Christology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Christology - Essay Example Although all attempts to categorize the views of others risk oversimplification, it is nonetheless necessary to distinguish between and categorize different approaches if we are to evaluate them briefly and effectively. What does this say about Christian mission I do not mean to suggest that evangelization is incompatible with respectful dialogue -- quite the opposite. Although evangelizing calls at times for clarity about the faith that informs Christian action, evangelizing is not the same thing as proselytizing. To evangelize is to witness to the Gospel, and very often the witness that is required is decency, cooperation in pursuit of the common good, and willingness to profess one's own faith truthfully (Haight, 2000, 103-112). In the context of interfaith dialogue, witness to the Gospel should lie precisely in refusing to take advantage of the situation to make converts. But this is the nub of the problem, since it is precisely the content of the Gospel as it relates to dialogue that is in question. (Sobrino, 2002, 42-48) The refu Christology in Contemporary Christianity The refusal to proselytize can only be a witness to the Gospel if the Gospel itself warrants such a refusal. Christians have always understood the Good News as something which demands to be shared with everybody because the salvation it proclaims is addressed to everybody (Hill, 2004, 93-100). If there are times and situations when going out of one's way to make converts is to be avoided for the sake of the Gospel itself, this can only be because the Gospel vision places a high value on respectful dialogue, even on a dialogue that is prepared to continue interminably with no agreement in view. Thinking along these lines, we might say that in Christ the presence of the alien is welcomed and the fact of difference is embraced-this is the Good News that is proclaimed by Christians when they not only live peaceably with nonbelievers but seek fellowship and common cause with followers of any tradition that honors the stranger and says yes to difference. But if significance (or even the me re assumption of religious superiority) is the natural fruit of Christian faith, then the Gospel I have just described cannot be the Christian Gospel. (Snyder, 1988, 54-62) We can also turn this around and say that if philosophical significance does not belong to the essence of Christianity, what we are left with is a Christian Gospel that demands that the church forswear all claims to spiritual privilege, and rejoice as it does so. So, where does the Christian Gospel really stand with respect to philosophical significance As I have suggested, the New Testament itself is unable to decide the question, since it can be read both ways. This collection of mid-to-late first-century texts with widely varying and at times contradictory theological agendas is unified by its persistent claim that Jesus is the Messiah (Snyder, 1988, 54-62). Some would add that it is also unified by the importance implied in this claim about Jesus.

The Time Machine Essay Example for Free

The Time Machine Essay The narrator recounts the explanation of two difficult ideas by a man he refers to as the Time Traveller to an after-dinner group. The group includes a Psychologist, a Medical Man, a Provincial Mayor, and a few other men. The Time Traveller shows them a smaller prototype of the time machine, and when he pulls a lever, it disappearsinto the future, he claims. At the next weeks dinner, the Time Traveller comes in midway through the meal, haggard and limping. He tells them of his eight days of time travel. He uses the Time Machine that morning and speeds forward through time. The Time Machine lands in a garden and the Time Traveller sees a statue of a White Sphinx and he notices robed figures in a nearby house who are watching him. One approaches him and speaks in a strange tongue. When the creatures feel the Time Machine, the Time Traveller adjusts the levers to render it inoperable. The Time Traveller is stunned to think these creatures from 802,701 AD could be fools. The creatures bring him to a huge nearby building, where they invite him to devour exotic fruit with them. At first, he explains, he was confused by the strange fruits and flowers he saw, but he later came to understand their significance. The Time Traveller tries to learn the creatures language, but they soon lose interest in teaching him. He marvels at their laziness and lack of curiosity. He goes outside and is confused by the repositioning of the worldthe Thames River has shifted more than a mile. As he explores and sees only huge buildings, he arrives at a conclusion: Communism. However, he explains he was later to find out that his initial assumptions were incorrect. He believes he has happened upon the end of humanity. He also believes their population checks have possibly been too effective, accounting for the abandoned ruins. However, he admits, his explanation turned out to be wrong. The full moon comes out, the creatures go into buildings, and the Time Traveller finds someplace to sleep. When he reaches the garden of the White Sphinx, he finds the Time Machine is missing. Fortunately, without the levers, the Time Machine is inoperable. The next day he finds hints that the machine was dragged into the hollow bronze pedestal under the White Sphinx. However, he does not know how to open the pedestal, and when he indicates to some of the creatures that he wishes to open it, they seem deeply offended and leave. Over the ext couple of days, the Time Traveller learns some more of the creatures simple language and tries to forget about his missing Time Machine until he has gained enough knowledge to recover it. The deep, circular wells continue to puzzle him, as does the vacuum they produce and the thudding sound from below. He connects the presence of the wells with the tall towers spread about and concludes t hat there is a subterranean ventilation system, an idea that will prove to be wrong. He believes the society is run by automatic organization. On his third day, the Time Traveller saves a young female creature from drowning in the shallow river. Her name is Weena and she soon follows him around like a puppy, giving him flowers, and grows distressed when she cannot keep up with his explorations and is left behind. The Time Traveller learns that her only fear is of the dark, and that after dark, the creatures sleep only inside in groups. Still, the Time Traveller continues to sleep away from the groups, eventually with Weena. The Time Traveller resumes talking about the night before he rescued Weena. He awakes at dawn, and twice sees white, ape-like creatures running alone up a hill, and once sees several of them carrying a dark body. Once the sun rises, he sees them no more. On his fourth morning, while seeking shelter from the heat in one of the ruins, the Time Traveller finds a dark, narrow gallery. Entering it, he comes across a pair of eyes watching him in the darkness. A small, white ape-like creature then runs behind him in the sunlit space. He follows it into a second ruin where he finds a well. Lighting a match, he peers inside it and sees the creature climbing down metal foot and hand rests on the wall. The Time Traveller realizes that man has evolved into two distinct animals, the Upperworld creatures and the nocturnal ones below. He comes up with a new theory of how the world operates: the new species he has found are subterranean and live in tunnels ventilated by the towers and wells, and work to ensure the functioning of the Upperworld. He believes the human race has split as a result of the widening gap between the Capitalist and the Labourer, and that the poor have been increasingly relegated to underground areas. The lack of interaction between the poor workers and the rich has cut down interbreeding and created two distinct species who have adapted to their own environments. The Time Traveller is not sure if this is the correct explanation, but it seems the most plausible. He wonders why the Morlocksthe name of the Underworld creatureshave taken his Time Machine, and why the Eloithe Upperworld creaturescannot return it to him, if they are the masters, and why they are afraid of the dark. Weena cries when he asks her these questions. The Time Traveller cannot muster the courage to go underground and confront the Morlocks about his stolen Time Machine. Instead, he explores the Upperworld more, one day happening upon a huge green structure which he calls the Palace of Green Porcelain. Finally he descends into the well, greatly distressing Weena. He rests in a tunnel inside it, and is woken by three Morlocks. They flee when he lights a match, and the Time Traveller cannot communicate with them, as they speak a different language from the Eloi. He finds his way into a large, dark, machine-filled cavern where the Morlocks eat meat. Soon the Morlocks grope him. He shouts at them, then lights a succession of matches as he escapes. The Time Traveller instantly despises the Morlocks. As the moon wanes and the nights have longer periods of darkness, Weena talks about the Dark Nights. The Time Traveller begins to understand why the Eloi fear the darkness, though he does not know what kind of foul villainy the Morlocks practice at night. He revises his hypothesis: while the Eloi and Morlocks may have once had a master-slave relationship, now the Morlocks are growing in power while the Eloi are fearful. The Time Traveller decides to defend himself against the Morlocks. First he must find weapons and a safe place to sleep. The only place he can think of is the Palace of Green Porcelain. He starts off the long trek with Weena, and comes up with a new theory about the Morlocks: they breed the Eloi like cattle for food. He sympathizes with the plight of the Eloi. The Time Traveller decides to use a torch as a weapon against the Morlocks, and then acquire some kind of battering-ram to break open the pedestal under the White Sphinx, where he imagines the Time Machine is still kept. He also plans to bring Weena back to his own time. The Palace of Green Porcelain turns out to be a ruined museum with objects from the Time Travellers time and beyond. The Time Traveller finds an enormous room with huge, strange machines, and wonders if he can use them against the Morlocks. He notices that the gallery slopes downward into darkness. When he hears noises in the darkness similar to those from the well, he breaks off the lever of a machine. He restrains his desire to kill the Morlocks. He finds a box of matches and a jar of flammable camphor. The Time Traveller treks with Weena through the woods, hoping to reach the White Sphinx by the next morning. They gather sticks for a fire that night. At night, about a mile before a safe clearing, the Time Traveller spots some hiding Morlocks. He distracts them by setting fire to the sticks and leaving them there. He takes Weena through the woods as the fire spreads behind them. Soon, the Morlocks are on him and Weena. The Time Traveller scares them off with a match. Weena seems to have fainted, and he carries her. The action has disoriented him, and he is now lost. He camps out, gathering more sticks for a fire. He fends off the Morlocks with the light from his matches. The Time Traveller nods off, and wakens when the Morlocks are on him again. His matches are gone and his fire has gone out. He grabs his lever and strikes them. They flee, but the TT soon realizes the forest fire he previously set is the source of their fear. Unable to find Weena, he takes his lever and follows the Morlocks until he finds an open space. He strikes the Morlocks until he sees that they are incapacitated by the fire. He does not locate Weena among them. In the morning, when the fire dies down, he cannot find Weena, whose body he believes was left in the forest. He limps on to the White Sphinx, feeling lonely and vengeful. He discovers some loose matches in his pocket. Back with the Eloi, the Time Traveller reflects on how wrong his initial assumptions were. He thinks the human intellect had committed suicide by creating a perfect state in which the rich had wealth and comfort and the poor had life and work. Such a perfect balance can exist for only so long, he believes, before it is disruptedin this case, by the Morlocks need for food, which they find only in the Eloi. At the White Sphinx, he is surprised to find the bronze pedestal has been opened, and the Time Machine is inside. He throws away his weapon and goes inside. Suddenly, the bronze panels close up, and the Time Traveller is trapped. Morlocks laugh as they a pproach him. The Time Traveller feels safe, knowing he has only to reattach the levers on the machine to make his exit. However, his matches require a box to light. In the darkness, he fights them as he gets into the machines saddle and reattaches the levers. Finally, he pulls a lever and disappears. The Time Traveller notices that, in the confusion of his fight with the Morlocks, he accidentally sent himself into the future, rather than the past. Time Traveller observes the reddish landscape and the moss-like vegetation everywhere. There is no wind, the water of the sea barely moves, and the air is rarefied. He sees a huge, crab-like thing crawling toward him. The Time Traveller pulls his machines lever and watches more of the giant crabs crawl along the beach as he shoots forward through time. The sun grows larger and duller. After thirty million years, all life save the green vegetation ceases to exist, and it starts to snow. The Time Traveller stops the machine. He feels sick and confused and incapable of facing the return journey. He sees a black creature crawl out from the sea, and his fear of remaining in this environment compels him to climb back into the Time Machine. The Time Traveller relates to the men his travel back to the present time. The men imply that they do not believe his story, and soon leave. The narrator thinks more about the Time Travellers story, unsure if it is true. He goes to the laboratory the next day and asks the Time Traveller if his story was true. He promises it was, and says he will prove it in half an hour when hes done working on the machine. He leaves, and the narrator realizes he has to meet someone soon. As he goes into the laboratory to tell the Time Traveller, there is a gust of wind and some odd sounds, and neither the Time Traveller nor the Time Machine is present. When a servant tells him he has not seen the Time Traveller outside, the narrator understands he has travelled into time again. Three years later, the Time Traveller has yet to return to the present. The narrator wonders where the Time Travellers adventures may have taken him. While the Time Traveller saw that mankinds progress turned out to be destructive, the narrator believes human civilization may still do some good as it matures. The narrator also chooses to view the future as largely unknown. He now owns two white flowers given to the Time Traveller by Weenaproof, he says, that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander Essay -- Time Cat Lloyd Alexander Outline

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander Type of story: Fictional Setting: 1.Time: Historical period: the story jumps from different times. While traveling though they go from 2700b.c. to 55b.c. to 998b.c. to 411b.c. to 998a.d. to 1468 to 1555 to 1588 to 1600 to 1775. 2. Place: Geographical location: This story as well as switching from time to time it also switches from place to place. While traveling they go the places of Egypt, Rome and Britain, Ireland, Japan, Italy, Peru, The Isle of Man, and finally to America. Scenes: The story starts out in Jason’s room and from there it goes to Egypt where Gareth and Jason go down the Nile river and to a the pharaoh’s palace. From there they Rome and Britain where the spend there time out in forest along seas, in king’s castles, in tribal areas. Main Characters: 1.Name: Jason Physical Features: Jason is tall and skinny; he has short brown hair and deep blue eyes. 2. Personality description: In the beginning of the story Jason is laying in bed and crying because of what a bad day he has been having so that probably shows that he is a sensitive boy. He has a large imagination, this he shows because he does believe his cat (Gareth would talk to him if he wanted to. He is rough and is easily bugged but other than that Jason is sweet and cares dearly for the ones he loves. How does this character change through out the story?: Jason has no change to him, he stills believes in what he believed in before, his attitude is the same; he doesn’t grow kinder but also not meaner. Jason is the same boy he was in the beginning. Character #2 Name: Gareth Physical Description: Gareth is a black cat with orange eyes, Sometimes, when he hunched his shoulders and put down his ears, he looked like an owl. When he stretched, he looked like a trickle of oil or a pair of black silk pajamas. When he sat on a window ledge, his eyes half-shut and his tail curled around him, he looked like a secret. Personality Description: Gareth is a smart, loving cat. He seems to be a problem solver or conflict solver. He has a sly personality to him or like, if you were to just meet him then you’d be very cautious around him because of the way he seems to be. The Problem of the Story: There are a few conflicts to this story, every time Jason and Gareth go to a new place ... ...lly the conflict of this story is the people believe Gareth is a witches slave. Mistress Ursulina’s problem: Miss Ursulina’s problem was that the people of the village believed that she was a witch and right when she was caught she should burned to death. 9.America in the year of 1775: NO CONFLICT. The Plot: 1. Jason is sitting in his bed frustrated because of the horrible day he has and then out of nowhere his cat, Gareth, begins to talk to him. 2. Jason and Gareth travel to Egypt where the meet the pharaoh, Neter-Khet, who they give a valuable lesson to. 3. Jason and Gareth travel to Ireland where they meet the beautiful Diahan who introduces them to Sucat (the herdsman), the magician, and her father, the king. 4. Jason tries proving to the king that his cat is much more useful than the magician in keeping the mice away and does not have to use magic and will not have to be paid. 5. Jason and Gareth have to go home and they have to say good-bye because Gareth tells Jason that he will never be able to speak to him again. 6. Jason wakes to realize that all had happened with Gareth and traveling was a dream. THE END!!!

SHIP OF THE HUNTED: A BLEND OF FACT AND FICTION :: essays research papers

Historical fiction is a type of genre that helps paint a more captivating and colourful picture of the past. It combines fact and fiction as it presents mostly fabricated characters set in a definite period of history. Ship of the Hunted, by Yehuda Elberg, defines this genre as it entwines the lives of a fictional family with historical facts and elements such as life in the Warsaw ghetto, hiding to survive, and the Brichah movement of Jews out of Poland. History has recorded that over half a million Jews were crowded into the Warsaw ghetto between October and November of 1940. The squalor, starvation, disease, exposure to cold, and the daily shootings claimed the lives of about 5, 000 to 6, 000 Jews each month. In Ship of the Hunted, the Heshl family struggles to survive this trend. Like so many others living in the ghetto, Golda and her son, Yossel, scavenge the blocks, looking for any items that can be smuggled out of the ghetto in exchange for food. After his father and older sister are deported, Yossel is confronted by Golda, who wants him to stop smuggling. â€Å" ‘This stuff buys food. We have to eat, Mama.’ ‘Yossel, you’re still a child. You know they shoot children for scavenging!’ ‘They shoot mothers for scavenging, too.’ ’’ (Elberg, 17) This conversation demonstrates the desperate measures taken by the Jews to obtain food. The raids in the ghetto also caused their numbers to dwindle. Daily, thousands of Jews were removed from the ghetto and transported to concentration camps. After surviving one such raid by hiding in a bunker, Golda surfaces to find out about another raid on a hospital. â€Å"Liquidated, floor by floor. On foot and by stretcher, they had been sent off – a man with an incision still open; an infant, newly born.† (Elberg, 23) These raids led to deportations, which eventually led to extermination. News spread, and those who refused to be led away to death took part in what would be one of the greatest periods in Jewish history. The Warsaw ghetto uprising began on April 19th of 1943, as the surviving inhabitants of the ghetto resisted the German troops and police who had come to deport them. This battle held out for 20 days till the Germans finally overpowered the lightly armed Jews. In t he novel, Golda is a witness to the uprising and its end.

Brideshead Revisited

A twitch upon the thread-each of us sometimes feels being tied to some kind of thread, invisible one and there is someone on the other end of it who twitches this thread when it’s necessary.The thing is how far each of us can go away to feel it or how far God can permit us go away wondering before twitching it. God sees everything and never will leave someone who need his help, who tries to preserve something really valid in his soul, just the thread can be of different length. In â€Å"Brideshead Revisited† by Evelyn Waugh the idea of the â€Å"thread† is rather good highlighted . The story affects a misleading attitude of indifference, which neither condemn nor sanction any conduct or behavior that takes place.The fond of the novel is religious. The plot is a nostalgic story based on the memories of the main characters who had been a wealthy English Catholic family. In England where most people are Protestant, being Catholic makes the family despite their owner ship and high social status, a subject of prejudice.But in the world of English upper-class, in this world itself   a lot of sins and defects can be seen. The life of wealthy students in Oxford is full of self-indulgence and irresponsibility. Here, Charles Ryder first meets Sebastian Flyte who searches for happiness and self in this world but he can’t find it.   So, he tries to escape in alcohol and denial of faith.The novel â€Å"Brideshead Revisited† is the moral story which shows us what usually happens when the material things of the world loose their attractiveness and sense, when one, finally, has to take a look inside his soul and seeing nothing there becomes struck and scared. In such situation it’s hard to preserve one’s spiritual values and frequently a   person can’t find the way out.That’s what is happening with Sebastian. The God permits one to go far away from him, even to escape, to hide himself somewhere but the tread b etween him and the individual could be still very long. It can be so long as God   wants.The unique person who can cut it is the person itself. The individual can cut this thread by his total indifference ,by absence of his proper desire to correct, to change something in his life. But still one continues looking at his soul searching for something better there, this thread will be permanent and our task is to be aware of this twitching when we loose control.During his first visit to Marchmain family’s residence, Charles Ryder is struck by the moral tragedy of a family –with their desire to appear traditional and socially accepted in the â€Å"correct† circle.Lady Marchmain commands abidance to Catholicism among four   very different children. She controls over her children using her charm, piety and the religious doctrine which is unquestionable for her. The elder son, Brideshaed is pious and conservative and narrow-minded. Julia is a contemporary woman, sm art and very beautiful. She is portrayed as a complex young woman who must reject her faith to marry. She eventually finds herself disappointed with her choice of a husband and is left wondering how life could be so bad.Cordelia is the youngest of the Marchmain children. She is too young and devout of faith to fully understand her brother’s dilemma. Cordelia also seems too young to be aware of her mother’s need to control, but after Lady Marchmain dies, Cordelia confides to Charles that her mother was saintly but she wasn’t a saint and when people wanted to hate God, they hated her mother. There is a resigned acceptance at her inability to love her mother and of the lapse of faith of her father, sister and beloved brother. In this case it can be seen perfectly well how the beauty and charm of upper-class life can destroy relationship, the life of a family.Charles, the upper-middleclass Oxford student sees that there is more to Oxford life than mere study. He lik es the upper-class and, naturally, he wants to be part of it. He likes its charm and splendor but at the same time he sees a great hole in Sebastian’s soul when he meets him.The author gives us the description of the eventual downfall of the youngest son Sebastian, whose burden is to confront his disillusionment with his faith, with his morally incorruptible mother. Sebastian is a lonely soul, he uses his religion as a toy and all the time feels the strange conflict in his soul. Charles and Sebastian became inseparable and lived life at Oxford to the full, but Charles realized that Sebastian drank not because of an excess of high spirits or enjoy but to escape. He looks for love but struggles with homosexuality.He has no truly romantic relationships with either a man or a woman until Charles arrives. Charles isn’t homosexual but he can see Sebastian’s tragedy. Sebastian’s deep depression and inner battle to reconcile his beliefs with his mother’s e xpectations of him are exemplified by the conversation between two young men in the colonnade with the papers. Sebastian couldn’t find true solace in his relationship with Charles because he perceived that Charles couldn’t understand the gravity of his dilemma, despite their mutual love.Waugh portrays Charles as a irreligious person and this makes Sebastian’s dilemma deeper. The chasm between unaffected by religion and the need to be devout of faith is too wide to be bridged for these two young men. Sebastian escapes but he escapes from himself, he can’t find something that would calm him though he has everything.   His inner desire for God , for real love doesn’t permit him to dissolve completely in the world of false feelings. And that is that so-called thread of God , unseen hook that he can twitch when someone escapes too far.The thing is not each of us pays attention to this kind of control. We are sure that we are all right and everything w e are doing is perfect and correct   and ,frequently, people go on doing what is correct to their opinion making this thread longer and longer. In the novel by Evelyn Waugh it can be seen very well.Julia agonises over her marriage to a colonial who doesn’t understand the devotion to the church which he consider to encourage the perpetuation of guilt for its own purposes. But finally she is disappointed like her brother Sebastian.With all of these examples Waugh tries to explain that whatever   we do, it can’t avoid the evaluation of God. No one can break the link communicating his soul with God and leave in this way without problems. God won’t let them go too far..These words are emblematic of all this novel. Among thousands of problems and troubles, among millions of different   people exist also the treads of God and if somebody has preserved in his soul the inward desire to God and his call to us in Christ and His Church, so God will catch him â€Å"wi th an unseen hook and a invisible line which is long enough to let him wander to ends of the world and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread†.1It’s hard to speak about approval of one of the character’s conduct. Sebastian was too young to admit his mother’s doctrines without protest , his mother was too devoted to faith and didn’t pay much attention to her children feelings and deathbed conversion also isn’t too good way to express one’s point of view. It’s necessary to express everything during its life and this life must be lived according to the law of God without paying much attention if you are a Catholic or a Protestant. Threads of God are equal for everybody.1.Evelin Waugh, Brideshead Revisited(Paperback,1999), p.189Bibliography1. Evelin Waugh, Brideshead Revisited(Paperback,1999).

Shakespeares Fair Youth Sonnets

Shakespeares Fair Youth Sonnets The first of Shakespeares 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man – described as the â€Å"fair youth† – and reveal a deep, loving friendship. The speaker encourages the friend to procreate so that his youthful beauty can be carried on through his children. The speaker also believes that the man’s beauty can be preserved in his poetry, as the final couplet of Sonnet 17 reveals: But were some child of yours alive that time, [in the future]You should live twice: in it, and in my rhyme. Some believe that the intimacy of the relationship between the speaker and the young man is evidence of Shakespeare’s homosexuality. However, this is probably a very modern reading of a classical text. There was no public reaction to the relationship when the sonnets were first published by Thomas Thorpe in 1609, suggesting that the expression of a deep friendship through such language was perfectly acceptable in Shakespeares time. It was perhaps more shocking to the Victorian sensibility. Top 5 Most Popular Fair Youth Sonnets: Sonnet 1: From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summers Day? Sonnet 29: When In Disgrace With Fortune and Mens EyesSonnet 73: That Time Of Year Thou Mayst In Me Behold Sonnet 116: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds A full list of the Fair Youth Sonnets (Sonnets 1 – 126) is also available.

Taiwan Interesting Facts and History

Taiwan Interesting Facts and History The island of Taiwan floats in the South China Sea, just over one hundred miles from the coast of mainland China. Over the centuries, it has played an intriguing role in the history of East Asia, as a refuge, a mythical land, or a land of opportunity. Today, Taiwan labors under the burden of not being fully recognized diplomatically. Nonetheless, it has a booming economy and is now also a functioning capitalist democracy. Capital and Major Cities Capital: Taipei, population 2,635,766 (2011 data) Major Cities: New Taipei City, 3,903,700 Kaohsiung, 2,722,500 Taichung, 2,655,500 Tainan, 1,874,700 Taiwans Government Taiwan, formally the Republic of China, is a parliamentary democracy. Suffrage is universal for citizens 20 years old and older. The current head of state is President Ma Ying-jeou. Premier Sean Chen is the head of government and President of the unicameral legislature, known as the Legislative Yuan. The President appoints the Premier. The Legislature has 113 seats, including 6 set aside to represent Taiwans aboriginal population. Both executive and legislative members serve four-year terms. Taiwan also has a Judicial Yuan, which administers the courts. The highest court is the Council of Grand Justices; its 15 members are tasked with interpreting the constitution. There are lower courts with specific jurisdictions as well, including the Control Yuan which monitors corruption. Although Taiwan is a prosperous and fully-functioning democracy, it is not recognized diplomatically by many other nations. Only 25 states have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, most of them small states in Oceania or Latin America because the Peoples Republic of China (mainland China) has long withdrawn its own diplomats from any nation that recognized Taiwan. The only European state that formally recognizes Taiwan is Vatican City. Population of Taiwan The total population of Taiwan is approximately 23.2 million as of 2011. Taiwans demographic make-up is extremely interesting, both in terms of history and ethnicity. Some 98% of the Taiwanese are ethnically Han Chinese, but their ancestors migrated to the island in several waves and speak different languages. Approximately 70% of the population are Hoklo, meaning that they are descended from Chinese immigrants from Southern Fujian who arrived in the 17th century. Another 15% are Hakka, descendants of migrants from central China, mainly Guangdong Province. The Hakka are supposed to have immigrated in five or six major waves beginning just after the reign of Qin Shihuangdi (246 - 210 BCE). In addition to the Hoklo and Hakka waves, a third group of mainland Chinese arrived in Taiwan after the Nationalist Guomindang (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War to Mao Zedong and the Communists. Descendants of this third wave, which took place in 1949, are called waishengren and make up 12% of Taiwans total population. Finally, 2% of Taiwanese citizens are aboriginal people, divided into thirteen major ethnic groups. This is the Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Tao (or Yami), Thao, and Truku. Taiwanese aborigines are Austronesian, and DNA evidence suggests that Taiwan was the starting point for the peopling of the Pacific islands by Polynesian explorers. Languages The official language of Taiwan is Mandarin; however, the 70% of the population who are ethnic Hoklo speak the Hokkien dialect of Min Nan (Southern Min) Chinese as their mother tongue. Hokkien is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese or Mandarin. Most Hoklo people in Taiwan speak both Hokkien and Mandarin fluently. The Hakka people also have their own dialect of Chinese which is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Cantonese or Hokkien - the language is also called Hakka. Mandarin is the language of instruction in Taiwans schools, and most radio and TV programs are broadcast in the official language as well. The aboriginal Taiwanese have their own languages, though most can also speak Mandarin. These aboriginal languages belong to the Austronesian language family rather than the Sino-Tibetan family. Finally, some elderly Taiwanese speak Japanese, learned in school during the Japanese occupation (1895-1945), and do not understand Mandarin. Religion in Taiwan Taiwans constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and 93% of the population profess one faith or another. Most adhere to Buddhism, often in combination with the philosophies of Confucianism and/or Taoism. Approximately 4.5% of Taiwanese are Christians, including about 65% of Taiwans aboriginal people. There are a wide variety of other faiths represented by less than 1% of the population: Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, Bahai, Jehovahs Witnesses, Tenrikyo, Mahikari, Liism, etc. Taiwans Geography Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, is a large island about 180 kilometers (112 miles) off the coast of southeast China. It has a total area of 35,883 square kilometers (13,855 square miles). The western third of the island is flat and fertile, so the vast majority of Taiwans people live there. In contrast, the eastern two-thirds are rugged and mountainous, and hence much more sparsely populated. One of the most famous sites in eastern Taiwan is the Taroko National Park, with its landscape of peaks and gorges. The highest point in Taiwan is Yu Shan, 3,952 meters (12,966 feet) above sea level. The lowest point is sea level. Taiwan sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, situated at a suture between the Yangtze, Okinawa and Philippine tectonic plates. As a result, it is seismically active; on September 21, 1999, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the island, and smaller tremors are quite common. Climate of Taiwan Taiwan has a tropical climate, with a monsoonal rainy season from January through March. Summers are hot and humid. The average temperature in July is about 27 °C (81 °F), while in February the average drops to 15 °C (59 °F). Taiwan is a frequent target of Pacific typhoons. Taiwans Economy Taiwan is one of Asias Tiger Economies, along with Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong. After World War II, the island received a huge influx of cash when the fleeing KMT brought millions in gold and foreign currency from the mainlands treasury to Taipei. Today, Taiwan is a capitalist powerhouse  and a major exporter of electronics and other high-tech products. It had an estimated 5.2% growth rate in its GDP in 2011, despite the global economic downturn and weakened demand for consumer goods. Taiwans unemployment rate is 4.3% (2011), and a per capita GDP of $37,900 US. As of March 2012, $1 US 29.53 Taiwanese New Dollars. History of Taiwan Humans first settled the island of Taiwan as early as 30,000 years ago, although the identity of those first inhabitants is unclear. Around 2,000 BCE or earlier, farming people from the mainland of China immigrated to Taiwan. These farmers spoke an Austronesian language; their descendants today are called Taiwanese aboriginal people. Although many of them stayed in Taiwan, others continued on to populate the Pacific Islands, becoming the Polynesian peoples of Tahiti, Hawaii, New Zealand, Easter Island, etc. Waves of Han Chinese settlers arrived in Taiwan via the off-shore Penghu Islands, perhaps as early as 200 BCE. During the Three Kingdoms period, the emperor of Wu sent explorers to seek islands in the Pacific; they returned with thousands of captive aboriginal Taiwanese. The Wu decided that Taiwan was barbaric land, not worthy of joining the Sinocentric trade and tribute system. Larger numbers of Han Chinese began to come in the 13th and then again in the 16th centuries. Some accounts state that one or two ships from Admiral Zheng Hes first voyage might have visited Taiwan in 1405. European awareness of Taiwan began in 1544 when the Portuguese sighted the island and named it Ilha Formosa, beautiful island. In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan sent an armada to take Taiwan, but the aboriginal Taiwanese fought the Japanese off. Dutch traders also established a fort on Tayouan in 1624, which they called Castle Zeelandia. This was an important way-station for the Dutch on their way to Tokugawa Japan, where they were the only Europeans allowed in to trade. The Spanish also occupied northern Taiwan from 1626 to 1642 but were driven off by the Dutch. In 1661-62, pro-Ming military forces fled to Taiwan to escape the Manchus, who had defeated the ethnic-Han Chinese Ming Dynasty in 1644 and were extending their control southward. The pro-Ming forces expelled the Dutch from Taiwan and set up the Kingdom of Tungnin on the southwest coast. This kingdom lasted just two decades, from 1662 to 1683, and was beset by tropical disease and a lack of food. In 1683, the Manchu Qing Dynasty destroyed the Tungnin fleet and conquered the renegade little kingdom. During the Qing annexation of Taiwan, different Han Chinese groups fought one another and the Taiwanese aborigines. Qing troops put down a serious rebellion on the island in 1732, driving the rebels to either assimilate or take refuge high in the mountains. Taiwan became a full province of Qing China in 1885 with Taipei as its capital. This Chinese move was precipitated in part by increasing Japanese interest in Taiwan. In 1871, the Paiwan aboriginal people of southern Taiwan captured fifty-four sailors who were stranded after their ship ran aground. The Paiwan beheaded all the shipwrecked crew, who were from the Japanese tributary state of the Ryukyu Islands. Japan demanded that Qing China compensate them for the incident. However, the Ryukyus were also a tributary of the Qing, so China rejected Japans claim. Japan reiterated the demand, and the Qing officials refused again, citing the wild and uncivilized nature of Taiwanese aborigines. In 1874, the Meiji government sent an expeditionary force of 3,000 to invade Taiwan; 543 of the Japanese died, but they managed to establish a presence on the island. They were not able to establish control of the entire island until the 1930s, however, and had to use chemical weapons and machine guns to subdue the aboriginal warriors. When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, they signed control of Taiwan over to mainland China. However, since China was embroiled in the Chinese Civil War, the United States was supposed to serve as the primary occupying power in the immediate post-war period. Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist government, the KMT, disputed American occupation rights in Taiwan and set up a Republic of China (ROC) government there in October of 1945. The Taiwanese greeted the Chinese as liberators from harsh Japanese rule, but the ROC soon proved corrupt and inept. When the KMT lost the Chinese Civil War to Mao Zedong and the Communists, the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan and based their government in Taipei. Chiang Kai-shek never relinquished his claim over mainland China; likewise, the Peoples Republic of China continued to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The United States, preoccupied with the occupation of Japan, abandoned the KMT in Taiwan to its fate, fully expecting that the Communists would soon route the Nationalists from the island. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, however, the US changed its position on Taiwan; President Harry S Truman sent the American Seventh Fleet into the Straits between Taiwan and the mainland to prevent the island from falling to the Communists. The US has supported Taiwanese autonomy ever since. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Taiwan was under the authoritarian one-party rule of Chiang Kai-shek until his death in 1975. In 1971, the United Nations recognized the Peoples Republic of China as the proper holder of the Chinese seat in the UN (both the Security Council and the General Assembly). The Republic of China (Taiwan) was expelled. In 1975, Chiang Kai-sheks son, Chiang Ching-Kuo, succeeded his father. Taiwan received another diplomatic blow in 1979 when the United States withdrew its recognition from the Republic of China and instead recognized the Peoples Republic of China. Chiang Ching-Kuo gradually loosened his grip on absolute power during the 1980s, rescinding the state of martial law that had lasted since 1948. Meanwhile, Taiwans economy boomed on the strength of high-tech exports. The younger Chiang passed away in 1988, and further political and social liberalization led to the free election of Lee Teng-hui as president in 1996.