The Conversion Process

In The Sacred Quest, University of Notre Dame professor Lawrence Cunningham attempts the search for a coherent definition of religion. While he doesn’t strive for a one-sentence interpretation of what indicates a real, organized religion, he arrives on several elements and functions to give meaning to his definition. To Cunningham, there are five elements that make up a religion: belief, feeling, action, individual and community aspects, and values. Cunningham argues that these five elements exists in order to explain what could not otherwise be explained, enable people to sustain hope in the face of difficult experiences, and provide ways of thinking that provide goals and respond to “great problems” in life (158). All of these aspects work

Relig-ish affirms the fact that, for many people, abandoning one’s faith isn’t a lazy act, but is “a mindful and appropriate response in an expanding world” (5). Mee-Chapman recognizes the diverse spiritual needs of her audience and carefully guides us through the process of creating “a set of right-fit spiritual practices that are rooted in your history, authentic to who you are today, and creative enough to grow with you” (6).

James Fowler developed his stages of faith after conduction in-depth interviews of 359 people. The sample subjects were predominately white, with equal numbers of males and females and included a wide range of ages, from three and a half to 84 years old. Fowler’s interviews consisted of 30 plus questions regarding the subject’s life experiences, relationships, values, commitments and religion. After analyzing the responses, Fowler placed each subject in one of six faith stages. The responses indicated that as the subject’s age increased, so did their stage of faith (Hutchison, 2015).

Judaism is more than a religion, its a way of life. Judaism 's entire body of beliefs and teachings which form the foundations of the religion, are outlined in the Torah. Within the Torah, Jewish people find the many different texts and rules that prescribe to them on how to live properly as the chosen people of God. The tradition of Judaism has been alive for thousands of years, its origins tracing back to the Patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. Subsequently, from this comes Judaism 's central beliefs: The belief in one God, the belief in moral law and the belief and trust in the covenant prescribed to Moses in Exodus 2.0. The Orthodox Judaism strand incorporates the Mitzvot quite literally and tries to take it on word for word. On the other hand Reform Judaism and Conservatio interpret it in different ways. These Sacred Texts form the Jewish religion and fundamentally make up the beliefs that the Jewish

This entry is about a woman on a journey to discover her religion. The author felt that she fell behind the religion department, compared to her friends that already had a set religion given to them by their parents. She discusses how she was afraid she would never find a religion that will suit her. She started researching churches and religions to find one that fit her beliefs and values. She believes that you shouldn’t do things out of revenge and that you should act on things you notice needs to be done. After visiting numerous churches, she is left her faithless and different perceptions on religion. In the end, she discovered her religion is Deity, a Christian religion that means to live a decent life that appeasing to the higher power. I found that this entry is related to me as well because I grew up with a strict set of beliefs my dad enforced on me. Growing up, I didn’t have the opportunity to live out my beliefs because of Apostolic beliefs of my dad. Being Apostolic, means that girls aren’t allowed to wear pants, makeup, cut their hair, wear skirts above the knee, wear hair extensions; unless bald, and listen to music that isn’t gospel. Additionally, you can’t work on Sundays, not allowed to have Christmas trees or seasonal decorations, girls have to place a prayer cloth over their head during service, boys can’t have their heads covered in church and boys can’t have long hair.

Although not the first scholar to examine the idea of religion, Jones utilizes the concept from the study of Self Psychology in order to determine if “transformative religious experience is mature or unhealthy” (Jones 2002). In chapter 5 of his text, Jones

Religion and spirituality reach into the depths of the human psyche and strongly influence a nation’s way of life.

Religiosity (question A1) - “Important in Life: Religion” Coding for this question will be reversed to range from from 1 (Not al all important) to 4 (Very important).

How Orthodox and Reform Jews follow God’s Revelation in the form of the Torah is the primary difference between the two movements and is the impetus for the other differences between the two groups. The Orthodox tradition maintains that the Torah is God’s word and that it cannot be altered (Graber, 2013). Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah applies to both the past and future. The Reformist movement that has developed in the United States holds that the Torah was

The Roman Empire, which was centered in the city of Rome, was the most extensive western civilization of ancient times. With its major advancements and prosperity it is hard to believe that the Roman Empire suddenly collapsed and fell into a time known as the Dark Ages. After a period of struggles for the Roman Empire, the empire gradually fell.

Courage is something only a few souls had in Maycomb, the small and tired town in Alabama. Not everybody could stand up to their beliefs, so they follow and agree to whatever other people say, not realizing the effects that take place in their lack of courage. Without courage, the kids who hold the future are not taught to speak their mind which inhibits their mindset to flourish and their ignorance to deepen. But, in the sleepy town of Maycomb, there are a few individuals who are courageous and voice out their opinion even though it’s different from everyone else's.

Presented with the task of assessing someone’s faith development required the answers to three essential questions. How has social learning played a part in the individual’s religious development? How has attachment played a part in the individual’s religious development? Upon answering these questions we must then evaluate the stages of faith development in which the individual is in according to James Fowler and David Elkind. After thorough evaluation has occurred the question pertaining to the role of doubt can then be answered. With these questions in mind, the theory that religious beliefs and adherence to spiritual faith are ultimately tested and proved during adolescence was the driving thought throughout the process of interviewing

The purpose of this paper is to discuss spirituality and how it can influence individuals’ faith and affect their way of prosper in their chosen religion. Spirituality applies a connection with faith; both create confidence and trust in searching for a meaning for life or a superior being, depending on the individual’s chosen religion. The research completed for this paper was determined from the results of Stephen P. Robbins’ self-assessment test IV.A.4: How Spiritual Am I? From the results and conclusion, the self-assessment presented that I have a high spirituality score. Since a child, I was raised to understand my spirituality and use of faith as

In this essay we will discuss the importance of religion in society. We will attempt to explain why societies have religions and what functions their belief system has for them. We will also ask if these functions are now out-dated and if religions have any meaningful function in today's world or are they just stained glass windows into a bygone era? 'Religion' can be defined by two main groupings. 'The inclusive definition' covers all topics and subjects of a persons life including, not only, their belief in a deity but also their belief and belongingness to music, sport and any other interests the person may hold. 'The exclusive definition' refers to just their belief system regarding a 'supra-human' (Browne 2005, p. 311). It is mainly

A green oasis lies much closer to us than one might think. Everyone kept talking about how much different the canyon, or even the outdoors where it is quiet enough to think. Others might also think that it is just a dark, black forest with either no life or only dangerous life. Some may also think that it is just a few hills with a couple of pine trees on them. Perhaps some may think that it is just a waste of valuable land. If this is the case, one may not know what they are missing out on. So on a summer day in my late teen years, I decided to go out and see what all they were talking about. I found out that hiking through the various trails in the Spearfish canyon was going to be extremely treacherous, and yet surprisingly rewarding.