Bruce Feilers Walking the Bible Essay Example for Free

Bruce Feilers Walking the Bible Essay Bruce Feiler gives his readers new perspectives on the background of the events told in the Five Books of Moses, and on the Bible itself. The book is concerned with how the land itself had a deep influence (and still has a deep influence) on the bible and the spiritual culture of the people, and the author attempts to demonstrate how the bible is still relevant today. The book is an attempt to provide a cultural and historical context for the Bible. It is peppered with the authors thoughtful insights on the relationship of the land and its people, and relates the path of (re)discovery of faith as a result of the journey, while also providing a good starting point for anyone desiring to travel through the Middle East. The book, of course, is not an objective, scholarly work, and should not be taken as such. Although scholarly views of the events outlined in the five books and of the land and culture relevant to these events are presented, it is by no means a scientific work, as obvious from the religious theme of the book. Feiler takes the reader on a two-year exploration of the first five books of the Bible, by actually trekking through the land in which the events in the five books occur. The land itself is the focus of the book. He provides his insights on the effects of the land of the people, ancient and modern, and relates the views of the Jews on the relationship between god and the people. He describes the wilderness as instrumental in uniting the ancient Israelites as a people. He describes his experience in the desert, the journey through which Feiler states is the core of the first five books. It is in the desert where he experienced the â€Å"raw human emotion involved in being in a stark place, confronting the limitations of ones upbringing, and trying to forge a new identity in the midst of a difficult, transforming journey. † Feiler did not have a strong motivating purpose at the start of his journey, but he relates the significant change in attitude that the journey brought to himself. His initial intention was merely to be a tourist of sorts, using the Bible as a travel guide to experience and appreciate the land in which the events in the first five books of the Bible occur, but when he starts his journey, he finds out that there is a palpable â€Å"connection† between the land and the people, and he stops seeing the Bible as merely a travel guide. Through his journey he develops insights into himself concerning his faith, particularly on his identity as a Jew. Feiler â€Å"rediscovers† his faith as a result of this journey, and provides some unique perspectives on the five books of Moses. Of course, as it focuses on the land, the book is also a travel memoir, a travel guide of sorts, providing useful tidbits for readers intending to journey there as well. Through his gustatory descriptions of geographical features, he manages to convey his impression of the sacredness of the land. He provides some background on scientific and historical arguments that have concerned the authenticity of the bible, but ultimately demonstrates that such concerns on empirical facts have little bearing on faith. He also outlines the influences of Israels relationships with neighboring lands, particularly Egypt and Mesopotamia, and how the culture of Israel was deeply connected to the land itself. The book focuses on faith, on history, and on travel, all in the context of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. As a work of literature, it is not outstanding. As a travel memoir, it provides some useful and entertaining facts about the geography and culture of Israel. But the book is mostly focused on the author himself, on his views and insights gained from his journey; the book succeeds ultimately as a spiritual undertaking.

Andrew Jacksons Unruly Rise to the Presidency Essay -- Papers

Andrew Jackson's Unruly Rise to the Presidency In what many have called the dirtiest presidential election ever, Andrew Jackson reigned supreme over John Quincy Adams in the election of 1828. For the first time in a political campaign, the main focus was to slander the reputation of the opponent. Issues seemed to be disregarded in favor of personal attacks upon the individual. The days of standing for office and remaining silent towards the American public before elections took place were over. The election of 1828 focused on insults, name calling, and heckling between the candidates and their parties. The War of 1812 threatened to destroy the young nation's pride. Washington had been burned to the ground, the Hartford Convention was in session, and rumors of a British armada had east coast cities beginning to panic. Into this atmosphere of gloom and doubt burst the news of Andrew Jackson's crushing victory over the British in New Orleans. "The brilliant and unparalleled victory at New Orleans, has closed the war in a blaze of Glory and the nation agreed with him that Jackson's victory placed America on the very pinnacle of fame." Jackson had lifted the pride and the spirit of nationalism in previously frustrated Americans, and thus, became a national hero. Jackson's military triumphs led to suggestions by friends that he become candidate for president, but he disavowed any interest, and political leaders in Washington assumed that the flurry of support for him would prove temporary. The campaign to make him president, however, was kept alive by his continued popularity and was carefully nurtured by a small group of his friends in Nashville, who combined devotion to the general with a high degree of political ... ...ress) Rosebloom, Eugene. A History of Presidential Elections, 1970. Remini, Robert, American Presidential Elections: Election of 1828 (Packet from class.) Remini, Robert, The Election of Andrew Jackson (J.B. Lippincott Co. 1963) Troy, Gil, See How They Ran: The Changing Role of the Presidential Candidate (Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts) Ward, John, Andrew Jackson - Symbol for an Age (New York Oxford University Press, 1962) Satz, Ronald. American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era (Lincoln, 1975) Argus of Western America. Frankfurt, Kentucky, Wednesday, May 16, 1827. Argus of Western America. Frankfurt, Kentucky, Wednesday, June 6, 1827. Argus of Western America. Frankfurt, Kentucky, Wednesday, October 29, 1828. www.ask.com www.altavista.com www.searchopolis.com Notes From Class Andrew Jackson's Unruly Rise to the Presidency Essay -- Papers Andrew Jackson's Unruly Rise to the Presidency In what many have called the dirtiest presidential election ever, Andrew Jackson reigned supreme over John Quincy Adams in the election of 1828. For the first time in a political campaign, the main focus was to slander the reputation of the opponent. Issues seemed to be disregarded in favor of personal attacks upon the individual. The days of standing for office and remaining silent towards the American public before elections took place were over. The election of 1828 focused on insults, name calling, and heckling between the candidates and their parties. The War of 1812 threatened to destroy the young nation's pride. Washington had been burned to the ground, the Hartford Convention was in session, and rumors of a British armada had east coast cities beginning to panic. Into this atmosphere of gloom and doubt burst the news of Andrew Jackson's crushing victory over the British in New Orleans. "The brilliant and unparalleled victory at New Orleans, has closed the war in a blaze of Glory and the nation agreed with him that Jackson's victory placed America on the very pinnacle of fame." Jackson had lifted the pride and the spirit of nationalism in previously frustrated Americans, and thus, became a national hero. Jackson's military triumphs led to suggestions by friends that he become candidate for president, but he disavowed any interest, and political leaders in Washington assumed that the flurry of support for him would prove temporary. The campaign to make him president, however, was kept alive by his continued popularity and was carefully nurtured by a small group of his friends in Nashville, who combined devotion to the general with a high degree of political ... ...ress) Rosebloom, Eugene. A History of Presidential Elections, 1970. Remini, Robert, American Presidential Elections: Election of 1828 (Packet from class.) Remini, Robert, The Election of Andrew Jackson (J.B. Lippincott Co. 1963) Troy, Gil, See How They Ran: The Changing Role of the Presidential Candidate (Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts) Ward, John, Andrew Jackson - Symbol for an Age (New York Oxford University Press, 1962) Satz, Ronald. American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era (Lincoln, 1975) Argus of Western America. Frankfurt, Kentucky, Wednesday, May 16, 1827. Argus of Western America. Frankfurt, Kentucky, Wednesday, June 6, 1827. Argus of Western America. Frankfurt, Kentucky, Wednesday, October 29, 1828. www.ask.com www.altavista.com www.searchopolis.com Notes From Class

How teaching about discipleship might affect the life of a Christian today Essay

Each and every Christian has a vocation; it is in baptism when we enter into the Christian family that we begin our obligation to live out our vocation. There are many examples of vocations that we could be called to, for example the religious ministries, the priesthood and religious life. But, then even the most â€Å"normal† of jobs and the most â€Å"simple† and â€Å"ordinary† things we do in our lives can be considered as fulfilling our vocation e.g. being a nurse, teacher, policeman or parent. We should have a positive response to vocation. We should not act like the Rich Young Man and let materialism weigh us down. We should act like the first disciples and give up everything and follow Jesus, but this has implications. Many people may find it difficult to show all the qualities of a disciple, such as giving up all they have, because they may have family responsibilities and it would be negligent to leave them or take things away from them. Also, society has changed and money is needed, if we were to be disciples like the first twelve we would not be able to survive on charity alone. Today’s population is more materialistic and therefore unwilling to part with money or possessions. We should not become obsessed with wealth and materialism. We should be humble like the Woman at the Treasury. Christians who try to live out their vocation should develop the following four areas: service, prayer, faith and worship just like the disciples in Mark’s Gospel. As Christians today we all have the responsibility to look after those in need and serve others just as the first disciples. Some may say that the mission today is somewhat â€Å"watered down†, but the principle remains the same. There are many Christian organisations that work all over the world caring for the sick, feeding the hungry and speaking up against evil and injustice eg. Christian Aid, Concern and Trà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½caire. Just because we don’t work for these organisations we can still fulfill the mission. Those who do carry out the mission to such an extent can face lots of prejudice and hatred. Service is another important part of Christian life today. Jesus showed us this as he was a leader, but also served – the disciples and those who he healed – Jesus brought this service to such an extent that he sacrificed himself. There are people this century that have also taken the mission to this extent eg. Oscar Romero, Mother Theresa and Maximillian Kolbe. Unfortunately there are not many people who have gone to such lengths. As Christians today we have to try our best to: â€Å"Forget self, take up our cross and follow me (Jesus)† (8:34) Prayer and faith are important elements of Christian life today. Prayer allows us to keep in touch with God and it allows us to let him know how we are feeling. Sadly however some people neglect prayer and only pray when they want something or are in great need of help. In Mark’s Gospel we see Jesus praying to his Father a number of times – in the desert and in the garden of Gethsemane. We see the consequences of lack of prayer story of the Epileptic Boy. When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not drive out the demon he answered: â€Å"Only prayer can drive this kind out.† (9:29) This suggests that the disciples did not pray enough or just did not use prayer in this instance. Without faith there would be no belief in Jesus. Christianity is based on faith – we believe and have faith that God exists and we believe this without seeing. We see the importance of faith in the story about the Woman with the Haemorrhage. She had faith that: â€Å"If I just touch his clothes, I will get well.† (5:28) She touched his clothes and he said: â€Å"My daughter, your faith has made you well.† We are human just like the first twelve disciples, we commit sin and make mistakes. We can fail to recognise him in the lives of others. Sometimes when we find life hard we reject Jesus and act like the rocky soil in the parable of the Sower. Yet even when times are difficult we should always turn to Jesus because he is always there for us. We should always have faith and trust in God. We know he will forgive us for our wrong doings as long as we are sorry, just as he did with Peter – Jesus forgave Peter for denying him. We know this because at the time of the resurrection Jesus left Peter in charge of the Church. If we want to live like the first disciples we should not hold grudges, and forgive those who do wrong against us – like Jesus. The message we should take from the commission is that the Good News is for everyone and that no one should be left out. Yet, in our world today there are groups of people who are segregated and marginalised – 2000 years after the time of Jesus. In conclusion, as Christian disciples we are called to have faith, pray, love others, serve others and worship God.

The Discussing Of Michael Porters Strategies Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1205 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Michael Porters article discusses strategies on competitive advantage and profitability to be used in the market. Market or else competitive environment and successful position in it requires competitive advantage. Basically what that means is for company being positioned in the marked faster than competitive companies and this also requires strategy. Value. Company must create value by activities as Porter identified as a value chain. Competitive advantage generates when company delivers benefits for its customers may be same as other companies but for example for lover cost or they deliver better advantages. This actually allows company to establish higher value for customers and higher profits for company. Regarding to operations of logistics the Pepsi and Coca Cola possess are similar or same. They have their own ingredients, which they purchase based on contracts and in their own facilities then they produce their own concentrate. As a follow on o perations they ship their concentrate to bottlers where they use bottling company. Bottling company after they receive the concentration, they add correct amount of sugar, carbonated water and mix it to the correct concentration and than they bottle it for sale. Commonly these companies have contracted as less as possible bottling companies. This was basically done in order for bottlers to meet the concentrate producers demand and also to decrease shipping prices, and better ability for delivery. There are two important reasons for this procedure. Protection of their well-kept secret and which is particular mix of ingredients and protect the secret from bottlers that what exactly goes into their product. This protects high value of it, which also supports the image of the product. For Pepsi and Coca Cola this also represents a sense of prestige to the other products with its excellent secrets. ÂÂ   Â Cash registers technology and its automation allow Pepsi and Coke and b ottling company to know exactly what amount of their product each element possesses. This strategy also allows sellers to sell more products and makes easy delivery of it in smooth timely procedure. Rareness. The rareness of a specific resource depends describes combination of physical rareness/uniqueness in the market or the rareness of the value of the resource caused by firms particular resource combination. Coca cola used to be one of the top companies over other soft drinks and has come up with many different types of favor at the inception of the business that would include sport drinks, bottled water and teas. Now both Coca cola and Pepsi with the constant growing allow now other vendors to contact in and have some opportunities to be a part of the companies. In regard to rareness the only rare component is the syrup that is artificial by the main corporations, which is then sold to the rest of the vendors. Coca-Cola and Pepsi used numerous technologies in order t o achieve rise to the top of the soft drink industry, and they also defined new technologies and established paradigms that popped the status quo like a cap from a soda bottle. ÂÂ   Through technology, Coca-Cola and Pepsi both perfected their drinks as a beverage and spread it over the world. Today, the US industry of soft drink is organized based on this principle. The Coca-Cola and Pepsi are now the largest companies in the world with their soft drinks. Imitability. Imitability evaluates capacity of value of resource of competitive advantage and its extend. If other firms that face a cost disadvantage because they do not possess these resources in obtaining or developing the resources, then the resources are imitable. Imitability is decsribed in two ways: duplication and substitution. These two main players dominate carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) sector. Coke and Pepsi are dominant companies of the soft drink industry and they have a pride to hold most part of a globa l market share. Additionally to these major players, there are also smaller companies such as Cott Corporation and Royal Crown that hold remaining market share. Coke and Pepsi are the main players of this market. Over a century they struggle to conquer the number one position in the market, and in last few years they compete fiercely to follow each others strategic decisions. However there is something that seems to threaten the profitability of these two companies. One thing seems to be able to decrease their high margins and that is increasing share of non-carbonated soft drinks since they rule in the CSDs industry. In regard to this, what will the future of Coke and Pepsi be? How will bottlers and Concentrate Producers (CPs) face this new challenge? Organization. Organization evaluates the fact how the firm is organized in order to utilize its resources and capabilities. Evaluation also includes companys components, which are reporting structure, systems of management controls, informational management and compensation policies. . These companies both perform close monitoring of the organizational structure, physical resources employees routine and financial performance. With these, the organizational function is to correctly formulate their tasks, organization, and guideline. Their managers delegate duties and tasks to the rest of the holders around the world. The organizations provide positive concert and output of their human resource division since it is their most important source for always being on top of the competition by always reading through to see if there is large amount of capable and knowledgeable employees. Staff is the most important assets of the corporations. Accomplishing assignments offers opportunities for the staff to strengthen their abilities and creates agreement. HR operates in various means as tactical associateÂÂ  forÂÂ  coca-cola. The motto right people in right places allows them to meet up company s goals and objectives. Globally, it was not easy for the company to operate successfully. However role and operations of dedicated HR department made the tough job easier for them. For driving the company on their way to success it is always about the creative manpower their performances. Job analysis is the process where sort of person who will be appointing for it must be here selected for these tasks skills including the job. Job description and job specification are two criteria of job analysis. This analysis is recognized by HR department of Coca Cola where they try to gather information regarding workers behavior performance and their working standards. This information is used by HR department to recruit, to select, to train people and for developing relationship between them. Â Health and safety should be a big issue in terms of any organization, so coca-cola HR department very strictly follows this policy under continuous observation. Recommendation to coca cola management. Due to specific concentration of coca cola on older generations I would recommend to widen its portfolio and include the strategy where focus would be on entire spectrum of customers. Also I would recommend pursuing a multi-pronged marketing strategy, including growth into geographic regions like Russia, China, and Turkey. Another recommendation would be leverage of the Company assets by brand extension into water-based, slightly sweetened refreshment drinks to meet more health-conscious consumers. Furthermore, the fact that company purchases concentrates and syrups and its entire requirement from Coca-Cola Trademark Beverages (which involves 90% of its total sales volume), could cause adverse impact on the companys future operation if a conflict of interest between the two companies would have arise. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Discussing Of Michael Porters Strategies Business Essay" essay for you Create order