Individual project 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Individual project 3 - Essay Example ether a range of subjects that are pertinent to current global healthcare and fitness challenges especially when considered together with the need to reverse the rising incidences of lifestyle diseases. Individuals and societies around the globe should acknowledge the impact of diet on health and nutrition. It is common knowledge that a consistent pursuit of the right forms of diet can help bring down the incident of some of the lifestyle diseases among individuals, families, groups, and societies. Indeed, the rise in heart diseases, diabetes, some forms of cancer, obesity, and other life conditions correlated with the increase in poor diet practices across the globe (Shils, 2005). As such, it becomes necessary to consider the impact of nutrition within the understanding of the current trends and dietary practices and the consequences on human health. Most nutritionists will easily agree that the best way to maintain a healthy diet and cut down on the levels of cholesterol in the body is to reduce the daily intake of foods rich in cholesterol. The danger is that most people tend to ignore the value of restricting their diet to foods that are significantly lower in the levels of cholesterol. Many others lack access to the kind of knowledge that would help them avoid adverse health practices that are associated with high levels of cholesterol. However, basic categorizing of food into those that have high and cholesterol levels is one of the ways by which people can avoid the adverse impacts of cholesterol. Food substances such as meat pie, butter, cream, hard cheese, and biscuits contain high levels of saturated fat. Such foods have multiple adverse effects on health and fitness. Other foods such as salmon, mackerel, almond, sunflower, and corn have unsaturated cholesterol. A consistent pattern of feeding on this group of food can reduce the levels of cholesterol within days or weeks. Despite lack of thorough research on the impact of culture on general fitness,

Our freedom to make ethical choices is only an apparent freedom Essay Example for Free

Our freedom to make ethical choices is only an apparent freedom Essay Agent Smyth: Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe youre fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constrects of a feeble human intellect trying to desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You cant win. Its pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?! Neo: Because I choose to. In every person the most basic desire of all is to be free, being able to act at will, not under compulsion or restraint. As I democratic society, we like to think of ourselves of being 100% free, but we are not. In every choice we make there are compulsions and restraints inflicting on the choices we have ever made from the beginning. The older and more independent we appear to be the more of these constraints we are compelled with. These choices we make can be applied to morality. There are many ways in which our freedom, in reality, is limited. By law we are restricted to acts that systems of government deem acceptable. Social acceptance means the majority to act within a bracket of normality and within bounds of what is socially acceptable. If I wanted to go to school naked on every Friday I would socially and lawfully be unable to this. Therefore I am not free to express myself due to external laws forced upon me against my free will. However even though these laws are in place I still have the power to break them therefore making me free. Merovingian: Please Mon Cherie, I have told you, we are all victims of causality. I drank too much wine, I must take a piss. Cause, and effect. Au revoir. Causality also means that I a person can never truly become free. If I already know the consequences of an action then my choice has already confined. For example I would like to throw microwaves off motorway bridges but I know that this may cause innocent motorists to die therefore I dont. The mind with which we make our decisions has been influenced by a whole range of external factors. These must reduce our moral responsibility and hence be restricting of true freedom. Personal and psychological differences within people will provide them with different abilities and hence different freedoms and limitations. People can only act in the way that their personalities allow them, by causing them to react to situations in a specific way. But what if free will is non-existent and we are only convinced we have self-control because devices in fact control us beyond our own perception. In this case everything is pre determined and the choices we face are pre decided for us leaving us with the illusion that we have chosen ourselves and decided our own fate; exercised free will. Morpheus: Everything begins with choice. Merovingian: No, wrong. Choice is an illusion created between those with power, and those without Hard determinism, considers everything in the present to be directly caused by events that preceded them. Everything including the actions we take and the choices we make are caused directly by another event. Each human mind is the product of its experiences and in every situation will react according to what it has learnt, in a similar way to a computer that has been programmed. However this links back with responsibility, if a human was already pre destined to perform a certain task they should receive no praise for correctness in taking the action, as what they have done was done not out of free will, but because they were programmed, or already decided. The action says nothing about the moral worth of the person as it had an external cause, and was not done through free will and intention. The hard determinist view that everything is decided by a constant line of causes, and that humans are not free simply because every thing we supposedly decide is already caused and so determined, ultimately means that human free will is an illusion. Free will is something we feel we experience when making decisions and choosing but is really non-existent, the actions we partake in are already set and what we feel we decide is irrelevant to anything that actually happens. For example if I sat down in a room I would be free to step out of until I realised the door was locked. I am free to make this choice but when but my choice is irrelevant as I unable to do anything about it. Determinism removes this moral responsibility and so removes ethical decisions. However with freedom comes responsibility. Libertarianism presents the opposite idea that we are completely free therefore giving people total moral responsibility. The existence of human free will are largely based on the defined different between ones personality and ones moral self. While we have a sense of freedom, a sense deliberating over our options. Because of this, they would argue that universal causation is not necessarily relevant to human actions. They do not deny any influence to the human mind that could have an effect on the way in which one might act, but they claim that there is still a large aspect of freedom of choice involved. Oracle: Bingo! It is a pickle, no doubt about it. Bad news is theres no way if you can know whether Im really here to help you or not. So its really up to you. You just have to make up your own dam mind to either accept what Im going to tell you or reject it. Candy? Neo: Do you already know if Im going to take it? Oracle: Wouldnt be much of an Oracle if I didnt. Neo: But if you already know, how can I make a choice? Oracle: Because you didnt come here to make the choice, youve already made it. Youre here to understand why you made it. I thought youdve figured that out by now. Neo: Why are you here? Oracle: Same reason. I love candy. Libertarians views are idealistic they provides to us with the ultimate goal of being totally free. But if take this freedom then we should also be prepared to accept the responsibility that comes hand to hand with. For example if I allow my son to watch pornography involving a 15 year old and he turns out to be a paedophile than I would be totally to blame for these consequences. As with all workable theories finding the right balance is essential. Soft determinism is the third deterministic view and one where determinism and free will are completely compatible. It describes that we are morally responsible for our action although some are determined. Therefore the decisions we are free and able to make in our own minds count as the causes by which everything is made to occur. The midway position suggests that some of our actions are conditioned while others have a complex number of causes. For example there could be a number of reason why someone does not eat food, whether it be a diet, religious beliefs, famine or lack of money. Real freedom, in the question seems to suggest the freedom to take these fully conscious, and reasoned ethical decisions without relying a higher power. To conclude I believe that as human beings we are not free. Our behaviour and morals will always be determined social acceptance, laws, causality, and upbringing. However we have the power in ourselves to break down these constraints and become free, if a door is locked then break it down, if I want to throw microwaves of motorways then I will do so. When we become totally free this leads to anarchy and chaos. When it comes down to it is not a case of whether we are free or not it is whether we choose to be. Architect: Precisely. As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly is systemic, creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations. TV Screens: You cant control me! Im gonna smash you to f***ing bits, Im gonna show you, you cant make me do anything. Neo: Choice, the problem is choice

The Dual Nature of Characters in Shakespeares Othello :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Dual Nature of Characters in Othello  Ã‚   Many of the characters in Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello are duplicitous to the extent that how they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private. The perception of the public plays   a very important role in the play Othello. The character of Iago uses his public perception as an honest man to deceive Othello and other characters in the play. The perception of the public   of Othello and Cassio played an important role in the play. Iago’s public perception played a very key role in the play. Everyone thought of Iago as an honest man. â€Å" O, that’s an honest fellow â€Å" , â€Å"You advise me well ........ goodnight honest Iago â€Å" - â€Å"........that’s an honest fellow â€Å" â€Å" I know thou’rt full of love and honesty †. Iago has everyone fooled into believing that he is a noble honest man. Without this public perception of being honest he could never get Othello to believe that Desdemona was cheating on him. Othello would have probably killed him if he didn’t have the public perception of being an honest man. Iago knew that an important man like Othello couldn’t ignore the possibility that his wife was cheating on him. Nobody suspects that Iago is a deceitful man and would plot and plan to destroy Othello, Cassio and Desdemona in such a cunning way. Iago used his public perception, and the insecurities of Othello being a Moor, to allow him to manipulate Othello. Othello had a public perception of being a military man, and a courageous leader. â€Å"Valiant Othello, We must straight employ you...† â€Å"Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor.† Othello has been a soldier since he was seven years of age, and has experience on the battle field. Othello was chosen when they went to fight the Turkish fleet. Because of his public perception, it wasn’t hard for other people to accept the relationship between him and Desdemona. As Iago started putting ideas in Othello’s head about Cassio and Desdemona being together, another side of Othello’s personality started to surface. Because Iago had the public perception of being an honest man, Othello couldn’t ignore his insinuations about Desdemona. Othello wondered if Desdemona really loved him, or if she was just using him to rebel against her father. With Iago constantly putting these ideas in his head, Othello was convinced to kill his wife. Cassio was known to be a good soldier, and is proud of that public perception.

Cholera Outbreak

Haiti Jessica Ganzalez LHHS MUN 2011 WHO Cholera Outbreak Position Paper Background: Cholera is a disease that starts in the intestines, caused by the consumption of impure food or water with the bacteria Vibrio Cholera. The two most common indication of Cholera are diarrhea and excessive vomiting. Cholera is an extremely virulent disease and affects both children and adults and can kill within hours, if left untreated. During the 19th century, cholera spread across the world from its original reservoir in the Ganges delta in India.Six subsequent pandemics killed millions of people across all continents. The current (seventh) pandemic started in South Asia in 1961, and reached Africa in 1971 and the Americas in 1991. Cholera is now endemic in many countries. This disease is not a complete threat to countries that have regular access to clean water and hygiene. The more urbanized Asian nations such as China and India have developed medical treatments for this deadly disease, but the l ess developed countries have yet to find ways to be less influenced by this broad topic. UN Involvement:The World Health Organization (WHO) has greatly influenced the discontinue of Cholera by launching the WHO Global Task Force on Cholera Control in 1992 following the adoption of a resolution on cholera by the Forty-fourth World Health Assembly. The plan was to lessen death associated with the disease and to deal with the social and economic consequences of cholera. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and numerous other committees are also working on proposals and resolutions to decrease the number affected by this preventable virus with the help of the World Bank, grants given by nations, and NGOs.The United Nations have also donated thousands of medical kits and supplied countries with doctors to treat those affected. In addition the United Nations agencies and their partners today appealed for $164 million to support Haiti’s efforts to fight the deadly chol era outbreak that has already claimed several hundred lives in the small Caribbean nation. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 12,000 Haitians having been hospitalized so far, and over 800 people have died from the disease, which is spread by contaminated food and water.Country Policy/ Possible Solutions Haiti has been overwhelmed with famine and disease for years, but after the massive January earthquake hit, it put Haiti in even more misery then before. Recently they have had close to none clean drinking water and food. The cholera epidemic has killed 1,110 people and sickened 18,382 as of November of 2010, and has piled depression on the Caribbean country. The violence in Cap-Haitian prevented cholera patients from reaching hospitals and halted distribution of medicines and caused many injuries. Protesters blamed U.N. Nepalese peacekeepers for bringing the cholera to Haiti, a charge denied by the U. N. mission. Anti-U. N. riots in the Haitian city of Cap-Haitian have upset worldwide efforts to undertake a spreading cholera epidemic, increasing the risk of infection and death for tens of thousands of poor Haitians in the north. With the number of cases from the current cholera outbreak in Haiti in the thousands and the number of deaths in the hundreds and rising, it is only a matter of time before this treacherous disease spreads into further more severe matters.A possible solution would be to provide a large administration of sugar water, and an increase in the number of clinics and medical facilities that offer intravenous fluids. If my resolution is promoted this issue would slowly fade because oral rehydration salts and oral electrolyte solutions are a simple, cheap, and effective treatment for diarrhoea-related dehydration such as Cholera. I also believe that if there is enough evidence to guarantee widespread use of the oral cholera vaccine people in Haiti and other nations would become healthier, preven ting them from infectious diseases such as cholera.The World Bank, UN, and other organizations willing to participate in this mission would help fund the project. Not only would these solutions ensure health, but it would also bring contributor nation’s one-step closer to the millennium goals of Combating Diseases and Environmental sustainability. Before cholera spreads to the U. S. and around the world, we need to see this outbreak contained and controlled in Haiti. More than anything else, we need big infusion of sugar/electrolyte drinking water and intravenous salt solution to be sent to the countries suffering with diseases along with a program to vaccinate travelers and everyone living there. Sources http://www. reuters. com/article/2010/11/17/us-haiti-cholera-idUSTRE6AG3ZC20101117 http://www. globalsecurity. org/military/library/news/2010/11/mil-101112-unnews03. htm http://www. who. int/cholera/en/index. html http://medical-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/cholera htt p://www. who. int. mediacentre/factsheets/fs107/en/index. html http://www. undp. org/mdg/basics. shtml

How Robert Browning Portray’s Mood in ‘the Laboratory’.

‘The Laboratory’ Essay The subtitle to Robert Browning's poem â€Å"The Laboratory†, â€Å"Ancien Regime†, tells us that it is set in France before the revolution, when the act of women poisoning love rivals was very common. The poem is a dramatic monologue. The narrator appears to be a woman, a fact which is not apparent in the opening stanza, but becomes so as the poem develops. In the first stanza, the narrator is putting on a mask and watching the person in the laboratory through a haze of smoke: ‘thro' these faint smokes curling whitely'.She shows her naivety whilst putting on the mask, as she thinks she is protecting herself, and doesn’t think it can harm her. This shows us that she doesn’t think of the consequences of her actions. The narrator refers to the laboratory as ‘this devil's-smithy', which is the first sign that something sinister is going on. The final line of this stanza leaves us in no doubt of this, as the woma n asks, ‘Which is the poison to poison her, prithee? ‘ The repetition of ‘poison' emphasises its importance.The opening phrase of the second stanza, ‘He is with her,' suggests that the narrator has asked for poison to be concocted because she is jealous. It would seem that her lover has deserted her for another woman. She says that they think she is crying and has gone to pray in ‘the drear / Empty church'. The couple, meanwhile, are making fun of her, stressed by the repetition of ‘laugh' in line 7. The stanza closes with the brief phrase ‘I am here', emphasising the setting of the laboratory which is in such sharp contrast to the church.The phrase ‘Grind away' at the start of the third stanza shows the woman's eagerness for the chemist to make the poison. Browning brings the description alive by using alliteration in the phrases ‘moisten and mash' and ‘Pound at thy powder'. The narrator is not in a hurry and says she woul d rather watch the concocting of the poison than be dancing at the King's court. In the fourth stanza the narrator comments on the ingredients of the poison.The chemist is mixing it with a pestle and mortar, and the woman describes the gum from a tree as ‘gold oozings', giving the impression that it is both beautiful and valuable. She then looks at a blue liquid in a ‘soft phial', finding the colour ‘exquisite'. She imagines that it will taste sweet because of its beautiful appearance and is surprised that it is a poison. Stanza five begins with the narrator wishing she possessed all the ingredients, which she refers to as ‘treasures'. Browning uses ersonification to describe them as ‘a wild crowd', and the woman considers them as ‘pleasures', a sinister attitude to poisonous substances. The use of the adjective ‘invisible' means that just a tiny amount would be required. The narrator delights in the thought of being able to carry ‘pur e death' in any one of a list of small accessories, such as an earring or a fan-mount. In the sixth stanza the narrator turns her thoughts to how easy it will be at court to give ‘a mere lozenge', like a sweet, that will kill a woman in just half an hour.She names two women in this stanza, Pauline and Elise, and it is not clear if one of them is the current target of her jealousy and desire to murder. She delights at the thought of Elise dying, and Browning uses enjambment to create the list ‘her head / And her breast and her arms and her hands', perhaps because she is jealous of Elise's beauty. The seventh stanza opens with the sudden exclamation ‘Quick! ‘ and the narrator is now excited as the poison is ready. She then reveals her disappointment, however, as its colour is ‘grim', unlike the blue liquid in the phial.She hoped that it would make her intended victim's drink look so appetising that she would be encouraged to drink it. In the eighth stanza she is concerned about how tiny the amount of poison is: ‘What a drop! ‘ She says that the other woman is considerably bigger than her, and thinks that she ‘ensnared' or caught the man in her trap because of her size. The narrator is not convinced that the drop of poison will be fatal: ‘this never will free / The soul from those masculine eyes'. It will not be enough to stop the victim's pulse, which the narrator describes as ‘magnificent'.In the ninth stanza the narrator recounts, in lines using enjambment, how she had gazed at the other woman the previous evening when her ex-lover was with whispering to her. She had hoped that by staring at her she ‘would fall shrivelled'. This obviously did not happen, but the narrator knows that the poison will do its work. Stanza ten has slightly shorter lines than the others, and the narrator addresses the chemist directly. She knows that the poison will act quickly, but she does not want her victim to have an easy death: ‘Not that I bid you spare her the pain'.Browning uses alliteration in a cluster of three to describe how the narrator wants the other woman to suffer the effects of the poison, in the phrase ‘Brand, burn up, bite'. The stanza ends with the narrator commenting that her ex-lover will always have the memory of the pain on the dying woman's face, and she appears to relish this thought. The narrator asks the chemist if the poison is ready at the start of the eleventh stanza. She asks him to remove her mask and not to be ‘morose', or gloomy.The poison will be lethal for her victim, and she does not want the mask to stop her having a good look at it. She describes it with the alliterative phrase ‘a delicate droplet', and alliteration appears again as she comments ‘my whole fortune's fee! ‘ meaning that it has cost her everything she owns. In the closing line of the stanza, she wonders if she herself can be harmed by the poison, considerin g the effect it will have on her victim. The twelfth and final stanza begins with the narrator once again showing how much the poison is costing her.She tells the chemist ‘Now take all my jewels, gorge gold to your fill', and the alliteration in the phrase ‘gorge gold' adds emphasis. She shows her gratitude by telling the chemist, whom she addresses as ‘old man', that he may kiss her on her lips if he would like to. She asks him, however, to ‘brush this dust off' her, referring to traces of poison, as she is afraid it will harm her too: ‘lest horror it brings'. The poem ends as she proclaims that she will ‘dance at the King's! ‘ a triumphant announcement.Whether or not her victim dies from ingesting the poison, we do not know, but she shows no remorse and is obviously determined to go through with her murderous plan. Browning has given the lines of poetry an upbeat, fast-paced rhythm that convey the woman's excitement at the idea of poisonin g her victim. Browning has created a character who is totally ruthless and eaten up by jealousy, determined to carry out an act of revenge that will prove fatal to another woman, like Lady Macbeth’s ruthless ambition to become queen, despite the fact that she has to kill people to get to it.

Triage essays

Triage essays Mark was looking for himself, still trying to find his way back from the dead. How does Mark learn to love with the pain of the past? Before his breakdown war is merely a career opportunity for Mark. He moves from one trouble spot to another to make a living, not because he has any commitment to a cause. Marks mental breakdown is caused by a result of witnessing too many wars, his physical and mental injuries from Kurdistan, Talzanis triage process, his amnesia of Colins fate and too many needless deaths. His eventual acceptance that scars only partially heal forms the narrative of the novel. Mark is forced to embark upon a journey to self knowledge and spiritual awareness. Mark a sensitive young man, his father recalls that he was different from other children: ...you were the most sensitive. Very inquisitive, too (p. 131). While other children had no awareness of the outside world, Mark reacted sensitively to news items. But after nine years of exposure to war violence, he has certain arrogance about how unaffected he is. Joaquin plays a major role in Marks voyage forgiving and forgetting the pain of the past. By listening carefully to Marks accounts of his war experiences, Joaquin is able to restore Marks memory of Colins death. But this is not the end of Marks trauma. It is only at this point that the journey towards self-knowledge can begin and there are times in Spain when we doubt if Mark can ever accept the guilt that he feels for allowing Colin to die. Joaquin presents the confronting view that for a reason, or lack of; war is inevitable. It is through Joaquins experience of war trauma that Scott Anderson ties together the events of modern wars that Mark is involved in and allows Mark to discover he is not alone. But unlike everyone else Joaquin does not offer Mark that promise, he believes Mark belongs to an age where ...

Global Financing and Exchange Rate Mechanisms essays

Global Financing and Exchange Rate Mechanisms essays The international foreign exchange market is considered to be the largest world wide market having an estimated currency trade of $1.9 trillion per day. Such trading on an average per annum is estimated to constitute about ten times the global GDP traded. The share of foreign exchange necessitated for international trade in goods and services only estimated to be a fraction of $9 trillion dollar per annum while the exchange rate speculation contributes towards 80 percent of the global currency market. (Currency Transaction Taxes) The growth in communication and information technology has evolved a radical enhancement in the cross-border financial flows as well as within the nations. The recent growth in the technology based developments have been so enhanced that the governments had practically no alternative but to resort to deregulation and liberalization of internal credit and financial markets. The global financial markets have practically exhibited much efficient than they had ever earlier. The developments in communications and information technology and the emergence of new instruments and risk management strategies enabled by them gave rise to wider growth of financial and non-financial firms presently felt essential for effective management of financial risks. The vast potentialities of new financial products to fetch extensive profits amidst they huge proliferation caters to the growing effectiveness of financial markets in smoothing the flow of trade and direct investment. (Greenspan, 1997) Complex and derivative financial instruments in one form or another are being devised to take the benefits in communications and information technology. However, the central banks of nations already have been burdened with the responsibilities of financial market stability, have presently confront the new challenges exerted by such new technologies and new instruments, necessitating the acute need for a global financial system. Such...

States With Highest Teenage Pregnancy and Birth Rates

States With Highest Teenage Pregnancy and Birth Rates While the teen pregnancy rate has been declining overall over the past two decades, rates of teen pregnancy and birth can vary wildly from state to state within the United States. However, there seems to be a connection between ​sex education (or the lack thereof) and the rates of teen pregnancy and parenthood. The Data A recent report by the Guttmacher Institute compiled teenage  pregnancy statistics in the United States gathered state by state in 2010. Based on available data, below are listings of states ranked by pregnancy and birth rates. States with the high rates of pregnancy among women age 15–19  in ranked order: New Mexico  ArkansasMississippi  OklahomaTexas  Louisiana In 2013, New Mexico had the highest teenage pregnancy rate (62 per 1,000 women). The next highest rates were in Arkansas (59), Mississippi (58), Oklahoma (58), Texas (58) and Louisiana (54). The lowest rates were in New Hampshire (22), Massachusetts (24), Minnesota (26), Utah (28), Vermont (28) and Wisconsin (28). States ranked by rates of live births among women age 15–19:   New MexicoArkansas  OklahomaMississippiTexas  West Virginia   In 2013, the teenage birth rate  was highest in New Mexico, Arkansas, and Oklahoma (43 per 1,000 women), and the next highest rates were in Mississippi (42), Texas (41) and West Virginia (40). The lowest rates were in Massachusetts (12), Connecticut (13), New Hampshire (13), Vermont (14) and New Jersey (15). What Does This Data Mean? For one, there seems to be an ironic correlation between states with conservative politics around sex education and contraception and high rates of teen pregnancy and birth. Some research suggests that U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates  of teenagers giving birth.  The relationship could be because communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception  ...  If that same culture isnt successfully discouraging  teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise. Furthermore, teen pregnancy and birth rates are often higher in rural areas rather than more urban areas. Think Progress  reports: While teens across the country have largely been having less sex and using more contraception, teens in rural areas have actually been having more sex and using birth control less frequently. It’s not clear why that’s the case, but it could partly be because teens in rural areas still lack access to a range of comprehensive contraceptive services. There just aren’t as many sexual health resources in rural counties, where teens may have to travel farther to the nearest women’s health clinic. And deeply rooted attitudes about sex- including school districts that continue to cling to  abstinence-only health curricula  that don’t give teens enough information about methods to prevent pregnancy- may also play a role. Urban school districts, particularly in  New York City, have made significant advances in expanding teens’ access to sexual education and resources, but there often aren’t similar pushes in rural places. Ultimately, the data underscore that it is not simply because teens are engaging in risky behaviors, such as having unprotected sex. They are also engaging in sexual activity while being un- or under-informed and while lacking access to contraception and family planning services.   Consequences of Teen Parenthood Having a child young often incites problematic life outcomes for teen mothers.  For example, just  40% of women who have a child before age 20  finish high school. Because many  teen mothers drop out of school to parent full-time, support around their education is crucial. While supportive social infrastructure to aid young parents is key, it is often missing, particularly in states with large percentages of teen pregnancies. One small way to help is for communities to start a  Babysitters Club  so they young mothers can take GED classes and continue their educations.   As the  National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy  argues by preventing teen and unplanned pregnancy, we can significantly improve other serious social problems including poverty (especially child poverty), child abuse and neglect, father-absence, low birth weight, school failure, and poor preparation for the workforce.  However, until we tackle the large infrastructural and cultural issues around teen parenthood, including access to family planning resources, the issue seems unlikely to go away anytime soon.   Source: Kost K, Maddow-Zimet, I and Arpaia, A. Pregnancies. Births and Abortions Among Adolescents and Young Women in the United States, 2013: National and State Trends by Age, Race, and Ethnicity. New York: Guttmacher Institute. 2017.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Summary - Essay Example Ordinarily, the aim of the justice system is to curb crime. For youth offenders, the phrase nip at the bud is more appropriate. However, when these youth offenders go through adult courts and end up in adult prisons the result does not reflect curbing crime. Schiraldi and Ziedenberg report that minors tried in the adult courts tend to regress back to crime compared to those tried by juvenile courts. Studies also show that; all states that allow state prosecutors the discretion to send youth to adult court have higher juvenile crime rates than those that do not. For instance, Florida’s juvenile crime rate is 48% higher than the national average (Hickey, 2012). This crime rates are high because the process of rehabilitation as reported by Schiraldi and Ziedenberg is not adequate. Studies further show that youth sent to juvenile facilities felt that the experience mitigated their onset of criminal life. This is because, in juvenile facilities, the youth offenders feel that they c an change, and this eases rehabilitation. Also, they viewed the facilities personal as understanding which helped them change their attitudes. On the other hand, youths sent to adult prison reported learning more negative behavior such as how to commit new, more aggressive crimes. In such a scenario, one can conclusively say that prison cultivates ground for future crimes. Secondly, the adult prison personal was not as understanding, and they make inmates feel doomed to a life in prison (Hickey, 2012). In addition to these systemic shortcomings of prisons, there are other dangers that the youth experience while in prison. One of the most common dangers is prison rape. Because of their vulnerable state, youth convicts are subject to sexual abuse by older convicts and even the prison personnel. This sexual abuse leads to psychological trauma and self loathing which is not a favorable environment for positive change. The young offenders also face risks such as attacks with weapons that cause injury or death. The result of the attacks is that the individual becomes aggressive and, thereby, resistant to change. The frustrations the youth experience in prison at such a tender age lead to despair. As such, the suicide rate of youths in prison is 7.7 % higher than in juvenile detention centers (Hickey, 2012). Granted, there are crimes that are gruesome and the prosecution got no choice rather than to refer them to adult courts. However, the studies reported by Schiraldi and Ziedenberg indicate that the crimes sent to adult court are so minor they qualify to be misdemeanors. Most of the suspects have no priors, do not commit violence and acknowledge their wrong doings. An excellent example is the case against Anthony Laster, in Florida. Anthony went through wrenching court proceedings for a one time non violent crime because the prosecution referred him to an adult court. Critiques argue that in other states, his issue was a Principals office matter and not even a juve nile offence (Hickey, 2012). As such, utilizing adult justice system on a delinquent in most instances is like shooting a mosquito with a shot gun! Ryder (2011) views juvenile delinquency as a social problem. He argues that, in the wake of the 21st century, parents and the community want to contribute to the rehabilitation of the

Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion Essay

Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion - Essay Example It allows the user to input various possible scenarios to arrive at the best possible solution for each particular situation. Decision Lab allows for the complex computation of figures and further allows for organization of data into meaningful tables and charts. Several other possible applications include: entering multiple sides of an issue or points of view for a particular situation to arrive at best case outcomes; to input data relative to assumptions or hypotheses to understand needed actions and guidelines; input data to determine the most sensible steps to take; and to perform extensive statistical data manipulation with relative ease. Visual Decision recommends the product for a wide range of applications including strategic planning, financial analysis and credit analysis. The software was designed for use with Windows which has universal appeal and application potential since it can customized for multi use integration. Additionally, the software itself is not cumbersome to use and was designed in similar fashion as MS Excel which is widely used. This reduces the time to necessary to learn new software application. Decision lab is based on the PROMETHEE and GAIA methodology.

Material Durability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Material Durability - Essay Example The anode presents the species where corrosion takes place and a point from which electric current originates, whereas the cathode is the species to which the electric current flows without succumbing to corrosion. Electrolytes act as the current conduction media and include water, concrete among many others (Corrosion Doctors n.d., para.2). The metallic path is the means of connection that enables current flow between the anode and cathode thereby resulting in the completion of the circuit. In the general condition around the embedded steel cannot corrode due to an oxide layer, making it inactive and the concrete provides enough cover against corrosion. However, concrete cover suffers compromise under certain circumstances, which break down the surface oxide layer to expose the steel to corrosion forces. When it begins, the four corrosion elements activate and the structure falls to risks of weakness occasioned by wearing out of metal. Firstly, when the structure’s location comes to direct contact with salty moisture such as is often the case near seawater, the environment acts as a catalyst and accelerates corrosion. Salt is composed of sodium chloride and the contact of chloride ions with the steel results in corrosion. Coastal regions have a good number of reinforced concrete structures, which are in a constant threat of exposure to the moisture, through directly contact either with seawater or through humidity. Secondly, the reduction of the alkaline condition of the concrete around the steel creates the perfect condition for corrosion and pitting (Cadman 2012, para.1). The commonest route for this reduction of alkaline condition is carbonation of concrete, resulting in a neutral condition that supports corrosion. When compared to the impact of chloride environment on causation of corrosion, carbonation has a lower damage to the integrity

Variables that Affected Voter Turnout Rates in the 2012 Presidential Research Paper

Variables that Affected Voter Turnout Rates in the 2012 Presidential Elections In the United States - Research Paper Example Did various demographic variables affect the voter turnout during the 2012 presidential elections of the United States? The 2012 presidential elections voter turnout rate was lower compared to the previous 2008 elections, as shown in the diagram below. According to many scholars and academicians, various demographic factors were responsible for the decreased voter turnout. This research, therefore, seeks to provide a concrete answer or response to this question, putting into consideration various demographic variables associated with elections and voter turnout rates. At this juncture, it is worth noting that the actual voter turnout was 66.65%, a figure that is arrived at after comparing the 129,067,662 individuals who voted out of the 193,653,908 registered voters (I.D.E.A 1). A number of scholars and academicians alike have attributed various factors, both demographic and demographic, to the decreased voter turnout rate in the year 2012. In his article, â€Å"why is turnout so low in United States elections†, Eric black has considered two major non-demographic factors. Black attributes the low turnout rates to the legal requirement of voter registration. According to him, many people are unable to vote simply because they do not like the cumbersome and complex procedure of voter registration. The other factor he considers is the voluntary voting, which allows people the liberty to choose whether to vote or not. The United States citizens are not compelled to exercise their civic and political right of voting, and therefore the voter turnout rates will always remain low. The Institute of Democracy and Electorate Assistance (IDEA) has also conducted a research and compiled data regarding the same issue.

Visit to the Museum of Modern Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Visit to the Museum of Modern Art - Essay Example The essay "Visit to the Museum of Modern Art" analyzes visit to Museum of Modern Art. The museum’s archive has a restaurant and relevant materials of explaining modern art. â€Å"The Museum of Modern Art† was an idea developed by â€Å"Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie Bliss and Mary Quinn† in 1928. At first, the museum was on the twelfth floor of Heckscher structure in Manhattan in a six-roomed gallery, and within a period of ten years, it had moved to three dissimilar locations. At first, Abby’s husband was against the idea of opening up MoMA hence refusing to offer funds to support the artwork, thus forcing the initiators to seek funds from other sources. By 1935, the museum had various artworks from different artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, which promoted it, turning it to be a success. During 1940, the museum become famous internationally after Picasso held a concert with the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1939, Nelson Rockefeller was the museumâ€℠¢s president who highly participated in the investigation and foundation of publicity, acquisition and its expansion. In 1948, David Rockefeller became the new leader of the museum. In 1997, an architect called Yoshio Taniguchi executed and designed the current museum, which re-opened in 2004. Up to date, the museum is very famous around the globe enticing many visitorsevery year hence boosting the country’s economy. It has both countrywide and global programs that oblige the public by offering them with loans, video libraries and circulating films. among others (Umland 42). Globally, many people value The Museum of Modern Art because it has rich and many assortments of modern art works representing a comprehensive and panoramic modern museum. People consider it to entail the most current Western masterpieces Worldwide. It contains over 150,000 individual art performances for various artists Worldwide. It also contains 22, 000 films together with 4 million film stills. In par ticular, the museum contains very important and famous works; for example, â€Å"the Starry Night performed by Vincent Van Gogh, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, The Dance by Henri Matisse and Love Song by Giorgio De Chirico† (Umland 47). In addition, the museum is prominent of European and American performers such as Georges Braque, Edward Hopper, David Smith and Jackson Pollock among others. The museum is famous for having the best art photography Worldwide, which were designed by Edward Steichen and John Szarkowski. They also have a good collection of movies such as the Citizen Kane and Vertigo designed under the name of â€Å"Museum of Modern Art Department of Film† (Umland 47). The museum has the architecture and design department formed in 1932 as the World’s first department of architecture and design. It contains over 28,000 architectural and design works, which includes the drawings together with a photograph. It contains the following perman ent collections, 150, 000 paintings, monuments, sketches, designs, photographs, architectural models and other design objects. It has more than 22, 000 films, videos, film stills, scripts, historical documents and scripts among others. It has a library that contains artist books and periodicals, its archives have over 2, 500 historical documents and photographs (Umland 51). I have visited different museums, but I found MoMA to be a very high-class museum because it has modern art exhibits worth paying a visit. The museum

Amazon Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Amazon - Research Paper Example Since its inception, the company has witnessed significant growth to become a member of Fortune 100 Company in the US. It specialises in selling a variety of goods and services online. 1.1 Mission and strategy of Amazon According to its official website, the company’s mission is: â€Å"to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.† The company uses the strategy of selling a variety of products online and it targets customers from all corners of the globe. 1.2 Products or services of the organization Amazon.com offers millions of unique new, refurbished, and used items in categories such as books; movies; music & games; digital downloads; electronics & computers; home & garden; toys; kids & baby; grocery; apparel; shoes & jewelry; health & beauty; sports & outdoor; and tools, auto & industrial (Amazon, 2013). The company has also incorporated thousands of sellers and software developers which use its trademark across the globe. 1.3 SWOT analysis â€Å"A SWOT analysis is used to identify internal strengths and weaknesses of a business and external opportunities and threats facing it,† (Strydom J. p 31). This section outlines these environmental factors facing Amazon. Organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses Strengths Regarded as the world’s best online retailer of various products Technological innovation has driven the growth of Amazon.com to offer a wide range of products to the customers conveniently and at lower prices. It operates international retail websites, and worldwide network designed to fulfil the needs of the customers across the globe Amazon is comprised of teams that work across the world on behalf the customers and it provides 24/7 support to the consumers. Weaknesses The company is mainly present in developed parts of the world where some developing countri es are not fully covered The payment methods used by Amazon are not compatible with other countries’ banking sectors Organization’s external environmental factors Opportunities The company has opportunities to partner with different retailers which will help it to increase the revenue it generates. New information and communication technology is continuing to develop hence the company is poised for continual growth. Threats Online retailing is now characterised by competition since a wide range of organizations have also adopted this strategy which is very convenient. 1.4 Staffing in terms of employee categories Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and it is committed to staff a diverse workforce on the basis of a barrier-free employment process. The company employs about 88  400 people around the world and it has offices fulfilment centers, customer service centers, data centers, and software development centers around the globe (Amazon, 2013). The company is gui ded by the provisions of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans'

Visit to the Museum of Modern Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Visit to the Museum of Modern Art - Essay Example The essay "Visit to the Museum of Modern Art" analyzes visit to Museum of Modern Art. The museum’s archive has a restaurant and relevant materials of explaining modern art. â€Å"The Museum of Modern Art† was an idea developed by â€Å"Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie Bliss and Mary Quinn† in 1928. At first, the museum was on the twelfth floor of Heckscher structure in Manhattan in a six-roomed gallery, and within a period of ten years, it had moved to three dissimilar locations. At first, Abby’s husband was against the idea of opening up MoMA hence refusing to offer funds to support the artwork, thus forcing the initiators to seek funds from other sources. By 1935, the museum had various artworks from different artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, which promoted it, turning it to be a success. During 1940, the museum become famous internationally after Picasso held a concert with the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1939, Nelson Rockefeller was the museumâ€℠¢s president who highly participated in the investigation and foundation of publicity, acquisition and its expansion. In 1948, David Rockefeller became the new leader of the museum. In 1997, an architect called Yoshio Taniguchi executed and designed the current museum, which re-opened in 2004. Up to date, the museum is very famous around the globe enticing many visitorsevery year hence boosting the country’s economy. It has both countrywide and global programs that oblige the public by offering them with loans, video libraries and circulating films. among others (Umland 42). Globally, many people value The Museum of Modern Art because it has rich and many assortments of modern art works representing a comprehensive and panoramic modern museum. People consider it to entail the most current Western masterpieces Worldwide. It contains over 150,000 individual art performances for various artists Worldwide. It also contains 22, 000 films together with 4 million film stills. In par ticular, the museum contains very important and famous works; for example, â€Å"the Starry Night performed by Vincent Van Gogh, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, The Dance by Henri Matisse and Love Song by Giorgio De Chirico† (Umland 47). In addition, the museum is prominent of European and American performers such as Georges Braque, Edward Hopper, David Smith and Jackson Pollock among others. The museum is famous for having the best art photography Worldwide, which were designed by Edward Steichen and John Szarkowski. They also have a good collection of movies such as the Citizen Kane and Vertigo designed under the name of â€Å"Museum of Modern Art Department of Film† (Umland 47). The museum has the architecture and design department formed in 1932 as the World’s first department of architecture and design. It contains over 28,000 architectural and design works, which includes the drawings together with a photograph. It contains the following perman ent collections, 150, 000 paintings, monuments, sketches, designs, photographs, architectural models and other design objects. It has more than 22, 000 films, videos, film stills, scripts, historical documents and scripts among others. It has a library that contains artist books and periodicals, its archives have over 2, 500 historical documents and photographs (Umland 51). I have visited different museums, but I found MoMA to be a very high-class museum because it has modern art exhibits worth paying a visit. The museum

Econ308 Final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Econ308 Final paper - Essay Example n not only were the methodological analytic methods altered, but what was analyzed shifted from a concern with examination of the holistic system, as evidenced in theories of production, labor theory of value, and capitalist accumulation, to theories that were primarily concerned with the rational choices of individuals. While neoclassical economic theorists presented their theoretical models as a progression on the deficiencies of the classical model, the extent to which the neoclassical model is a progression on the flawed classical model is debatable. Although there are clear methodological differences dividing the classical and neoclassical approaches, a convincing argument could be made that the neoclassical model merely abandons the concerns of classical economics for an approach more suited to quantitative analytics. In investigating the extent that neoclassical economics can be deemed a progression on the classical model, this essay examines the trajectory of the classical and the neoclassical economic models, considers the extent to which their theoretical concerns overlap, and finally investigates the extent to which the neoclassical model can be termed a true progression on the classical model, or if the two model constitute separate approaches. There are a number of differences and similarities in the issues that classical and neoclassical economics address. Researchers locate the major distinguishing factors in the area of methodology, value theory, and economic analysis. In classical economics economists ask a number of central questions; these issues include the nature of economic growth, and how is wealth distributed between the forms of wages, rent and profit. In investigator these concerns classical economists approach the issues from a social science perspective. They emphasized how goods are accumulated and how surplus accumulation is implemented; as a result classical economists from Adam Smith to Karl Marx were primary concerned with the

Company Introduction, Market Segmentation, and Product Positioning Essay Example for Free

Company Introduction, Market Segmentation, and Product Positioning Essay The key to successful product implementation in today’s national enterprise system is the effective marketing of a new product with the company’s line of existing products. As stated by Lacobucci (2012), marketing is defined as an exchange between a company and its customers. The customer wants something from the company or firm and vice versa. In previous times, a company would manufacture a product they thought the customer would want or need. The customer purchased that product because of a pending need, which basically meant that marketing used to be product oriented. However, marketing today is more that an advertisement for goods and services in an attempt to attract new business. We live in a customer orientated and empowered marketing environment. We realize the importance and ramifications of having an exchange with our customers and developing a relationship with them. It is this exchange of information between our company and our existing as well as future customers that secures our position in our target market. Our company is a regional tool distributor located in the northeastern section of the United States. Our customer base consists of several major retailers, nationally known in the retail and wholesale tool industry. We used the brand label Blue Steel Tools for marketing and distribution of our products to discuss the implementation of an effective plan to market a new product line, the Illuminated Power Wrench. This paper will analyze market, identify our market segment for sales distribution and discuss the reasoning for the segment. Discussing the target market and why the targeted customers were specifically selected. We will do the SWOT analysis; describe the unique market position and the expected service provided in meeting the needs of the target audience. 1. Identify the marketing segment for the product and provide a rationale for this segment. The definition of a market segment as stated by Lacobucci (2012) is a group of customers that shares similar inclinations towards our brand. To define market segment further for our needs, it is an identifiable group of individuals, professionals or organizations that share one or more characteristics or needs in an otherwise homogenous market. In our case, our product will have a very wide market of consumers and small business owners and employees. Therefore we will need to reduce the market segments to larger chunks. Market segments generally respond in a predictable manner to a marketing or promotion offer. The market segment for the new product will vary widely due to the versatility of our product usage. Our main segment approach will focus on the wholesale distribution to retail repair supply stores who carry lines of tools for resale to the private and business consumer. These market segments will include businesses such as Lowes and Home Depot, retail tool distributors such as Harbor Freight Tools, automobile parts stores such as Advance Auto Parts and tool catalogue companies such as great Northern to name a few. As we analyze this segment we ask the question if this segment is viable and can we profit from using it. Other considerations are accessibility and measurability. This segment is small enough to manage our sales and distribution, but large enough to reach the ultimate user of our product. This market segment possesses the potential and versatility to sell and distribute our product to the target consumer market with a widely diversified audience in the retail industry. The bases for this segmentation include similar demographics, geographical locations, and psychological make-up of customers and behaviors of users/purchasers. In other words, the customer base for our segments meets the desired user of our end product. Anyone who builds or repairs something whether they are a novice or professional is a potential customer. Therefore, by using this method of market segmentation for product distribution, we will successfully sub-divide a large homogenous market into clear identifiable and manageable segments that have similar needs, wants or demand characteristics indicated by Lacobucci (2012). 2. Discuss the target market and provide rationale for this target market. The target market defined is the particular market segment at which a marketing campaign is focused. As stated earlier, this product has been designed for the retail tool industry. We have targeted segments in the industry that will be the most successful in reaching the consumer and generating a demand for our product through steady sales. Lacobucci stated the first perspective in assessing segments target is to have a view of the segments themselves and the primary concern is the segment be profitable. This in turn will become a profitability issue for our company as we continue to hold a place in the small tool market and generate profits with continued sales. The second perspective examined was if the market or segment fit with who we are. In this case the answer is yes. The ultimate target for this product is the consumer. The greater exposure we have, the higher propensity for sales growth. The illuminated ratchet screw driver is a quality tool for use by not only the novice home self repair person; it will also meet the needs of the professional repair person, no matter what the industry. The illumination system in the handle of the wrench will appeal to the vehicle mechanic working in the close quarters of an engine compartment, the electrician repairing the circuit breaker box, the computer repair technician working in between electronic circuitry as well as to the basic consumer performing handy maintenance projects. This tool will come with the standard wrench lugs and have availability to accessories such as wrench tips to enhance its versatility to meet the needs of a wider target audience. The wider target audience is customers of our targeted market segments. Therefore the target market is our pathway to the ultimate user of the product is consumer sales. The strategic sales objective of these retail establishments coincides with our strategic vision of reaching the ultimate user of our products, satisfying their needs and increasing the likelihood of additional product sales. 3. Perform a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and treats) for the company. As we move forward in the marketing of our product, we need to our own corporate strengths. Lacobucci (2012) suggests the use of a SWOT analysis in identifying our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The strengths and weaknesses characterize our company in relation to competitors where the opportunities and threats characterize the broader environment such as the tool industry, suppliers, the government and etc. Our strengths are in our track record in t he tool industry. We have provided quality products at competitive prices. Another perceived strength is in the management of our company. The senior management of Steel City Tools has provided a strategic vision with clearly defined attainable goals for market position and sales. However a perceived threat is in the foreign market. A number of tool company’s efforts have been over shadowed with a cheaper duplication of products from foreign markets. The US has been plagued with a reduction in the manufacturing industry due to globalized markets, elimination of trade barriers and outsourcing. The end result is our market segment (distributor) could purchase a similar product cheaper and increase their gross margin and not purchase our product for resale. Another threat we are not prepared to react to is loss of a major distributing customer. With more and more businesses merging, we could lose a distribution source with no warning. One of our weaknesses is we have focused on sales east of the Mississippi, thus limiting market expansion. However, this could be turned around as a future opportunity for market expansion. An easy way to expand our market is to establish a retail division and use infomercials through the cable television network to accept mail order/telephone order select product sales such as our new illuminated power wrench. However, a marketing effort of this nature would require careful consideration must be given to the geographical area so as not to alienate our primary segment customers. A move of this nature would require additional capital investment and careful analysis of this type of expansion would be necessary to minimize risk of project failure. The SWOT is useful in clarifying our marketing questions. The key is to address our shortcomings so as not to give the competition an upper hand and not raise concerns with our customers and capitalize on our strengths for continued success. 4. Create the market position for your product and service. Explain your rationale. Product positioning, according to the Encyclopedia of Business, involves the tailoring the entire marketing program to include product features, distribution, price, quality and service to meet the needs of the consumer within the specific market segment. In this manner, the product positioning is part of the overall market segmentation. Product position takes place in our distributors store, or target market segment and tells us how we can strive most effectively in that market segment against our competition which are also present on display. The key is to understand the consumer perceptions of the product and the marketing behind it. Quality, reliability, affordability, unique features, benefits to the customer is just a few attributes of product positioning. According to Lacobucci (2012) positioning is often about modifying the four P’s of marketing (position, price, place and promotion). In the case of our company, our reputation is a reflection of the position to provide a quality product at a competitive price while leading the market in innovation. Our company performance is attributed to the quality of our employment staff. Our employees are at the core to our success. We have established core values for our company’s work force by creating a positive work culture with recognition of the whole person concept. The strategic leadership from the top on down to the employee fosters productivity with reward and recognition to enhance their performance in support of the company operations to include our marketing efforts. Thus the positive and proactive personality of our company in meeting its marketing objectives is a direct reflection of the quality of every member of the Blue Steel Tool Team. As we continue to grow and develop products for sale, we position our products at a distribution sales point or market segment with the greatest customer exposure for maximum market penetration. We will service our product to the satisfaction and benefit of the customer so as not to jeopardize customer confidence as well as the business relationship with our market segment. The product we create and the service we provide are a direct reflection of not only our company, but that of our distributors. Our products are designed to meet the working needs of our professional as well as consumer clientele with a level of quality that meet or exceed expectations at the best value. References Lacobucci, D. (2012) Marketing Management: 2012 custom edition. Mason OH Market Segment Defined Retrieved from http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/market-segment. html Morley R. (2006), Trumpet Print Edition: The Death of American Manufacturing, February 2006 Retrieved from http://www. thetrumpet. com/index. php? page=articleid=1955 Reference for Business Product Positioning: Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed. Retrieved from http://www. referenceforbusiness. com/small/Op-Qu/Product-Positioning. html Target Market Defined retrieved from http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/target-market. html

Prosperity and Peril at the Peak with Pericles Essay -- Philosophy, Gr

In the Age of Pericles, from 491 until his death in 429 BCE, Athens thrived. In this short period, Athens was a place of reform and advancement, giving us our sources of democracy, architecture, and the dramatic arts. Here, great minds such as Socrates and Sophocles congregated; here, ideals flourished. These developments of the Age of Pericles distinguish it as a high point in Greek society and, indeed, all Western civilization. From the start of his career in government, Pericles provided the Athenian people with the foundations of democracy. In 461, Pericles campaigned against aristocrats sitting in government, and in 451 enforced a law to prevent children of non-citizens from becoming full citizens (PBS, â€Å"The Greeks†). By managing the ties that aristocrats often made to other countries, Pericles managed to keep government from being monopolized. Unlike the aristocracy, Pericles focused on the disenfranchised, instructing Athenians to â€Å"especially obey those laws enacted for the protection of the oppressed and those which, although unwritten, it is acknowledged shame to violate† (Kagan 166, from Thucydides 2.37.3). Expounding on this social observance of fairness, Pericles most directly gave rights to the Athenians when he made possible â€Å"the full participation of its citizens in the government of city and empire† (Robertson 90). This faculty of citizens to have full acces s to their government provided Athenians with the start of democracy. Although not everyone benefited, as women and slaves were left out during this particularly â€Å"masculine age† (Robinson 91), Pericles did try to attend to the rights of men as equally as he could. It was thus that he narrowed the gap in representation of wealthy and poor citizens: paying the ... ... of the state as a whole they judged him to be the ablest† (Kagan, from Thucydides, 2.65.4) Having realized that Pericles was altogether the best man to lead them, Athens re-embraced the man who brought them to their peak. Unfortunately, they soon fell from it, but as that didn’t happen until after the Age of Pericles, this age, gilded like Athens’ goddess, remains relatively intact. Athens was at once the site of the forerunner of democracy, the epitome of Classical architecture, the height of drama, naval superiority, and enlightened minds such as Socrates. As much as these developments gave Athens its preeminence, and despite how rapidly it fell, the growth of Athens in this brief time has given us the source of our modern democracy, our sense of culture, and our ideals for society. In the Age of Pericles, Athens bloomed, but even now we relish its benefits. Prosperity and Peril at the Peak with Pericles Essay -- Philosophy, Gr In the Age of Pericles, from 491 until his death in 429 BCE, Athens thrived. In this short period, Athens was a place of reform and advancement, giving us our sources of democracy, architecture, and the dramatic arts. Here, great minds such as Socrates and Sophocles congregated; here, ideals flourished. These developments of the Age of Pericles distinguish it as a high point in Greek society and, indeed, all Western civilization. From the start of his career in government, Pericles provided the Athenian people with the foundations of democracy. In 461, Pericles campaigned against aristocrats sitting in government, and in 451 enforced a law to prevent children of non-citizens from becoming full citizens (PBS, â€Å"The Greeks†). By managing the ties that aristocrats often made to other countries, Pericles managed to keep government from being monopolized. Unlike the aristocracy, Pericles focused on the disenfranchised, instructing Athenians to â€Å"especially obey those laws enacted for the protection of the oppressed and those which, although unwritten, it is acknowledged shame to violate† (Kagan 166, from Thucydides 2.37.3). Expounding on this social observance of fairness, Pericles most directly gave rights to the Athenians when he made possible â€Å"the full participation of its citizens in the government of city and empire† (Robertson 90). This faculty of citizens to have full acces s to their government provided Athenians with the start of democracy. Although not everyone benefited, as women and slaves were left out during this particularly â€Å"masculine age† (Robinson 91), Pericles did try to attend to the rights of men as equally as he could. It was thus that he narrowed the gap in representation of wealthy and poor citizens: paying the ... ... of the state as a whole they judged him to be the ablest† (Kagan, from Thucydides, 2.65.4) Having realized that Pericles was altogether the best man to lead them, Athens re-embraced the man who brought them to their peak. Unfortunately, they soon fell from it, but as that didn’t happen until after the Age of Pericles, this age, gilded like Athens’ goddess, remains relatively intact. Athens was at once the site of the forerunner of democracy, the epitome of Classical architecture, the height of drama, naval superiority, and enlightened minds such as Socrates. As much as these developments gave Athens its preeminence, and despite how rapidly it fell, the growth of Athens in this brief time has given us the source of our modern democracy, our sense of culture, and our ideals for society. In the Age of Pericles, Athens bloomed, but even now we relish its benefits.

The Poetry of Billy Collins Essay -- Billy Collins Poet Poetry Essays

The Poetry of Billy Collins In 2001 a new poet laureate was crowned and a new voice; the voice of a poetic everyman was heard by many for the first time. That voice belonged to Billy Collins. Collins was born into a working-class Bronx couple, and grew up in a typical middle-class neighborhood where he went to church on Sundays and listened to jazz music in his free time. This middle-class background and sensibilities are reflected in his poetic style and themes, and in his desire to bring poetry back into the American main stream by making it more accessible to the average reader. Billy Collins was born March 22, 1941 in Queens, New York. He was born into a middle class family. His parents were of Irish descent, and had deep roots in the Irish Catholic religion (Press). Both of his parents held steady jobs; his father was an insurance broker, and his mother was a nurse. During Billy Collins’ years up until middle school, he had received a below average education, attending a public school in the Bronx. However, his father became very successful and rather wealthy. Billy and his family then moved to Westchester County, a wealthy New York suburb, where he attended a prestigious private school. After high school, Billy attended Holy Cross College where he received his bachelors degree, then went on to get his Ph.D. in Romantic poetry at the University of California at Riverside. Billy began his Career in poetry as a writer for â€Å"Rolling Stones† magazine, selling his poems for thirty-five dollars each (Billy Collins). In 1970, after his job in â€Å"Rolling Stones†, he got a position teaching poetry at Lehman College, located in the Bronx, where he is still teaching. Along with his teaching career, he served... ...shows Collins’ love of music and familiarity with jazz. It can also be appreciated on two different levels. You can enjoy the dreamy description of a jazz club, but also the deeper discussion on the topic of beauty. Despite his upbringing in a middle class home, and his poor education as a child, Collins has become a very well known and highly respected poet, whose middle class backgrounds have had a large influence on his poetry, as well as his goal to make poetry more accessible to the average reader. Collins has had a very successful career, publishing several poetry books and being the Poet Laureate of the U.S. from 2001-2003. Collins has a very unique style of poetry that has appeal to both the average person, being both easy to read and humorous to the normal person, and the more sophisticated reader by having a deeper more complex meanings.

Hamlet Speech Draft Essay

In Shakespeare’s famous play â€Å"Hamlet†, Hamlet reveals the duality of human nature as he is the hero of one plot whilst a villain in the other. Hamlet portrays the heroic characteristics through bravery and fearlessness. On the other hand, he is a villain because he is a coward, disrespectful and he would do anything to achieve and benefit for himself. But Hamlet is neither a complete hero nor a complete villain. He is both, and this contributes to Shakespeare’s message concerning the duality of human nature. The following paragraphs will elaborate on Hamlet’s 3 different types of personalities. Hamlet being a hero of a plot is a major theme in the play. This is shown by through his actions of avenging his father’s death by killing the current king Claudius, Hamlets uncle. Hamlet demonstrates the quality of braveness by following the ghost ignoring the fears of his friend for him strong enough to break the restraining hold and follows the horrible illusion not knowing what could happen to him. [Hamlet-Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 4, 88 – 95] â€Å"Hold off your hands†, â€Å"My fate cries out and makes each petty artery in this body as hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve. Still am I called.- Unhand me, gentleman. By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me! I say, away. -Go on. I’ll follow thee. Hamlet does this because he is in desperate urge of wanting to discover how his father died and that he truly loves his father. The final reason for Hamlet being a hero is because he is not afraid of facing a politically superior man. This means that hamlet is not afraid to face the king; a person more powerful than him and tell everyone the truth about what happened to his father. Hamlet demonstrates the quality of fearlessness when is ready to fight the king. This is proven when he says [Hamlet-Shakespeare Act 5, Scene2 198 -200] â€Å"I am constant to my purpose, they follow the King’s pleasure. If his fitness speaks, mine is ready. Now or whensoever, provided I be so able as now† These words show that Hamlet’s fearlessness quality and that he is not afraid of facing a person much more powerful than him. Hamlet shows his bravery, fearlessness and determination through his action and speech and those are the qualities of a hero. Although Hamlet has many great Heroic qualities, he also has numerous villain characteristics shown through his actions and speech. He may be seen as a villain because he caused the death to the whole royal family including Polonius, Ophelia and even himself. One of his villain characteristics is portrayed when Hamlet said some harsh words to his mother making her feel threatened. [Hamlet-Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 4, 21-23] â€Å"Come, come, and sit you down. You shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass Where you may see the inmost part of you†. These words illustrate one of Hamlet’s villain characteristics of being disrespectful. In addition to that, he broke Ophelia’s heart, as well as killing her father which caused her to become insane and lead her to commit suiciding. He also lied to his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern changing the letter making them the suspect of execution. Hamlet says [Hamlet-Shakespeare Act 5, Scene 2, 61-66] â€Å"Why, man, they did make love to this employment. They are not near my conscience. Their defeat does by their own insinuation grow. ‘Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes between the pass and fell incensed points of mighty opposites.† This shows that Hamlet is a coward, not facing execution himself but had to make his innocent friends face execution for him. These evidences proves that Hamlet is a villain because the death of the king Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and himself is caused by him either directly or indirectly. Shakespeare uses the characters in the play Hamlet, especially the protagonist Hamlet to imitate the duality of human nature. Hamlet is a perfect example of a duality because he is both noble and immoral at the same time. An example of this is at the beginning when he is shocked over his father death and his mother’s quick remarriage to his uncle. This is shown in the text when Hamlet says [Hamlet-Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 2, 151-158] â€Å"even she – O, God, a beast, that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer – married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules. Within a month, ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears had left the flushing in her galled eyes, She married.† He then changes when he soon discovers about how his father was murdered and desires to seek revenge. Another example of a duality is that Hamlet exposes the noble side of himself. This is when he grieves for his father and despises the situation that his mother has left him in. He says [Hamlet-Shakespeare Act 1, Scene 2, 85-88] â€Å"These indeed seem, for they are actions that a man might play. But I have that within which passes show these but the trappings and the suits of woe.† This makes the reader feel that he dislikes his mother but on the contrary he still loves her even though she has left him in a miserable situation. These examples portray the duality of human nature from the character Hamlet. Hamlet can be both the hero due to the bravery and fearlessness he has shown through his actions. Although he shows heroic qualities, he can still be a villain through his coward, disrespectful and immoral actions. Hamlet is often noticed that he has more than one side to his personality at the same time and this is revealed through the play when he stands for what he believes in and takes avenge for his father’s death but in the contrary not only did he kill Claudius, he was involved in everyone’s death including Ophelia, Polonius, Gertrude, Laertes, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and that he would do anything to achieve and benefit for himself. Through these actions, Hamlet portrays the qualities of the duality of human nature.

Basic Ecclesial Community Essay

The same can be said of the various theologies of liberation. Although in one or another versChristianity,ion they may not dovetail exactly with the theological frontiers of Puebla, liberation theologies are a meaningful and important way to approach and understand BECs. WHAT ARE THE BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES? For the sake of precision, let me make clear what BEC means in the context of this article. The currently so-called Basic Communities, Basic Christian Communities, Grassroots Christian Communities, oasic Ecclesial Communities in different parts of the world share some common and fundamental features. However, at the present level of ecclesiological awareness as it is mirrored in the specialized theological literature, we can hardly talk about the current phenomenon of BECs in a general, univocal way. They are a diversified reality from which we can draw an analogical concept. They offer a certain unity in their diversity. Even within a more homogeneous scenario such as Latin America, there are significant differences between the BECs in Brazil, in Peru, in El Salvador, or Nicaragua, for instance, which prevent us from talking of them without further specification. To write on the BECs in a scholarly fashion, therefore, we need a concrete point of reference. Here this will be the BECs in the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil. From such a specific point of reference it is possible then to relate to other analogical cases. I do not pretend to give a clear-cut definition or even a description of the Brazilian BECs. This would deprive them of one of their fundamental traits, namely, flexibility, openness to change and to reverse patterns, something which is very much linked to real life. Let me make explicit some of their major characteristics. First, they are communities. They are trying to set a pattern of 601 602 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Christian life which is deliberately in contrast with the individualistic, self-interested, and competitive approach to ordinary life so inherent in the Western, modern-contemporary culture. As a result of their own unfolding evolution in the last 25 years or so, BECs in Brazil have been aiming at living the two dimensions of communion and participation. By stressing communion, the BECs want to live faith not as a privatized but as a shared, real experience which is mutually nurtured and supported. Such a deep level in faith sharing is at the roots of an attempt to improve interpersonal relationships within the community. This then makes possible the dimension of participation especially in the decision-making process, in contrast with a rather passive attitude of the faithful or a too vertical orientation in exercising power or authority by the clergy or by the laity. Secondly, the BECs are ecclesial. The catalysts of this ecclesiality in the Brazilian BECs have been the unity in and of faith and the linkage to the institutional Church. Even when BECs are ecumenically oriented, experience has proven that the sharing of a specific, common faith was a crucial element for fostering the internal growth of the community. This is particularly important because of the paramount significance of the Word of God and biblical-prayer sharing in BECs life. By linking themselves to the institutional Church, BECs want to reverse the confrontational and/or hostile approach to the hierarchy that used to be a hallmark of Basic Communities in the sixties, especially in Italy and France or in the so-called â€Å"underground church† in the United States. This does not mean that the BECs must be started by a clerical initiative, although many have indeed been. It means, though, that however originated, the BECs look for recognition and support by the pastors or by the bishops, even when enjoying a fair amount of internal autonomy. Thirdly, BECs are basic (de base). Being predominantly a gathering of active lay people, they are said to be â€Å"at the base† of the Church, from an ecclesiastic point of view, as related to the hierarchical Church structure. Moreover, in Brazil and in many Third World countries, the BECs are â€Å"at the base† of society as well. In fact, most of the thousands and thousands of BEC members are poor. This is not an exclusive option but an understandable fact. The poor feel in a stronger way the need for community, for mutual support. They are less sophisticated in shaping their interpersonal relationships because they have less to lose. They are more open to participation because more pressed by common needs. Finally, they are more sensitive to the gift because they realize their personal and societal needs. Thus they hardly take things for granted or as if deserved. This opens their hearts to faith, which is part of the gifteconomy of salvation and liberation. Moreover, being at the base makes BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 603 it easier for BECs to link faith and real, everday life. On the grounds of the gospel demands, they realize the need for the transformation of a society whose organization is in itself unjust in many aspects and very much the source of their own poverty. Thus faith is not locked in the mind and even less within the private, individual horizon. Faith is a dynamic factor of personal conversion and societal transformation. In an earlier stage the BECs in Brazil were thought of as a way to improve the life of parishes. Progressively it became clear that such a model of communion and participation, such a quality of interpersonal relations, were not possible in a large-scale group or at a highly developed level of social organization. Without losing the linkage to the parishes, BECs multiplied within each parish, keeping their spontaneity and flexibility. Today there is no pretense of making of a parish a community in the terms of BECs. This would hardly be possible in sociological terms. The life of a parish, however, can be significantly improved by the presence of many BECs that gather between 20 and 50 people in general and can occasionally interact for common purposes within the parish. For historical and sociological reasons, Brazil has been a land chronically short of priests (a situation that is starting to loom elsewhere too). In previous times people would confine their active church life to the periodic and scarce presence of the ordained minister. With BECs the growing awareness of the diversity of vocations and of their respective responsibility in the Church led them to consider the priest as a part of the BEC and not above it. In his absence, however, the community goes on in its ordinary life, be it at the level of internal church affairs (prayer and biblical groups, preparation for the sacraments, attention to the sick, renewal and ongoing formation programs, and so on), be it in the field of concrete commitments to action in the social and political realm. Links to the parish or the diocese are kept, of course, and they remain the main source in the preparation of written material for several projects (biblical papers, liturgy of the word, etc. ). But life does not rest upon the initiative of the clergy and even less on the need for its constant involvement or required approval. This leads to a growing decentralization of church life which, however, fits within the parameters of a broad and all-embracing planning by the parishes, the dioceses, and even a very active and wellorganized Bishops Conference at a national level or in each one of its 15 regions in the country. The further elaboration of this article will provide the reader with more detailed information on what BECs mean in this precise context. It is important to bear in mind that taking Brazil as a case study for methodological reasons should not turn out to be an exclusive or narrowing focus. Having a specific point of reference helps us to have a context 604 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES for thinking, to be precise on what we are talking about, and to make possible a concrete comparative approach to our own ecclesial situation or perspective. BEC: A WAY OF BEING CHURCH The growing literature on BECs has accustomed us to think of them mainly, if not exclusively, in terms of Latin American ecclesiology; and one of the postulates of this ecclesiology is that the BECs are not simply a movement or association in the Church but rather a way of being Church. I start from this position, which I myself share, but in this article I would like to look at the issue from a different angle. It may help to broaden ecclesiological perception vis-a-vis our BECs, as well as their scope and significance for the Church as a whole. If indeed the BECs are a way of being Church, then they, like the Church, can be read and interpreted by distinct ecclesiologies. The reading will be more or less adequate in a given case, particularly when it has to do not so much with a more or less abstract concept of the Church but rather with its concrete embodiment in a given local area: the Brazilian Church, for example. I intend in this article to link up the BECs with several major ecclesiologies of European-American extraction in the last 30 years or so. Those ecclesiologies were not thought out in terms of BECs, so the linkup may serve two purposes. First, on the basis of premises that are not just Latin American, it will check out the proposition that BECs are truly a way of being Church. Second, it will show that such ecclesiologies can be enriched and opened to new horizons in the light of BECs. Let me mention two further points. First, we clearly have a wide and varied multiplicity of ecclesiological standpoints. Each one, taken individually, brings out the richness of the aspect it highlights, while at the same time leaving other possible dimensions in impoverished silence. The very plurality of ecclesiologies reveals the inability of any given one to exhaust the mystery of the Church. Understanding the Church, and BECs as a mode of embodying the Church, will always entail the meeting and linking up of various ecclesiological intuitions. It can never be a linkup with one exclusively. Indeed, in principle it should embrace them all, though of course with differing tones and stresses. My second point has to do with the present level of ecclesiological awareness, in which difference of focus is not due solely to difference in the aspect treated. It also depends on the historical frame of reference that serves as the backdrop for the reflection process. Theology carried on in the First World or inspired by it has been less explicit about that context, but it nevertheless bears the marks of it. For Third World theology in general, BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 605 and Latin American theology specifically, that frame of reference is inescapable, clearly putting its mark on theological method and its final product. This article may help us to see that these ways of doing theology are not mutually exclusive. By the same token, the Church, reflecting consciously on the mystery that it is, can derive benefit from this plurality. It can again take up the problem of its unity on the basis of presuppositions that do not rest upon uniformity in its process of theological reflection. The BECs may serve here as a focus and means for verifying this proposition. Among possible methodological options, I would like to single out three that are embodied in works of comparative ecclesiology. The first identifies the ecclesiological perspective, organizing the thought of each author around a dominant tendency in his works; this was the approach used by Batista Mondin. 1 The second defines a theoretical frame at the start and then uses it to compare distinct ecclesiologies, authors, or â€Å"schools†; such was the approach used by Alvaro Quiroz Magana in his thesis. 2 The third inductively works out ecclesiological models on the basis of various authors, suggesting the viability and even necessity of using different models to articulate an ecclesiology; that has been the approach of Avery Dulles in several works. Since it does not focus mainly on authors as Mondin does, or anticipate any theoretical grid as does Quiroz Magana, Dulles’ method lends itself best to my objective here. I want to verify whether and how BECs bear the chief marks of the Church that have been underscored in recent ecclesiologies outside Latin America, and how BECs can amplify and shed light on the content of those ecclesiologies in a different way. Taking my inspiration from Dulles’ method, then, I will try to expand the content of his analysis in ModeL · of the Church by focusing specifically on BECs. In his later work, A Church To Believe in, Dulles really ends up proposing a sixth model (the Church as a community of disciples), but I shall not consider that model specifically here. Its syntheticintegrative character is less adequate to my analytic-comparative purpose here. In Models of the Church Dulles proposes the following ecclesiological 1 Batista Mondin, Le nuove ecclesiologie: Un’imagine attuale della Chiesa (Rome: Paoline, 1980). 2 Alvaro Quiroz Magana, Eclesiologia en la teologia de la liberacion (Salamanca: Sigueme, 1983). Avery Dulles, Models of the Church: A Critical Assessment of the Church in All Its Aspects (Garden City, N. Y. : Doubleday, 1974); A Church To Believe in (New York: Crossroad, 1982). 606 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES models: Church as institution, communion, sacrament, herald, and servant. I shall briefly present the fundamentals of each model, reflecting on the relationship of BECs to the model in question. Church As Institution This is the model to whi ch we have been traditionally accustomed. It solidified over the centuries, and we were evangelized and theologically educated in it until the 1950s. Its main thrust lies in understanding the Church as a society, indeed as a perfect society. Its underlying Christology views Christ as prophet, priest, and king, with the threefold function of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling. That mission is carried out by virtue of the power which Christ received from God, and which he confers on those who in fact possess authority and jurisdictional power in the Church: the pope, bishops, and priests. Thus the ecclesiological accent is on the organization and dispensation of power, hence on the juridical dimension. This stress shows up on the three planes of doctrine, sacrament, and administration, which are explicitly linked up with their divine origin. The logical result is the excessive growth in the Church of the clerical and institutional dimension and the relative atrophy of the charismatic element as well as of the significance of the People of God, particularly the laity. Proper membership in the Church is defined as acceptance of the same doctrine, communion in the same sacraments, and obedient subjection to the same pastors—all that being visibly verified. Obviously the relationship of this paradigm to EECs is remote, by virtue of the characteristics of both the model and BECs. The predominantly vertical conception of power, the resultant structural organization, and the primacy and hegemony accorded to clerical initiative and activity represent something very different from what BECs are actually seeking andfleshingout in their way of being and living the reality of the Church. By the same token, however, BECs in Brazil, as I said, do contrast with basic communities that have arisen in the First World, particularly with those that arose in the 1960s. Brazilian BECs almost always arise through the initiative of the hierarchy and are sustained by their support. Working alongside lay pastoral agents, priests and religious also provide inspiration and motivation. Bishops and priests exercise jurisdictional power over Brazilian BECs, and the latter recognize and accept this because they consciously regard themselves as an integral part of the institutional life of the Church as a whole. Thus Brazilian BECs are not resistant to the Church as institution, they do not pose an alternative to it, nor do they absolutize their own way of being Church. Instead they see themselves as a vital part of the Church, without which they would have no meaning. BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 607 Taking all these factors into account, we can see that, from an analytical point of view, the Church-as-institution model hardly serves as the dominant ecclesiological inspiration or perspective in the rise of BECs and their actual working. Church As Sacrament â€Å"The Church exists in Christ as a sacrament or sign and an instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race† (Lumen gentium, no. 1). With these words Vatican II summarily echoes and ratifies a theme that was much in evidence in the Church Fathers (Cyprian and Augustine) and in the age of scholasticism (Thomas Aquinas). Its elaboration in terms of a more general ecclesiological perspective, however, is fairly recent. This newer perspective views the Church as a sacrament. One felicitous effort of this sort was by Otto Semmelroth, and his work inspired many others. 4 Henri de Lubac also made a significant contribution to this approach by using patristic and medieval sources. 5 He linked up two dimensions: the Christological—for us Christ is the sacrament of God; and the ecclesiological—for us the Church is the sacrament of Christ. All the sacraments are essentially sacraments of the Church. The sacraments derive their power of grace from the Church, and through them the Church becomes the sacrament it is. Here we have a linkage between the model of the Church as institution (which stresses the visible reality of the socio-ecclesiastical dimension) and the model of the Church as communion (which stresses the socio-ecc/esiai dimension rooted primordially in the inner union of faith, hope, and love). In the Church-as-sacrament model the whole congregation of the faith comes together in all its diverse vocations and functions. That explains the fecundity of this approach, which has been explored ecclesiologically by many theologians, particularly since World War II. A sacrament is a sign of something really present, the visible form of an invisible grace. It is an efficacious sign, producing or intensifying the reality it signifies. The sacraments, then, contain the grace they signify and confer the grace they contain. In tradition the sacraments have always been associated with the social dimension of the Church, not with the isolated individual, even though they are administered and rec eived by individuals. For the human being, then, the sacraments bring together Otto Semmelroth, Die Kirche als Ursakrament (Frankfurt/Main: Knecht, 1953). Henri de Lubac, Catholicisme (Paris: Aubier, 1948). See the following works by way of example: Leonardo Boff s doctoral dissertation, Die Kirche als Sakrament im Horizont der Welterfahrung: Versuch einer Legitimation und einer struktur-funktionalistischen Grundlegung der Kirche im Anschluss an das IL Vatikanische Konzil (Paderborn: Bonifatius, 1972); Yves Congar, â€Å"L’Eglise, sacrement universel du salut,† in Cette eglise que j’aime (Paris: Cerf, 1968) 41-63; P. Smulders, â€Å"L’Eglise, sacrement du salut,† in G. Barauna, ed. , L’Eglise de Vatican II2 (Paris: Cerf, 1967) 331-38. 5 6 4 08 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES and link the visible and invisible orders as well as the individual and social planes. We can sum this up by saying that Christ is a sacrament and so is the Church. Christ is the sign and visible presence of the invisible God, the efficacious power of salvation for the individual and the whole People of God. As institution and communio n, the Church is the sign and visible presence of Christ: accepted by faith and lived both really and mystically by the ecclesial community in the unity of the same faith. Indeed, the Church is even more sacrament than sign. Through its visible actions the Church not only signifies but dynamically produces and makes visible the reality of salvation that it represents and announces. The Church, then, is a grace-happening, and not just in the sense that it effects and administers the sacraments. It is a grace-happening as well because in the life of believers, who are the Church, we see operating and unfolding faith, hope, love, freedom, justice, peace, reconciliation, and everything else that establishes human intercommunion and humanity’s communion with God. Now let us see how the BECs look in the light of this model, the Church as sacrament. 1. From our examination of the Church-as-institution model, there is no doubt that the BECs see themselves as Church, as part of the visible, institutional, sociological body of the Church, and that they are a specific way of living as such. We also find Church as sacrament in the BECs. They are it within the Church itself insofar as they better embody the ecclesial range and presence of lay people, or the poor, in the Church— two features less evident in the Church’s concrete structures and functions in recent centuries. Lay people and poor people share a core reality. They are both of the grass-roots level, of the base: lay people in the Church, poor people in the world. Consequently we get thereby a visible, ecclesial sign of Christ’s own kenosis, a fundamental Christological dimension (Phil 2:5-11), which had not found suitable expression in the Church-as-institution model as lived in the past few centuries. This Christological tie-in, which is lived intensely in BECs, serves as an instrument of grace for bishops, priests, and religious who accept, recognize, or even share the BEC way of being Church. . The BECs have emerged from within a traditional Catholicism. In Brazil that Catholicism was centered around sacramentalization; little effort was put into clear-cut evangelization and explanation of the faith. Both in pedagogical intent and in actual practice, BECs put less stress on the traditional approach of sacramentalization. This is obvious insofar as the older focus on administering and receiving the sacraments signified and reaffirmed the hegemony of ordained authority and power. This was characteristic of the earlier pastoral BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 09 approach or flowed naturally from it. In the cities it took the form of regular administration of the sacraments. In rural areas and the interior it took the form of rapid discharge of various sacramental obligations (baptism, confirmation, marriage, penance, and Eucharist) in a very short period, on those rare or sporadic occasions when ordained ministers of the sacraments were on hand (the Brazilian-coined word to say it is desobriga, literally â€Å"discharge of obligation†). In both cases the tenor was more individual than communitarian. Administration of the sacraments frequently took place without proper doctrinal preparation and without rightly establishing the inner dispositions required for meeting the ethical and ecclesial prerequisites for participation in the sacraments. Thus sacramentalization was not tied into a clear ecclesial awareness of the scope and significance of the sacraments. The forms of sacramental expression and preparation for them were associated mainly, indeed almost exclusively, with the ordained minister, who was and still is scarce and much overworked in Brazil. Through their functions and services, current BECs have been filling in for ordained authority insofar as they can. Church as sacrament, in the terms indicated by Lumen gentium, finds expression in many ways. The overwhelming growth of sacred authority and power (the first model) had led historically to exclusive attribution of all that to the clergy. Today lay people, in BECs and other ecclesial areas, are serving as ministers to the sick and Eucharistie ministers. They are preparing individuals and communities for baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. And they are performing other functions for the immediate human and Christian well-being of individuals and communities. All these activities are clear signs of the Church as sacrament and its efficacious presence, which is not restricted to the seven sacraments alone. The fundamental change is the fact that this whole complex is seen in an ecclesial context. Without denying the vocational and ministerial role and importance of the clergy, BECs have ceased to be wholly dependent on them. The ordained minister takes his place once again within a community growing increasingly aware of its diverse vocations and functions, which are the presence of grace in the world, for the lowly in particular. 3. Insofar as the seven sacraments as such are concerned, BECs cannot fully realize the Church as sacrament in the anointing of the sick and two other basic points. They are promoters of reconciliation at the level of interpersonal relations between their members, but they cannot effect reconciliation as sacrament. Builders of communion as the only viable root of community, their members cannot realize the full significance of the mystery of the Eucharist. These sacraments, which are an indispensable part of Christian life, are bound up with the ordained minister. 610 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Given the current discipline of the Church and the envisioned requisites of formation and life style, there is no way of providing BECs with such ministers. BECs are multiplying rapidly and sporadically in rural areas and urban peripheries. There are not enough priests for them either quantitatively or qualitatively. By â€Å"qualitatively† here, I am not so much referring to the ministerial qualifications of the priest or his fulfilment of the juridical requisites for exercising his pastoral ministry. I am referring to the suitable adaptation of the priestly type to the BEC way of being Church. For the BEC has its own proper form of communion and participation, integrating various vocations into a more decentralized overall pastoral design based on subsidiarity. This is the present situation, and in the foreseeable future there does not seem to be any thought on the part of the Church as institution to give BECs, or the rest of the Church for that matter, any alternative to the present form of the sacrament of holy orders or to the prerequisites for its reception and exercise. This is a very serious problem affecting churches that are heavily nurtured by the word of God and that consolidate the bonds of communion between their members by fostering ecclesial awareness. In traditional Catholicism and the desobriga paradigm, the Eucharistie question was relativized in one or another way: either the ecclesial significance of the sacrament of the Eucharist was not perceived, or the pertinent law of the Church was fulfilled, not very often but enough to be considered satisfactory. In the living Church embodied by BECs we see, first and foremost, a keen awareness of the structural significance of the Eucharist in the Church as sacrament. They are acutely aware of the necessity of the Eucharist, but also of the actual impossibility of their having the Eucharist with its full meaning and reality. This problem cannot be solved adequately by allowing for exceptions or by occasional casuistic interpretations. It will have to be faced by the Church as part and parcel of its overall pastoral responsibility. The latter must take into account the concrete, diversified reality of the ecclesial body in the world as well as the salvific function of the Church as sacrament, whose core is the Eucharist. Placed at the disposal of human beings, the Eucharist is meant to be the efficacious font of communion between believers, and of their communion with God in Jesus Christ. Church As Herald In this model the Church is seen primarily as the bearer of the word of God. Receiving that word, it is to pass it on to human beings. Its proclaiming is also a convoking, bringing together those who hear and accept the word in faith and who are maintained in faith and union by the strength of the word. Thus the word is constitutive of the Church. BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 611 The Church is the herald of the word, however, not its ultimate addressee. The Church receives the word to announce it. Thus the word emerges as the crucial axis of an ecclesiological perspective that is kerygmatic, prophetic, and missionary. The two preceding models sprouted on Catholic soil and are cultivated there. This model, on the other hand, was nurtured by Protestant reflection. In this century it has been cultivated by Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann in particular. Some of its intuitions share a common subsoil with more ancient Catholic tradition, however, and they emerged again in Vatican II to find theological expression in a Catholic and ecumenical way. In the work of Barth, the Church is the living community of the living Christ. 7 God calls it into being by His grace and gives it life by means of His Word and His Spirit, with a view to His kingdom. Thus the Church is not a permanent fact, an institution, much less an object of faith. It comes about by God’s action. It is an event constituted by the power of the word of God in Scripture, made real today and announced to human beings. This proclaimed word gives rise to faith, a gift from God that is outside human control. There is no authority in the Church except the word of God, which is to be left free to call into question the Church itself. Through God’s word the Church is renewed and, above all, urged on to its mission: constant proclamation of the salvific event, Jesus Christ, and of the advent of God’s kingdom. This is the core of Barth’s message. The word and its proclamation are not meant to reinforce confessional, institutional, social, or political positions, or to abet the expansion of the Church as a society. In the work of Bultmann8 two crucial points must be considered with regard to ecclesiology. First, there is his nonhistorical conception of the Church. The result is the absence of any solid sociological or institutional dimension for the Church, and indeed the absence of any intention in Christ himself to establish or build it. Hence the identification of the Church with a historical datum or phenomenon remains ever paradoxical. Second, for Bultmann the word of God remains central, along with its proclamation as call, appeal, and invitation. But his view here is not the same as Barth’s. Let us look at it a bit more closely. Bultmann, more exegete than systematic theologian, sees the Church 7 Karl Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik 4/3 (Munich: Kaiser, 1935 and 1967). For a systematic presentation of Barth’s ecclesiology vis-a-vis Catholic ecclesiology, see the work of Colm O’Grady published by G. Chapman in London: Vol. , The Church in the Theology of Karl Barth (1968); Vol. 2, The Church in Catholic Theology: Dialogue with Karl Barth (1969). 8 Rudolf Bultmann, â€Å"Kirche und Lehre im Neuen Testament,† in Glauben und Verstehen 1 (Tubingen: Mohr, 1966) 153-87; Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Tubingen: Mohr, 1948). Both works have been translated into English: Faith and Understanding; A Theology of the New Testament 612 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES as a Pauline creation. It is so on three levels. It is a community of worship, an eschatological community, and a community with a vocation. In the first, the word is proclaimed. In the second, God is made present in the acceptance of Jesus by human beings. In the third, the first becomes prophetic vocation, kerygma that calls for a decision. The ecclesial event emerges in this kerygmatic tension of summons and response that the word brings with it, always assuming someone with credentials who proclaims it and/or a community that hears it and takes on the commitment. The Church comes to be in this faith-happening, which frees the context from any institutional, normative, or legitimating instance. The Church is actuated whenever the kerygma unleashes the summons of God and the response of human beings. There are clear differences between Barth and Bultmann. But they also have a basic affinity with regard to the significance and active role of the word in constituting the Church as a happening. These two theologians assume the importance of the community to which the word is addressed. The word is the glue around which the community gathers. The response of faith given to the word by the community is what gives the latter its meaning and reason for being. Here we can see the clear difference between the Protestant and the Catholic perspective vis-a-vis this model. Vatican II stresses that the Word became human, became flesh. Christ lives on in history through the Church, manifesting in it his message and saving activity; but there he also shares his own being with humans. In the Catholic version the Church-as-institution model is also brought into relationship with the word. The Church as a whole—and some in it by specific function—has the responsibility of watching over the proclamation and interpretation of the word. The Church’s magisterium is not above the word, as Barth claimed. It is under the word, deriving from that word its starting oint, its norm, and its nourishment. In and for the community, the magisterium is the instance of Christ’s power and authority with regard to the fidelity and continuity of his message. The community that hears and accepts it is not just called to proclaim it and bear witness to it; it must also translate it into real-life action on both the individual and the social levels. The word of God is central in the ecclesiological outlook of BECs. For them it is the immediate point of reference, the source of inspiration, nourishment, and discernment. Quite often it is the primary catalyst of community. Unlike the sacraments, which are not always accessible, the word is always within their reach. But there are profound differences between the BEC focus on the word and that to be found in the ecclesiologies of Barth or Bultmann. BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 613 1. In BECs the word is received within the Church and as Church insofar as the BEC is a way of being Church, or insofar as it is located in the bosom of the Church as institution and united with it. This implies the permanent reality of the Church to which the word is addressed. It also implies acceptance of the magisterium, the function in the Church that watches over the interpretation of the word and our fidelity to it. 2. In BECs the word naturally is conveyed through Scripture, which is read, prayed, and reflected upon; but all this is done in direct relationship with life. One could put it the other way and say: in BECs the everyday life of the members, the Church, and the world are read, prayed over, and reflected upon in relation to the word of God. If it is true for BECs that the Bible is the word of God, it is no less true that God also speaks to us in the language of real life. Bible and life shed light on each other for those who look to them for meaning in faith. The faith and spirituality of BECs are grounded on this foundation. 3. In BECs the symbiosis of word and life is the key to the process of evangelization. In the earlier pastoral paradigm, and particularly in the quick discharge of sacramental obligation (desobriga), there was little space for the word. The faithful received the word in a largely passive way. Their faith was receptive, but it did not feel summoned to commitment and radiation. There was no urgency toward a lasting conversion, on both the individual and social level, as a radical consequence of hearing and assimilating the word. This sort of profound transformation (metanoia) and the proclamation of the word to others characterize the BECs insofar as they embody Church as herald, Church of the word of God. Unlike Barth’s view, however, this proclamation is not dissociated from the world and its problems; it is in solidarity with them. Nor is it turned in on the Church and the community of believers, who are exclusively focused on an eschatological kingdom of a future sort. In BECs the word is a summons to lives being lived in the Church and already preparing the kingdom. It summons them to call into question both the individual person and the world, in order to shape a just society that will turn the word into reality and embody the gospel project in a coherent way. 4. In BECs, then, the word is kerygmatic and prophetic, as it was for Bultmann. It is that insofar as it is the center of a community of frequent de facto non-Eucharistic worship, which lay people can celebrate without the ordained minister they lack. The word is also kerygmatic and prophetic insofar as it belongs to a community focused on the definitive kingdom. Contrary to Bultmann’s position, however, this kingdom is tied to the historical Jesus, the Word made human being. Through his word and presence in the Church, this kingdom is already beginning to take 614 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES on shape in the course of history. In BECs the word is kerygmatic especially insofar as it calls for living commitment and a coherent response on both the individual and societal planes. Bultmann requires someone accredited to proclaim the kerygma. In BECs this accreditation is not primarily rooted in human wisdom or qualifications, though of course such factors are not ruled out. In BECs the crucial factor is the faith lived by the vast majority of the members in uprightness, simplicity, and poverty as they see their salvation and liberation in spirit and in truth. 5. All this is realized in BECs through the ongoing improving of interpersonal relationships, which give visibility to ecclesial community rooted in the prior communion in faith, justice, and love. In that sense community is not just the initiative of a God who summons and brings together. It is also the persevering laborious response of human beings journeying day by day through time and facing the problems and conflicts of life. The limits and benefits of BECs vis-a-vis the word have been well brought out by Carlos Mesters, to whom they are indebted for a notable service of the word. Officially and scholarly accredited as a minister to proclaim the kerygma, he knew how to listen well to the word that God continues to utter in the hearts of the lowly, opening their hearts and minds to an understanding of both God and the human being. Mesters warns us about the risk of subjectivistic interpretation, about the failure to do a judicious, historically situated reading of the text, about the danger of a selective, ideological approach that seeks only confirmation of one’s own initial position. He stresses the importance of a solid exegesis that will help the common people to get beyond those problems and also respond to the questions they themselves raise. He insists on the viability of a reading that will take into account the physical and material reality of the biblical folk without reducing the biblical message to just that. Finally, he tries to make it possible for an urban, industrial world to get closer to the rural book that the Bible is. 9 Church As Servant The ecclesiological models considered above are markedly centripetal. They prefer to focus on the internal reality of the Church, affirming its vitality and self-sufficiency in relation to the world. The Church teaches, offers a salvific presence, issues ethical norms, and enunciates values. For the far from naive use of the Bible in BECs, see the article by Carlos Mesters in John Eagleson and Sergio Torres, eds. , The Challenge of Basic Christian Communities (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis, 1981). For a sample of his own ability to relate biblical exegesis to real human problems, see Carlos Mesters, God, Where Are You? Meditations on the Old Testament (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis, 1977). 9 BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 615 The advent of modernity and the growing autonomy exercised by the world drew it further and further away from dependence on the Church and acceptance of it. The Church, in turn, reacted by taking up a defensive, indeed often aggressive, position vis-a-vis the world. Church and world took up hard lines in opposing trenches. 10 Vatican ^1 reversed this tendency. It led the Church to see the modern world as an interlocutor with its own identity. This focus can be described as a belatedly optimistic view of the world. Nevertheless, the Church continues to cherish the hope that it will be able to continue its mission vis-a-vis the world. That mission to the world will be one of service primarily. The important thing for the Church is not to withdraw into itself and attract a small group that keeps its distance from this world. Instead, it must take its rightful place in the world and then open itself up as a place for dialogue, constructive action, and liberation. Paralleling the whole conciliar thrust in the Catholic Church, various theologies of secularization have taken shape in Protestant circles by stages. Their impact on the way to read world and Catholic theology was felt most keenly in the decade of the 1960s. The basically positive thrust of the process of secularization (taken as the human autonomy with regard to the explanation of the immanent reality) clearly took an increasingly immanentist turn, often enough degenerating into an undesirable secularism (which is the negation of any transcendent dimension or reality). Despite some unacceptable turns and developments, the Western Church has clearly taken an uncontestable step in reformulating its own reality vis-a-vis the world. The disposition of the whole Church is one of universal service to humanity as such, which is now seen as one big family or indeed as the People of God. Service (diakonia) becomes the central inspiration of ecclesiology.  · Though very aware of its frailty and inconsistency, the Church will not retreat into itself. On the basis of its theological anthropology, it will offer the world answers that the world itself has not found, or that the world has missed and perverted in its dizzying drive toward immanentism and reductionism. This focus of the Church as servant is, however, still sharply confined. It was the theological perspective of the North and West immediately following Vatican II. Today, even in those hemispheres, it is being sharply contested, and its limitations are being recognized. It is from different angles that the BECs translate and embody the new diakonia of the Church vis-a-vis the world. In Brazil and the rest of 10 See Marcello Azevedo, Modernidade e Cristianismo (S. Paulo: Loyola, 1981); Inkulturation and the Challenges of Modernity (Rome: Gregorian Univ. , 1982); J. B. Libanio, A volta a grande disciplina (S. Paulo: Loyola, 1983). 616 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Latin America, there can be no naively positive view of the modern world. The achievements of science and technology are admitted, and so is the heightened human awareness of such basic elements as human rights, individual freedom, participation in public life, recognition in principle of the equality of all human beings, and other features of modern contemporary culture. But it is impossible not to notice the gap between these theoretical ideals and their actual realization in history, not to mention the actual frustration and perversion of these ideals in many areas. Medellin and Puebla, as well as papal and episcopal postconciliar documents, underline the aberrations embodied in injustice, poverty, hunger, oppression, and structural stigmas that mar our reality. In such a context the poor are the ones who suffer most, along with those who are discriminated against and marginalized, crushed and destroyed beyond any hope of repair. These are the people who predominantly make up the BECs. Hence this is the concrete way that the Church as BEC manifests its status as servant. In itself it again takes on and lives Christ the Servant: in the mission of the suffering people and in the witness it bears in faith, even to the full embodiment of the message in martyrdom. New life is thus given to a Christological component that has long been forgotten or left buried in obscurity. Here we have a Church that serves and fulfils itself in service to the world. It does this through the diakonia of a faith, conscious of the gift given to us in Jesus Christ. This gift is not, however, the privilege of a chosen few; it is the responsibility of all. This responsibility is lived in the urge to denounce and call into question the sociostructural organization that has produced such an unjust society. It does this by identifying clear-cut forms of institutionalized violence in all their shapes. It does this by insisting on radical changes through relations of communion and participation among human beings. Moreover, in BECs the Church becomes a servant by serving the common people without replacing them in either the Church or the world in a paternalistic way. It recognizes that they too have the right to take the initiative in carrying through their own process of maturation and liberation, both religious and civil, after centuries of denial, tutelage, or marginalization. In this perspective of active ecclesial participation, BECs are a Church that eminently serves the other forms of being Church as well as the other vocations and charisms in the Church. 1 11 This model, which stresses the urgent necessity of service as a consequence of faith, spells out the specific nature of Christian faith in full consistency with the tradition of ancient Israel and with the Gospel message. Both stressed the necessity of fleshing out in reality what one believed. Faith, then, cannot be understood solely in terms of assent or conviction; it must be translated into real-life action. There is a strong echo of the Gospel message (Mt 25 and Lk 10:25-37) in the insistence on a theology of service as an underlying BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 17 Church As Communion/Community The model of Church as community founded on communion is the one that emanates most directly from the explicit ecclesiology of Vatican II. It stands in marked contrast to the hegemonic model (Church as institution) that was regarded as the primary interpretation of the mystery of the Church for ten centuries as least, and that was practically the dominant interpretation in the last five centuries. Nevertheless, the communitarian conoeption of the Church goes back to Scripture itself and was vigorously upheld in the patristic era. It threads through many phases of church history with regard to the ecclesial body as a whole and with regard to specific vocations within the Church, particularly in the evolution of the religious life. Thus in its ecclesiological perspective Vatican II taps roots grounded in tradition and the Bible and rediscovers one of the most fruitful facets of ecclesial inspiration throughout church history. 12 Here the Church is the community that is established in communion with God and between human beings. It embraces and pervades the part of an unmistakably Christian praxis. The term â€Å"praxis† is not synonymous with â€Å"practice† insofar as the latter term simply means action or behavior; nor is â€Å"praxis† the opposite of â€Å"theory. † Praxis is a concrete form of historical commitment and involvement, stemming from a twofold awareness: that history is made in time and that it is the result of human actions stemming from concrete choices. Praxis, then, is the conscious making of history, and Christian praxis is the concrete living out of the historical dimensions of the faith. Christian praxis is the daily, long-term embodiment and direction given to the service that faith demands. See F. Taborda, â€Å"Fe crista e praxis historica,† Revista Eclesiastica Brasileira 41 (1981) 250-78. This notion of praxis has been much discussed by various liberation theologians, including Gustavo Gutierrez, Juan Luis Segundo, Leonardo Boff, and Jon Sobrino. For a sophisticated and penetrating examination of the complexities of modern historical reality in the industrialized nations and Latin America, see chapters 1013 of Juan Luis Segundo, Faith and Ideologies (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis, 1984) 249-340. 12 See Pier Cesare Bori, Koinonia: L’Idea della comunione neU’eclesiologia recente e nel Nuovo Testamento (Brescia: Paideia, 1972); id. , Chiesa primitiva: L’Immagine della comunita delle origini—Atti 2:42-47; 4:32-37—nella storia della chiesa antica (Brescia: Paideia, 1974); Yves Congar, L’Eglise de saint Augustin a l’epoque moderne (Paris: Cerf, 1970); Jerome Hamer, L’Eglise est une communion (Paris: Cerf, 1962); Emil Brunner, Das Missverstandnis der Kirche (Zurich: Zwingli, 1951); id. Dogmatik 3: Die christliche Lehre von der Kirche, vom Glauben, und von der Vollendung (Zurich: Zwingli, 1960). For Brunner, the Church is pure fraternal communion bearing witness to love. The antithesis between communion and institution is the core and guiding thread of his ecclesiology. In Dulles’ first model (Church as institution), the Church stands above the faithful, as it were; it is extrinsic to them in a certain sense. In Church-as-communion ecclesiologies, the Church is the community of all the faithful living a life of communion. Bellarmine opposed institution to communion. Brunner opposes communion to institution. Hamer sees communion lived out only in the institution. BECs start from communion as experiential living in the light of faith to reflect consciously on their ecclesial participation in the Church as institution, which they would never imagine to be adequate without the living experience of communion. 618 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES People of God in the multiplicity of their gifts, vocations, services, and functions. It embraces the Church at every level, particularly in its appreciation of episcopal collegiality and local churches. It is no less open to other Christian denominations, non-Christian religions, and all human beings who sincerely search for love, truth, and justice. There have been frequent manifestations of this spirit, from the first encyclical of Paul VI (Ecclesiam suam) to the outlook underlying the basic structure of the new Code of Canon Law. It might be assumed that all this was inspired and dictated merely by sociological imperatives. That is not the case. The People of God, the image of the Church most esteemed by Vatican II, is a great community; but it is so under the action of the Holy Spirit. The members of this People, who are seen in terms of equality, dignity, and freedom, receive the very same Spirit and act under that Spirit: hearing and proclaiming the word of God in the unity of the same faith and mission. In this model of the Church as communion/community, both Medellin and Puebla will find their common basis and their great mediation for an evangelization that is humanizing, transforming, and liberating. The BEC is indicated as the primary and proper scenario for the concrete embodiment of this communion. Sociologically, it implements a new pattern of personal and social relationships. Ecclesiologically, it is a common center for reading and interpreting life and for hearing the word of God, for union among those who believe, and for service to all through the various ministries that arise out of the needs of the community and dovetail with ito varied vocations and charisms. The BEC amalgamates and integrates the conscious, subsidiary coresponsibility of all, under the action of one and the same Spirit, into the total body of one and the same Church. Here again we come across a central element that sheds light on the whole complex. These BECs have been in fact ecclesial communities of poor people, marked by a structural poverty stronger than the poor themselves. In a glaring way it bears witness to the absence of communion and solidarity between human beings in our current societies, to the prevailing power of injustice that destroys the human being and nullifies God’s plan for humanity. Thus the BECs are a call to conversion of heart and to the re-establishment of justice in love, which will make possible communion in faith and mission. As a community that unites hearts, the BECs are no less a force for the transformation of a world that divides and crushes. They are insofar as they try to extend to the world and the Church the reality of communion that they themselves are already trying to live as communities. The little patch of the People of God that is living in each BEC, an â€Å"initial cell† as Medellin puts it, is a sign and BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 619 sacrament of the People of God that Vatican II sees as the Church, and that it would like to project over the world as a whole. In BECs, then, the ecclesiological model of Church as communion/ community ceases to be a theoretical variable of ecclesiological analysis. It becomes the existential witness to a reality of the Church, which is growing in communion and participation to become a community. In the BECs this model is a promising prototype of the necessary, ongoing process of historical becoming that is to culminate in the eschatological kingdom, where community is to be lived in full, definitive communion. THE SOTERIOLOGICAL COMPONENT In discussing these various ecclesiological models, I mentioned several times their underlying Christological component. I do not want to end this article without also alluding briefly to the importance of the soteriological conception these models may derive from their association with BECs as a way of being Church. The mystery of the Church is intimately bound up with the mystery of Jesus Christ, and no less with the understanding of his mission. This, in turn, is reflected in the conception of the ecclesial mission. Thus ecclesiology, Christology, and soteriology shed light on one another and help to explain one another. The salvation and redemption given to us by the Father in and through Jesus Christ (the meaning of his life and mission) is to be realized on at least three levels. They can be distinguished from one another analytically, but they are interwoven in reality. For the historical destiny of humanity must be oriented in line with its eschatological destiny, in the indissoluble unity of the proclamation and realization of the kingdom, which is to be initiated here but find its ultimate culmination only in the eschaton. The first level is the redeeming and saving liberation from sin that marks the human race as a whole and the individual human person. The second level has to do with sin in terms of its interpersonal and social projections, insofar as it expresses the perversion of God’s plan as manifested in the concrete human organization of social, economic, and political realities that have been created by human beings and that affect humanity. The third level has to do with liberation from sin as the latter is incorporated into the gestation of culture and history over centuries, which in turn is often the wellspring of sin on the two other levels and vice versa. These three levels of salvation, redemption, and liberation are a replica of God’s activity with the people of Israel, hence of the history of our salvation as designed by God. Salvation, redemption, or liberation cannot be understood solely from the divine side, i. e. , as our ransom from sin through God’s initiative and His new openness to a covenant of love with human beings in and 620 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES through Jesus Christ. Neither can it be understood solely in a directly anthropological sense that is not sufficiently existential, i. e. salvation as the fulness of human liberty and total opening up to the absolute, as a teleological orientation to the definitive, eschatological future of humanity. Salvation, redemption, and liberation must further be understood as the Pauline exigency that human beings also respond to, and ally themselves with, God and His project to liberate humanity with respect to the consequences of sin (Romans 2 and 7). Throughout history th ose consequences leave their mark not only on the life of the individual but also, and even more so, on the social context of the world. In the BECs we do find the soteriological key of the various ecclesiological models mentioned, a key that tends to stress the first level of redemption just noted. But everything I have been saying about the BECs with respect to the ecclesiological dimension of these models implies a twofold emphasis in the soteriological perspective, which is paramount in the ecclesial awareness of our day. The first says that human beings are, by the saving power of Jesus Christ, an active party in carrying on the process of salvation and liberation in history. Just as they were agents in the deformation of God’s plan through their human sin, so they express the new life given to them in Jesus Christ through their real-life embodiment of the love and justice that he has re-established. It is the realization of the Word, made Salvation: a biblical exigency throughout the two Testaments. A second emphasis is also affirmed in the BECs, communities of poor people. They see themselves as the primary subjects in setting in motion and actuating this process of realizing salvation through the transformation of sin’s consequences. In fact, they are the real-life victims of injustice-made sin in the world in which we live. Hence it is they who can best perceive the rupture between such injustice and God’s project. To be or become poor is to perceive this from the standpoint and condition of the poor whatever our social and economic condition might be. Here is picked up the primary inspiration of Jesus’ own life and mission (Lk 3:18-21), which must necessarily be reaffirmed in the life and mission of the Church. 3 13 In a forthcoming book, Basic Ecclesial Communities in Brazil, which is to be published in English by Georgetown University Press, I examine the origin and formation of Brazilian BECs, their evangelizing potential, and the rich novelty of their pastoral paradigm. I also explore them as a theological topic, and the challenges they may pose to the overall process of evangelization. A Portuguese version of the present article is being published by the Brazilian journal Perspectiva teologic a (Sept. -Dec. 1985).