The process of creating a website was somewhat challenging. We chose to use Wix and it wasn’t as bad as what it could have been, but I also wasn’t the group member who ended up with all their work deleted either. My section ended up appearing fairly simple which was intentional. I tend to like …
Author Archives: Alex Gutzweiler
11/12 Reading
The reading in Aslan’s book and the discussion in class about Sufism was particularly intriguing to me. The video we watched made me a little sick though, and I have a lot of respect for all the people who participate in that kind of worship and dedication. The idea of trying to lose yourself to …
Readings for 11/7
These readings brought up the somewhat controversial idea of whether there is such a thing as free will or if everything in and about our lives are predetermined by God. I think a reason this can be such a controversial topic is because if you believe in God, he is all-knowing and created all humans, …
The Documentary (Readings for 11/5)
I am not a fan of documentaries, but I didn’t mind watching this one. As I think I have already mentioned before, I really don’t know anything about the religion of Islam. Learning about the Hajj was very interesting. As someone else said in class today, I had no idea that the pilgrimage was as …
Reading for 10/31
In chapter three of No god but God, we found out why the people of Yathrib sent Muhammad the invitation in the first place. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t necessarily because of Muhammad’s revelations or teachings of the one true God, but for his skills as a mediator. He was known in his time for working …
Readings for 10/29
I enjoyed reading the Quran because I have never really explored other religions and it was very interesting to compare the book of Islam to the Bible in class. We talked about how it was a guide on how to live and think, like the Bible and like the Tao Te Ching from the last …
Readings for 10/24
I liked that Professor McGrath was able to align chapter two of No god but God and the pages from the reader because they told the same stories about Muhammad with slightly different wording so we could really understand what was going on. Those stories including when Muhammad “cut open” and snow was put inside …
October 22nd Readings
I am excited to learn about Islam and the Middle East because in all honesty, it is a religion and region of the world that I don’t know very much about. So far, the readings have been interesting, and I already know more than I ever have based on the little we’ve done with the …
The Gentleman
While reviewing information for the China unit exam, I came across the small section in Craig’s text in which “Confucius defines the gentleman” (16). To be completely honest, I do tend to skip the extra sections added throughout the textbooks I read even though they have interesting and important information. When I decided to read …
Continued Discussion from 10/8 Class
I think that the situation that occurred in The Bridegroom’s “Saboteur” would be handled very differently in the US. I believe that while we do have corrupt police officers and we by no means have the perfect system, most police officers in the US seem to hold themselves to a higher standard than the two …