Russian author Alexandr Solzhenitsyn in his Templeton Address “Men Have Forgotten God” recounts the results of the abandonment of God. He adopts an authoritative tone to emphasize his viewpoint that man forsaking God allowed things like the great disasters that befell Russia which was the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some y60 million Russian (145). His whole argument in this address was that the abonnement of God could cause the ruination of all mankind. Solzhenitsyn further argues that World War I, World War II along with the rise of communism in Russia were all caused by the elimination of God in people’s lives. Furthermore, he expounds that though the west has not had a communist invasion, they too have forsaken God. He starts …show more content…
He further elaborated that he had spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of Russia’s revolution and in the process has read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and halve already written eight volumes of his own to clear away the rubble left by that upheaval (145). This study and his experiences further proved that he is well versed in the subject of the Russian revolution. Furthermore, he elaborates by talking about the history of what happened to the Orthodox clergy during the era of communism in Russia. His use of his studies and experience along with the historical references lends credibility his …show more content…
One of those sayings was that only a godless embitterment could have moved ostensibly Christian states to employ poison gas, a weapon so obviously beyond the limits of humanity (146). He intended the statement to elicit sadness, horror, outrage, and even some fear in the audience, moreover, it worked well in that it caused the reader reaction as planned. Another account used to elicit those same emotions was when he spoke about the tens of thousands of priests, monks, and nuns, who were pressured to renounce the word of God. If the clergy did not deny God, they were tortured, shot, send to camps, exiled to the frozen north, or just turned out in the street to fend for themselves (148). This recanting of this history of how the Communist regime treated the Orthodox clergy clearly illustrates that they had forgotten God. Additionally, it proved that the communists had deliberately abandoned God. In contrast, his writing allowed his readers to experience hope, like when he stated no matter how formidably Communion bristles with tanks and rockets, no matter what successes it attains in seizing the planet, it is doomed never to vanquish Christianity (149). His writing evokes strong emotions in the minds and heart of his Christian audience both of sadness, outrage, and finally
The greatest recent event -- that "God is dead," that the belief in the Christian God has ceased to be believable -- is... cast[ing] its shadows over Europe. For the few, at lease, whose eyes....are strong and sensitive enough for this spectacle... What must collapse now that this belief has been undermined... [is] our whole European morality.
It is common knowledge that in the past religion and myths were just ways for societies to explain events and occurrences that citizens of ancient societies did not have enough advanced knowledge to understand. It was also used as a way to oppress others, as seen in the explanation of class order and royalty as God placing a person where they were meant to be and that there was nothing one could do about it, because who can go against God himself? Religion played an even bigger part than that though, being a large part of every person’s identity and something for a country and its people to unit over. But as society slowly aged, and governments were reorganized and re-structured, one can see a reduction in religion being a part of someone’s identity. It is hard to imagine being without an identity so it came as no surprise when, as the void left by religion was opened, people began to create an identity that had to do with different ideas and ideologies. More specifically, new political movements, ideas of nationalism, and change of social norms brought on by many writers and theorists such as Karl Marx, John Mill, and many others. The spread of such ideas was also helped by the spread of public education and rising literacy rates in western society.
Completing a rhetorical analysis has altered the way I think whenever I read “Men Have Forgotten God.” I no longer read the address and see it as a piece of writing that does not serve a purpose for the present days, but I see it as something valuable; it is even more important today than it was years ago. The world is continuing to leave God out, and Christians are still failing at coming together as one body to defend their faith. Solzhenitsyn did a fantastic job at getting his point across and letting his intentions be known.
In 1533 the Muscovite Princedom was passed down to Ivan IV, later known as Ivan the Terrible. He would be the beginning of a line of “larger-than-life” rulers of the Russian Empire who ignited the imagination and debats for future generations. These rulers, including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and later Lenin and Stalin, who used political terror in defense of themselves and their governments. Peter and Catherine’s brutalities can be somewhat justified by their political goals, however Ivan’s passion for killing has no rational explanation.. Many of these ruler’s reforms contributed to the overall critique envisioned by many of the empire and its imperialist character. Some of Russia’s greatest literary works were built upon these
When Marie-Joseph Chénier, a poet and dramatist who wrote an entire book of poetry dedicated to the Cult of Reason, addressed the Convention on November 5, 1793, he did not declare an end to religion, but rather proposed that Catholicism be replaced by a revolutionary cult to be built on “the ruins of fallen superstition.”123 His poems, though dedicated to the concepts of “reason” and “nature,” were filled with allusions to “immortality,” and one even reassured believers that “they never pretended to deny the good people, the existence of the supreme being, supreme engine of all things.”124 Meanwhile, in the department of Haut-Rhin, a pamphlet circulated to explain the actions taken against the churches and priests with a “Jacobin curé” explaining that this was not intended as an attack on God, but rather an attempt to prevent “charlatan abuses of the name of God.”125 Thus, God was not necessarily being rejected, but rather he was being reconstituted as a part of the Republic itself. Instead of a barbarous man in the sky who arbitrarily struck sinners down like a madman, he was reimagined as XYZ. Emulating Émile Durkheim proposition that religion translates human needs and prohibitions, Albert Mathiez argued a century ago that the culte de la patrie, “is a religion without mysteries,
This essay asks for the comparison of the three historical monographs, which offer different interpretations of the same or related topic. This essay will focus on writings about the Russian Revolution (1818-1919) particularly concentrating on the October Revolution in 1917 and the leadership of Vladimir Lenin during this period. The goal of this essay is to examine how three historians, from three separate schools of thought, have interpreted these events and how their particular political views, evidence and personal experiences have influenced these interpretations. This will be achieved by analysing the works of Richard Pipes; a western liberal-conservative, Dmitri Volkogonov; a soviet-revisionist and John Reed; a socialist.
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
“Today’s world has reached a stage that, if it had been described to preceding centuries, would have called forth the cry: ‘This is the Apocalypse.’ Yet we have grown used to this kind of world; we even feel at home in it.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn addresses the world today in his essay entitled, Men Have Forgotten God. After persevering through heartaches and abundant trials, he was awarded the Templeton Prize in 1983. This prize was given to the person who made a significant contribution to life’s spiritual aspects. After receiving the prestigious honor, Solzhenitsyn presented his speech known as The Templeton Address or Men Have Forgotten God. As portrayed in his quote, he believed the world was in the midst of great despair. He feared people would eventually suffocate from not actively seeking the Lord. By Solzhenitsyn’s compelling personal experiences,
David Bentley Hart’s Atheist Delusions is a labyrinthine, convoluted historical essay. Hart has carefully crafted his argument for God while simultaneously discrediting those who oppose his well-founded argument. He proves his point by offering history, facts, and reason onto why and how Christianity has been such an influence on the society of past, present and future. His method of delivery is complex yet genuine. He destroys the delusional atheists’ arguments with a grandiose compilation of philosophy, theory, and logic; he stands up for God.
Zamyatin wrote his dystopian novel, We, to expose the fact that government will repress human freedom and nature to promote society’s stability. However, the theme of religion can be observed throughout the novel as Zamyatin uses imagery and metaphors to the “old religions.” Even though the Benefactor is seen sparsely through the eyes of the protagonist, His influence on OneState citizens is imminent. The reader is forewarned of the Benefactor’s omnipotence and the harsh judgement with which He governs over the citizens. Zamyatin religious metaphors depicted through the Benefactor and His ruling of One State in We function mainly to critique Christianity to be a totalitarian and deteriorated culture.
Those who seek power will stop at no cost, sacrificing anything to accomplish their conquest. In the process, they lose sight of who they are, twisted by the power they possess, until inevitably, they become evil. This was a concern in Stoker’s time with the rampant introduction of new technologies following the first Industrial Revolution and amidst the second. In the pursuit of Science and advancement, many abandoned their Christian beliefs. With the abundance of discoveries and improvement to life, “God was not only no longer necessary for progress but he was not necessary for life itself” and “science would become the new faith of the masses” (Christy). However, without Christian faith, people lose sight of the values and morals associated
In her youth, George Eliot followed her family’s evangelism. However, “she gave up her faith due to her studies in science and in the German ‘higher criticism’ of the bible, which examined it as a historical rather than a sacred text” (Maitzen, 2012). Besides, she studied Feuerbachian philosophy, which reinforced her new religion view. As Feuerbach, Eliot thought that ‘God’ was not an external being but a projection of our best qualities. Feuerbach argued that “Religion is the relation of man to his own, but regarded as another nature, separate, nay, contradistinguished diction to reason and morality; herein lies the noxious source of religion fanaticism, the chief metaphysical principle of human sacrifices, in a word, the prima materia of all the atrocities, all the horrible scenes, in the tragedy of religious history” (Essence of Christianity). Thus, according to them, God is the element that breaks the natural flue of religion towards goodness, and fo...
In states overshadowed by continuous negative messaging, having abandoned many of the social systems of today’s society, can religion exist? While religion is present in numerous works, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and P.D. James’ The Children of Men offer alternative insights into what constitutes religion in their contrasting dystopian societies. Both works contain scenes and themes with religious connotations. The traditional beliefs of the world’s common religions are suppressed in both works by their monocratic governments or rulers and replaced by either a convoluted form of religion in the case of The Children of Men or by state-sanctioned replacements in Brave New World. Religious imagery is recreated in both works, such as in the sexual, Ford-praising solidarity service that parallels the Catholic mass and communion, as well as in the barn birth of Julian’s baby that is much like a modern nativity scene. Journeys propelled by faith are also prevalent in both novels and while the journey of The Children of Men’s protagonist, Theo is quite clearly intended by James to be highly spiritual, the journey of one of Brave New World’s protagonists can be seen as spiritually driven due to the ways in which he sacrifices himself for a sense of purity.
The end of World War I brought about the revolutionary development, which Benedict XV had foreseen in his first encyclical. With the Russian Revolution, the Vatican was faced with a new, so far unknown, situation. An ideology and government which rejected not only the Catholic Church but religion as a whole. “Some hope developed among the United Orthodox in Ukraine and Armenia, but many of the representatives there disappeared or were jailed in the following years. Several Orthodox bishops from Omsk and Simbirsk wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict XV, as the Father of all Christianity, describing the murder of priests, the destruction of their churches and other persecutions in their areas.[1]
...eration of evidence he cannot deny. He is wounded by God's apparent betrayal of humanity and desperate for an answer, but there is none forthcoming. It took years for the wounds inflicted by science on the faithful to heal. Some Victorians chose agnosticism as their new philosophy of God; if someone could prove to them His Existence, then they would believe. Others chose to become atheists. Atheism stated that there was no God, no afterlife, and no divine creator. While neither of these theologies was very popular during the Victorian period, they have continued to exist. The citizens like Tennyson who attempted to reconcile their old faith with their new knowledge had to find ways to blend the two together, to show that it was possible for God to work through Nature to achieve His ends. They had to gather together the dust of Earth, and with it shape a Heaven.