Elaborate Rehearsal free essay sample

Elaborate Rehearsal Elaborate rehearsal is a good way to help people memorize new things (knowledge or hard concept). It is a technique to remember some hard stuff, and is much more effective and efficient than just reciting information repeatedly. The information organized in our mind is based on a schema; a schema is a collection of linked concepts. When we think about one thing we will also think about something else that relates to it. For example, talking about coffee, we will also mention sugar and cream; talking about penile, we will think about lead and eraser. Then, let’s talk about concept accessibility. It influences our ability of picking the information, which has already existed in our mind. There are three important factors that will influence concept accessibility. First, frequency of access, the more we use a concept, the higher accessibility to this concept we have. Then, emotion significance, some objects may be unforgettable in our mind because of a special experience . We will write a custom essay sample on Elaborate Rehearsal or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Finally, recent of access, if we talk about one things a lot recently, this object will have a high accessibility. Elaborate rehearsal was based on the concept of accessibility and schema. When we trying to memorize some hard formula or concept, we can try to use something relate to it to help us remember. For example, in China, a high school teacher writes a chemical song to help student memorize chemical formula. The melody comes from a famous popular song. The popular music has a very high accessibility. By this way, students can memorize these formula much more easily than just recite. There is also a Brain Song in Youtube, it helps us to remember our brain’s structure and functions. Learning a new language is always a tough process, and vocabulary was the most difficult part. People came up with several good ways to recite vocabulary, like using etyma and affix. For example, lunar was the affix of moon, the words used this affix including sublunary, superlunary etc. Sublunary was component by sub and lunar, which means under the moon, we can easily relate this word with the mortal world. Superlunarysuper moon, its sounds like something crazy, so we can conclude its means unreasonable. Finally, think about how we learn biology in high school. How did we learn human being’s body structure? Teachers always showed us some picture of human’s body and organ or using a model to bring students a deep impression. Elaborate rehearsal is remembering something by using the information we are familiar and related to encode new information.

The American Dream and the American Negro free essay sample

How free were free blacks in the North? This is a question many of us have asked ourselves. This is a question that is opinion based really; it depends on what you think. I believe that they weren’t free enough. Sure they were ‘free’ but they weren’t free to do as much as the whites could so technically they weren’t free enough. I believe that they were not free enough because they couldn’t do as much as the whites. The ‘free’ blacks in the north were not free enough with their political freedoms. They did not have the right to vote so they were not free with the whites; they also could not be president. Just because they were a different color the whites looked at them differently and they could not do anywhere near as much with them in the political fields. Therefore the ‘free’ blacks were not free enough, with the politics they also could not do anything with the political freedoms such as being the legislative branch and other branches. We will write a custom essay sample on The American Dream and the American Negro or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page With the political freedoms not being free enough the economic freedoms weren’t good either.Furthermore, the economic freedoms were not free enough either. The ‘free’ blacks had a hard time owning their own property because they had a hard time getting a job because they were â€Å"different† because they were black and not the normal white. Just because they were a different color they had to be treated differently. They could barely get a job at the simplest place to work because they were ‘free’ but not free enough for this reason. With not being free enough in both the political and economic freedoms they were also not free enough in their social freedoms.Lastly, the social freedoms that they had were no better than the economic and political. Their social life was not good at all, they couldn’t eat a restaurant with the whites, and they had to be put on the other side of the restaurant. The blacks couldn’t even go to church with the whites. The blacks had to have their own church built for them so that they could do what they wanted instead of learning the same ways of the whites with their religion ways. In conclusion, the blacks were not free enough. They should have been able to do whatever a white man/ woman could do, but no, they had to have their own rules of being free. The free blacks in the north were not free enough. They should be able to do whatever as long as it was the same law-abiding as the whites had. Therefore I believe that the free blacks were not free enough in the north because they had different rules than the whites had which I find not to be very fair.

Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Essay Example

Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Essay Example Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Paper Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Paper ABSTRACT In the framework of the course Linguistics I, I am assigned to do a coursework on the subject of word formation. An introduction and definition of the processes used for the creation of new words as well as explicit examples in more than a language are included. Language has become an important issue all over the world today. It is a well known historical fact that all languages are constantly in a state of change. In linguistics, word formation is the creation of a new word. Word formation is sometimes contrasted with semantic change, which is a change in a single word’s meaning. The line between word formation and semantic change is sometimes a bit blurry ; what one person views as a new use of an old word, another person might view as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form. Word formation can also be contrasted with the formation of idiomatic expressions, though sometimes words can form from mueti-word phrases. The study of the internal structure of words, and of the rules by which words are formed, is called morphology. This word comes the traditional term for the most elemental unit of grammatical form which is the morpheme(From kin and Rodman, R 1998). A word is not a simple sequence of morphemes but has a hierarchical structure. In every language, there are morphological rules that determine how morphemes combine to from new words. According to Fromkin, V. and Rodman, R (1998) a word consists of one or more morphemes. Lexical content morphemes that cannot be analyzed into smaller parts are called root morphemes. When a root morpheme is combined with affix morphemes it forms a stem. Other affixes can be added to a stem to form a more complex stem. Some morphemes are bound in that they must be joined to other morphemes, are always parts of words and never words by the themselves. Other morphemes are free in that they need not to be attached to other morphemes. For instance, free, king, bore are free morphemes while – dom (as in freedom, kingdom, boredom) is a bound morpheme. Affixes, that is prefixes, suffixes, infixes and circumfixes, are bound morphemes. Prefixes occur before, suffixes after, infixes in the middle of, and circumfixes around stems. Lexical content or root morphemes constitute the major word classes – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. These are open class items because their classes are easily added to. Morphological rules of word formation are complex. Here follows a simplistic schema of a frequent classification of morphological processes. Morphological processes Inflectional processes lexical processes Affixes erivational compounding processes other processes coinage Affixes Back formation conversion Suffixes Blending Prefixes Acronyms Eponyms (Words from names) Infixes Neologisms Borrowing Clipping (Abbreviations) (loanwords) Circumfixes Back Fore Middle Complex clipping clipping clipping clipping Inflectional morphemes are determined by the rules of syntax. They are added to complete words, whether simple monomorphemic words or complex polymorphemic words (i. e. words with more than one morpheme). Inflectional morphemes never change the syntactic category of the word. Some grammatical morphemes are inserted into sentences according to the syntactic structure. For example: In English, the past tense morpheme (: comfortable meaning â€Å"cosy† and uncomfortable which is the antonym, meaning â€Å"not cosy†. In French, the prefix im– gives a negative meaning to a word, as well. For example, the word possible meaning â€Å"likely to happen† prefixed by im- (impossible) means the opposite that is â€Å"unlikely to happen†. In Greek, if the prefix ? is added to the word  «  » we have the word  «  » which has the opposite meaning. A derived word may also be in a different grammatical class than the underived word. When a verb in English for example is suffixed with –able the result is an adjective such as desire + able> desirable. Respectively, in French we have adore + able > adorable (adjective) and in Greek, if the verb is suffixed with – , we have the verbal adjective . The changes made in grammatical classes are: from Noun to adjective English French Greek Boy + ish enfant + in + Verb to Noun: English French Greek Sing + er chant + eur + Adjective to Adverb: English French Greek Exact + ly exact + ement + Noun to Verb English French Greek Moral + ize moral + iser + Adjective to Noun English French Greek Tall + ness grand + eur o + Verb to Adjective English French Greek Creat + ive cre + atif + The other lexical process is compounding which is combining words together to form a compound word. An endocentic compound consists of a head, i. e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example, the English compound â€Å"doghouse† where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Obviously, an endocentric compound tends to be of the same part of speech (word class) as its head. For example: English French Greek railway chemin de fer Exocentric compounds do not have a head and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example, the English compound white collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents. For example, a must have is not a verb but a noun. In French, compound nouns are often formed by lefts: ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK Know-nothing grille-pain – Compounding is a common and frequent process for enlarging the vocabulary of all languages. Acronyms, initialisms and alphabetisms are abbreviations written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. New acronyms are freely produced, particularly for names of organizations. Acronyms pronounced as sequences of letters can be called alphabetisms. Many acronyms are pronounced as words for example radar from radio detecting and ranging. Examples: ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK U. N for United Nations N. U for Nations Unies ?.? for Clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (Marchand: 1969). This process is sometimes called abbreviations. Clipping mainly consists of the following types:1) Back clipping 2) Fore –clipping 3) Middle clipping 4) Complex clipping. Back clipping: It is the most common type in which the beginning is retained. The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite. Examples: ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK Doc (doctor) tele (television) ( ) Fore clipping: Here, the final part is retained. ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK Phone (telephone) bus (autobus) ( Middle clipping The middle of the word is retained. Examples: ENGLISH FRENCH Flu (influenza) frigo (refrigerateur) Complex clipping: clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often remains intact. For example op art stands for optical art, in English. Sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped, as in navicert (navigation certificate) in English. Respectively, in French we have courriel (courrier electronique) for e-mail. In these cases it is difficult to know whether the resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a blend since the border between the two types is not always clear. According to Bauer (1993), the easiest way to draw the distinction is to say that those forms which retain compound stress are clipped compounds, whereas those that take simple word stress are not. By this criterion midcult is a compound made of clipping. According to Marchand (1969), clipping are not coined as words belonging to the standard vocabulary of a language. They originate as terms of a special group like schools, army, police, the medical profession etc, in the intimacy of a milieu where a hint is sufficient to indicate the whole. For example, in school slang originated exam (for examination) and tick (et = credit) originated in stock-exchange slang, whereas cap (tain) is an army slang. While clipping terms of some influential groups can pass into common usage, becoming part of the standard language, clipping of a socially unimportant class or group will remain group slang. The process of Back -Formation is the creation of a neologism by reinterpreting an earlier word as a derivation and removing apparent affixes, or more generally, be reconstructing an  «original » form from any kind of derived form ( including abbreviations or inflected forms). The resulting new word is called a back-formation. The simplest case is when a longer form of word pair predates what would usually be the basic form. For example, in English, the noun resurrection was borrowed from Latin and the verb resurrect was then derived from it. We expect the suffix -ion to be added to a verb to create a noun ; when as in this case the suffix is removed from the noun to create the verb, this is a back-formation. Back-formations of borrowed terms generally do not follow the rules of the original language. For example, antipodes, borrowed from Greek via Latin, has the apparent form of a plural noun, and is sometimes treated as such, with antipode taken to mean â€Å"an antipodal point†. The final podes is indeed plural, meaning feet, and the corresponding singular would be transliterated as pous (foot). However antipodes itself is a compound of anti (opposite) and podes (feet). As such, it is not a plural noun at all, and the singular antipous, if it existed at all, would mean  «a substitute foot ». Blending is a combination of only the beginning of one word with the end of another word. For example in English, motel from motor + hotel. In French, Copar from Comite Parisien. Coinage is the least common way among the various ways of creating words. It refers to the invention of totally new words. Specific brand names such as Kleenex, Jell-o, Vaseline are now sometimes used as the generic name for different brands of these types of products. Some of these words were created from existing words: Kleenex from the word clean for example. In Greek the word stands for the headache pills. In French, the brand name Carambar stands for the word caramel. Greek roots borrowed into English have also provided a means for coining new words. Thermos meaning â€Å"hot† + metron meaning â€Å"measure† give us thermometron. Latin, like Greek, has also provided prefixes and suffixes that are used productively with both native and nonnative roots. The prefix ex- comes from Latin: ex-husband in English. Respectively, the prefix hyper- coming from Greek: hypertension, in French. The suffix -able is also Latin, borrowed via French, and can be attached to almost any English verb. For example: readable, movable (Fromkin, V and Rodman, R: 1998). Conversion is a kind of word formation, as well. Specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form. Conversion is more productive in some languages than in others; in English it is a fairly productive process. Often a word of one lexical category (part of speech) is converted from a word of an other lexical category. For example in English a noun can be used as a verb as in the following sentence: He’s papering the room walls. In French, we can have the formation of a noun from another noun: medecine from medecin. Conversions from adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common and unnotable in English; much more remarked upon is verbing, the creation of a verb by converting a noun or other word. Borrowing or loanword: is another process of word formation according to which linguistic elements of non-native origin are taken over and used in the language concerned. For instance, in English we have the word cliche which comes from French. In French, the word pull-over comes from English. In Greek, we extensively use the English word computer instead of the greek one . A neologism (from Greek = new, = word ) is a word, term or phrase which has been recently created ( coined often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. For instance the term e-mail, as used today, would be an example of a neologism in English. Similarly, the word courier electronique in French and in Greek, the term . Eponyms or Words from Names: it refers to words that derive from proper names of indivi duals or places. In English, for instance, the word sandwich comes from the name of the forth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat while he gambled. In French, the word molieresque comes from the name of the famous French writer Moliere. In Greek, the word comes from the famous ancient greek sophist . EPILOGUE Speakers of a language may know tens of thousands of words. Dictionaries include hundreds of thousands of words, all of which are known by some speakers of the language. But no dictionary can list all possible words since it is possible to add to the vocabulary of a language in many ways. There are always gaps in the lexicon-words that are not in the dictionary but that can be added. Some gaps are due to the fact that possible combinations or morphemes have not been made. There are morphological rules in every language that determine how morphemes combine to form new words. According to the analysis made in this assignment, morphological processes consist of inflectional and lexical process. In turn, lexical processes include derivational processes (by adding all kind of affixes ) and other processes such as Back-formation, Acronyms, Borrowing, Clipping, Eponyms, Blending, Conversion, Coinage, Neologisms and Compounding. All these word formation processes result in the richness of the vocabulary of a language. Speakers of a language can easily learn how to analyze a word of their language into its component morphemes, since their mental grammars include a mental lexicon of morphemes and the morphological rules for their combination. However this is not very easy for a learner of a language. Learning the morphological processes of language can be of great help for someone who learns it. REFERENCES Bauer, Laurie (1983). English Word –Formation Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press Fromkin,V. and Rodman, R. (1998). An Introduction to Language, Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College. Larousse, (1988) Grammaire du Francais contemporain France : Paris, Larousse. Marchland, H (1969). The Categories and Types of Present Day English Word-Formation, 2nd ed. Munich: C,H. Oxford English Dictionary. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung S. A. Thompson (1975). On the Issue of Productivity in the Lexikon , ?. (2000).

6 Jobs With Amazing Benefits and Perks

6 Jobs With Amazing Benefits and Perks a lot of jobs hover around the same salary range, and seem sort of boring around the edges. if you’re straining to pick what you want to be when you grow up, and you appreciate the quirkier and slightly more original job perks package, then these 6Â  jobs might be for you. 1. flight attendantbeing a flight attendant is kind of like being a waitress in a sealed capsule, traveling very long distances. the people can be grumpy, the job physically demanding, but you also have the benefit of seeing many different parts of the world. there’s good insurance, tuition assistance, excellent travel options like reciprocal travel agreements, and you won’t ever have to work a typical 9-5. the job can be demanding, both physically and emotionally, but it will rarely be boring.2. circus artistfew people can threaten to run off and join the circus. but if you happen to have a talent or penchant for physical theatre or performance, and the chutzpah to make it in this punishing w orld, then it isn’t quite as ridiculous as it might sound. circus performers, though they must be incredibly skilled, make great money, travel widely, and are given generous meal and lodging allowances, not to mention the close knit family of a group of performers on tour. if you have the heart and soul required, it can be an incredibly exciting career.3. journalistobviously, you would need a significant talent for writing, plus the ability to work in a fast-paced high-stress environment. it won’t pay as much as many other sexy fields, but you really can get access to corners of the world you may never have dreamed of. you can see and record things- be at the center of history, and really make a difference writing about things you truly care about.4. radio djif you love music and have an extensive enough collection, you might consider breaking into this field. imagine spending your day spinning your favorite tunes and chatting up a devoted audience. sound like more fun than pushing paper? well it is. you won’t work typical hours, but you’ll get lots of comp tickets and swag, not to mention the ability to meet people in the music industry, and you’ll spend hours and hours listening to the music that you love.5. personal assistantit doesn’t sound as sexy as some other possible careers, but a personal assistant actually gets some great perks for that low salary and high number of hours required to get her job done. the job is demanding, but if you happen to work for someone famous or fantastic, then you’re in for some sweet perks. you could end up tagging along at red carpet events, fancy dinners, epic vacations, and though you might have to work the whole time you are in it, you’ll have a taste of access to the vip world.6. sommelierif you love wine and have a keen nose and palate, this is for you. imagine getting paid to obsess over the tiniest details of the most exquisite wines, and then tasting them, fo r a living. at the master level, you could make a lot of money, but even a new sommelier will have the chance to travel, taste some of the best and rarest wines out there, pair those wines with delicious gourmet food, and chat to people from around the world. the hours are long, but the life is indisputably good for an aspiring enologist.6 careers with great benefits

Social Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Social Media - Essay Example (2008). (Ed.). IPod and philosophy: iCon of an ePoch. Wittkower D.E. (2008) explains philosophy as a concept that is all about the study of philosophical ideas and their related concepts as applied within a timeframe. In the current times, philosophical perceptions have changed as influenced by the rapidly and ever changing transition in the social media industries. History has proved that initially, artistic/ design merits were largely independent of functionality and productivity. This, with events, has been sidelined as attractive designs are currently perceived as working better and are easier to use. The varied aspects of iPod device, a portable audio player as Wittkower describes it, has philosophical characteristics that creates very close link and therefore greatly influencing the cultural practices of its users in the sense of a new venue for philosophy electronic books, a device of community or isolation among its users. In his book, Wittkower expresses that the new technol ogical inversion used in the development of iPod is a symbolic improvement and creation of change as is and will ever be experienced in the media industry. Inductively, the use of iPod is seen and experienced to unanimously present both the old and young minds as equal in its use by considering such an invention in design and an innovation in technology as a resultant of rapid information, communication, and entertainment technologies to them (users) as individuals, technologically advanced society, and the unique cultural practices in this twenty-first century. The concepts of philosophy and iPod are intertwine with a core relationship of mediation that explains the extent to which this technology together with its users-everyday’s lives and the general economy are dependent; a... In his book, Wittkower expresses that the new technological inversion used in the development of iPod is a symbolic improvement and creation of change as is and will ever be experienced in the media industry. Inductively, the use of iPod is seen and experienced to unanimously present both the old and young minds as equal in its use by considering such an invention in design and an innovation in technology as a resultant of rapid information, communication, and entertainment technologies to them (users) as individuals, technologically advanced society, and the unique cultural practices in this twenty-first century. The concepts of philosophy and iPod are intertwine with a core relationship of mediation that explains the extent to which this technology together with its users-everyday’s lives and the general economy are dependent; a true significance of change. IPod technology has to its highest levels exploited the application of emotions in engagement of its users' experiences , and the seemingly intensified interplay that exists between non-purposeful and purposeful interactivities. In summary, the sole reason of ensuring all the three design aspects is that aesthetically well done designs help users to work even better.

Legal compliance and negotiations skills Assignment - 3

Legal compliance and negotiations skills - Assignment Example Settlement may significantly affect the tax liability of the plaintiff hence its disadvantage. It is also worth noting the potential of the defendant playing hard ball. This may compromise the agreement and provoke further misunderstanding. Besides, it still involves a lawyer who has to be paid hence partial gain from the compensation accrued to the plaintiff. The mediator is always non-partisan and likely to work on acceptable socio-economic and political principles to facilitate mutual understanding between the parties to the dispute. Besides, mediation involves in-depth understanding of underlying factors that may have led to the dispute and make effort to negotiate in respect of the same (Guasco & Robinson, 2007). In that regard, it facilitates truth justice and reconciliation for sustained peace. It is also worth to consider mediation due to its independence from the politics of majority influence hence emphasizes truth and honesty. Despite the overriding preference of mediation in conflict resolution, it lacks judicial support and either of the party may easily opt out thereby stalling the reconciliation process. The mediation team is not secured by the law but acts on voluntary basis and this gives the parties to the dispute leverage to determine their own interest. Mediation is time consuming as it relies on mutual consensus between the parties which may take time to achieve hence prolonged resolution period. This is a dispute resolution tactic that is applicable in the event couples fail to reach agreement through other options like mediation or negotiation and are still interested in out of court settlement. It has advantage in the sense that one can choose an arbitrator in line with the personal lawyer’s recommendation. This will offer the best outcome and deliver quasi-legal ruling. It also saves time by setting strict arbitration process deadline (Guasco & Robinson, 2007). This is made

City of God vs. The Protestant Reformations Essay Example for Free

City of God vs. The Protestant Reformations Essay Introduction: The belief that God is present to the human mind and soul, and can be found is part of the Christian tradition. Many Christian philosophers seem to regard this as the concern only of specially devout persons and of no interest for philosophical purposes. The evidence for it, they think, it too slender to be taken seriously by academic philosophers without particular interest in religion, who tend to regard anything in the nature of religious experience as suspect. So, philosophical discussions about religion are usually concerned with rational arguments for and against theism, usually of a technical kind. In this article, I want to discuss the Augustine world with the reformist will as proposed by Martin Luther. One of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, The City of God is vital to an understanding of modern Western society and how it came into being. Begun in A.D. 413 by Saint Augustine, the great theologian who was bishop of Hippo, the books initial purpose was to refute the charge that Christianity was to blame for the fall of Rome (which had occurred just three years earlier). Augustines City of God, a monumental work of religious lore, philosophy, and history, was written as a kind of literary tombstone for Roman culture. After the downfall of Rome, Augustine wrote this book to portray the corruption of Romans pursuit of earthly pleasures: grasping for praise, open-handed with their money; honest in the pursuit of wealth, they wanted to hoard glory. Augustine contrasts his condemnation of Rome with an exaltation of Christian culture. The glory that Rome failed to attain will only be realized by citizens of the City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem foreseen in Revelation. On the other hand Hans J. Hillerbrand in his book â€Å"The Protestant Reformation† says When the reformers who had first ventured a new interpretation of the gospel had passed from the scene, the question which had haunted the Reformation from its very inceptionwhere is truth?was still contested by the proponents of the old and the new faith. But one fact was beyond dispute: Western Christendom was tragically dividedinto no less than five religious factions.Though these divisions were the result of intense religious conviction, they could not help but lessen the intensity of religious belief in Europe. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was the last period in the history of Western civilization when men were preoccupied with religion, argued it, fought and even died for it. Its consequences are still with us†. Argument: The two cities in city of God and the two wills in Lutheranism No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than the â€Å"City of God†. Since medieval Europe has been the cradle of todays Western civilization, this work by consequence is vital for an understanding of our world and how it came into being. St. Augustine is often regarded as the most influential Christian thinker after St. Paul, and this book highlights upon a vast synthesis of religious and secular knowledge. It began as a reply to the charge that Christian otherworldliness was causing the decline of the Roman Empire. Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Then he proceeded to his larger theme, a cosmic interpretation of history in terms of the struggle between good and evil: the City of God in conflict with the Earthly City or the City of the Devil. This, the first serious attempt at a philosophy of history, was to have incalculable influence in forming the Western mind on the relations of church and state, and on the Christians place in the temporal order. It is more than a question of setting down on paper a series of abstract principles and then applying them in practice. Christianity is more than a moral code, more than a philosophy, more than a system of rites. Although it is sufficient, in the abstract, to divide the Catholic religion into three aspects and call them creed, code and cult, yet in practice, the integral Christian life is something far more than all this. It is more than a belief; it is a life. That is to say, it is a belief that is lived and experienced and expressed in action. The action in which it is expressed, experienced and lived is called a mystery. This mystery is the sacred drama which keeps ever present in history the Sacrifice that was once consummated by Christ on Calvary. In plain wordsif you can accept them as plainChristianity is the life and death and resurrection of Christ going on day after day in the souls of individual men and in the heart of society. It is this Christ-life, this incorporation into the Body of Christ, this union with His death and resurrection as a matter of conscious experience, that St. Augustine wrote of in his Confessions. But Augustine not only experienced the reality of Christ living in his own soul. He was just as keenly aware of the presence and action, the Birth, Sacrifice, Death and Resurrection of the Mystical Christ in the midst of human society. And this experience, this vision, if you would call it that, qualified him to write a book that was to be, in fact, the autobiography of the Catholic Church. That is what The City of God is. Just as truly as the Confessions are the autobiography of St. Augustine, The City of God is the autobiography of the Church written by the most Catholic of her great saints. Evidently, the treatment of the theme is so leisurely and so meandering and so diffuse that The City of God, more than any other book, requires an introduction. The best we can do here is to offer a few practical suggestions as to how to tackle it. The first of these suggestions is this: since, after all, The City of God reflects much of St. Augustines own personality and is colored by it, the reader who has never met Augustine before ought to go first of all to the Confessions. Once he gets to know the saint, he will be better able to understand Augustines view of society. Then, no one who is not a specialist, with a good background of history or of theology or of philosophy, ought not to attempt to read the City, for the first time, beginning at page one. The living heart of the City is found in Book Nineteen, and this is the section that will make the most immediate appeal to us today because it is concerned with the theology of peace. However, Book Nineteen cannot be understood all by itself. The best source for solutions to the most pressing problems it will raise is Book Fourteen, where the origin of the two Cities is sketched, in an essay on original sin. On the other hand the protestant reformation deals with the religious movement which made its appearance in western Europe in the sixteenth century, and which, while ostensibly aiming at an internal renewal of the church, really led to a great revolt against it, and an abandonment of the principal Christian beliefs. The causes of the great religious revolt of the sixteenth century must be sought as far back as the fourteenth. The doctrine of the church, it is true, had remained pure; saintly lives were yet frequent in all parts of Europe, and the numerous beneficent medieval institutions of the church continued their course uninterruptedly. Whatever unhappy conditions existed were largely due to civil and profane influences or to the exercise of authority by ecclesiastics in civil spheres; they did not obtain everywhere with equal intensity, nor did they always occur simultaneous in the same country. Ecclesiastical and religious life exhibited in many places vigor and variety; works of education and charity abounded; religious art in all its forms had a living force; domestic missionaries were many and influential; pious and edifying literature was common and appreciated. Gradually, however, and largely owing to the variously hostile spirit of the civil powers, fostered and heightened by several elements of the new order, there grew up in many parts of Europe political and social conditions which hampered the free reformatory activities of the church, and favored the bold and unscrupulous, who seized a unique opportunity to let loose all the forces of heresy and schism so long held in check by the harmonious action of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. Luthers theology is his understanding of God that can be summarized as Gottes Gottheit, which means God is God. In the deepest sense, Luther believes that God is above all and in all. God, through his creative power, reveals that he is free and immutable. He alone can bring life into existence. He alone sustains life. He alone freely wills. Moreover, what God wills can not be impeded or resisted by a mere creature. God is all-powerful and therefore, Gods will is alone immutable. Any person, therefore, that appeals to the freedom of human will attempts to usurp for themselves an attribute that belongs only to God. The free and immutable will of God is, in Luthers writings, fundamental to a right and proper faith. Without it, God is not God and Scripture would, therefore, have to be annulled. In BOW, Luther constantly emphasizes these two characteristics of the will of God and points out their significance for the Faith. In addition, Luther argues that God has two wills as pertains His nature: (1) the revealed will of His word and, (2) the hidden or inscrutable will. These characteristics of Gods will provide the basis for understanding and interpreting Luthers conviction that the human will is enslaved. For Luther, the free will of God is not simply Gods limitless and unobstructed ability to choose between any set of variables in any set of circumstances. Rather, it is Gods unique ability to transcend all these variables and circumstances to perform, or not perform, any action that He desires. Gods will is not contingent upon the will of any other being. In ceaseless activity, God creates the possibilities. As such, the free will of God is most plainly revealed to humanity through His creative acts. God freely chooses to create our present reality and likewise, He freely sustains this reality. In fact, reality does not exist except by the will of God. To this all-encompassing extent then, Luther asserts that God is all in all. Nothing is that God does not declare to be. And, it is this creative power that manifests Gods freedom, His free will. In recognizing Luthers pronounced emphasis on Gods sovereignty, Paul Althaus declares: â€Å"God is the first or principal cause, all others are only secondary or instrumental causes. They are only the tools which he uses in the service of his own autonomous, free, and exclusive working; they are only the masks under which he hides his activity†. The second characteristic of Gods   will that is crucial to Luthers understanding of the bondage of the human will, is its immutability. That is, Gods will can not be changed, altered or impeded. The immutability of Gods will is the logical conclusion to the freedom of Gods will. Gods sovereignty and almighty power demands that whatever God wills happens by necessity. Nothing occurs contingently. Gods will does not act independently of reality, as the human will does, but rather, Gods will creates reality. In Luthers theology, the will of God is not contingent and so likewise, the foreknowledge of God is also not contingent. For whatever God wills, he foreknows and so, whatever He foreknows must, by necessity, happen. For if it did not happen, then God would be fallible and His will contingent which Luther declares is not to be found in God!   It is the immutable will of God, acting freely, that provides the Christian with the assurance of things hoped for (Heb 11:1), namely that the promises of God will be fulfilled. As Luther suggests, the Christians chief and only comfort in every adversity lies in knowing that God does not lie, but brings all things to pass immutably, and that His will cannot be resisted, altered or impeded. Indeed, for Luther, the conviction that Gods will is free and immutable must be central to the Faith. Yet, Luthers theology presents a problem: if God wills everything and everything He wills comes to pass then one must conclude that God wills the salvation of few and the damnation of many (cf. Mt 22:14). Luther answered this dilemma by teaching that God has two wills, the revealed and the hidden. As Luther declares in BOW, Gods decree to damn the undeserving . . . [who are] compelled by natural necessity to sin and perish does indeed seem horrible. Moreover, all rational and philosophical knowledge of God can not avoid the terrible reality of this conclusion, for as Luther concedes, the injustice of God . . . is traduced as such by arguments which no reason or light of nature can resist. Luther understands this horrible decree in light of Gods justice in two ways. For Luther, the answer to these questions is twofold: (1) we must simply believe that Gods justice is righteous because in Christ God has proven His love and compassion and, (2) we should not probe into the hidden or inscrutable will of God wherein God operates paradoxically, i.e. righteousness made evident through unrighteousness. Luthers twofold answer to the questions of damnation reveals a high view of Gods sovereignty and majesty. Moreover, the answer is in accordance with Luthers view that Gods will is uniquely free and immutable. The answer also demands that the Christian simply trust in God. The Christian must believe all that is revealed in Scripture, not merely those things that are pleasant to the senses, and as such, we are compelled to accept the fact that God actively chooses to reject certain people. Nevertheless, if God has said in His Word that He is loving and gracious, and He has revealed himself to be such through His forbearance with the Israelites and the glorious plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, but what right can we judge the manner in which God oversees and sustains the world? For Luther, this is precisely the point at which the Christian must heed the words of God, spoken through the prophet Isaiah: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:8-9). Luther would likewise appeal to Gods answer to Job in Job 38-41 and the words of Paul in Romans 9:20 as yet other examples of the futility of comprehending the incomprehensible and inscrutable will of God. Luther, therefore, answers the critics of predestination and defends Gods decree to affect unbelief in people by appealing to this inscrutable wisdom and will of God, a will that cannot be understood by any attempt of human reason. Because God is God, He has the right to condemn man for sins that God works in Him.10 And so, it is by faith that the Christian simply trusts that God is righteous, loving and gracious in so working. Luther consoles the Christian by exhorting them to look only to the revealed will of God that promises salvation to all who receive Christ. Thus, He does not will the death of a sinner-that is, in His Word; but He wills it by His inscrutable will. At present, however, we must keep in view His Word and leave alone His inscrutable will; for it is by His Word, and not by His inscrutable will, that we must be guided. Yet, for Luther, knowing that God does possess a hidden and inscrutable will of God provides valuable insights for the Christian. The inscrutable will of God tempers the revealed will of God. The doctrine of the free, immutable and inscrutable will of God, therefore, contributes three important foundations to the Christian Faith: (1) God is sovereign, all-powerful and therefore, even evil is under the sway of His goodness and as such, the Christian can be certain that the promises of God will be realized, (2) humanity is not free to earn or demand anything of God and so, Gods gift of salvation can truly be called free and gracious and, (3) the Christian, in response to these truths, is properly humbled and learns, in reverent adoration, to fear God, who acts freely and immutability for His glory. In consequence of his view of Gods will, Luthers view of the human will is necessarily placed in total subjection to the Divine. It is in this respect that Luther stands in contrast to Erasmus. Luthers discussion of this topic is theocentric, beginning with a discussion of God and His attributes whereas Erasmus belies an anthropocentric view, beginning with human experience. For Luther, that Gods will is immutable logically demands that mans will is mutable. For if Gods will is not contingent but immutable and free, no other will can be also be immutable and free otherwise these wills could impede one another and consequently, these wills would no longer be immutable and free but rather, they would be subject to one another. As such, Luther rightly proclaims the inconsistency of the term free will. In Luthers writings, there are three primary considerations to consider in evaluating the characteristics of the human will: (1) the human will is mutable, (2) as a consequence of the Fall, the human will is enslaved to sin and, (3) the human will requires the grace of God, offered through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ Jesus, to affect any positive change in a persons life. Luthers position on the Divine and human wills was not a small matter to him. In Table-Talk, Luther once stated in regards to his position that I know it to be the truth, though all the world should be against it; yea, the decree of Divine Majesty must stand fast against the gates of hell. The belief that humanity is enslaved to sin and that it is only by sovereign election that God saves a person formed the basis for Luthers conviction of justification by grace through faith. Grace is one the most important principles of biblical interpretation to Luther and no where is divine grace more evident than in the doctrine of election. And, it is this sola gratia principle of Luthers faith that preserves the eternal significance of Christs death and resurrection. It is by his sacrifice, not by our own works, that God graciously extends salvation to the elect. As Luther often remarked, to assert the freedom of the will is to deny the necessity of Christs atoning work. Conclusion Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. By means of his contrast of the earthly and heavenly citiesthe one pagan, self-centered, and contemptuous of God and the other devout, God-centered, and in search of graceAugustine explored and interpreted human history in relation to eternity. Saint Augustine examines the failure of Roman religion and the flaws in human civilization, thus creating the first Christian philosophy of history. Against the city, i.e., society, of many gods, there is but one alternate society, this Augustine calls The City of God, adopting the expression found in several of King Davids psalms. Not only is the society of many gods the society of polytheists, it is also the city of pantheists, atheistic materialists and philosophical Cynics. In the case of the Cynics and atheists, these false gods are the myriad gods of self, indeed, at least as many gods (selves) as there are believers in them. Thus there are two cities, two loves, two ways to understand the big questions of existence, two destinations. Says Augustine:   The one City began with the love of God; the other had its beginnings in the love of self. XIV:13. The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3.4) In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity. . . References 1. http://www.newadvent.org The Catholic encyclopedia The Journal Of Religion, J. Jeffery Tyler, volume 85, Part 1(2005), pages 317 – 319 Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther. Translation of 2nd edition by Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1966 . Luthers Works, Volume 31: Career of the Reformer I. ed. Philip S. Watson. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1957.