Finding Truth In almost all major religions, there abounds the undertone of the spiritual battle that takes place inside someone regarding the succumbation to sin or earthly desires and the like. Also ever present in the soul's journey through life is the search for a prize; an ultimate Truth, especially in the early Middle Ages when religions where beginning to mature and take power in society. Though the doctrine theoretically differs greatly, Christian and Islamic faith as one body contextually share the same ideals and foci on the issues pertaining to the soul. This is made evident when analyzing the works of Christian mystic, Margery Kempe, and Sufi poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi, who despite the difference in gender and culture, shed light on the meaning of Truth through acts and words of devotion and love for a common God. Margery Kempe, who did not consider herself a mystic, led a normal life until a traumatic event thrust her into a life-long sojourn for truth and holiness. This event yielded a strikingly emotional union between herself and God, which sometimes consisted of visions that she was speaking with Jesus Christ. Kempe refers to Jesus as her lover in The Book of Margery Kempe, an autobiography which was written later in her life. Kempe's devotion encompassed her life so even to the point that she asked her husband to take a vow of chastity with her. Jalal al-Din Rumi, a member of the mystic sect of Muslims called Sufi, wrote several poems in his lifetime. Sufis placed a large emphasis on the sensory aspects of worship: music, poetry and dance. Earthly pleasure is seen by many religions as no more than a vice; a wall in between oneself and God. Therefore, the only reasonable path to an Answer would be to ... ... middle of paper ... .... Kempe revered Jesus Christ as her lover, abstaining from human sexual acts due to her love and adoration of God. In her autobiography, she further exemplifies her disturbing vision of the savior as her lover. She is written to say, "Ah, Blessed Lord, I wish I knew in what I might best love and please you; and that my love were as sweet to you as I think your love is to me" (Kempe, 141). This seems very typical of a courtly romance of the time, not a prayer to God. Though bizarre, Margery Kempe still reveals that devotion is the secret to finding Truth as she lived a very holy life. Truth is the answer to all of our questions and the search for it finds many outlets depending on religion,ethnicity and culture. The Muslim and Christian beliefs expressed here show that despite cultural differences, our human goals and aspirations are still basically the same.
Kempe’s story has a typical beginning. She is married, soon thereafter conceives her first child, and goes on to give birth to fourteen more children. She assumes the responsibilities of a wife and mother whose position in the late medieval society is assured by the solid reputation of her father, John Burnham, and her husband, John Kempe. However, Kempe’s conventional story changes early in her life by an elusive interaction with Jesus that she experiences shortly after her first excruciating child birth. Women were expected to carry out the societal norm of a good wife and mother which meant staying home to tend to the family. As we’ve seen, this is the opposite of how Kempe wanted to live her life — she hastily became distinguished and recognized. Her autobiography explains her own efforts to dissociate herself from the covetous and restric...
the ultimate Puritan. Was the glory to God or to herself? She also relates here
While comparing her time, theology and spiritual practice we realize she lived during the time of immense change, similarly we are living on the edge of a challenged modernity. Her spiritual direction allows us to recognize and develop further abilities in our pastoral ministries of caring for one another as participants within the corporate communities as well as within the mission fields.
According to her own testimony, Margery Kempe's spirituality involved deeply passionate experiences of Christ and the Virgin Mary. Kempe had "the gift of tears" -- meaning that, for years, she was unable to attend mass without crying profusely, and, as often as not, sobbing loudly and theatrically. Her adventurous life included a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where much weeping and wailing took place, and tanglings with several Bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Throughout her early life, Dorothy has been confused about her call of being a Christian. As a little girl, Dorothy was always taught things about Christianity, whether that meant how to behave, how to pray, or even how to think. The reason she began to lose trust in her faith is because no one ever told her why she was doing things a certain way. For her, one of the greatest source of inspiration was the Psalms. “...through these Psalms and canticles I called on all creation to join with me in blessing the Lord. I thanked him for creating me, saving me from all evils, filling me with all good things” (29). Dorothy felt connected to God by reading the Psalms. She felt joyous and enthusiastic to communicate with God in such a way. Another religious influence she had was a volume of John Wesley’s sermons in her early teens. As she grew older and more attached to the materialistic world, her faith slowly became a part of her life that held little or no importance to her.
the part of the Catholic Church to the challenges it faced. The Book of Margery Kempe
Baron Richard Von Krafft-Ebing, a 19th century German psychiatrist, was quoted as having said, "We find that the sexual instinct, when disappointed and unappeased, frequently seeks and finds a substitute in religion." This may have been the condition of Margery Kempe when she desired to cease all sexual activity with her spouse because of her devotion to God. Instead of performing her duties as a wife, she chose instead to spread her knowledge of God to her community and did so not only in speech, but also in literature. Whatever her motivation for creating such descriptive language, it is evident that her faith in God conquered both her fear of public opinion and the constraints placed upon all women during the period. Living in the 1400s, she steps out of a woman's role and into the territory of a man by living her life publicly, abandoning her position of mother and wife, and recording her life in writing. Fortunately, because she was writing for religious reasons, her work was both permitted and accepted. In The Book of Margery Kempe, she describes her experiences with brilliant imagery, some of which is sexual, all of which is sensual. By using her own senses to portray her spiritual...
...Christian values in her own way in order to justify her character’s actions, in addition to using religion as a way of explaining what she thinks of herself. On the other hand, Margery Kempe was a woman who took religion to a new level as a result of “supposedly” having very intense visions and experiences with Jesus Christ. The result was a woman who believed that she had more religious authority than an archbishop of the church and who possessed the strength to continue on her path, despite allegations of being psychotic.
“For Luther, Mary exemplified the newly ‘rediscovered’ doctrine of faith alone, and it is in light of her faith that she is such a powerful figure.”27 Far from being ignored in the Protestant tradition, the saints of the Bible provided evangelical theologians and preachers with irresistible models for their congregations: familiar, time-honored stories of men and women reacting to the presence and instruction of Christ, offering cautionary tales at need, but also examples of faith
The Book of Margery Kempe is an autobiography of Margery Kempe, a women from King 's Lynn during medieval times. Kempe 's autobiography talks about the struggles she encountered on her journey for a holy life. Margery gave birth to her first child when she was about twenty years old, and after giving birth she had a nervous breakdown. She saw visions of the devil all around her, and her actions proved her to be anything but holy. It wasn 't until she recovered due to a vision of Jesus Christ that she was determined to devote her life to religiousness and to studying God. This vision led her on her journey to a union with God to fulfill her life purpose. Throughout her journey she received personal visions from Christ and the Virgin Mary which
According to the famous boxer Muhammad Ali, “Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths” (Ali). All the religions in this text-book express some truth about human nature. Some of them have in common, that they are polytheistic, have oral traditions or follow certain rituals. This paper will go in-depth and speak about the challenges of explaining polytheism to monotheist, the significance of oral traditions in a few different religions and the significance and meanings behind some rituals (questions 1, 12, and 5).
Everybody has to find out what they believe and take responsibility for it at some point. Our parents teach us what they know about the world, religion, and politics, but we can’t just ride on our parent’s beliefs forever. Judy relized at a very young age that she didn’t agree with the view points of he`r parents religion. Judy felt that it was difficult to grow up in a home where she was raised on beliefs she didn’t agree with and she often felt confined by its strict rules.
“I think. . .” is an excessively overused phrase. Until I started to write my opinions down, I thought I knew what I thought about most everything: God, organized religion, scientific theories, politics, social issues, war, and environmental concerns. After admitting I did not possess enough knowledge on any subject to voice a credible position, searching for the truth became my new mission. Furthermore, when faced with the dilemma of experiencing eternal bliss or eternal damnation upon death, the prospect of the latter became worthy of investigation.
At the first glance, Islam and Christianity appear to have nothing in common, however; as you go beyond the surface, they appear to have many similarities such as their beliefs of God, their beliefs of life after death, their holy scriptures, and their prayers. These religions, although two entirely different beliefs, share a similar origin. Like many other religions, they both claim to be the one and only true way to God. In order to truly see and understand their similarities, one must date back to the rise and birth of Christianity and Islam. Throughout the course of this essay, I will compare the many facets that show the alikeness between these two growing religions.
...uing a perfect submission to Allah through the faithful completing of the Five Pillars. The requirements of the Five Pillars are evidently stated in the Qur'an for Muslims. For Christians the New Testament provides meaningful guidance on the examples of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Although both Muslims and Christians work determinedly for peace, their influence is limited. For Muslims the prejudices, misconceptions and stereotypes are difficult to overcome. Despite their best efforts the progress is slow and challenging. For Christians, the growing secularization of Western culture has led to a major fading of Christian impact, even in countries such as Australia where the bulk of the population are supposedly Christian. However both religions have principal teachings of peace that guide their adherents and contribute to individual and world peace.