Religion and Theology

In the influential book Primitive Culture, Edward Tylor defined religion as belief in Supernatural Beings. This minimalist definition of religion is a reference to traditionalist emphasis on religion as a private and intellectual activity. This is in contrast with Durkheim behavioral approach. In his work Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Emile Durkheim defined religion as a system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things   things which are set apart and forbidden. Those who belong to this moral community constitute a Church. For Durkheim, religion is inseparable from the idea of a Church.

In the search for an essentialist definition of religion, according to  McCutcheon, there is a need to differentiate the spiritual from the religious. For Tylor, the spiritual is synonymous with the religious. The religious realm is a manifestation of the spiritual realm   in short, the religious is the outward expression of spiritual belief. Spiritual belief is nothing more than a deep, solitary, and intellectual activity. As McCutcheon argues

In Tylors onetime popular definition we find the remnants of a philosophically idealist era in European history, when ones membership within certain groups was thought to be primarily dependent upon whether one believed in something   rather than membership being the result of collective behaviors   (1)

Evidently, McCutcheons concern is the determinacy of religious essence (whether religion has an essence). In order to address this issue, he presented a number of contending theories on religion. Tylors pragmatic definition of religion is an example of a classic definitional strategy (essentialism). Intellectual tradition treats religion as an inner process   a process of believing in something, expressed in the form of an essence. Scholars who valued this tradition thought it unwise to define religion based on what they took to be its secondary, external aspects (McCutcheon  2). These scholars argued that it is motive rather membership which defines the determinacy of religious experience. Tylors essentialist definition of religion is a naturalist account of a monothetic framework.

Other philosophers offered essentialist definition of religion. The German theologian Rudolf Otto argued that what defines religion was the participants feeling of great respect, admiration, and fascination. For Friedrich Schleiermacher, the essence was generally the feeling of total dependence. For Paul Tillich, the essence was power. For the historian of religion, Mircea Eliade, the experience of the Sacred defined the essence of religion.

These essentialist definitions of religion are not without value. The essence defines identity, expression, form, and substance. As Bertrand Russell observes

Uniformity is an expression of empiricism. It is the essence of an essence, apparently because it is directed to a single reference point. Variety, when viewed from a broader perspective, is actually a function of uniformity, for uniformity is the formal substance of order. Now, the duty of the scholar is to determine the ultimate form of uniformity, and in narrow perspective, appreciate the complexity of creation (92).

However, according to McCutcheon, the search for a universal definition of religion is problematic because of the inherent contradictions in concept-construction and the complexity of religious experience. As McCutcheon notes

Much as with a a light switch that can either be on or off   theres no such thing as a light being only partially on   essentialist definitions lead one to name something as religion if, and only if, it possesses a certain quality. That just what characterizes this essential quality differs   from one essentialist to another ought not to be overlooked (3).

Concept-construction has inherent contradictions. To define a concept is to narrow the application of an idea. Most of the time, ideas have multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings (even those situated in similar conditions). To different scholars, a concept may have different definitions. This complicates the process, as different scholars subscribe to different schools of thought.

However, not all ideas have contradictory or overlapping meanings. In economics, the term GDP has an empirical definition. The same case can be said about enertia, acceleration, and demand. This is not the case with the concept of religion. Marxian tradition defines religion as an outward expression of the substructure. Classical tradition defines religion as universal belief in supernatural beings. Behavioral tradition limit the application of religion to behavioral conducts. Freudian tradition defines religion as an expression of libidinal energy. The implication religion is a complicated concept because it has a broad subjective application (it is subjective in the sense that religious experience differs from individual to individual, from culture to culture, from period t period). McCutcheon is fully aware of this issue since one of his objectives in writing this article is to expose the difficulty in extracting a substantive (essential) element of religion (the other purpose is to show the intricate nature of the religious experience).

The Greeks divided religion into three spheres piety (eusebia), mystery (myo or fear for danger), and gnosis (esoteric knowledge). Piety is the quality of doing the right thing -an element of conscience. Mystery refers to cults in which members were initiated into the mysterious workings of the cosmic order (McCutcheon 3). Gnosis, on the other hand refers to a tradition in which ones personal salvation was thought to depend upon gaining special, spiritual knowledge (McCutcheon 3). What is the relevance of this issue to religion Simply put, it is often easy to categorize and provide examples of religious experience but difficult to set a universal, nomothetic definition of religion. This is the general purpose of McCutcheons article.

For McCutcheon, the study of religion is always problematic because of the complexity of religious experience and the ambiguous nature of religion. For Mircea Eliade, religion is an outward irrational experience concerned with the sacred in its whole form. Eliade offers an indirect definition of religion. According to him, the sacred is the opposite of the profane. Now, the opposite of the profane is explained by the concept of hierophany. Hierophany is simply the manifestation of the sacred. In his work The Sacred and the Profane, (Sacred Space and Making the World Sacred   Chapter), he defines the character of hierophany as

For it is the break effected in space that allows the world to be constituted, because it reveals the fixed point, the central axis for all future orientation. When the sacred manifests itself in hierophany, there is only a break in the homogeneity of space there is also revelation of of an absolute reality, opposed to the nonreality of the vast surrounding expanse. The manifestation of the sacred founds ontologically founds the world. In the homogenous and infinite expanse, in which no point of reference is possible and hence no orientation can be established, the hierophany reveals an absolute fixed point, a center.

What is profanity Profanity is the indifference to the sacred. A profane individual does not necessarily rejects the sacred. Profanity is simply the opposite (but not a rejection) of the sacred. Rejection implies choice. Hence, it implies that individuals determine which actions are mutually exclusive. As Eliade correctly observes

It must be added at once that such a profane experience is never found in the pure scale. To whatever he may have desacralized the world, the man who has made his choice in favor of a profane life never succeeds in completely doing away with religious behavior  I will appear that even the most desacralized existence still preserves traces of a religious revaluation of the world (23, italics mine).

Religious experience has a fixed point in space. Indeed, the purpose of religious experience is to find uniformity in the chaos of homogeneity. It is living in the real sense. The profane life, on the other hand, maintains the homogeneity and the relativity of space. The profane life is simply a general reference to indifference, amalgamation, and lucidity. As Eliade argues

No true orientation is possible is now possible, for the fixed point no longer enjoy a unique ontological status it appears and disappears in accordance with the needs of the day. Properly speaking, there is no longer any world, there are only fragments of a shattered quagmire   the obligation of an existence incorporated into an industrial society (24).

Central to Eliades theory is the idea of a religious man. The religious man is the representative of pre-modern societies. He is the object of religious experience. He treats nature as the subject of religion   religion in the traditionalist sense. The religious man strives to live with the sacred because he wanted access to the ultimate form of reality and to the power associated with the sacred. The religious man is, in a sense, an expression of self-efficacy. He imitates the gods in order to attain perfection (at least in some cultures). If perfection is absent, imitation serves as a conduit of obedience. Obedience is a behavior associated with command. This implies that the power of the sacred is in itself self-manifest. The religious man follows out of the religious experience itself. As Eliade argues

In such cases, the sign fraught with religious meaning, introduces an absolute element and puts an end to relativity and confusion. Something that does not belong to this world has manifested itself sporadically and in so doing has indicated an orientation or determined a course of conduct (27).

The religious experience is also manifested through signs. Signs are expressions of religiosity. But they are also mediums for extracting meaning. For example, when no sign manifests itself, it is usually provoked. For example, a sort of vocation is performed with the help of animals because it is them who know what place is fit to receive the sanctuary of the village. A sign may also be asked. This is to put an end to the tension and anxiety caused by relativity and disorientation.

There is another concept related to the religious experience   the chaos and the cosmos. At face, two concepts are visible, but clearly these concepts are twin concepts. Hence, they are treated as a single reference point. The cosmos is the known world   the place of materiality and certainty. Beyond the cosmos is the uninhabited, unknown, and indiscriminate space. It is the territory that extends beyond itself. Now, the world is a universe within which the sacred has already manifested itself in which time and reality is possible. The religious man fixes the limits of his sense experience and finds meanings from the world. In sum, this behavioral tendency is a reference to the sacred.

Conclusion
The essential difference between McCutcheon and Eliade is their treatment of religion. For McCutcheon, the study of religion is a problematic endeavor. For Eliade, religion is a manifestation of the sacred (as opposed to the profane). McCutcheon offers a pragmatic approach to the study of religion (identify appropriate analytical frameworks). Eliade, on the other hand, offers an epistemological approach to the study of religion.

Dianna Butler Basss book, Christianity for the Rest of Us takes the opportunity to address some important trends in Christianity, while attempting to tackle a major question facing the Christian religion right now. In her work, she not only uses numbers from a study to offer an analysis of the religions growth at large she also debunks what would seem to be a prevailing myth. She addresses whether or not the neighborhood church is still a relevant idea, as common thought would suggest that it had gone away over the last ten to fifteen years. As the author of seven books on the topic and a Ph.D. holder from Duke Universitys School of Divinity, Bass a special authority on the subject. She uses her skill for research and her unique ability to track wide ranging trends to paint a telling picture of what Christianity has become. Her work succeeds because she is able to see that although Christianity may be changing in nature, it is not going away. In fact, she argues, it is actually becoming stronger in its new, adaptive role, as the new neighborhood church is reaching out to more people in communities across the United States.

Understanding the book itself requires one to understand the research that preceded the book. At her core, Bass is a researcher that loves to tackle large questions and seemingly unanswered questions. Through her history as an author, she has approached common knowledge that is somewhat unproven to see if she could come up with some sort of convincing answer on the subject. In this particular study, the idea was to look at the core churches that make up the Christian power base in the United States. Where the work truly succeeds is in the arrangement of the study. Grading the reach and effectiveness of churches in a modern sense might seem like a difficult task, and few have been able to do it well because of the problem of standardization. How do you grade a churchs impact Should it be done using numbers alone, to figure out how many members come into various churches each work Should it be done using some sort of combined criteria, taking into account a number of different factors Bass uses a set of criteria that is inventive enough to push the study forward.  She grades the churches using things like hospitality, discernment, healing, testimony, diversity, worship, justice, contemplation, and even healing. These are all relevant factors in understanding exactly how a church operates, and the inclusion of these items makes her study somewhat contemplative in its own right. She covers all bases and takes a look at a wide range of different churches to try and come up with a picture of what is really happening. While some authors are content to go with the flow and write books in line with the common thought of the day, Basss book is one that branches out and touches on key questions that have yet to be discovered appropriately. In this way, she adds a lot of value for readers of all kinds.

One of the unique things about this book is that Bass is willing to study not only the structure of the new churches, but also how the congregations interaction in comparison to older churches. What she found was that todays churches are changing to become more participative and less authoritative. Instead of the old church, where the hierarchy was clearly defined and people stay within their defined roles, the new church has fewer of these roles. This is not to say that everyone is equal, but people are more on the same playing field. She is correct in arguing that todays church is a place with more involvement, which helps to make it a more community oriented church. In her book, she writes, I observed congregations that had moved away from being hierarchical, top-down communities of authority toward more participatory forms of church, thus flattening their congregations. Instead of reasserting the ministerial or doctrinal voice of authority, they had opened their congregations to more voices, bringing a multiplicity of perspectives to bear on community life (Bass, 234). Because her study attempted to detect a new sense of community in the modern church, this is an important finding. Not only has the modern church reached out into communities to forge new relationships with a wide range of different people it has also in itself become a community, which is something that many individuals felt was lacking in todays large, evangelistic churches.

One of the most interesting portions of the book, and another place where Bass steps out from under the company line, is with her take on what all of these things mean. She does not stop at simply uncovering the data, as that would be one step short of her purpose. She goes on to state what the changing dynamic of the church indicates for the future of the Church in America, and what it means individually to Christians, as well. According to Bass, the heart of the movement is all about the ability to change and the ability to transform. The fact that churches are able to mold themselves into something new and useable is one of their primary strengths, according to Bass. This is a highly interesting take that flies in the face of what some thinkers have proposed. There have been some differing viewpoints abounding that call this expansion in the church a deviation from its stated purpose. By growing larger, these pundits say, the church is losing its sense of community and its ability to really reach people on an individual level. In this, one can see one of the key arguments in todays religious circles. Is it better to be bigger and reach a greater number of people or is it better to be smaller and have a more intimate relationship with those people that the church does reach Though many have offered opinions on this matter, few have done it as well as Bass does in this book. She makes convincing arguments about the churchs new ability and cautions against stopping that sort of transformation. She argues that the world is a changing place and that if the church wants to survive, it needs to be willing to change, as well. This might seem like a scary notion at first thought, and many religious thinkers have rightfully been afraid of this type of church. Her arguments paint a picture of the churchs dire need to keep up, though. Additionally, she opines about the personal responsibility of the church and how todays churches are more in line with its original goals. Churches in the past have been places where people have been spoon-fed, according to Bass. She rightly argues that the new church is one that is more of a resource to communities. Across denominational lines, churches are growing to become the community center where people go to tap in and get their own nourishment. Though this is not as easy, it is something that can be positive for those people who are smart enough to use it, at least according to Bass in this work.

This book provides value to a host of readers, for a host of reasons. For one, it is valuable for its role in providing more data on the changing church. In a pure research-related sense, Bass has added something to the knowledge base that was not there before. Additionally, this work is a valuable one because it can be digested on a number of levels. For casual followers of theology who would like to dig into the ideas of a changing church, this work allows for that. For those readers who are looking to get more out of this book and open up their own discussion on the matter, this book also allows for that. This ability to provide somewhat far-reaching truths is not exclusive to Bass, but it is relatively uncommon among some of todays theological writers. In exploring some difficult to answer questions and taking on the common consciousness, Bass has provided a meaningful read that is worth the time it takes to finish the book.

Overall, Bass touches on many themes and makes many excellent points. A critical review of her book would offer no grade, but instead say that the author achieved her directive and fulfilled the goals she set out to fulfill. With a book of this nature, which features such a wide-ranging audience, many will take from it what they want to, and that is the beauty of this work. It is not quite an exhaustive work on the current condition of the Christian Church, but it is comprehensive enough to serve as a guide of sorts for people to use as they study it further. It is also a book that brings both answers and more questions, which is an excellent thing for the overall discussion of Christianity at this point in time. In short, it is a book worth reading by an author that long ago established the credibility to venture into such heady waters and take on questions so seemingly unapproachable.

The author of the article is Mr. David C. Deuel, an associate professor of Old Testament studies on The Masters Seminary, an evangelical corporation of a college and seminary based in Sun Valley, California. The author wrote the article with a single goal in mind To elaborate the usefulness and effectiveness of story-line preaching, in contrast of other kinds of preaching like the behavioral or historical preaching. He suggests that in manifesting the feature of evangelical narratives as stories in preaching the Word of God, the preacher would avoid shortcomings of interpreting the evangelical narrative to other means than keeping the story format.

On reading the said text, it is much obvious that the writer used a literary interpretation of the Old Testament to give solid proof to his arguments. This is forthcoming since his research is about the story format implemented by narratives found in the Old Testament. The author had used a lot of sources for the article however, most of these sources are side-commentaries rather than additional clarification or rationalization on the subject.

The main audience of the text would be pastors, as they are the ones who would benefit the most from reading this article. The author is suggesting something about preaching, so who else would be more attentive to this article but pastors A secondary audience would be scholars interested in evangelical communication such as preaching. It would differentiate several kinds of preaching to each other, in lieu with communication practices such as rhetoric.

The strength of the article lies on its organizational structure, in so far that it follows a seemingly perfect and logical sequence of points and arguments. The author was able to present a problem, a desired solution, evidences to his solution, and a conclusion that reflects to his objective at the beginning of the article. Aside from this, he was also able to present clear and reasonable points at the end of his article that furthers the authors goal. To keep short this point, the article was a good composition and a fine example of a scholarly work.

Another good point about the article is that it is packed with good content. The article is substantiated by the authors evidences all throughout the text. This is good since the audience that would be reading the text would not be only reading the authors opinion, but also facts that would validate the authors opinion. This is definitely another plus for Deuels article.

However, the downside of the article is that it does not provide enough examples to give life to the evidences presented. Only late in the article did the author provided an example, that is, the life of Joseph in Genesis. This is also truncated to its barest bones, in so far that the author did not fully elaborate on his own example. For example, readers of the text would be confused by Deuels definition of what a story-line is, especially since the context is the Bible, in so far that it does not provide an example to back it up. Nevertheless, since the audiences are pastors, this may not be an issue at all.

Another bad thing about the article is that the author did not include ignores arguments against story-line preaching. An article is never solid-proof unless it is tried in fire. Even if the article is backed with a lot of evidences, this is nothing as critics would surely find a hole in the argument. Once they find this loophole, and without anything to answer it back in the article, the whole text would surely go down in the ashes.

In regards to the audience, pastors reading the article would surely be enlightened as the article provides an insight about ideal preaching. This is good since one of the secondary goals of the article was to provide an easy way for pastors to preach the Word of God, without falling in the pitfalls mentioned at the penultimate part of the article. Pastors, however, would have to read this text twice to fully understand it. It requires a higher kind of thinking it is not an article that could be swallowed in one bite. It takes understanding, and understanding takes time.

As a concluding statement, I believe that the author had met his stated goal at the start of the article. He was able to provide a good argument, and was able to present it well. There were some flaws however, these flaws could be overlooked in so far that the audience would still get the main idea of the article despite these flaws.

Over-all, Deuels article would have a fine piece of work if it could be truncated to its essentials and give enough consideration for the audience to give some examples.

Analysis of The Shorter and Longer Texts of Ezekiel The Implications of the Manuscript Finds from Masada and Quaran, written by Hector M. Patmore, published on the Summer 2007 issue of the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

The author of the article is Mr. Hector M. Patmore, an Anglican researcher with primary interest on the Old Testament. The goal of the article was to inform rather than to suggest, as it was in the first analysis of Deuels text. The article compares and contrasts two different versions of the Ezekiel text in the Bible. The first of these versions is the Masoretic text, which is used by most versions of Bibles today, and the second version is the Greek version found in the Masada. The author argues that the Masoretic text, which is longer than the Greek version, is not only an expanded version of the Greek text. He further concludes that neither of the Greek and Masoretic text came first they were in circulation concurrently with each other.

The analysis used by Patmore is historical and analytical, with the author examining the scrolls and texts as compared with the other texts. He also compared these texts with the events as written in history as to validate their truth value. The author also scrutinized every word that the two texts use, thinking whether or not the Masoretic text is indeed an expansion of the Greek text, rather than a legitimate and original cultural relic.

The main audience for the text would be historians that would be much interested in what predates what and the time of which the texts were actually written. Another primary audience would be Bible scholars that would be interested in knowing more about the Bibles formation and form, as the Masoretic and Greek text versions of the passage of Ezekiel differ very much in content.

The strength of the article is that it is highly full of content, backed by evidences found by the author himself. The evidences, therefore, were found first-hand and the audience could be assured that there is neither malice nor no mistranslation. On the other hand, the article is also good in so far that it has a lot of sources, ranging from other Bible scholars to studies about the Masoretic and Greek texts.

The downside of the article, however, is that it is rather long and weary, with the author explaining and scrutinizing every bit of detail. The author assumes that the reader does not know a thing, to the point that the reader absorbs nothing out of the article. Although it is good to be detailed, too much detail spoils the readers concentration. To shorten this argument, the article was a tad boring.

In regards to the audience, I believe that it could be highly informative for Bible scholars and historians alike however, the author has no definite conclusion, only a suggestion that the Masoretic text may not be an extension of the Greek text. The question of probability still exists, and the goal at the very start of the article was not fully answered.

As a concluding statement, the article was good, in so far that it meets the expectation of explaining things well to the audience. However, there were some flaws in the article, such as the over-detailed explanations that need to be truncated so that the reader may proceed to the next point without exerting too much concentration on a specific paragraph. This may be overlooked, however, by historians that are much focused on details than the casual reader.

Over-all, the text is good, in so far that it is an article for historians. However, there might be problems if this article is read by the public audience because they would have a hard time deciphering every bit of detail that the author had written. If I were the author, I would truncate it to its essentials to make it more user-friendly.

The millennium is inaugurated during the period of the church age by God restricting Satan to deceive the nations and to destroy the Church and by the resurrection of the souls of believers to heaven so that they can reign there with Christ. According to Beale, there are three principal views of the millennium and within each perspective are wide variations of interpretation. For instance, some people believe that the millennium is bound to happen after the second coming of Christ, in a view traditionally known as premillennialism. On the other hand, postmillennialism holds that the millennium will occur towards the end of the Church age and also that the coming of Christ will occur at the end of the millennium. In yet another view, some people believe that Christs resurrection marked the beginning of the millennium and will end at the final coming of Christ. This view has come to be known as amillennialism. According to a symbolic interpretation, postmillennialism and amillennialism have approached the passage in a more consistent manner.

In approaching verse 20 1-6, it is vital to remember the genre of Revelation, and more importantly the programmatic nature of 11, which mentions the symbolic nature of the communication from the mediating angel to John. More to this, the I saw repeated introductory throughout the book introduces symbolic visions. For instance, both 20 1-3 and 20 4-6, are introduced by I saw and we can therefore assume that there are three levels of communication in 1-6 which are the visionary level, and it consists of the actual visions that John had when he saw resurrected people and other objects of his vision, the referential level, and this consists of the historical identification of people that had resurrected in addition to all the other objects of his vision, and the third and final level is the symbolic level. This consists of what the symbols included in the vision signify about their historic referents. John for instance uses the words life, one thousand years and resurrection because at the visionary level he saw people who were resurrected and consequently given life for one thousand years. The objects he sees and hears are seen and heard in a vision and are not first to be literally understood but are viewed as symbolically communicated and portrayed. This is the symbolic level of the vision.

Williams refers to the millennium as a future period on earth. That the figure of one thousand years can either be viewed literally or symbolically but in either way one looks at it, the millennium is seen as a coming time for blessings on earth. The millennium is hence understood to be a temporary period on earth before the ultimate consummation in the eternal age. Williams however notes that postmillennialism believe that Christ will come after the millennium while premillennialism believe He will return before the millennium. He argues that in   postmillennialism, through the teaching and the spread of the gospel all over the world, the kingdom of Christ is gradually to enlarge its boundaries so that all Jews and Gentiles are possessed by its blessings and a millennial age is introduced where Christianity prevails throughout the earth. Christ is then expected to return after this. World Wars I and II brought to an end this way of thinking. However, as Williams note, the world is to eventually be Christianized and the return of Jesus Christ is to occur at the end of lengthy period known as the millennium. The age of postmillennialism is clearly stated and it is going to be a future period of blessings, peace, and righteousness, and Christ will then return, according to Williams. He further adds that the millennium will be a period of spiritual prosperity. The changed character of individuals will be seen in an uplifted cultural, social, political and economic life of mankind. Here Christ will return to a full Christianized world where evil will have been reduced to a negligible magnitude. Postmillennialism on the other hand has enjoyed revival in the latest Reconstructionist movement. R.J. Rushdooney, who is the leader of the movement, adds that people of every tribe, nation, and tongue shall be converted, and all over the world the word of God shall prevail. It is a confident and solid Bible-based confirmation that the gospel will be victorious all over the world before the second coming of Christ. Those who remain godly will hence continue to prosper and become powerful while those who are ungodly will not only become impotent but also will continue to become weak. The idea of the godly becoming powerful is a notable feature of Reconstructionist postmillennialism sees Christians taking authority over societys structures, which is not the case in the traditional postmillennialism. Not only will society be governed by Biblical law but the gospel will also be universally victorious.

G.E Ladd, quoted by William, defines premillennialism as the doctrine stating that after His second coming, Christ will reign over the earth for a thousand years before the eventual consummation of Gods purpose of redemption in both the new heaven and earth of the age to come. The millennium on the other hand was seen as the final dispensation of the kingdom that shall follow the churchs present dispensation. Envisioned were separate programmes for the church and Israel which included a secret church pretribulation rapture and a postponed kingdom for Israel. This particular kingdom will include among it restoration of various sacrifices of the Old Testament and also a rebuilt temple.
       
 For the dispensational premillennialism thinking, Christs reign on earth in the Millennium is essential for the fulfillment of Israels Old Testament prophesies. The millennium will be seen to fulfill all the expectations of the Old Testament prophets for Gods Kingdom on earth and will embrace all nations. In addition to this, Christ will reign over Davids throne on earth over a restored Israel as well as the world of Gentiles.  Dispensational premillennialism is therefore seen to stress the political and governmental character of the millennium itself.

Blaising et al explain postmillennialism in the form of a diagram as shown below.

The interpretation is that that postmillennialism changes the focus of the believers hope for the future.  While the New Testament portrays the church in the present age as a church that is continuing to participate in Christs suffering and at the same time awaiting His return at the close of the age, postmillennialism encourages a view of the future focused on a period anticipated to be characterized by blessedness in the millennial kingdom.

Clouse and Ladd note that premillennialists believe that such things like preaching of the gospel to the whole world, famines, earthquakes, wars, a great tribulation and the appearance of the antichrist will precede the return of Christ. A period of peace and righteousness will follow soon after His return and He shall reign as King in person or otherwise through a selected group of followers. Instead of being established by individual souls and over a long period of time, this particular reign will come about suddenly and with an overwhelming power.
       
During this time, the Jews will be converted and will become very important. Nature will not be left behind either. It will share the millennial blessings and will become very productive. Wickedness will be held in check by Christ who then shall be ruling with an iron fist and even wild beasts shall be tamed. At the end of the millennium however, wicked men will rebel and almost overwhelm the saints. During this period, dead believers shall resurrect together with their golden bodies and will interact freely with the inhabitants of the earth. After the millennium, those unchristian dead shall be raised and there will consequently be the establishment of eternal Heaven and hell. Different from the views of premillennialists, postmillennialists add that Gods kingdom is now being extended through Christian preaching and teaching. This activity will result to the world being Christianized and as a result there will be a long period of peace and prosperity, and will be known as the millennium.
The new age however will not be any different from the present. Evil will not be fully eliminated but will have been reduced drastically because the spiritual and moral influence of Christians will have increased. Many problems touching on social, political and economic issues will be solved as the church will have assumed greater importance.  
            
This period will eventually come to a close with Christs Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, as well as the final judgment. According to Clouse and Ladd, amillennialists maintain that the Bible does not in any way predict there will be a period of universal peace and righteousness before the world comes to an end. Instead, they believe that there will be a continuation of both good and evil in the world and this will see the Second Coming of Christ when the last judgment shall be held and at the same time the dead  be raised. Amillennialists believe that Gods Kingdom is currently present in the world as the triumphant Christ is already ruling the His followers by both His word and spirit, although they still look forward to a bright future, perfect and glorious kingdom on the new earth but in the life yet to come. The millennium mentioned in the book of Revelation 20 is interpreted by amillennialists as describing the current reign of deceased believers souls with Christ in Heaven.

Clouse and Ladd add during this period of the millennium, the Jewish temple shall be rebuilt and there is going to be a reinstitution of the entire sacrificial system. This is according to the prophesies of Ezekiel 40-48. There is however going to be a difference between the sacrifices of the Old Testament and the millennial sacrifices in that the millennial sacrifices will be considered a memorial to the death of Jesus Christ. For those others who consider a ritual the millennial sacrifices simply invest the sacrifice with the meaning of memorial therefore looking back to Christs offering.

The context of millennium must also be looked at in the context of the New Testament, and most particularly its Christology. The New Testament does not make Christs reign limited to Israel in the millennium. Instead, its a spiritual reign in Heaven that has already been inaugurated (Smith 2000). Its core purpose is to destroy all the spiritual enemies of Christ, the last one being death. The millennium is said to be part of the Messianic rule through which he puts all His enemies under his foot.  Israel is going to be converted and we are going to witness a true Christian nation for the first time in human history. Details of Israels conversion and role in the millennium are not given in the New Testament. It just affirms Israels future salvation and remains open to the future of God as to the details. Ladd maintains that Israel shall be converted and most probably in the connection with the millennium. He bases his arguments on the book of Romans 1126.

The coming of the millennium can be compared to the coming of summer in that it is slow and on a grander scale.  A number of setbacks and advances are experienced in the struggle between the seasons. Often the first harbingers of spring appear to be later overcome by winter winds. The struggle at times seems to be lost and that the winter sold will not be broken only for the spring breeze to take over and in no time we find ourselves in the glorious summer season (Grudem and Purswell 1999). In the same case, trying to predict when the millennium will begin is likewise almost impossible. The millennium will in no doubt follow the law in relation to all the other great periods in the church history. It is definitely expected to be gradual and uncertain in its approach.

The book of Revelation 201-6 is notably the only passage in the whole Bible which is seen to speak of the thousand years of reign. It is divided into two parts which are verse 13 which is seen to describe the binding of Satan and verse 46 which is seen to describe the one thousand years of reign of souls together with Christ. Premillenialists interpret this and describe Christs millennial reign on earth which is seen to occur only after His second coming. According to Premillenialists, it is then apparent that the millennium of Revelation 201-6 will only come after the return of Christ.
     
Both post and premillennialism share a common view regarding the millennium as a future period in history. Therefore, neither system can cope with evil breaking out at the end of the millennium. Even as postmillennialism foresees a coming period of peace and righteousness and evil having been reduced to its minimal, it still hard-pressed to account for the resurgence by satanic forces after that. Same case applies to postmillennialism and is hard-pressed to give an explanation to similar resurgence after Christs reign on earth for a thousand years. But the solution is at hand when we have the millennium viewed as presently occurring and Christs reign as an ongoing reality.

To an outsider, when one thinks of China, there are a lot of things one can think of from the food and the exotic culture.  But to someone who is into martial arts, one thing definitely and distinctively Chinese is Shaolin (Kung Fu) which is another of Chinas famous exports to the world, no thanks to the likes of Chinese action stars who made it big into Hollywood like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Jet Li, particularly the latter who is a true-blue martial artist whose style closely approximates the Shaolin style (wushu) and made it well-known in his 1981 debut movie Shaolin Temple as well as his portrayal of the legendary martial artist Wong Fei Hung in the Once Upon a Time in China series.  Through these actors, the world has come to know Shaolin Kung Fu.

Beyond the movies, Shaolin Kung Fu is for real.  The main headquarters is the Songshan Shaolin Temple located in the mountains near the city and county of Dengfeng in Henan Province in Central China which represents the northern Shaolin.  The southern franchise of the Shaolin Temple is located in Fujian Province in Southern China. It is true that they are trained warriors though tempered by Buddhist pacifist teachings.  This would put them in the same company as the Yamabushi fighting monks of feudal Japan and the Knights Templar where they also combined spirituality and fighting arts which made them formidable warriors. The Shaolin monks are by far the only existing group of this sort and they boast of a history that is partly shrouded in legend and in the absence of written documents, the tapestries in the temple tell the early story of the place and of the art that developed afterward.

History
It was said that a Buddhist missionary from India the Chinese called Da Mo (Dharma or Bodhidharma) came to China to teach Buddhism to the Chinese.  He settled in this region since he found it suitable for his purposes.  Besides Buddhist teachings and practices, he was said to have developed a fitness program for his followers based on the movements and behaviors of the animals in the surrounding areas.  Da Mo noticed that the constant activities of these animals kept them fit and healthy all year round and sought to provide the monks physical activity to balance their spiritual activity centered on asceticism.  Other accounts have opposing views where martial arts practitioners took refuge in the Shaolin temple and after being taken in as monks, imparted their skills on the monks also as a form of fitness and self-defense.  Another version stated that the monks had to study martial arts to protect themselves as the temple was situated in a mountainous region where wild animals and bandits thrive and it became necessary for them to protect themselves from these threats (Hsu, 94).

One might wonder why Buddhist monks, conditioned to follow the path to peace through spiritual exercises would practice combative arts meant to main and kill  One will truly find it strange for Shaolin monks to be taught to respect all life forms in one instance and fight and sometimes kill when the situation calls for it.  According to the Shaolin monks, martial arts training is also a means to purify oneself, to purge the evil from within through the rigid Spartan discipline that does compliment the ascetic nature of Buddhism as monks follow the same vows of poverty, chastity and obedience like Catholic religious clerics though what makes them different from the latter is their martial arts practice.  The Shaolin monks are not very offensive in nature.  They practice martial arts primarily for defensive purposes and they are acutely aware that killing is inevitable (though it does not happen  very often in present times) and are justified as some Buddhist text do permit them to do what is necessary to defend themselves (Shahar, 198-199).

During the Tang Dynasty, the Shaolin monks made a good account for themselves in the service the emperor Taizong in suppressing a revolt though there had been countless instances when they had fought for what was right even before this time.  Because of their efforts, the emperor rewarded them by allowing them to stay in Songshan in their temple and live in relative tranquility and free to go about their business of praying, meditation and martial arts training (Henning, 175).  For centuries, the Shaolin Temple has survived the ravages of Chinas turbulent history.  It has weathered calamities and wars because of its relative isolation in the mountains.  Not even Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution has been able to eradicate it from existence.  The temple even put up a southern branch in Fujian Province in the south.  The only other Chinese martial arts mecca that would rival the Shaolin Temple of both north and south would by the martial arts school in the Wudang Mountains of China which is Taoist based and centers on Taijiquan and Baqua forms.

The Arts
The fighting style of Shaolin kung fu is diverse.  It can be broken down into two main categories  unarmed and armed forms.  As stated earlier, the unarmed forms of Shaolin are derived from the animals that inhabit the area and Da Mo and his disciples would mimic their movements, particularly those used when fighting.  Each form makes use of certain attributes of these animals that makes them distinct from one another but nevertheless very effective in a fight.  The common animal forms are tiger, leopard, snake, crane and dragon though other animal forms are also considered and developed into fighting forms as well such as the eagle, mantis and the monkey.  These would form the foundations of Shaolin kung fu which would evolve into several diverse techniques as the Shaolin temple, both north and south, would serve as a laboratory for developing more innovative fighting forms.  These forms were based also on the understanding on the human anatomy and how to best use it to ones advantage and at the same time know where to strike.  In the northern style, such forms developed were Ta-shen men, where the actions of the monkey are emulated the well-known Lohan, meaning like Buddha the Erh-lang men, based on a legendary three-eyed Taoist hero and Wei-to system, derived from the deities.  The southern form has five branches in Ta-hung men, Liu-chia men, Tsai chia chuan, Li-chia chuan and Mo-chia chuan and it is from here that they have developed over 300 different fighting techniques.  It can be truly said that the Shaolin Temple is the repository of knowledge and learning of the Chinese martial arts (Khim and Draeger, 20  Shahar, 118).

It could be said that the north and south branches of Shaolin developed distinct styles though they were all derived from the same basis.  The northern styles emphasize long-punching forms as well as attributes of mobility, agility and fluidity of motion as opposed to the southern form that puts emphasis on power and force which also includes shouting where the practitioner exerts virtually 100  energy in every move to the extent it is the ground would tremble with every thundering move.

Besides the unarmed component based on the above-mentioned forms, Shaolin also makes use of various weapons ranging from the common ones to the exotic and innocuous ones.   Shaolin monks practice using the common fighting weapons used by soldiers such as the jian (straight sword), dao (broadsword), along with its other variants, and chang (spear).  Common items used in daily chores can also be used as weapons such as the rake, the spade and even the broom are effective weapons in the hands of the Shaolin monk.  Then there are the unusual weapons normally used by assassins in kung fu movies such as the double hooks, hoop daggers, the rope dart, mace, meteor hammer, and the 9-section chain whip which can also be used to deadly effect.  But perhaps the weapon that the monks are very proficient at and serves as their trademark is the gun (staff or cudgel).  The staff serves as sort of the symbol of the Shaolin monk and is the most common accessory in their person whenever they travel since they use it as a walking aid and naturally would become their weapon when attacked.  Even the ornate metal staff carried by the senior monks of the temple is used as a weapon though heavier and not as wieldy as the slimmer gun which is faster and more efficient to wield and can still inflict damage of the assailant with its speed and accuracy.

Besides the external aspect of the art as described above, Shaolin kung fu also has an internal element exemplified by qigong, an exercise that entails channeling the qi or inner energy all over the body which (normally) maintains health but can be used by a learned practitioner to direct energy to certain points of the body to strengthen it.  In many a Shaolin kung fu demonstration, monks would sit on a bed of nails or have themselves impaled but the qigong exercises they performed prior to these feats gave them a skin of iron and emerge unharmed.  One can imagine why they were considered awesome in those days when they were truly warrior monks.

Shaolin Today (Conclusion)
The Shaolin Temples of the north and south have survived the turbulent history of China and still continue to draw disciples, pilgrims and tourists alike.  If there is one other contribution Shaolin kung fu has made for China it was the development of wushu, a modified form of their fighting style derived from Shaolin forms which concentrates more on aesthetics and form and made into a competition sport in which Chinese athletes would distinguish themselves worldwide.  Another consequence of this fame was the emergence of many wushu schools surrounding the temple complex as the temple started taking in secular students or those who study wushu with them without having to become a monk, taking in students as young as 10 years old which they consider capable of learning and physically capable to go through the rigorous training regimen.

Despite its fame as the center for martial arts, Shaolin Temple has not deviated from its original mission of being a spiritual retreat for those who seek enlightenment through ascetic lifestyle and despite this desire to maintain it, the temple has also attracted tourists and the senior leadership of the temple has decided to capitalize on this opportunity rather than shun it as they have seen that it is still in keeping with the teachings of Buddha to be very open and this has worked wonders for the temple and the arts it promotes.

The current leadership also decided it is beneficial for the Temple to promote the art worldwide.  Almost on a regular basis, the Shaolin Temple has sent exhibition teams all over China and around the world to perform and wherever they go, they would attract a huge following and this has made more people around the world come to the Shaolin Temple not only as tourists but also as students and even disciples not only learning martial arts, but also to be enlightened by Buddhist teachings and by the time they leave the temple and return home, they will have a holistic attitude of the world that is tempered by combative skills.

Hinduism has befallen in the worlds third major religion subsequent to Christianity and Islam. There was no establisher and didnt have any framework in constructing the Hinduism religion and is an older religion. There were huge types of religions existed on the Indian sub continent. A good number of the Indian religions are assembled together, are called as religion. In the practice, samples of Hindu religious culture have been changed, or improved be traditional to several culture systems embedded in the different values. Eighty percent of population in India treated themselves as Hindus. Hinduism has another name that is Sanatana Dharma. In the word Sanatana Dharma sanatana give out meaning as eternal and dharma is regularly means as religion. There are many sayings and dissimilarities are present in sanatana dharma and this is the route of getting all good things in life and is the method of achieving the consistency.

Hinduism gives out the information about religious thoughts and coulters which was that industrialized in India for the past years, it draws nearer to word India. They deem in rebirth and love to do meditation and they get pleasure by doing meditation, the Hindu culture love to pray more than one god and are called as Deities. The Hindus are very curious to recognize the mode of philosophy of independence of accomplishment, as a result that they require a great religion. The religion is determined by the characteristics of god and was expressed as human being, So that more number of gods are prayed and worshipped by the people and they made a perfect belief. Because of this not only the god but also each and every single one aspect of human nature was worshipped and adorned. The word sanatana replicates the faith and the word dharma includes duty, social welfare, health, natural law, ethics and insight of transcendental.

Hinduism is the essence of the religion which was established for numerous motivations. The cause is that India is one of the previous places that still performing an extensive multiplicity of religious customs. The societal and cultural influences that have made Hinduism vital to the region in which it was originated take account of yoga, karma and spiritual truths and so on. The conception of karma and a faith in reincarnation is very essential for some patients of Sikh and Hindu religion so as they take moral judgments related to death and birth issues. The basic idea is that each and every individual is continually reborn as a result that his or her spirit or soul may possibly be sanitize and eventually unite the godly enormous perception.

Kotte (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) period is correspondingly list out that in the view of kingship an important cultural influence rise on the subject of exhaustive supporting links with the Cola, Kalinga, and the Pandyan empires in south India. The effect of societal influences is that the Hindu culture implemented a five step caste system to separate out the population and therefore converting their existence.

Public of each religion looks for freedom and emancipation from earthly existence. The causes are more and more existed for this. They are persistence of survival or life, free from distress of each and every category and blessings of god. All of the human beings are believed despite of the religion, and they are searching for liberation. There are many promising replies for this question. The population of the Indian subcontinent was religiously, culturally, faithfully and ethnically varied. The Hinduism shaped a united influence and that belief provided assistance and peacefulness. Taking up of vegetarianism, particularly animal protection, secures that the human beings would be fine by avoiding the exploitation of narrow sources that exists for making of meat. The Caste system (varnashram dharma) was implemented the social category and is distinct as supremacy power in prehistoric India, in the next years it happened as disgrace. These things are the fundamental to the India. Clean and fresh water is able to access from the sanctity of the several water resources like Ganges, Godavari, and Yamuna and so on. The subsistence or life of cultivation of bulls, dairy cows, cow compost which are used for medication and combustion employed in battles and wars are secured by the lecture of non-violence and ahimsa. The existence or survive is very tough in the conditions of jungles, tigers, deserts, snakes and through out the monsoons. People desire that they dont want to get back to this world after their fatality. So, they desires for liberation from the sequence of reincarnation.

CONCLUSION
Hinduism plays a very significant role in the activities of India and the India is also named as Hindustan because of its religious matters. Almost 80 of population in the India account themselves as Hindus. Hinduism provides belief in reincarnation which is meant for rebirth and they believe in spiritual things of god.

Biography
St. Augustine was born on November 13, 354 at Tagaste in Numidia to a Christian mother and a pagan father. He drifted through various philosophical systems before finally converting to Christianity. He became deeply interested in Manichaeanism. He was however disappointed after meeting Faustus, a famous Manichean teacher who failed to provide answers to his searching questions. He studied Neo-Platonism in Milan and was well aware of the dominant philosophical and religious dispositions of the time.

Augustine can be best described as the last patristic and the first medieval father of Western Christianity (St. Augustine 2008, p.5). He collected and conserved the major themes of Latin Christianity while at the same time appropriating the heritage of Nicene orthodoxy. He freely invited and deliberately sanctified the religious philosophy of the Greco-Roman world to a new use in retaining the intelligibility of the Christian proclamation. He was not simply an eclectic even as a compressor of traditions. The Holy Scripture became fundamental to his system as they organized and directed both his heart and mind. It was within the scripture that Augustine discovered the focus of his religious authority.

Augustine can be seen more as the defender of the faith of the Church rather than a reformer. It is impossible to provide a succinct classification of Augustine owing to his extraordinary complicated thought and the tensions and prejudices that characterized his history. The central theme in his works is the sovereign God of grace and the sovereign grace of God.

Thesis
Augustines conversion was motivated by his own desire for truth and the inability of the existing doctrines and teachings to provide the truth that he thirsted for. However, apart from his quest for the truth, there are individuals and events that also played important roles in his final conversion to Christianity. This paper aims to explore the factors that not only contributed to his authoring The Confessions but also the factors that contributed to his conversion to Christianity.

Introduction
The motive behind writing The Confessions cannot be elucidated easily. However, there must be underlying reasons for such a degree of self-analysis however much the motives may be complex. It may be argued that the book was a consequence of his pilgrimage of grace. He felt a strong desire to retrace the critical turnings of the path he had come. He was convinced that it was through the grace of God that he had been the prime mover on that path. In this regard, the text was a spontaneous expression of his heart that contrived his self recollection into the kind of a persisted prayer to God.
As such, The Confessions is far from being an autobiographical account of Augustine. Instead, they are a conscious effort to reminisce on the important episodes and events which he came to conceive as the mysterious actions of Gods provident grace. Therefore, he traces the windings of his memory as it replays the upheavals of his youth and the continuum of his chaotic quest for wisdom.

Factors that Contributed to St. Augustines Conversion
The influence of his mother
The conversion of St. Augustine is largely attributed to his mother. Augustines mother, Monica, not only mothered his first natural birth but also his spiritual rebirth in Christ. His mother struggled to ensure Augustines eternal salvation more than she did at his birth (Starnes, p.13). Augustine writes that her mother brought him forth both in flesh that I might be born in his temporal light, and in her heart that I might be born in the light of eternity (St. Augustine of Hippo 1999, p.17). When speaking of his birth, his mother is impersonally represented as one of the parents of his flesh (ibid, 7), but later, he makes a more personal reference. The reason lies in the fact that he looks beyond his mothers natural capacity as a woman but talks about the things that she did by faith that finally contributed to his conversion. In this regard, Monica played an important role in the final conversion of his son to Christianity, a fact that even Augustine acknowledges.

Monica played the role of a Christian mother. She desired for her son to be brought up a Christian. His father on the other hand did not concern himself with issues about God (St. Augustine of Hippo 1999, p.8). As such, Augustines mother contributed much to his development. This did not matter much to Augustine until he got seriously ill at the age of seven with a stomach problem. The problem was so serious that he appeared about to die. He was terrified. His mother had already talked to him about eternal life that Christ promised and explained to him that this promise was only made to individuals who belonged to the church. His fathers position did not express such hope and so the young Augustine begged his mother to have him baptized (Weiskotten 2008, p.89). The remainder of his life to conversion can be viewed as Augustines effort to discover the justification of this hope and how it is justified (Starnes 1990, p.14).

Dissatisfaction with the Classical Accounts of God
The conversion of Augustine is also related with his dissatisfaction with the classical accounts of god. According to him, the classics that he studied presented the action of gods in licentious and contradictory manner apart from allowing men to do the same (Weiskotten 2008, p.91). The classical poets were thought to have been divinely inspired. As such, their productions had some form of divine authority. It is against this backdrop that the literatures were presented to Augustine. It was through these texts that children came to learn about the nature of the gods and the kind of relation that individuals ought to have towards them.

Augustine discovered that the supreme gods did not represent the things that they stood for. For instance, he found out that Jupiter himself committed adultery and fornicated at will despite being the supreme god who forbade such acts. Even though it may be claimed that those are mere stories, granting their authority leads to the question of the kind of behaviors that they authorize. Do they teach that people should desist from committing adultery, or that they may engage in sexual intercourse with whoever they will and are at freedom to use any means to achieve this end

The answer is probably both, with the consequence that men are at will to pick either course with the sanction of the highest god (Starnes 1990, p.18). The divine authority is reduced to a mockery by this view since it can be raised for any of these contradictory aims. Augustine attempted to explain that it was not by accident that he was taught in these things neither was it a mere private matter. It was the kind of education that the state advanced. Augustine complains that the only texts that he was offered were those that held cheating and deception to be perfectly right for one to indulge his passions. In this regard, he found in the scripture a literature not marred with contradictions and elevation of the lowest passions.

Ridiculous Nature of Manichean Doctrines
The ridiculous nature of Manichaean doctrines and teachings also contributed to Augustines conversion. Augustine stopped to think of the finite as existing independently of God. He found out that if the finite was conceived as possessing no relationship with a stable self-identical principle, it emerged to be void of thought, a nonentity in its independence, where nothing was anything since all things were in constant flux in which every distinction was destroyed as soon as it was made(Starnes 1990, p.72). A different perspective was held by the Manicheans. According to them, the finite was made up of contraries. They fragmented nature into the one, referred to as light, and the many, referred to as dark. The actual finite was conceived to be evil even though this was not all. The Manicheans had arrived at a position which made the knowledge of nature theoretically possible. As such, Manichaeism provided a picture of being a religion resulting in personal salvation and a complete science of nature. It is this total knowledge that Augustine desired. However, this was not to materialize since as much as he had come to the starting point of a real science, the Manicheans only provided an irrational and archaic explanation of nature and principles. This knowledge turned out empty and for it to be accepted, one needed to believe.

According to Augustine, the economy of salvation that was advanced by the Manicheans was the opposite of that advanced by the Catholics (Weiskotten 2008, p.9). The Manicheans began from an apparent knowledge, only to lead to a fantastic belief. In the Confessions, Augustine reiterates that the doctrines were not accepted by the Manicheans because of their reasonableness, but rather because it was an order (Starnes 1990, p.74). Desiring to possess the truth, Augustine felt that he was fed with fictions which fell short of satisfying him. What kept him going is the conviction that the teachings comprised of great things that sooner or later will be revealed to him. Augustines belief was a consequence of the temporal unwillingness to expose the actual meaning of their doctrines. He accommodated all this because he strongly felt that they had what he desired-knowledge of truth which would satisfy his earthly objectives and which he would possess as soon as he is completely taken into their confidence. However, he came to learn that what he thought was the unwillingness by the Manichees to reveal the truth was actually their failure to do so.

Humility of Christian Monks
Book VIII compiles a series of recollected events that instilled desire in Augustine to simulate people who appeared to have gotten what he has long been searching for. Among these was Ambrose whom Augustine saw as an incarnation of the Christian Scriptures authority and the dignity of Christian learning (St. Augustine of Hippo 2008, p.12). There was also Simplicianus who told him a compelling story about Victorinus. He also heard about Antony and the widening influence of the call to monastery. However, the account that moved him most was the conversion of the two special agents of the imperial police at Treves.

Augustine is very clear in singling out these instances as having great influences upon his life. He felt he had resolved his intellectual perplexities even though he still felt a strong urge to calm the tension that was within him. He desired to imitate these men who had achieved what he perceived he could not, and who were enjoying the peace that he so much desired.

Another important event that contributed to Augustines conversion was the scene in the Milanese Garden. The long struggle that has been going within him became summarized in a brief moment a bitter struggle of his will against and within itself. The resolution of this bitter conflict was precipitated by the distraction coming from a childs voice. His mood and will shifted radically and he find the text in Roman, 13 13 which says Let us conduct ourselves properly, as people who live in the light of day  no orgies or drunkenness, no immorality or indecency, no fighting or jealousy. But take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop paying attention to your sinful nature and satisfying its sinful desires. (Good News Bible 1992, p.202). A new spirit arose in his heart.

After this dramatic change came the demise of his mother. This was very significant owing to the connection that they had with his mother. The strongest physical earthly tie was severed. Before this event, his mother had informed him about a vision at Ostia.

Conclusion
There are two separate stages that can be observed in the conversion of Augustine. These are freeing of bonds of incontinence and pride that hindered him from committing himself to Christian faith, and the establishment of an understanding of the Christian faith. The former was realized in Milanese garden while the latter was a gradual event. The need to confess his life and show his fellow beings that it was a clear testimony of the grace of God resulted in him writing The Confessions. Again, he learned that it was only through Jesus Christ that he can know the truth and be forgiven of his sins. With this revelation, he converted to Christianity.