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Impact of Christianity on society
The importance of monasticism
Christianity during the middle age
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Saint Benedict of Nursia was a monk in the period where “Christians fled to the deserts of Roman Egypt in search of peace and isolation” (Perry 176). Reflecting on the teachings of those before him and his own personal ideas, Saint Benedict created a set of rules to govern and regulate the everyday lives of monks. Having the same teachings as Jesus, his rules mention in his monastic book of rules, became a guide to which thousands of monasteries have been based upon. With that said, I believe Saint Benedict of Nursia is being the most consistent with the message of Jesus as presented in the Gospel selections from Mark and Matthew.
This rule created by St. Benedict of Nursia, is a book of teachings written for monks in a community. St. Benedict is concerned on the needs of the monks in a community environment, like to establish order, understand the relationships of the nature of human beings and provide spiritual guidance. The monks had to be highly motivated, truly dedicated to being a follower of Christ. This is because the monks are doing the same thing as Jesus was doing during his time, leading others in a life of service to God. With that said, The Rule by St. Benedict told the monks
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Benedict’s rule follows order and regulations, just like Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospel. According to Mark, Jesus said, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’” (Perry 166). This can relate to what St. Benedict told his people; “In the first place, to love the Lord God with the whole heart, whole soul, whole strength, then his neighbor as himself’” (Perry 182). St. Benedict had the same consistent with the message of Jesus. He wants monks to follow the same rules that Jesus provided. If ever something goes wrong, punishments would be employed to cleanse the
He also makes reference to the long history of religious intolerance and persecution within the Christian tradition, brought about by greed, mistrust, and ignorance. He emphasizes the need for continuous practice, prayer, meditation, mindfulness, and personal growth within individual religious traditions and cultures. We must make the spirit of the Buddha and the spirit of Christ part of our everyday lives. He explores the “Five Wonderful Percepts of Buddhism”: reverence for life, generosity, responsible sexual behavior, speaking and listening deeply, and ingesting only wholesome substances; comparing them to the teachings of Christ. These precepts are without a doubt, very similar to the principles thought by Christ and his apostles. Each precept or teaching works with the next, interconnecting and building upon each other toward the same goal to end suffering, bring about personal and worldly understanding, world peace, and spiritual
Why Henry VIII Closed the Monasteries There were 800 monks and nuns in 1500s they had strict rules, The rule of St. Benedict for monks of the Benedictine order was prayer should take place eight times a day, all monks should sleep in separate beds, all monks must rise quickly when signal is given to attend the services and all monks must not grumble about the colour or rough material of their clothes. The rule of St. Augustine for the monks of the Augustine order was love god and your neighbour and monks should spend their time when not praying, coping books, looking after the poor and old, nursing the sick and crippled, teaching children and looking after travellers. Between 1536 and 1539 Henry V111 and Cromwell decided to close the monasteries because the monks are not flowing rules and take all the wealth to defend the country. In order to complete this essay I am going to explain below in detail why the monasteries were closed by Henry V111 between 1536 and 1539
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the origin of nearly everything the Christian Church teaches about Jesus. The Gospels, in turn, serve as the scale or test of truth and authenticity of everything the church teaches about Jesus. It is said that the Gospels are the link between Jesus of Nazareth and the people of every age throughout history who have claimed to be his followers. Although the Gospels teach us about Jesus’ life they may not provide concrete evidence that what they speak of is true there are several other sources.
Jesus taught by words and examples so too does Benedict envisage for himself and his followers. Benedict’s Spiritual tools, emphasized, Love of God, Love of neighbor and love of self. Jesus build an intimate relationship with His Father throughout His ministry. (MK6:12)-“He spend the whole night in pray.” (Mk 5:29-32)-Jesus showed love to sinners. Jesus’ whole ministry depicts love Of God, love of neighbor and love of self. Benedict learn from Jesus’ preaching. (Matt 25:31-40) that Jesus is present in everyone (neighbor). Pope Benedict in his encyclical behold the pierce one wrote that being a Christian involves ones neighbor. Judgement will be based on these actions. Jesus is master of the laws and a perfect fulfillment of the law. (MK 2:28) For Benedict, these spiritual tools is in line with what Christ lived and preached because He obeyed the laws of His
One of the three basic pillars of the Roman Catholic Church is Tradition. The Church often uses this pillar of Tradition to validate its actions or to establish its own infallibility. One unspoken foundation that I feel is more essential, however, is that of Love. Love is what is taught in Scripture, another pillar of the Church, and should, therefore be the root of any traditions in the Catholic faith. By judging human actions or the spirit of God by cold laws enforced by the Church, we lose important insight into what our faith and our existence are truly about. Even the Church, in its humanness, sometimes forgets that love of God, others, and ourselves should be the core of every decision we make. The Church that many see as harsh and archaic could easily be refreshed and renewed, not by peppier music or stand-up comic priests, but by emphasis on the spirit of love rather than the letter of the law.
St. Benedict created three main characteristics that a Christian who truly seeks God should do. The first is live in peace with others, not always wanting his own way, or having an exaggerated idea of himself. The second is to live simply, not wanting to own many things in order to feel important and secure. The third and final main theme of St. Benedict is to pray often and read the bible. These characteristics were added upon, but the main three were the basis of the belief. From these original three the foundation of the monastery was built.
The differences between the laity and monastic worshippers within Buddhist tradition are distinguished by the extent to which these two groups are willing to follow the middle-way as taught by Buddha. Typically, in order to have a functional Buddhist society, there must be the devout, and those who support the devout, giving aid in the form of food, monies, shelter, transportation, etc. The devout who sacrifice the purity of a true monastic lifestyle in order to support the community (who in turn are the recipients of merit or punya; a bank of ‘good’ actions tied to ‘good’ karma) (Gethin 101), from the monastic worshippers, are called the laity; upasakas (men laity) and upasikas (women laity). The monastics, or Bhikkhus (monks) and Bhikkhunis (nuns) are responsible for accepting the devotion shown by the laity, reciprocally, the laity are obliged to maintain devotion for “in order to be free from guilt […] the bases of a clear conscience [is] generosity and good conduct” (Ibid 83) . Good conduct is the realization and active partaking of the “eight significant dimensions [the Noble Eight-fold Path] of one’s behavior” (Ibid 82), which constitute right (in all actions of) understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration (although not limited to, rather expanded upon realization). The importance of a laities duty within society is to support, through their livelihood, the only traditional Buddhist teaching available to them (Ibid 92). In order to adapt a Buddhist ideology, some conducts were left out of lay worship to support a less strenuous spiritual life (putting the emphasis on merit earned) in pursuit of maintaining a functional community. The purpose, to establish the five lay percepts ...
Jesus was raised under Judaism and sternly believed in the practices and Jewish customs. In Luke 2:41-52, Luke reveals that Jesus went missing one time from his parents and was later found teaching in his town’s temple. For me, this story shows that from the beginning Jesus was a man of faith with the great ability of explaining and preaching God’s word. I honestly believe Jesus was placed on this earth to teach us unconditional and infinite devotion to God. He lived exactly as humans did. He experienced the same trials and tribulations, the same pains and pleasures of man, and, more importantly, he died to save us from our sins and show what true faith really is. His strength and power lies in his ability to not cave in to worldly urges and to exhibit self control the way God wanted it to be by never reacting with sin.
In the middle ages Friars, Monks and Prioresses had very specific roles in society. A Friar had to follow the mendicant order while living off of charity, preaching, educating, attending to the sick and absolving people from their sin. The Prioress was the head of a group of nuns. She would have had a low social standing as she belongs to the Theocracy. Her roles included growing vegetables and grain, producing wine and honey, providing medical care for the community and being in charge of the Priories. Lastly, the Monk’s role was to remain in his cloister and study religious texts; “And that a monk uncloistered is a mere/ Fish out of water, flapping on the pier…”(177-178). All of these people were supposed to model holiness; they were bound to the community and had no personal possessions. They are supposed to be selfless Christians dedicated to the Church.
The messages Jesus wanted to reach his disciples were this: brotherhood, equality, elevation of the poor, and anti-materialism. He preached a lifestyle that changed mankind, and gave people hope. Jesus gave the people of the Late Roman Empire some hope, and guided them through times of need. On the other hand, you have the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe, with a lot of power in the medieval society. The Catholic Church was the western counterpart to the Eastern Orthodox Church and it slowly became a very strict religion.
Monasticism was an outlet for the devoted to expand their faith and devotion without literally sacrificing their bodies to God, instead they gave they gave everything they could. With the spread of Christianity, the view of martyrdom in the traditional sense changed and with little to no outlet for people to expand their faith amongst the growing popularity of Christianity, people turned towards monasticism as a way to further their faith to
Seeing the monks was deeply enlightening to me because it was new to see grown man live in humbleness and peace. They wore an orange robe over their bare upper bodies and a white fabric-pants to cover their lower bare bodies. It was clear to me that these monks were individual men indulged in a simple of life. Fortunately, I was able to make the connection between what we learned in my Introduction to Asia lecture and what was from the temple. In lecture we learned that Thailand was deeply rooted in Buddhism, and often time’s, young lay men would make a temporary journey to leave behind their belongings and possessions to live a life of humility as a monk. Carlos, shared some information about the monks stating they were men from Thailand who decided to take a great leap in leaving behind their families and duties in the Thailand economy to live a simple life that avoided stress and societal troubles similar to how monkhood was referred to in lecture. Eventually I was given the opportunity to speak to one of the monks. He stated that Wat Buddharangsi was a Buddhist community that was home to rotating monks from Thailand travelling all over the world. I asked him the principles that the monks live by, and he roughly gave me an ideas of Buddhist principles of—no stealing, cheating, adultery and rules that would inhibit a life of humility and simplicity. I also learned from the monk that they live their days through the kind hearts of others who donate food. If people did not come to donate food to the monks in a particular day, then they were fine with eating food from the previous day’s left overs. I know understand that Buddhism includes a sense of community and teamwork to support the men who took up the mantle as a
Monasticism as a whole often carries a reputation of being elitist in that those involved often regard themselves as spiritually superior to those that are outside of this particular lifestyle.... ... middle of paper ... ... Articles Dalton, Jacob.
He set these rules to help create a peaceful atmosphere for the Buddhist community and to avoid corruption in the Buddhist community. All monks and/or nuns must not only follow these rules, but also many other rules and principles. The Eightfold Path labels all of the rights of monks and helps guide them to peace within themselves. The Eightfold Path guides monks and nuns towards Nirvana through eight simple principles. The first principle, the Right of Understanding, explains the significance of understanding situations the way they occur instead of understanding things from one’s personal experiences.
People who practice monasticism abandon worldly pursuits to dedicate their lives to God and to spiritual works. These people seclude themselves from the outside world. They do not care for radio, television, digital electronics, smart phones, going out, going to the movies, dancing and all the fun activities we love to do.