Abstract
Life of Nicholas Black Elk, a religious elder, as told to the author. History of the Plains Indians of the late 19th Century. Describes the tribe's belief system. Black Elk's relating how the spirit voices came to him. Sanctioning of his vision. Need to bring his message of the unity of the planet to the world.

From the Paper
" Black Elk Speaks (2000) is more than a history of the plains Indians of the latter 19th century. Black Elk was a religious elder of a people that has historically relied on the oral tradition. So this recounting of his life and his vision can be seen as a sacred text that has been preserved on paper instead of committed to memory. As Black Elk begins to relate his life and his vision to John Neihardt, he calls upon the Spirit of the World to keep him true (2), and then he reaffirms the authority of his vision, his tribe's belief system, and his belief that somehow, this vision can still be fulfilled.


When Black Elk was five years old he heard the spirit voices and saw the two messengers who flew down from the sky (14-15). He knew that this was not a dream, but a vision that came from the One Spirit. From that time he would occasionally hear the..."

Abstract
This paper first outlines Baruch Spinoza's argument in Part 1 of the "Ethics" for "substance monism" - the position that there exists only one substance. It then explains how Spinoza's position differs from that of Gottfried Leibniz in the "Discourse on Metaphysics". The paper concludes with the assertion that Leibniz's account for the nature and number of substances is superior since accepting Spinoza's conclusions leads to a number of logically troublesome consequences.

From the Paper
"Leibniz's account for the nature and number of substances differs significantly from Spinoza's. For Spinoza, there is only one substance in the world: God. Leibniz essentially agrees that there is only one true substance. However, to Leibniz this substance is the monad, comparable to a soul or spirit, which "is nothing but a simple substance that enters into composites" (Monadology, p. 484). For Leibniz, God exists external to the world of monads, and might be best thought of as a type of "supersubstance" or "supermonad." It was God who set the world in motion; therefore, substances depend on God for their existence. Since Leibniz's God possesses the will to create or destroy substances "in accordance with the principle of the best" (M., p. 487), God is the only necessary being. All other monads, then, depend on Him for their existence, and as such, are non-eternal contingent beings. Spinoza's pantheism forces the conclusion that all substance is eternal; if it were not eternal, then it would have to be created, which would then violate his definition of substance as something "that the conception of which does not require the conception of another thing from which it has to be formed" (E., p. 416)."

Tags:modern, philosophy, God, eternal, creation

Abstract
This paper is an intriguing philosophical approach at solving the problem with evil. It discusses the conversations and writings of Philosopher Swinburne and the antitheodicist. Arguments are presented between Swinburne and the antitheodicist and an attempt is made to answer the question; does Swinburne succeed in solving the problem?

From the Paper
"There shouldn't be any evils that are not caused by men, such as plagues, earthquakes, natural disasters, AIDS, cancer, and disease to name some of them. Swinburne explains that these tragedies and misfortunes allow men to do noble acts. The September 11th tragedy is a classic example. The entire city of New York came together and sacrificed lives, money, time, and effort to help others. Their crime rates dropped to the lowest ever of that city."

Tags:evil, paper, philosophy, problem, swinburne

From the Paper
"At the risk or resorting to cliches, it is generally accepted that beauty means different things to different people. How did Socrates know that the attendees of the banquet would judge him based primarily on physical appearance? Perhaps he believed similar people with similar beliefs, such as pederasty, share similar views of beauty and love. Socrates is acknowledging the fact that the pederasts judge and value physical beauty above other forms. Apollodorus is not unprepared to tell us this story, if it is what he must do; but why is he prepared to tell it? What have we to learn from this? Each is free to take from The Symposium what they choose, to filter out the verbose eulogies and determine the true nature of eros for ones self. However, Socrates and Diotima's fascinating interpretation on the evolution of the perception of beauty is arguably the most compelling and revealing concept that should be extracted from this reading."

Tags:alcibiades, aristophanes, banquet, greek, pederasty, socrates, classics

Abstract
This paper examines the roots of monotheistic and polytheistic religions, and the different gods worshipped over time. The author uses such examples as the gods of ancient Greece, the Code of Hammurabi, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Bible.

From the Paper:

"There is no doubt that having belief in a supernatural being or beings is healthy for the human soul. Whether it be one God or a family of gods and goddesses, religion allows the human essence to have something to help cope with emotions, give blame for the unjust, and rejoice in a celebrate life. Truth, indeed, is finite, and the roads that lead to it are numberless.?

Tags:monotheism, polytheism, iliad, greek, homer, scripture, epic, hammurabi, code, aphrodite, ishtar, gilgamesh

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the book "Reservation Blues," by Sherman Alexie. Specifically, it looks at the musical poem at the beginning of the chapter "My God Has Dark Skin," and how it relates to the beliefs and religion of the characters throughout the book.

From the Paper
"These words tell the story of how the Native American's had to give up their beliefs, and their religion for the white man's religion, in the name of "modernity" and "Christianity." The numerous Native American tribes each had a complex religious system, made up of folk tales, and a wide variety of gods and goddesses. Yet, when the white men came and took over the Indian lands, they tried to convert them to the "true" religion of Christianity, while they gave up their old ways and beliefs."

Tags:Indian, god, christianity, modernity, native, american, white, men

Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses the views that Jesuit education was part of an evolutionary educational movement in Europe and merely re- used already established educational practices, and the view that Jesuit educational practices were truly innovative and so made the Society appealing, popular, and made young men want to study at their schools. Also other general factors such as the changing nature of the society at the time are looked into along with the general growth of education among both Catholic and Protestant schools during this period and the keen interest among some educational writers of reforming the education system. The writer concludes that the main reason for the success of the Jesuit educational practices is that the Jesuit system of education was the first truly ordered, disciplined and highly organised educational system that the early modern world had come into contact with and that it was designed in such a way as to be responsive to the emerging needs of early modern European societies.

From the Paper
"Town councils in Europe during the 16th century realised that it was very expensive to run a school if it was run by lay people because such people needed a salary of some substance baring in mind that often these people had families that they needed to support. Members of religious orders did not however have families to support baring in mind that their members were often chaste, especially in the case of the Jesuits whose whole mantra stipulated that once you became of a member of the society you were to give up all family ties and relations that you had and that your new family would be the order itself. This directly appealed to many city councils in Europe and resulted in the popularity of Jesuit schools as a whole.
"To answer the question of whether the Jesuit educational system's success was a result of innovation or was a result of the re-use of already established educational practices, one must look at the Ratio Studiorum, which was the Jesuits educational handbook."

Tags:church, teachings, religious, practices

Abstract
This paper focuses its analysis on the role and significance of rape in the ancient Greek myth of Persephone. The paper begins by defining initiation as a ceremony that results in the admission of a person to a particular association, whether that is an introduction to an age group or an ordination of a priest or entrance to a secret society. The paper goes on to explain that the myth surrounding the rape of Persephone follows this structure precisely with the young daughter being taken away from her mother, Demeter, to the underworld where she spends some time in a state of transition before being reunited with Demeter, but having been fundamentally, and permanently, changed in some sense. The paper asserts that the most convincing argument is to associate the myth with the female initiation of a girl in becoming a woman. The paper concludes that rape is used in the myth because the girl must pass the stage of liminality; otherwise, the myth teaches, there will be dire consequences for man and the cosmos.

From the Paper
"Following this separation kore is in a vulnerable state, as she is no longer part of the household of her father, Zeus. She is in fact at the stage of liminality in the van Gennep structure. This is the equivalent to the day of the marriage, the gamos, for the Greeks. The daughter is on the verge of being transferred to another man's authority but has not quite reached it yet. We are shown, through the myth, that one important aspect of this transferral is the loss of virginity of the bride. '...while I, together with my virginity, lose the air of heaven; stolen from me alike is innocence and daylight.' There is a definite comparison here with the loss of virginity coinciding with the loss of light. It is not merely because kore is being taken down into the underworld with Hades but rather, and more significantly, due to the view of legitimate sex in Greece. Sex was seen as a private affair that should be done in the dark away from others. To do otherwise would make you a barbarian and insinuate the physical act is not part of legitimate marriage. Therefore, the physical act of sex with Hades has transferred the authority of the girl to Hades."

Tags:Greece, ritual, myth, Zeus, Demeter

Abstract
This paper focuses its analysis on the often complicated roles of women in the Thesmophoria festival, a Greek celebration that took place all over Greece, in Asia Minor and on the island of Sicily, apparently in the month of Pyanopsion from the eleventh to the thirteenth. The paper explains that the festival itself was particularly associated with Demeter, and was open only, within Athens at least, to citizen women who were married, thus excluding all men, virgins, slaves and prostitutes. Reconstruction of the rituals and their meanings connected with the Thesmophoria is difficult, the paper notes, because of the nature of the scant evidence left behind. The paper also evaluates the subtle characteristics of the play of Aristophanes, 'Women at the Thesmophoria." The paper discusses the specific roles occupied by this select group of people included to participate in the rituals of the Thesmophoria and the reasons behind this.

From the Paper
"The example of the regression to virginity is part of an all-encompassing theme of the Thesmophoria, namely that it was a festival of exception where the roles of society are reversed. Another example of the exceptional nature of the Thesmophoria lies in its primitivism with the women returning to an 'ancient manner of life'. The regression to becoming a maiden becomes part of returning to an uncultivated past, also without agricultural fertility. Women within the Thesmophoria represent this physically by 'sitting upon the ground', living outside the oikos and preparing food with only the heat of the sun. There is a literal re-enactment of the myth when Demeter mourned and there was an uncivilised world. Combined with participation in swearing, sacrifice and an implied approval of adultery, by Aristophanes, in the context of the festival we see a complete reversal of the socially acceptable image of the citizen, married woman. They are, for the three days of the festival, no longer constrained by the rules of the male dominated polis and even elect two leaders within themselves to act as official magistrates. Detienne argues that women are allowed to take part in political life because they have transgressed back to the virgin status and are allowed to sacrifice."

Tags:ancient, ritual, Greek, Roman, Athenian

Abstract
This paper examines Gnosticism which was a very real threat to the early Church and one which preoccupied many of the Church fathers. Any understanding of patristics in this period requires an understanding of Gnosticism and it is an understanding of the fundamentals which this essay seeks to provide. The paper discusses the extent to which it was a real threat to orthodoxy and the general trends of thought that brought it about.

From the Paper
"It is important not to suggest that Gnosticism is a different phenomenon to Christianity in terms of its belief structure or background as this is only partly the case. Many Gnostics who were branded heretics by their main stream Christian counterparts would have considered themselves to be Christians in a true sense despite many notable doctrinal differences between Gnostic and orthodox Christian groups. An examination of the relevant aspects reveals that Gnosticism was fundamentally a school of thought which affected an enormous group of beliefs at the time and was relevant to positions such as neo-Platonism and possibly even Judaism as well as Christianity. Gnosticism seemingly tended to attach itself to these other structures of belief and make partial use of their mythologies. Ultimately, then, Gnosticism is not the name of a coherent alternative to Christianity. It is rather more the name of a school of thought which was a product of the time and manifested itself in various other belief structures not even limited to religion. That said, however, there are two reasons why it might be considered specifically an alternative to Christianity. The first is that its doctrines do tie in well with the Christian position; so well in fact that many have argued that Christianity was influenced by Gnosticism from the very beginning. Secondly it remains the case that Christian Gnostics would be knowingly ostracizing themselves from the mainstream Church and regardless of whether they considered themselves Christians they were not such in accordance with Christianity at the time. In terms of the coherence of Gnosticism it is important to note that a good deal of the coherence of any particular Gnostic position depended on the other belief structures to which it was attached so it was never really possible to be a Gnostic without any engagement with other views. Perhaps the best descriptive phrasing of Gnosticism in reference to Christianity is that it is a potentially valid variant which is at odds with orthodoxy."

Tags:dualism, marcion, orthodoxy, redeemer, valentinius