The Secular Saint in the Modern World Essays

The Secular Saint in the Modern World Essays The Secular Saint in the Modern World Essay The Secular Saint in the Modern World Essay Essay Topic: Letter From Birmingham Jail In the Life and Works of the Secular Saint The element that I found the most captivating in regards to Simons Well would be her utter devotion to non-conformity. This unique and intelligent woman did not let the thoughts or words of others deny her from voicing her strong opinions. In a world historically dominated by male authoritative figures, she was a force to be reckoned with. In large part due to her active efforts to promote trade union politics, as well as, worker education. At the same time, Simons Well was also exhibiting strong traits that we have come to associate with the way of the saint. She was fully open to the mystery of the question of meaningful human existence. In the last five years of her life, she experienced a spiritual awakening, If you will, stating that she came to know Gods love as Intimately as the smile of a friend. In the end, It was through reading the Christian Gospels, that Well discovered the utter stoically of faith and came to recognize this state of being as what she had been searching for ere entire life. Both Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa clearly exhibited elements of both the hero and the saint, making them perfect examples of the secular saint. In one of Milks most famous writings, a letter from the Birmingham Jail, he shows both the Christian spirit of agape; and the aret, drawn directly from the heroic virtue of citizenship. One did not have to look very hard to see both elements of the hero and the saint in the life of Mother Teresa, as she made the conscience decision, much as a saint would, that she would deny Jesus nothing that e asked of her. However, as was with the heroic identity, Mother Teresa struggled internally to understand her meaning In life and what Jesus wanted from her. Within the genre of cinema, I found many examples given by Professor Ambrosia, to effectively portray both the heroic Identity and the saintly element. Specifically, John Wayne, in the Western films. Clearly, he represented the qualities of our hero. And how can we not look at the characters in such great movies as Platoon, The Deer Hunt « and even, Saving Private Ryan as consummate heroic figures. Even though I am not a huge fan of the movie Its a Wonderful Life, there is no escaping the fact that the character of George was written to reflect his saint like qualities. But, by far, my absolute favorite is a classic; Sibilance. Rick Blaine denotes the epitome of the secular saint, in that he was forlorn but, also a heroic figure who receives the heroes call and answers It without hesitation. Clearly, Simons Wells views on the political and economic structures of society are rooted In Greek philosophy, specifically In the works of Plato. As we learned through previous lectures, Plastics philosophy reflected the concept of heroic excellently and, so too, did Wells. However, without question, the most powerful concept that Well offered the world was near ornamental AT ten meaning AT Justice. Seen Stetsons Justice In ten context AT the impersonal worldview of Greek philosophy. It was not hard to zero in on the similar rottenness in the idea of Justice with both Martin Luther King, Jar. And Mother Teresa. In their own ways, they fought desperately for Justice for all of mankind. Martin Luther King, Jar. Seethed the world to show Justice in the form of equality and Mother Teresa quietly compelled people to show Justice for the poor and forlorn. In the end, Martin Luther King, Jar. And Mother Teresa shared a common thread; they wanted individuals to be responsible for their decisions and to transcend violence, giving meaning to life by making peace with death. In conclusion, I have to say that I was quite stunned when I re alized that my very first post in this course was accurate. We, as human beings, have the capacity to follow in the path of the hero and follow the way of the saint.