Religion Sources for your Essay

William Blake and Religion William


Almost immediately he challenges a central tenet of Christianity, the notion of the Trinity, when he says that "those who into the other life [meaning the afterlife] from within the Church, and who have an idea of three Divine Beings, cannot be admitted into heaven, since their thought wanders from Divine Being to another and it is not allowable there to think three and say one, because in heaven every one speaks from thought" (Swedenborg 9-10). Although a disavowal of the Trinity has existed within the larger discourse of Christianity throughout its history, and is even a part of certain contemporary Christian sects (such as Jehovah's Witnesses), Swedenborg's disavowal of the Trinity is notable because his notion of a singular Lord of Heaven and that Heaven's metaphorical relationship to humanity can be read as a precursor to Blake's eventual argument that God is nothing more or less than the totality of humanity, such that Blake could claim that Jesus "is the only God […] and so am I and so are you" (Bentley 30)

William Blake and Religion William


While Swedenborg's claim that "the Divine […] is in human form" seems to conform to the line in Genesis which states that God made humanity in his image, his claim is somewhat remarkable because he essentially inverts the relationship; humanity is not a reflection of God, but rather the other way around. This concept is central to Blake's view of Christianity, because he argues that "All deities reside in the human breast" (Blake 59)

William Blake and Religion William


Recognizing this, Blake argues that rather than assuming "that Energy, call'd Evil, is alone from the Body, & that Reason, call'd Good, is alone from the Soul," one actually cannot differentiate between the body and soul, because "that call'd Body is a portion of Soul discern'd by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age," such that "Energy is the only life, and is from the Body, and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy" (Blake 49). In other words, Blake is arguing that there is no true dichotomy between desire and constraints on desire, but instead these restraints merely represent the natural boundaries of desire, dictated by "priests of religion who advocate moral rules and notions of order" which have little to no bearing on actual human experience and flourishing (Gilpin 55)

William Blake and Religion William


Before addressing Blake's work, and the Marriage of Heaven and Hell in particular, it will be useful to first examine Emanuel Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell, in order to demonstrate how Blake's rebellious, revolutionary approach to religion stems from an earlier strain of mystical religious thought that sought to diminish the coercive, domineering elements of Christianity in favor of human self-determination and individual transcendent experience. In this context, one may understand the term "mystical" to connote a particular approach to religion and metaphysics that focuses itself not on the codified rules and restrictions of organized religion (a kind of metaphysical schema embodied by the Church of England and Roman Catholicism), but rather the transcendent experiences which emerge from "encountering and confronting the orthodoxies of […] personal mythologies" within the larger mythological framework of codified religion (Kaplan 436)

William Blake and Religion William


Blake presents an incisive critique of organized religion (embodied in his case by the Church of England), while celebrating the transcendent, expressive potential of mystical and religious thought. Building off of the prophetic, visionary work of Emanuel Swedenborg, who in his book Heaven and Hell claimed to have visited and cataloged the details of heaven, hell, and everything in between, Blake constructs his own interpretation of Christian mythology that explicitly condemns the elements of religion that function to control the individual while celebrating those elements which serve to encourage human creativity and compassion, illuminating what he means when he "describes his destination, which he suggests should be everyone's destination, as a 'perception of the infinite;'" for Blake, the ultimate goal of any religious or mythological system should be the expansion of human knowledge and experience, such that one may begin to perceive the abundance of the universe free from any arbitrary, destructive ideology (Prather 508)

William Blake and Religion William


In contrast, Swedenborg, and especially Blake, favor the interplay between individual expereince and expression and human culture at large, because this interplay is the only process by which humans can ever come to a consensus regarding objective reality and the means of attaining the best kind of life, according to what will benefit human beings the most. In Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg claims to provide an account of the time when it was "given me to be in company with angels and to talk with as man with man, and also to see what is in the heavens and what is in the hells, and this for thirteen years" (Swedenborg 9)

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But religious groups still strive to affect secular culture. Some religious groups, for example, have tried to lobby legislative bodies to enact a conservative social agenda, while other link their faith to social activism, compassion to the poor, support for Israel, or simply freedom of worship (Gligoff 2010)

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Most people practice both religions in Japan, depending upon their personal needs. In other regions of the world, such as Haiti, Zimbabwe and other former colonies, Christianity and native, folk practices and images are fused together (Grundy 2000)

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Every nation and society had their own gods, and often leaders were honored as gods. The Romans demanded that people in their empire worship Roman deities, as a sign of civic loyalty, not out of piety (Rives 2007, p

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45). Today, in Japan, culture and religion are fused in many households: a Japanese person does not feel a need to choose between Shinto (the national religion of nature-worship) or Buddhism (an imported religion from India) (Treat, 2007)

History Religion


China was the first country to reach the 1 billion mark in population the numbers continue to rise. ("China, 4) China is the only country ahead of India in population worldwide

History Religion


Notably, an "inter-caste" marriage ended in violence this past August when the couple was hanged by "villagers opposed to their inter-caste relationship." (Gajewski,) Much like China, women in India are mistreated and oppressed

History Religion


These four "classes are the Brahmans (priests and scholars), the Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), the Vaisyas (merchants, farmers and traders) and the Sudras (laborers, including artisans, servants and serfs)." ("India," 2) It is not impossible for a Priest to find himself in a different class than the Brahmans, and most of the Brahmans today are "Farmers, cooks and other professionals

History Religion


Ironically, it was a man, Ram Mohan Roy, who first "denounced the caste system and abuses on women." (Liddle, 19) Despite the advancements made in India regarding women's rights, women are still oppressed and ruled by men when it comes to educational options and what jobs are open to them

Religion\'s Role in Personal Identity Formation


While I believe in Allah, the only thing I don't do is pray, though it is important to my religious beliefs and values. Religion is an important identity marker to me because religions throughout the world provide some answers to an individual's need for a sense of belonging or identity (Seul, 1999, p

Religion\'s Role in Personal Identity Formation


The Islamic faith is more than a religion since it goes beyond rulings and rituals, but helps in developing rational faith and moral conduct through understanding right and wrong. It offers the framework for an overview of reality and a recommendation for a good life (Sulaiman, 1997)

Religions Throughout the World. It


" Hindus look upon the problem of who has access to God in a universal way. According to their beliefs "every man, woman and child has the same direct access to God through his or her own efforts (Mugilan)

Gandhi\'s Perception of His Religion


It was not until 1947 that the two came to an accord, and signed a joint appeal asking the people to end their violence, but the appeal did no good. As an Indian historian notes, "This appeal, signed as it was by the two most influential men in India, did not stop acts of aggression on innocent people in the Punjab, in the Frontier Province and later in other parts of India" (Talib)

Role of Religion in Health Care


However, defining spirituality in general terms can be difficult because it would manifest and be defined differently from person to person including PTSD sufferers and clinicians. Regardless, the news is encouraging and shows that an increase amount of spiritual well-being can have a positive effect on mental health disorders and challenges as it is seen as a way to assist in coping and acclimating to a post-trauma environment (Bormann et al

Role of Religion in Health Care


Further, experiencing a traumatic event can actually lead to a loss in faith and this includes war veterans and non-veterans alike. Anywhere from ten to fifteen percent of PTSD sufferers experience a loss of faith after a negative or traumatic event (Currier et al