week 9 blog

I think what Jane Addams did with the Hull House definately had some religios motivations. The portion that we read in class quoted Jane as saying that she started to notice the development of a religion that was secular in nature. I think that she saw this happening and wanted to change it. It is not surprising that religion was starting to fade into the background and become more secular. As mentioned in class, all the people coming to the Chicago would have come from different relgious background with different traditions and this makes it hard to establish one for the community. I think that Jane Addams saw this problem and wanted to create a community sense to solve this problem. She saw the problem that religion was fading into the background because of conflicting tradtions and she knew it would be a challenge for it to be fixed on its own. She wanted to create new traditions and establish a new sense of community and symobls with what was availabe. I think that she definately had religios motivations and I think they she wanted to create a community sense.

week 8 blog 2

I wanted to talk some more about the Bob Marley song "Redemption Songs." I thought it was a very interesting song and though I had heard it before, it took on a very new meaning when listening to it in the context we listened to it in class. I thought the ideas of escaping mental slavery were interesting. I thought it made an interesting point about a persons own personal responsibility for their mindset with in a situation. I thought that it said some good things about putting yourself in the mindset of freedom and that would help your situation both mentally and physically. In looking at the lyrics I noticed something else that I found particularly interesting. There is a slight, but important change in the lyrics of the chorus from the start to the end. The chorus at the beginning of the song and throughout most of the song has the line, "all I ever have: Redemption songs." However, the song finishes with the lines, "all I ever had, Redemption songs." I think the change in the one word, have to had, is very important and brings in a whole new level to the song. It shows that there has been a move from the present tense to the past, which suggests that the song is about and is itself a type of journey, a trip from now to then and this one word change does that. I think it is also interesting that the change in word comes after the repeat of a previous verse. The repetition of the verse and the fact that the new line is still about redemption suggest that at the end of the journey, something is still the same even though the tense change suggests something has changed. I believe the repetition represents the physical state or location having not changed and the change from have to had represents a change in state of mind.

Week 8 blog

I think that this video is very fitting to what we have read about Rastafaris already. The people seem to not have strayed that much from the focus of Ethiopia and its greatness and their desire to return. They also seem to maintain many of the ideas and living styles that came from the ideas of Howell and the original commune he started. The people from the video kept alive the idea of black being superior to white. This could be seen in the sings that were hand made that were around the commune. It had symbols of a black "R" for right over a white "X" for wrong. Also, the word "black" in black letters appears directly over the top of the word "white" in white letters. These two signs clearly show how the Rastas in the video still adhere to the ideal of black being superior to white. Also, they keep up the lifestyle that was created by Howell in the original commune. They live on their own, outside of the rest of society and survive by farming on the land. They live based on what they grow and they still live in the same commune style that Howell had created. They even seemed to still grow marijuana as seen by the one image of the man smoking on the Sabbath. They seemed to maintain the old ways of living and wanted to keep old traditions that connected them to Ethiopia also. The turbans and dreadlocks were described by the man as being connected to Ethiopia as traditional attire. I think that these aspects of commune living and beliefs are, for the most part, consistant with what we have read so far.

Week 7 blog 2

I thought it was very interesting how the problem of the Queen becoming pregnant by Solomon in the Kebra Negast was handled. I was especially surprised how clear it was that they had had sex, but it did not seem to be a big deal and she was not looked down upon for it at all. I would have thought that this would be a huge deal and it would make the Queen look very bad, and not reflect well on Solomon either. The language of the passage itself surprised me because of how graphic it was: "after she had drunk water he worked his will with her and they slept together" (35). When I first read that I was really shocked and thought that I misunderstood it or something. I was just amazed that it told us in such blunt terms. I would think that this aspect would be a huge problem for the text and that it would cause troubles for it throughout time. I would think that first off, other Christian nations would say that it is not true because of the implications it has about Solomon. I would think having an illegitimate son with the Queen of a foreign nation would be something that is frowned upon for someone so high in the religious hierarchy. I would think it would be a hard story for the Ethiopians to have recognized. I would also think that the language and the story itself would be controversial because of the out of wedlock child that comes from it. It just goes against what I would expect from story with such an obvious problem. But, it think its success goes to show the power of history and the credibility that can come from being around for so long. I do not think that Ethiopia would be able to have this story if it was not such an old Christian nation. This story really shows the power of traditions and how you can manipulate something that would be thought to be so negative in to a way that ends up being all together neutral.

Week 7 Blog

I thought there were a lot of ways in which the text gives credit to Ethiopia. The first thing that stands out is right at the beginning of the text. The text says how the world was divided up and half of the world belonged to Ethiopia. Also, the description of the Queen is very flattering and credits her for being able to be in such a high position of power while being a woman. The thing that stood out the most to me, however, was the Queen's speech about wisdom. She has a very long, (I would say) drawn out speech about how wisdom is the most important treasure to have. She shoots down gold and silver and other riches and says that wisdom is more important than all of those. Then, shortly after her speech, King Solomon gives one that is very similar with the same point about wisdom. He says that wisdom is given by God and it is the most important treasure. This direct parallel between the Queen and King Solomon draws a comparison between the two that is flattering to the Queen, thus giving credit to Ethiopia.

Week 6 blog

I thought this picture was a good example of symbols at work in religion. I was always amazed at what people were willing to build in the name of religion and churches are a prime example of the dedication people can have to religion. It is interesting to see when the most impresive building in a place is the church. It stands for so many things, like worship, community and the idea of "God's house." Not only that, it seems to me that the excessive detail and intracacies of the buildings are a way of sort of showing off the specific religion. It is a way of saying, "look at how well our religion is doing and how correct it must be because we have this large elaborate building to worship in." I have always found them fascinating and impresive because of the way they are made to stand out and be seen as more than just a building.

week 5 blog 2

I thought it was very interesting how Prof. Smith took the ideas from Augustine and asked us how they would apply to gay marage now. I thought it was tough to say how Augustine would react to the idea and what stance he would take on it. I think what was discussed in class was good and would be my guess as what would be closest to Augustine's stance. I would like to expand on this idea a little further. I want to look at a different issue that is currently debated all the time: abortion. I would first like to make clear that what I will be saying in no way represents my personal feelings or opinions on the topic and what I believe will not be reflected in this blog. So, what stance would Augustine take on abortion?

I think that it could be possible for Augustine to take a "pro-choice" stance. Augustine focuses on the ideas of love and justice mainly, and I could see how an argument for abortion could be made through those ideas. If the situation came about that a woman got pregnant from a rape or was pregnant in a situation where she could not take care of the baby, the love argument could be made. It would be possible for Augustine to look at it as, the parents will not be in a situation to take care of the child, the child will be born into a poor situation and will suffer unnecessarily in life. He could say that the mother would be acting out of love for the unborn child, especially if she believed that the child will go to heaven. The mother would be acting out of love and her motivation would be to get in a better situation than what life would be.

Though I could see Augustine arguing for "pro-choice" I could also see him arguing the other side. As we discussed in class, it would be hard to make an argument in which Augustine would be able to justify the taking of another life, even if the child was not yet born. He would possibly argue that the mother would not be acting out of love. He could argue that the mother should love the life of the child, and do what she can to make the child's life the best she possibly can. He could also make the argument that there are other options besides abortion, such as adoption (though that has its own problems that I will not discuss). He might say that an abortion would not be justified because the child has no ability to make a choice for itself and that it would not be justly protected.

Out of the two views I think that Augustine would have a hard time getting past the problem of taking another life. I do not think he would be able to justify that, even with the arguments he could have made from the first paragraph. Even though I think Augustine would make the second argument, I can see the justifications from the first paragraph. I think that is why this issue remains so controversial in the world today.