For my first site visit, I went to a Kingdom Hall in Sunnyside, Queens NY with Valentina and Chelsea. Some of Valentina’s distant relatives are Jehovah’s Witnesses and we went with them to a meeting. The Kingdom Hall’s architecture looked simple and slightly aged on the outside. The walls were made up of a material that looked like bricks. In my town in Massachusetts, there is a Kingdom Hall that I used to drive by. Because it is in a suburb, it looked like a small, simple house. The one in Queens was bigger and fit in with city architecture. Once inside, I noticed that the Hall looked like a functional meeting place. That explained why the Jehovah’s Witness services are called “meetings”. There were no religious statues, paintings, or symbols throughout the Hall. The members were conservatively dressed, but were not extremely formal. Women are not supposed to wear pants to the meetings, instead they are supposed to wear skirts. Everything is moderate including any makeup. No one looked glamorous or extravagant at the Kingdom Hall, because they believe in practicality. ...
Anthony F.C. Wallace’s definition, “belief and ritual concerned with supernatural powers and forces,” can be seen in this religions praying for healing, not actual medical help, but requesting supernatural or divine intervention. Emile Durkheim’s definition, “religious effervescence, the collective emotional intensity of worship,” this aligns with their intense prayers, when they are overcome with the Holy Spirit, and have involuntary movements, this is certainly an intense emotion and reaction. This could also be applied to their speaking in tongues, or “glossolalia,” which we also saw many people do. Victor Turner’s understanding, “communities, or the feeling of intense social solidarity, equality and togetherness,” even though this church eventually split in different racial divides, in the beginning it was described as a place for everyone, of all races, very egalitarian and women held positions of power, this demonstrates the social solidarity, equality and togetherness Turner
The outbreak of World War One was accompanied by new strategies, innovations, and inventions that developed modern warfare. World War One saw the widespread use of everything from artillery to machine guns and airplanes to submarines. World War One also saw the world’s most powerful navy, Great Britain’s Royal Navy, pitted against the up and coming German Imperial Navy. From Britain’s effective use of the naval blockade to Germany’s terrifying unrestricted submarine warfare, both sides were constantly looking for new strategies to implement.
Prince Hall is recognized as the Father of Black Masonry in the United States. Historically, he made it possible for Negroes to be recognized and enjoy all privileges of free and accepted masonry.
Discussion 2 topics: 1. What is the significance of Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom top St. Peter? The artist Pietro Vannucci, or otherwise known as Perugino (1450-1523) was heavily influenced by Piero della Francesca and other Flemish artists, in the use of light and the uniting of clear lines in paintings. This is especially significant in the piece, Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter in that Perugino used linear perspective to achieve a feeling of depth and successfully incorporated both 2-d and 3-d elements into his work. The unique placement of the figures emphasizes the pieces axial-center.
Parishioners often ask me if there is really any difference between United Methodist and the Baptists down the road. The answer, “quite a lot,” generally surprises them. When they ask me to explain, I often point them in the direction of our polity and the theology it reflects.
I attended Al-Anon meetings on Sundays at St. Matthew Episcopal Church. The meetings began at 11:45am, and were held until 1:00pm, which was contingent on the progress of each small group. I was in attendance beginning January 19th, with attendance on January 26th, and February 2nd. The groups first met in one room together, and then broke into smaller groups to process. The initial meeting room is a nursery room in the church. It had a lot of natural lighting from the windows, and was decorated in children’s religious artwork. The room was far too small for all of the attendees. There was an average of thirty-five attendees at each meeting. Many times people who came late had to stand outside the doorway and listen in, because the room was literally overflowing with people. There were never enough chairs, which forced some individuals to stand, until the large group, broke into small groups.
BWH Bulletin. (2012, June 15). Past, Present and Future of BWH Discussed at Town Meeting. Retrieved from http://www.brighamandwomens.org/about_bwh/publicaffairs/news/publications/DisplayBulletin.aspx?articleid=5614
The most fascinating branches of a religion are often the most extreme, the most different from the mainstream denomination. Two such groups are Hasidic Jews and the Amish, a sect of Christianity. Shown a picture of a member of one of these sects, the average person would not be able to identify to which group he belonged. However, though “their shared style of dress does indeed reflect shared values of piety, extreme traditionalism, and separation,” these groups are extremely different(“A Brief Introduction”). Beyond the obvious difference of ideology in that Hasidism is based in Orthodox Judaism and Amish tradition in Christianity, to say nothing of the diverse groups within these separatist umbrellas, there are stark differences in origins, beliefs, practices, and the way that each group interacts with the secular world.
Saturday, November 30, 2013 marked the fourth night of Chanukah. It was also the day that my friend Brandon and I visited the Center for Jewish Life in Marlboro, N.J. According to the information I gathered from different online news articles, it is a fairly new reform Synagogue that opened its doors in another smaller location in 2004. The current site of the temple was the former Monmouth Worship Center. Rabbi Yossi Kanelsky, with the help of the members of the congregation, relocated to this 18,000 square foot building in 2011. The temple is currently located within a scenic community off of Route 79 surrounded by private homes. The Synagogue can accommodate more than 500 people and has 17 classrooms for various activities for both adults and children.
An example of this movement is at the First Baptist Fellowship Church in Pine Bluff, where aggressive steps have been taken to introduce the youth to the teachings of Christianity. Youth pastor Chris Meyer says that in the past seven years the inrolment of the youth has grown from around Fifty to over two hundred as of February 1999. Meyer says “ The membership in our youth program began to explode in such a short time that the church didn’t have a place big enough to hold them.” Of the two hundred or so young people (ages 14-24) 25% of them come from Pine Bluff’s low income black population. Most of the black children came to the church by way of the Light House, a old bakery in the middle of the black majority neighborhoods that the Church set up to counsel people in the poor part of town. Meyer says “ kids began to hang around the ce...
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For my observation trip, I decided to visit St. Ignatius Church in Oregon, Ohio. I visited a mass at 11:30 on Sunday November 19. I decided to visit a catholic church because my family has no religious background whatsoever, and I decided that I could go with one of my good friends that way if I need to ask questions, she was there to answer them for me.
The college experience has given me great examples of approach elements and environments as well as avoidance elements and environments. Transforming the negatives into neutrals or positives seems like it would be simple but would have a cost. Marketing these changes to prospective students and their parents would have challenges as well, not everyone understands forward thinking. I will say this, my grade was better in the class that had an approach environment and elements.