The Biblicality of the social clock Essay Example

The Biblicality of the social clock Essay The belief that there are descriptive and prescriptive age norms concerning adults during their developmental shift involves the concept of the social clock. The social clock hinges on its description of society’s expectations where time to get married and have children at the same time attaining more of life’s burdens. For example, the traditional or what has been considered as the perception of women who have not yet entered into matrimony as individuals who are negatively appraised during their middle adulthood stage in contrast to the young adults. Social clock has something to do with an expectation that a person must somehow behave or conduct him/herself according to established developmental milestones or else, risk the consequences that may happen because the individual has allowed it to slip through ( Altenbernd, 2004). Discussion The concept is not unknown to anyone today, this despite the fact that many among Americans have grown to know in informal set-ups that the social clock exists and must be followed. We will write a custom essay sample on The Biblicality of the social clock specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Biblicality of the social clock specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Biblicality of the social clock specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In the Bible, there are direct references when the Scriptures contradicted this traditional system. Although the Bible also showed how patriarchs like Abraham and his wife Sarah, had observed (in one instance, in panic) that both are past their childbearing stage and laughed (especially Sarah) when the angel did say that they will have their son born soon. In Genesis 17: 11, it says that â€Å"Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing (NKJV).† My opinion and belief is that when a person has the same God as that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, there is no confinement to the so-called social clocks. In the case of Sarah and Abraham, they were indeed past the age to bear children, and the book of Genesis showed that God is who He is, and precisely He can do with anything; He made Sarah deliver a baby boy just as He told them.

Free Essays on Two Towers

To begin with, let us examine the nature of Tolkien’s fiction. J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth literature, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in particular, are usually referred to and even marketed as fantasy. But would Tolkien himself think of his work as fantasy? Traditionally, the genre of fantasy has been defined as stories concerned with things which cannot, or could not, happen. This definition becomes problematic, though, as it would easily apply to the literature of mythology: modern rationality tells us that much of the events described in Greek, Norse or even Judeo-Christian mythology could not have happened without the aid of supernatural forces that clearly are absent from the world as we know it. Mythology, however, is not fantasy: the purpose of mythology is to provide a culture with an acceptable explanation for how that culture’s world came to be. The originators of a mythology believed not only that the events described could happen, but really did happen. It would be convenient to simply levy upon fantastic literature the requirement that the story be concerned with a world other than our own, or that it take place only in the present or the future. But that would introduce unnecessary and equally problematic distinctions. Consider instead a definition of fantasy proposed by the author Joanna Russ: fantasy is a journey by a traveler (perhaps the reader) to a world so beautiful or wondrous that the traveler/reader wishes to or does stay in that fantastic world. This definition excludes mythology: mythologies are not about an alternate reality, but about the past of the world that we know. Fantasy, then, is escapist, while mythology is reality-bound, if obsolete. Further, the mythology of a fantastic world would still be considered a proper mythology, if it attempted to explain the origins of that fantastic world; but it would be fantastic mythology a fantasy nonetheless. Thi... Free Essays on Two Towers Free Essays on Two Towers To begin with, let us examine the nature of Tolkien’s fiction. J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth literature, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in particular, are usually referred to and even marketed as fantasy. But would Tolkien himself think of his work as fantasy? Traditionally, the genre of fantasy has been defined as stories concerned with things which cannot, or could not, happen. This definition becomes problematic, though, as it would easily apply to the literature of mythology: modern rationality tells us that much of the events described in Greek, Norse or even Judeo-Christian mythology could not have happened without the aid of supernatural forces that clearly are absent from the world as we know it. Mythology, however, is not fantasy: the purpose of mythology is to provide a culture with an acceptable explanation for how that culture’s world came to be. The originators of a mythology believed not only that the events described could happen, but really did happen. It would be convenient to simply levy upon fantastic literature the requirement that the story be concerned with a world other than our own, or that it take place only in the present or the future. But that would introduce unnecessary and equally problematic distinctions. Consider instead a definition of fantasy proposed by the author Joanna Russ: fantasy is a journey by a traveler (perhaps the reader) to a world so beautiful or wondrous that the traveler/reader wishes to or does stay in that fantastic world. This definition excludes mythology: mythologies are not about an alternate reality, but about the past of the world that we know. Fantasy, then, is escapist, while mythology is reality-bound, if obsolete. Further, the mythology of a fantastic world would still be considered a proper mythology, if it attempted to explain the origins of that fantastic world; but it would be fantastic mythology a fantasy nonetheless. Thi...