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Josh MaddenEnglish 101011/05/2010Ms. HullAnnotated BibliographyIs the tattooed culture a throwback to paganism? What is the Christian belief on tattoos? If a person has tattoos are they leaving their Christian values behind them? Where did the tattoo originate? And what was it used for?Firmin, Michael W. Tse, Luke M. Foster, Janna. Angelini, Tammy. “Christian Student Perceptions of Body Tattoos: A Qualitative Analysis.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity 27.3 (2008): 195-204. Web. 3 November 2010.Summary: The main arguments in this source are whether or not the bible actually states that it is wrong to get a tattoo. Also how Christian students justify how or why they received their tattoos. The article is about some students interviewed other students at well known Christian colleges who have tattoos to figure out the meaning behind tattoos in the religious society.Assess: This is a very useful source showing all sides to my argument. It shows how Christian students with tattoos use the marking as a devotion to their faith. The authors interview a wide variety of students in different Christian colleges. They talked to these students about what they thought the biblical passages meant to them and why they thought that it was ok for them to receive tattoos.Reflect: This source was very helpful it showed that Christians getting tattooed as a reminder to their faith shows that the tattooed culture is not falling away from Christianity. I will use this in my project to show the different interpretations of the passages in the bible and to show that these students who have tattoos are not turning their back on their faith. I did not find the source biased at all it showed all sides to the argument. I believe the goal of this source is finding out if tattoos are really against the biblical teachings. It changed my thoughts a little because it sounded like the students were justifying their actions.“History of Tattooing.” . Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 1 November 2010. Web. 8 November 2010.Summary: This article is about the history of tattooing also. It’s main arguments are the different cultures. The point is to educate the reader how tattoos were brought into various cultures and also some religious aspects of the tattoo. The topics are the history through China, Egypt, India, and others. I can say that this article is very interesting in the way that it explains how the tattoo was started in each individual culture around the world.Assess: This is a useful source; it covers a lot of information that can help my arguments. It compares with the book that I am also using that has some history in it. However it does not have as much on different cultures. The information to me is reliable because it sums up a lot of the information that I have been looking for. It also gives dates to certain pieces of information and tells it in sort of a time frame. The source is not biased because it is just giving a brief history of many different cultures. The goal is to educate the reader of the history of tattoos and when and why they started.Reflect: This source was very helpful to me because I was trying to find a history about the Samoan tattoo history and I was also very interested in the Japanese history as well. It should help me by giving me reasons for the tattooing in these different cultures to explain how it is not a culture of paganism. It will help my research by giving the reader reasons why certain cultures used tattoos. In further reading it has opened my mind a little more about the fact that it could be a throwback to paganism.Krakow, Amy. The Total Tattoo Book. New York: Warner Books, 1994. Print.Summary: The main point of this book is to provide the reader with a brief history of tattoos. The topics covered were the beginning of tattoos in Egypt. It also talks about the different cultures and times when the tattoo was used and why. This book shows some but not too much of the history of different cultures of tattoos. It shows how it came to America how it was banned from America and how it came back.Assess: This is a very useful source. It shows the other side of tattooing and not the side of body mutilation and/or modification because people are not happy with their bodies. It has a brief explanation of the history and shows a lot of examples from all over the world. The information is reliable because I have heard about it from other sources. The author also has been around the tattoo society in New York for quite awhile. It is biased to a point the author is giving the history of tattoos because her mom who is Jewish does not like her having a tattoo. The goal of the source is to show that tattoos have been around for thousands of years.Reflect: This will fit into my research because it shows that tattooing was around before Christ. This should show that if something was here before, during, and after shows tattooing is not a throwback to paganism. It tells us that some tattoos in other cultures have a spiritual experience or passage rites. This should shape my argument of the different societies that use tattooing and why it was used in different cultures. I’ll use this source to show the spiritual and religious meaning that societies used tattoos.Spangler, Diane L. “The Body, a Sacred Gift.” . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 16 July 2005. Web. 3 November 2010.Summary: The topics in this article are statistics of high percentages of men and women who are not satisfied with their bodies. It mainly talks about what the body represents in the LDS culture it only mentions tattoos once. And does not say anything about what the tattoo represents for their religion.Assess: This was not that much of a useful source. The only part that compares is where she talks about how people are not happy with their appearance. Which would lead them to body modification of some sort? The information would be reliable if I was looking for some other argument. I can’t really say if the source is biased, but it probably is due to the fact that the LDS church is heavily against tattoos or any part of body modification.Reflect: The only part that might help in my research is the statistics on men and women who don’t except who they are by how they look. It wasn’t really to helpful, but it could help my argument a little bit. It still does not change how I think about my topic.Woodard, Joe. The Conscious Reader. Shrodes, Caroline ed. et al. New York: Pearson Education Inc, 2009. Print.Summary: This essay is on tattoos, scarification, piercings, and plastic surgery. It tells about a girl who has numerous tattoos and piercings and how she “loves her body now.” It has numerous explanations from plastic surgeons on breast enhancement. It also gives details by professors who talk about the Christian cultures of what the human body means to them. It has a few tattoo artists’ views on how it has grown from America up to Canada. It also gives a brief history of scarification and lip discs in the African tribal culture. The point of this essay was to show how the hot trends of tattoos, piercings, breast enhancements, and scarification is a throwback to paganism. The topics that were covered were a slight history of the tattoo. But mainly how are becoming a culture that has put religion behind us. Its main argument was that people modify their bodies for their own personal satisfaction.Assess: This is a useful source to me. It gives many different views on different body modifications. The information is reliable because it covers many different aspects of the argument. However it is extremely biased and one sided. Its main goal is to show us that the tattoo culture is turning away from religion. I can compare this with my other sources because it gives me a point of view that does not tell on the history but in the present.Reflect: This source was helpful, it gave me one side that I needed on the tattooed culture. It shows me that there are beliefs in this culture going back to paganism or no religion in a place that was built on religion. I can use this source to show how it has become a growing epidemic in North America. This source has not changed how I think about tattoos. I have gotten a little better understanding on why some people think this way.Source AnalysisSource 1The book “The Total Tattoo Book” goes into the history of tattooing. The author talks about many different cultures and gives their history behind their tattoos. The reason that she is doing this is because her mom hates tattoos so she states “here are a few facts to wow her with”(16). She starts with how long ago tattoos started and how archeologists found that out. Then she talks about the different cultures such as: New Guinea, Samoa, Egypt, and others. She then explains to us about the uprising of tattoos in America and how it was outlawed and grew back in the eastern United States.Amy Krakow uses a lot of logos in her book. She seems like someone you can trust on the subject of tattooing due to the fact that she explains the history of tattoos and her book is full of information on the forms of tattooing the style of different tattoo artists. Amy Krakow had her book published in 1994 which was about six years ago and a lot has changed since then I’m not exactly how credible this author is about her book she seems to use some ethos but not very much because we don’t really know very much about her. Also because she is trying to let people know about the history of tattooing but she does not use any sources of her own. So it’s just her view and what she knows about the tattoo culture.Source 2The essay “Pumped, Pierced, Painted and Pagan” explains how the tattoo culture is turning away from religion. Joe Woodard’s main statement in this essay “tattooing, body-piercing and scarification are equally hot trends in body fashion”(465). And also “[i]n fact, they are the ultimate in retro, a throwback to paganism”(465). Woodard talks about his association with plastic surgeons who talk about how women get a breast enhancement and then in a short time they are back to get another one all due to the fact that they are not happy with the way they look. The same thing goes for some people who get tattoos or piercings, a lot of the time it is because they do not like the way that they see themselves. He also speaks of a young woman who has several tattoos and body piercings and tells us about how she thinks that she is beautiful now.Woodard speaks with other people who agree on his part also an anthropologist who “agrees that the trend toward cosmetic self mutilation reflects society’s turn toward paganism”(468).Woodard seems very credible about his essay. He has interviewed and talked with people on many sides of his thesis, he has a Ph.D. in political philosophy and has been active and also promotes Judeo-Christian morality. He is biased in some of his essay he seems to talk to more plastic surgeons than he does tattooed people or people who do not see tattoos, body piercing, and scarification as just a way of life.Woodard ends his essay with ethos and tries to persuade us that body modifications is a form of turning our backs on religion and morality. Some of his essay seems like he is only pushing his way and he uses other people who feel the same way to help with his thesis.WORKS CITEDKrakow,Amy. The Total Tattoo Book. New York: Warner Books, 1994. Print.Woodard, Joe. The Conscious Reader. Shrodes, Caroline. ed. et al. New York: Pearson Education Inc, 2009. 464-470. Print.Issue SummaryIs a society of people with tattoos turning away from religion? Religion is what many nations and cultures are based upon. Are religions still harsh and strict on their rules of receiving tattoos that they could be forcing people away from it? Tattooing has become very popular in the United States and in other countries as well. Many religions say that it is wrong to mark the body and others see it as an honor to god. Do the Christians see tattoos as a sin now? Joe Woodard who is a Canadian journalist writes primarily about religions states. “[T]attooing, body piercing and scarification are equally hot trends in body fashion. Experts say all these kinds of cosmetic self-mutilation are unsurprising in our post-Christian culture. [A] throwback to paganism”(Woodard 465). Some Christian beliefs are pretty strict; some refer back to a passage in Leviticus that if one receives a tattoo then god shall destroy him. “Anthropologist Claudia Launhardt, who teaches at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., agrees that the trend toward cosmetic self-mutilation reflects society’s turn toward paganism”(Woodard 468). But why the tattoos of the cross, the virgin Mary, and Jesus that people receive. Amy Krakow who wrote the book “The Total Tattoo Book argues that according to a unscientific poll of many tattoo artists in the country the most popular tattoo image in America is: Jesus, eagles, lions, tigers, and Panthers.(66) So if we are turning our backs on religion then why tattoo religious figures on our bodies?Tattooing started 12,000 years before Christ was born and was used for many different purposes during and after his death. Samoan traditions give tattoos by hand. The skill has been often passed down from father to son and the style has not changed in over two thousand years. It was a passage to manhood in the earlier tradition. Tattooing in Japanese culture was for spiritual and decorative purposes which were thought to extend as far back as 10,000 B.C.E. “Between 1720-1870 criminals were tattooed as a visible mark of punishment, this actually replaced having ears and noses removed”(Wikipedia.) The History of tattoos was even popular during the Christian times. Ancient literature was sometimes inscribed onto the skin of saints so as to preserve the Christian message and to serve as the indelible messages would be seen by children and grandchildren. In the early days of Christian church history, many pilgrims traveling to the holy land also adopted the practice of tattooing as a sign of religious observance. (Firmin et al 195)So if this is the case then why is it all of a sudden now a sin to receive a tattoo if you are a Christian? It could be that maybe people don’t like the way they look so they do things to their body to make it the way that they want to so that they think they are more attractive to themselves and others. In an LDS article tells us that “recent studies find that approximately 63 percent of women and 50 percent of men in the United States are dissatisfied with their body and view it negatively”(Spangler). Tattoos are viewed as beautiful pieces of art by many people. Tattooing is a skill that takes practice and hard work and time just like a painting or drawing. Just like breast enhancement if a woman does not like the way she looks due to the size of her breasts. “[Tattoos] are all just different forms of modifying [the] body. They’re no stranger than steroid muscles or silicone breasts”(Woodard 466).Tattoos are also a way of expressing oneself to others. That does not mean that someone does not believe in god or a higher power just because he decorates himself to look like a form of artwork. Tattoos can mean many significant things to the person the tattoos are on. It can represent friendships, family, religious belief, and many other things. When a Christian gets a tattoo though do they ever consult a parent or priest before they get one done? Do they twist certain words in the bible to make themselves feel better after they got one? “In addition to Scriptural teaching, participants believe that choices in designs are significant”(Firmin et al).In the Catholic religion however tattoos are not considered a sin against the bible unless there is a large amount of money spent on receiving a tattoo. In older times receiving a tattoo in the form of a cross, Christ, or a saint’s image was actually considered praiseworthy. So why is it such a big deal in other religions? It may be the fact that when people had tattoos a while back they were considered criminals or just bad people. Maybe they did not want people to see that bad people were in their religion as it might have ruined the organizations image because in Japan it was the roots of the mafia or “Yakuza” who held many tattoos in that time. Before that however it was in the floating world culture so only certain classifications were tattooed.Still Christians today are receiving the tattoos and get them as to remember certain times of their lives or to remember certain people in their life regardless of what they have been taught or have been learning about. “Generally, they believe that tattoos are permissible by god if they promote a positive or even a neutral message”(Firmin et al. 198).From another perspective though a lot of the Christians who receive tattoos don’t have any biblical references for actually receiving tattoos, and many of them say that they were inspired by different cultures or societies. They wanted some form of calligraphy or something that meant something close to them in their language. Others generally believe that they did not go against any teachings.Tattooing remains a controversial practice among Christians. While some believe that any prohibition is irrelevant in the New Testament context, others remain adamant that such Practice denotes, at least, defiance and disobedience and, at worse, a courting with the demonic—that is, practice influenced by the devil.(Firmin et al 203) In conclusion tattooing has been around for many centuries and will probably never go away. There are still some states that ban tattooing but that doesn’t mean that nobody can go get one from another state or someone that practices in their home. Tattoos have passed through many different cultures and through many religions. It will always be viewed negatively through someone else’s eyes, and it will never be accepted every single place that you go. Even though people will still consider it a throwback to paganism or devil worship, nobody should judge a book by its cover, only the literature inside.WORKS CITEDKrakow,Amy. The Total Tattoo Book. New York: Warner Books, 1994. Print.Woodard, Joe. The Conscious Reader. Shrodes, Caroline. ed. et al. New York: Pearson Education Inc, 2009. 464-470. Print.Firmin, Michael W. Tse, Luke M. Foster, Janna. Angelini, Tammy. “Christian Student Perceptions of Body Tattoos: A Qualitative Analysis.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity 27.3 (2008): 195-204. Web. 3 November 2010.“History of Tattooing.” . Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 1 November 2010. Web. 8 November 2010.Spangler, Diane L. “The Body, a Sacred Gift.” . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 16 July 2005. Web. 3 November 2010.BlogAbout five years ago if I was to walk through a department store people would jump out of my way, stare at me, and shield their children’s eyes from the “devil himself.” In the present however from my own personal observation, it’s a whole different story. Once a freak of nature now I blend in a little more. Children don’t stare at me in horror but with curiosity and parents actually smile and ask me how I’m doing or how my day has been. I think things might change for the better.In the essay “Pumped, Pierced, Painted and Pagan” Joe Woodard tries to convince his reader that “tattooing, body-piercing and scarification are equally hot trends in body fashion”(Woodard 465). I can see this as true there are over 30 different tattoo shops in Salt Lake City alone and more are on the rise I’m sure. “In fact, they are the ultimate in retro, a throwback to paganism”(Woodard 465). I know people who have dedicated whole parts of their body to Jesus Christ. Religious tattoos are some of the most common tattoos that people get I see absolutely no way that his thesis is true. I see this as something that he personally does not like and has decided to make an approach to change people’s views about a hot trend in the United States that’s moving north bound to Canada.Woodard however makes good points about how people get plastic surgery, tattoos, and body-piercings to modify their bodies because they do not like the way that they look. I can see his point of view on this because I thought a couple tattoos on me might make me look better. I got a little carried away. A lot of people know the passages in the bible about how God will destroy someone if they mark their skin but that could mean anything nobody really knows.Michael W. Firmin and others from the Cedarville University did a study with a number of students in Christian colleges who have tattoos to find out why they got them and what their justifications were for getting tattooed. The essay is called “Christian Student Perceptions of Body Tattoos: A Qualitative Analysis”. This essay was really long winded but it broght up a lot of good points in my argument that maybe the bible is referring to marking the skin being a completely different thing. A part in the essay argues “I don’t know if the bible speaks directly to tattoos, because you won’t find the word tattoo in the Hebrew or Greek translation. It does talk about marking the body and that type of thing in the Old Testament”(Firmin et al 197). They also say that people who are non Christians are more likely to get tattoos such as military recruits and other students from other colleges and universities. Still both sides get tattoos and live with them. Some do it for the memories about a loved one and others do it because they want to remember certain things. Others go too far and get too many and then get mad when they can’t find a decent job. In the “History of Tattooing” from it brings up some interesting things as well for example, the Catholics have “no prohibition against tattoos within the Catholic Church, provided that the tattoo is not an image directly opposed to Catholic teaching or religious sentiment”(Wikipedia). So I guess no satanic tattoos or vile things that might upset the priest. It also talks about the Samoan culture and how there tattoos were a passage from being a boy to becoming a man. The Samoan tattoo design is now a very popular design in North America and other countries in the west. In conclusion I think that Christians still have negative feelings towards tattoos but I think that they have become used to seeing people with them all around. It seems that they now accept people with tattoos as misunderstood instead of freaks that should not be let out in public as fear that they might ravish the trash cans for food and Listerine. Not that this was ever the case but some people are just ridiculous.WORKS CITEDWoodard, Joe. The Conscious Reader. Shrodes, Caroline. ed. et al. New York: Pearson Education Inc, 2009. 464-470. Print.Firmin, Michael W. Tse, Luke M. Foster, Janna. Angelini, Tammy. “Christian Student Perceptions of Body Tattoos: A Qualitative Analysis.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity 27.3 (2008): 195-204. Web. 3 November 2010.“History of Tattooing.” . Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 1 November 2010. Web. 8 November 2010. ................
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