Oscar Hopkins’ father and Brethren of Plymouth, New South Wales, Theophilus Hopkins, is against the festivities of Christmas. Theo strikes Oscar when he caught him eating a Christmas pudding as he believed it was from ‘Satan’. Despite what Theo believes, Oscar thinks his father is wrong as the pudding was delicious. Oscar asks God to test Theophilus’s belief. As God responds to Oscar, he develops a way to communicate with God. The signs he receives direct him to seek guidance from the impoverished Anglican Minister Hugh Stratton. Stratton sends Oscar to Oriel College, Oxford University to read for the Anglican Ministry. At the University he meets Ian Wardley-Fish. Ian introduces Oscar to racetrack gambling. After winning a bet he creates
a betting system, sending money to Hugh Stratton, keeping enough for himself and donating the remainders to the church. Meanwhile Lucinda Leplastrier’s father was killed by a horse in 1852 and her mother died when Lucinda was 17. Lucinda then receives her inheritance. She reluctantly leaves the farm for the city to experience the working world. Lucinda is drawn towards the Glassworks for sale at Darling Harbour. Oscar views betting negatively despite his undying desire for betting. He migrates to Australia to join a missionary society even though he has a fear of the sea. Oscar and Lucinda meet on the boat trip, sharing their excitement for gambling. Lucinda’s glasswork’s was rejected by her foreman. Oscar and Lucinda get caught playing cards. The news was made public. Causing Oscar to be casted from the Church and go to live with Lucinda. They come up with an idea to make a glass church, betting their inheritance that a glass church can be made and delivered by Oscar to Hasset at Boat Harbour on Good Friday. Oscar goes on his travels to get the Church back to the town, coming across trouble along the way. Oscar wins the bet, bringing the church back. He gets sick and a widow governess, Miriam Chadwick cares for him. She seduces Oscar, making him feel compelled to marry her. He drowned in the Glass Church as he was asking for Gods forgiveness. He did not know Miriam was pregnant with his child. She inherits the Glassworks and the Church. Lucinda becomes an important person in Australia Labour Movement.
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving is a novel in which religion is of great importance. One of the main themes in this novel is faith in God and oneself, and even more, the conflict between belief and doubt. Irving writes in such a way, that this is very evident throughout the book. John Wheelwright, at the start of the novel, is a young boy who does not seem to know much about how strong his faith really is. Part of the reason for this, is that the choice between believing in and doubting God is that there isn’t any complete evidence that He even exists.
James Thurber's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In James Thurber's wonderful short story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", I get the feeling that he may be a victim of Attention Deficit Disorder, rather than just being a daydreamer. Throughout the story, Walter changes persona several times. He flips back and forth between reality and fantasy so much he may have a problem with his attention span.
His aunt and the other members of the church viewed the “seeing” of God as something more spiritual and mental, feeling a close connection with him through their mind, body, and soul. The importance of this in Hughes’s story is the difference of views between the two generations. Children take things literal, while adults take things more into consideration when handling with feeling, thoughts, and emotions. The main point of Hughes’s makes is to describe how his experience of being “saved” only caused him to be angry and disappointed at himself. It is a result in his lying to the church and his aunt about reaching salvation and he is feeling very guilty for doing so. These actions eventually leads to his loss of faith in God and transitions from a state of faith to logic and
The people who claim that they do not lie are probably lying when they say it. Whether it is to deceive authority or just to play a joke on a friend, it is part of human nature to lie. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby takes on a character of wealth and luxury. Gatsby wants to win back his love interest from five years ago, so he secretly becomes wealthy through owning an illegal drug business, using his abundance of money to impress her. In contrast, in Tobias Wolff’s “The Liar,” he tells a story of teenage James as he lies about his life to appear more fascinating. He lies not because he wants to, but because it comes naturally to him. Both stories convey people struggling to find the purpose of their
Edmund Booth was an extraordinary man, especially considering the difficult pioneer era he lived in. He was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts on August 24, 1810. On March 8th, 1815, at the age of four, Edmund contracted meningitis, and was not expected to survive this horrible disease. After being very ill for three months, to the surprise of many, Edmund survived. Unfortunately, the meningitis cost him his hearing (slight hearing left in one ear), and the sight in one eye. By age eight, his remaining hearing in the one ear had dissipated, and he was now profoundly deaf. Although he was now disadvantaged in a time when disadvantaged people didn’t fare well, he once again proved everyone wrong, by becoming one the most functional people of his time, a legend in his own right. During Edmunds’ life he became a renaissance man, a journalist, a deaf educator, a forty-niner, and a wonderful husband and father. Edmund Booths’ life is a testament to all that regardless of what society dictates, one can define their own destiny in lieu of their disadvantages.
The author of the essay, Jerusha McCormack, proceeds her argument analyzing the gospel according to Wilde, the artist in fact, was very interested and fascinated by the Bible that decided to rewrite it completely. He was moreover a brilliant student of Classical literature and his time at Oxford gave him also the possibility to study the New Testament. He intentionally structured most of his prose poems like parables, but his biggest dream was ‘to write the Epic of the Cross, the lliad of Christianity, which shall live for all time’. (‘Oscar Wilde’, in Oscar Wilde: Interviews and
The Picture of Dorian Gray presents the reader with numerous possibilities in regards to its theme, yet the one most prominent is the continuous and direct allusion to the Bible as can be seen in the characters themselves, their dialogue, and the imagery surrounding them. As the book opens, two characters are introduced, Basil Hallward, a deeply moral man and an artist who meets Dorian at a party and becomes obsessed with his beauty, which in turn inspires his art; and Lord Henry Wotton, a man of “wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories” (pg. 56), who possesses dry wit and often becomes a bad influence on those who find themselves unlucky enough to be in his company. Throughout the story the two characters are developed in somewhat
The Story of Christianity is a book written by Justo Gonzalez; a native of Cuba. Gonzalez serves on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center which is located in Atlanta Georgia. He attended Yale University, where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. in historical theology; in fact Dr. Gonzalez is the youngest person at Yale to be awarded a Ph.D. He is also one of the first generation Latino theologians and instead of growing up Catholic, comes from a protestant background. In addition to writing many other books, Gonzalez is also Cokesbury’s publishing chief narrator of the Christian Believer study video lessons course and the recipient of the Ecumenism Award from the Theological Consortium in Washington, which he received as a result of his ecumenical work of bringing together churches of different denominations
Pompey the Great was a Roman general and statesman, the ally and son-in-law of Julius Caesar. Pompey and Julius Caesar will later become arch-rival for power. Pompey real name is Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Pompey was born in Rome on September 29, 106 bc, into a senatorial family; his father was Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, he was in the consul in 89 bc.
Theo Decker has not had an easy life so far. Suffering from the death of his mother, and the trauma of the bombing. In The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, Theo Decker is forced to move in with his abusive father and his alcoholic girlfriend. This move is a serious downgrade from the lavish home of the Barbour’s that he was living in. With the help of his companion Hobie, Theo manages to live with his father, despite the bad environment despite their distance from each other. In this novel, the three most important settings for Theo, is the museum, his father’s house, and Hobie’s apartment.
This is echoed by Wilde and his description of Lord Douglass’ lips in the letter passage previously stated. This parallel that can be drawn between Basil’s love of Dorian and Wilde’s love of Douglass, lends itself to be incriminating. The undertone of sexual want and fascination of the youth man’s beauty connect to the theme of boy love, which would not have helped Wilde proclaim his innocence.
Things Not Seen, by Andrew Clements, is an unusual story about a boy who mysteriously turns invisible one day. This science fiction book is written in a very interesting and realistic tone of a kid. Published in 2002, this story takes place in present day Chicago. The story revolves around fifteen-year-old Bobby Phillips who wakes up one morning and can’t see himself. When his family discovers this strange phenomenon, Bobby’s whole life becomes a secret. Suddenly, Bobby has no friends, no future, and no hope; that is, until he meets a blind girl named Alicia. Alicia is caring and kind, and with her help, Bobby may be able to get his life back.
We all know that in the book The Scarlet Letter, the character Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband from long ago. Hester cheated on him, so his existence now is revolved around torturing the man who got Hester pregnant (shown on page 87). It is revealed later in the story that Dimmesdale is the father of the child, and Roger soon catches on. They move in together and Dimmesdale’s health seems to be on a snowballing decline. Why is this? It’s because Roger Chillingworth is a homosexual vampire. I know it’s highly implausible, but Roger did move in with Dimmesdale to “care for him,” he seemed to suck the life out of him as time went on, and he seemed to always be secluded.
In analyzing Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, concepts such as influence and the origin of evil in Dorian Gray play an exceptionally valuable role in understanding the motives of the characters. Although some critics argue characters such as Lord Kelso significantly influence Dorian’s corruption, Lord Henry Wotton’s toxic personality undeniably impacts Dorian the most. Throughout the course of the novel, Lord Henry remains the ultimate source of evil and uses deception and persuasion to poison Dorian from a naïve boy to a destructive monster.