Christianity Crisis Essays - Hermeneutics, Continental Philosophy

Christianity Crisis There was a time, not long ago, when the evangelical community had considerable consensus on lifestyle questions and social issues. We generally agreed on what we should eat and drink and how we might spend our weekends. There was little debate over definitions of vulgarity or morality, and questions of fashion were rarely a matter for discussion. In those days, everyone knew how a family should be raised, and aberrations such as divorce and abortion were simply that: problems found only among hose outside the fold. All of that has changed. Today there is considerable disagreement on such questions, and where there is not disagreement, there is often a reluctant silence or unwillingness to enter into discussion on these questions. The problem is complicated by the fact that these issues do not always fall neatly into those familiar gaps found among genders, generations, and geographies. Too often we find uneasy disagreement among parishioners or even among clergy in the same denomination. Similarly, tensions are found among teenagers or among parents and not simply between those two groups. In each case where such tensions exist, clear biblical and objective bases for evaluating our modern society are usually not found. Consequently, theological answers to these questions have generally not been helpful. That is not to say we should expect them to be. Much of the difficulty in dealing with contemporary social issues can be attributed to modernity with its tendency to pose problems that all outside of theological answers. Theology is designed to defend the faith and not to interpret modern culture or to help the believer live in it. It is the province of social science to understand modernity and to explain how it affects all of us. Theology cannot be expected to interpret the impact of computers on modern life any more than social science can be expected to explain the Trinity. What theology can do is to elucidate those universal principles given to us by God that social science may then interpret for modern living. My claim is that modern life has re-defined many of the practices that theology traditionally addressed. State lotteries, for example, have defined gambling in ways unfamiliar to theology. The revocation of blue laws concerned with Sunday openings has challenged the traditional meaning of the Sabbath. In a modern economy, the biblical meaning of poverty differsgreatly from the meaning found today. In each of these cases, traditional biblical interpretations do not address the questions experienced today. Consequently, there is a lag in theological thinking when contemporary social issues fall outside the boundof traditional theological answer. Our problem is to locate some common ground where theology and social science can join forces, some bridge between biblical truth and the application of that truth to modern social problems. I would argue that concepts found in scripture as well as in social science form a common, hermeneutical base for the analysis of modern social issues. Referred to here as "hidden threads," these concepts tie together, so to speak, the meaning God intended us to find in the world with meaning as we find it today. What is the meaning in the modern marriage that is faithful to God's plan and what has been added by humans? What is the meaning of money that God would have us keep and what modern thinking should be discarded? These questions can only be answered when theology and social science join forces. The harmful impact made by modernity on society and Christian thought justifies such an approach. To support that claim, I intend in this paper to: l) clarify the crises posed by modernity, 2) develop the conceptual foundation referred to here as "hidden threads" as it relates to these crises, and 3) encourage the development of a hermeneutic which benefits from the interpretations offered by theology and social science. Crisis of Meaning Much of traditional life was governed by the belief that society's rules and norms were appropriate for governing human relationships and were worthy of respect, if not full acceptance. Developments in Western culture over the past 30 years or so have reversed much of this belief and substituted the notion that people shape rules as they interact. Instead of fitting relationships into normative expectations, those relationships may now be used to define new norms for behavior. Consequently, there is no clear agreement on the meaning of either the norms or the behavior. In effect, modern culture is re-defining much of the meaning attributed by God to social life. Divorce has increasingly been accepted as the norm rather than the

Wealth of Nations essays

Wealth of Nations essays In the first book of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith discusses the Variations in the Proportion between the respective Values of Gold and Silver. Throughout history, these two metals have been regarded as mints of significant value. Before mines were found in America, the difference in value between silver and gold was usually seen as proportionate, where one ounce of fine gold was considered equivalent to anywhere from ten to twelve ounces of fine silver. More recently, the values have changed as much as one ounce of fine gold to be equal to as much as fourteen or fifteen ounces of fine silver. Over the years, it is said that both silver and gold have dropped in value, but the drop of silver has come more rapidly, therefore leading to the reason why gold has become proportionately even more valuable than in the past. Smith does claim, however, that both the gold and silver mines of America exceeded in fertility all those which had ever been known before, the fertility of the silver mines had, it seems, been proportionally still greater than that of the gold ones. As a result of silver being more plentiful in comparison to gold, though it is considered less valuable it is certainly more important in many cases. Adam Smith says that it would be absurd to infer... that ... because an ounce of gold will commonly purchase from fourteen to fifteen ounces silver, that there are commonly in the market only fourteen or fifteen ounces of silver for one ounce of gold. The amount of silver that can be found in the market is in all probability worth more in proportion to gold. Adam Smith feels that the cheaper of the two metals is f both more value and greatness due to the quantity that is accessible. He explains, There are so many more purchasers for the cheap than for the dear commodity that not only a greater quantity of it, but a greater value, can commonly be disposed of. The...

Just in Time (JIT) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Just in Time (JIT) - Essay Example The strategy can be applied in UAE also. Gorica Group can implement this in their organization but there are some difficulties that the organization can face to implement this strategy. Just in time is a famous concept introduced in Japan in 1950. This business concept has significant contributions in the domain of production strategy or manufacturing business. Before the advent of JIT big manufacturing or product based organizations across the world were facing significant difficulties to manage their inventories. Companies across the world were storing high amounts of inventories in their warehouses. Inventory related problems were eating into their profitability. It was a significant matter of concern for the organizations. Returns on investments were low and inventory carrying costs were high. Philosophy of JIT is simple but it has utter importance as far as the inventory management is concerned. After the Second World War, Toyota President raised his voice and asked the Japanese automobile industry to pull up their shocks to compete well with the American automobile industry. During that period, American automakers were manufacturing nine times higher than the Japanese counter parts. It was the time when Japanese people first came up with this idea. With the help of this essay JIT will be discussed. Here in this study JIT will be defined in an elaborate fashion. The paper will also discuss various fundamental techniques related with Just in Time. The essay will analyze whether the concept is successful in Japan or not. In addition to all these it will also try to find whether the concept can be implemented in UAE. The concept will also be discussed on the context of an organization. Methodology is an integral part of any research paper. Importance of methodology cannot be denied at all. Methodology brings proper structure to a report. It is the way or process through which information and data are collected.

Population, Migration, Cultural and Language Geography Assignment

Population, Migration, Cultural and Language Geography - Assignment Example Islam is a term that is used to refer to that act of submitting or rather yielding to the will of God. On the other hand, a Muslim refers to an individual who submits, yields, or rather practices the will of God. A person who professes Islam must, therefore, believe in five important beliefs that guide their faith. The first pillar is that there is only one God worth worshipping and who is Allah. The second pillar requires Muslims to pray five times a day while facing the Holy city of Mecca. Thirdly, Muslims believe that they attain purification and growth each time they set out to give to charities. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims engage in fasting as a way of self-purification. Finally, this faith encourages Muslims, more so those who are physically and financially able, to make a pilgrimage journey to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. The church of Latter Day Saints is a restoration movement that falls under Protestantism. It was born from reformists who sought to break loose from religious practices which were largely viewed as discriminative and practically inapplicable. The reformers were also angered in the manner in which leadership of those churches was running its affairs. Saying that the â€Å"American English Language is an evolutionary product from British English† implies that the American English traces its origin to the British English and which has been slightly modified so as to appear unique or rather original. Ebonics is that kind of English mostly spoken by black American and which is made up of incorrectly spelt words or improper sentences. This is attributed to the blacks disinterest in understanding the basics of the correct American English language thus resulting in deteriorated English. Migration Geography is that branch of earth’s study that involves studying the movement of people from one place to the other and the various causes that trigger such movement. People normally move from one place to the other place for work or settlement for a number of reasons.

Sustainable business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sustainable business - Essay Example Landrum, Landrum and Edwards (2009, p. 4) define a sustainable business as that business which guarantees the â€Å"interest of all current and future stakeholders in a manner that ensures the long-term health and survival of the business and its associated economic, social, and environmental systems.† This makes us believe that sustainable businesses focus on how the business is going to affect the current and future consumers and what impact it is going to have on the overall environment. The objective is to create a positive difference in the environment or reducing the negative impact on the environment. We call that such a business is going green since it is environment friendly. A sustainable business is not only able to address the current needs of consumers but also works upon ensuring the well-being of future generations. There is a win-win situation between the business and the environment. Such businesses have built their reputation in the modern world because they boost the economy and provide the human beings with a healthier place to live

Accidental And Malicious Association: Wireless Networking

Accidental And Malicious Association: Wireless Networking Wireless network is a wireless communication between two interconnect nodes without the use of wires. Mobility lifts the requirement for a fixed point of connection to the network which allows users to move physically while using their devices. Mobiles computers such as laptops computer and personal digital assistants (PDAs), are the growing sector in computer industry 1. Wireless networks have many uses. A common is the portable office. Wireless networks are the common, both for organisations and individuals. Many notebooks computer have wireless card that allow connecting to a wireless network. However, wireless networking has many security issues, wireless has fewer physical assets to protect but at the same time there is no locked door on the airwaves so it is far easy to hack 2. Therefore, hacker found wireless network much more easily to break into. Wireless Security Wireless technology users security threat has been increased as the service become more popular. There are numbers of security threats with the current wireless protocols and encryption methods has been grown due to the carelessness and ignorance of the users and at corporate IT levels. Cracking has become easier with user-friendly Windows or Linux-based tool due to the easily availability on the web at no charge. Types of unauthorised access 1. Accidental association Violation of the security of a corporate network can come from a number of different methods. One of these referred to as accidental association. When a user turns on a computer and it latches on to a wireless network or wireless access point of a neighbouring firms overlapping network, the user may not even know that this is occurred. However this is the breach in security in that proprietary firm information is exposed and now there could exist a link from one company to the other and there might be a chance when a data is been transferred within a firm it can be at a risk and its integrity might have been compromised. 2. Malicious association Malicious association are when wireless network of a company is accessed by a wireless device such as cracking laptop instead of a company access point (AP). These types of laptops are known as soft APs. When thief gained accessed to the wireless network they can steal password or can plant a Trojans. 3. Ad-hoc networks Ad-hoc networks can pose a security threats, this network are defined as peer to peer networks between wireless computers which do not have an access point between them. Ad-hoc networks provide a bridge into other networks. In a company network environment its provided a bridge into other organisation network through unsecured ad-hoc connection. Ad-hoc network are defaults setting in most version of Microsoft Windows, it is turned on unless explicitly disable. There are basically two types of Bridging in Ad-hoc network. A direct bridge and a indirect bridge, direct bridge is created by a user who configure a bridge between two connections whereas indirect bridge has two security hazards. The first hazards is that important company data is been obtained via the secured network on the users end node computer drive, which exposed to discovery via the unsecured Ad-hoc network. The second hazards is that a virus was placed on the users computer via the unsecured Ad-hoc connection which make way to the company secured network. 4. Identity theft (MAC spoofing) When a hacker is able to listen into network traffic and identify the MAC address of a computer is called MAC spoofing. Some program has the sniffing capability which combines software that permits a computer to pretend it has any address that the hacker wished for. Wireless network system allow MAC filtering to some extend so that only authorised with specific MAC IDs can only access the network. When the wireless device is switch off or is off the air then only MAC filtering is effective. Any wireless devices (802.11) on the air transmit its unencrypted MAC address, which required no specific equipment or software to detect it. With any 802.11 receiver such as laptop and a freeware packet analyser can get the MAC address of any transmitting 802.11 device within range. In a company network where most of the wireless devices are on the air, MAC filtering provides security only to prevent unauthorised connection to the company infrastructure and does nothing to prevent a direct attack. 5. Man-in-the middle attacks. In this type of attack, attacker incites computers to log into a computer which is set up as a soft AP (Access point). After this hacker connects to a real Access point through another wireless device which maintains a steady flow of traffic through the transparent hacking computer to the real network which provide hacker to sniff the traffic. This attack usually disrupt the real connection and reconnecting with the hackers soft AP, these attacks are enhanced by software such as LANjack and AIRjack. Online books http://books.google.com/books?id=Ic6Ai8Y7LoACprintsec=frontcoverdq=wireless+networkshl=enei=UpbQTOfLF4HIswbozazNCAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepageqf=true date 2/11/10 http://books.google.com/books?id=XO5VjslHLasCprintsec=frontcoverdq=wireless+securityhl=enei=fZ3QTOSpAYORswbMurzNCAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA#v=onepageqf=true date 2/11/10

marketing research :: essays research papers

In an article written by Laura Schneider, titled â€Å"Customer Relationships Are Key to Your Marketing Strategy† July 2003, she states that she could show a business how to increase sales by 50% without increasing a marketing budget. Her research indicates businesses have inactive customers that the owners believe will stay with the company, without maintaining or trying to grow in the relationship. Business owners often wonder why haven't they heard from a customer or if they left, why did they leave? There are many reasons a customer or client may leave, but the ones heard most often are:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They felt prices were too high or unfair.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They had an unresolved complaint.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They took a competitors offer.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They left because they felt the business didn't care. The last two options make up the majority of why a client or customer will no longer use a service or a product. Laura believes this makes sense because customers often purchase a service or product because they have developed a relationship with the company, or they owned another product, or a friend or associate referred them to you. When given with the aforementioned information she ponders the reasons why businesses spend 80% of their marketing dollars going after new customers and clients rather than nurturing, retaining, and maintaining the customer relationships they already have? She suggests before spending time and money going after new customers and clients that a business does not have a relationship to consider the following statistics:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer. Laura believes the marketing dollar will go further if it is used to build, nurture, and develop current customer relationships. Building these relationships means treating customers and clients as if they are strategic partners and showing them that they are appreciated. It's important to try to satisfy them with the right products and services, supported by the right promotion and making it available at the right time and location. Customers can easily detect indifference and insincerity and they simply will not tolerate it. Long-term client and customer loyalty is a long-term challenge that you must strive for every day and with every transaction no matter how big or small. While a growing business needs to constantly capture new customers, the focus and priority should be on pleasing the existing customer base.