Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Proposal - Essay Example an identifying the underlying factors for the proposal, such as saying the relocation will save costs, or improve business activities, or streamline distribution. Maybe something like: â€Å"This business relocation proposal identifies an environmental analysis of Durham North Carolina which identified this region as the best business opportunity for change initiatives. This will impact our sales and marketing divisions as well as human resources†. This way, it addresses a specific group of people in the firm. The purpose of the proposal is to identify the most appropriate location for business relocation. It suggests the regional attributes which make Durham an inviting relocation area. It is clearly stated in the first paragraph, when it is cited that research suggests several key elements about Durham which support the need to move business there. However, again, it is suggested that some element is added to the first section which highlights the importance of these characteristics to the business, as that is the main reason for relocation efforts. Message.   Is the message well organized?   Is it well developed with ample use of examples and specific details to support the purpose of writing?   If not, what can be done to improve the writing in this area? The message is very well-organized and visually pleasing. There is a great usage of charts and diagrams which support the main points of the proposal, from quality of life, transportation, and governmental incentive programs. In fact, the visual aspects of this proposal STRONGLY support the premise and purpose of the relocation research project. The main thing missing from this proposal are the impacts to the business from an organizational perspective. It clearly defines Durham and its attributes, but does not (anywhere really) suggest how Durham will impact the internal and external capabilities of the business. Now, this would likely be left up to the writer as to how in-depth the business perspective

Criminal psychology of why do people commit crimes Essay

Criminal psychology of why do people commit crimes - Essay Example Still others blame criminal behavior on the hierarchal make-up of society; that laws are specifically made by the aristocracy to rule over those in the lower social classes. Psychological factors and cognitive development also have been theorized to play a role in criminal behavior. The answer could be one or a combination of these theories. All economically deprived persons aren’t criminals and those that believe life has treated them unfairly or who have grown up around crime as a way of life, though they may be pre-disposed, do not necessarily resort to crime. This discussion briefly explains these theories for criminal behaviors in an attempt to display their similarities and differences and concludes with thoughts regarding how they may intertwine supplementing each other as an explanation. Among the biological and physiological explanations for crime is the Behaviour Genetics Theory which postulates a biological explanation for crime. While the genetic make-up of an individual does not induce any specific actions, anti-social behaviour can be facilitated by neurotransmitters in the brain and hormonal imbalances which generate tendencies to act in a particular way. â€Å"Low self-control is strongly and inversely related to the neurotransmitter/neuromodulator serotonin, and that serotonin level is heritable† (Robinson, 2004). Abnormal serotonin levels have been shown to be an origin of criminal behaviours of all types of crime because an individual lacks the natural ability to control their impulsive thoughts thereby acting upon them. Everyone has thoughts they would never act upon. Those with this abnormality tend to act first and think later. Evidence compiled from studies has supported another link between a particular inherited mutant gene and criminal behav ior. Instead of high serotonin levels the neurotransmitters in the brain, because of genetic abnormalities, may produce low levels of an enzyme which causes

Contemporary Styles of Preaching

Contemporary Styles of Preaching Chapter Five Impact, event, and context in contemporary preaching 5.1 Mapping the commonalities. The diversity of the trends identified in the earlier review (sections 2.4 to 2.8) presents a particular challenge to the analysis of justifiable generalizations about homiletic theory and practice in the last half-century. As Edwards observes, there seem to be more forms of preaching today than in all previous Christian centuries put together (2004: 835). Furthermore, Edwards judges that preachers during the late-twentieth century tried to accomplish a greater variety of things through their sermons than any of their predecessors attempted (2004: 663). Allen, Blaisdell and Johnston similarly describe the current homiletical scene as a smorgasboard of approaches and cite no less than eleven identifiable contemporary styles of preaching (1997: 171). According to Edwards two developments account for this diversity: namely, the sheer number of people who designate themselves as Christians (in the 20th century Christianity became the most extensive and universal religion in history (Barratt, 2001: 3)), and the huge proliferation of organizational bodies within which preachers are operative (2004: 835). The work of the statisticians Barratt, Kurian and Johnson supports Edwards judgement; in their World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) they estimate that in the year 2000 Christians of all kinds numbered 2 billion people in 33,820 distinct denominations (2001: 10). They observe that there are today Christians and organized Christian churches in every inhabited country on earth (2001: 3). The impact of this globalization is significant even in the much narrower geographical confines of this thesis, and it is inconceivable that an accurate appraisal of preaching practice and theory could be made apart from a ready acknowledgement of the fo rces and influences that are properly termed global. The indicators of institutional decline apparent in the churches of the Western world have to be set against rapid and continuing growth in other parts of the globe. This shift of numerical strength inevitably has consequences for preaching as for other aspects of church practice and faith. The presence in the UK of Christian personnel from the southern parts of the world, increased congregation to congregation contact made possible by cheap air travel, and the development of Internet usage, all offer new understandings and strategies from elsewhere in the global church in ways much more directly influential than even in the immediate past. The practice of preaching, like most other human endeavours in the early twenty-first century, takes place within a pluriform social environment in which many and diverse influences from the widest possible arenas of human activity have a bearing. That said, preaching, in social terms, remains predominantly a locally-focused activity, and sermon style and content are usually closely related to the specifics of the sub-cultural frames in which the life and self-understanding of the congregation is set. Consequently, the power of the local context is another factor underlying Edwards observation of the immense diversity of contemporary sermon styles. As Edwards puts it, such diversity shows how radically ad hoc all Christian preaching is (2004: 835). That is not to say, however, that such enormous diversity denies the possibility of any sensible generalization. In particular, as was suggested in the earlier review, three aspects are identifiable within contemporary preaching practices that have particular significance for collective memory-namely, awareness of a sermons psychological engagement, communicative salience and contextual pertinence. In other words, those aspects of preaching that deal with a sermons impact on the hearer; its purposefulness as an event in its own terms; and its relationship to the context in which it is delivered and heard. In order to establish an analytical framework that is not too unwieldy three texts that are in some sense representative documents will be analysed closely. Other texts that develop, challenge, or amplify the issues disclosed will be added to the discussion as the argument requires. The representative texts have been selected as indicative of three prominent strands in the ongoing discussion of homiletic practice: firstly, continuity in terms of issues of concern and of practice methodology; secondly, change in practice and the philosophical and technical components that undergird it; and thirdly, reorientation that aims to subtly change the locus of practice itself. The first text will utilize a perspective from prior to the 1955 to 2005 period under review that still has currency, albeit in terms significantly altered from earlier years. The second will analyse a perspective of more recent origin that signifies contemporary concerns with philosophy and communications theory and the technical practice that flows from them. And the third will examine a perspective that sees the local context of preaching as fundamental to homiletic activity rather than just the arena in which it takes place. The first text is Phillips Brooks Lyman Beecher Lectures of 1877, last reissued in book form as recently as 1987, and described by Killinger as one of the most readable and inspiring volumes on preaching ever penned (1985: 207). The version used here will be the 1904 edition, published in London under the title Lectures on Preaching. No attempt will be made to alter the gender specificity of Brooks words since, although this study readily acknowledges that the preaching task belongs as much to women as to men, the assumptions of his text in this area are a clear marker of changes that have taken place even under the cover of longstanding common concerns. David Buttricks 1987 book Homiletic: Moves and Structures is the second focus. At more than 500 pages, this is a monumental work in size, as well as scope and influence. Edwards (2004: 806) describes Buttricks work as being as influential and significant as Fred Craddocks pioneering of the New Homiletic, and Lischer (2002: 337) credits him with the first homiletic in theory and practice geared to our [present day] culture of images. The final representative text is Leonora Tisdales 1997 work Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art, which asks preachers to become ethnographers of their congregations in order to understand the human nature of their hearers from the inside as it were. Tisdale is one of a new movement of homiletic practitioners and theoreticians at home with anthropological and sociological models in Christian ministry and alert to cultural-linguistic issues. Her work provides a way into the insights of those who acknowledge that preachings former authority has all but evaporated, but who see a radical social re-encounter as being a real possibility for a reshaped sermon practice. 5.2 Continuities of concerns and practice: Brooks and contemporary preaching. As was noted earlier (Section 2.5), Brooks Lyman Beecher Lectures remained much used as a guide to homiletic practice well into the period under review. Indeed such has been the influence of his insistence on preaching as the bringing of truth through personality (1904: 5) that Brooks expression continues to be repeated in exactly the same terms in contemporary works, such as those of Day (1998: 6) and Killinger (1985: 8). In dwelling on the preachers personality Brooks managed to encapsulate what, in the 1870s, was a new and burgeoning interest in the human psyche. It was hardly coincidence that his lectures were delivered in the same decade in which William James became Americas first professorial-level teacher of psychology (Harvard in 1875) and G. Stanley Hall the countrys first PhD in psychology. Unwittingly no doubt, Brooks reflected on novel intellectual ideas of his own day and, in doing so, identified within preaching practice what was to become a major preoccupation in many areas of discourse in the twentieth-century: namely, the human psyche and its relationship to action and truth. It is pertinent, therefore, to examine what Brooks understood by personality and its relationship to Christian truth in order to appreciate how his ideas were developed by homiletic practitioners in the period under review. What might appropriately be termed personalist (i.e. an emphasis in preaching on the personal religious experience of the hearer somehow addressed very directly by the preacher) has been, and continues to be, a major component in sermon delivery and design. Brooks concept of preaching as truth through personality became a kind of slogan for many preachers in the twentieth-century, and indeed remains a very influential mantra for many practitioners to this day. In Brooks lectures that sloganized thought had a rather more nuanced definition: Preaching is the communication of truth by man to men. It has in it two essential elements, truth and personality. Neither of those can it spare and still be preaching. The truest truth, the most authoritative statement of Gods, communicated in any other way than through the personality of brother man to men is not preached truth. Suppose it written on the sky, suppose it embodied in a book which has been so long held in reverence as the direct utterance of God that the vivid personality of the men who wrote its pages has well-nigh faded out of it; in neither of these cases is there any preaching. And on the other hand, if men speak to other men that which they do not claim for truth, if they use their powers of persuasion or of entertainment to make other men listen to their speculations, or do their will, or applaud their cleverness, that is not preaching either. The first lacks personality. The second lacks truth. And preaching is the bringing of truth through personality. (1904: 5) For Brooks, the two components of truth and personality had to stand together, since their meeting was the point at which the universal and the particular met. It would be an exaggeration to say that Brooks viewed religious truth as essentially something that can only be known in personal experience; but he did believe that truth was at its most effective and powerful when known and expressed in personal terms. He understood the truth of the Christian faith to be universal and invariable, with personality as the site where it was realized through variable and particular understanding and appropriation (1904: 15). Thus although he was clear gospel truth was a message to be transmitted, he insisted that it could only be transmitted via the voice of a witness, i.e. someone for whom it had become an indispensable part of that persons own experience (14). In terms of memory maintenance, Brooks approach assumes that the preacher is deeply cognizant of the Christian tradition and is, as it were, a bearer of it in his or her own person. 5.2.1 The personal characteristics of the preacher. Being such a bearer of the tradition required of the preacher exacting personal characteristics. The rigour Brooks brought to the personal qualities required of the preaching witness continues to be challenging reading for anyone pursuing such a role. Alongside a deep personal piety (1904: 38), Brooks listed mental and spiritual unselfishness (39), hopefulness as against judgmental fear (40), a vigorous commitment to physical health along with the offering of the whole of life in ministerial service (40), and an enthusiasm that made for a keen joy in preaching (42). Brooks saw the task of preaching as always needing an essential grounding in the very personhood of the preacher, by which he meant truth communicated through personality in an absolutely literal sense. The second of his Lyman Beecher Lectures, entitled The Preacher Himself, amplified the point in this enumeration of the qualities necessary for success in preaching: purity and uprightness of character; lack of self-consciousness founded on absolute trust in God; genuine respect for those preached to; thorough enjoyment of the task; gravity of intent in all things; and courage to speak out (1904: 49-60). At first sight the list appears remote from more recent homiletic theorys concern with techniques and philosophical issues, and therefore it might appear as less accessible and relevant to practitioners since the 1950s watershed in preaching identified earlier. Such personal qualities can seem to be more easily related to an era when the person of the preacher was regarded as carrying more authority than nowadays. Although in terms of wider social recognition the preacher is no longer a star of oratory, similar attributes are still sought after-but for rather different reasons. Killinger (1985), for example, stresses the importance of the physical and mental health of the preacher as an aspect of communication, since troubles in those areas are signalled subconsciously to an audience and work towards undermining the intended message. He writes: Suppose we are preaching about wholeness and reconciliation but actually conveying a message about fragmentedness and despondency. The words may sound right, but there is something about the tune, about the look in our eyes, about the tension in our faces, that counters what we are saying. At best, people get a double message. It is very important, therefore, for the preacher to be as healthy and joyous as possible. Anything less impedes his or her message about the life-giving community of God. We are working at our preaching, for this reason, even when we are taking care of ourselves. (1985: 198-199) Although the point is expressed in the idiom of late twentieth-century communications theory the reasoning is clearly akin to that of Brooks. For both, emphasis on the physicality of the preacher is an aspect of how the message will be received in the light of how the hearers perceptions of the speaker. The body of the preacher, as well as his or her mental and spiritual capabilities, is, in this sense, a tool in the preaching witness. Contemporary women homileticians have also emphasized physicality; but from a perspective that radicalizes it by making the woman preachers bodily experience a site of homiletic resource. In Walton and Durber (1994), the negative, indeed destructive, consequences of a profound prejudice in the Christian tradition against womens bodies are highlighted. They note that in the light of this shameful history and despite occasional counter-tradition movements, the advent of more widespread preaching by women with the rise of Nonconformity did not generally challenge the unembodied nature of homiletic practice. Until the rise of the Womens Movement, women preachers, like their male counterparts, stressed a common rationality and a universal human nature that was blind to the particularities of embodied experience (Walton and Durber, 1994: 2). In more recent years, however, some women homileticians have striven to speak from their bodily experience and utilize both the negative and positive aspects of femininity, conception, pregnancy, birth, health and nurture in their theology of preaching (for example, Ward, Wild and Morley, (1995); Gjerding and Kinnamon, (1984); Riley, (1985); By Our Lives, (1985); Maitland, (1995); and Marva Dawn in Graves, (2004)). According to Walton and Durber, such efforts are part of a new emphasis that is fuelling developments across the whole spectrum of theological enquiry. They write: Sexuality and suffering are still rarely named within a Christian tradition that prefers to speak of the spirit rather than the body, light rather than darkness and a God who creates life but bears no responsibility for pain and dying. Women who have begun to preach from their bodies are not merely redressing an existing imbalance and enriching the storehouse of Christian metaphors and symbols but are also provoking new theological debates close to the very heart of the faith. (1994: 4) This emphasis on the body as a resource for preaching content rather than solely the necessary vehicle of delivery as it were, certainly takes Brooks focus on personhood further than he could possibly have imagined. That said, even here there is a certain congruence between what Brooks said and these very contemporary concerns. He did, after all, insist that the needs and preoccupations of no one sex or age should monopolize the life of the congregation, and that ministrations to it must be full at once of vigour and of tenderness, the fathers and the mothers touch at once (1904: 207). Brooks could not have possibly foreseen the Womens Movement and its repercussions for preaching, but his unease with a domineering and authoritarian style in the pulpit-mediated through his lasting influence-at least readied some preachers for a message that needed to be heard. The physical and personal qualities of the practitioner described neither in terms of communication theory nor embodied theology, but in ways even more reminiscent of Brooks own characterization of the preacher, have reasserted themselves through organization theory and the study of leadership. As the authority of the church, in terms of rules and obligations, has ebbed away, and the legitimacy of power based on tradition more and more questioned, it is perhaps the case that authority based on exemplary character has increased in relative importance. Certainly in the world of commerce and business the significance of the personal qualities of leaders and managers has been extensively theorized and debated. In the use of terms such as sapiential authority and referent power, organization theorists have pointed up the crucial importance of a personal knowledge and skill that readily communicates itself to others, and a personality-based ability to influence by attracting loyalty (Rees and Porter, 2001: 82). Other theorists, e.g. Charles Handy, talk in terms of the invisible but felt pull that is described as magnetism (1985: 135). Handy writes: Aspects of magnetism, the unseen drawing-power of one individual, are found all the time. Trust, respect, charm, infectious enthusiasm, these attributes all allow us to influence people without apparently imposing on them. The invisibility of magnetism is a major attraction as is its attachment to one individual. (1985: 136) Brooks himself used the very term magnetism and described it as: the quality that kindles at the sight of men, that feels a keen joy at the meeting of truth and the human mind, and recognizes how God made them for each other. It is the power by which a man loses himself and becomes but the sympathetic atmosphere between the truth on one side of him and the man on the other side of him. (1904: 42) Excluding the gender specificity, Handy might have written in very similar terms. (Comparable thoughts, although using other nomenclature, can also be found, for example in Schein, 1992: 229; Zohar and Marshall, 2000: 259; and Nelson, 1999: 76). The significance of the personal charisma of the preacher is, perhaps, in the process of rehabilitation via business practices that readily recognize the importance of personal as well as systemic qualities in the effective functioning of organizations. With the support of such an appreciation, a contemporary homiletician, such as Day, can assert, without risking suspicion and disapprobation, that the hope of the sermon lies in the authenticity of the preacher (1998: 147). As regards the maintenance of tradition as collective memory, the resurgence of individualized authority raises the question whether organizational structures within the churches are strong enough to prevent intentional or unintentional abuse of that corporate memory bearin g responsibility. 5.2.2 The preacher as learner and as pastor. Before leaving issues associated with personhood, two of Brooks themes regarding the preachers actions are worth considering since, again, they are things that continue to be widely discussed in the literature; namely, the preacher as learner and the preacher as pastor. After considering the dangers to the preachers personality of self-conceit, over-concern with failure, self-indulgence, and narrowness, Brooks brings his second lecture to a close with a vigorous plea for what would now be called lifelong learning. He writes: In [Christian ministry] he who is faithful must go on learning more and more for ever. His growth in learning is all bound up with his growth in character. Nowhere else do the moral and intellectual so sympathize, and lose or gain together. The minister must grow. His true growth is not necessarily a change of views. It is a change of view. It is not revolution. It is progress. It is a continual climbing which opens continually wider prospects. It repeats the experience of Christs disciples, of whom their Lord was always making larger men and then giving them larger truth of which their enlarged natures had become capable. (1904: 70) What Brooks discerned as an essential component of the preachers disposition has nowadays been widened to embrace all who claim to be faithful believers. Discipleship as lifelong learning is a concept in wide contemporary currency in the churches, and is discussed, for example, in documents such as the published strategies of the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church for training, detailed in the reports Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church (2003) and Shaping the Future: New patterns of training for lay and ordained (2006). The notion of Christian leaders needing to be exemplars in this ongoing commitment to learning and personal growth figures in much of the literature on congregations and pastoral ministry, such as Mead (1994), Baumohl (1984), Hawkins (1997), and Anderson (1997); albeit these and numerous other authors, make it plain that the goal of such action is the enhancement of learning in the whole church. In the preaching literatu re, allied perspectives are expressed in such concepts as local theology (Tisdale, 1997), conversational preaching (Rose, 1997), listening to or with sermon preparation (Van Harn, 2005), embodying the scriptures communally (Davis and Hays, 2003), and interactive preaching (Hunter, 2004). Through these and other mechanisms, Brooks call for continuous learning on the part of the preacher finds its contemporary expression in practices that aim to widen that learning to include the whole body of people who are party to the sermon and the preachers and their own wider ministry. As Anderson puts it, every act of ministry teaches something about God (1997: 8). That is a sentiment to which Brooks would have been sympathetic given his emphasis on the absolute core of preaching as the widest of concern for souls. Learning, in collective memory theory, is often associated with the changing of the meanings and understandings of memories, and the processes by which traditions are appropriated by individuals. As aspects of learning clearly related to relationships they echo contemporary concern in the church about whole body learning. In Brooks description of the preacher as pastor this analysis reaches very familiar territory, in that such a description probably remains the pre-eminent designation of the homiletician within the churches. Brooks thought on this matter was absolutely unequivocal: The preacher needs to be pastor, that he may preach to real men. The pastor must be preacher, that he may keep the dignity of his work alive. The preacher, who is not a pastor, grows remote. The pastor, who is not a preacher, grows petty. Never be content to let men truthfully say of you, He is a preacher, but no pastor; or, He is a pastor, but no preacher. Be both; for you cannot really be one unless you also are the other. (1904: 77) The conviction remains no less powerful more than a century after Brooks lectures: for example, Eric Devenport writing in 1986 could assert, without fear that his opinion would be controversial: Preaching and pastoral work go hand in hand. This is one of those truths that has to be proclaimed time after time, for unless it is heard, then most preaching will not only be dull but dead. (in Hunter, 2004: 145) Clearly, at different times and in different church structures, the nature of pastoral practice has been viewed in a variety of ways. Sometimes it has been mutual support in discipleship, and at other times psychotherapeutic intervention. In some circumstances it has been ad hoc care and conversation, and in others programmatic structures of community creation. Amongst these and many other activities, those who would preach have frequently seen such pastoral practice as a fundamental adjunct to the homiletic task. Although the influence of the problem centred preaching method of Henry Emerson Fosdick, mentioned above (section 2.5), has waned in recent decades, the notion that preaching must somehow relate to the felt life-concerns of those in the congregation is still the key to good practice for many preachers. Whether the emphasis is Tisdales (1997) preacher as the caretaker of local theology, Willimons (1979) or Longs (1989) straightforward emphasis on the role of pastor, Pasquare llos (2005) preaching as the development of communal wisdom, Buechners (1977) telling the truth in love, or Van Harns (2005) insistence on listening in preaching, the overarching perspective is that of pastoral care to individuals and groups. The tradition as collective memory must, in these circumstances, serve pastoral needs. Here the link to the presentist character of collective memory appears strong. 5.2.3 Preachings first purpose and the style appropriate to it. Returning to the issue of preaching as art. From Brooks paramount concern with personhood and themes that flow from it, this discussion now turns to two other aspects of his lectures that remain significant concerns in homiletic literature: style of language, and preachings first purpose. In his emphasis on preaching as witness, Brooks made a distinction that continues to figure prominently in homiletic texts to this day: namely, the difference between preaching about Christ and preaching Christ (1904: 20). Preachers, Brooks insisted, should announce Christianity as a message and proclaim Christ as a Saviour not-discuss Christianity as a problem (1904: 21). He asserted: Definers and defenders of the faith are always needed, but it is bad for a church when its ministers count it their true work to define and defend the faith rather than to preach the Gospel. Beware of the tendency to preach about Christianity, and try to preach Christ. (1904: 21) This distinction continues to be vigorously promoted, particularly amongst the New Homiletic advocates of an inductive sermon methodology. From the distinction there comes an emphasis in sermonic style on a demonstrably engaging, emotionally affective, and inclusivist presentation, rather than a detached, analytical or objective stance. Brooks would have undoubtedly concurred with David Bartletts worries about sermon style that appears to make sin more interesting than grace, and evil more lively than goodness (in Graves, 2004: 25). Bartlett suggests that sermons too often misdirect their hearers by putting active or abstract language and thoughts in the wrong places. He writes, For the most part we show evil and then tell about goodness. We show judgment and then talk about the doctrine of mercy (in Graves, 2004: 25). Yet again, Brooks lectures were extraordinary prescient of a concern that has become commonplace these many years later. Likewise, Brooks conviction that a sermon is essentially a tool and not an end in itself is also a perspective that continues to be vigorously debated (Brooks, 1904: 110). Unlike Browne (1958), Brooks was insistent that preaching is not an art form. He wrote: The definition and immediate purpose which a sermon has set before it makes it impossible to consider it as a work of art, and every attempt to consider it so works injury to the purpose for which the sermon was created. Many of the ineffective sermons that are made owe their failure to a blind and fruitless effort to produce something which shall be a work of art, conforming to some type or pattern which is not clearly understood but is supposed to be essential and eternal. (1904: 109) In many ways, Brownes advocacy of the sermon as art-form (1958: 76) was a reaction to those who had taken Brooks evident pragmatism and utilitarianism as regards technique and turned it into a bald instructionalism that claimed too much for itself and was simply tedious. That was not Brooks intention, however, as his aim was an absolute focus on the tumultuous eagerness of earnest purpose (1904: 110). His overriding concern was that sermons should engage and communicate in such a way as to affect and mark personalities at their most profound level. As such, his understanding of the nature of sermonic engagement serves the purposes of collective memory. His objection to preaching as an art-form was the tendency he saw for art to be an end in itself-over concerned with pure forms and the abstractions of principles (see, for example, pages 110 and 267 of the 1904 edition). These many years later, art operates, and is applied within immensely diverse environments wholly unknown when Brooks lectured: so his criticism is, perhaps, no longer apposite. On the other hand, how far and in what ways artistic expression relates to and uses tradition is a question rather more vexed now than in Brooks day. The one aspect of artistic endeavour Brooks was willing to concede was art in the sense of an awesome appreciation of the mysteriousness of life. This was something Brooks regarded as an essential component of the preachers outlook, and was the reason for his advocacy of the preacher as, at least in some measure, a poet (1904: 262). Preaching as art form brings to the forefront of homiletic awareness the sermons place in the imaginative construal of engaging gospel alternatives to commonplace understandings and outlooks. Collective memory theory suggests that affiliation to group identity is an essential element in the continuity of memory. What the emphasis on preaching as art form does is alert the preacher to the need to create in preaching that sense of engagement, creativity and exploration that aims beyond utilitarian instruction. Here, preaching is seen as genuinely performative. Like the repeated performances of a classic drama, a sermon hearer can become intensively engaged again and again with material that, although familiar, becomes in the engagement surprisingly new. Likewise the preacher as performer or artist, works with familiar texts in order to render then creatively new in a sermon. From both sides of the sermon event collective memory is supported via the performative interaction. The discussion of art related issues in contemporary homiletic literature largely supports this assessment. Morris, in his Raising the Dead: The Art of the preacher as Public Performer, makes performance the guiding principle of all homiletics and insists that preaching should delight and enrich in ways similar to other mediums (1996: 19). Gilmore, in his Preaching as Theatre (1996) shares the same concern with performance, and designates preaching as a dramatic event that happens. He writes: As long as preaching is seen as lecturing or teaching, then, in order for it to be effective, listeners have to go away and do something about it. If it is art, they dont. By the time it is over something has happened, or has failed to happen. This is what makes preaching as an art distinctive, more exciting and satisfying when it works, more depressing and worrying when it doesnt. (1996: 7) Other homileticians are a little more reserved and tend to use the idea of art or artistic endeavour as but one tool the preacher can employ. For example, in Allen (1998), the appreciation of works of art and artistic frames for sermons are advocated as ways to create spheres of perception i Contemporary Styles of Preaching Contemporary Styles of Preaching Chapter Five Impact, event, and context in contemporary preaching 5.1 Mapping the commonalities. The diversity of the trends identified in the earlier review (sections 2.4 to 2.8) presents a particular challenge to the analysis of justifiable generalizations about homiletic theory and practice in the last half-century. As Edwards observes, there seem to be more forms of preaching today than in all previous Christian centuries put together (2004: 835). Furthermore, Edwards judges that preachers during the late-twentieth century tried to accomplish a greater variety of things through their sermons than any of their predecessors attempted (2004: 663). Allen, Blaisdell and Johnston similarly describe the current homiletical scene as a smorgasboard of approaches and cite no less than eleven identifiable contemporary styles of preaching (1997: 171). According to Edwards two developments account for this diversity: namely, the sheer number of people who designate themselves as Christians (in the 20th century Christianity became the most extensive and universal religion in history (Barratt, 2001: 3)), and the huge proliferation of organizational bodies within which preachers are operative (2004: 835). The work of the statisticians Barratt, Kurian and Johnson supports Edwards judgement; in their World Christian Encyclopedia (2001) they estimate that in the year 2000 Christians of all kinds numbered 2 billion people in 33,820 distinct denominations (2001: 10). They observe that there are today Christians and organized Christian churches in every inhabited country on earth (2001: 3). The impact of this globalization is significant even in the much narrower geographical confines of this thesis, and it is inconceivable that an accurate appraisal of preaching practice and theory could be made apart from a ready acknowledgement of the fo rces and influences that are properly termed global. The indicators of institutional decline apparent in the churches of the Western world have to be set against rapid and continuing growth in other parts of the globe. This shift of numerical strength inevitably has consequences for preaching as for other aspects of church practice and faith. The presence in the UK of Christian personnel from the southern parts of the world, increased congregation to congregation contact made possible by cheap air travel, and the development of Internet usage, all offer new understandings and strategies from elsewhere in the global church in ways much more directly influential than even in the immediate past. The practice of preaching, like most other human endeavours in the early twenty-first century, takes place within a pluriform social environment in which many and diverse influences from the widest possible arenas of human activity have a bearing. That said, preaching, in social terms, remains predominantly a locally-focused activity, and sermon style and content are usually closely related to the specifics of the sub-cultural frames in which the life and self-understanding of the congregation is set. Consequently, the power of the local context is another factor underlying Edwards observation of the immense diversity of contemporary sermon styles. As Edwards puts it, such diversity shows how radically ad hoc all Christian preaching is (2004: 835). That is not to say, however, that such enormous diversity denies the possibility of any sensible generalization. In particular, as was suggested in the earlier review, three aspects are identifiable within contemporary preaching practices that have particular significance for collective memory-namely, awareness of a sermons psychological engagement, communicative salience and contextual pertinence. In other words, those aspects of preaching that deal with a sermons impact on the hearer; its purposefulness as an event in its own terms; and its relationship to the context in which it is delivered and heard. In order to establish an analytical framework that is not too unwieldy three texts that are in some sense representative documents will be analysed closely. Other texts that develop, challenge, or amplify the issues disclosed will be added to the discussion as the argument requires. The representative texts have been selected as indicative of three prominent strands in the ongoing discussion of homiletic practice: firstly, continuity in terms of issues of concern and of practice methodology; secondly, change in practice and the philosophical and technical components that undergird it; and thirdly, reorientation that aims to subtly change the locus of practice itself. The first text will utilize a perspective from prior to the 1955 to 2005 period under review that still has currency, albeit in terms significantly altered from earlier years. The second will analyse a perspective of more recent origin that signifies contemporary concerns with philosophy and communications theory and the technical practice that flows from them. And the third will examine a perspective that sees the local context of preaching as fundamental to homiletic activity rather than just the arena in which it takes place. The first text is Phillips Brooks Lyman Beecher Lectures of 1877, last reissued in book form as recently as 1987, and described by Killinger as one of the most readable and inspiring volumes on preaching ever penned (1985: 207). The version used here will be the 1904 edition, published in London under the title Lectures on Preaching. No attempt will be made to alter the gender specificity of Brooks words since, although this study readily acknowledges that the preaching task belongs as much to women as to men, the assumptions of his text in this area are a clear marker of changes that have taken place even under the cover of longstanding common concerns. David Buttricks 1987 book Homiletic: Moves and Structures is the second focus. At more than 500 pages, this is a monumental work in size, as well as scope and influence. Edwards (2004: 806) describes Buttricks work as being as influential and significant as Fred Craddocks pioneering of the New Homiletic, and Lischer (2002: 337) credits him with the first homiletic in theory and practice geared to our [present day] culture of images. The final representative text is Leonora Tisdales 1997 work Preaching as Local Theology and Folk Art, which asks preachers to become ethnographers of their congregations in order to understand the human nature of their hearers from the inside as it were. Tisdale is one of a new movement of homiletic practitioners and theoreticians at home with anthropological and sociological models in Christian ministry and alert to cultural-linguistic issues. Her work provides a way into the insights of those who acknowledge that preachings former authority has all but evaporated, but who see a radical social re-encounter as being a real possibility for a reshaped sermon practice. 5.2 Continuities of concerns and practice: Brooks and contemporary preaching. As was noted earlier (Section 2.5), Brooks Lyman Beecher Lectures remained much used as a guide to homiletic practice well into the period under review. Indeed such has been the influence of his insistence on preaching as the bringing of truth through personality (1904: 5) that Brooks expression continues to be repeated in exactly the same terms in contemporary works, such as those of Day (1998: 6) and Killinger (1985: 8). In dwelling on the preachers personality Brooks managed to encapsulate what, in the 1870s, was a new and burgeoning interest in the human psyche. It was hardly coincidence that his lectures were delivered in the same decade in which William James became Americas first professorial-level teacher of psychology (Harvard in 1875) and G. Stanley Hall the countrys first PhD in psychology. Unwittingly no doubt, Brooks reflected on novel intellectual ideas of his own day and, in doing so, identified within preaching practice what was to become a major preoccupation in many areas of discourse in the twentieth-century: namely, the human psyche and its relationship to action and truth. It is pertinent, therefore, to examine what Brooks understood by personality and its relationship to Christian truth in order to appreciate how his ideas were developed by homiletic practitioners in the period under review. What might appropriately be termed personalist (i.e. an emphasis in preaching on the personal religious experience of the hearer somehow addressed very directly by the preacher) has been, and continues to be, a major component in sermon delivery and design. Brooks concept of preaching as truth through personality became a kind of slogan for many preachers in the twentieth-century, and indeed remains a very influential mantra for many practitioners to this day. In Brooks lectures that sloganized thought had a rather more nuanced definition: Preaching is the communication of truth by man to men. It has in it two essential elements, truth and personality. Neither of those can it spare and still be preaching. The truest truth, the most authoritative statement of Gods, communicated in any other way than through the personality of brother man to men is not preached truth. Suppose it written on the sky, suppose it embodied in a book which has been so long held in reverence as the direct utterance of God that the vivid personality of the men who wrote its pages has well-nigh faded out of it; in neither of these cases is there any preaching. And on the other hand, if men speak to other men that which they do not claim for truth, if they use their powers of persuasion or of entertainment to make other men listen to their speculations, or do their will, or applaud their cleverness, that is not preaching either. The first lacks personality. The second lacks truth. And preaching is the bringing of truth through personality. (1904: 5) For Brooks, the two components of truth and personality had to stand together, since their meeting was the point at which the universal and the particular met. It would be an exaggeration to say that Brooks viewed religious truth as essentially something that can only be known in personal experience; but he did believe that truth was at its most effective and powerful when known and expressed in personal terms. He understood the truth of the Christian faith to be universal and invariable, with personality as the site where it was realized through variable and particular understanding and appropriation (1904: 15). Thus although he was clear gospel truth was a message to be transmitted, he insisted that it could only be transmitted via the voice of a witness, i.e. someone for whom it had become an indispensable part of that persons own experience (14). In terms of memory maintenance, Brooks approach assumes that the preacher is deeply cognizant of the Christian tradition and is, as it were, a bearer of it in his or her own person. 5.2.1 The personal characteristics of the preacher. Being such a bearer of the tradition required of the preacher exacting personal characteristics. The rigour Brooks brought to the personal qualities required of the preaching witness continues to be challenging reading for anyone pursuing such a role. Alongside a deep personal piety (1904: 38), Brooks listed mental and spiritual unselfishness (39), hopefulness as against judgmental fear (40), a vigorous commitment to physical health along with the offering of the whole of life in ministerial service (40), and an enthusiasm that made for a keen joy in preaching (42). Brooks saw the task of preaching as always needing an essential grounding in the very personhood of the preacher, by which he meant truth communicated through personality in an absolutely literal sense. The second of his Lyman Beecher Lectures, entitled The Preacher Himself, amplified the point in this enumeration of the qualities necessary for success in preaching: purity and uprightness of character; lack of self-consciousness founded on absolute trust in God; genuine respect for those preached to; thorough enjoyment of the task; gravity of intent in all things; and courage to speak out (1904: 49-60). At first sight the list appears remote from more recent homiletic theorys concern with techniques and philosophical issues, and therefore it might appear as less accessible and relevant to practitioners since the 1950s watershed in preaching identified earlier. Such personal qualities can seem to be more easily related to an era when the person of the preacher was regarded as carrying more authority than nowadays. Although in terms of wider social recognition the preacher is no longer a star of oratory, similar attributes are still sought after-but for rather different reasons. Killinger (1985), for example, stresses the importance of the physical and mental health of the preacher as an aspect of communication, since troubles in those areas are signalled subconsciously to an audience and work towards undermining the intended message. He writes: Suppose we are preaching about wholeness and reconciliation but actually conveying a message about fragmentedness and despondency. The words may sound right, but there is something about the tune, about the look in our eyes, about the tension in our faces, that counters what we are saying. At best, people get a double message. It is very important, therefore, for the preacher to be as healthy and joyous as possible. Anything less impedes his or her message about the life-giving community of God. We are working at our preaching, for this reason, even when we are taking care of ourselves. (1985: 198-199) Although the point is expressed in the idiom of late twentieth-century communications theory the reasoning is clearly akin to that of Brooks. For both, emphasis on the physicality of the preacher is an aspect of how the message will be received in the light of how the hearers perceptions of the speaker. The body of the preacher, as well as his or her mental and spiritual capabilities, is, in this sense, a tool in the preaching witness. Contemporary women homileticians have also emphasized physicality; but from a perspective that radicalizes it by making the woman preachers bodily experience a site of homiletic resource. In Walton and Durber (1994), the negative, indeed destructive, consequences of a profound prejudice in the Christian tradition against womens bodies are highlighted. They note that in the light of this shameful history and despite occasional counter-tradition movements, the advent of more widespread preaching by women with the rise of Nonconformity did not generally challenge the unembodied nature of homiletic practice. Until the rise of the Womens Movement, women preachers, like their male counterparts, stressed a common rationality and a universal human nature that was blind to the particularities of embodied experience (Walton and Durber, 1994: 2). In more recent years, however, some women homileticians have striven to speak from their bodily experience and utilize both the negative and positive aspects of femininity, conception, pregnancy, birth, health and nurture in their theology of preaching (for example, Ward, Wild and Morley, (1995); Gjerding and Kinnamon, (1984); Riley, (1985); By Our Lives, (1985); Maitland, (1995); and Marva Dawn in Graves, (2004)). According to Walton and Durber, such efforts are part of a new emphasis that is fuelling developments across the whole spectrum of theological enquiry. They write: Sexuality and suffering are still rarely named within a Christian tradition that prefers to speak of the spirit rather than the body, light rather than darkness and a God who creates life but bears no responsibility for pain and dying. Women who have begun to preach from their bodies are not merely redressing an existing imbalance and enriching the storehouse of Christian metaphors and symbols but are also provoking new theological debates close to the very heart of the faith. (1994: 4) This emphasis on the body as a resource for preaching content rather than solely the necessary vehicle of delivery as it were, certainly takes Brooks focus on personhood further than he could possibly have imagined. That said, even here there is a certain congruence between what Brooks said and these very contemporary concerns. He did, after all, insist that the needs and preoccupations of no one sex or age should monopolize the life of the congregation, and that ministrations to it must be full at once of vigour and of tenderness, the fathers and the mothers touch at once (1904: 207). Brooks could not have possibly foreseen the Womens Movement and its repercussions for preaching, but his unease with a domineering and authoritarian style in the pulpit-mediated through his lasting influence-at least readied some preachers for a message that needed to be heard. The physical and personal qualities of the practitioner described neither in terms of communication theory nor embodied theology, but in ways even more reminiscent of Brooks own characterization of the preacher, have reasserted themselves through organization theory and the study of leadership. As the authority of the church, in terms of rules and obligations, has ebbed away, and the legitimacy of power based on tradition more and more questioned, it is perhaps the case that authority based on exemplary character has increased in relative importance. Certainly in the world of commerce and business the significance of the personal qualities of leaders and managers has been extensively theorized and debated. In the use of terms such as sapiential authority and referent power, organization theorists have pointed up the crucial importance of a personal knowledge and skill that readily communicates itself to others, and a personality-based ability to influence by attracting loyalty (Rees and Porter, 2001: 82). Other theorists, e.g. Charles Handy, talk in terms of the invisible but felt pull that is described as magnetism (1985: 135). Handy writes: Aspects of magnetism, the unseen drawing-power of one individual, are found all the time. Trust, respect, charm, infectious enthusiasm, these attributes all allow us to influence people without apparently imposing on them. The invisibility of magnetism is a major attraction as is its attachment to one individual. (1985: 136) Brooks himself used the very term magnetism and described it as: the quality that kindles at the sight of men, that feels a keen joy at the meeting of truth and the human mind, and recognizes how God made them for each other. It is the power by which a man loses himself and becomes but the sympathetic atmosphere between the truth on one side of him and the man on the other side of him. (1904: 42) Excluding the gender specificity, Handy might have written in very similar terms. (Comparable thoughts, although using other nomenclature, can also be found, for example in Schein, 1992: 229; Zohar and Marshall, 2000: 259; and Nelson, 1999: 76). The significance of the personal charisma of the preacher is, perhaps, in the process of rehabilitation via business practices that readily recognize the importance of personal as well as systemic qualities in the effective functioning of organizations. With the support of such an appreciation, a contemporary homiletician, such as Day, can assert, without risking suspicion and disapprobation, that the hope of the sermon lies in the authenticity of the preacher (1998: 147). As regards the maintenance of tradition as collective memory, the resurgence of individualized authority raises the question whether organizational structures within the churches are strong enough to prevent intentional or unintentional abuse of that corporate memory bearin g responsibility. 5.2.2 The preacher as learner and as pastor. Before leaving issues associated with personhood, two of Brooks themes regarding the preachers actions are worth considering since, again, they are things that continue to be widely discussed in the literature; namely, the preacher as learner and the preacher as pastor. After considering the dangers to the preachers personality of self-conceit, over-concern with failure, self-indulgence, and narrowness, Brooks brings his second lecture to a close with a vigorous plea for what would now be called lifelong learning. He writes: In [Christian ministry] he who is faithful must go on learning more and more for ever. His growth in learning is all bound up with his growth in character. Nowhere else do the moral and intellectual so sympathize, and lose or gain together. The minister must grow. His true growth is not necessarily a change of views. It is a change of view. It is not revolution. It is progress. It is a continual climbing which opens continually wider prospects. It repeats the experience of Christs disciples, of whom their Lord was always making larger men and then giving them larger truth of which their enlarged natures had become capable. (1904: 70) What Brooks discerned as an essential component of the preachers disposition has nowadays been widened to embrace all who claim to be faithful believers. Discipleship as lifelong learning is a concept in wide contemporary currency in the churches, and is discussed, for example, in documents such as the published strategies of the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church for training, detailed in the reports Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church (2003) and Shaping the Future: New patterns of training for lay and ordained (2006). The notion of Christian leaders needing to be exemplars in this ongoing commitment to learning and personal growth figures in much of the literature on congregations and pastoral ministry, such as Mead (1994), Baumohl (1984), Hawkins (1997), and Anderson (1997); albeit these and numerous other authors, make it plain that the goal of such action is the enhancement of learning in the whole church. In the preaching literatu re, allied perspectives are expressed in such concepts as local theology (Tisdale, 1997), conversational preaching (Rose, 1997), listening to or with sermon preparation (Van Harn, 2005), embodying the scriptures communally (Davis and Hays, 2003), and interactive preaching (Hunter, 2004). Through these and other mechanisms, Brooks call for continuous learning on the part of the preacher finds its contemporary expression in practices that aim to widen that learning to include the whole body of people who are party to the sermon and the preachers and their own wider ministry. As Anderson puts it, every act of ministry teaches something about God (1997: 8). That is a sentiment to which Brooks would have been sympathetic given his emphasis on the absolute core of preaching as the widest of concern for souls. Learning, in collective memory theory, is often associated with the changing of the meanings and understandings of memories, and the processes by which traditions are appropriated by individuals. As aspects of learning clearly related to relationships they echo contemporary concern in the church about whole body learning. In Brooks description of the preacher as pastor this analysis reaches very familiar territory, in that such a description probably remains the pre-eminent designation of the homiletician within the churches. Brooks thought on this matter was absolutely unequivocal: The preacher needs to be pastor, that he may preach to real men. The pastor must be preacher, that he may keep the dignity of his work alive. The preacher, who is not a pastor, grows remote. The pastor, who is not a preacher, grows petty. Never be content to let men truthfully say of you, He is a preacher, but no pastor; or, He is a pastor, but no preacher. Be both; for you cannot really be one unless you also are the other. (1904: 77) The conviction remains no less powerful more than a century after Brooks lectures: for example, Eric Devenport writing in 1986 could assert, without fear that his opinion would be controversial: Preaching and pastoral work go hand in hand. This is one of those truths that has to be proclaimed time after time, for unless it is heard, then most preaching will not only be dull but dead. (in Hunter, 2004: 145) Clearly, at different times and in different church structures, the nature of pastoral practice has been viewed in a variety of ways. Sometimes it has been mutual support in discipleship, and at other times psychotherapeutic intervention. In some circumstances it has been ad hoc care and conversation, and in others programmatic structures of community creation. Amongst these and many other activities, those who would preach have frequently seen such pastoral practice as a fundamental adjunct to the homiletic task. Although the influence of the problem centred preaching method of Henry Emerson Fosdick, mentioned above (section 2.5), has waned in recent decades, the notion that preaching must somehow relate to the felt life-concerns of those in the congregation is still the key to good practice for many preachers. Whether the emphasis is Tisdales (1997) preacher as the caretaker of local theology, Willimons (1979) or Longs (1989) straightforward emphasis on the role of pastor, Pasquare llos (2005) preaching as the development of communal wisdom, Buechners (1977) telling the truth in love, or Van Harns (2005) insistence on listening in preaching, the overarching perspective is that of pastoral care to individuals and groups. The tradition as collective memory must, in these circumstances, serve pastoral needs. Here the link to the presentist character of collective memory appears strong. 5.2.3 Preachings first purpose and the style appropriate to it. Returning to the issue of preaching as art. From Brooks paramount concern with personhood and themes that flow from it, this discussion now turns to two other aspects of his lectures that remain significant concerns in homiletic literature: style of language, and preachings first purpose. In his emphasis on preaching as witness, Brooks made a distinction that continues to figure prominently in homiletic texts to this day: namely, the difference between preaching about Christ and preaching Christ (1904: 20). Preachers, Brooks insisted, should announce Christianity as a message and proclaim Christ as a Saviour not-discuss Christianity as a problem (1904: 21). He asserted: Definers and defenders of the faith are always needed, but it is bad for a church when its ministers count it their true work to define and defend the faith rather than to preach the Gospel. Beware of the tendency to preach about Christianity, and try to preach Christ. (1904: 21) This distinction continues to be vigorously promoted, particularly amongst the New Homiletic advocates of an inductive sermon methodology. From the distinction there comes an emphasis in sermonic style on a demonstrably engaging, emotionally affective, and inclusivist presentation, rather than a detached, analytical or objective stance. Brooks would have undoubtedly concurred with David Bartletts worries about sermon style that appears to make sin more interesting than grace, and evil more lively than goodness (in Graves, 2004: 25). Bartlett suggests that sermons too often misdirect their hearers by putting active or abstract language and thoughts in the wrong places. He writes, For the most part we show evil and then tell about goodness. We show judgment and then talk about the doctrine of mercy (in Graves, 2004: 25). Yet again, Brooks lectures were extraordinary prescient of a concern that has become commonplace these many years later. Likewise, Brooks conviction that a sermon is essentially a tool and not an end in itself is also a perspective that continues to be vigorously debated (Brooks, 1904: 110). Unlike Browne (1958), Brooks was insistent that preaching is not an art form. He wrote: The definition and immediate purpose which a sermon has set before it makes it impossible to consider it as a work of art, and every attempt to consider it so works injury to the purpose for which the sermon was created. Many of the ineffective sermons that are made owe their failure to a blind and fruitless effort to produce something which shall be a work of art, conforming to some type or pattern which is not clearly understood but is supposed to be essential and eternal. (1904: 109) In many ways, Brownes advocacy of the sermon as art-form (1958: 76) was a reaction to those who had taken Brooks evident pragmatism and utilitarianism as regards technique and turned it into a bald instructionalism that claimed too much for itself and was simply tedious. That was not Brooks intention, however, as his aim was an absolute focus on the tumultuous eagerness of earnest purpose (1904: 110). His overriding concern was that sermons should engage and communicate in such a way as to affect and mark personalities at their most profound level. As such, his understanding of the nature of sermonic engagement serves the purposes of collective memory. His objection to preaching as an art-form was the tendency he saw for art to be an end in itself-over concerned with pure forms and the abstractions of principles (see, for example, pages 110 and 267 of the 1904 edition). These many years later, art operates, and is applied within immensely diverse environments wholly unknown when Brooks lectured: so his criticism is, perhaps, no longer apposite. On the other hand, how far and in what ways artistic expression relates to and uses tradition is a question rather more vexed now than in Brooks day. The one aspect of artistic endeavour Brooks was willing to concede was art in the sense of an awesome appreciation of the mysteriousness of life. This was something Brooks regarded as an essential component of the preachers outlook, and was the reason for his advocacy of the preacher as, at least in some measure, a poet (1904: 262). Preaching as art form brings to the forefront of homiletic awareness the sermons place in the imaginative construal of engaging gospel alternatives to commonplace understandings and outlooks. Collective memory theory suggests that affiliation to group identity is an essential element in the continuity of memory. What the emphasis on preaching as art form does is alert the preacher to the need to create in preaching that sense of engagement, creativity and exploration that aims beyond utilitarian instruction. Here, preaching is seen as genuinely performative. Like the repeated performances of a classic drama, a sermon hearer can become intensively engaged again and again with material that, although familiar, becomes in the engagement surprisingly new. Likewise the preacher as performer or artist, works with familiar texts in order to render then creatively new in a sermon. From both sides of the sermon event collective memory is supported via the performative interaction. The discussion of art related issues in contemporary homiletic literature largely supports this assessment. Morris, in his Raising the Dead: The Art of the preacher as Public Performer, makes performance the guiding principle of all homiletics and insists that preaching should delight and enrich in ways similar to other mediums (1996: 19). Gilmore, in his Preaching as Theatre (1996) shares the same concern with performance, and designates preaching as a dramatic event that happens. He writes: As long as preaching is seen as lecturing or teaching, then, in order for it to be effective, listeners have to go away and do something about it. If it is art, they dont. By the time it is over something has happened, or has failed to happen. This is what makes preaching as an art distinctive, more exciting and satisfying when it works, more depressing and worrying when it doesnt. (1996: 7) Other homileticians are a little more reserved and tend to use the idea of art or artistic endeavour as but one tool the preacher can employ. For example, in Allen (1998), the appreciation of works of art and artistic frames for sermons are advocated as ways to create spheres of perception i

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Importance of Money :: Great Gatsby Essays

   Gatsby’s Money  Ã‚      Three works Cited  Ã‚  Ã‚   Materialism started to become a main theme of literature in the modernist era. During this time the economy was good causing jazz to be popular, bootlegging common, and an affair meaning nothing (Gevaert). This negative view of money and the gross materialism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby serves to be a modern theme in the novel. Throughout the novel, the rich possess a sense of carelessness and believe that money yields happiness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the whole story, the rich have a sense of carelessness of money and material goods that are usually unobtainable by most. Prime examples of this carelessness are the huge parties that Gatsby throws; everybody who is anybody would attend: the party guests â€Å"[arrive] at twilight . . .† (Fitzgerald 111) and stay until daybreak, and â€Å"sometimes they [come] and [go] without having met Gatsby at all, [come] for the party with a simplicity of heart that [is] its own ticket of admission† (45). Gatsby puts enormous amounts of money into these parties, even though he does not enjoy them one bit. He, however, continues to have them because he believes happiness can be bought (101), that the glitz and glitter will ultimately bring Daisy to love him (Swilley). To Gatsby, he must continue to throw these parties. Gatsby is new money and he has to show off his money and prove to the world that he is rich (Karen). In addition t o his elaborate parties, he wears extravagant pink suits with gold ties and drives an eye-catching yellow car. All this he does in order to gain Daisy’s attention (Gatsbylvr). In contrast, the opposite is true for Tom. Karen says that Tom is old money and, therefore, does not have to show the world that he has money. Tom does not need Gatsby’s flashiness; his house is arranged to his liking and he seems to be more conventional -- Tom rides horses as opposed to driving a flashy car (Karen). The idea of money being able to bring happiness is another prevalent modernist theme found in The Great Gatsby. According to Sparknotes, Fitzgerald acts as the poster child for this idea. He, himself in his own life, believes this as well. He puts off marrying his wife until he has enough money to support her (SparkNotes). Fitzgerald’s delay to marry his wife and Gatsby’s quest to buy Daisy’s love are parallel (Gatsbylvr).

Describe an Experience That Influenced Your Career Choice

Having grown up in a country where the prevalence of the shadow economy is on par with the continual political problems due to the mismanagement by autocrats. Public administration has surrounded me for as long as I can remember. On graduating ,i went to possess insight into many issues such as the way people and businesses react to the development and management of government programs by public administrators. I had some practical experience working at a hospital in Nigeria with sometime spent in the accounting department, this enabled me gain a practical experience of how the laws/duties/decisions made by public administrators affects people/individuals in real life situations such as explaining why people in less developed countries are prepared to pay for healthcare with private hospitals rather than using the national institutions which usually have worse service and deplorable equipments mainly due to mismanagement, wrong fiscal policies and corruption. The issues of customer satisfaction and equity were studied first hand and when comparing with the UK system, one would only praise the NHS(National Health Service) for its equitable approach unlike many other countries were only those than can afford treatment get it. During my university years, I was a part of the committee through whom student members voiced their opinion in reviving the Osun State Student Association at Bowen university ,which had lost his finesse. I was appointed the Financial Secretary and was indeed a challenge, as we had to work hard as a team creating and implementing programs and reforms, managing and allocating our own time and finances to ensure success, I was also part of the team that assisted the students to get there bursary from the State Government, and trust me it wasn’t easy in the sense that we had to keep writing letters and going out of our way to ensure the students get paid because its part of their civil right. During my National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) as a member of the Sports Community Development Group. Having acquired the silver award after the torment of hiking over double figure mileage distances to raise funds for the homeless children in Enugu State of Nigeria, it has enabled me to be more organized and helped me develop my ability to make quick, accurate and appropriate decisions in peril. Currently I am an accountant and a Guardian counselor in a primary and nursery school in Nigeria which goes by the name Macro Nursery and Primary school, I assist the younger generations in making right,responsibe,reputable and reasonable decisions in life. Leadership is also an important quality at succeeding in most areas, hence my appointment as one of the prefects in my secondary school has definitely helped me develop as a young adult. These duties are very rewarding and will be vital skills in preparing for life after public administration, studying this course in your university will enable me further my interest in economic issues as well as fulfilling my life time ambition.

Business Feasibility Study†Seventh Heaven Café Essay

Seventh Heaven Cafe is not only a coffee shop, or rather a place for relaxation. It sells different kinds of coffee, desserts, books and flowers. Customers bring them back or just enjoy them in my shop. Besides, I am good at dealing with problems of Organizational Behavior. I also have great expertise in human psychology and marketing. Therefore, I have the abilities to operate this shop. Seventh Heaven Cafe targets at white collar community and some companies which need flowers to decorate the site of activities. Therefore, it is located at the street corner with elegant environment near transnational commercial corporations in Suzhou. Seventh Heaven has to confront or avoid a number of threats, especially some strong competitors, such as Starbucks, UBC Coffee and DIO Cafe. However my shop has powerful competitive advantages to face the challenges. Additionally, our market-oriented mission is â€Å"make people happy and relaxed in the Seventh Heaven Cafe by provide delicious coffee, warm fragrant memories and dreams from books. † The primary finance objectives are to get first-year sales revenue of 1 million yuan, and break even early at least achieve 3 million RMB in second year. After on track, shop scale and economic benefits will increase year by year. To achieve this goal, we should make sustaining efforts on marketing strategies, such as promotion strategy and price strategy. This new combination coffee shop will be successful and this business idea is worth pursuing. Section 1: Personal Skills, Qualities and Experience I have obtained an MBA degree from the Liverpool University five years ago. After that, I have worked in a local company for four years. Then I came back to my country and planned to do pioneering work. So I have some basic abilities and work experience to operate this coffee shop. I have learned many useful skills and valuable knowledge from university. Firstly, the Organizational Behavior Study covers three levels of analysis, but intertwined, such as individual, group formation and decisions making. So it is practical for me to do the business. Secondly, I was interested in the course of Marketing when I am a student. It has huge effect on my occupational career. However, these courses just are foundation. My work experience background is a critical element for later entrepreneurial career. Nevertheless, I still need some other outside help. About initial capital, it comes from my personal savings (1. 5 million RMB) and my parents’ investment (0. 5 million RMB). In addition, recruitment and selection of good employees is vital part of success. My mother was a senior accountant before, so she could help me manage finance matters. Besides, I also need a first-class barista and a pastry cook, a waitress and a waiter with good looking, as well as a professional purchaser. Section 2: The Business Idea and Market Assessment Product and service Before making decision to start business, I used questionnaire to get and analysis customers’ demand. So Seventh Heaven Cafe is not only a coffee shop, or rather a place for relaxation. It sells different kinds of coffee, desserts, books and flowers. Customers bring them back or just enjoy them in my shop. My coffee shop called Seventh Heaven, this name represents happy, pleasure and relaxed. I want to my customers get out of the pressure and tiredness, enjoy the release of soul and physical relaxation in Seventh Heaven. Relaxation can bring comfortable feeling to you and have benefits to your health. When you come in the Seventh Heaven, you will feel the music in the air washing your spirit and smile of waiters warming your heart. The flowers tinged the air with their light fragrance. At spare time, you could read a good book alone and drink a cup of delicious coffee, or talk with your good friends with some scrumptious snacks. Owning good books, intimate friends and a serene heart, that is a perfect lifestyle. This is something I want to provide to people, enjoy life, and live in the moment. Target market and customers One of our target markets is white collar employees with middle or high income. These people pay more attention on quality of life and have a good consumption level. Another is business customers, which need flowers to decorate the site of activities, parties, events or meetings. Competition However, there are some strong competitors in this market, especially Starbucks. It is the world’s largest coffee shop chain from America. Starbucks enjoyed a higher reputation and strong brand effect in China. There are about 31 Starbucks in Suzhou alone, but some problems are observed in the course of rapid extension. For instance, single and boring of the unchangeable products and service is a big weakness. To the contrary, Seventh Heaven Cafe provides a combination service and products to customers. It is a novel and creative form to attract people. Besides, high quality service and elegant environment are our powerful points of attraction. Sales and marketing strategy To gain more customers, the price of our products is slightly below the Starbucks. Internet advertising and posters are effective for publicity. Furthermore, we use push money and allowance to motivate my employee to increase sales. Critical risk factors Despite of these, some risks still exist, for example some people are reluctant to try something new, or we make losses at early stage. All of budgets are based on the business feasibility study, but there are so many unpredictable changes in the reality, the cash flow may be not enough. Moreover, the shortage and outflow of talent in related field are hidden trouble for the business.

GARFIELD Surname Meaning and Family History

GARFIELD Surname Meaning and Family History Garfield is a surname thought to have originated as a habitational name for someone from a lost or unidentified place, from  the Old English gar, meaning triangular land, and feld, meaning open country or field. Other possible origins of the Garfield name include the Saxon garwian, meaning to prepare, or the German and Dutch gar, meaning dressed, prepared or a field or place furnished for an army. Surname Origin: English Alternate Surname Spellings:  GARFELD, GARFEELD Where Is the Garfield Surname Most Common? According to  WorldNames PublicProfiler, Garfield is most commonly found in the United Kingdom, with a large number of individuals with the surname living in the West Midlands. In the United States, the Garfield surname is most common in Utah, followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Montana, Massachusetts and New Mexico. Forebears  identify the Garfield last name in England as being most common in Worcestershire (551st most common last name), followed by Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, and Warwickshire. In the United States, Garfield is most common in Utah, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Maine. Interestingly, the Garfield surname is also fairly common in Jamaica and Taiwan. Famous People with the GARFIELD  Surname James A. Garfield  - 20th president of the United StatesAndrew Garfield  -  American actorHenry Garfield  - birth name of American artist and musician Henry RollinsJason Garfield - juggler; founder of the World Juggling FederationRichard Garfield - creator of the game Magic: The GatheringEugene Garfield - American scientist Genealogy Resources for the Surname GARFIELD Meanings of Common English  SurnamesUncover the meaning of your English  last name with this free guide to the meanings and origins of common English surnames. Garfield  Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Garfield  family crest or coat of arms for the Garfield surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. GARFIELD  Family Genealogy ForumThis free message board is focused on descendants of Garfield  ancestors around the world. Search or browse the archives to find messages related to your Garfield ancestry, or join the group to post your own Garfield query. FamilySearch - GARFIELD  GenealogyExplore over 100,000  results from digitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Garfield surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. GARFIELD  Surname Mailing ListA free mailing list is available for researchers of the Garfield  surname and its variations includes subscription details and a searchable archive of past messages. GeneaNet - Garfield  RecordsGeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Garfield  surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. The Garfield  Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Garfield  surname from the website of Genealogy Today. Ancestry of James Garfield, 20th U.S. PresidentExplore the ancestry of President Garfield, including his ancestors, descendants, and famous kin. References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

How To Answer the Interview Question, “Why Are You Looking For a New Job”

How To Answer the Interview Question, â€Å"Why Are You Looking For a New Job† This question very often comes up in an interview setting- and always makes you a little nervous. It feels a bit like a trap. You want to answer honestly and say: â€Å"Because I need to eat† or â€Å"Because if I stay at my current job another five minutes I’ll go crazy.† But you’ll never get the job without finessing this moment as you must finesse the others in an interview. Here 5  strategies for how to answer.1. Play to your strengths.Find a way to pivot in your answer back to what you’re there to sell: yourself. Frame it in terms of your long-term career goals in such a way that allows you to draw emphasis to your particular skills and expertise.2. Make it about your hopes for the future.Make your answer compelling. Don’t let it just be about a paycheck. Emphasize your passion, your desire for challenges and growth. And be focused on the future, rather than dwelling in your past.3. Also make it about them.No matter what, try wrapping up your answer in such a way that shows your respect/admiration for the company. If you’re just a little bit obsessed with the company, that’s a great way to show your enthusiasm as well. And that you’ve done your homework!4. Be honest, but stay positive.If you’re looking because your current job just isn’t cutting it, find a way to frame that in a positive new light. Try focusing on your desire for new challenges, to learn or do more, rather than being held back by a crappy job.5. Turn the table.This only works if you have a good read on your interviewer. But if you can keep your tone professional-but-casual and pivot back to ask your interviewer whether he or she  might have made a similar transition during the course of their career, you could be opening the door to a very candid and easy conversation that might just frame you in the best light to get the job.

Body Image And Its Effects On Society

Media affects body image Body image is an idiosyncratic picture of one 's own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by observing the reactions of others. Whether it may be a magazine cover, commercial or the internet, the media 's false portrayal of perfection greatly impacts children and young adults. The media glorifies models and celebrities as figures of a higher standard, as icons of beauty and youth. Media features female models with tall, slender body types and male†¦ Body image has a large impact in society, and not only affects women but affects men as well. The ideal body image is often enforced by media and it affects how we view ourselves. Many individuals are unhappy with their own body and feel uncomfortable in their own skin due to misrepresentations of beautiy in the media. In the bodybuilding community, males are constantly dissatisfied with how they view themselves. They do not feel like they are strong, big, or manly enough and therefore try to change†¦ is media use and body image. Individuals spend hours using or watching media. I personally spend almost 3-4 hours on social media or watching media. With its growing influence media has the opportunity to influence individuals of all age groups. Whether it be with their political choices, or their aspirations in life. With its growing impact it is necessary to examine, does media affect body image? After reviewing articles, I can come to the conclusion that media affects body image more negatively†¦ The â€Å"Ideal† Body Type for Men and Women. Society has created expectations that seem unobtainable to people. For example, women are supposed to be curvy, but not too curvy, have a thigh gap, and a chest, but not too big of a chest. Men are supposed to have cut abs, bulging biceps, and chiseled features. As a result, culture’s body image expectations have had several effects on the modern men and women including but not limited to: body comparison, body shamming, eating disorders, depression†¦ this research, the researchers wanted to find out if body image self-discrepancy is really a mediator in the process of social comparison from the exposure to the thin-ideal body by the media, together with the bad effects of such comparison. The participants were exposed with advertisements that consist either with thin-ideal women or without thin women. The researchers found out that the exposure to thin-ideal advertisement induced women’s body dissatisfaction, dropped their self-esteem, produced†¦ eaten. Society needs to regulate advertising, images and videos that feature people with unique physiques edited to perfection in order to decrease the amount of eating disorders. The impact the media has on body image is huge. The media bombards society with images of men and women with perfect bodies, which affect people both mentally and physically. These photos of supermodels and actors are now accessible more than ever due to technology becoming a huge part of people’s everyday life. Society spends†¦ Introduction There has been a dramatic shift, within the last couple of decades, on how women perceive their body. Unfortunately this shift has been significantly negative in nature. Women in today’s society are more dissatisfied with their bodies than ever before. The main culprit, which has driven this downward trend, is mass media. Mass media is very much a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has increased global connectivity and has allowed for the perpetuation of information in a very fast†¦ hand is how does social media influence our behavior and is this positive or negative. One area of controversy is social media’s effect on body image. Our culture has set unrealistic standards of how people should look. This has left a precedent specifically for women and has adhered to the development of confidence. Body dysphoria arises from these standards set by society. Such influences have caused eating disorders because of the competition to be the skinniest. Models are sizes double zero and†¦ Media’s effect on Body Image Doesn’t everyone want to have a body like Jennifer Lopez, Mila Kunis or Emma Watson? These are attractions in today’s media, which have an impact on how we look at our body and view ourself. The topic I have chosen is about the effect of media on our body image. I have chosen this topic because it is very important to analyze the impact of media in our daily lives and whether that impact is positive or negative. With respect to research, media negatively impacts the way†¦ â€Å"The human body is the best work of art† –Jess C. Scott Nearly every person in America has something about themselves that they don’t like. Whether it’s their smile, their legs, or the way they look in a swimsuit. A person has no trouble overlooking what’s beautiful about them and solely focusing on their flaws. Body image issues have been around for centuries. Women have tried altering their bodies in order to become ‘beautiful’, and most of the time those procedures are in no way healthy. Many†¦

Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 103

Discussion - Assignment Example First, regression analysis uses data from past events and therefore may not be accurate if unaccounted event occurs. For instance, a natural catastrophe such as earthquake may stall all building constructions in a given area forcing customers to stop buying. If linear regression uses previous data where catastrophe was absent, then its outcome will be inaccurate. Such errors can be avoided by adding as many variables as feasibly possible to the regression model used (Montgomery, 2011). Duration in which regression data points were taken determines the accuracy of the regression results. More data points are more likely to yield more accurate results. For instance, monthly sales spanning about five years can provide accurate regression results of sales as opposed to quarterly sales of past one year. Lastly, regression modelling is only as accurate as the variables used (Seber et al. 2003). Too few variables may not give accurate predictions because they may not give accurate history. Too many variables may not give accurate prediction either because some of the events may not happen in future. To improve the results, more data points should be used in conjunction with a fair number of multiple

Public and Private Censorship Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Public and Private Censorship - Term Paper Example Rather, it is much more reasonable to assume that profit and market dominance will be the driving force. This brief editorial will seek to analyze the ways in which the media has recently come to be dominated by just a handful of players, what this means for journalistic integrity, and how this bodes for the future of democracy within the United States. Regardless of the individual branding that greets the reader, listener or viewer of the particular media outlet in question, the fact remains that Viacom, NBC Universal, Walt Disney, CBS Corporation, News Corp, and Time Warner ultimately are the owner and/or the fiduciary agent behind whatever firm is being represented (Taylor 1). Whereas just 20-30 years ago, the field of media firms could not be described without tracing a complicated tree of ownership back to about 40 distinct and separate firms, the field has been progressively narrowed as a mass of mergers have taken place. Just as with the banking industry, these mergers have co nsolidated power within the hands of but a few ultra-dominant market forces which have the power to mold and shape the way that Americans view the world and what particular items of interest are presented to them in any given instance. As such, the level of journalistic integrity that comes to be displayed is highly suspect as the goal and point of the controlling interests is to display their own point of view, gain further profit margins, and provide a powerful form of competition to their rivals. As can be noted from the direction that the news media has shifted within the past few years, the main drive is focused on sensationalism, high definition graphics, and other somewhat â€Å"cheap† ways of integrating with the audience (Morris 1). This can be seen as a means of compensation for the lack of journalistic expertise and excellence within the field. As a function of the fact that stories are not researched and fact-checked anywhere near the level that they used to be du ring the heyday of American journalism, poor quality and a litany of misprints and outright false information have been foisted upon the viewer, reader, and/or listener. Naturally, such a concentration of media power begs the question of to what degree the journalism is consumed is tainted by a high level of propaganda. One need look no further than the recent raucous with regards to the New York Times and the way that government â€Å"gatekeepers† give the final clearance for each and every quote that is attributed within the paper to understand the level to which a â€Å"free and impartial† media is merely a figment of the imagination. The scandal in question began when the Romney and Obama campaigns had ultimate access to the newspaper’s publications before they went to the presses (Michelson 1). The reason that these â€Å"handlers† were allowed to review the news before the rest of society did was given to ensure that the campaigns stayed â€Å"on m essage†. However, as the reader can quickly infer, the message that is being presented is only a doctored view of reality and is likely oftentimes not the truth that would otherwise be presented.  

Early Virginia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Early Virginia - Essay Example The English law at that moment did not protect the rights of the Africans, and they ended up being overworked and mistreated. Their hard work and high production rate formed the backbone of the successful and rigid economic status that prevails in the American continent. Although not only Africans who were victimized by slavery, they formed the greatest percentages of manual laborers since they were much stronger physically and were easily available. The labor shortage in America promoted slave trade, and the European powers were competing on the number of slaves. The same completion remains, but has been converted into economic and power competition. An estimation of over fifty million Africans were taken as slaves as early as the year 1800. Most of these slaves were separated from their families and ended up disappearing far away from their people (Zinn 27). Zinn says that slavery is the root of racism since the inferiority of Africans started secondary to slave trade (Zinn 29). The American economy at this period was controlled mainly by agriculture and the richest people were those doing agriculture. Most of this people later ventured into other businesses, which fostered the rapid economic growth of the American continent. The Americans were not concerned with the well-being of the slaves and they even killed the slaves with little work rate. They were inhuman and their only interest was limitless profits from their agriculture. The Africans, on the other hand, were not united due to their ethnic diversities and could not come together to aid themselves out of European slavery. The first slaves from the American continent went to Jamestown at around 1619 and they were used in agricultural firms. The area experienced faster agricultural growth and this led to other English settlers demanding for African slaves to work on their farms. With

Research Techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research Techniques - Essay Example The present study is to find out the causes for the lower membership applications when compared to the other golf clubs of the area, the overall perception of the club and to give recommendations on how to increase the membership applications of the club. The aim of selecting any business research method is to give most useful information to the key decision makers in a most practical and cost-effective way. After adopting qualitative research method, there should be quantitative approach. The ideal researcher uses the combination of methods. At first, the qualitative approach should be followed. Qualitative research: There are many methods to get the required information, the important things that should be kept in mind while gathering information are, the information should be practical, cost-effective, accurate, credible to the decision makers and the nature of the audience confirm to the methods. This is the primary phase of research. Quantitative research : After getting the required data qualitatively some conclusions are drawn from the data, the results are tested on a larger scale by taking statistical analysis. This is the quantitative research also termed the secondary phase of research. Types of research methods: there are many ways to collect a data qualitatively; they are Questionnaires, checklists and surveys: the aim of this method is to get the information quickly; the advantage is the identity of the respondent can be protected; lots of data can be collected. However, in this method clear feed back cannot be obtained. Interviews: the aim is to understand the individual's experiences and impressions, the advantages are in-depth information can be obtained; a relationship with the client can be established. This process can be time consuming, costly Documentation review: the aim of this method is to review how the programme operates, without interrupting it, it can be performed through memos, review of applications, finances etc, the advantages to this method are, and comprehensive and historical information can be obtained. The disadvantages are the process is time consumin