Sigmund Freud Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sigmund Freud Paper - Essay Example He laid the groundwork for much psychological theory to come and developed some of the most powerful theories in the history of the discipline. Freud’s ways of thinking influenced the culture at large and lead to a large body of art, poetry, and literature. Some suggest that much of surrealism can be traced from Freud’s work. However, all of his theories have been disproved today and he is no longer relevant to academic psychologists. This is an amazing shift in influence for someone who once seemed to be at the cornerstone of human thought. Freud's many theories were incredibly influential in his lifetime and in the decades after his death. He began as a young psychologist and eventually started publishing case studies based on the patients who treated. Some of them had incredible stories to tell. From these patients he began to create elaborate psychological theories. Many of his theories were named after classical Greek characters, lending them an air of historical c redibility. The Oedipus Complex was one wherein he suggested that affected boys want to kill their father and marry their mother. Another was the Electra Complex where a woman wanted to marry her father. These were elaborate theories that gained wide currency in the culture and society. Another of Freud's main concepts was that a person's personality and many of their later problems have a source in childhood experiences. Overall, Freud pointed contemporary psychologists in a correct direction, but many of his ideas also slowed down progress. He cut a larger than life figure, and was so comprehensive in his intelligence that it could be difficult to dispute his ideas. Nowadays, however, few if any people call themselves Freudians. There is a feeling that Freudians have an unnatural predilection to examine the sexual lives of people in order to explain every problem they have. That is in part of one of Freud's legacies: that sex and death dominate and drive all human beings. They may play a role, but few psychologists today believe that these two things can explain everything. Freud's theories are not considered to be relevant today by most theorists. They are fascinating historical artifacts that show us how the discipline of psychology began more than one hundred years ago, but they are not really cited in contemporary academic papers as authorities on any subjects. Freud had a limited amount of clinical data at his disposal and a great deal of his work involved the interpretation of dreams which is now seen to be as not at all scientific. His idea that sexual identity is a main component of a person's overall identity was influential at the time, but again has been pared back in recent years to some extent. It is useful to see Freud's work as a kind of pendulum. He opened the box to so many new ideas that people immediately adopted because they were so interesting and because there was perhaps a grain of truth to them. Over the years, though, people began to drop his ideas, and the pendulum has swung back again. The truth is that times have changed. Psychologists today have much more to work with than simply what their patient told them they dreamed last night or a story about a patient's relationship with his or her father. They can measure the levels of chemicals in peoples' brains and can determine how that influences their behavior. There is no doubt that traumatic experiences can change the way people

Issues That the Jerusalem Council Debated Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Issues That the Jerusalem Council Debated - Essay Example The resolution was communicated to all Christians. The Jerusalem council is a model to the church today. There have emerged many religious denominations in Christianity today. These denominations have differed in their teachings on baptism. Some groups believe in baptism by immersion while others maintain that the amount of water does not matter for as long as one professes faith in Jesus. Debates on sexual orientation and expression have taken their toll on the church. This difference sometimes degenerates into open enmity and conflicts. Today’s church should learn from the way the Jerusalem council would handle issues peacefully and with dialogue (Elmer 89). While in Rome, Paul got into trouble with the Jewish elders and chief priests. The elders and priests bound Paul when he would not stop preaching about the resurrection of Jesus, but he was saved by the officials of the emperor before they hurt him. When he was taken to Emperor Felix and charged with inciting people and causing chaos, he defended himself by explaining that the people were only angry with him for preaching about the resurrection of Jesus. Felix did not want to delve into Paul’s case. He put him in detention until he left Caesarea. Festus his successor came to power (Harrison 57). He revisited Paul’s case, and he conspired with Paul’s opponents to hand him over to them so that they hurt him in the pretence of moving him to Jerusalem to try him there. However, Paul declined, and when he appeared before Festus and King Agrippa, he pleaded with Caesarea as a Roman citizen. He charged that he had not contravened any roman or Jewish law, but he was only teaching about the resurrection of Jesus.