Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Analogy Questions in SAT Reading Strategies and Tips
Analogy Questions in SAT Reading Strategies and Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Though direct analogy questions were eliminated along with the old SAT Verbal Reasoning section in 2005, analogy questions remain in place in a more abstract form in the Critical Reading section. In this article, Iââ¬â¢ll show you what analogy questions look like, the best way to approach them, and some step by step examples for solving them with real questions from the SAT! What Is An Analogy Question? Before we learn how to solve these types of questions, we need to learn how to spot them in the first place. Analogy questions will ask you to make comparisons.They might ask you to compare a relationship between two things in the passage with a relationship between two things in the answer choices, or they might just ask for the answer choice that is most similar to something in the passage. Hereââ¬â¢s an example of an analogy question: Which of the following most resembles the relationship between "black hole activity" and "star formation" (lines -12) as described in the passage? A. A volcanic eruption on one continent results in higher rainfall totals on another continent.B. Industrial emissions in one region lead to an increase in airborne pollutants in adjacent regions.C. A drought in a wilderness area causes a significant loss of vegetation in that area.D. Decreased oil production in one country results in higher gas prices in oil-dependent countries.E. Overfishing in a gulf leads to an increase in the population of smaller aquatic organisms. In this case, you would have to examine the cause and effect relationship between black hole activity and star formation described in the passage and see which of the five choices is most similar to that relationship. Analogy questions are a subset of inference questions because they require you to understand a relationship or condition in the passage and then take it one step further to infer the similarity of something NOT mentioned in the passage. How Do I Solve Analogy Questions? Youââ¬â¢re going to have to take a couple of mental steps to solve analogy questions (which is why they can be one of the more confusing question types). Step 1: Read the question carefully. This is important because some analogy questions will ask you for the relationship that is LEAST like the one in the passage.Make sure you know what youââ¬â¢re looking for! Step 2: Understand the relationship or condition in the passage. Go back and read the relevant section of the passage.If you think it will help you to remember the nature of the relationship or condition mentioned in the question, sum it up in simpler terms.Make sure you fully understand what specifically youââ¬â¢re going to be comparing to the potential answer choices. Step 3: Go through the answer choices, break them down, and eliminate the duds. Look at each relationship or condition presented in the answer choices, and see if it is functionally the same as what you found in the passage.Remember that the point of an analogy question is that the concrete details are different, but the core relationship or condition is a match between the passage and the answer choice.If this is not the case, eliminate it (unless itââ¬â¢s a LEAST question, of course). Keep going with this until you have only one correct answer! Ok, that sounds doable. Letââ¬â¢s try a sample question. Time to get our feet wet. Good thing we painted our toes "College Board blue". Analogies in Action Now for our first real SAT analogy question! Here it is: Which most resembles the "irony" mentioned in line 34? A. A worker moving to a distant state to take a job, only to be fired without warningB. An executive making an important decision, only to regret it laterC. An athlete earning a starting position on a good team, only to quit midseasonD. A student studying for a major exam, only to learn that it has been postponedE. A person purchasing an expensive umbrella, only to lose it on the first rainy day First, letââ¬â¢s make sure we read the question carefully - looks like this one is pretty straightforward. No LEASTs here.We are clearly looking for the answer choice that is most similar to a condition in the passage. Ok, now we will refer to the passage.Hereââ¬â¢s the sentence we need to reference: As she wrote a final letter on her typewriter - she did hate letting the old machine go - Georgia did considerable philosophizing about the irony of working for things only to the end of giving them up. What is the irony mentioned in the passage?Looks like it's ââ¬Å"working for things only to the end of giving them up.â⬠So: we are going to be looking for an answer that demonstrates working hard for something but later deciding to abandon it. Now we can go through the answer choices to find our winner! For these answer choices, I thought it was helpful to break them down into two parts to show exactly why each incorrect choice was eliminated. Choice A: A worker moving to a distant state to take a job, only to be fired without warning A worker moving to a distant state to take a job - Ok, the first part of this answer sounds promising. That's definitely an example of someone putting in effort for something. Now let's look at the second part. Only to be fired without warning - No, thatââ¬â¢s not going to fit. Being fired doesnââ¬â¢t mean you gave up, it means someone else gave up on you. This doesnââ¬â¢t match the irony described in the passage, so let's eliminate it! Choice B: An executive making an important decision, only to regret it later An executive making an important decision - Eh, that doesnââ¬â¢t really fit with working towards something. Only to regret it later - Regret isn't the same as giving up, so this part doesn't work either. This doesnââ¬â¢t match the irony described in the passage either - get rid of it! Choice C: An athlete earning a starting position on a good team, only to quit in midseason An athlete earning a starting position on a good team - Ok, thatââ¬â¢s definitely working towards something. Only to quit in midseason - Yes, thatââ¬â¢s absolutely giving up. Looks like it matches the irony described in the passage.This choice works! Choice D: A student studying for a major exam, only to learn that it has been postponed A student studying for a major exam - Yes, this part makes sense as working towards something. Only to learn that it has been postponed - No, this isn't the same as giving up because something happened that was outside of the studentââ¬â¢s control. It doesnââ¬â¢t match the irony described in the passage, so cross it out! Choice E: A person purchasing an expensive umbrella, only to lose it on the first rainy day A person purchasing an expensive umbrella - Nope, that's not really an example of working towards a goal unless your priorities are seriously weird. Only to lose it on the first rainy day - Thatââ¬â¢s not giving up, this person is just frivolous AND careless. Iââ¬â¢m glad they lost their umbrella. This doesnââ¬â¢t match the irony described in the passage either - eliminate it! Great, so we have Choice C as our answer! "O Umbrella, why did you leave me? O cruel vagaries of fate!" - quote from the poor sap in choice E Let's try another one. The first sample analogy question that I showed you about black holes is pretty tough, but I think we're ready for it. Here it is again: Which of the following most resembles the relationship between "black hole activity" and "star formation" (lines -12) as described in the passage? A. A volcanic eruption on one continent results in higher rainfall totals on another continent.B. Industrial emissions in one region lead to an increase in airborne pollutants in adjacent regions.C. A drought in a wilderness area causes a significant loss of vegetation in that area.D. Decreased oil production in one country results in higher gas prices in oil-dependent countries.E. Overfishing in a gulf leads to an increase in the population of smaller aquatic organisms. Ok, first we need to read the question carefully. We are going to be comparing two relationships for this question, and there's no LEAST, so we want to find the answer choice that is most similar to the relationship in the passage. Now let's read the lines from the passage. Here's our relevant excerpt: Accordingly, astronomers long assumed that supermassive holes, let alone their smaller cousins, would have little effect beyond their immediate neighborhoods. So it has come as a surprise over the past decade that black hole activity is closely intertwined with star formation occurring farther out in the galaxy. What's the relationship between black hole activity and star formation? They are "closely intertwined," implying a cause-effect relationship of some kind, although the star formation is occurring very far away from the black hole activity. So we are looking for a vague cause and effect relationship between two events that are occurring far apart from one another. Now let's examine our answer choices to see which one matches up with this relationship. Choice A: A volcanic eruption on one continent results in higher rainfall totals on another continent. This answer seems to work. The volcanic eruption and the higher rainfall totals are occurring in two separate regions, just like the black hole activity and star formation. This answer also demonstrates a cause and effect relationship that is somewhat ambiguous - though the events are related, they do not directly lead into one another. The nature of this relationship is the same as that of the relationship between black hole activity and star formation. Choice B:Industrial emissions in one region lead to an increase in airborne pollutants in adjacent regions. The key to detecting this wrong answer is the word "adjacent". Black hole activity and star formation in the passage are occurring very far away from each other, not in nearby regions of the galaxy. This answer also describes a direct causal relationship that makes straightforward logical sense - that's different from the vague nature of the relationship in the passage. Get rid of this one! Choice C:A drought in a wilderness area causes a significant loss of vegetation in that area. This answer is incorrect because both events are occurring in the same area. This makes it even more clearly wrong than Choice B, where the events happened in adjacent regions. This answer also describes a very logical relationship that demonstrates obvious cause and effect between drought and loss of vegetation. This is not the same as the relationship between black hole activity and star formation. Eliminate this one too! Choice D:Decreased oil production in one country results in higher gas prices in oil-dependent countries. Though the two events in this relationship are occurring in regions that are far away from one another, this answer still doesn't work. This relationship demonstrates a direct and logical cause and effect chain of events. This was not the case with black hole activity and star formation. Cross it out! Choice E:Overfishing in a gulf leads to an increase in the population of smaller aquatic organisms. This once again refers to a scenario where both events are occurring in the same place, whereas a key feature of the relationship in the passage was that black hole activity and star formation happened far away from each other. This one's wrong too! Looks like Choice A is our answer! That was a really tough one, but if you understood why we eliminated the four incorrect answers, you shouldn't have to worry about any super challenging analogy questions sneaking up on you on the SAT. You've already got the skills to beat them. Your brain must be like a black hole for SAT knowledge! Summary Analogy questions (in a less direct form) are still a part of the SAT Critical Reading section.These questions will ask you to make a comparison between a condition or relationship in a reading passage and a different condition or relationship thatââ¬â¢s not referenced in the passage. When you see an analogy question, remember to: Read the question carefully. Go back to the passage and make sure you fully understand the condition or relationship you are being asked to compare. Read each of the answer choices and break them down so that you can make a direct comparison to whatââ¬â¢s in the passage. Eliminate four choices, and find the one that works! Remember, you can do it! What's Next? Want more skills-focused SAT Reading articles? Start with these articles on sentence completion questions and vocab-in-context questions, and check back in the next week for more! What's the best way to get information out of a passage on SAT Reading? 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Friday, November 22, 2019
Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty
Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, love, and sexuality. She is sometimes known as the Cyprian because there was a cult center of Aphrodite on Cyprus [See Map Jc-d]. Aphrodite is the mother of the god of love, Eros (more familiar as Cupid). She is the wife of the ugliest of the gods, Hephaestus. Unlike the powerful virginal goddesses, Athena and Artemis, or the faithful goddess of marriage, Hera, she has love affairs with gods and mortals. Aphrodites birth story makes her relation to the other gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus ambiguous. Family of Origin Hesiod says Aphrodite arose from the foam that gathered around the genitals of Uranus. They just happened to be floating in the sea after his son Cronus castrated his father. The poet known as Homer calls Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus and Dione. She is also described as the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys (both Titans). If Aphrodite is the cast-offspring of Uranus, she is of the same generation as Zeus parents. If she is the daughter of the Titans, she is Zeus cousin. Roman Equivalent Aphrodite was called Venus by the Romans as in the famous Venus de Milo statue. Attributes And Associations Mirror, of course she is the goddess of beauty. Also, the apple, which has lots of associations with love or beauty (as in Sleeping Beauty) and especially the golden apple. Aphrodite is associated with a magic girdle (belt), the dove, myrrh and myrtle, the dolphin, and more. In the famous Botticelli painting, Aphrodite is seen rising from a clam shell. Sources Ancient sources for Aphrodite include Apollodorus, Apuleius, Aristophanes, Cicero, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Diodorus Siculus, Euripides, Hesiod, Homer, Hyginus, Nonnius, Ovid, Pausanias, Pindar, Plato, Quintus Smyrnaeus, Sophocles, Statius, Strabo and Vergil (Virgil). Trojan War and Aeneids Aphrodite / Venus The story of the Trojan War begins with the story of the apple of discord, which naturally was made of gold: Each of 3 goddesses: Hera - marriage goddess and wife of ZeusAthena - Zeus daughter, wisdom goddess, and one of the powerful virginal goddesses mentioned above, andAphrodite thought she deserved the golden apple, by virtue of being kallista the most beautiful. Since the goddesses couldnt decide among themselves and Zeus wasnt willing to suffer the wrath of the females in his family, the goddesses appealed to Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. They asked him to judge which of them was the most beautiful. Paris judged the goddess of beauty to be the loveliest. In return for his verdict, Aphrodite promised Paris the fairest woman. Unfortunately, this fairest mortal was Helen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus. Paris took the prize that had been awarded him by Aphrodite, despite her prior commitments, and so started the most famous war in history, that between the Greeks and Trojans. Vergil or Virgils Aeneid tells a Trojan War sequel story about a surviving Trojan prince, Aeneas, transporting his household gods from the burning city of Troy to Italy, where he founds the race of the Romans. In the Aeneid, the Roman version of Aphrodite, Venus, is Aeneas mother. In the Iliad, she protected her son, even at the cost of suffering a wound inflicted by Diomedes.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Business Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Business Analysis - Research Paper Example As a well-established facility, W Hotel San Francisco has a total of 404 rooms. These are used to provide a variety of services including Wonderful Rooms, Spectacular Rooms, Cool Corner Rooms and Fantastic Rooms. Each of these is very important since they offer a distinct category of services to a diverse group of clients who frequent the facility for accommodation. For instance, Wonderful Room which is situated in the 12th floor contains a 300 square feet sitting room. On the other hand, the Fantastic Room which are found in the 23rd and 24th floors consist of 700 square feet fabulous one bed room suites that provide the customers with a spectacular birdââ¬â¢s eye view. Summarily, these rooms are made to cater for each of the clients in line with their income and preferences. They have bed and table spaces to suite both individuals and groups as well. On the other hand, the facility offers cuisine services. Just like the other hotels, W Hotel San Francisco provides a wide range of meals to its clients especially the residents. However, it offers special meals consisting of local and Asian cuisine. These are made to be more appealing especially being that they are more organic. This makes them quite enjoyable especially for those who are very much interested in the organic Chinese dishes. Moreover, the hotel has bars which provide different brands of local and organic wines, liquors and beers. These are opened from 11:30 am to 1:30 am. Indeed, W Hotel San Francisco should be considered as the best facility in the region. A part from offering a wide range of services, it has a team of professionals to manage it and offer day to day services required by its customers. Besides, it offers high quality services such as 100% organic coffee, wines and meals. At the same time, it has a well-equipped gym which remains accessible to all the clients at any time of the day (Gross, 2009). Finally, unlike its competitors, it provides on-site parking
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Little Red Riding Hood Presented In Different Cultures Research Paper - 1
Little Red Riding Hood Presented In Different Cultures - Research Paper Example Little Red Riding Hood is yet another story that has been told many times in order to teach children lessons of not talking to strangers or disobeying their parents and elders. However, this story has been presented in various forms in different cultures all around the world because the best part about fairytales is that they may be morphed and diffused into different cultures and retold in different languages with the help of characters and beings that people are familiar with within the purview of their own cultures. The story of Little Red Riding Hood talks about a little girl who wore a red hooded cloak and went into the forest to look for wild berries and fruits. In the process, she was tricked into following a wolf dressed as her grandma, inside a house in a deserted part of the forest, where the wolf ultimately ate her up. The moral here is that children should not talk to or follow and believe strangers because they might fall into trouble and not have anyone around them to p rotect them from the evils of life. On viewing the same in a larger picture, parents tell their children this story as it is presented with a view to helping them understand the cruelties that lie in the world with respect to molestation, rape, and other criminal activities like vandalism and kidnapping, and how their children might be affected during their teenage years because those are the vulnerable years of a personââ¬â¢s life. Written by Gillian Cross, ââ¬ËWolfââ¬â¢ is a very loose adaption of what a modern-day version of Little Red Riding Hood might be; it talks about the cruelties that young people are made to suffer and also social problems that rage in the world at present.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
A Revolutionary Approach Essay Example for Free
A Revolutionary Approach Essay I believe that the pressures of work can strip the energies off anyone. Without the right motivation, anyone can be a victim of this scenario. For me, happiness is an important ingredient to make work worthwhile. Joy at work, according to Bakke (2005) begins with individual initiative and individual control. It is my great understanding that my happiness at work depends solely with my attitude. Like success, joy at work may only be achieved if I allow it to happen. I can be successful if I allow myself to be. In like manner, if I choose to be unhappy and unsuccessful, I can do things to make my life that way too. Oftentimes, we find ourselves looking for reasons to stay in a company where we work. When the excitement wears off, we start weighing our other options. Some of us may opt to try our luck somewhere. Some may even shift careers with the hope that their new chosen field will turn them into happier persons. Bakke (2005) illustrates at least 10 aspects in the workplace that will bring joy at work. First on hs list is that: When given the opportunity to use our ability to reason, make decisions, and take responsibility for our actions, we experience joy at work. This tells us that in order to achieve joy at work, we should learn to communicate our feelings to our superiors to be able to inform them of certain situations in the workplace. As responsible workers, we should also learn to make our own decisions. This will show how efficient we are and how ell we can perform the duties and responsibles assigned to us. Bakkeââ¬â¢s Joy at Work listed that, The purpose of business is not to maximize profits for shareholders but to steward our resources to serve the world in an economically sustainable way. Putting it the other way, we should understand that what weââ¬â¢re doing at the moment as career persons may translate to the world in general. As workers, we are contributing to the worldââ¬â¢s economy. Without our efforts, we may not be able to achieve economic supremacy. Thirdly, we should attempt to create the most fun workplace in the history of the world (Chapter 3). No effort should be looked upon as too small or too little. Every task when pooled together contributes to the bigger share. We can make our workplace a joyful spot for everyone by the amount of happiness we contribute. The other way to achieve joy at work is to eliminate management, organization charts, job descriptions and hourly wages. All employees must be treated with importance. Job descriptions, hourly wages and the rest will only make them compete with each other. Another important aspect of joy at work is, fairness means treating everybody differently. Each of us is unique and each of us is born with his own talent. Thus managers must see to it that their employees are treated that way they should be. The other details listed by Bakke (2005) are: Principles and values must guide all decision; put other stakeholders (shareholders, customers, suppliers, etc. ) equal to or above yourself; everyone must get advice before making a decision. If you donââ¬â¢t seek advice, ââ¬Å"youââ¬â¢re fired; and finally, a ââ¬Å"goodâ⬠decision should make all the stakeholders unhappy because no individual or group got all they wanted; and lead with passion, humility, and love. Being happy at work boils down to one thing. I believe that everything else depends on the person. As I mentioned above, our happiness depends on us as individual persons. We can choose to either be happy or sad in the workplace. As a member of a certain company, we should learn to appreciate what we have and be happy with what we have. Work Cited: Bake, Dennis W. Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job. PVG. January 2005
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Becoming a Man :: essays research papers
A Day No Pigs Would Die is a story that Robert Peck wrote to show the reader his adolescent life, fate, and the journey from boyhood to manhood. Peck leads the reader through the intricate web of his youth, almost as though he were a stitching needle. The author makes sure not to miss a single stomach pumping detail, leaving the reader, well, not quite wanting more. As a young Shaker boy, Robert lived with his mother Lucy, father Haven, and his aunt carrie. The novel begins with a vivid scene in which he helps bring a calf into the world up on the ridge above their farm. The mother seemed to have been posessed by some force of the underworld, causing her, her calf, and Rob a great deal of pain. Robert learns at an early age the value of a simple life, hard work, and a strict moral code. While other boys his age spend their time playing, Robert helps his father on the farm and does his own daily chores, while raising a pig in hopes of supplementing the family income. The role fate pl ays in this story is Robert's future, and how he will make a living. He is destined to become a farmer just like his father, on the same land he grew up on. He knows that when his father dies, he will become the man of the house, and he will be in charge of his mother and his aunt. Robert would like very much to become famous, but he is resticted in that it is against his religion. Robert grows up feeling this constant sense of predestination, with his whole life planned out before his eyes only making him feel even more the urge to break free and live free. Robert's father becomes ill with a lung disease, and does all he can to help his son be ready to be the head of their household. Haven develops a cough, and eventually has to start sleeping out in the barn with the animals since it is warmer there, and he is worried about his wife becoming ill aswell. After a few years of preparation and rigorous teaching, Haven does not wake up one morning out in the barn. Robert does his best to be a man, and to make sure to keep his immature feelings concealed. He jumps right into his father's boots, and is allowed to, for the first time, call his neighbors by their first names.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Culture and education in the development of Africa Essay
Some of the colonial power portrayed Africa as primitive in their descriptions, for instance, Cecil Rhodes Social Darwinism advocate states, ââ¬Å"I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the betterâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ King Leopold of Belgium assertion on civilization, ââ¬Å"To open to civilization the only part of the globe where it has yet to penetrate â⬠¦is, I dare to say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress.â⬠From the above assertions, it is prudent to note that, colonial powers thought Africa to be devoid of the organization in social, political and economic perspective and therefore they wanted ââ¬Å"to make Africa, England.â⬠In that thought of naivety of the Africans, there were societal structures and organizations which British did not care to observe. However, it was not going to be easy as where two or three cultures interact a conflict is inevitable. Although Africa was not a plain or bear continent, Africans had their way of life, structure of government, religion, economic activities, education, systems of marriage and development plans for their societies, nevertheless the British brought their systems which conflicted with Africans established way of life, this was because the British, as many other European powers were economically depressed and Africa appeared to be the only way out. The British wanted to pass the three Cââ¬â¢s; Commerce, that is to make money through an acquisition of free labor form Africans, raw materials for their industries as industrial revolution back in Britain was rapidly taking place, the market for their surplus production; Christianity to save Africans.Explorers such as David Livingstone, Vasco Da Gama, Portuguese Diego Cam and Arabs with Muslim faith had missionary zeal. The last C is for Civilization, they wanted to civilize Africans in terms of education, culture and many other aspects. Th us, to a larger extent, the activities of British heartened conflicts. African traditional religion is rooted in the African culture, it was difficult for Christianity to penetrate through. Portuguese tried in the fifteen century and failed. For Christianity to take the course the Africans had to abandon their culture which was hard so to say. The Missionaries in the nineteenth century, however, came up with an elaborate plan for them to spread Christianity. They introduced through religion, education and health centers which contradicted informal learning and the institution of medicine men. Africans gradually began to embrace Whitemanââ¬â¢s way of life but not without several clashes. These battles are seen in various forms such as spiritual, doctrinal, cultural and practical. The African religion has been given several definitions by different scholars, for instance, Dr. John Mbiti has elaborated aspects of African religion. In his book African Traditional Religion, Mbiti (1991) African religion is very pragmatic and realistic (p2), he explains that it is applied in circumstances where need arises. In addition he states that religion is rooted in the local language, so to comprehend religious life of an African society one has to understand the local dialect. He further affirms, ââ¬Å"To be an African in traditional setup is to be truly religious.â⬠(p30) He states that the religion can be seen in five aspects of culture; beliefs, practices, ceremonies and festivals, religious objects and places, values and morals and religious officials and leaders. He defines African religion as: ââ¬Å" The product of the thinking and experiences of our forefathers and mothers that is men and women of their generations. They formed religious ideas, they observed religious ceremonies and rituals, they told proverbs and myths which safeguarded the life of individual and his community.(pp 13-14) Mbiti notes that Af rican religion has no scriptures as compared to Christianity and other religions, it is written in peoples history ,hearts and experiences of the people.(p14) Awolalu in his book Sin and its Removal in the African Traditional Religion defines African religion as ââ¬Å"â⬠¦largely written in the peopleââ¬â¢s myth and folktales, in their songs and dances, in their liturgies and shrines and in their proverbs and pithy sayings. It is a religion whose historical founder is neither known nor worshipped; it is a religion that has no zeal for membership drive, yet it offers persistent fascination for Africans, young and old.â⬠The African traditional religion was not homogeneous as the communities had different ethnic background thus the religious practices such rituals varied one community to the other. It is worth noting that it was oral not scripted or written and was passed from one generation to the other by word of mouth, as I earlier alluded in the definitions of religion. Within their organized societal structures, Africans believed in supernatural beings together with ancestral spirits.The ancestral spirits were believed to li nk the living societal members to the gods. Therefore, the African traditional religion was and still is interweaved to the African culture. From the above insights, one cannot talk of African religion without African values as they are intertwined and inseparable. African religion was embedded in moral values or codes or standards which were believed to originate from god through the ancestral spirits, these values when observed one would be rewarded with maybe good harvest from their cultivation of land or increased number of flock of cattle. When these values were violated the culprits were reprimanded. The concept of values is a vital point as one talks of the African religion. For that reason African religion is drawn from the African values and Culture. African Culture was the source of law through the moral codes and values passed from generation to generation. From the above description we can see that law or rules of conduct were embedded in religion and that African religion was interweaved in the African culture.The African religion had some institutions as Mbiti points out in the aspects of African religion, w ho presided over religious functions, these institutions were believed to communicate directly to ancestral spirits (living dead) who in turn would communicate to the gods and grievances of the living societal members would be heard. In the Kenyan context, these institutions include Orkoyot of the Nandi, Oloibon of the Maasai, Seers, Diviners, and Rainmakers depending on the ethnic communities which they came from. These institutions apart from veneration of the ancestors, they blessed warrior before going for war, advised the political leaders, offered sacrifice to god and conducted rituals for the culprits who violated moral values in the community. The gods had some specific names for instance, in Kenyan context, we had Enkai for the Maasai, Engoro for the Abagusii, Mulungu for Akamba, Asis the Nandi, Ngai for the Agikuyu and Nyasaye for the Luo. There were specific worship places which were regarded as holy, this places included shrines, mountaintops some special trees such as m ugumo, hills and some caves. The diversity of the names given to gods and places of worship, show the lack of uniformity in the African Religion. Thus Africans were of different ethnic background and had their own religion, gods and religion as a community. The clashes can be seen in the five aspects as earlier alluded in Mbitiââ¬â¢s work that is beliefs, practices, ceremonies, festivals, religious objects and places, values and morals, religious officials and leaders. These aspects of African religion differ from those of Christianity. I) Source/origin of Religion The Africans believed that their religion was sourced from god, who they believed long before their ancestorsââ¬â¢ existence. The British Missionaries conflict with Africans by telling them about the existence of a God who had a son and lived among them many years ago. The religion of British was written (Bible) thus one had to have the ability to read and write in order to understand it, whereas that of African was passed from generation to generation by oral tradition. There is an introduction of a new system of identifying the origin of religion which conflicts with the African system. II) Places of worship The Africans revered in special caves, Mountaintops, hills, Forests, Special trees (mugumo) and shrines. The British tell Africans that they should worship God places called Churches. This encounter shows that there is a bit of clashing as the African places were very clearly defined and preserved by the community members. The British also seized African land to construct churches or chapels, Africans as a result became very hostile as they had distinct worship places which occurred naturally. They believed that their land was for cultivation and a gift from their gods. III) The Practices of Religion The Africans practiced their religion by reverence to their ancestors, offering human and animal sacrifices and invoking the ancestral spirits. They offered sacrifices in order to get favours in terms of harvest. The African worship was communal that is, all community members used to convene to pray for rain and ask for wellness of the community. The British religion had an aspect of confession of one`s sins before worship, repentance and forgiveness of sin is granted. This aspect of forgiveness of sins lacks in the traditional African religion, one had to be punished for wrong doing. British missionary religion brings out an aspect of offerings in terms of money and tithe which is ten per cent of one`s total earnings. IV) Religious leaders In African religion, worship was led by Diviners, Rainmakers, and Seers who were considered righteous. The work of religious leaders was taught through apprecentiship and was hereditary from specific clans in the community. There were certain clans from whom diviners would descend. They were highly respected in the community. The British Christian religious leaders attend school to be trained mainly on theology. They study formalities of worship and nature of God. Any member of Christian family can become a religious leader although there are some myths which say one has to be ââ¬Ëcalledââ¬â¢ by God. A Christian leader has to have the ability to read and write so as to pass the scriptures to his congregation. V) Uniformity of Religion As I handled earlier in this essay, the African traditional religion was diverse from one ethnic community to the other due to the linguistic differences, migration patterns and origin. Christianity is introduced as a homogeneous religion as the author of it is Jesus Christ, a common ancestry and reference point for all Christians. The diversity of worship is dismantled by the British introduction of this even religion. Africans were notoriously religious as it was found in each group. Africans who lived as per the traditional way of life were regarded as very religious.it is also worth acknowledging that Africans are at crossroads due to the fact that religion is imbedded in the African culture. It is thus difficult for Africans to fully be committed to Christianity as being fully whole-hearted means they will have to abandon some of the partaking of African culture. This has already happened as some dedicated African Christians refer to traditional religion as paganism, fetish, and animism. References. Mbiti J.S (1999) African Religion and Philosophy, Oxford, England, Heinemann Educational Publishers. Mbiti J.S (1991) Introduction to African Religion Oxford, England, Heinemann Educational Publishers. Awolalo J.O (1976) Sin and Its Removal from the African Traditional Religion Uchenna O (2008) African Crossroads: Conflict between African Traditional Religion and Christianity, The International Journal of Humanities volume 6 Number 2 History and Government Form One to Four, KLB Fourth Edition. Kwasi W. (1998) Towards Decolonizing African Religion and Philosophy, African Studies Quarterly volume 1 Issue 4. NAME: MUNYALO, DANIEL MUTHENGI REG.NO: G34/102614/2017 COURSE: GPR 109 LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING
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