Religious Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Religious Philosophy Essay Christian theology has its roots in Judaism. Christian theology has evolved from the philosophy of the Old Testament from which the Christians take their most basic of tenets: there is only one God, that God is present everywhere, and that God is all-knowing. However, the God of the Old Testament was a more personal and a more vengeful God. This wrathful nature led to a philosophy that God was an awesome, fearsome God. Later Western philosophers also accepted that God was in everything and was the Creator of everything. However, those who followed the cosmological argument of St. Thomas Aquinas seemed to also include the goodness of God. Not only was God fearsome, as the Creator of all things He was also the source of all good. Much of the religious philosophy in today’s Western culture is based on this goodness. St. Thomas Aquinas did more than just theorize on the goodness of God. Through the cosmological argument he offered a proof for the existence of God. But he was not a cloistered scholar. Aquinas wrote profusely, he preached to and taught congregations, and he lectured at public gatherings. His many writings influenced two avenues of Western thought: empiricism and Aristotelianism. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Thomass theological writings became regulative of the Catholic Church and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent a cultural resource which is now receiving increased recognition. The following account concentrates on Thomas the philosopher and presents him as fundamentally an Aristotelian (McInerny, 2005, par. 1). Few philosophers of Western religion had so much impact on religious thought as St. Thomas Aquinas. One testament to his continued importance is that Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical that used Thomist reasoning in 1998 (McInerny, 2005). For this reason, I think that St. Thomas Aquinas most advanced Western religious thought.

Woodrow Wilsons Scandal

Woodrow Wilsons Scandal Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States. Wilson was born on December 28th, 1856, he was an American scholar who was best remembered for leading the United States into World War I. Woodrow was born into a religious family and also very well-educated. In 1885 future President Wilson married his first wife, Ellen Louise Axson. Ellen was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Wilson and Axson met at her fathers church in Rome, Georgia, they were instantly attracted to each other, together they shared a strong religious belief and an even stronger passion for arts and reading. A year into Woodrows presidency, Ellen succumbed to kidney failure brought on by Brights disease. Brights disease is involving chronic inflammation of the kidneys. The main individual involved in Woodrow Wilsons engagement/affair was Woodrow Wilson who was the 28th president and was born in 1856. Ellen Louise Axson who was born in Savannah, Georgia, graduated from Romeis Female College and was recognized for her artistic ability, she had 3 children and one died in 1905, then Axson died on August 6, 1914. Woodrow married Ellen Axson and had 3 children, Axson died then a year later after her death Wilson married Edith Galt.Galt was married to Wilson in 1915 and believes to be a descendent of Pocahontas. Wilsons affair started in his marriage with Ellen and went through his marriage with Edith. Woodrow had an affair with Mary Allen Hulbert. Hulbert met Wilson when he showed up at her door and said he was on a mission of national urgency. This scandal has many facts to prove what has happened. It was during Wilsons tenure at Princeton University that Ellen found herself in the role of the betrayed wife (Wilson A portrait). During this time Ellen had sent Wilson alone to Bermuda while she stayed home to watch after the children. Wilson was absolutely devastated by Ellens death she had been his greatest emotional support. And now suddenly she was taken away (Wilson A portrait). Before Ellen passed away she was always concerned with her husbands well being, she had the family physician make a promise to her to always make sure to look after Wilson when she no longer could. Wilson wandered alone through the White House. He was heard by his staff to mutter one phrase, again and again My God, what am I to do? (Wilson A portrait). Wilson wanted to love and support a strong woman like Ellen. Wilson was not a widower for long. He met and married Edith Bolling Galt, in December 1915 (Woodrow Wilson marries Ellen Axson in Sav annah, Georgia). The couple was introduced by Wilsons cousin and a mutual friend. In 1916 when the presidential campaign started to fire up, many of the advisors for Wilson worried that his marriage to Edith so soon after his first wifes death would become a political responsibility. Edith Bolling Galt, with whom he was in love, and would soon marry (An Honorable Affair). Edith was always at Wilsons side but her presence irritated and frustrated Wilsons advisors. ..she was accused of signing Wilsons signature without consulting him, though she insisted this was not the case and blamed the accusations on her husbands political opponents (Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt). In October of 1919 Wilson suffered a stroke while touring the nation to promote his plan for the League of Nations, the League of Nations was an international organization designed to prevent any further conflicts like World War I. During Wilsons recovery from the stroke Edith consumed the role of steward, screening his mail and official papers. Hulbert and Wilson met in 1907 in midwinter on the island of Bermuda. She was 44 and temporarily alone, on her yearly escape from a loveless marriage in Massachusetts. Wilson was 50, then president of Princeton University, also vacationing alone, decompressing from a grueling fight with university trustees and a popular dean over the disposition of private endowments to the graduate school. Ellen, was back in New Jersey, ailing, beset by a depression that strained their marriage (An Honorable Affair). In Bermuda the bougainvillea, a flower, was in bloom. Bermuda was the setting for an affair, Hulbert owned Shoreby, a huge, estate on the island. Hulbert entertained governors and captains of industry like Mark Twain. She was everything the Princeton president was not, vivacious, free spirited, and fun loving. Hulbert was to have said; if any letters are to exist they would only be from Wilson and give him a bad reputation. Wilson was said to ha ve been a virgin until his first marriage at 28. His long face and glasses gave him a look of impossible correct thinking, and the high starched collars and stovepipe hat in which he was frequently photographed in. Wilson seemed more modern but also unapproachable. The story of the alleged love affair, more or less, died with her Dearest friend is how the married Woodrow Wilson addresses his most ardent letters to Hulbert. With infinite tenderness is how he signs them. He was smitten (An Honorable Affair). The time of this affair ranges from 1885 to 1961. In 1885 Wilson married Ellen Axson, although they both became instantly attracted to each other they did not marry until 1885, because Ellen was unwilling to leave her heartbroken father. 27 years later, Wilson became president and Ellen became the 28th first lady; of those who knew Ellen in the White House they described her as calm and sweet, a motherly woman, pretty, and refined (Ellen Axson Wilson). In 1914 Ellen died at the age of 54, it was still the Victorian Age. Doctors didnt share any prognosis they didnt know of with the patient or the patients family, but Dr. Grayson knew Ellen, she was a steel magnolia who demanded the truth. A year after Ellens death Wilson married Edith Galt in 1915. Edith, who claimed to be directly descended from Pocahontas, was the wealthy widow of a jewelry store owner and a member of Washington high society (Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt). In 1916 Wilson had an affair with Mary Allen Hu lbert. Theirs may have been the most proper and dignified and discreet and downright honorable illicit affair in history. Hulbert, the woman in the hotel room, was said to have possessed compromising letters that attested to a lengthy extramarital dalliance between herself and Wilson (An Honorable Affair). 1919, Wilson had suffered a stroke. 8,000 miles in 22 days had cost Wilson his health, Wilson had just cut his tour short of the country to promote the League of Nations. Wilsons suffered constant headaches, collapsing from exhaustion in Colorado, he managed to return back to Washington to suffer a near-fatal stroke on October 2nd. Wilson left office in March of 1921, he and a partner established a law firm, Wilson died at his home on February 3, 1924 at the age of 67. Woodrow was buried in the Washington National Cathedral and he was the only president to be buried in the nations capital. Circumstances surrounding this case are results of an affair between Woodrow Wilson and Mary Allen Hulbert. That a serious sex scandal would have been devastating to Wilsons presidency, and eroded his moral authority at a critical time in history (An Honorable Affair). Hulbert said that any letters that could possibly exist would only hurt Wilsons credit and further burnish his good name. When rumors of an affair initially surfaced during Wilsons first presidential campaign in 1912, his opponent, Teddy Roosevelt, peremptorily dismissed them: You cant cast a man as a Romeo when he looks and acts so much like an apothecarys clerk (An Honorable Affair). Wilson had an eventful eight-years of presidency, the gossip of Mary Hulbert then known as by her married name, Mary Peck, escalated. , the presidents second wife, tens of thousands of his personal papers became available for publication by the Liberty of Congress (An Honorable Affair). These papers, Hulbert sold to an official biographe r, long after Wilson passed. All along There had long been rumors to that effect. Hulbert and Wilson had long denied them. But now there was, apparently, an offer on the table (An Honorable Affair). This rumor was never proven because Mary Hulbert wouldnt talk, Ms. Hulbert claims that the only letters that could possibly be found would be the ones that Wilson sent to her. The government was affected in many ways. enjoyed having her sit in the Oval Office while he conducted business, which led to accusations that she had undue influence over who was allowed access to the president (Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt). At this time Wilson was recovering from his stroke, Galt assumed the role of looking after Wilson, screening his mail and official papers. In their first year she convinced her scrupulous husband that it would be perfectly proper to invite influential legislators to a private dinner, and when such an evening led to an agreement on a tariff bill, he told a friend, You see what a wise wife I have! (Ellen Axson Wilson). The Wilsons preferred to being without an inaugural ball and the First Ladys entertainments were simple, but her disorganized feelings made her partys successful. The story of the alleged hotel room bribe appeared in the 1925 series of memories Hulbert wrote for the Liberty magazine, a year after Wilsons death. When i t was published, there was a one-day furor in Congress. Rep. Frank Reid, an Illinois Democrat, introduced a resolution demanding an investigation (An Honorable Affair). If Hulbert would have been right there had been much effort to give up on an innocent man and underestimate the Constitution for political gain. During this time he would abandon his lifelong caution, initiating a series of moves that would lead to his resignation from Princeton (An Honorable Affair). This would cause a political career that would lead him first to the governorship of New Jersey and then to one of the great presidents in American history. Wilson lost stature as an academic administrators but gained a national reputation as a fighter for intellectual freedom and an enemy of the monied elite (An Honorable Affair). Speaking before the next graduating class when his letters indicated a growing passion for Hulbert, he told the graduates that there are things one does for duty and things one does for joy. Had President Wilson not met Edith Galt and had been defeated in the 1916 re-election, Wilson might have married Mary Hulbert. But for a presidential candidate to have acknowledge any serious intentions toward her, a divorce, would have been, social and political suicide.The story of her alleged love affair, more or less, died with her (An Honorable Affair). Edith Wilson may never have been able to read the letters her husband wrote to Hulbert but in her last years she told Wilsons scholars Arthur S. Link and David W. Hirst that there probably wasnt much of anything in them. For the rest of Ediths life she was dedicated above all else to preserve her husbands image of greatness. As the 1916 presidential campaign heated up, many of Wilsons advisors worried that his whirlwind courtship and marriage to Edith so soon after his first wifes death would become a political liability (Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt). A man and a woman loved and respected each other. They did not permit whatever passion they shared to destroy marriage. What happend, happend. They took it it to their graves. Whatever degree of intimacy they enjoyed, the details should remain as one might argue these matters should remain completely, eternally, gloriously private (An Honorable Affair). Hulbert always found men with agendas, and politicians more attractive but she always denied it. It was said by Gene Weingarten that Wilson and Hulbert loved each other and that the relationship they had was a mystery to Wilsons presidency. Weingarten also had the question of But were they lovers? (An Honorable Affair). When the married Wilson addressed his letters to Hulbert it would start with Dearest friend and signed With infinite tenderness. Wilson told Hulbert he missed her when she was not in Bermuda while he was. Yet she must have instinctively realized that Wilsons secret romance had been restorative and life enhancing to h im and that, she, too, owed a debt of gratitude to Mary Hulbert (An Honorable Affair).

People and Events of World War II :: essays research papers

People and Events of World War II The Axis Powers World War II was started by the Axis Forces, which were comprised of Germany, Italy, and Japan. They fought against the combined might of almost the entire world, and, but for a supreme combined effort on the part of America, the USSR, and Britain, almost won. During the war, the Axis Powers were totalitarian states, controlled by their respective leader or leaders. These are their stories.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During World War II, there were three men who were controlling the Japanese government, none of which liked each other. The first, Emperor Hirohito, born in 1901, was ruler from 1926 to 1989, the last divine imperial leader of Japan. During the first nineteen years of his reign he gave over power of the government to a militant party. The result of this was the war with China from 1937 to 1945 and adherence to the Axis Powers. At the end of the war Hirohito wanted peace and, in 1945, he unconditionally surrendered to the Allies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second, Isoroku Yamamoto, born in 1884, was the reluctant Commander- in-Chief of Japan's naval forces during WW II. He had a clear grasp of the situation and predicted that against a country like the U.S. or Britain, Japan would quickly lose the war. He died in 1943, shot down by the U.S. 13th Air Force in a surgical assassination strike.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The last, Tojo Hideki, was born in 1884, and was the most violent of the three. He was the leader of the militaristic party that controlled the government from 1926 to 1945, and the one who commanded the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1937. He controlled all government and military campaigns until 1944, when, as a result of bad military defeats, he resigned as Prime Minister. Tojo was later arrested, tried, and convicted by an international military court for conventional war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity. He was later executed in 1948.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These three men had control over the Japanese government, and allied themselves to Germany and Italy, thus forming the Axis forces. So, as the Pacific was being dominated by the Japanese, Europe and North Africa were being equally terrorized by Germany and Italy, who were under the iron fists of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, respectively.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Adolf Hitler was born in 1889, the son of a very low-ranking official, and a peasant. He wasn't very well educated, never completed high school, and was also rejected from institutes of higher learning because of his lack of talent. Although he was a poor student, he read non-stop, and it was from books

Frederick Douglass Essay -- Biography Biographies

Frederick Douglass 1 How did the early years of Frederick Douglass’ life affect the beliefs of the man he would become? Frederick Douglass’ adulthood was one of triumph and prestige. Still, he by no means gained virtue without struggle and conflict. There was much opposition and hostility against him. To fully understand all his thoughts and beliefs first one must look at his childhood. Frederick Augustus Bailey was born in February of 1818 to a black field hand named Harriet. He grew up on the banks of the Tuckahoe Creek deep within the woods of Maryland. Separated from his mother at an early age, he was raised by his grandparents Betsy and Isaac Bailey. Isaac and Betsy are not thought to be related. Isaac was a free man and a sawyer, while Betsy was an owned slave, but she kept her own rules. Her owner trusted her to watch over and raise the children of the slaves until they were old enough to begin their labor. She was allowed to keep her own cabin, and to farm food for the children and herself. It was not an easy job. While all of the mothers were busy working in the fields of their master, Aaron Anthony, she was busy watching over their infants. Betsy Bailey was quite a woman. She was a master fisher, and spent most of her days in the river or in the field farming. She was very intelligent and physically able bodied. Most historians credit Frederick ’s intelligence to his extraordinary grandmother. Douglass later recalled not seeing his mother very often, just on the few times she would come to visit later in his life. At the age of six, Frederick’s carefree days of running and playing in the fields and came to an abrupt end. He was taken away from his grandmother to begin the toil and sweat of th... ...of the Civil War and thereafter. He was the most influential of all the black leaders throughout the mid 19th century. Bibliography Bailey, Thomas A. The American Spirit. (Lexington: D. C. Health and Company, 1991) , 666. Blight, David. Frederick Douglass’ Civil War. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989) , 270. Bontemps, Arna. Free at Last. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1971) , 309. Martin, Waldo E. The Mind of Frederick Douglass. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984) , 333. McFreely, William S. Frederick Douglass. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1991),465. Meyer, Michael-ed., Frederick Douglass: The Narrative and Selected Writings. (New York: The Modern Libray, 1984.) , 391. Preston Dickson J. Young Frederick Douglass. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.) , 242.

empathy and sympathy :: essays research papers

On Tuesday 6:30am an old friend of my mine that I knew for 20 years in NY, past away due to a heartatach, it was a shock to my self and all his family. I flew out to New York, trying to put my self together as it just hit me I will never see him again or hear his remarks about my way of life. All of the sudden I realized if I feel like that how will his children feel, how will there stepmother feel, and I remember yes they just lost their mom few years ago and now their dad. I started feeling sorry for them. I realized I am feeling sympathy for the kids and wife, I was thinking that they are remember their father with pain. I did not think as an empathetic person that maybe they are remembering their father with pain but also with the pleasure, he brought to their life. This is what I would like to write the how similar empathy and sympathy are and how different. How a little extra thinking and an extra word could change from sympathy to empathy. Moreover, how us as social worker should make sure we do not move from empathy to sympathy. Sympathy; what dangerous feeling to us Social Workers, yet it comes naturally without any warning and we have to make sure we convert it to empathy before its too late. We have to make sure we do not only agree with some aspects of the clients feelings, beliefs, etc. that he/she believe in which translates into sympathy, but above all we should involve experience, understand and tune into her/his entire inner world to represent empathy. If we Social service workers use empathy, we will respond more expandable to the client. Thinking about what happened to my friend’s family this week and watching how people gave sympathy to them, made me realize, that the more sympathy they gave them the more grieved they where.

Natasha by David Bezmozgiz

â€Å"Natasha† by David Bezmozgis is a love story. It traffics in disappointment and features â€Å"at least one cold heart. † The story has a duplicate plot story that shows how young adults have changed through time whether to deal with issues such as love, relationship, family, believes, and society. Natasha would be a good text for Thai high school classes to explore as the text encounters a lot of heavy issues that would help young adults to be aware of the consequences the outcome, social environment: sex and drugs, culture, and relationship.The text illustrates a strong negative believe that young adults are not able to control the environment distractions; sex and drugs are both issues which both the two main young characters, Berman and Natasha was a good illustration. As culture build up people to different personality and background. Western and Asian culture has cultural differences as western has an individualistic characteristics and are often more social hierarchy. Despite Asian culture, they are very collective and mostly avoid confrontations.The characters in the story had portray independent in young adult through Natasha, whereas Natasha is a 14 year old girl who is very open practically raised her self since young and seek for her mother’s attention. Despise, how she seeks for her mother’s love, she turned into a trouble child. Moreover, social environment is also an important point that defines how young adults are being shaped and how their attitudes and behaviors interact to people.As the matter of fact Natasha’s background is Russian, which the author defines that Russian has a more complex and complicated life as its natural society background that deals a lot with illegal stereotype. Young adults would be more aware of the consequences in different circumstances; therefore, young adults who are familiar with sex and drugs tend to be more likely to be pregnant.Natasha and Berman had also illustrated a forbidden sexual intercourse since young and overcome it as a normal activity. Natasha therefore, lack of relationship in family and the people surrounding her as Natasha has a love and hate relationship with her mom, they both showed a clear conflict between each other, both know where they stand with each other as there is no love between the two, they both say how they feel without having to care how the other person would feel.In other words, young adults should respect their parents and this would be a good example for Thai students not to portray a bad attitude. In conclusion, Natasha is suitable for Thai high school as it teaches Thai students to be more aware of the consequences, cultural differences in society, and it also helps Thai students to regain a good relationship with their parents. Therefore, Natasha would be a good text for Thai high school classes to look forward to.

Florence Nightingale’s Nursing Philosophy

The nursing profession today is being recognized all over the world due to the recent increase in demand for nursing professionals and caregivers. Today, more and more students are encouraged to take and pursue a nursing degree in college due to the opportunities awaiting them in the medical field—an opportunity which was sparked and started long ago by a caregiver and health care provider by the name of Florence Nightingale. Since Nightingale’s establishment of a concrete nursing philosophy, the nursing practice was never the same. Nightingale’s view on health care was simplistic yet holistic. She believed that nurses are born with a given responsibility on their shoulders to provide humane and sensitive aid selflessly to the sick, to do anything within their power to alleviate the pains and illness of the patients, and to support the professional doctors to the best of their abilities (Kleiman). During Nightingale’s time, the women were experiencing extreme discrimination under the government of Great Britain. The government suppressed the women and prohibited them to contribute in any way to the affairs of the state. Thus, this pushed Nightingale to fight for her point of view as a health care provider and prove the women nurse’s worth (Bruner). She was very strong and firm on her principle which involves providing health care selflessly regardless of gender, with sensitive consideration to the ill and the needy. This humanistic philosophy is what guided Florence Nightingale to push through the now established philosophy of nursing and care giving which has been eternally symbolized by her, holding a lighted lamp which kindles the hopes of the ill. Thus, Nightingale’s philosophy is truly an inspiration. It stands as a reminder for me to stay humble and focused on my future responsibilities as a nurse. It also reminds me of the importance of providing health care without biases and reservation—anyone who seeks medical help is a patient that doctors and nurses should attend to.