The Parable of the Wedding Feast Essay -- Literary Analysis, Bible, Go

Marriages in Biblical Tradition typically represent a symbolic expression of the covenantal union between God and his people. A wedding banquet during this time period in history was a joyous occasion that had a great importance in the lives of the betrothed. â€Å"The Gospel of Matthew, like all the New Testament Gospels, was composed as a literary work to interpret the theological meaning of a concrete historical event to the people in a particular historical situation† (Boring 89). Mt 22:1-14 utilizes this tradition and expresses wedding celebrations in order to exemplify the significance of Jesus’s goal to bring salvation to those on Earth. The parable of the wedding feast unfolds into three parts; the inviting of guests, a call to the outcasts, and a removal. (Brown 664) Matthew paints the scene of Jesus using a parable to describe the fact, â€Å"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son† (Mt 22:2). Using a wedding banquet as the setting for this parable allows people to apply the message of God to their everyday lives. The visualization of the preparations of the oxen and fat calves for feasting depicts the nature that this was an important event, worth the sacrifice of animals, which at the time was a great personal expense. Theologically, the kingdom of heaven was represented by the wedding banquet, for those who were invited to the wedding banquet were extended an invitation to the kingdom of God, while the King was an image of God, The Father and the king’s son was a portrait of Jesus. (Brown 665) The servants of the king, symbolically known as the prophets, were sent to complete the King’s bidding and to inform the guests of the upcoming wedding banquet. Rather than accept as per ... ...rning the declination of invitations, whereas Luke goes further into detail. Also, the Gospel of Matthew offers a shorter summary in comparison to Luke and includes the second part of the parable, Mt 22:11-14. (Lester 308) Matthew directed this passage toward the Matthean reader for it supplies instruction and a sense of warning to those who wish to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. â€Å"Matthew uses tension and surprise, in both form and content, to address this situation, while affirming that Jesus Christ, â€Å"God is with us,† is the defining figure around which the community’s self-understanding, imagination, and social relations are to be formed† (Saunders 871). By presenting the text in the form of a parable, the message of God’s will is omitted in a historical and cultural context that enables society to comprehend the meaning behind the words chosen by Matthew.

Growing Up Jewish

My name is Asher Lev is a novel written by Chaim Potok, an American rabbi who narrates Asher's early life, the challenges he faces when attempting to pursue his passion and career-drawing and painting. His father disapproves of his art of drawing. Because of his concentration on the art, he becomes averse to education, which makes his community members to feel ashamed of him. Potok remained an active artist/writer until his death in 2002.The Hasidism religion does not consider the second commandment against graphic arts because art â€Å"belongs to the other side.† As Asher grows older, he learns to control his emotions in relation to his paintings and concentrate more on his art that he becomes successful. The book ends when Asher is twenty-two years old. The plot against America is a political novel written by Philip Roth. The book explains how America has become fascist post-1935 era and Hitler's allies are in control of the white house. There is total chaos in America because of national politics and hatred. Gangs go around harassing people. The lower-middle-class Jews of Weequahic, in Newark, try to learn how to use a gun to defend themselves in an apartment. America and the rest of Europe are taken over by fascist movements and imitators of Adolf Hitler and Mussolini.Both Asher and Phillip face challenges that are mainly unrelated to their lives. Their geographical location and the surrounding community determines the challenges each one of them faces. Asher and Philip face challenges that are to a certain extent unrelated. For instance, Asher is born in a conservative religious community-all the members surrounding him expects him to adhere to the Jewish religion and customs. His father is opposed to his art terming it anti-religious while Philip grows up in a quite liberal community that does not put much emphasis on religion and culture. His major challenges stem from outside his community. In My Name is Asher Levi, â€Å"During Asher's childhood, his artistic inclination brings him into conflict with the members of his Jewish community, considers art unrelated to religious expression to be at best a waste of time and possibly a sacrilege. It brings him into particularly strong conflict with his father, a man who has devoted his life to serving their leader, the Rebbe, by traveling around the world bringing the teachings and practice of their sect to other Jews, and who is by nature incapable of understanding or appreciating art† (Knopf, 2003). While in The Plot against America, â€Å"Hitler's allies rule the White House. Anti-Semitic mobs roam the streets. The lower-middle-class Jews of Weequahic, in Newark, N.J., cower in a second-floor apartment, trying to figure out how to use a gun to defend themselves. (â€Å"You pulla the trig,† a kindly neighbor explains)† (Berman Web). In My Name Is Asher, Asher has to deal with a religion that is imposed on him. His graphic art is not in line with his community's expectations. He faces the challenge of proving to his community that his art is not detrimental to his religion. As he grows older the conflict between him and his community increases. As he matures, he learns control his emotions. Though he sometimes identified himself as religious, he took on a more secular path. He had to make a choice between his art and the Jewish religion. He chose the art over his Jewish religion. As Asher grew older, he resolved to portray his challenges through paintings. He portrays his mother's suffering through Christian art. Asher shows in his book that a balance can be struck between religion and art. Religion help emphasize art. Religious figures can be depicted through art. For Philip political challenges affect him unlike Lev's that are religious; Philip has to deal with the issue of fascists taking control of his country. It encourages people to worship.Philip Roth finds his father powerless in dealing with the dominion of his country by fascists. His community members are disgruntled about his career, but he has no way of helping them. Philip has to deal with anti-Semitism that was propagated by the fascists,† America has gone fascist and ordinary life has been flattened under a steamroller of national politics and mass hatreds. Hitler's allies rule the White House. Anti-Semitic mobs roam the streets† (Davenport Web).Religious affiliation does not hinder one from achieving their goal. They must focus on achieving and perfecting what they aspire. Levi does not allow his Jewish religion and culture to hinder him from pursuing his career of art. Lev learns to do things that he loves most. He pursues a career in painting at the expense of education and religion. As he grows older, he succeeds in art. Success comes after much struggle and endurance. Lev became successful after practicing for a long time. He also was patient and enduring of his community's opposition towards his career in painting. Lev also learnt that it is a mistake to separate religion from freethinking, humanism, and development. Development has always been practiced alongside religion. In other words, religion does encourage development of the community. In â€Å"The Plot against America,† Philip learns that the need for glory makes fascists to invade other countries. They use the army, police, and gangs to achieve their goals.Fascist leaders control all aspects of the people under their control. They control economic life, religious life, social life, and economic life of the citizens. Fascists use intimidation, threats, arrests, and killings to control and subdue the people they lead. They do not allow any dissenting views from the people under their control.In Asher Lev's book â€Å"My Name Is Asher Lev,† he speaks on discrimination based on religion, culture, and secularism. His community discriminates him because of his passion on graphical art. The community tells him that art is against the Jewish religion and culture. However, on holding on onto his talent and career of painting, he succeeds. He did not allow the disagreement of his community deter him from doing what he wanted most-art.Philip Roth, on the other hand, faces the challenge of a fascist leader imposing his political beliefs on to his country- America. He too is discriminated against based on his skin color and religion. His Jewish community in America begins to train themselves how to use a gun so they can defend themselves. The fascist leader unleashes the gang to terrorize them the Jews in America. Hitler's men introduce fascism in the white house and the whole country-America.Works CitedBerman, Paul. â€Å"‘The Plot Against America'.† The New York Times, 3 Oct. 2004.Davenport, Guy.†Collision with the outside world.† The New York Times, 16 April 1972. Potok, Chaim. My Name Is Asher Lev. Knopf; 2003.

Contrast of Beliefs in Sophocles´ Antigone - 762 Words

Being able to be a brave and narrow-minded is not an easy or usual characteristic. But, author Sophocles seems to portray this characteristic flawlessly in the play Antigone. In Antigone, King Creon decides Eteocles should have a proper burial while Polyneices should just be left to rot after these two brothers have a brutal fight and anyone who buries Polyneices should be punished. But, their sister Antigone opposes this and decides to go against Creon’s word and buries Polyneices. When Creon finds out he goes through an internal conflict trying to decide if he should punish his own niece or let the situation goes. The play has many tragedies that happen in a domino effect and change Creon’s view. In the play, Creon and Antigone often have contrasting viewpoints in certain beliefs and situations. With Creon being the Antagonist and Antigone being the protagonist, the two have clashing beliefs in. The main conflicting beliefs are in their views of laws, the burial of Po lyneices, and conflicting personalities. By example, Creon and Antigone have conflicting viewpoints in their beliefs of laws. Antigone believes moral laws developed from gods while Creon believes in moral laws developed from him. Creon says, â€Å"It seems that prophets have made me their especial province, all my life long I have been a kind of butt for the dull arrows of doddering fortunetellers! No, Teiresias: If your birds - if the great eagles of God himself should carry him stinking bit by bit to heaven, IShow MoreRelatedWho Is More Tragic, Creon or Antigone?863 Words   |  4 Pagesvaliantly fought for his country and for his beliefs, and even when Pat died in Afghanistan in 2004, his memory lives on in the minds of many people. According to Aristotle, the hero is not a true hero like Pat Tillman, but rather a person who has serious flaws that lead to the downfall of the character. 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