Critically assess your placement's view of the doctrine of God to Essay

Critically assess your placement's view of the doctrine of God to demonstrate how it helps or hinders the missional engagement of your church within its local context - Essay Example The support and the quality interactions provided to be the Churches in the local communities has therefore, always been considered beneficiary in the Christian society. However, the type of interaction and teaching being imparted by different Churches depend on their understanding of the Doctrine of God and the concept of Trinity according to which, God exists in three forms, namely father, son and the Holy Spirit2. Taking all these aspects into consideration the discussion in this study will remain focused towards understanding the concepts of Doctrine of God. In addition, the discussion will also elaborate on the question that whether the Doctrine concept hinders or helps interaction of the Churches with the local communities. Accordingly, the discussion will also comprise of the evaluation of ‘four part missional theology analysis method’ with the intention to develop a succinct understanding regarding the non-existence of Churches in the absence of the Holy Spirit. Before understanding the impact of ‘Doctrine of God’ on the interaction of Churches with the local communities, a brief understanding needs to be attained regarding the theological concept. Contextually, it can be stated that different cultures have varied patterns of projecting their belief in God. For instance, in Christianity, the divineness of God has been elaborated in two specific forms. The first form of God has been projected to be ‘transcendent’, whereas the second form of God is projected as ‘immanent’. In the transcendent form, God has been elaborated as the divine power free from any dependence on this world3. Likewise, in the immanent form, God has been described as an active participator within all the happenings in the world. Correspondingly, the necessity of understanding this fact resulted in the emergence of the Doctrine of God concepts wherein the statements and attributes made by God were evaluated4. For instance, attributes, such as

Religion in King Lear Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Religion in King Lear - Essay Example The chaotic mixture of fairies with Gods seems to characterize the religious confusion in the play. Characters endlessly invoke Gods, divine powers, and mystical forces; there seems to be an assumption that something governs our lives on earth, but the direction of the play as a whole is towards a radical questioning of this whole idea. When Gloucester says As flies to wanton boys, are we to th’ Gods; They kill us for their sport (IV, 1, 36-7). his view will not do here as a summary of the world shown in the play, for one thing because there simply is no evidence of Gods doing anything at all, callous or benevolent. In Act V Edgar comments on his father’s fate in terms which again assume some sort of divine order in things: The Gods are just, and if our pleasant vices Make instruments to plague us: The dark and vicious place where thee he got Cost him his eyes (V, 3, 170-3). ... It is a world without justice, nor any convincing sense of meaningful moral order. The characters assume, however, that the divine is present in their world, and that it can be addressed and appealed to, though it comes in many forms. Lear begs "sweet heaven" (I, 1, 46) to prevent him from going mad. He prays for "all the stor'd vengeances of Heaven" (II, 4, 163) to strike down his ungrateful daughter, and begs the "Heavens" (II, 4, 273) to give him patience and strength. "O Heavens, / If you do love old men" (II, 4 191-2), he says in the same scene. In the storm scenes Kent's description of its peculiar severity prompts one to see it as more than just a physical event. He has never in his life seen "such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder" etc., and the implication is that the storm has more than natural causes. This leads Lear to his reflection on the power of the storm to purge evil and crime: Let the Great Gods, That keep this dreadful pudder o'er our heads, Find out their enemies now(III, 2, 49). He believes the Gods are present and that they have the power to punish wrongs - even his own. In III, 4 he acknowledges his own responsibility for how Goneril and Regan are: "Judicious punishment! 'twas this flesh begot / Those pelican daughters" (III, 4, 75-6). Gloucester too believes in the divine, but in very muddled way. His son Edmund feels none of the strength of the spiritual, and despises his father for his naivety: Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law My services are bound (I, 2, 1-2). means, in fact, that he has no gods or goddesses, that religious sense to him is bosh, and a sign of superstitious weakness in others. His closeness to the sisters is clear. His "Nature", it is obvious, is a different