Saul, First King of Israel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Saul, First King of Israel - Essay Example Following Elwell (1991, p. 54) Saul understand a new fact interpreted the Cross. Christians are Christians and speak with conviction of the immense meaning of the Cross solely because another fact has come into the picture, a fact which reverses the apparent meaning of the Cross and enables the believer to see its real place in God's redemptive work. Saul the persecutor of the church illustrates the difference. Before his conversion he knew that Jesus had been crucified, and he took it to prove that Jesus has been disowned by God and rightly rejected by Jewish leaders. Once converted, he saw in the Cross a quite different meaning; in the light of the Resurrection it had a positive and central place in a message that claimed the faith of men ( I Cor. 2:2). But it had that place and meaning only because the Resurrection supplied the interpreting fact that gave the Cross its true place in the Christian message. The Bible mentions this event as "Saul, who is also called Paul" (Acts 13:9). It is possible to say that a new name means a new life for this person. It means a new destiny and mentality. It is important to note the role of the human mind in the guidance of the Spirit. The Spirit comes into a life, the mind must abdicate.

War (1919) by Luigi Pirandello Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

War (1919) by Luigi Pirandello - Research Paper Example Pirandello uses his understanding of psychoanalysis to highlight the difference between each character’s superficial acceptance of the reality of war, and his or her own deep level inability to come to terms with the suffering that war brings. Seen through the lens of psychoanalysis, this story is not about a train journey to Rome, but rather it is about human life and the journey to true understanding of the unbearable horror of war. The story was written in 1919, immediately after the end of the First World War. Pirandello himself had a son who was sent to war, and who was taken prisoner. One can assume that there are some autobiographical elements in the depiction of parental reactions to the enforced separation from their sons at a time of great danger. The First World War had been a terrifying for the whole of mainland Europe, and the high numbers of casualties shocked the people to the core. Never before had such an efficient mechanised war taken so many lives. The focus of the opens with the description of an unnamed middle aged couple settling into a train carriage full of other people. The woman is silent, and her role as mother shocked by the imminent departure of her son to the front is sketched in by her apologetic husband. The role of the suffering mother is very deeply embedded in Western culture. From the heroines of classical Greek and Roman tragedies - to the suffering of the Mother of God at the crucifixion, there is a long tradition of women with their faces covered in grief. Pirandello’s mother figure does this, silently anticipating, the death of a son, or sorrowing this event when it has occurred. It is the epitome of love without return, for the beloved creature is taken away and the mother must grieve for ever because of that. It seems that with this introduction Pirandello wants to present the classical interpretation of how loss of a