The Rite: The Making of a Modern Day Exorcist | Critique

The Rite: The Making of a Modern Day Exorcist | Critique Reading The Rite was an intriguing experience for me since as young as I can recall I have gone to church, so the concept of Lucifer and demons is far from new to me. While reading this book by Matt Baglio the resounding question that crept into my head was what was his purpose for writing this book? There are enough movies out there satiate peoples hunger for exorcisms, I didnt think anything new would come of it, but as I read I realized that Baglios perspective was no ordinary approach. When I read of his account about studying exorcisms I was surprised to hear that there was a University class to textbook study the science which really caught my interest. After doing some research myself I learned that there was a need for Exorcists, and in America alone there should be 200, but we have only 50 in America, so the Vatican created a course for people interested to become Exorcists. I came to learn that Baglios purpose for writing The Rite was to write the truth about Exorcisms and give an accurate representation about them since the media has embellished exorcisms. As I read about Father Gary Thomas under goings I learned that exorcisms often arent accomplished and finished in one fell swoop. Hollywood has put people under the impression that an exorcism is a onetime event that frees the person from a demon in some dramatic and climatic fashion, but that is not how it works. The afflicted individual undergoes numerous exorcisms, resulting in temporary liberations which eventually can cause a demon to flee. Present day that is a screening process that happens before someone is exorcised with psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists involved because the Church has come to realize that a lot of people are mentally afflicted and need help. Another reason Baglio wrote The Rite is to convey the idea of personal responsibility and how it is up to us to make the right choices in our lives. He tries to convey to us the reader that were in control, the free will that w e possess, and how we cannot ignore this concept of evil because evil is real so we cannot simply ignore it. Yet dont let the fear of evil consume you and become obsessed by it. Which leads to Baglios thesis of The Rite which is to diminish fear and to talk about exorcisms in a way that people could put the concept of evil into a theological context. The reader learns throughout the book that demons often exhibit similar behavior when manifesting. Yet sometimes behaviors are unexpected. This is where the array of experiences among the exorcists is especially useful when developing the Churchs and individuals knowledge of the subject matter. Baglio didnt want to over-dramatize anything and give an accurate account. When reading The Rite, I learned that supernatural occurrences happen during exorcisms but that is not a common occurrence and during the writing of The Rite Father Gary did not witness it himself but other exorcists have like stuff flying across rooms, speaking is other tongues, and the afflicted throwing up objects that then liquefy. On one occasion Baglio describes the disparity of experience by different people present at the same exorcism, Dur ing the exorcism, Father Gary had the overwhelming sensation that the room was suffocatingly hot, while the priest from Indianapolis smelled a terrible over-powering stench, (page 149). Its details such as these that Baglio wanted to convey to the reader to give an accurate account to write the truth, but keep it in a theological context while not over-dramatizing the occurrences while still maintaining objectivity. As one reads The Rite its clear that Baglio is a serious journalist as he examines what popular culture takes as truth and corrects misconceptions. As well, he thoroughly examines many of the questions that occur to any logical person when faced with the idea of demons and possession in modern times. To this end, he interviews psychologist, doctors, and other specialists for information. All of this is told without ever inserting himself into the book which allows the focus to stay on the subject and on Father Gary, whose journey yielded spiritual growth in several ways. That is what Baglio is trying to convey. One of the main observations I made while reading The Rite is the concept of trying to be a good person which Baglio conveys relies heavily on the choices you make as an individual. Baglios accounting of the information from classes amounts to a brief catechism of Church teachings about anything to do with this subject including among other things angels, free will, Gods power, and human ailments. As a priest, Father Gary learns that one must be understanding and forgiving. While its technically true that any priest can perform an exorcism, not every priest should. Guideline thirteen of the Ritual states that the bishop can only nominate a priest who is distinguished in piety, learning, prudence, and integrity of life. In addition, The priest [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] should carry out this work of charity confidently and humbly under the guidance of the Ordinary, (page 72). We as the reader get a peek into the mind and teachings of an exorcist and even though an Exorcist can perform exorcism s as they please, they learn just how sacred and important undergoing such an act can be, and they must remain humble and understanding of a situation before they move forward and perform the exorcism. A second observation I made while reading The Rite is how Baglio goes about to shed light on the truth about Exorcisms. The Rite helps us realize just how thoroughly our popular notions of exorcism have been fashioned via cinema and fiction. Exorcisms often arent accomplished in one fell swoop. Instead, the process may take years of repeated encounters and prayers and this surprises some, People dont understand what we do, says Father Gramolazzo. People come to see us expecting to be healed right away. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Instead, as Father Gramolazzo explains, exorcism is more akin to a journey, with the exorcist acting as a kind of spiritual director helping the victim to rediscover the grace of God through prayer and the sacraments [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Getting people to see it this way is not always easy for the exorcist. Half the battle is to change their whole purpose so they dont see it in the light of getting rid of a problem, but see it in the light of being more fully converted or being converted at all, says English exorcist Father Jeremy Davies, (page 167). Baglios work examines pop-culture misconceptions-about exorcism, demons, the church and more-by countering them with probing questions to psychologists, doctors, and other specialists; and the focus remains well-centered on Father Thomas, and the spiritual growth that the priest has experienced in his journey. The third observation I made is the fact that a person or exorcist is still unsure and not one hundred percent convinced about everything occurring throughout The Rite; that the doubt and skepticism still exists. While reading, we can notice that in Father Gary Thomas, and how there is still a lot of mystery about the matter; how suspicion grows about the people who are one hundred percent certain about the exorcisms. The exorcists are just like a guy and they hope what God is doing is real but they just rely on faith and leave it to God. This book relates to Anthropology 55 in many ways. As we reviewed earlier there is no uniform anthropological theory of religion and Baglio states that the concept of demons, exorcisms, and the afterlife date back to the dawn of time. This concept is not new and is applicable across all faiths. This plays a factor as to why there cannot be a uniformed anthropological theory of religion. As well everything we see and touch, feel and experience is only one path. There is an unknown but we cannot reach it or channel it. That is where exorcisms come into play, and studying that can help anthropologist better understand religion. The exorcist acts as a medium, the middle point to help exorcise the demons which we cannot channel or sense. Studying exorcists and exorcisms can help anthropologist better understand the concept of faith because the study of exorcism is not a science but also plays heavily on faith, so it is not something everyone can learn. Exorcisms can also be defined as rit uals and the reasons why we practice rituals can be applied as to why people study and practice exorcising. When they feel they have tempted fate, to diminish negative feelings, and bring about a sense of peace and comfort. Rituals are beneficial for helping us feel a sense of peace and familiarity in a world where we can feel very unfamiliar with and have a hard time maintaining our sense of peace. Since exorcisms can be called a ritual since rituals and exorcisms share many traits they can relate back to anthropology. The Rite helped me better understand the concept of demons and other worldly supernatural phenomena. I use to be a Christian due to my parents when I was younger but when I came of age and could make my own decisions about my life I questioned a lot of Churchs teachings. Reading Baglios book gave a much-appreciated insight into the life of an Exorcist because I doubted that what was portrayed in film was what occurred in real life, more so I thought that the concept of exorcising was an old-world practice and wasnt taught and executed today. Contrary to what I believed reading Baglios book showed me otherwise. Bibliography Baglio, Matt. The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. New York: Image , 2010. Print.

Five Questions For Vladimir Lenin Essay -- essays research papers

Five Questions For Vladimir Lenin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most dedicated leader of the revolution, and future leader of the Bolshevik Party in Russia, was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He was born in 1870 in Simbirsk, Russia, a small town on the Volga River, to a family of hereditary nobles that were not wealt but quite comfortable. Vladimir Ulyanov, who would later change his name to Lenin, was the third of seven children. His oldest brother, Aleksandr, was hanged in May of 1887 for having joined in a plot to kill Czar Alexander III. The czar signed a warra to have the five student conspirators executed. A year earlier, Vladimir’s father had died. Because of these cicumstances Vladimir experienced extreme grief. He died of a stroke in January of 1924 at his villa outside Moscow. I chose Vladimir Lenin to ite about because I felt that I didn’t truly understand what part he played in the Bolshevik takeover of Russia. In fact, I didn’t even understand what role he played in Russia, though I did know that he was associated with communism in some way.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the University of Kazan, where Lenin majored in law, Lenin was expelled after only three months for taking part in a student protest meeting. He went on to work in a law office in St. Petersburg, where he joined the Social Democratic Party.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In late February 1917 riots broke out in Saint Petersburg. A group of individuals assumed formal governmental powers and declared itself the Provincial Government of Russia on March 1. Lenin took the reins of the Bolshevik Party shortly after the Bolsh ik Revolution which overthrew this Provincial government. Lenin instantly created to pieces of legislation. One of them withdrew Russia from World War I. The other one nationalized personal property. From 1918 to 1921 Russia was torn by a civil war betw n the White armies and the Red Army of the Soviet government. In the summer of 1918 the Soviet government, under Lenin’s leadership, launched the Red Terror, a brutal campaign aimed at eliminating political opponents among the civilian population. The g ernment also introduced a series of economic policies in an effort to put socialist principles into practice and to respond to Russia’s pressing economic needs. However, these policies only weakened economic output.Widespread strikes and uprisings broke ut in c... ...the system?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I realized that once I was gone that the two sides of the party, one led by Trotsky and the other by Stalin, would have nothing in common because the platforms of these two communists were so different. I knew that the communist goals that I had tried uphold would be destroyed. While I was in office I was trying to make Russia prosper under communism. Once I was involved less in communism’s affairs and realized that I was going to die soon, I started thinking of what â€Å"The Party† would be like after died. Suffice to say, it didn’t look good. â€Å". . . . the two outstanding leaders of the present Communist Party can inadvertently lead to a split, and if our Party does not take steps to avert this, the split may come unexpectedly,† (Lenin 1) W O R K S C I T E D Hugley, Ronald. RUSSIA: A Concise History. London, Thames and Hudson Ltd.1972. Lenin, Vladimir. The Testament. Boston, Halshall, Inc. 1997 McNeal, Robert H., The Bolshevik Tradition. Englewood, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inc. 1975. Sherrow, Victoria. Life during the Russian Revolution. San Diego, Lucent Books, Inc.,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1998.

Mexico Gulf of Mexico

Mexico is a beautiful country situated in North America, delimited on the on the east by the Gulf of Mexico, on the southeast by Guatemala, on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and north by the United States. The United Mexican States consist of a legitimate republican federation of thirty-one states and a central district, Mexico City, is considered to be one of the most densely inhabited cities on globe. The Mexican Revolution was an interlude of political, military and social conflict and mayhem that set in motion with the call over armaments made on November 20 1910 by Francisco I. Madero, a politician, author and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913, and lasted until 1921. It is anticipated that the war killed nine hundred thousand of the 1910 population of fifteen million. The preliminary epoch of armed conflict terminated in the removal from power of dictator Porfirio Dà ­az Mori, a Mexican-American War volunteer, French intrusion hero, and President   who ruled Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and Madero's rise to presidency. Madero was thrown out in 1913 and the state was swallowed up in civil war, as more than a few political and armed groups raised war against each other for being in command of the nation. A most important stride towards the end of armed conflict caught up the dissemination of the current constitution of Mexico in 1917, the official end of the insurrection. On the other hand, conflict and political unrest such as the Cristero War continued up to the late 1920s. Factory or slaughterhouse worker in Mexico City had faced unacceptable obstacles before the Mexican revolution in 1910, in exercising their rights to join independent unions, bargain collectively, and hold strikes. By 1879, revolutionary thoughts had spread all through the budding Mexican labor movement La Social had sixty two provincial units and about five thousand people were present at its 1879 symposium. Its paper, La International, made social insurrection, social revolution, and the elimination of all governments and the formation of a â€Å"universal social republic† indispensable. That would put the last touches on all national boundaries. Many of the newspaper's articles from San Antonio narrate prejudice suffered by the rural and urban Factory and slaughterhouse workers in Mexico, the sleaze and venality of government bureaucrats in that state, the complicity of foreign based resources with the Dà ­az regime, and the inevitability of terminating the dictatorship. From 1895 to 1911 with on the increase foreign supremacy of the economy came beyond doubt ruthless working conditions. Capitalism, free of state parameter, subjugated Factories and slaughterhouses. A necessary social arrangement with hospitals, wellbeing reimbursement, schools, and housing facility and so on, was not provided by foreign capitalists. Company towns were built for Factory and slaughterhouse workers where their entire families lived in diminutive single rooms. These barrack settlements were little more than massive penitentiaries. Workers were expelled from having guests to put a stop to transaction and communication of ideas. Industrial contamination coupled with household sewage caused terrible health hazards that carried epidemic after epidemic on the working class. State of affairs was so dreadful in some company towns that even the panorama of starvation could not drive people to work there. The state took action by compulsorily rounding up men, women and children, and compelling them to work as slaves. Every feature of work and living was proscribed. Fines were imposed on Factory and slaughterhouse workers who were then enforced to take out mortgages to pay them off. Thus Factory and slaughterhouse workers faced several obstacles in Mexico City face before and during the revolution. Regardless of the atrocious oppression and unsympathetic circumstances, workers sustained to organize. A number of clandestine workers’ councils and subversive unions were created, often forming a substitute revolutionary culture based on reciprocated aid, as workers endeavored to survive in an atrocious atmosphere. By 1900, some of these organizations became strong as much as necessary to confront the regime inspiring a number of strikes across Mexico. After the wrapping up of Mexican revolution both refugees and Mexican Americans involve themselves in the activities undertaken by labor organizations. The American Federation of Labor naturally repulsed Mexican descent factory and slaughterhouse workers and considered them as prospective strikebreakers, but Tejano workers seek for other alternatives. The membership of La Agrupacià ³n Protectora, founded 1911, comprised of factory and slaughterhouse workers. La Agrupacià ³n called for the fortification of its members from illegitimate reclamations of possessions. Tejanos as well joined an assortment of Socialist associations for instance the different associates of the Socialist party in Texas. Some Tejano factory and slaughterhouse workmen joined unions but however found themselves separated out from Caucasian laborers. Nevertheless, the epoch of the insurrection and World War I brought about an upswing in organizational responsiveness and no doubt improved living and working conditions of factory and slaughterhouse workers especially those of Mexican origin. Politically, Tejanos involved themselves in remonstration activities to bring awareness to the tribulations of their everyday living and working conditions. Aggravated by antagonism against decades old prejudice and disdain, Tejanos finally joined in a movement of armed confrontation against subjugation in 1915. In the conclusion it would relevant to mention that the revolts and wars irrespective of whatever reason instigated cast devastating curse on mankind. These never prove to be beneficiary for any party. Though living and working conditions of factory and slaughterhouse workmen in Mexico improved subsequent to the Mexican revolution in 1910, but due to various deceitful policies of the government the workers still suffer. Reference: Smith, DA; Mexico: A Thousand Revolutions; Alliance Publications; 2001

Essay on Human Rights and John Rawls The Law of Peoples

Human Rights and John Rawls The Law of Peoples Abstract: Which political and juridical foundation can justify the transit from the Western, particular, to the universal? John Rawls tries to answer this question in his article, The Law of Peoples, proposing a kind of contract or agreement. A first agreement should be attained among liberal-democratic societies on a few political and social issues such as human rights. Then this agreement can be widened to non-liberal/democratic but well organized hierarchical societies or those that satisfy the requisites of being peaceful, of having a reasonably well organized legal system, of admitting a measure of freedom-political and religious-and of admitting the right of emigration. These two†¦show more content†¦These documents, at the same time, take back the sociopolitical thought that had been developped in a long tradition, and whose most striking stages are: the supreme value of reason as basis for any sociopolitical relation such as we discover at the Greek Polis and such as it is presented by the great thinkers Plato and Aristotle; the intrinsic value of human person, son of the same Christian God, and capable, because of his freedom, either of salvation or of condemnation, as it was understood by the main thinkers in the Middle Ages; the human Individual, considered as a juridical subject, capable of making contracts and assuming rights and duties and, therefore, as the last foundation of any sociopolitical organization, as he was thought by the liberal tradition embodied by Hobbes, Locke and the Encyclopedists. The concrete praxis of these theoretical principles in democratic societies and nations where the Individuals are the cause and the end of this sociopolitical order such as we find in Great Britain, Switzerland, Holland, USA, France, Sweeden, Norwegen, Canada and many other nations throughout the five continents. The origen and the content of human rights, as they are presented by the Declaration of 1948, belong to a concrete cultural and political tradition, that is, the Western,liberal, individualistic and democratic tradition. But suchShow MoreRelatedJohn Rawls on Justice Essay1430 Words   |  6 Pages John Rawls was a man who played an influential role in shaping political thought in the late 20th century. Rawls is accredited for writing two major contributions that has helped influence political ideology of those even today. 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