The contemporary issues of theological trends Vol.1

Nowadays, almost all christian groups have been suffering from the serious decreasing of its members. If this movement would not be dealt with, the entire population of the believers might be tremendously shrunk. Some reports say that within few decades, the number of Muslims around the world would surpass that of Christians because of their high birthrates.

It is necessary for us to discuss why the rapid collapsion has been seen in the christian society these days. There would be a few candidates for that. First and foremost, the betrayal behaviors of some Chiristian scholars can be pointed as the major contributors for the great crisis. Among the ambitious theologians, it is very common to criticize the Biblical contents or traditional concepts. However, these accusations sometimes damage the credibility of the christian organizations or the main principles.

What is the most disgusting thing for this is that those people who blame their own religious community could gain a lot of benefits like academic positions or book sales as a results of their overly exaggerated theories.

Election results of Austria and Czech. Part.1

The other day, the important election results which might influence on the future of the European Union turned out. The choices of the two eastern European countries really astonishing and instructive ones that clearly suggest that some citizens participated in the great group have the latent angers against the the center-oriented system.

For one thing, it would be safe to say that this suprising results were caused by the fact that the big countries like Germany and France which have lead the EU underestimated the small countries like Austria and Czech as their subordinates.

Those defiant countries have long been forced to accept the decisions made by a few of those leading countries. Among them, especially, the plan of the open-border theory must have baffled them so much. Many small countries have been coerced into dealing with a unprecedented number of outsiders by themselves.

Refugee Crisis in European Crisis -2-

In addition, the election result of Austria a few day ago was really astonishing. I suppose everyone never imagine the landslide victory of those right-wing parties. I wonder what kind of meanings this outcome could possibly have.

For one thing, there are definitely outrage in some of the European people who have felt abandoned or ignored by the major EU dominants like Germany or France. Those people might think that those superpowers are the main invitors who accept the immigrants both from Middle East and African continents.

Also, some point out that those rich countries just throw those poor people into relatively small European countries in order to avoid undesirable mayhem caused by them. In any case, the bond of the EU unification seems to become rapidly fragile. If the leaders in EU could not reconsider their sticky idea, the consequence they will face would be catastrophic.

Refugee Crisis in European Crisis -1-

One thing that I could not figure out about refugee problems is why people in those countries where many foreigners have been coming tend to accept their situation like Germany or France.

Conservative media always insist that the social stability in those countries have been hugely corrupted because of those tremendous influx of unwelcome immigrants.

If those accusations are true, why the local people publicly criticize them or vote against those politicians who try to accept many people from outside?

The other day, in German's election, the big refugee supporter "Angela Merkel" won the race. Even though her party lost a few seats, she is still the iron leader who represents the EU's most powerful nation. This result clearly shows that many citizens in the country want to keep the course which this angel woman has suggested so far.

Some people say that this is because some of the people do not know the situation they are facing with. Wealthy or normal Germans do not live in the poor area which are fill with low income immigrants including refugees. Therefore, I assume that they could not realize the potent threats their country is in.

Much Ado about Nothing -Claudio-

In my opinion, Claudio is a fool, a happy fool, who is the most important character in “Much Ado about Nothing”. He might be “a pure person”, but we should not regard him as “a good man” when it comes to taking into consideration of his dreadful silliness.

The author of this tale “Shakespeare” often use this kind of stupid persons to make his stories more attractive and more complicated. Therefore, we would be able to assume that the jesters are indeed the indispensable icons for his creations. For example, in “Romeo and Juliet”, the friar plays the role in order to cause unnecessary trouble between the infamous families. In addition, the gifted novelist created the sensitive simpleton “Roderigo” in “Othello”. Without his foolishness and naive mind, Iago’s notorious scheme would have failed at the very beginning. Likewise, Claudio is the jester who greatly contribute to the comedy in various ways. However, unlike the other two, we can say he is really a happy fool because his ignorance did not take his loved ones’ life.

One of the most distinctive traits for those Shakespeare’s clowns is that they tend to jump to conclusions without deep consideration. For example, Claudio stupidly believed Don John’s story that Hero, who is the Claudio’s fiancé, had relationship with other man and cheated on him, even though he had been deceived by this bastard before. His foolishness severely tormented the innocent girl who did nothing wrong. This stupid man’s carelessness clearly remind us of Othello’s Roderigo. He is also quite gullible and Iago used him for money and plans against the moor. In terms of a false accusation, the situation, with which Hero had to face, is quite resemble to the one in which Desdemona in "Othello" was trapped. Interestingly, there is a prominent difference in the fate of the two female characters. One could survive, but the other could not. The Hero’s fame was threatened by her fiancé like Desdemona, but saved by a wise friar. “Come, lady, die to live. This wedding day perhaps is but prolonged. Have patience and endure.” (Act 4, Scene 1,252-253)

All in all, Claudio is a fortunate one who could amend his terrible failure. In addition, he luckily has many good and smart friends around him, which enables this story to become a comedy. One thing that we can learn from this play is that wisdom is always superior to cunning. Also, it is suggested that our minds are so weak that sometimes a tiny thing breaks our daily life completely. When there are many choices, some people, who have no confidence in themselves, tend to believe the more pessimistic one. I think the descriptions of those characters’ complicated psychological transformation evidently show Shakespeare’s acute insight into human nature.

“The Perspective of Death of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost” Part.2

When it comes to talking about Emily Dickenson, we need to look into her unique worldview in order to understand the true intentions her masterpieces have. Moreover, there is no doubt that she was greatly influenced by the doctrine of the Second Great Awaking movement which was led by Calvinists. The Protestants strongly believed that our life destiny is already determined by God even before we are born. Therefore, those people who were belonged to this community always feared their own fate. In fact, this kind of theory is well known as “Predestination” in the theological field. However, there are many opinions that this ideology do not reflect the proper teachings of Jesus because the main principle of Christianity is to forgive, not to punish. According to those who oppose the Calvinism, it significantly deviates from the way that the authentic theology should follow. Also, they say that it is not a good thing for the shepherds to dominate the people's mind by giving them the fear of the hell. We can assume that Dickinson also found the same contradictions in “Predestination” of Calvinism and tried to criticize them. 

Dickinson wrote a lot of controversial poems which are often regarded as an accusation against Jesus or God. For instance, if we read “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died”, some people might find some Monty-Python-like black jokes in it. Maybe other people think that she tried to ridicule the traditional concept of Christianity. But, the most important thing to grasp her true purposes of those defiant poems is to understand the situation she was trapped in at that time. Among her family members, she was the only person who refused to accept the Calvinism theology. This meant that there was a possibility she could not go to heaven with her family after she dies. Her action should not be evaluated as the resistance to the Jesus. On the contrary, it has to be understood as the faithful protest for the true Christianity. She probably knew that the true Christianity must give the people the peace, not the fear. Therefore, Dickinson’s poems are sometimes quite aggressive because she wanted people to realize which way they should go.

Dickinson mentioned about heaven in her verses many times. Especially, she emphasizes that heaven is not above us. Some people may think this notion is clearly against the teachings of Jesus. However, actually it is not. Jesus never said that the kingdom of God is “physically” above us. As proof of this, he taught the followers the exact location of heaven. “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)” Simply speaking, Emily Dickinson’s conception of heaven was much closer to the genuine place than those ambiguous theories. Sometimes, even now, some arrogant theologians create their own weird theological ideas and propagate them as Jesus’s theories. What is worse is that once their contradictions are pointed out, those people try to pass the all buck to Jesus. If Jesus is asked “Is heaven really above us?”, he would reply like this “You have said so.” This poem seems to show her real thought.     

WHO has not found the heaven below

Will fail of it above.

God’s residence is next to mine,

His furniture is love.

(*I could not confirm whether this poem is actually Emily Dickinson’s work or not.)

Some scholars say that Frost’s poems are not religious compared with Dickinson’s verses. Partially, it would be true that we can't find many biblical jargons or quotes from bible or implications for Christian cultures in his works. However, among his works, there are some lyrics which use Christian identities. The prominent example is “The Road Not Taken”, which would be one of the most beloved and famous his legacy. This instructive story seems to be affected by the bible words; “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy[a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14)” The interesting point of the Frost’s narrow path narrative is that, unlike bible, it never says that the grassy and worn road always gives us good things. It is just saying it makes our life different.  

              All in all, reading through some of the poems written by great poets who are representative of the U.S. was quite useful experience. Also, it is found that the efficient instructors are necessary to enjoy the true intentions of the verses because they are quite difficult to realize or translate into modern expressions especially for the non-native English speakers. Those cultural backgrounds we can see in the works were so intriguing.

“The Perspective of Death of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost” Part.1

What would be the most influential element which affected the view of death of the two great poets “Emily Dickinson” and “Robert Frost”? One thing is for sure that they had different mindsets for the universal subject. In other words, for Frost, the concept of the death was always related to his loved family. Likewise, for Dickenson, the fear for the uncertain future was linked to the religious ideology. In this paper, we scrutinize some poems written by them which show their inner complicated psychology on this matter. After that, the brief comparison between their writing styles is also being conducted.

Among many Frost’s master pieces, “Out, out--” and “Home Burial” clearly tell us about what kind of obsession on death he had. In addition, this two poems imply how he spent his life. Frost had to face with a lot of tragic events involving family members’ deaths throughout his whole life. First of all, he lost his both parents when he was still young. Moreover, his beloved young sister Jeanie had a severe mental illness which seems to run his family genes. He had to force her to hospitalize into a mental clinic, which must have definitely tormented him. However, the talented poet’s hardship was not limited to those. His children also were destined to get into various difficulties. Among six children, only two could outlive their parents and the rest died young because of either committing suicide or serious diseases. It is reasonable to assume that those harsh experiences affected his attitudes toward death and those verses he created.

The poem “Out, out--” is a short story about a boy, who cut his own hand by “the buzz saw” and died. It seems Frost tried to describe how pitiful a young man, who had a bright future, must die all of a sudden. The same mercy as the one given to his lost children can be seen in this work. Furthermore, it is quite interesting that Frost emphasized how indifferent other people are to the tragedy. This sad story ends with this line; “And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.” The reaction of the onlookers in this scene would be similar to the people’s behaviors towards the deaths of Frost's children. Hence, from this verse, we can also feel the strong “Out-cry” against the hypocrites, who pretend to worry about others but actually they do not care about a little bit.

“Home Burial” is a short novel which depicts parents who lost their child. In comparison with the previous one, this poem focuses more on the bereaved people, who are struggling with the unacceptable heavy fact. In addition, we can also sense that this story was based on the author’s own experience. Frost and his wife had to embrace the consecutive calamities, which stole their loved ones. It is not hard to imagine that the bitter life situation assumedly affected the couple’s relationship quite badly. Those dirty words used in the play must have been exchanged truly in the quarrels between Frost and his wife.  

Analysis of Biblical Criticism -Bibliography-

Bibliography

Albert Barnes. “Barnes Notes on the Old and New Testaments”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb.html

Dean L. Overman. (2009) “A Case for the Divinity of Jesus: Examining the Earliest Evidence”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=W8ryhaT1tnUC&printsec=frontcover&hl=ja#v=onepage&q&f=false

Henry M. Morris. (2000). “Biblical Creationism: What Each Book of the Bible Teaches about Creation and the Flood”, (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2000)

J. M. Creed. (1957) “The Gospel According to Saint Luke”

John Arthur Thomas Robinson. (1976) “Redating the NEW TESTAMENT”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

http://www.preteristarchive.com/Books/1976_robinson_redating-testament.html

Robert J. Schadewald. (2008). “Worlds of Their Own: A Brief History of Misguided Ideas: Creationism, Flat-Earthism, Energy Scams, and the Velikovsky Affair.”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=m9BM6DzFGGwC&printsec=frontcover&hl=ja#v=onepage&q&f=false

Robert J. Schneider. “Does the Bible Teach a Spherical Earth?”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2001/PSCF9-01Schneider.html

Richard P. Bargas. (2006) “A RESPONSE TO VATICINIUM EX EVENTU”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

http://www.gbcwilmington.org/home/180011039/180011039/Images/VaticiniumExEventu.pdf

Thomas L. Stegall. “Reconsidering the Date of John’s Gospel”

Retrieved September 24, 2016, from

http://www.chafer.edu/files/v14no2_date_of_john_s_gospel.pdf

Wikipedia

Analysis of Biblical Criticism -Conclusion-

In conclusion, the attempts that biblical criticism makes would be beneficial for revealing the true nature of the Holy Scriptures only if the scholars do not jump to conclusions. The dispute over the influence of geocentrism on the Bible plainly shows us that there are various interpretations for each biblical passage depending on the individual beliefs. In addition, the idea of vaticinium ex eventu in the New Testament relies on the very thin evidences. Similarly, the vision hypothesis advocated by David Friedrich Strauss teaches us that occasionally biblical criticism can create more miraculous assumptions than the Holy Scriptures tell. Finally, there is no doubt that proper biblical criticism is necessary for the further understanding of the Good Book as long as we scrutinize it very carefully to avoid being misled. “For now we see through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor 13:12). 

Analysis of Biblical Criticism -Fourth-

The 19th and 20th centuries were a period when many drastic changes happened in theological field. One change occurred in the rise of the field of Liberal Theology. This new ideology based on the 17th-century continental rationalism had unique traits that traditional theology had not shown before. The most controversial approach of Liberal Theology is to scrutinize the content of Bible critically in order to gain the proper information academically and historically. The new movement peaked in 20^th-century Germany when a wave of German theologians challenged orthodox Christian beliefs. Around that time, even the crucifixion of Jesus began to become an academic question for those scholars. Eventually, the “Vision Hypothesis” was created as a new standard for the logical understanding of the miracle. The hypothesis was proposed in 1835 by David Friedrich Strauss who was well known for his extreme liberal views in the biblical interpretation field. In this theory, he denied the physical resurrection of Jesus, and instead, supported the idea of visual revelation, something, like hallucinations, by disciples. Many scholars, though, have opposed this opinion. For example, Pinchas Lapide, a Jewish theologian and Israeli historian, claims that ”if the defeated and depressed group of disciples overnight could change into a victorious movement of faith, based only on autosuggestion or self-deception—without a fundamental faith experience—then this would be a much greater miracle than the resurrection itself” (Overman, 162). According to Matthew and Mark, when Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers, those disciples ran away in fear of getting caught with Jesus (Matthew 26:56[1], Mark 14:50[2]). In consideration of the unfaithful action toward Jesus by his followers, Lapide’s explanation seems rational. Even Strauss, who proposed the hallucination theory, conceded the singularity of the sudden conversion in the end. Intriguingly, Paul suggests over 500 people knew or witnessed the revival of Jesus (1 Cor 15:6[3]). If Strauss is correct and if we can rely on Paul’s post facto account, it would mean that those 500 people were all hallucinating. It surely sounds like a miracle. However, even now, there are many theologians who strongly support Strauss’s theory. For instance, one of my theological professors at Sophia University who is a well-renowned Catholic Japanese priest openly advocated this theory in his lecture. It is apparent that critical review might be essential for learning the proper biblical elements. However, those excessive theories like vision hypothesis seem to be self-advertisement rather than theology. Like Lapide said, their persuasions sometimes tend to be more ambiguous than biblical descriptions are and some of them cannot be regarded as rationalistic or academic at all.

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[1] But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

[2] Then everyone deserted him and fled.

[3] After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

Analysis of Biblical Criticism -Third-

Vaticinium ex eventu, is has been argued, is “the term applied to a passage in the prophets or the gospels which has the form of a prediction but is in fact written in the knowledge of the event having occurred[1]”. Among the Holy Scriptures, the book of Daniel has been one of the most discussed areas for the occurance of vaticinium ex eventu since ancient times. Porphyry (A.D. 232–ca. 305), a Neo-platonic philosopher assumed that there could be no predictive element in prophecy so that the Book of Daniel could be only historical in nature, and therefore of a late date (Bargas). Furthermore, some scholars state that there are some vaticinium ex eventu passages in the New Testament as well. For example, a biblical scholar J. M. Creed insisted that Luke 23:34[2] is the “prophecy from the event” for the fulfillment of Psalm 22:18 “the soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ garments” (Creed, 287). In addition, some scholars seriously think that the story of “the Destruction of the Temple” is one example of vaticinium ex eventu. According to their theory, the Jesus’s prophecy was a forged fable based on the First Jewish–Roman War (A.D. 66–73) in which Jerusalem and the Temple were completely destroyed by Roman soldiers (Stegall). When it comes to the New Testament, it is extremely crucial whether the destruction of the temple is vaticinium ex eventu or not because it would immediately settle when the Gospels were written. In other words, if this story is a prophecy from the event, it means the Gospels were penned after the destruction of the temple which actually occurred in A.D. 70. There have been so many heated disputes over this issue so far. Professor Andreas J. Köstenberger, the spearhead advocator of this accusation, asserts that John 11:47-48[3] obviously reveals that the author of this gospel knew about the tragedy (Stegall). However, John Robinson, an English New Testament scholar, hits back at this allegation for the reason that “the chief priests and Pharisees did not leave Jesus “alone” to continue doing His sign-miracles for in fact they crucified Him.” (Stegall). All in all, the suggestions related to “Vaticinium ex eventu” in the New Testament seem to be a lack of sufficient evidences and explanations for various questions. For one thing, if those Gospel authors knew “the Destruction of the Temple”, why did not they boast the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy more directly as they usually did? (John 13:38[4], 18:17[5]). Moreover, if the Gospels were written after the incident (A.D. 70), then why do their descriptions lack other significant events (e.g. the abrupt ending of Acts)? Certainly, there are so many hypotheses over this matter. However, the conclusive truth is still unclear. Sometimes ideas that are said to be supported by majority of the scholars are not more reliable at all in biblical criticism than the Holy Scripture itself.

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[1] Oxford Biblical Studies Online http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/article/opr/t94/e1988?_hi=0&_pos=7

[2] Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

[3] Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

[4] Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

[5] "You aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you?" she asked Peter. He replied, "I am not."

Analysis of Biblical Criticism -Second-

Robert J. Schadewald, of the NCSE is also an expert on pseudoscience. Has pointed out that there are many Biblical references which are affected by “Geocentrism” both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. For instance, as for the Old Testament, he explains that Genesis 1:6[1], Isaiah 40:21-22[2] and many other passages suggest: “the Earth is immovable and others treat the sun and moon as minor bodies” (Schadewald, 95). Interestingly, By contrast, some people strongly refute this perspective by countering that the Old Testament actually states that the earth is spherical. Henry M. Morris, an American Young Earth Creationist, Christian apologist, and engineer, stresses that Isaiah 40:21-22 implies the Earth is spherical saying that “khug” in Isaish 40:22 means "sphericity” and adds that  “thus both earth and the deep are components of the great terrestrial sphere" (Morris, 2000, P113). Schadewald, though, points out the same passage is based on the image of a flat Earth. In this way, Biblical interpretations on various matters occasionally vary quite widely depending on a scholar’s theological stance, and it is often very difficult to determine which opinions are more precise or correct. To confuse matters more, Schadewald also indicates that the New Testament also has passages that express the authors’ geocentric notions. The proofs for the claim are exemplified by the two cases. One is Revelation 1:7[3] and the other is the story of the temptation of Jesus from Matthew and Luke. In terms of Revelation 1:7, the passage at issue is: “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” The similar descriptions that Jesus comes with clouds can be found in some Gospels as well. According to Matthew 24:30, “all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” Schadewald insists that those scenes portray the geocentric view of the authors of the Holy Scriptures. Furthermore, he points out that Matthew 4:8[4] asserts that the “word translated as ‘world’ is the Greek kosmo, meaning the whole universe.” He adds that “from a sufficiently high mountain, one could see all the kingdoms of a flat world of limited extent, but the passage is nonsense when applied to a spherical Earth” (Schadewald, 95). This explanation about Geocentrism in the Bible might sound firmly rational. Nevertheless, there is always a way to refute any position, especially in theological study, because of its complex nature. Regarding the New Testament’s Geocentrism conspiracy, we might be able to touch a sore spot in that some of the Schadewald’s understandings of the Biblical world might be a little inaccurate. For example, in the story of the temptation of Jesus, the Greek word world which is used in Mark is surely “kosmo” meaning the whole world. On the other hand, In Luke, in the same episode, the word is replaced by a different Greek word “oikoumené” which means “the inhabited world” that implies the both “the whole world” and “the limited world.” Luke 2:1[5] clearly denotes that the word can be grasped as “a part or a large part of the world” instead of “the whole world.” Thus the phrase “of the world” might point to the near regions like “Palestine” or “Canaan.” Moreover, the meaning of the expression “all the kingdoms” in the story translated from the Greek word “basileias” used by both Gospel writers is similarly confusing. It generally suggests “kingdom” in which a king sovereignly rules. Given the characteristic of the Jewish community, it is highly possible that this word directly indicates “all the Judean kingdoms” where the sons of Herod then reigned. Therefore, there can be at least two potential interpretations for the meaning of “all the kingdoms of the world” in this part. One is “all the nations of the whole world” as Schadewald supports, and the other is “all the Judea kingdoms of the Palestine” or “all the Judea kingdoms of the Canaan,” as Barnes notes[6]. Likewise, as for Revelation 1:7, we might be able to regard its message as a regional event or simply as part of the parable: “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand” (Luke 8:10). This parable, of course, discounts all scientific reasoning when attempting to understand the Bible. When it comes to seeking the truth in the Biblical stories, the result can be greatly changed depending on the approach of the analysis.

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[1] And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water."

[2] Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

[3] "Look, he is coming with the clouds," and "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him"; and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." So shall it be! Amen.

[4] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

[5] In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

[6] http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/matthew-4.html

(Matthew 4:8 commentary)

Analysis of Biblical Criticism -First-

Where will the scholarly research on religion lead us? Biblical criticism has rapidly become a major subject of study these days and many scholars around the world are now engaging in this field regardless of their own belief. On the other hand, there are some religious groups in which honest religious critique are never forgiven. For example, in Islam which is the second largest religion, criticizing the Koran, its own sacred book, is definitely unacceptable. The series of the Satanic Verses incidents reminded us of Islam’s strict “protective” culture. On the contrary, in Christian world, theologians who belong to the Christian community sometimes are more aggressive when it comes to criticizing the Holy Scriptures than scholars of other religions are. Today, every element in Christian traditions have been deeply discussed and researched without any restrictions. In this essay, we will scrutinize some of the arguments which have caused a lot of controversy among scholars. Firstly, we will focus on the influence of “Geocentrism” on the Bible by examining the commentaries of Robert J. Schadewald who is a former president of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). In addition, the discussions over the biblical “vaticinium ex eventu”, which means "prophecy from the event", is one of the main topics that this examination deals with. Moreover, the hypothesis about the crucifixion of Jesus will also come into play. These subjects will help us to understand the essence of the Biblical criticism.

How do we learn languages?

(*Japanese Essay)

言語によるコミュニケーションは、地球上の生き物の中で、人間のみが持ちうる最大の特徴である。アメリカの言語学者ノーム・チョムスキーによれば、人間は、生まれたときにはすでに、言語を持つために必要なあらゆる能力を、誰に教わるわけでもなく、兼ね備えているとされる。（Universal language）　その一方、年を重ねるごとに、言語を新たに習得することは次第に困難となり、母国語のみしか理解することができない人も多くいる。それゆえ、容易に言語を覚えることのできる幼児期を過ぎた後は、膨大な時間と労力を、言語の会得には費やさねばならなくなる。
         人間における言語発達は、まず、音声を発することから始まる。生後0～4週間の乳児の場合は、産声や叫喚などであるが、これが生後8～10ヶ月になると、「ジャーゴン」と呼ばれる本人のみ理解できる言語を発するようになる。そして、生後10～13ヶ月には、特定の単語を単発で話すことにより、自らの意思を示すことが可能になる。これらの言語習得の過程において、子供たちが聞く言葉の量と質、および周辺の環境から与えられる一貫した教育が、子供の言語行動を大きく左右することが知られている。　幼少期において、言語と常に触れ合いを持つことは、言語を獲得することにおいて、非常に重要なことである。また、言語のみならず、子供たちの周りにいる大人たち、（特に両親）による、幼児への表情（フェイシャルエクスプレッション）やフィジカルコンタクトも、人間の言語成長に大きな役割を果たすことが指摘されている。ある研究では、これらの時期に、適切なコミュニケーションを得ることが出来なかった子供たちは、言語の習得に著しい障害をきたすと報告されている。

　　　　　言語習得能力同様に、幼少期における人間の認知機能の発達についても、これまで多くの学者により調査がおこなわれ、数多くの有力な学説が唱えられてきた。それらのなかでも、スイスの言語学者であり、心理学者でもあったジャン・ピアジェによって提唱された発生的認識論（Genetic epistemology）は、「人間の知識は全て構成されるもの」という構成主義（Constructivism）を、その論拠の礎にそなえ、発達は固体と環境の相互作用によるものであると論じた。この説では、幼少期の発達段階が四段階にわけて説明されている。第一段階（Period 1）は、誕生してから二歳になるまでの期間を示し、「感覚運動期」と呼ばれる。この時期の幼児は、まだ物を正しく認識する能力に欠いており、物体の普遍性を理解するに至らない。ゆえに、物体がベールなどで覆われてしまうと、それが実際に消えてしまったかのような反応を見せる。第二段階（Period 2）は、二歳から七歳までの期間を示し、「前操作期」と呼ばれる。この期間では、幼児は言葉を覚え始めると共に、「ごっこ遊び」のような記号的機能を持つようになる。他者の視点に立った物事の見方も出来るようになる。第三段階（Period 3）は、「具体的操作期」とされ、前期と比べて、より正確な物事の把握が可能となり、数や量を概念としてとらえることができ、合理的な判断ができるようになる。「形式的操作期」と呼ばれる、第四段階（Period 4）では、形式的・象徴的操作が可能になり、仮説的思考ができるようになる。このような段階を経て、人間は世界を少しずつ理解していく。
　　　　　もしも、私たちが、常に、生まれたばかりの赤ん坊のような、言語習得力を保ち続けることができるのならば、言語の持つべき意味合いは、現在と比べ、大きく変わるだろう。人間がいかなる言語も覚えられる期間が、生まれてからのわずかな期間しか許されていないということからみて、私たちの言語習得能力は、多くの言語を扱うことよりも、一つの言語（特に母国語）を短期間に覚えようとすることに特化しているようにも思える。旧約聖書の逸話によれば、「バベルの塔」が建てられたころ、人間は皆同じ一つの言語を使っていたとされるが、これらの複雑な人間の言語習得の過程は、それらバベル期の名残を表しているようにも感じられるほど、不可思議なものである。

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6. Conclusion

This investigation proved that the technique of the Sentimental Analysis can be a new method of the evaluation for the various social issues in the near future. There also were two main themes other than Sentimental Analysis in this paper. One is the media influence on the public opinions. The other one is the people's reactions towards the Syrian refugee crisis that has been discussed in the western world ever since it happened. As for the media impact on the people's emotion, the result that the media coverage does not affect the public opinion so much was so surprising because the media has long been seen as the most influential information source.

So many possible reasons can be assumed for this public aversions to the big media. For one thing, these days ordinary people tend to take what they think is good and leave what they think is bad when it comes to choosing information sources.

Social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook in which people can exchange their opinions freely without any hesitations, the increase floods of unreliable and provocative mini media and the distrust of the major news companies' honesty have created the current strange social emotions. Inexplicable events like the realization of Brexit or the Trump's winning for the Presidential election show a glimpse of the upcoming new era where the exact future foresee becomes much more difficult than it used to be. Though people nowadays are willing to aggressively collect the information they are interested in, those actions might lead them to a heavy concentration on the extremely biased opinion. What is more, it is liable to raise the ancient populism which brought us many conflicts in the past generations. "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it (Dietrich, 2016)" The famous proverb of Joseph Goebbels who was an ill-famed propagator of Nazi somehow tells us that complicated entanglement of information might be beneficial to the demagogues who want the society to be in chaos.

The target of the warning is not limited to our humans. The other day, Microsoft released an artificial intelligence chatterbot called "Tay". It used Twitter to learn various knowledge from interaction with other users. However, within few hours from its start, it became a vicious racist due to the malicious interference from others (“Microsoft”, 2016). This incident suggested that the AI system has many flaws in it. On the other hand, it is quite certain that the machine learning techniques will make great progress within next few decades. For example, the Sentimental Analysis will absorb similar fields' methods like "voice sentimental recognition", "facial expression analysis", "psychological sentimental analysis" and things like that. Then the new sentimental analysis method which might be called "Integrated Sentimental Analysis" will be established in the near future. "Integrated Sentimental Analysis" can be used for software like Apple's Siri to analyze humans' feelings more accurately or it will be important technology for androids' humanization. It seems that the day when the machines can dream of Electric Sheep may not far away from now.

5-2. The media trend over the Syrian Refugee Crisis

 As a result, the Net-tone became worse dramatically after February 2016 (Fig 2-2, 2-3 and 2-4). The investigations on BBC media trend also exposed a different aspect of public emotions. The research question of this paper was “How have the public reactions changed as the trends of the media coverages have shifted?” The hypothesis for that was “The more there are negative headlines about refugees, the worse the public image towards them becomes”. However, the outcome of the survey was totally beyond expectations and it showed the inner complex matters that this subject potentially has. According to the three surveys conducted by YouGov in June, September and November 2015, the public sentiments towards refugees in the U.K. consistently were deteriorating during the period. In the inquiry of June 2015 (“Nearly Half of Britons”, 2015), 42% of the respondents said that those migrants escaping from conflict or persecution should not be welcomed to the U.K. From the result, it can be guessed that the Syrian refugee crisis split the U.K. public opinion into two at that time. One of the most surprising things that the analysis find is that the drowned boy incident affected the English people not so much at all. The survey of September 2015, which is soon after the tragic event, told that about 51 percent of the answerers showed their negative stance towards refugees. The pessimistic image towards the displaced people become much stronger after the incident. Even though the media trend calculated by Net-tone expressed sympathy about the situation of the Syrian refugees due to the incident, the public emotions seems to be never interfered with it. In addition, it seems that the Paris terrorist attack which never influenced the media trend played a crucial role to corrupt the refugees' public image. After the terror act, as reported by YouGov research, almost 72 percent of the people who participated in the survey replied that they had negative sentiments against those outsiders (Dahlgreen, 2015). The reaction of the respondents certainly indicate that the general people rarely distinguish the refugees from terrorists like the media usually tries to do. Not only that, it implies that even the sympathetic event like the drowned boy incident might give a boost of fear and hatred against those migrants. The public psychology could be seen in the transition of the approval rating for political parties. From the data which YouGov posts on its website, the comparison between conservative party and UKIP on their public support was made.

Though the conservative party, which is the ruling party led by David Cameron, gained the constant approval rating, the UKIP, which is famous for the anti-EU and anti-refugee policy, increased the support from citizens in the U.K every month (Fig 2-5). Every pivotal incidents related to the refugees seems to contribute to the support for UKIP. The above has led to the conclusion that the big incidents related to the refugee crisis have an effect on the media trend to some extent depending on whether they can be sympathetic or not. On the other hand, the public mind is not seemingly influenced by the media tone expressed in their news headlines. This would be because these days there are so many news sources such as Twitter and Facebook and those people tend to be skeptical about the major news coverages.