Is the idea of doctrinal development compatible with belief in the abiding truth of Christianity?
The problem that the development of doctrine presents to the church is simple. On the one hand, Christianity is presented as containing the lasting and eternal truth of salvation and eternal life, and on the other hand, when the history of the church is studied, the details within which this truth is presented, have quite clearly changed. This problem is particularly exacerbated for those involved in ecumenical dialogue, and for theologians within the Roman Catholic church. For ecumenical dialogue, one must either try and hammer out those doctrines which are true and which aren’t, an approach that won’t get very far, or learn to live together despite having different doctrines, that is, to say that what the other side says is wrong, but that can be accepted. A third approach, tried by some within the movement, is to try and find some reason why both sides of the debate can be right in some sense. For Roman Catholics the problems is exacerbated by their strong sense of authority of the church down the ages, and in particular the veracity of the official doctrines issued by the Popes and the Councils. If a Pope has held that Matthew’s gospel was written first, then it is very difficult for Catholic theologians to argue that that isn’t true, and that Mark’s gospel, for instance, was in fact the first written. Within this essay I shall be looking at different approaches to the issue before going on to try and find the most convincing solution, should that be possible.
The history of doctrine in the early nineteenth century was seen by catholic theologians as being one of pure, unsullied teaching that had been handed down by the church from the time of the Fathers to the present day. There may have been changes of language, but the concepts behind them remained immutable. The reformation scholars looked upon doctrine as having started off good and pure, but then being corrupted by the church. They sought a return to the principles and doctrines of the early church, and saw their own work as being reflective of the teaching of the apostles and early fathers.
Newman was the first British scholar to look at the development of doctrine, in the middle of the nineteenth century, and say that doctrine had changed since the early church.
Since Electoral system can change outcome of the election, it often misrepresent the will of citizens. In electoral system, candidate with most popular votes in states wins electoral votes regardless of difference in popular votes. That means, people living in urban areas support one candidate, they could easily mislead the result of popular votes. Smaller area with more population often drag result on one side than larger part with less population. Either it is a presidential election of 1888 or 2000 election, candidates with higher electoral votes happen to win against people’s popular votes. Candidate of election of 1888, Benjamin Harrison won seat in white house even if he lost popular votes because he carried electoral votes on his side. Furthermore, margin between electoral votes was less than one percent, but still Harrison became president despite of 100,000 popular votes difference! Election of 2000 came up with same scenario. Gore won people’s support but lost electors’; therefore he had to accept G.W.Bush as President. After all this, what we can believe is indeed, the Electoral College is such an unreliable representative of the...
Dr. Dalrymple prevented himself from going insane with the shared views of his colleagues. On the doctors he worked with, he states “Had I not been fortunate enough to work with three eminent and highly competent physicians…I think I might have broken down” (4). Dr. Dalrymple states that without the doctors who had similar views as he did, he would have lost his mind knowing he was the only one that shared his beliefs on addiction. Without his friends approaching to the same inferences, he would have experienced a mental breakdown within his workplace and fallen off the cliff of sanity. Dr. Dalrymple then decides to give his views on his choices to jump into madness or not. He states “…one is either sane in an insane world, or insane in a sane world” (4). Dr. Dalrymple displays that he can continue on with his views in while others view him as irrational or he denies his own views to be accepted by society but slowly lose his mind in the process. For him, accepting that the world would look at him as a maniac is equal to him going insane on the inside while the world views him as normal. Dr. Dalrymple knows either way he will lose sanity which leads to the madness growing from his different views when looking at his world around
The Electoral College was created by the framers at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. They believe that it wasn’t a good idea for the people to elect the president directly because they did not trust that voters would have enough information to make a good choice. The Electoral College basically chooses who the next president will be since it takes away our freedom to vote away. The Electoral College should be abolished because it’s undemocratic, the small states are overrepresented, and it hurts third parties.
The Electoral College was a compromise between those at the Constitutional Convention who wanted the US president elected by popular vote and those who wanted congress to select the president. They believed that having it where each state would get a certain number of votes based on population would keep a manipulative and charming person out of office. They thought it would prevent bribery and corruption along with secret dealings. I don’t think that this is the case and it one of the reason I feel that the Electoral College should be abolished.
Dick immerses his readers into an unknown world from the beginning of the story. He introduces new vocabulary that is only present in the world he has created to allow the reader to reach for an understanding of this society. “Outside stood the Optus, his arms folded, his face sunk in gloom”, “Why not? You people can go out into the veldt and track it all down again”, “It’s a wub”. This language introduced within the first page of the story serves to immerse the reader into the created fictional world. Conflictingly, familiar terms are also used by Philip K. dick to allow the reader to comprehend aspects of his imaginary world by allowing the reader to associate what is in the story with their prior knowledge. Dick uses terms such as Mars and Earth to allow the reader to associate the characters’ location with planets and space giving the story a concrete setting. He also relates the wub to a pig to give readers an image to base the wub’s appearance around. Furthermore, Philip K. Dick uses adjectives and dialogue to describe the unknown vocabulary added into the story and the surroundings of the characters. “the wub twisted, rubbing its skin off on the smooth chrome walls” and “the wub stood sagging, its great body settling slowly”, are both examples of how Dick uses adjectives to create the image intended for the
There are many arguments against the Electoral College. The most common attack on the system is that it enables a president to lose the election when they have won the majority of the popular votes (Polsby and Wildavsky 171).
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
...e in the relationship. Certainly Adam could speak wisdom to the animals in the Garden, but he speaks to Eve because she is his equal. She is the one to whom Adam prefers to relate his thoughts, simply because he is enchanted by her. In a sense, she is his “only listener”—the only listener for him. Eve has the choice of how she will receive wisdom, but “Her husband the relater she preferred/Before the angel, and of him to ask/Chose rather” (52-54). Not only does Adam choose Eve to relate his thoughts to, but she chooses him to relate wisdom to her. Though there are only two humans in Paradise, Milton presents the relationship of Adam and Eve as one of choice. Both partners could get what they need from other sources, but they choose to receive wisdom and respect from one another instead. The fulfillment of their needs is more enjoyable in the context of love.
Happening on multiple occasions, the Electoral College has elected a President that did not win the popular vote. Called a “faithless electors”, this happens when an elector doesn’t follow the guidelines provided by the general election (Williams 2). The election of a “minority” President has created controversy whether the Electoral College should be abolished or not. People in favor of the Electoral College state that it requires popular support throughout the states to be elected President, and it protects the smaller states’ interests for the candidates. Those in favor also say that the Electoral College supports and stabilizes a two-party system and maintains the United States’ system of representation (Williams 3). While some people are in favor of the Electoral College, there are people that protest against it. These people say that the Electoral College can lessen the voter turnout, put votes with “faithless electors”, and the Electoral College might not show what the citizens want based on popular vote. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, from League of Women Voters, is a protester of the Electoral College and said, “The Electoral College, a curious vestige of the eighteenth century, violates the principle of one person, one vote. The time has come to abolish it.” Jefferson-Jenkins goes on to state that the Electoral College is becoming outdated with the technology advancements of
When the article it discusses electoral dynamics,it leads to the debate of how the elections can change often. The authors, Charles Prysby and Carmine Scavo, explores how “a lopsided victory for one party may be followed by a landslide for the other party . Electoral changes can be divided into two types: short-term and long-term” (2012). The short term changes are caused by fluctuations that vary for the particular election. Examples of short term changes include characteristics of candidates or condition of
Imagine if there was a group of people that all brought in money to buy pizza, but only the person that brought in the most money got to eat the pizza. This is sort of how our electoral college works. Everybody votes but only the votes that get the majority actually count and mean something while the votes for the other person running are basically thrown away. The electoral college should be abolished because it takes away the basic rule of our country that majority vote wins and it makes people feel like their votes mean less because the candidates are only focused on a very minimal amount of states that they need to get to win and finally it gives big cities all of the power.The electoral college was formed in 1788. It was made to give the smaller states equal power. Multiple canidates that have run for president have lost because of this system.
When a closer look is taken at the popular vote in comparison to the electoral vote, the American people in reality vote for electors, not for the actual candidates themselves. The candidate who garners the majority of votes from electors is the candidate that is awarded the office of presidency. Even though the Constitution allows the electors to vote for any candidate, they usually vote for the candidate of the political party that selected them. In a limited number of occurrences, the structure of the Electoral College has prompted
On the contrary, Alison’s husband loved her more than his own life, although he felt foolish for marrying her since she was so young and skittish. This, in turn, led him to keep a close watch on her whenever possible. The Miller’s main point in his story is that if a man obtains what he wants from God or from his wife, he won’t ask questions or become jealous.
The relevance and authority of scripture from three different viewpoints first evangelical with its strong emphasis on the Word of God it left little room to advance with the ever changing culture. Second the Liberal movement was all about cultural relevance and used only as a record of history. Each holds a valid argument Neo-Orthodox however is a good blend of both cultural relevance and scriptural foundation.
Lutzer, Erwin. The Doctrines That Divide: a Fresh Look at the Historic Doctrines That Separate Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1998.