"RELIGION, RELIGIOUSNESS and FAITH" in Christ in Concrete.
In your view, which category applies to the characters in the book?
To avoid semantic confusion here and in class discussions we should agree on the meaning of these terms.
Here is my proposed interpretation:
RELIGION: what today is called "organized religion": the hierarchy, the buildings, the structure, the holy books, the authoritative interpretation of the holy books, the dogma(ta), the rituals, the collective prayers, the memorized instructions, the official theology, the doctrine, the "sins," the excommunication, plus the popular beliefs.
RELIGIOUSNESS: the general sense of belonging to an organized religion, but not completely, with deviations from the dogma(ta) and beliefs, but a strong sense of spirituality, a belief in life-after-death, in the existence of God.
FAITH: the strong belief that God exists and that s/he intervenes in human affairs, s/he can be moved by prayers and other rituals to perform miracles, to protect from evil and individual tragedies. In some cases, God acts through intermediaries, like angels, saints and prophets who can perform miracles.
POST YOUR COMMENTS:
- Which category applies to the characters? You can speak in general or refer to just some of them.
- Are the definitions clear enough to guide us through the discussion? (We don't want to get bogged down in endless semantic disputes. Rather, we need a basic consensus on the meaning of these terms so that we can make progress.)
- OPTIONAL: do discussions about religion, faith etc. make you uncomfortable? Yes? No? Indifferent? Tell us why.
Faith applies most to the characters in the book. For example, when Geremio is dying, he is praying to God for divine intervention and begging him to give him more time so he doesn't leave Annunziata and his children alone. The definitions are decently clear as to the magnitude religion plays in impact in their lives. However, it is still unclear whether their intense faith will REMAIN in their lives or if something will change. Although, I doubt their faith will change.
ReplyDeleteDiscussions about religion do not bother me at all. In fact, I enjoy discussing it because there are so many interpretations a person can have.
The one that I feel applies to the book is faith. You can see this from the early parts of the book. When Geremio is dying, he is having faith that someone will come and save him despite the situation that he is in. He never stops giving up the faith that he has, in Jesus and in God.
ReplyDeleteThere is also faith with Annunziata. When Geremio doesn't come home from work and the women rush to tell her what happened, she still believes that he is out there and on the run since the building incident will be blamed on them. She keeps her faith until proof is shown to her about what happened to him.
I also lean more towards faith in the book, geremio since the beginning had faith and idolized it as a reason for why he's in this particular situation. Faith to me is used as a guide to lead you from one mission to the next. Geremio had the same idea and once his life hit him he still remained faithful to god.
ReplyDeleteFaith is definitely the one that applies to most of the characters in the book. Even when things got hard, they all stuck to their faith, never wavering. Geremio is a great example of this. He stuck to his faith till his very last breath.
ReplyDeleteTo me "Christ In Concrete" is a battle between Faith and Religion at least in the descriptions you provided above. Annuziata is representative of true faith. Her faith guides every decision she makes and gives her the strength to keep going after Geremio's death. For her it is not a question of whether or not God is real. S/he HAS to be real, or else she falls apart. While Paul represents/is in accordance with the hierarchical religion. Paul never allows religion to guide him like his mother. It is a part of his life, but his guiding force is the duty he has to his family. These apposing views come to a head at the very end of the book. Paul becomes disillusioned with religion and tells his mother so in his impassioned speech, causing his mother to pass out. Annuziata literally relies on her faith to exist
ReplyDeletePersonally religion doesn't make me uncomfortable, but has overall been a negative influence on my life. I very much relate to Paul's struggle of faith throughout the novel.
With relations to "Christ", the word that best fits most of the characters, would have to be Faith. Faith has been all throughout the book. For example, in the very beginning of the book, we find Geremio exclaiming to God to save him from this accident, to keep him from dying and to reunite him with his family (Pgs 17-18).
ReplyDeleteIf you also read the introduction of the book (pg xv), at the very top starting with "Paul fails to save his godfather..." speaks about Paul's faith in God and his ability to save Luigi. This is also another example of God intervening human affairs, performing miracle.
The definitions of Religion, Religiousness, and Faith are clear and concise. Each definition gives a vast understanding and does not overlap the definition of the other words.
Speaking about such matters does not make me feel uncomfortable, because, I am not afraid to express my clear understanding of my Religion and what I have learned from it. Speaking about this, gives us the ability to learn from other perspectives.
Faith is the one that strongly jumps out at me in this book because our main characters like Paul and Annunziata believes that god and the spirit of Geremio is watching over them and is guiding them towards a better future. This was shown when they visited the Cripple and they believed that she channeled Geremio and that he is keeping watch over them and when their time has come they will join him alongside God.
ReplyDeleteI believe faith applies to the book because I feel that it is a test among the individuals in how strong their faith is. I feel that this is the case because when the books starts there's an introduction that they are religious and have a lot of faith towards God. And as the story continues on, a tragedy occurs which comes to question in the strength of their faith in his family. After that, they have to continue on and find a way to sustain themselves, which intertwines hope and faith together whether they have a future. I see it as a complication in which how they use their belief in faith
ReplyDeleteI feel as if faith applies more to the characters, especially Geremio. No matter what complications he faced he still did not lose faith, even up to his last moments of life.
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ReplyDeleteI think that in the book there are both, the dimension of faith and also the religiousness. I see Paul as a person who believes in the miracles, as a child he wishes that all those tragic events could be taken aback. His thoughts wander into a higher degree than natural and that is the reason why he is disappointed in the end and loses his faith. Whereas Annunziata, I believe is more directed toward religiousness. She is very devoted Christian but she still is able to accept the reality, even though she doesn't believe that it is fair. The religiousness is the only thing she has. She was grown up on it and it is the only way she can imagine living. She fears the absence of it and that is why she is destroyed when Paul loses his faith in God.
Out of the three categories, I think the category Fatih applies to the characters in the book the most. For example, when Geremio was dying, he begs to god, as if he was a living person, to help and save him from the pain that he was feeling. Similarly, Annunziata and Paul had faith in god. They believed in god will find a way for Annunziata’s family to survive. Paul had faith in god because he believed that god has helped and motivated him find a job to support his family and endure the hardships he had felt while working.
ReplyDeleteI believe this book touches on both religion and faith quite a bit and that without one, the other becomes nothing but deadweight. The religious references are plain as day. Geremio's death takes place on Good Friday and the details of his death are "christ-like" such as being impaled. "Gerimino is a named that is derived from "Jeremiah" from the bible. While Geremio is on his last breaths he never looses faith that someone with come save him.
ReplyDeleteI think that religion most certainly plays a huge role in the character's lives because all throughout the book are the symbols of faith are presented forth. The scene where Paul's father dies on "Good Friday" and in the same manner as a crucifixion, when Nazone falls over the scaffold and plunges to his death, or the scene where Paul is having a terrible night terror and his mom prays over him for it to stop, and the list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteThe definition of the terms are very clear because with faith, it is the strong belief of a higher power, religion consist of prayers, church, a holy book and sin, and religiousness is the inclusion of committing to a specific faith. The definitions were transparent enough for me to conclude that faith was a major theme in the book.
The discussion about religion doesn't make me uncomfortable because everyone believes in a higher power of some sort. There are some that are just plain spiritual so that counts as well. What would make me uncomfortable is if someone said that don't believe in GOD at all. I think I would cringe a bit because of everything that I believe about GOD.
I would argue that each character fulfills a role or function of organized religion, That religion being the overarching demands of Job over every facet of Life for the working class and poor. Donato refers to Job as a single entity, signifying that the individuals performing the labor are only cogs in a larger machine. Men eat away at their health and sacrifice joy and comfort without a second guess to the tribulations of Job, who promises them freedom through their work but never fails to come up short in rewarding them. I would argue that this novel aims to portray the bind faith and "fear of god" that dictate the livelihood of the men and women who sacrificed their time and health to build up a nation that continues to oppress and manipulate them. In a way, Donato is equating the american dream with the self-deprecating nature of sacrifice in Organized Christianity.
ReplyDeleteReligion takes a huge place throughout the book, but I think it is the faith that motivates most of the characters. I believe, that for a lot of people religion is one of the traditional methods to response to the various obstacles in life. The ideology of Christianity is very suitable for a poor person. The fundamental idea that people have to suffer during their life in order to have a better afterlife is a perfect ideology for a person who struggles everyday. Christ In Concrete shows tons of examples how religion affects the hardworking Italian immigrants. Annunciata is represented as a very religious person and there are many episodes in the book that shows her praying to god. But I see her more as a faithful person rather than religious. In addition, I think most of the characters are like blind christians, due to the fact that they are very limited in terms of education. They believe in something that they not really deeply understand. I think most of the characters are just tricked by the Catholic institution.
ReplyDeleteOverall, there are some laws that govern the universe and there are other laws that humans invented. Religion is a full package of laws that guides many people. I think religion might help some individuals to overcome some problems, but I’m deeply convinced that the idea behind it is simply fake. Though, I also believe that freedom is a choice and therefore some people chooses to be guided by some laws. It looks like religion has answers for every question, but those answers are very limited. Therefore it is hard for me to keep up with those answers, especially in 21st century where our development level is extremely high.