Throughout the Poisonwood Bible, author Barbara Kingsolver uses Nathan Price as a representation of the dangers of combining religious fervor and power in the wrong hands. This is not to say that religion in itself is a bad influence, but that it has the potential to be if it is implemented in the wrong way - forced by judgment or focused only on specific written rules rather than the ideology and true meaning behind it. It. Nathan is an impeccable example of the “dangerous hands” into which religious control should not be placed. He uses the Bible as a weapon, hitting the people of Kilanga with his rigid Christian beliefs rather than approaching them with flexible methods and ease of adaptation to their highly diverse culture. One of the major flaws in Nathan Price's religious practice is his failure to recognize the true meaning of Christianity. Instead, it focuses only on the specific standards and rules set forth by the Bible word for word, such as baptism or prayer, when it should embrace the spirit of religion, such as compassion, love, and kindness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A prime example of this forgetfulness is Nathan's interaction with his family. Nathan consistently prioritizes his religious mission over family, neglecting to show his wife and daughters the love and care they deserve. Orleanna Price, Nathan's wife, often informs the reader of his neglect through the narrative of how he treated her during their marriage. Before her marriage to Nathan Price at the young age of 17, Orleanna had been a bright, passionate and ambitious girl living in Mississippi. Once married, she loses almost all sense of will and becomes an obedient and passive housewife. Orleanna is undermined by her husband's greater religious priority to the point that his actions towards her are not simply one of abandonment, but of disgust; “He was deeply embarrassed by my pregnancies. In his way of thinking they were undeserved blessings, and each one brought God's attention anew to the fact that I had a vagina and he had a penis and that we had brought them close enough to conceive a child” (Page 198, Orleanna) . Nathan does not consider reproduction with his wife a beautiful and blessed event, but rather a shameful action in the eyes of God. Nathan's negligence does not stop with his wife; this leads to a lack of care for his entire family. When the Congo turned into a politically unstable state in the midst of the war, the Mission State wanted to withdraw the Price family from the country and bring them back to safety within American borders. However, Nathan chose to ignore the Mission State's advice and fought against his family's desire to listen to it; “The mother tries to explain to him day after day how she is putting her children in danger of their lives, but he doesn't even listen to his wife, much less his simple eldest daughter” (Page 176, Rachel). He risks losing his entire family without hesitation simply to continue his goal of spreading Christianity throughout the Congo. Now, some may see this as a selfless and humble decision to make, but Nathan did not make this decision because he believed that the Congolese people needed faith; he did it to satisfy his own need to succeed in spreading the Christian faith. Furthermore, Nathan continues to demonstrate that his religious priority is higher than that of his own family following the death of his daughter Ruth May Price. In immediate reactionupon Ruth May's death, Nathan Price exclaims, "She wasn't even baptized yet" (page 368, Nathan), in shock. The event of losing a child usually causes a traumatic emotional response; however, Nathan only expressed his concern that he would not be able to fulfill his personal religious mission. The family had passionate and devastating reactions to Ruth May's death - “As long as I kept moving, my grief flowed behind me like the long hair of a swimmer in the water. I knew the weight was there but it didn't affect me. Only when I stopped did its dark, slimy substance begin to float around my face, gripping my arms and throat until I began to drown” (Page 281, Orleanna) – and mourning her deeply, Nathan persisted in using her death to satisfy his his desires. final goal of baptizing the Congolese. His lack of a natural, humane response to his daughter's death demonstrates his selfishness and his unnecessarily low priority for his family. Furthermore, Nathan's comment after Ruth May's death, "She wasn't even baptized yet" (Page 368, Nathan), is a sign of his hypocrisy as a "devout Christian." Nathan constantly preaches the importance of baptism to all Congolese people, yet he has never baptized his daughter. This leads to the discussion of the religious hypocrisy that heavily survives in today's society, whether it is a mass scandal or the discreet but tangible group of guilty Christians. For example, in 2010 the Holy See of the Catholic Church released the news that nearly 3,000 priests had allegations of sexual abuse over the past fifty years. The Bible clearly states: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality” (1 Corinthians 6:9). As a secondary example, another major problem with the imposition of beliefs by religious institutions on members of society is Planned Parenthood and the use of any form of contraception. Because of ecclesiastical celibacy, a priest is not allowed to marry or have children. Therefore, he does not experience the struggles and difficulties of maintaining a family. The fact that priests preach to the faithful not to divorce or not to use any form of contraception is simply hypocritical. I am unable to understand the dynamics of living with a wife and children and the circumstances that create difficulties in following the rigid standards of the rigid preaching of Christianity, such as the inability to financially support another child leading to the use of birth control , or have such a cruel relationship with your spouse that both of you - and your children if any - would be better off separating. It is easy for a single man without children to preach abstention from forms of birth control, sex, and divorce, as he never faces such issues. Although this story is set in a different historical period, Kingsolver outlines these flaws of Christian institutions through the actions and characteristics of his characters. Continuing Nathan's inadequate preaching methods, his goals of spreading Christianity are too focused on salvation, such as heaven and hell, to the point that he is unaware of the real problems of reality that lie right in front of him and he makes no effort to deal with it. like a true missionary would do. For example, Mama Tataba tells him that the people of Congo do not wish to be baptized in the river; “She [a village girl] was killed and eaten by a crocodile. They never let their children step foot in the river, ever. Not even to be washed in the Blood of the Lamb” (Page 81, Leah). Even after being told that torecently a child's life was taken there and that the people of Kilanga will ultimately refuse to enter the waters for baptism, does not change his approach but simply persists in preaching the importance and necessity of baptism and that the river it's the only place to do it. Overall, Nathan Price is a stern, rigid and inflexible preacher who has no desire to adapt to Congolese culture. He remains unable to acclimatise to his new environment, thus hindering his religious influence on the people of Kilanga. Throughout the story, he makes no attempt to modify his methods for the better of the Congolese people; “He confronts and tries to change a people who do not understand” (Purcell). He is unable to adapt to the new environment and culture and does not spread Christianity in the correct way to achieve maximum effect on the Congolese from a religious point of view, failing to refrain from influencing their entire ideology, culture and style of life in general. His daughters maintain a great understanding of their father's difficult nature, as Leah explains: “Everything you're sure is right may be wrong in another place. Especially here” (Page 505, Leah). While this quote refers to the specific linguistic differences between English and Congolese, it has a deeper meaning that is widely applicable to her father and his unyielding practices. Furthermore, Nathan is convinced that his ideas are superior, even when he is proven wrong by hard evidence and valid facts. His very first action in Kilanga, attempting to cultivate the land, is a perfect example of his righteousness. Although it is proven that his method purely does not work. Nathan refuses to listen to Mama Tataba's advice on how to cut and plant seeds correctly. He hastily continues to plant in the garden: «He bent down and began to tear out long handfuls of grass with quick and energetic jerks, as if he were tearing out the hair of the world» (Pg. 36, Leah), showing his disturbance by making himself feel wrong and his stubbornness by refusing to admit he was wrong. He ends up killing all the crops and wasting time and resources, harming all the other people in Kilanga but fueling his own ego since, in his mind, he was right again. This is a static characteristic of Nathan that is foreshadowed throughout the book by his family: “It is harder to imagine a mortal man more reluctant to change course than Nathan Price” (Page 96, Orleanna). Likewise, Nathan refuses to listen to or consider everyone else's opinions and only seeks the mission given to him by God. This relates to the fact that he uses God and religion to exercise his arrogance and need for control to demonstrate that he has reason and that all other people's opinions are inferior. As stated previously and repeatedly, Nathan is a very arrogant, judgmental, and naive man. . He uses his religious mission to satiate himself by making himself feel taller and fueling his arrogance through his ability to be condescending to those who are unsaved. He is too focused on his own salvation that he doesn't truly care about saving the souls of others or their well-being, but only about the prosperity it will bring him if he succeeds in his mission. One is led to believe that the way to secure a place for salvation is to convert as many souls as possible to Christianity, although this is not necessarily the direct meaning behind Christianity. As his daughter explains, "The father needs only the Savior's permission" (page 36, Leah), whose words Nathan tends to take too much, almost too seriously. In contrast, Kingsolver uses Brother Fowles as a representation of the "good" of religion and the right hands it should be placed in to prosper.. 2016.