M. Kenrner1427 Words   |  6 Pagesconsider who is telling it. Kurosawa uses camera placement, transition techniques, lighting and zoom to show the audience that they have all the information to make a conclusion, but it is impossible. In the scene from Road To Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002), distance and movement is used to give the scene a deeper meaning. In the beginning of the scene, the camera pans to show the inside of the restaurant but stops on mob boss, John Rooney who is walking through the door frameRead MoreThe Super Bowl1222 Words   |  5 Pagessell its soft drinks. 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