Saturday, January 25, 2020

Unity And Diversity In The New Testament Religion Essay

Unity And Diversity In The New Testament Religion Essay The author of this article on Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, D. A. Carson, develops a reflection in defending the unity of the New Testament having in consideration the diversity of it. He starts his reflection by describing and then criticizing some works done by others scholars to be able to state his position on the matter. One of the works was the book Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity written by W. Bauer, which Carson strongly criticizes because of his abandonment of the New Testament based on disagreement of the existence of the first century church (66). According to Carson, this critical reconstruction of early church history, coupled with other developments that equally depreciate the truthfulness of the New Testament have generated a host of writings exploring the nature of New Testament theology (67). Carson proposes that systematic theology and biblical theology are necessary for the understanding of such unity in the New Testament even when there i s diversity. Contribution to the Idea of Doing Biblical Theology Carson defines biblical theology as the branch of theology whose concern it is to study each corpus of the Scripture in its own right, especially with respect to its place in history of Gods unfolding revelation (69). For him it is very important to his readers to know that biblical theology has played an important role in the development of the unity of the New Testament because of the historical facts that go with it. On the other hand, Carson defines systematic theology as the branch of theology that seeks to elaborate the whole and the parts of Scripture (69). In my analysis, I noticed that systematic theology has to do with logical instead of historical links. However, I also noticed that there is a connection between biblical theology and systematic theology. Carson asserted, biblical theology must be systematic; even if it focuses on the historical place and significance of each corpus; and systematic theology, if it turns on fair exegesis, must perforce rely on historical considerations (70). In my understanding, it seems that the author is emphasizing the need for unity in the New Testament to be able to apply either biblical or systematic theologies. In Carsons criticism, he cites the works of J.D.G. Dunn especially the kerigma of Jesus (72). Not only does Dunn develop the idea of the use of the kerigma but also the use of the Old Testament manuscripts, other worship concepts, and the study of the life of Christ. However, Dunn excludes the evidence in the Gospel of John. He eliminates the kerigma. He avoids discussing about this topic. On the other hand, Carson asserts that the factor that determines the unity of the New Testament is the person of Jesus as a man and Jesus as the glorified one and concludes that there was diversity among the Christians in the first century (72). He disagrees, as do I, about Dunns conclusion that Jesus was not, in His own teaching, the object of faith (74). No wonder Carson labels Dunns book as superficial (77). In spite of all of his criticism to Dunns works, the author switches viewpoints to discuss the importance of systematic theology in being coherent to the culture or context being studied. In this sense, he develops four positions to back up his statements. The first position is that the Scripture is faithful and historically testable (79). The second position is that the laws of logic help in the integration of knowledge and communication of the truth (80). The third position is that systematic theology requires documentation to deal with the Bible topics (81). The last position is that systematic theology needs to have biblical data including the sixty-six books of the canon (82). He also discusses the topic of diversity in the New Testament characterized by synthesizing the truth found in the Bible in contemporary terms (83), and the distinction of how a writer records and interpret that truth (84). In addition, the diversity also includes the own personal interests and ideologies of the writers, which means that two authors could be talking about the same topic but with different words and writing styles. Implications for My Ministry The author helped me to understand the differences between biblical and systematic theology and the importance in applying correct methodology when analyzing biblical texts. He showed me through this article that exegesis interacts with biblical theology; biblical theology interacts with historical theology; and historical theology interacts with systematic theology. All of them interact with each other. Another implication in my ministry is that I need to teach the Scripture and transmit to my congregation and youth group that it is trustworthy. In addition, I need to legitimize that there is harmony in both theologies, biblical and systematic theologies. This understanding will help me to have a better interpretation of biblical passages. Finally, something that I learned from D.A. Carson is to have a broad analysis and criticism about works of other authors in order to make the truth be revealed through the processes involved in systematic theology. This analysis will help me to think critically with the purpose of deciphering truth.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Natural human caused Disasters Essay

1. The rig’s malfunctioning blowouts preventer ultimately failed, but it was needed only because of human errors. Those errors originated with a team of BP engineers in Houston, such as 1. Fewer barriers to gas flow 2. Fewer centralizers to keep cement even 3. No bond log to check cement integrity 4. Pressure test misinterpreted 5. Mud barrier removed early 6. Blowouts preventer failed. 2. In the months following the Gulf oil disaster, wildlife managers, rescue crews scientists and researchers saw many immediate impacts of the oil impacting wildlife. Oil coated birds’ feathers, causing birds to lose their buoyancy and the ability to regulate body temperature. Mammals ingested oil causing internal bleeding, sea turtles covered in oil, dead and dying sea coral. 3. Many humans experienced respiratory problems he developed during the cleanup of the BP oil spill. People can be exposed to the chemicals in oil by breathing them, by swallowing them, or by touching them. Previous studies show consistent evidence of acute toxic effects, mainly neurological, ocular, and respiratory, of those living in exposed communities and among clean-up workers. 4. BP’s stock fell by 52% in 50 days on the New York Stock Exchange, BP gas stations in the United States, the majority of which the company does not own, reported sales off between 10 and 40% due to backlash against the company. On 5 July 2010, BP reported that its own expenditures on the oil spill had reached $3.12 billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs. Due to the loss of the market value, BP had dropped from the second to the fourth largest of the four major oil companies by 2013 5. It was a massive spilling the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowouts that began with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010, At 9:56 pm, Gas, oil and concrete from the Deepwater Horizon explode up the wellbore onto the deck and then catches fire. The explosion kills 11 platform workers and injured 17 others; another 98 people survive without serious physical injury 6. A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands and estuaries from the spreading oil  utilizing skimmer ships, 7. BP LLP owned the well that blew up, Transocean Ltd owned the rig, and Halliburton Co. conducted the key tests right before the event. 8. Victims of oil spills have few methods available to them for receiving monetary compensation. To recover from any financial losses sustained due to the BP oil spill in 2010 their options are 1) an individual law suit in civil court, 2) a class-action law suit in civil court, or 3) the court approved settlement. BP created a compensation fund, Therefore a $20 billion fund was agreed upon for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. 9. Senator Charles Schumer responded to the continuing Gulf oil leak by proposing new legislative action that would raise the liability BP could face for the disaster 1. 10. In the BP Oil Spill, more than 200 million gallons of crude oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico for a total of 87 days, making it the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. Causing it to be a very large geographic issue because of the gallons of oil that were pumped into our ocean.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Australias Ageing Population And Its Subsequent Impact On...

1.0 INTRODUCTION The recently commissioned Business Brief Report identified the issue of Australia’s ageing population and its subsequent impact on the volunteering sector (Volunteering Australia, 2012). The brief placed particular focus on the problem with reference to the business and operations of the Green Frog Nursery. As detailed in the brief, the succession of the Green Frog Nursery is dependent on the progressive replacement of its current core team of volunteers with younger, equally enthusiastic members. Given the briefs identified correlation found in both Australian and international volunteering statistics between age and volunteering (M P Henderson Associates Pty Ltd, 2006), the ageing population trend has particular†¦show more content†¦2.0 DEFINING AND FRAMING THE ISSUE The execution of the Green Frog Nursery’s succession plan to gradually replace its current volunteers with younger individuals is contingent upon the effective analyses of the internal and external factors present. This is reinforced by Donaldson (2001, p. 26), who states that environmental contingencies are outside the control of the managers of an organisation and organisations need to adapt to their changing environments. Whilst these difficulties have primarily occurred externally due to previously stated socio demographic trend of an ageing population, a number of internal factors have augmented the issue. The firm’s capacity to attract and retain younger volunteers becomes a more prominent subject, as is the current organisational structure, which fails to establish a clear division of labour or leadership. 2.1 AUSTRALIA’S AGEING POPULATION Figure 1, taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015), shows Australia’s demographic trend of an ageing population between 1995 and 2015. It can be noted that the proportion of Australia s population aged 15-49 years remained fairly stable, however during the same period, the proportion of people aged 55 years and over increased from 11.9% to 15.0% and the proportion of people aged 85 years and over almost doubled from 1.1% of the total population in 1995 to 2% in 2015. Figure 2 (Australian Bureau of

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Analysis of Jungian Therapy versus Person-Centred Counselling Free Essay Example, 6000 words

Like chemistry, psychology consists of analysis, discovering the basic elements of conscious thought, and synthesis, discovering the connections between the elements and the laws governing these connections. Elementary sensations, however, need to be combined because we experience conscious thoughts as a unity, not as a series of varied sensations. The psyche, to be able to appreciate a sensation, engages itself into a process of creative synthesis as the final common pathway to organize elementary experiences into the whole. This behavior is very complex and difficult to study since behavior that is an expression of the mental state is very private and is actually a subcategory of the environment. Since there are always many variables that control the environment, it can better be termed as a process rather than a thing, and therefore, it cannot be easily held for observation. It is changing, fluid, evanescent, and for this reason, it makes great technical demands upon the ingenui ty and energy of the scientist (Skinner, (1953), p. 15). Although this theory is not followed by many now, it is agreed by most that the objective approach to understanding behavior has its roots in structuralism and evolved through functionalism to reach its zenith in behaviorism that still stands as the hallmark of modern psychology. During the first half of the twentieth century, the psychoanalytic approach founded by Freud and to a much lesser extent, the behavioral conditioning approach founded by John Watson served as the eminent theoretical and treatment approaches to mental illness. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of Jungian Therapy versus Person-Centred Counselling or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page