A Sense of Sin Essay Example for Free

A Sense of Sin Essay No one doubts the presence of evil in the world. We experience it in a variety of ways: national and international conflict; domestic and street violence; political and corporate corruption; and a host of manifestations of sexism, clericalism, racism, ageism, and other violations of justice. All such forms of brutality, disorder and discrimination, seem from a theological perspective, are rooted in sin. But do we ever recognize the sin and name it as such? 1 Retrieving a Sense of Sin For some reason, sin seems to have lost its hold on us as a way of accounting for and naming so much of the evil we know. Among the many other reasons, the eclipse of the religious world view through the rise of the secular spirit accounts significantly for the loss of the sense of sin. In fact, in his post-synodal exhortation, Reconciliatio et Penitentia (1984), Pope John Paul II credits â€Å"secularism† above all with contributing to a loss of a sense of sin.2 The secular spirit questions the relevance and meaning of all Christian symbols, and even of religion itself. One effect of this secular spirit on the meaning of sin, for example, has been to reduce sin to some form of psychological or social disorder. The therapeutic perspective which pervades the secular spirit looks on behavior as either healthily adaptive-problem-solving behavior, or as unhealthy, nonadaptive, and problem-creating behavior.3 It does not call the latter sin. For a survey at major attempts in the past twenty years to explore the mystery of sin, see James A. O’Donohue, Toward a Theology of Sin: A Look at the Last Twenty Years,† Church 2 (Spring 1986): 48-54. 2 The other factors of a non-ecclesial nature which John Paul II lists as errors made in evaluating certain findings of the human sciences, deriving systems of ethics from historical relativism, and identifying sin with neurotic guilt. Within the thought and life of the Church, certain trends have also contributed to the loss of the sense of sin. Among these he lists the movement from seeing sin everywhere to not recognizing it anywhere; from an emphasis on fear of external punishment to preaching a love of God that excludes punishment; from correcting erroneous consciences to respecting consciences but excluding the duty to tell the truth. Two other ecclesial factors are the plurality of opinions existing in the church on questions of morality and the deficiencies in the practice of penance. To restore a healthy sense of sin, the pope advocates â€Å"a sound catechetics, illuminated by the biblical theology of the covenant, by an attentive listening and trustful openness to the magisterium of the church, which never ceases to enlighten consciences, and by an ever more careful practice of the sacrament of penance.† See Origins 14 (December 20, 1984): 443-444, quotation at p. 444. 3 The research of the team headed by sociologist Robert Bellah which has produced Habits of the Heart (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), a study of the American beliefs and practices which give shape to our character and form our social order, shows that the therapist is the newest character forming American culture. See Chapter Two â€Å"Culture and Character: The Historical Conversation,† pp. 27-51, especially pp. 47-48. 2 Moreover, the secular, therapeutic perspective tends to look on persons more as victims of unconscious or socio-cultural influences than as agents of free actions. Psychiatrists Karl Menninger in Whatever Happened to Sin4 and M. Scott Peck in People of the Lie5 want to make full allowance for those conditions which cause people to do evil. Yet both insist on a strip of responsibility which cannot be negotiated away to these determining influences. While the behavioral sciences provide us with helpful explanations of human behavior, they do not give a full account. Sin is real, and we need a fresh way to get at it and call it what it is. What do we need to grasp in order to retrieve a sense of sin in an adult manner? Contemporary moral theology says a â€Å"sense of responsibility.† Christian theologians find in â€Å"responsibility† the essential theme of Christian faith and the central characteristic of the moral life. A leading Protestant theologian of this century, H. Richard Niebuhr, has done much to give impetus to the â€Å"responsibility† motif in Christian morality. 6 He summarizes the constituents of responsibility by describing the agent’s actions as a response to an action upon him in accordance with his interpretation of the latter action and with his expectation of response to his response; and all of this is in a continuing community of agents. (The Responsible Self, 65) Since God is present to us in and through all that makes up our lives so that we are never not in the presence of God, our responses to all our actions upon us include our response to God. As Niebuhr asserts, â€Å"Responsibility affirms: God is acting in all our actions upon you. So respond to all actions upon you as to respond to his action† (The Responsible Self, 126). If â€Å"being responsible† sums up the quality of character and action marking Christian moral living, sin will mark the failure to be fully responsible. â€Å"Responsibility† as a motif for the moral life has found its way into Catholic moral thinking with the strong support of the biblical renewal in the Catholic Church. Bernard Hà ¤ring, who has been instrumental in renewing Catholic moral thinking, has used this notion of â€Å"responsibility† with great success in reconstructing Catholic moral thought. Along with other Catholic theologians, Hà ¤ring has found in the biblical renewal a fresh theological framework and an orientation for understanding the moral life.7 We turn, then, to the biblical perspective on sin. Menninger, Whatever Happened to Sin? (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1973). Peck, People of the Lie (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1983). 6 See especially Niebuhr, The Responsible Self (New York: Harper Row, 1963), pp. 61-65. 7 Bernard Hà ¤ring’s writings are vast and wide-ranging. His early three-volume work, The Law of Christ (Westminster: Newman Press, 1961, 1963, 1966), was one of the first major works by a Catholic moral theologian to rethink morality in light of the biblical renewal. His most recent three-volume work, Free and Faithful in Christ (New York: Seabury Press, 1978, 1979, 1981), is an expression of Hà ¤ring’s more mature thought. This work is not a revision of The Law of Christ, but a completely new work. Charles E. Curran, a student of Hà ¤ring, has followed his teacher’s lead in making efforts at renewing moral theology in light of the biblical renewal. Some of Curran’s pertinent articles are â€Å"The Relevancy of the Ethical Teaching of Jesus† and â€Å"Conversion: The Central Message of Jesus† in A New Look at Christian Morality (Notre Dame: Fides Publishers, Inc., 1968), pp. 1-23 and 25-71. Sin: The Biblical Perspective From the Bible we see that Christian morality is primarily a â€Å"vocation.† This means that our life is a response to the word of God spoken to us preeminently in Jesus, but also in and through the people and events of our lives. From the perspective of vocation, wherein God calls and we respond, responsibility replaces obligation as the primary characteristic of the moral life. Also, the relationship that we establish with God in and through our responses to all things becomes the focal point of the moral life. From this point of view, practicing the presence of God becomes essential for Christian responsibility, Christian moral growth, and our awareness of sin. A consistent theme of contemporary theology has been that we cannot have a proper understanding of sin unless we have a proper understanding of the nature and implications of the covenant God has established with us. â€Å"Covenant† and â€Å"heart† are the dominant metaphors of biblical faith for understanding the moral life. They provide the biblical horizon against which to recognize sin. Covenant The two frequently used terms for sin in the Old Testament point to violations of relationships. Hattah is the most common term. Its meaning, â€Å"to miss the mark† or â€Å"to offend,† points to a purposeful action oriented toward an existing relationship. The existence of the relationship makes the offence or failure possible. Pesa, meaning â€Å"rebellion,† is a legal term denoting a deliberate action violating a relationship in community. The New Testament term for sin is hamartia. It connotes a deliberate action rooted in the heart and missing the intended mark. 8 These terms acquire theological significance when used in the context of the covenant which expresses the most personal kind of relationship between God and us. The primary aim of the covenant is that God loves us without our having done anything to attract God’s attention or to win that love. God’s covenant is a bond of completely gratuitous love, pure grace. But God’s initiative of love (grace) does not destroy our freedom. Unlike the Godfather, God makes an offer we can refuse. God’s offer of love awaits our acceptance. Once we accept the offer of love we commit ourselves to living as the covenant requires. The covenant context lifts the notion of sin out of a legalistic framework to set it on a level of a personal relationship with God. In worshipping the golden calf (Ex 32), Israel missed the mark of covenant love, or sinned, not so much because Israel broke one of the laws of the covenant, but because Israel broke the personal bond of love of which the law was an external expression. The law was not to be the final object of Israel’s fidelity. God was. Sin in the Bible is not merely breaking a law. Sin is breaking or weakening the God-given bond of love. The law was an aid to Israel’s fidelity and pointed to the responsibilities of being in relationship to God.

Shakespeares Macbeth as Tragic Hero Essay -- Macbeth essays

Macbeth as Tragic Hero      Ã‚  Ã‚   A tragic hero is usually a person of high esteem or social ranking cursed with a flaw or obsession that will eventually lead to their demise. Macbeth is a tragic hero. Examining the events that occur as Macbeth travels the typical path of a tragic hero easily supports this claim.    Before Macbeth is even introduced to the audience, Duncan and Ross speak of his greatness. When it is discovered that the Thane of Cawdor has surrendered, Duncan decides to give Macbeth this title: "What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won" (1.2.70). This lets the audience see Macbeth's rank, which starts him in the right direction for a tragic hero.    As Macbeth starts to believe the prophecies of the witches that he will be the Thane of Cawdor, Glamis, and the King, the audience starts to see his obsession with his destiny: "Stars, hide your fires;/ Let not light see my black and deep desires" (1.4.50-51). This great ambition will turn into the flaw that hurtles Macbeth to his demise.    Macbeth is convinced, partly by his own ambition and partly ...

Discussion of High Tech Architecture

Give a description of the work of one of the undermentioned interior decorators: James Stirling ; Norman Foster ; Ettore Sottsass ; Richard Rogers ; David Hicks ; Philippe Starck. High Tech appeared in the mid-thirtiess, Gallic designers Jean Orouve and Pierre Chareau, used High Tech to plan house, when High Tech was architecture design tendencies. In the mid-thirtiess, Industry was common, bring forth more metal, so High Tech manner utilizing really metal stuff to concept. In 1779, the first Fe span in England River Severn, it is a metal construction. High Tech popular earlier built the Fe span. High Tech have five points, about the characteristics and elements of the manner. First, High Tech have mechanical and structural aesthetics, emphasizes logic, procedures, machinery and equipment, engineering and construction. And it has mobility, for illustration emphasizes the construct of extrasensory, more lightweight and flexible, ‘exoskeleton consequence ‘ . Second, it has ocular effects. Third, it have High Tech stuffs, it utilizing smooth metal, transparent glass and crystalline minerals, to do cool feeling in the architecture, chief colour is white, grey and black, for illustration Yoyogi National Gymnasium and Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Fourth, High Tech accent on industrial engineering, transparent and translucent, and do more new thoughts, to accomplish height of engineering in high tech manner. Last, High Tech created new design thoughts, for illustration it break the restrictions of the column and wall, mesh grid, glass contemplation and transmittal, and o pen construction. High Tech architectures are ‘energy-saving architecture ‘ . Because it is environmentally friendly, the architectures wall is glass, the visible radiation can easy travel to indoor. Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Richard Rogers, Helmut Jahn, Jean Nouvel, Santiago Calatrava and James Stirling, they use High Tech to plan and build their plants. Norman Foster is high tech ‘s representative designer and interior decorator excessively. Norman Foster was born 1 June 1935 in England Manchester. When he was 21 old ages old, he graduated Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961, so he won Yale University scholarships and studied Master of Architecture. Next, he married Wendy Cheesman who is designer, in 1964. Norman Foster constituted Foster Associates ( Foster + Partners ) with his married woman Wendy Cheesman and eight working spouses in 1967. Foster Associates ( Foster + Partners ) is a building company in London, England. Foster + Partners founded in 1967. The president is Norman Foster and the main executive officer is Mouzhan Majidi. Foster + Partners completed many major undertakings, it has ten parts those maestro programs, Bridgess, authorities edifice, cultural edifice, higher instruction edifice, athletics land, transit, office, leisure installing, and house. First for maestro programs, Foster + Partners planned Duisburg Inner Harbour in Germany ( 1991-2003 ) , Trafalgar Square Redevelopment in London ( 1996-2003 ) , West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong ( 2009 ) and so no. Second for Bridgess, they constructed and designed Western Arsta Bridge Arstabroarna in Sweden ( 1994/2005 ) , Millennium Bridge in London ( 1999/2002 ) , and Millau Viaduct ( 2004 ) ; it was the highest route span in the universe. Third for authorities edifice, they constructed London City Hall ( 2002 ) , New Supreme Court Building in Singapore ( 2005 ) , and reconstruct Reichstag edifice in Berlin ( 1999 ) . Fourth for cultural edifice, they constructed and intentional Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at University of East Anglia in Norwich, in UK ( 1978 ) , renovation of the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court of the British Museum ( 2000 ) , and extension to Lenbachhaus art museum, Munich ( 2013 ) . Fifth for higher instruction edifice, for illustration Kings Nort on Library in UK Cranfield University ( 1994 ) , Cambridge Faculty of Law in UK ( 1995 ) , British Library of Political and Economic Science in UK London School of Economics ( 1993-2001 ) . Then, Foster + Partners constructed and designed Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar ( 2010 ) , and reconstruct Wembley Stadium ( 2007 ) . Seventh for transit, it had Stansted Airport in UK ( 1991 ) , Canary Wharf Underground Station in London ( 1999 ) , Spaceport America in New Mexico ( 2005-2013 ) . Eighth for office, it had London Citigroup Centre in UK ( 1996-2000 ) , Hearst Tower in New York City ( 2006 ) , Caja Madrid in Spain Madrid ( 2002-2009 ) . Ninth for leisure installing, it had The Great Glashouse National Botanic Garden of Wales in UK Wales ( 1995-2000 ) , Elephant House of Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark ( 2002-2008 ) , Faustino Winery Bodegas Faustino in Spain Castilla Y Leon ( 2007-2010 ) . Tenth for house, it had The Murezzan in Switzerland St Moritz ( 2003-2007 ) , Regent Place in Australia Sydney ( 2003-2007 ) , Jameson House in Canada Vancouver ( 2004-2011 ) . Norman Foster has many architectural accomplishments, for illustration he is ex-vice president of the Architectural Association, external councilors of the Royal Architectural Association ( RIBA ) , councilor of the Royal College of Art in London, member of the Royal Society of Arts in London, honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and so on. Norman Foster won 190 awards and more than 50 international competitions. He was awarded The RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1983, Japan Association for International Design Award in 1987, the RIBA legal guardians medal in 1990 and Gold Medal of the AIA in 1994. In 1999, he won The 21st Pritzker Architecture Awards, and was awarded the rubric of ‘Lord ‘ by the Queen, so we could name him Lord Norman Foster. Willis Faber Dumas Offices in 1974, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts in 1976, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in 1979, Airport Terminal in 1980, Museum of Modern Art in 1983, Kings Cross Redevelopment in 1988, 30 St. Mary Axe in 2003 and so on. There were High Tech manner architecture by Norman Foster. On the other manus, Norman Foster has many celebrated plants, for illustration Reliance Control Factory in 1966, Original Drawings in 1978, Whitworth Art Gallery in 1984, Institute francais vitamin D rchitecture in 1986 and Royal Academy of Arts in 1986. In add-on to, Furniture appeared High Tech, for illustration tabular arraies, chairs, beds. Adreas Weber, Bruce Burdick and Norman Foster used High Tech to plan tabular arraies and work tables, those are unstained steel and glass. Hermann Muller desgined Aeron Office Chair, that is High Tech manner and biotechnologies. Norman Foster did non make High Tech, but he was influential in architecture and design. Norman Foster made High Tech that became common. In add-on, many interior decorators will utilize High Tech in interior design, because it has five good points. First, High Tech utilizing smooth metal, to do cool feeling. Second, High Tech has mechanical and structural aesthetics, to do modern. Third, High Tech chief colour is white, grey and black, does non impact the interior decorator and to do modern. Fourth, High Tech utilizing crystalline glass, it can increase interior sense of infinite, and visible radiation can easy travel to indoor. Fifth, inside can utilize High Tech furniture for illustration tabular arraies, chairs, and beds. In decision, Norman Foster do non merely lending to architecture, he contribute design, for illustration interior design and furniture design. Beginning hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ad.ntust.edu.tw/grad/think/PEOPLE/FOSTER/FOSTER.HTM hypertext transfer protocol: //tw.streetvoice.com/wchlc156/articles/249952/ hypertext transfer protocol: //miko750808.pixnet.net/blog/post/30724354-a ­a?†°- ( a ·?a? ®?†? ) -aZ?e «?c §Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ?Sˆa »?c?†°aa? °ca? °a?ˆ hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Foster, _Baron_Foster_of_Thames_Bank hypertext transfer protocol: //cforum.cari.com.my/forum.php? mod=viewthread & A ; tid=421131 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.archinfo.com.tw/public/p02.aspx hypertext transfer protocol: //tw.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question? qid=1206040807154

Synthesis Of Aminoquinone Derivatives Via Electrochemical...

A Simple and convenient one pot synthesis of aminoquinone derivatives via electrochemical approach Jyoti Malviya1, Shashi Kala2, Hemlata Singh3, R.K.P.Singh* Electrochemical Laboratory of Green Synthesis Department of Chemistry, University of Allahabad Allahabad – 211002, U.P., India. Email: singhrkp1@gmail.com, rkp.singh@rediffmail.com Abstract A simple and efficient method for the convenient synthesis of aminoquinones have been described on reaction with catechol and various secondary amines using lithium perchlorate as a supporting electrolyte in acetonitrile media at platinum electrode under constant potential electrolysis.. The method is cost-effective, high-yielding, clean, and selective. The products of electrosynthesis have been purified and characterized by FTIR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR and mechanism was deduced with cyclic voltammetric study. Keywords: Anodic oxidation, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical synthesis, o-benzoquinone secondary amines. 1. Introduction: The anodic oxidation of a catechol generates a reactive o-benzoquinone that can be used to trigger a number of interesting reactions [1-5] and play an important role in the redox electron transport chains of living systems [6-8] for example, vitamine K is known to play an important role in blood coagulation mechanism and also in photosynthesis, vitamine E is important factor in electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation. More complex quinonoic