Sunday, December 29, 2019

The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act Essay - 1746 Words

Prior to the federal mandate of EHR, research continued to show the fallacies of the healthcare system like the report published from the Institute of medicine, stating that â€Å"medical errors are the 8th leading cause of deaths in the U.S. and cost approximately forty billion dollars a year† (Overview, 2012). This was one of many indicators that healthcare needed to be reformed and in 2009, the president signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or HITECH Act, which mandated that all healthcare providers must comply and begin to transition to electronic medical records (EMR) and demonstrate â€Å"meaningful use.† This act set up a timeline, which established that practices and hospitals needed to be up and running with EMR in order to continue receiving reimbursements from federal programs like Medicaid and Medicare. In order to understand this act and what it accomplishes, we first need to understand what EHR, EMR and PHR systems are. According to Sewell Thede (2013), EMR or electronic medical record is a healthcare record created by providers, agencies or hospitals and can be interoperable, which means shared with the EHR if it meets national standards. A PHR or a personalized health record provides patients’ access to their own health information and the ability to enter health information communicate with their providers and record and manage their own information The EHR or electronic health record contains data from multiple EMR’s and PHR’s in real-time and isShow MoreRelatedThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act1532 Words   |  7 Pagescriticized plans in his presidency, it did exactly what it was meant for, which was to fix the economy and create growth. After the crash of the market in 2008, Obama created the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The act was an â€Å"economic stimulus package†(Amadeo). The act would cost $787 billion. The act was meant to help families and small businesses instead of big business so that people in the United States could put trust into the system again which could stimulate spending and growthRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act1606 Words   |  7 PagesPeople believe the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA had a centralizing effect, yet there are motives that support, as well as some that oppose the act. The act is sometimes referred to as The Stimulus or The Recovery Act. The United States Congress in February of 2009 passed this Act and it was signed in the same month, by President Barack Obama. The main goal for the Act consisted of maintaining and building jobs right away. The next goal was to offer momentary release plans for thoseRead MoreThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act552 Words   |  2 PagesIn 2008, the American economy broke down. Known as the Global Financial Crisis, this is widely considered to be the worst financial crisis since the 1930’s when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression hit. On November 4, 2008, candidate Barack Obama was elected for the first term of his presidency. The following February, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—or the ARRA—was signed into effect by congress, and made into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. This stimulusRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act784 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law in 2009, includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act known as the HITECH Act. The act defined specific requirements for receiving financial incentives for ‘meaningful use’ of the electronic health record (EHR). Hospitals and providers could begin implementation of the requirements in 2011 to receive the incentives by meeting specific objectives, after 2015 failure to meet meaningful use requirementsRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act Essay799 Words   |  4 PagesOn February 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was instated. This fiscal plan was created to stabilize the economy while it was spiraling down out of control. At the time, the United States was experiencing many economic problems and was very close to a collapse. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was created by Barack Obama to save 900,000 to 2.3 million jobs. The plan ask ed for 800 billion dollars but had to be approved by congress first. This plan tried to end the breakdownRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act1301 Words   |  6 Pagesfor hospitals to institute meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) by 2011 (Adler-Milstein, Bates, Jha, 2011) (Murphy, 2010). The Meaningful Use Act is a complicated principle that is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as well as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the gravity of ARRA, HITECH, and meaningful use. It will attempt to do this by explaining ARRA, HITECHRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act1596 Words   |  7 PagesOverview of Meaningful Use The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 identified three main components of meaningful use: the use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner, electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of care, and the use of technology to submit clinical outcomes and quality measures (Heath Resources and Service Administration, n.d.). ARRA includes many measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, with the â€Å"Health Information Technology for EconomicRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act1513 Words   |  7 Pages In 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) allocated approximately $19 billion to support physicians and hospitals in attaining meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). The meaningful use program is intended to facilitate providers to amass and save patient data such as allergies, health history, lab results, health center visits in the electronic health record (EHR) and securely communicate these records with other health entities and governmental agencies (OracleRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act1048 Words   |  5 Pagescore criteria, and recommendations for additional criteria. Overview of Meaningful Use In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) were passed by the Obama legislation to try and improve healthcare for Americans by reducing costs and improving quality. The ARRA is commonly known as the ‘stimulus package’. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act was part of the ARRA to help improve our country’s infrastructure. HITECH supports electronic healthRead MoreThe American Recovery And Reinvestment Act2542 Words   |  11 PagesExecutive Summary The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made an investment in the year 2009 to encourage the adoption and implementation of the electronic health records (EHRs)(Cite). EHRs incentive payments were authorized through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they privately and securely used EHRs for achieving improvements in care delivery by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The healthcare organizations are expected to

Saturday, December 21, 2019

CEET(Electronics Electricity) Example

Essays on CEET(Electronics Electricity) Coursework Stepper Motors A typical stepper motor has four coils evenly spaced around the field and a permanent magnet armature. If any combination of field orientation can be generated by controlling which coils are turned on, and which direction current flows through each coil, how many different steps or positions can the motor have per revolution? Considering that the motor has 4 different positions of which will discuss them in order to determine the number of the different steps or rather positions that the motor has in one revolution. The illustration of the 4 frames is shown below where the electromagnets are the 4 inner blocks with 4 teeth each. The electromagnets are numbered, electromagnet 1(one labeled 1 and is blue). The next electromagnet is electromagnet 2 which is next to electromagnet 1 in the clockwise direction. Then, have electromagnet 3 and electromagnet 4 in the same clockwise direction. Fig 1. Figure shows the step motor In position 1, the electromagnet 1 which is on top is turned on; it attracts the teeth on the iron rotor gear (red in color). In this way, the gear teeth are aligned to the electromagnet 1. In position 2, electromagnet 1 is maintained as on while electromagnet 2 is powered making the 2 to be on. This aligns the gear teeth between electromagnet 1and electromagnet 2 resulting to a 45 degrees rotation. In position 3, electromagnet 1 is powered off; this will result to alignment of rotor with the electromagnet 2. This leads to an addition rotation of 45 degrees. The moment electromagnet 1 on top is powered again; the rotor will have undergone 8 steps comprising each of 45 degrees. This is due to the fact, the rotor has to go complete revolution which is 360 degrees; it will thus cover (360/45) = 8 steps to make a complete rotation.For the stepper motor shown in problem 3, draw a pulse train for the four coils that will rotate the motor in eight 45 degree steps all the way around the motor. For each step covered by the coil that transla tes to one pulse so since the coil undergoes 8 steps the pulse train will contain 8 pulses as shown in the diagram below.Fig 2. Shows the 8 pulses of a pulse train for the 4 coilsWork cited1. â€Å"Integrating PC- based logic and motion control† White paper, Entivity I Incorporation2. Benjamin C, Kuo. â€Å"Incremental motion control-step motors and control systems†, 19793. Technical paper â€Å"Introduction to stepper motor system†. Anaheim Automation Corporation4. Douglas W. Jones â€Å"Control of stepping motor. Tutorial† http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step?types.html5. http://www.sdp-si.com/D220/PDF/D220T155.pdf6. Susan Weinscheck, Pamela Jamar, Sarah C. Yeo. â€Å"GUI design essentials†. 19977. Randolph J. Andrews. â€Å"Motion control terminal blocks: the next step in distributed motion control†, Incremental Motion Control Systems and Devices Symposium, 19998. Parker Hannifin Corporation technical paper. â€Å"Linear motor basics†9. www.Compumotor.com. Retrieved on 19th March 2013.10. www.motorola.com. Retrieved on 19th March 2013.

Friday, December 13, 2019

Data Flow Diagram Explain Free Essays

4. 3 DATA FLOW DIAGRAM A data flow diagram is a graphical technique that depicts information flow and transforms that are applied as data move from input to output. The DFD is also known as Data Flow Graph or Bubble Chart. We will write a custom essay sample on Data Flow Diagram Explain or any similar topic only for you Order Now The DFD is used to represent increasing information flow and functional details. Also DFD can be stated as the starting point of the design phase that functionally decomposes the requirements specifications down to the lowest level of detail. A Level 0 also called a fundamental system model or a context level DFD that represent the entire software elements as a single bubble with input and output data indicated by incoming and outgoing arrows, respectively. Additional process and information flow parts are represented in the next level, i. e. , level 1 DFD. Each of the processes represented at level 1 are sub functions of overall system depicted in the context model. Any processes that are complex in level 1 will be further represented into sub functions in the next level, i. e. , level 2. Data flow diagram is a means of representing a system at any level of detail with a graphic network of symbols showing data flows, data stores, data processes and data sources. The purpose of data flow diagram is to provide a semantic bridge between users and system developers. The diagram is the basis of structured system analysis. A DFD describes what data flows rather than how they are processed, so it does not depend on hardware, software, data structure or file organization. 4. 3. 1 Components of Data Flow Diagram There are four symbols that are used in the drawing of Data Flow Diagrams: Entities External entities represent the sources of data that enter the system or the recipients of data that leave the system. * Process Processes represent activities in which data is manipulated by being stored or retrieved or transformed in some way. A circle represents it. The process will show the data transformation or change. * Databases Databases represent storage of data within the sys tem. * Data Flow A data flow shows the flow of information from its source to its destination. A line represents a data flow, with arrowheads showing the direction of flow. How to cite Data Flow Diagram Explain, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Remember by Christina Rossetti, How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and When We Two Parted by Lord Byron Essay Example For Students

Remember by Christina Rossetti, How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and When We Two Parted by Lord Byron Essay The three poems, Remember by Christina Rossetti; How Do I love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and When We Two Parted by Lord Byron, each explore love and loss in their own unique ways. Remember is, as expected from the title, a solemn lament which is a farewell sonnet to her treasured one. How Do I Love Thee? is again a sonnet of love but is of a love that is present and hopefully will remain forever. The third poem that will be examined is When We Two Parted which tells of a lost secret love that has left a scar on Lord Byrons life. Elizabeth Barrett Brownings impressive How Do I Love Thee? is, as you might suppose, a poem describing the extent of the authors love of her partner. It is one of her Sonnets from the Portuguese which were written in her Italian days at the Casa Guidi. Like many of them How Do I Love Thee? takes the form of a patriarchal sonnet which is the most common sonnet form and is for the most part the more appropriate form for love poetry over the English or Shakespearian sonnet or the Spenserian sonnet. Using sonnet form, you would expect the change in tone after the first octet but in this the change is less pronounced with a subtle change to a graver side of love. Though it is so understated it could be debated that it isnt there at all. The second poem to be analysed is Lord Byrons When We Two Parted. This is written from a different perspective to How Do I Love Thee? where the relationship has ended and his feelings can be simply shown in language. The overriding tone is one of hostility and bitterness towards his past and this is imprinted in the layout which features an ABAB rhyme pattern emphasising the separation. This also happens in First Love by John Clare where this rhyming structure stresses the fact that they were not as one rather just the one. When We Two Parted is particularly interesting as Lord Byron is frequently described as a womaniser yet he seems to express regret at the incident as, for once, it appears to have harmed him more than the other involved. The last poem to be studied in detail is Remember by Christina Rossetti. This is a patriarchal sonnet like How Do I Love Thee? but tells a different story. Remember is a sombre dirge acting as a departing message for Christina Rossettis loved one. Also the separation between the octet and the sestet is much more evident in this, the first segment of eight lines is a reminder of the good times and how much she will be missed. But the second section of six lines acts as a messenger to tell that the time has come to move on. To live their life without the one soon deceased. We also know that this poem is genuinely heartfelt as Christina Rossetti had a recurring illness which was diagnosed sometimes as angina and sometimes as tuberculosis before finally dying of cancer on December 29th 1894. How Do I Love Thee? is thought by many to be the epitome of the love poem and I dont think anyone can disagree when reading the descriptions of faultless love. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. This is, perhaps, the best description of true love, showing Elizabeth Barrett Brownings infinite degree of feeling for her love. It stretches in all directions as shown by the enjambment which prolong the emotions as far as is possible and may possibly suggest a love so complete it is in a new dimension. An unparalleled level for their love to stand on. How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways. Truly it is a boundless love that is, as of yet, inaccessible to others. .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 , .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .postImageUrl , .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 , .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:hover , .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:visited , .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:active { border:0!important; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:active , .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35 .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uba863b631919949df48e4fdfb93e7d35:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Andrew Marvell: A Famous Metaphysical Poet EssayTo a point, When We Two Parted describes a relationship of a not to distant quality from How Do I Love Thee? The only difference being that Lord Byrons relationship has ended and he feels it has marred the perfection of it. The secrecy of the relationship also appears to have taken its toll as In secret we met, in silence I grieve, he feels betrayed, deserted and not quite complete without his partner. There is also a sense of regret about the whole affair as Long, long shall I rue thee, too deeply to tell. We get the impression that only now does he understand the quite disproportional consequences to his actions. This love may well have been a love meant to be, which surpassed all known love but from When We Two Parted we can learn that all good things come to an end, regardless, and when they do they can leave devastation or silence and tears. Remember however, describes a different type of love, a platonic love. The emphasis of the relationship does not seem to be on the love rather the hole that will be left. When you can no more hold me by the hand, nor I half turn to turning stay. Christina Rossetti will be greatly missed as a companion rather than a lover. Yet, the relationship is pushed a different way in the sextet; the memory of it is more important then what it really was. This resembles My Last Duchess by Robert Browning where the love is only remembered by the picture on the wall which will always be a pleasant memory. This description is one of an ideal remembrance of herself when she has Gone far away into the silent land. All three poems use language to enhance the effect the poem has on the reader. In Remember and When We Two Parted the lexis is a lot more desolate than in How Do I Love Thee? When We Two Parted is a story of the death of a relationship and so language of death is often used to cement this idea in the readers head. The opening lines of the poem read When we two parted In silence and tears which help prepare you for the remainder of the poem as Lord Byron continues to dwell on the demise of another relationship. Words like pale and cold give the impression of a lifeless person who was missing something or someone. Furthermore, vocabulary you would usually associate with loss are used to describe the failings of the partnership such as grieve and the knell to mine ear. Similarly in Remember the imminent departure of Christina Rossetti invites the use of deathlike language to make sure the reader knows that she is leaving this world for the silent land. She tells her loved one not to grieve and not to remember and be sad rather forget and smile. This is interesting as she asks to be forgotten where in poems like When We Two Parted and My Last Duchess the memory of the other is strongly preserved in either a painting or in a persons mind. However, How Do I Love Thee? being about a love that is still strong and true it does not focus on death and separation, instead on everything that is good. I love thee freely, as men strive for right; I love thee purely as they turn from praise. This encapsulates the whole ideology of this type of poem where the love is everlasting sincere, and most importantly is so strong it can get through anything. To back up this you only have to look at probably the most famous line of one of the most famous love poems ever written: I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach. The words depth, breadth and height suggest all dimensions and therefore an interminable love. .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf , .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .postImageUrl , .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf , .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:hover , .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:visited , .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:active { border:0!important; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:active , .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9975caf22dedaf74894495b73d13dfbf:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Half Dead EssayRemember, When We Two Parted and How Do I Love Thee? each show love in a different way, Remember shows it as a platonic love between friends where it is going away. When We Two Parted tells the story of a lost love edged with the feelings of bitterness that come with an ended relationship and How Do I Love Thee? recounts an absolute love that is flawless and perfect in every way. The presentation of loss in How Do I Love Thee? is virtually non-existent with only one mention where the love will grow stronger after death. In When We Two Parted loss is the main theme of the poem and is shown as a very grave matter that is not good for any person. Remember shows loss differently as though it isnt necessarily an awful thing. It isnt good but you cannot dwell on it, you must move on and live your life. Ultimately, love and loss can be presented in many different ways and these poems show us some of these ways very well.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Bead Bar System Development

Bead Bar System Development Free Online Research Papers This essay will concentrate on the interior composition of the Bead Bar. The Bead Bar is an establishment that permits its consumers to produce their own costume jewelry using gear such as wire, beads and string. Presently, there are three branches of the business composed of one studio, two franchises, and three bead Bars on Board. The role of the Bead Bar studio is to oversee the six Bead Bar studios that have 2 locations in New York City, Long Island Boston, Washington D.C. and the flagship in New Canaan, Connecticut. The franchise sector has the task of promoting beading supplies to stores that wish to open their own studio location. The franchise locations are located in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Chicago, Seattle, and Miami. The Bead Bar on Board is a moveable Bead Bar intended especially for cruise ships. The company is compiled of 15 full-time employees and 20 part-time employees. The Bead Bar has labored with their company due to lack of efficient tools. Officials at the Bead Bar made the choice to develop their business by getting mentors to assist them with making essential adjustments to the business. In previous years, good organization has been a dilemma for the reason that the systems that were in place did help them to take advantage of many needs. Since the Bead Bar has abundant locations all through the United States, a powerful networking system is imperative to preserve communication on the inside at each location for external communication with stores and area monopoly locations. Proposals will be made for the complex structural design of the Bead Bar, and the pros and cons will be weighed Background Computers are influential in operating the Bead Bar, due to the nature of the business. The Bead Bar is continuously processing request for supplies and totaling out consumer goods. When Bead Bar had a paper-based system, they encountered a high frequency of human error because they found it rather demanding to keep everything well structured. In order to get to the bottom of some of the concern, recommendations were made by consultants to purchase computer hardware, software, and database management systems. Currently, there are 2 notebook computers, 14 printers and 14 personal computers. The personal computers are equipped with standard keyboards. 17 CRT monitors, printers 2.8 MHz processor, 512.8 MB of RAM, CD-RW drives, and 80 GB hard drives. Each of the computers uses the Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system. The Microsoft Office Productivity Suite was acquired for employees to do word processing, organize presentations, and spreadsheets. Some employees in sist upon one having access to Adobe PageMaker, QuickBooks, Interact Commerce Corporation’s Act! The Bead Bar operates on Oracle 9i database, which is a project database management system, intended to deal with the growing needs of the Bead Bar. As time moves forward, they are looking to arrange their records accurately through a network so their database can operate to its full capability. Recommendation Overview In order to operate a well-organized business, it is essential for the Bead Bar to have a mesh topology. The mesh topology would work well for the Bead Bar since this type of networking system is extremely consistent, and communicates information quick and efficiently. This particular layout would focus on the trepidations of the executives, and since the Bead Bar is spread throughout the United States, this blueprint would be the most cost-effective. According to questions tackled by executives at the Bead Bar, they would like network design and topology that would allow them to broadcast facts, and send data quickly, and if possible connect to other computers. The human resource manager stated concerns about the confidentiality of information. In this case a client-server would best benefit the Bead Bar. Network Topology The mesh topology would be the best fit for the Bead Bar. The Bead Bar has several offices throughout the United States and the mesh topology would afford a way for the franchise locations to communicate back and forth. The mesh network is perfect for a business that will have several system links. This network is highly dependable because there is no hub needed. The Bead Bar articulated clear apprehension about how fast data would travel between locations, so a mesh network would without doubt attend to this interest. This network runs well because each node connects directly to the other. The mesh topology is the most cost-effective topology fitting for the needs of the Bead Bar. Miriam, the Vice President of Marketing deems it necessary for all studios to be coupled so she can access information that will prove useful for sales and marketing strategies. Julia, the Chief Financial Officer voiced concerns in regard to the cost of the network. The mesh network would be the most appropriate network topology in provisions of meeting the standards of basic needs for the executives and it is also the most proficient topology that would meet their network specifications. Network Architecture The Bar must have a client-server architecture set up to facilitate their network. The client-server allocates computers, grant services, process requests, and act as a client. The server is an extremely powerful computer that is set up to handle multiple demands at the same time. The server is an indispensable source of memory, because it can function as a main foundation of all information storage that is pertinent to the operation of the Bead Bar. The server should be set up to share consumer data, and act as an effective storage unit. The client-server network architecture would prove to be more beneficial to the executives of the Bead Bar, thus proving useful for the Bead Bar. Some executives noted that they wanted the ability to transmit communication to the various branches of the company. There are some materials that the executives would like to keep hush-hush and maintain full control of the main source of data. All computers do not have to act as clients and servers based on the fact that there is no need for every employee to have access to company data. The significance of the company data would be sealed with the client-server network. Network Advantages and Drawbacks There are pros and cons to each network resolution, but suggestions were made based on cost-effectiveness and the basic networking needs of the Bead Bar. In order to meet the needs of Bead Bar and its various locations, a strong and consistent networking system is needed. The mesh topology is perfect for businesses with various locations because of the speed and competence of the network. Some executives expressed a preference for all computers to associate with each other, and the mesh network does fit that criteria. The server that is set up in this topology does not act as a hub, which in turn helps with the speed and success of transmissions. The mesh topology is the most cost-efficient topology that would meet the needs of the Bead Bar. The mesh topology is a good fit for the Bead Bar, and there are no drawbacks to this particular networking solution. The client-server design can be clarified as a divisive networking decision because it would regulate ease of access to company data. This proposal was based on compelling points made by some of the executives in respect to some possible security concerns that could affect the confidentiality of the company data. Some employees feel they should have access to all company data but that is not necessary. If a Bead Bar studio or franchise requires documents they do not have access to, they can send a request through the proper channels. The client-server database is suggested to protect the company overall. Based on all networking recommendations that have been made, the Bead Bar will be able to run their business more proficiently. With suitable networking, now the database can function accurately. The executives at the Bead Bar will be quite pleased once they see results from the changes; the business will grow as a direct result of an increased exchange of ideas because of the networking topology and architecture. Reference List Information Systems Technology, by Ross A. Malaga.Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright  © 2005 by Pearson Education Research Papers on Bead Bar System DevelopmentThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductResearch Process Part One

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Comair AirCrews Operations Management Case Study

Comair AirCrews Operations Management - Case Study Example This research, planning and analysis report aims to analyze the development of the available system of Comair which is a well established airline company in the US. This report will make a deep study and analyze Comair' AirCrews Operations Management and scheduling system. This report is based on a detailed analysis of the new system implementations at the Comair's AirCrews Operations Management and scheduling. Comair already has a working system for the AirCrews Operations Management and scheduling, but because of different developments in technology as well as the emerging requirement for improved business management a better system is now needed for the airways to manage its crews. The main objective for this analysis is to determine the main factors with regard to the adoption of a new system. The various tools like SWOT, PESTLE, and Value Chain Analysis are being used. Comair's business strategy is based on customer satisfaction. Comair is a well accomplished air line of the US and now has almost 7000 airline professionals. These employees are very cooperative in their dealings with the passengers. The airline operates more than 1100 flights everyday and carries about 30000 passengers. Comair due to its best performance has won an award and is the leader in the regional air transport carrier industry (Case Study). Thus the developments in the business of Conair has made it imperative to establish a better organizational policy to meet its enhanced customer management requirements. Therefore Comair has resolved to effectively establish some policy with regard to its overall management process. Not to mention this management process include personal management, staff management, flight schedule and other areas of air crew operation. This will aid the management to provide customers with more quality services thereby earning customer loyalty. Comair IS/IT Strategy Comair has well-known IS/IT Strategy. The IS/IT Strategy aims to develop a new system which will aid in better functioning and performance of the crew when compared to the already existing crew scheduling and management system. This new IS/IT Strategy has been developed to over come the problems which exists with the old system making it harder for the overall management and the proper functioning of the crew. The present system of was actually implemented about 20 years ago and was developed by the SBS legacy system developers. Comair IS/IT Strategy development motives The existing SBS legacy system of the airline is not effective with regard to the handling of the ever increasing schedules. The system was developed in a very old programming language - FORTRAN. The outcome is that the system is not every effective to the present day functioning as the language does not have good user

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Portrayal Of Black Men In News Broadcasts In Relation To Popular Research Paper

Portrayal Of Black Men In News Broadcasts In Relation To Popular Culture In American Society - Research Paper Example It is therefore conclusive that the news affects and is affected by the dominant trends and affairs in the society. However, in the case of America, there is reason to suspect that some elements stereotypical and racism affects the objectivity of newscasters. Due to this, there are some trends in the media that portray Black men in a way that is often not clear and/or representative of the actual actions that occur in the wider society. This paper argues that the way Black men are portrayed by in the news media is strongly influenced by stereotypes amongst key players in the media as well as popular culture which has presented Black men as violent and a menace to society. Empirical Studies Research and studies have been carried out by various academics and stakeholders in the American society about the image that the news media presents of Black men. The dominant research in this area were conducted by two main figures, Entman and Romer. Entman discovered in his research that the dom inant image of Black men portrayed in the media is that of mug shots which indicates a Black man under restraint by a White police officer (330). On the other hand, White criminals who are featured in news are often shown with their past picture. This indicates that the White criminals are presented in a less harsh form whilst the Black criminal is presented as a dangerous handcuffed person who needs to be restrained because he is dangerous. Also, Entman identified that Black criminals are often presented in news without their names (342). This suggests that these Black men are seen to be just a part of a larger group of criminals who has just done what members of his group do – commit crime. On the other hand, White criminals are always presented under their individual names. This shows that the White community presents their criminals as persona non grata or persons who are singled out of their 'clean' society for inappropriate behavior to the group. Romer however conducted statistical research that led to interesting findings and conclusions that gave very different identifications to the whole idea of the way criminals of Black origins are presented in America. First of all, he identifies that Black men are thrice more likely to appear as criminal suspects and they are twice as likely not to appear as law enforcement officers (Harnett 110). This means that Black people are always seen as the bad guys. They are hardly seen as the law enforcement officers. In comparative studies, Romer identified that although 30% of homicide victims in Los Angeles are Blacks, they are seriously under-represented in police coverage of homicide victims. Most homicide victims who merit news exposure in LA are Whites (Harnett 110). Also, the American Bar Association recommends that the past crimes of suspects and victims must be aired to provide better discharge of justice in cases (Harnett 110). However, in real life, Black victims are likely to have their past criminal records disclosed through the media. This also shows that there is clear evidence that there is discrimination in the news. Whites dominate in the area of violence and felony in Los Angeles but only 20% of these crimes are ever aired on TV. Also, with a statistic of 59% of the police officers in LA being White, they are over-represented in media coverages because about 69% of police officers who appear in news broadcasts are

Monday, November 18, 2019

Western Dominations as a Menace to Islamic Supremacy Essay

Western Dominations as a Menace to Islamic Supremacy - Essay Example Thus, the Muslim fundamentalist movements advocate an unreserved rejection for the West for "causing" all these social ills to transpire due to Western influences and modernization. This rejection is expressed in their denunciation of and violence on Western countries, their interests and peoples as well as 'impious' Muslim people who have 'embraced' the Western modernization and education. Establishment of states and societies based on Islamic law and traditional mores are the end goals of the Muslim fundamentalists. This is so because Muslim fundamentalists view the world as one to be dominated by Islam, and the Western countries and peoples will waste away to give way to this domination. Thus, in this paper, the key explanatory factors that lead the Muslims towards anti-American and anti-Western sentiments are economic and political domination as well as the imperialistic culture that the United States and the West exhibit, hampering the quest of Islam religion and Muslim governme nt towards world domination. The struggle between Western and anti-Western influences are said to have been traced since the seventh century in the expansion of Islam in the Middle East from 622 A.D. to the present. Lewis emphasized that during Muhammad's lifetime, the Muslims were both a political and a religious community, with the Prophet as head of state who ruled the government and the people, dispensed justice, collected taxes, waged war and made peace.1 This description gives an initial knowledge that the Muslim religion is not at all a plain religion like the Christian religion now, but is also a political embodiment, a way of life, and a set of mores and traditions, which a Muslim must follow at all costs.   As already mentioned, the factors that led towards anti-Western and anti-American sentiments are social, economic, and political ones. The social factors are the staggering global poverty blamed on imperialist influences by the Western countries and the United States, which Lewis covertly mentioned in his book. Extreme economic inequality and problems related to this are also viewed by Islam as being caused by Western domination. Lewis' thesis is that Islam's obsession with the United States is an old occurrence and constitutes the Middle East's escalating hatred for the West.2   The anti-Western and anti-American Muslim sentiments are traced done to the antiquated dominance of Islam, which extended from Morocco to Indonesia, from Kazakhstan to Senegal. It goes back to the mission of the prophet Muhammad in Saudi Arabia during the seventh century and the creation of Islamic community and state.3   

Friday, November 15, 2019

Contemporary Styles of Preaching

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