Basic Ecclesial Community Essay

The same can be said of the various theologies of liberation. Although in one or another versChristianity,ion they may not dovetail exactly with the theological frontiers of Puebla, liberation theologies are a meaningful and important way to approach and understand BECs. WHAT ARE THE BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES? For the sake of precision, let me make clear what BEC means in the context of this article. The currently so-called Basic Communities, Basic Christian Communities, Grassroots Christian Communities, oasic Ecclesial Communities in different parts of the world share some common and fundamental features. However, at the present level of ecclesiological awareness as it is mirrored in the specialized theological literature, we can hardly talk about the current phenomenon of BECs in a general, univocal way. They are a diversified reality from which we can draw an analogical concept. They offer a certain unity in their diversity. Even within a more homogeneous scenario such as Latin America, there are significant differences between the BECs in Brazil, in Peru, in El Salvador, or Nicaragua, for instance, which prevent us from talking of them without further specification. To write on the BECs in a scholarly fashion, therefore, we need a concrete point of reference. Here this will be the BECs in the Roman Catholic Church in Brazil. From such a specific point of reference it is possible then to relate to other analogical cases. I do not pretend to give a clear-cut definition or even a description of the Brazilian BECs. This would deprive them of one of their fundamental traits, namely, flexibility, openness to change and to reverse patterns, something which is very much linked to real life. Let me make explicit some of their major characteristics. First, they are communities. They are trying to set a pattern of 601 602 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Christian life which is deliberately in contrast with the individualistic, self-interested, and competitive approach to ordinary life so inherent in the Western, modern-contemporary culture. As a result of their own unfolding evolution in the last 25 years or so, BECs in Brazil have been aiming at living the two dimensions of communion and participation. By stressing communion, the BECs want to live faith not as a privatized but as a shared, real experience which is mutually nurtured and supported. Such a deep level in faith sharing is at the roots of an attempt to improve interpersonal relationships within the community. This then makes possible the dimension of participation especially in the decision-making process, in contrast with a rather passive attitude of the faithful or a too vertical orientation in exercising power or authority by the clergy or by the laity. Secondly, the BECs are ecclesial. The catalysts of this ecclesiality in the Brazilian BECs have been the unity in and of faith and the linkage to the institutional Church. Even when BECs are ecumenically oriented, experience has proven that the sharing of a specific, common faith was a crucial element for fostering the internal growth of the community. This is particularly important because of the paramount significance of the Word of God and biblical-prayer sharing in BECs life. By linking themselves to the institutional Church, BECs want to reverse the confrontational and/or hostile approach to the hierarchy that used to be a hallmark of Basic Communities in the sixties, especially in Italy and France or in the so-called â€Å"underground church† in the United States. This does not mean that the BECs must be started by a clerical initiative, although many have indeed been. It means, though, that however originated, the BECs look for recognition and support by the pastors or by the bishops, even when enjoying a fair amount of internal autonomy. Thirdly, BECs are basic (de base). Being predominantly a gathering of active lay people, they are said to be â€Å"at the base† of the Church, from an ecclesiastic point of view, as related to the hierarchical Church structure. Moreover, in Brazil and in many Third World countries, the BECs are â€Å"at the base† of society as well. In fact, most of the thousands and thousands of BEC members are poor. This is not an exclusive option but an understandable fact. The poor feel in a stronger way the need for community, for mutual support. They are less sophisticated in shaping their interpersonal relationships because they have less to lose. They are more open to participation because more pressed by common needs. Finally, they are more sensitive to the gift because they realize their personal and societal needs. Thus they hardly take things for granted or as if deserved. This opens their hearts to faith, which is part of the gifteconomy of salvation and liberation. Moreover, being at the base makes BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 603 it easier for BECs to link faith and real, everday life. On the grounds of the gospel demands, they realize the need for the transformation of a society whose organization is in itself unjust in many aspects and very much the source of their own poverty. Thus faith is not locked in the mind and even less within the private, individual horizon. Faith is a dynamic factor of personal conversion and societal transformation. In an earlier stage the BECs in Brazil were thought of as a way to improve the life of parishes. Progressively it became clear that such a model of communion and participation, such a quality of interpersonal relations, were not possible in a large-scale group or at a highly developed level of social organization. Without losing the linkage to the parishes, BECs multiplied within each parish, keeping their spontaneity and flexibility. Today there is no pretense of making of a parish a community in the terms of BECs. This would hardly be possible in sociological terms. The life of a parish, however, can be significantly improved by the presence of many BECs that gather between 20 and 50 people in general and can occasionally interact for common purposes within the parish. For historical and sociological reasons, Brazil has been a land chronically short of priests (a situation that is starting to loom elsewhere too). In previous times people would confine their active church life to the periodic and scarce presence of the ordained minister. With BECs the growing awareness of the diversity of vocations and of their respective responsibility in the Church led them to consider the priest as a part of the BEC and not above it. In his absence, however, the community goes on in its ordinary life, be it at the level of internal church affairs (prayer and biblical groups, preparation for the sacraments, attention to the sick, renewal and ongoing formation programs, and so on), be it in the field of concrete commitments to action in the social and political realm. Links to the parish or the diocese are kept, of course, and they remain the main source in the preparation of written material for several projects (biblical papers, liturgy of the word, etc. ). But life does not rest upon the initiative of the clergy and even less on the need for its constant involvement or required approval. This leads to a growing decentralization of church life which, however, fits within the parameters of a broad and all-embracing planning by the parishes, the dioceses, and even a very active and wellorganized Bishops Conference at a national level or in each one of its 15 regions in the country. The further elaboration of this article will provide the reader with more detailed information on what BECs mean in this precise context. It is important to bear in mind that taking Brazil as a case study for methodological reasons should not turn out to be an exclusive or narrowing focus. Having a specific point of reference helps us to have a context 604 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES for thinking, to be precise on what we are talking about, and to make possible a concrete comparative approach to our own ecclesial situation or perspective. BEC: A WAY OF BEING CHURCH The growing literature on BECs has accustomed us to think of them mainly, if not exclusively, in terms of Latin American ecclesiology; and one of the postulates of this ecclesiology is that the BECs are not simply a movement or association in the Church but rather a way of being Church. I start from this position, which I myself share, but in this article I would like to look at the issue from a different angle. It may help to broaden ecclesiological perception vis-a-vis our BECs, as well as their scope and significance for the Church as a whole. If indeed the BECs are a way of being Church, then they, like the Church, can be read and interpreted by distinct ecclesiologies. The reading will be more or less adequate in a given case, particularly when it has to do not so much with a more or less abstract concept of the Church but rather with its concrete embodiment in a given local area: the Brazilian Church, for example. I intend in this article to link up the BECs with several major ecclesiologies of European-American extraction in the last 30 years or so. Those ecclesiologies were not thought out in terms of BECs, so the linkup may serve two purposes. First, on the basis of premises that are not just Latin American, it will check out the proposition that BECs are truly a way of being Church. Second, it will show that such ecclesiologies can be enriched and opened to new horizons in the light of BECs. Let me mention two further points. First, we clearly have a wide and varied multiplicity of ecclesiological standpoints. Each one, taken individually, brings out the richness of the aspect it highlights, while at the same time leaving other possible dimensions in impoverished silence. The very plurality of ecclesiologies reveals the inability of any given one to exhaust the mystery of the Church. Understanding the Church, and BECs as a mode of embodying the Church, will always entail the meeting and linking up of various ecclesiological intuitions. It can never be a linkup with one exclusively. Indeed, in principle it should embrace them all, though of course with differing tones and stresses. My second point has to do with the present level of ecclesiological awareness, in which difference of focus is not due solely to difference in the aspect treated. It also depends on the historical frame of reference that serves as the backdrop for the reflection process. Theology carried on in the First World or inspired by it has been less explicit about that context, but it nevertheless bears the marks of it. For Third World theology in general, BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 605 and Latin American theology specifically, that frame of reference is inescapable, clearly putting its mark on theological method and its final product. This article may help us to see that these ways of doing theology are not mutually exclusive. By the same token, the Church, reflecting consciously on the mystery that it is, can derive benefit from this plurality. It can again take up the problem of its unity on the basis of presuppositions that do not rest upon uniformity in its process of theological reflection. The BECs may serve here as a focus and means for verifying this proposition. Among possible methodological options, I would like to single out three that are embodied in works of comparative ecclesiology. The first identifies the ecclesiological perspective, organizing the thought of each author around a dominant tendency in his works; this was the approach used by Batista Mondin. 1 The second defines a theoretical frame at the start and then uses it to compare distinct ecclesiologies, authors, or â€Å"schools†; such was the approach used by Alvaro Quiroz Magana in his thesis. 2 The third inductively works out ecclesiological models on the basis of various authors, suggesting the viability and even necessity of using different models to articulate an ecclesiology; that has been the approach of Avery Dulles in several works. Since it does not focus mainly on authors as Mondin does, or anticipate any theoretical grid as does Quiroz Magana, Dulles’ method lends itself best to my objective here. I want to verify whether and how BECs bear the chief marks of the Church that have been underscored in recent ecclesiologies outside Latin America, and how BECs can amplify and shed light on the content of those ecclesiologies in a different way. Taking my inspiration from Dulles’ method, then, I will try to expand the content of his analysis in ModeL · of the Church by focusing specifically on BECs. In his later work, A Church To Believe in, Dulles really ends up proposing a sixth model (the Church as a community of disciples), but I shall not consider that model specifically here. Its syntheticintegrative character is less adequate to my analytic-comparative purpose here. In Models of the Church Dulles proposes the following ecclesiological 1 Batista Mondin, Le nuove ecclesiologie: Un’imagine attuale della Chiesa (Rome: Paoline, 1980). 2 Alvaro Quiroz Magana, Eclesiologia en la teologia de la liberacion (Salamanca: Sigueme, 1983). Avery Dulles, Models of the Church: A Critical Assessment of the Church in All Its Aspects (Garden City, N. Y. : Doubleday, 1974); A Church To Believe in (New York: Crossroad, 1982). 606 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES models: Church as institution, communion, sacrament, herald, and servant. I shall briefly present the fundamentals of each model, reflecting on the relationship of BECs to the model in question. Church As Institution This is the model to whi ch we have been traditionally accustomed. It solidified over the centuries, and we were evangelized and theologically educated in it until the 1950s. Its main thrust lies in understanding the Church as a society, indeed as a perfect society. Its underlying Christology views Christ as prophet, priest, and king, with the threefold function of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling. That mission is carried out by virtue of the power which Christ received from God, and which he confers on those who in fact possess authority and jurisdictional power in the Church: the pope, bishops, and priests. Thus the ecclesiological accent is on the organization and dispensation of power, hence on the juridical dimension. This stress shows up on the three planes of doctrine, sacrament, and administration, which are explicitly linked up with their divine origin. The logical result is the excessive growth in the Church of the clerical and institutional dimension and the relative atrophy of the charismatic element as well as of the significance of the People of God, particularly the laity. Proper membership in the Church is defined as acceptance of the same doctrine, communion in the same sacraments, and obedient subjection to the same pastors—all that being visibly verified. Obviously the relationship of this paradigm to EECs is remote, by virtue of the characteristics of both the model and BECs. The predominantly vertical conception of power, the resultant structural organization, and the primacy and hegemony accorded to clerical initiative and activity represent something very different from what BECs are actually seeking andfleshingout in their way of being and living the reality of the Church. By the same token, however, BECs in Brazil, as I said, do contrast with basic communities that have arisen in the First World, particularly with those that arose in the 1960s. Brazilian BECs almost always arise through the initiative of the hierarchy and are sustained by their support. Working alongside lay pastoral agents, priests and religious also provide inspiration and motivation. Bishops and priests exercise jurisdictional power over Brazilian BECs, and the latter recognize and accept this because they consciously regard themselves as an integral part of the institutional life of the Church as a whole. Thus Brazilian BECs are not resistant to the Church as institution, they do not pose an alternative to it, nor do they absolutize their own way of being Church. Instead they see themselves as a vital part of the Church, without which they would have no meaning. BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 607 Taking all these factors into account, we can see that, from an analytical point of view, the Church-as-institution model hardly serves as the dominant ecclesiological inspiration or perspective in the rise of BECs and their actual working. Church As Sacrament â€Å"The Church exists in Christ as a sacrament or sign and an instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race† (Lumen gentium, no. 1). With these words Vatican II summarily echoes and ratifies a theme that was much in evidence in the Church Fathers (Cyprian and Augustine) and in the age of scholasticism (Thomas Aquinas). Its elaboration in terms of a more general ecclesiological perspective, however, is fairly recent. This newer perspective views the Church as a sacrament. One felicitous effort of this sort was by Otto Semmelroth, and his work inspired many others. 4 Henri de Lubac also made a significant contribution to this approach by using patristic and medieval sources. 5 He linked up two dimensions: the Christological—for us Christ is the sacrament of God; and the ecclesiological—for us the Church is the sacrament of Christ. All the sacraments are essentially sacraments of the Church. The sacraments derive their power of grace from the Church, and through them the Church becomes the sacrament it is. Here we have a linkage between the model of the Church as institution (which stresses the visible reality of the socio-ecclesiastical dimension) and the model of the Church as communion (which stresses the socio-ecc/esiai dimension rooted primordially in the inner union of faith, hope, and love). In the Church-as-sacrament model the whole congregation of the faith comes together in all its diverse vocations and functions. That explains the fecundity of this approach, which has been explored ecclesiologically by many theologians, particularly since World War II. A sacrament is a sign of something really present, the visible form of an invisible grace. It is an efficacious sign, producing or intensifying the reality it signifies. The sacraments, then, contain the grace they signify and confer the grace they contain. In tradition the sacraments have always been associated with the social dimension of the Church, not with the isolated individual, even though they are administered and rec eived by individuals. For the human being, then, the sacraments bring together Otto Semmelroth, Die Kirche als Ursakrament (Frankfurt/Main: Knecht, 1953). Henri de Lubac, Catholicisme (Paris: Aubier, 1948). See the following works by way of example: Leonardo Boff s doctoral dissertation, Die Kirche als Sakrament im Horizont der Welterfahrung: Versuch einer Legitimation und einer struktur-funktionalistischen Grundlegung der Kirche im Anschluss an das IL Vatikanische Konzil (Paderborn: Bonifatius, 1972); Yves Congar, â€Å"L’Eglise, sacrement universel du salut,† in Cette eglise que j’aime (Paris: Cerf, 1968) 41-63; P. Smulders, â€Å"L’Eglise, sacrement du salut,† in G. Barauna, ed. , L’Eglise de Vatican II2 (Paris: Cerf, 1967) 331-38. 5 6 4 08 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES and link the visible and invisible orders as well as the individual and social planes. We can sum this up by saying that Christ is a sacrament and so is the Church. Christ is the sign and visible presence of the invisible God, the efficacious power of salvation for the individual and the whole People of God. As institution and communio n, the Church is the sign and visible presence of Christ: accepted by faith and lived both really and mystically by the ecclesial community in the unity of the same faith. Indeed, the Church is even more sacrament than sign. Through its visible actions the Church not only signifies but dynamically produces and makes visible the reality of salvation that it represents and announces. The Church, then, is a grace-happening, and not just in the sense that it effects and administers the sacraments. It is a grace-happening as well because in the life of believers, who are the Church, we see operating and unfolding faith, hope, love, freedom, justice, peace, reconciliation, and everything else that establishes human intercommunion and humanity’s communion with God. Now let us see how the BECs look in the light of this model, the Church as sacrament. 1. From our examination of the Church-as-institution model, there is no doubt that the BECs see themselves as Church, as part of the visible, institutional, sociological body of the Church, and that they are a specific way of living as such. We also find Church as sacrament in the BECs. They are it within the Church itself insofar as they better embody the ecclesial range and presence of lay people, or the poor, in the Church— two features less evident in the Church’s concrete structures and functions in recent centuries. Lay people and poor people share a core reality. They are both of the grass-roots level, of the base: lay people in the Church, poor people in the world. Consequently we get thereby a visible, ecclesial sign of Christ’s own kenosis, a fundamental Christological dimension (Phil 2:5-11), which had not found suitable expression in the Church-as-institution model as lived in the past few centuries. This Christological tie-in, which is lived intensely in BECs, serves as an instrument of grace for bishops, priests, and religious who accept, recognize, or even share the BEC way of being Church. . The BECs have emerged from within a traditional Catholicism. In Brazil that Catholicism was centered around sacramentalization; little effort was put into clear-cut evangelization and explanation of the faith. Both in pedagogical intent and in actual practice, BECs put less stress on the traditional approach of sacramentalization. This is obvious insofar as the older focus on administering and receiving the sacraments signified and reaffirmed the hegemony of ordained authority and power. This was characteristic of the earlier pastoral BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 09 approach or flowed naturally from it. In the cities it took the form of regular administration of the sacraments. In rural areas and the interior it took the form of rapid discharge of various sacramental obligations (baptism, confirmation, marriage, penance, and Eucharist) in a very short period, on those rare or sporadic occasions when ordained ministers of the sacraments were on hand (the Brazilian-coined word to say it is desobriga, literally â€Å"discharge of obligation†). In both cases the tenor was more individual than communitarian. Administration of the sacraments frequently took place without proper doctrinal preparation and without rightly establishing the inner dispositions required for meeting the ethical and ecclesial prerequisites for participation in the sacraments. Thus sacramentalization was not tied into a clear ecclesial awareness of the scope and significance of the sacraments. The forms of sacramental expression and preparation for them were associated mainly, indeed almost exclusively, with the ordained minister, who was and still is scarce and much overworked in Brazil. Through their functions and services, current BECs have been filling in for ordained authority insofar as they can. Church as sacrament, in the terms indicated by Lumen gentium, finds expression in many ways. The overwhelming growth of sacred authority and power (the first model) had led historically to exclusive attribution of all that to the clergy. Today lay people, in BECs and other ecclesial areas, are serving as ministers to the sick and Eucharistie ministers. They are preparing individuals and communities for baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. And they are performing other functions for the immediate human and Christian well-being of individuals and communities. All these activities are clear signs of the Church as sacrament and its efficacious presence, which is not restricted to the seven sacraments alone. The fundamental change is the fact that this whole complex is seen in an ecclesial context. Without denying the vocational and ministerial role and importance of the clergy, BECs have ceased to be wholly dependent on them. The ordained minister takes his place once again within a community growing increasingly aware of its diverse vocations and functions, which are the presence of grace in the world, for the lowly in particular. 3. Insofar as the seven sacraments as such are concerned, BECs cannot fully realize the Church as sacrament in the anointing of the sick and two other basic points. They are promoters of reconciliation at the level of interpersonal relations between their members, but they cannot effect reconciliation as sacrament. Builders of communion as the only viable root of community, their members cannot realize the full significance of the mystery of the Eucharist. These sacraments, which are an indispensable part of Christian life, are bound up with the ordained minister. 610 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Given the current discipline of the Church and the envisioned requisites of formation and life style, there is no way of providing BECs with such ministers. BECs are multiplying rapidly and sporadically in rural areas and urban peripheries. There are not enough priests for them either quantitatively or qualitatively. By â€Å"qualitatively† here, I am not so much referring to the ministerial qualifications of the priest or his fulfilment of the juridical requisites for exercising his pastoral ministry. I am referring to the suitable adaptation of the priestly type to the BEC way of being Church. For the BEC has its own proper form of communion and participation, integrating various vocations into a more decentralized overall pastoral design based on subsidiarity. This is the present situation, and in the foreseeable future there does not seem to be any thought on the part of the Church as institution to give BECs, or the rest of the Church for that matter, any alternative to the present form of the sacrament of holy orders or to the prerequisites for its reception and exercise. This is a very serious problem affecting churches that are heavily nurtured by the word of God and that consolidate the bonds of communion between their members by fostering ecclesial awareness. In traditional Catholicism and the desobriga paradigm, the Eucharistie question was relativized in one or another way: either the ecclesial significance of the sacrament of the Eucharist was not perceived, or the pertinent law of the Church was fulfilled, not very often but enough to be considered satisfactory. In the living Church embodied by BECs we see, first and foremost, a keen awareness of the structural significance of the Eucharist in the Church as sacrament. They are acutely aware of the necessity of the Eucharist, but also of the actual impossibility of their having the Eucharist with its full meaning and reality. This problem cannot be solved adequately by allowing for exceptions or by occasional casuistic interpretations. It will have to be faced by the Church as part and parcel of its overall pastoral responsibility. The latter must take into account the concrete, diversified reality of the ecclesial body in the world as well as the salvific function of the Church as sacrament, whose core is the Eucharist. Placed at the disposal of human beings, the Eucharist is meant to be the efficacious font of communion between believers, and of their communion with God in Jesus Christ. Church As Herald In this model the Church is seen primarily as the bearer of the word of God. Receiving that word, it is to pass it on to human beings. Its proclaiming is also a convoking, bringing together those who hear and accept the word in faith and who are maintained in faith and union by the strength of the word. Thus the word is constitutive of the Church. BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 611 The Church is the herald of the word, however, not its ultimate addressee. The Church receives the word to announce it. Thus the word emerges as the crucial axis of an ecclesiological perspective that is kerygmatic, prophetic, and missionary. The two preceding models sprouted on Catholic soil and are cultivated there. This model, on the other hand, was nurtured by Protestant reflection. In this century it has been cultivated by Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann in particular. Some of its intuitions share a common subsoil with more ancient Catholic tradition, however, and they emerged again in Vatican II to find theological expression in a Catholic and ecumenical way. In the work of Barth, the Church is the living community of the living Christ. 7 God calls it into being by His grace and gives it life by means of His Word and His Spirit, with a view to His kingdom. Thus the Church is not a permanent fact, an institution, much less an object of faith. It comes about by God’s action. It is an event constituted by the power of the word of God in Scripture, made real today and announced to human beings. This proclaimed word gives rise to faith, a gift from God that is outside human control. There is no authority in the Church except the word of God, which is to be left free to call into question the Church itself. Through God’s word the Church is renewed and, above all, urged on to its mission: constant proclamation of the salvific event, Jesus Christ, and of the advent of God’s kingdom. This is the core of Barth’s message. The word and its proclamation are not meant to reinforce confessional, institutional, social, or political positions, or to abet the expansion of the Church as a society. In the work of Bultmann8 two crucial points must be considered with regard to ecclesiology. First, there is his nonhistorical conception of the Church. The result is the absence of any solid sociological or institutional dimension for the Church, and indeed the absence of any intention in Christ himself to establish or build it. Hence the identification of the Church with a historical datum or phenomenon remains ever paradoxical. Second, for Bultmann the word of God remains central, along with its proclamation as call, appeal, and invitation. But his view here is not the same as Barth’s. Let us look at it a bit more closely. Bultmann, more exegete than systematic theologian, sees the Church 7 Karl Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik 4/3 (Munich: Kaiser, 1935 and 1967). For a systematic presentation of Barth’s ecclesiology vis-a-vis Catholic ecclesiology, see the work of Colm O’Grady published by G. Chapman in London: Vol. , The Church in the Theology of Karl Barth (1968); Vol. 2, The Church in Catholic Theology: Dialogue with Karl Barth (1969). 8 Rudolf Bultmann, â€Å"Kirche und Lehre im Neuen Testament,† in Glauben und Verstehen 1 (Tubingen: Mohr, 1966) 153-87; Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Tubingen: Mohr, 1948). Both works have been translated into English: Faith and Understanding; A Theology of the New Testament 612 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES as a Pauline creation. It is so on three levels. It is a community of worship, an eschatological community, and a community with a vocation. In the first, the word is proclaimed. In the second, God is made present in the acceptance of Jesus by human beings. In the third, the first becomes prophetic vocation, kerygma that calls for a decision. The ecclesial event emerges in this kerygmatic tension of summons and response that the word brings with it, always assuming someone with credentials who proclaims it and/or a community that hears it and takes on the commitment. The Church comes to be in this faith-happening, which frees the context from any institutional, normative, or legitimating instance. The Church is actuated whenever the kerygma unleashes the summons of God and the response of human beings. There are clear differences between Barth and Bultmann. But they also have a basic affinity with regard to the significance and active role of the word in constituting the Church as a happening. These two theologians assume the importance of the community to which the word is addressed. The word is the glue around which the community gathers. The response of faith given to the word by the community is what gives the latter its meaning and reason for being. Here we can see the clear difference between the Protestant and the Catholic perspective vis-a-vis this model. Vatican II stresses that the Word became human, became flesh. Christ lives on in history through the Church, manifesting in it his message and saving activity; but there he also shares his own being with humans. In the Catholic version the Church-as-institution model is also brought into relationship with the word. The Church as a whole—and some in it by specific function—has the responsibility of watching over the proclamation and interpretation of the word. The Church’s magisterium is not above the word, as Barth claimed. It is under the word, deriving from that word its starting oint, its norm, and its nourishment. In and for the community, the magisterium is the instance of Christ’s power and authority with regard to the fidelity and continuity of his message. The community that hears and accepts it is not just called to proclaim it and bear witness to it; it must also translate it into real-life action on both the individual and the social levels. The word of God is central in the ecclesiological outlook of BECs. For them it is the immediate point of reference, the source of inspiration, nourishment, and discernment. Quite often it is the primary catalyst of community. Unlike the sacraments, which are not always accessible, the word is always within their reach. But there are profound differences between the BEC focus on the word and that to be found in the ecclesiologies of Barth or Bultmann. BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 613 1. In BECs the word is received within the Church and as Church insofar as the BEC is a way of being Church, or insofar as it is located in the bosom of the Church as institution and united with it. This implies the permanent reality of the Church to which the word is addressed. It also implies acceptance of the magisterium, the function in the Church that watches over the interpretation of the word and our fidelity to it. 2. In BECs the word naturally is conveyed through Scripture, which is read, prayed, and reflected upon; but all this is done in direct relationship with life. One could put it the other way and say: in BECs the everyday life of the members, the Church, and the world are read, prayed over, and reflected upon in relation to the word of God. If it is true for BECs that the Bible is the word of God, it is no less true that God also speaks to us in the language of real life. Bible and life shed light on each other for those who look to them for meaning in faith. The faith and spirituality of BECs are grounded on this foundation. 3. In BECs the symbiosis of word and life is the key to the process of evangelization. In the earlier pastoral paradigm, and particularly in the quick discharge of sacramental obligation (desobriga), there was little space for the word. The faithful received the word in a largely passive way. Their faith was receptive, but it did not feel summoned to commitment and radiation. There was no urgency toward a lasting conversion, on both the individual and social level, as a radical consequence of hearing and assimilating the word. This sort of profound transformation (metanoia) and the proclamation of the word to others characterize the BECs insofar as they embody Church as herald, Church of the word of God. Unlike Barth’s view, however, this proclamation is not dissociated from the world and its problems; it is in solidarity with them. Nor is it turned in on the Church and the community of believers, who are exclusively focused on an eschatological kingdom of a future sort. In BECs the word is a summons to lives being lived in the Church and already preparing the kingdom. It summons them to call into question both the individual person and the world, in order to shape a just society that will turn the word into reality and embody the gospel project in a coherent way. 4. In BECs, then, the word is kerygmatic and prophetic, as it was for Bultmann. It is that insofar as it is the center of a community of frequent de facto non-Eucharistic worship, which lay people can celebrate without the ordained minister they lack. The word is also kerygmatic and prophetic insofar as it belongs to a community focused on the definitive kingdom. Contrary to Bultmann’s position, however, this kingdom is tied to the historical Jesus, the Word made human being. Through his word and presence in the Church, this kingdom is already beginning to take 614 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES on shape in the course of history. In BECs the word is kerygmatic especially insofar as it calls for living commitment and a coherent response on both the individual and societal planes. Bultmann requires someone accredited to proclaim the kerygma. In BECs this accreditation is not primarily rooted in human wisdom or qualifications, though of course such factors are not ruled out. In BECs the crucial factor is the faith lived by the vast majority of the members in uprightness, simplicity, and poverty as they see their salvation and liberation in spirit and in truth. 5. All this is realized in BECs through the ongoing improving of interpersonal relationships, which give visibility to ecclesial community rooted in the prior communion in faith, justice, and love. In that sense community is not just the initiative of a God who summons and brings together. It is also the persevering laborious response of human beings journeying day by day through time and facing the problems and conflicts of life. The limits and benefits of BECs vis-a-vis the word have been well brought out by Carlos Mesters, to whom they are indebted for a notable service of the word. Officially and scholarly accredited as a minister to proclaim the kerygma, he knew how to listen well to the word that God continues to utter in the hearts of the lowly, opening their hearts and minds to an understanding of both God and the human being. Mesters warns us about the risk of subjectivistic interpretation, about the failure to do a judicious, historically situated reading of the text, about the danger of a selective, ideological approach that seeks only confirmation of one’s own initial position. He stresses the importance of a solid exegesis that will help the common people to get beyond those problems and also respond to the questions they themselves raise. He insists on the viability of a reading that will take into account the physical and material reality of the biblical folk without reducing the biblical message to just that. Finally, he tries to make it possible for an urban, industrial world to get closer to the rural book that the Bible is. 9 Church As Servant The ecclesiological models considered above are markedly centripetal. They prefer to focus on the internal reality of the Church, affirming its vitality and self-sufficiency in relation to the world. The Church teaches, offers a salvific presence, issues ethical norms, and enunciates values. For the far from naive use of the Bible in BECs, see the article by Carlos Mesters in John Eagleson and Sergio Torres, eds. , The Challenge of Basic Christian Communities (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis, 1981). For a sample of his own ability to relate biblical exegesis to real human problems, see Carlos Mesters, God, Where Are You? Meditations on the Old Testament (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis, 1977). 9 BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 615 The advent of modernity and the growing autonomy exercised by the world drew it further and further away from dependence on the Church and acceptance of it. The Church, in turn, reacted by taking up a defensive, indeed often aggressive, position vis-a-vis the world. Church and world took up hard lines in opposing trenches. 10 Vatican ^1 reversed this tendency. It led the Church to see the modern world as an interlocutor with its own identity. This focus can be described as a belatedly optimistic view of the world. Nevertheless, the Church continues to cherish the hope that it will be able to continue its mission vis-a-vis the world. That mission to the world will be one of service primarily. The important thing for the Church is not to withdraw into itself and attract a small group that keeps its distance from this world. Instead, it must take its rightful place in the world and then open itself up as a place for dialogue, constructive action, and liberation. Paralleling the whole conciliar thrust in the Catholic Church, various theologies of secularization have taken shape in Protestant circles by stages. Their impact on the way to read world and Catholic theology was felt most keenly in the decade of the 1960s. The basically positive thrust of the process of secularization (taken as the human autonomy with regard to the explanation of the immanent reality) clearly took an increasingly immanentist turn, often enough degenerating into an undesirable secularism (which is the negation of any transcendent dimension or reality). Despite some unacceptable turns and developments, the Western Church has clearly taken an uncontestable step in reformulating its own reality vis-a-vis the world. The disposition of the whole Church is one of universal service to humanity as such, which is now seen as one big family or indeed as the People of God. Service (diakonia) becomes the central inspiration of ecclesiology.  · Though very aware of its frailty and inconsistency, the Church will not retreat into itself. On the basis of its theological anthropology, it will offer the world answers that the world itself has not found, or that the world has missed and perverted in its dizzying drive toward immanentism and reductionism. This focus of the Church as servant is, however, still sharply confined. It was the theological perspective of the North and West immediately following Vatican II. Today, even in those hemispheres, it is being sharply contested, and its limitations are being recognized. It is from different angles that the BECs translate and embody the new diakonia of the Church vis-a-vis the world. In Brazil and the rest of 10 See Marcello Azevedo, Modernidade e Cristianismo (S. Paulo: Loyola, 1981); Inkulturation and the Challenges of Modernity (Rome: Gregorian Univ. , 1982); J. B. Libanio, A volta a grande disciplina (S. Paulo: Loyola, 1983). 616 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Latin America, there can be no naively positive view of the modern world. The achievements of science and technology are admitted, and so is the heightened human awareness of such basic elements as human rights, individual freedom, participation in public life, recognition in principle of the equality of all human beings, and other features of modern contemporary culture. But it is impossible not to notice the gap between these theoretical ideals and their actual realization in history, not to mention the actual frustration and perversion of these ideals in many areas. Medellin and Puebla, as well as papal and episcopal postconciliar documents, underline the aberrations embodied in injustice, poverty, hunger, oppression, and structural stigmas that mar our reality. In such a context the poor are the ones who suffer most, along with those who are discriminated against and marginalized, crushed and destroyed beyond any hope of repair. These are the people who predominantly make up the BECs. Hence this is the concrete way that the Church as BEC manifests its status as servant. In itself it again takes on and lives Christ the Servant: in the mission of the suffering people and in the witness it bears in faith, even to the full embodiment of the message in martyrdom. New life is thus given to a Christological component that has long been forgotten or left buried in obscurity. Here we have a Church that serves and fulfils itself in service to the world. It does this through the diakonia of a faith, conscious of the gift given to us in Jesus Christ. This gift is not, however, the privilege of a chosen few; it is the responsibility of all. This responsibility is lived in the urge to denounce and call into question the sociostructural organization that has produced such an unjust society. It does this by identifying clear-cut forms of institutionalized violence in all their shapes. It does this by insisting on radical changes through relations of communion and participation among human beings. Moreover, in BECs the Church becomes a servant by serving the common people without replacing them in either the Church or the world in a paternalistic way. It recognizes that they too have the right to take the initiative in carrying through their own process of maturation and liberation, both religious and civil, after centuries of denial, tutelage, or marginalization. In this perspective of active ecclesial participation, BECs are a Church that eminently serves the other forms of being Church as well as the other vocations and charisms in the Church. 1 11 This model, which stresses the urgent necessity of service as a consequence of faith, spells out the specific nature of Christian faith in full consistency with the tradition of ancient Israel and with the Gospel message. Both stressed the necessity of fleshing out in reality what one believed. Faith, then, cannot be understood solely in terms of assent or conviction; it must be translated into real-life action. There is a strong echo of the Gospel message (Mt 25 and Lk 10:25-37) in the insistence on a theology of service as an underlying BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 17 Church As Communion/Community The model of Church as community founded on communion is the one that emanates most directly from the explicit ecclesiology of Vatican II. It stands in marked contrast to the hegemonic model (Church as institution) that was regarded as the primary interpretation of the mystery of the Church for ten centuries as least, and that was practically the dominant interpretation in the last five centuries. Nevertheless, the communitarian conoeption of the Church goes back to Scripture itself and was vigorously upheld in the patristic era. It threads through many phases of church history with regard to the ecclesial body as a whole and with regard to specific vocations within the Church, particularly in the evolution of the religious life. Thus in its ecclesiological perspective Vatican II taps roots grounded in tradition and the Bible and rediscovers one of the most fruitful facets of ecclesial inspiration throughout church history. 12 Here the Church is the community that is established in communion with God and between human beings. It embraces and pervades the part of an unmistakably Christian praxis. The term â€Å"praxis† is not synonymous with â€Å"practice† insofar as the latter term simply means action or behavior; nor is â€Å"praxis† the opposite of â€Å"theory. † Praxis is a concrete form of historical commitment and involvement, stemming from a twofold awareness: that history is made in time and that it is the result of human actions stemming from concrete choices. Praxis, then, is the conscious making of history, and Christian praxis is the concrete living out of the historical dimensions of the faith. Christian praxis is the daily, long-term embodiment and direction given to the service that faith demands. See F. Taborda, â€Å"Fe crista e praxis historica,† Revista Eclesiastica Brasileira 41 (1981) 250-78. This notion of praxis has been much discussed by various liberation theologians, including Gustavo Gutierrez, Juan Luis Segundo, Leonardo Boff, and Jon Sobrino. For a sophisticated and penetrating examination of the complexities of modern historical reality in the industrialized nations and Latin America, see chapters 1013 of Juan Luis Segundo, Faith and Ideologies (Maryknoll, N. Y. : Orbis, 1984) 249-340. 12 See Pier Cesare Bori, Koinonia: L’Idea della comunione neU’eclesiologia recente e nel Nuovo Testamento (Brescia: Paideia, 1972); id. , Chiesa primitiva: L’Immagine della comunita delle origini—Atti 2:42-47; 4:32-37—nella storia della chiesa antica (Brescia: Paideia, 1974); Yves Congar, L’Eglise de saint Augustin a l’epoque moderne (Paris: Cerf, 1970); Jerome Hamer, L’Eglise est une communion (Paris: Cerf, 1962); Emil Brunner, Das Missverstandnis der Kirche (Zurich: Zwingli, 1951); id. Dogmatik 3: Die christliche Lehre von der Kirche, vom Glauben, und von der Vollendung (Zurich: Zwingli, 1960). For Brunner, the Church is pure fraternal communion bearing witness to love. The antithesis between communion and institution is the core and guiding thread of his ecclesiology. In Dulles’ first model (Church as institution), the Church stands above the faithful, as it were; it is extrinsic to them in a certain sense. In Church-as-communion ecclesiologies, the Church is the community of all the faithful living a life of communion. Bellarmine opposed institution to communion. Brunner opposes communion to institution. Hamer sees communion lived out only in the institution. BECs start from communion as experiential living in the light of faith to reflect consciously on their ecclesial participation in the Church as institution, which they would never imagine to be adequate without the living experience of communion. 618 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES People of God in the multiplicity of their gifts, vocations, services, and functions. It embraces the Church at every level, particularly in its appreciation of episcopal collegiality and local churches. It is no less open to other Christian denominations, non-Christian religions, and all human beings who sincerely search for love, truth, and justice. There have been frequent manifestations of this spirit, from the first encyclical of Paul VI (Ecclesiam suam) to the outlook underlying the basic structure of the new Code of Canon Law. It might be assumed that all this was inspired and dictated merely by sociological imperatives. That is not the case. The People of God, the image of the Church most esteemed by Vatican II, is a great community; but it is so under the action of the Holy Spirit. The members of this People, who are seen in terms of equality, dignity, and freedom, receive the very same Spirit and act under that Spirit: hearing and proclaiming the word of God in the unity of the same faith and mission. In this model of the Church as communion/community, both Medellin and Puebla will find their common basis and their great mediation for an evangelization that is humanizing, transforming, and liberating. The BEC is indicated as the primary and proper scenario for the concrete embodiment of this communion. Sociologically, it implements a new pattern of personal and social relationships. Ecclesiologically, it is a common center for reading and interpreting life and for hearing the word of God, for union among those who believe, and for service to all through the various ministries that arise out of the needs of the community and dovetail with ito varied vocations and charisms. The BEC amalgamates and integrates the conscious, subsidiary coresponsibility of all, under the action of one and the same Spirit, into the total body of one and the same Church. Here again we come across a central element that sheds light on the whole complex. These BECs have been in fact ecclesial communities of poor people, marked by a structural poverty stronger than the poor themselves. In a glaring way it bears witness to the absence of communion and solidarity between human beings in our current societies, to the prevailing power of injustice that destroys the human being and nullifies God’s plan for humanity. Thus the BECs are a call to conversion of heart and to the re-establishment of justice in love, which will make possible communion in faith and mission. As a community that unites hearts, the BECs are no less a force for the transformation of a world that divides and crushes. They are insofar as they try to extend to the world and the Church the reality of communion that they themselves are already trying to live as communities. The little patch of the People of God that is living in each BEC, an â€Å"initial cell† as Medellin puts it, is a sign and BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES 619 sacrament of the People of God that Vatican II sees as the Church, and that it would like to project over the world as a whole. In BECs, then, the ecclesiological model of Church as communion/ community ceases to be a theoretical variable of ecclesiological analysis. It becomes the existential witness to a reality of the Church, which is growing in communion and participation to become a community. In the BECs this model is a promising prototype of the necessary, ongoing process of historical becoming that is to culminate in the eschatological kingdom, where community is to be lived in full, definitive communion. THE SOTERIOLOGICAL COMPONENT In discussing these various ecclesiological models, I mentioned several times their underlying Christological component. I do not want to end this article without also alluding briefly to the importance of the soteriological conception these models may derive from their association with BECs as a way of being Church. The mystery of the Church is intimately bound up with the mystery of Jesus Christ, and no less with the understanding of his mission. This, in turn, is reflected in the conception of the ecclesial mission. Thus ecclesiology, Christology, and soteriology shed light on one another and help to explain one another. The salvation and redemption given to us by the Father in and through Jesus Christ (the meaning of his life and mission) is to be realized on at least three levels. They can be distinguished from one another analytically, but they are interwoven in reality. For the historical destiny of humanity must be oriented in line with its eschatological destiny, in the indissoluble unity of the proclamation and realization of the kingdom, which is to be initiated here but find its ultimate culmination only in the eschaton. The first level is the redeeming and saving liberation from sin that marks the human race as a whole and the individual human person. The second level has to do with sin in terms of its interpersonal and social projections, insofar as it expresses the perversion of God’s plan as manifested in the concrete human organization of social, economic, and political realities that have been created by human beings and that affect humanity. The third level has to do with liberation from sin as the latter is incorporated into the gestation of culture and history over centuries, which in turn is often the wellspring of sin on the two other levels and vice versa. These three levels of salvation, redemption, and liberation are a replica of God’s activity with the people of Israel, hence of the history of our salvation as designed by God. Salvation, redemption, or liberation cannot be understood solely from the divine side, i. e. , as our ransom from sin through God’s initiative and His new openness to a covenant of love with human beings in and 620 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES through Jesus Christ. Neither can it be understood solely in a directly anthropological sense that is not sufficiently existential, i. e. salvation as the fulness of human liberty and total opening up to the absolute, as a teleological orientation to the definitive, eschatological future of humanity. Salvation, redemption, and liberation must further be understood as the Pauline exigency that human beings also respond to, and ally themselves with, God and His project to liberate humanity with respect to the consequences of sin (Romans 2 and 7). Throughout history th ose consequences leave their mark not only on the life of the individual but also, and even more so, on the social context of the world. In the BECs we do find the soteriological key of the various ecclesiological models mentioned, a key that tends to stress the first level of redemption just noted. But everything I have been saying about the BECs with respect to the ecclesiological dimension of these models implies a twofold emphasis in the soteriological perspective, which is paramount in the ecclesial awareness of our day. The first says that human beings are, by the saving power of Jesus Christ, an active party in carrying on the process of salvation and liberation in history. Just as they were agents in the deformation of God’s plan through their human sin, so they express the new life given to them in Jesus Christ through their real-life embodiment of the love and justice that he has re-established. It is the realization of the Word, made Salvation: a biblical exigency throughout the two Testaments. A second emphasis is also affirmed in the BECs, communities of poor people. They see themselves as the primary subjects in setting in motion and actuating this process of realizing salvation through the transformation of sin’s consequences. In fact, they are the real-life victims of injustice-made sin in the world in which we live. Hence it is they who can best perceive the rupture between such injustice and God’s project. To be or become poor is to perceive this from the standpoint and condition of the poor whatever our social and economic condition might be. Here is picked up the primary inspiration of Jesus’ own life and mission (Lk 3:18-21), which must necessarily be reaffirmed in the life and mission of the Church. 3 13 In a forthcoming book, Basic Ecclesial Communities in Brazil, which is to be published in English by Georgetown University Press, I examine the origin and formation of Brazilian BECs, their evangelizing potential, and the rich novelty of their pastoral paradigm. I also explore them as a theological topic, and the challenges they may pose to the overall process of evangelization. A Portuguese version of the present article is being published by the Brazilian journal Perspectiva teologic a (Sept. -Dec. 1985).

Gothic horror Frankestein Essay

Intorduction Mary Shelley was brought up in radical surroundings. Throughout her life she was dominated by writers and poets. She had a very intellectual and opinionated family; her mother was a campaigner for women’s equal rights and her father was a political free thinker. Chapter 5 reveals that Mary Shelley has overturned the usual gothic conventions. She uses violent thunder storms to create an eerie, tense and ghostly atmosphere. The storm in chapter 5 is undramatic, it lacks violence and power which is completely different from the usual convention of a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms are usually the climax of what is happening but in this case its gives a sense of foreboding, a sense that something drastic is about to happen. The storm could reflect Victor’s obsession in his creation as this lead him to become dull and miserable. The scene is lifeless to emphasise the horrific and monstrous creature that Dr. Frankenstein brings to life. At the beginning of chapter 5, a contrast between light and dark is shown. Darkness encroaches on the light as the â€Å"candle was nearly burnt out†. Shelley builds up the description of the creature and begins with the â€Å"dull yellow eye†. By doing this Shelley builds up tension. It is a kind of calm before the storm until the monster is actually completely revealed. Shelley uses subliminal mental landscapes to communicate with Victors feelings. They reflect his shifting mental stability. Sublime landscapes are the only landscapes extreme enough to communicate with his â€Å"painful state of mind†. Dr Frankenstein’s ability or power over bringing something so grotesque and macabre to life, lead him to retreat from the society in which he lives and isolate himself in the confines of his creation. â€Å"Dear mountains! My own beautiful lake! How do you welcome you wanderer? Your summits are clear; the sky and the lake are blue and placid. Is this to prognosticate peace, or mock at my unhappiness?† By saying this, Victor is clearly offended by the beauty and scenery around him. It is as if calmness  and tranquillity angers him and torments his feelings of fear and isolation. Shelley uses Victor Frankenstein as the archetypal gothic protagonist. The qualities which he beholds are typical of the gothic genre. Dr Frankenstein often rejects the values and moral codes of the religious society in which he lives. He cuts himself off from the world, and rejects to the contemporary developments to natural science. â€Å"As a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science. Frankenstein is characterised as the Byronic hero. Byronic hero, named after the 19th century writer Lord Byron, does not possess ‘heroic virtues’- but instead has many dark qualities. He has emotional and intellectual capacities which make him superior to the average man. He became â€Å"acquainted with the science of anatomy† and obsessed in his knowledge. Being obsessed in something he believes in show his arrogance and yet passion about particular issues. Often a Byronic hero is characterised by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime- which often makes him repulsive towards the reader. Victor Frankenstein’s dream was maybe a subconscious desire toward his mother or guilt of being in a relationship with Elizabeth. Strange relationships and sexual undertones are the deeper and darker concerns revealed in his dream. In his dream, Elizabeth is in good health. But when he goes to kiss her, her lips become clear with the colour of her teeth. White lips are often associated with gothic conventions as they symbolise death and decay and reality from appearances. It soon turns into a nightmare when his mother decays before his eyes. He personalises his creation to his own family issues and it also shows that he is disturbed and somewhat possessed by his creation. Maybe he has a deep feeling of guilt about destroying the bodies and he subconsciously wishes he never because he wouldn’t want his mother to be dismembered in the same way. This could be the reason for his isolation because he became† so deeply engrossed in his sole occupation†. Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein† differs from the usual gothic horrors as it deals with modern issues that are relevant today. The novel demonstrates the potential consequences of meddling with nature and shows its catastrophic  effects. It deals with the anxieties about advances in science and technology and the novel could be seen as a warning about the possible direction that scientific progress could take us. The consequences of when a man tries to create new life without a woman disastrous. Throughout the novel we are lead to think that there is a deliberate absence of females and how Frankenstein avoids feminine issues. However, a closer look reveals that the creation of his monster is a travesty against a woman’s biological prerogative. In victors arrogance he believes he can create wonderful new life without the role of a woman but Shelley demonstrates how wrong he is.

Prejudice in the Movie

This poignant and gripping film illustrates the reality of racial discrimination and bigotry among the contemporary society.   The diverse characters of people from different racial groups like Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics or Latinos are shown in this movie in the city of Los Angeles.It vividly displays so much prejudice, anger and fear of getting discriminated due to several reasons with the comeuppance of certain intense situations to the point where the one who is being inflicted retaliates back which sometimes could result to violence.Prejudice can be in the form of racism or sexism, manifested verbally, unconsciously or deliberately.   These people say what comes to their minds without the filters of propriety and compassion to others.   This class aided me to understand that people typecast or stereotype a person or group due to some irrational preconceived dislike.Based psychologically and socially, we may have experienced a traumatic or upsetting sit uation which made us form a bias against an individual. Economic background is also a basis of prejudice, disliking one belonging to the rich or the poor. Furthermore, raised in different cultures, it is inevitable that one dislikes another person’s behavior since it is different from what one is used to or has been raised in.Crash has expressively and effectively communicated to the viewers how people manifest prejudice to each other.   It displayed how one character can become the offender at one time and a victim in another discrimination situation.   This just shows how each one of us has a prejudice over someone or something.   Movies like Crash, try to impart the harsh realities to provide us the awareness and awaken us to elicit improvement in whatever we fall short of in a personal level as well as in the community.   It forces us to face what is happening so that someday we may have a world free of prejudice.REFERENCECheadle, D., Haggis, P., Moresco, R., Schu lman, C., & Yari, B. (Producers), Haggis, P.  (Director). (2005). Crash [Motion Picture]. United States: Lions Gate Films

Comcast voip telecommunications Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Comcast voip telecommunications - Research Paper Example This age is known as the age of information technology and we see information technology everywhere. In this scenario, Comcast based VoIP is completely an innovative and high-tech technology for the superior management of business and corporate issues. Additionally, Comcast Digital Voice presents a completely new set of alternatives for our home telephone service with the Comcast superior broadband network. For example, Comcast Digital communication and phone service allows us to choose unlimited local as well as long distance communication plans through which we can keep our present telephone number as well as touch-tone telephone. Moreover, we can enjoy all of our preferred options similar to call waiting, voice mail, caller ID and a lot more (OnlineComcast, 2011). This paper outlines strategic Implications of information technology on COMCAST with a focus on VoIP Telecommunications over the next three years. This paper will also present a recommendation on what Strategic Action sh ould be taken. Technology Overview Comcast VoIP has emerged as a modern and high-tech technology service that offers a lot of facilities for the business management. Presently Comcast VoIP service is attracting a large number of VoIP clients every quarter and has extremely quickly turned out to be the nation's (US) 4th major phone carrier. However, they are not only one of the major VoIP communication service providers, but they also present the maximum quality local and international calls. Additionally, the Comcast VoIP Digital phone service offers a range of improved telephone characteristics with cost savings that exceed a lot of customary telephone services. In addition, the modern services of Comcast VoIP technology based service allows its users to keep their present telephone number as well as touch-tone telephone thus offering advantages of countless characteristics similar to improved Voice Mail that allows the users to get and send their messages through online or phone s ystems. Moreover, digital phone service as well allows the users to take pleasure of unlimited local as well as nationwide long distance calls, such as calls to Puerto Rico and Canada at least monthly price. Thus, people are able to save money. It also allows its users to connect TV and Internet service with Comcast phone service and take pleasure pay less for the entire Comcast communication services (Bode, 2008) and (OnlineComcast, 2011). Company  Background For this report I have selected Animusoft Company that is making use of VoIP services offered by ActivePBX. While using traditional VoIP services, Animusoft Corporation faced a lot of problems regarding internal communication of business and departmental interaction. The business is aimed at improving its overall services and potential working capability with new VoIP services. In this way the company will be able to achieve high level performance (Animusoft Corporation, 2011). Current Business Issues of VoIP   VoIP is a c omparatively modern technology. In this scenario, the research work shows that a lot of corporations are now making use of VoIP technology to reduce costs, tonnage efficiency and maintaining strategic position.

Answer questions action reaserch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answer questions action reaserch - Essay Example Moreover, he has formatted the article well according to the guidelines of APA format. He has avoided the use of first-person throughout the paper, and ensured consistent use of third-person. He has also provided substantial justification of the research and projected the current and future effects of social on education. However, he has made several flaws that ought to be improved that include; lack of a strong thesis that can direct the readers on the emphasis of the paper, and complexity that limits the ability of readers to understand. These areas need to be improved through presenting interpretation of the hard vocabulary used in order to make it understandable to wide variety of audiences. French (2012) presents a qualitative study on the topic of effects of alcohol abuse among high school students on their academic performance. He introduces the research with a strong thesis that directs the readers to know what the research majors on. The article has a section entitled abbreviations and acronyms that provide meanings to the abbreviations contained in it. The author has used first-person intonation throughout the paper. Moreover, he has made the paper simple and presented all arguments in a clear manner in order to promote comprehension by the readers. However, there are several suggestions that were not followed that include; use of tense and definition statements. The author has used past tense throughout the article hence failing to provide the implications about future changes that should be done to control the problem of alcohol abuse. He also failed to define the key terms within the paper, and tell the readers about their operational definitions. Croix (2013) presents a quantitative research on unequal education opportunities between public and private schools in West Virginia. The author has obeyed several guidelines on writing style through providing a title and thesis for the research. He has gone ahead to identify the gaps that occur

Food, Identity and Spaces Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Food, Identity and Spaces - Research Paper Example Before we can consider such situations, it is important to first delve into challenges that tourists face in unfamiliar culinary situations. The primary point of concern is: How does food, as much as it presents unique experiences to tourists, conflict with their culture and eating etiquette in unfamiliar culinary situations? Cultural Mismatch One of the primary challenges faced by people in unfamiliar culinary situations stems from cultural mismatch. Local food, according to Cohen and Avieli, is both an attraction and an impediment. The cultural points of difference are evident from the displeasure to the displaying of caged animals waiting to be killed and served to customers. Tourists not accustomed to this practice have often found it repulsively disturbing to the extent of losing their appetite altogether (Cohen &Avieli, 2004). Similar sentiments are shared by Chang, Kivela and Mak, whose study centred on the idea of travel dining with a specific focus on the Chinese experience, as an expression of engagement between tourists and other cultures. According to the line of argument developed in this study, which has singled out different types of tourists, allo-centric tourists are generally more willing to try novel food when it comes to unfamiliar environment. On the other hand, psychocentric tourists will tend to stick to familiar culinary patterns that fit into their culture. Clearly, there is an implied sense of intimidation when the latter are not willing to step out of their comfort zone and accept the concept of change. It can be concluded from this line of thought that cultural mismatch is a great impediment when it comes to experiencing unfamiliarity in foreign land. As such, the identity of the foreign food culture is unappreciated and thus compromised. On a similar note, the element of cultural mismatch is also present when â€Å"an immigrant to Canada, quickly finds his own ethnic identity challenged in terms of food. Offered a hot dog by his fr iend Romesh, Nurdin, a Muslim, knowingly takes the forbidden meat into his own body† (Padolsky, 2005, NS). In another study, Western European and Israeli tourists in the Asian regions where the cultures are radically different find it overwhelmingly difficult to adapt to local food due to cultural mismatch (Cohen &Avieli, 2005). Evidently, the three studies share similar sentiments on cultural challenges faced when experiencing unfamiliar culinary situation. Contrasting Eating Etiquettes Contrasting eating etiquettes also come out strongly on the three studies as a notable impediment to adapting to new types of food as people visit different cultures. A specific example is the aroused uneasiness by Westerners confronted by chopsticks when touring parts of Asia (Cohen and Avieli, 2004). There are also some peculiar food practices that separate the cultures of the East and the West. For instance, the differing methods used in food preparation are culturally dependent and therefo re, some methods may contrast with other cultures (Chang, Kivela & Mak, 2010). Culturally sensitive people would then find it difficult eating food prepared under such circumstances. The same line of thought seems to be shared by Podolsky when he claims that eating etiquettes vary from one cultural background to another. In his context, people find it difficult to adapt to new diets especially when the host’s eating etiquettes differ greatly from what they are accustomed to in their

Amazon Organization Is Involved in Online Retail Trade Research Paper

Amazon Organization Is Involved in Online Retail Trade - Research Paper Example Amazon manufactures electronics, such as the Amazon Kindle, for clients and provides cloud-computing services. Additional revenue for the company is from marketing services. This is mainly by online advertisement and co-branding of credit cards (Schneider, 46). The company operates in the United States and in other countries such as France, Germany and China. Strategy Amazon usually delivers products to the customers after transactions are complete. This usually takes a couple of days depending on diverse logistical factors that include distance and address. However, the company has introduced a new system, popularly called same day shipping. This enables clients to buy products online and then the products are delivered to them the same day. This remains its clear-cut strategy to ensure the achievement of competitive advantage. Indeed, the large range of products that it sells is one of the noble strategies that the company is integrating. Buyers can find a variety of products such as toys, electronics, and books that are in excellent form. It customizes the experience of the buyers and gives recommendations for advancement in service delivery that contributes to customer retention. Additionally, it does customer tracking to enable it to gain more customers and retain them. It also gives individuals the opportunity to sell various commodities via its platform (Rosenbloom, 174). These can be either new goods or those that have been used. The advantage that Amazon has had over its competitors is that it does not charge sales taxes. This is mainly because its clients perform online purchasing that ensures effective ordering and delivery of the items with immense convenience. The company’s prior operating strategy was to avoid establishing networks in the nations that have adopted unfriendly tax policies, and thus such states do not have Amazon distribution warehouses. However, the new strategy that it is adopting requires that it sets warehouses across the United States including those tax unfriendly states. This means that the company will give up the lead it has over competitors. However, more warehouses in many states in the US will mean that products are closer to clients thus can be delivered the same day that purchase takes place. This can benefit individuals who are last minute gift shoppers. Local commercial institutions usually push these states to collect sales tax from Amazon because lack of such revenue gives the company a price advantage over them. However, online retailers such as Amazon are exempted from paying sales tax in states in which they do not have physical existence. Currently, Amazon has warehouses in six states and thus contributes sales tax in six states. These are Washington, Kentucky, New York, Texas, Kansas and North Dakota (Rosenbloom, 174). With the new strategy, it will have to collect sales levies in more states. Presently, it is unclear how the strategy will affect the revenues. Effects on competito rs, consumers and Revenues Amazon has eluded charging sales tax from its clients.

EO Wilson The process of evolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

EO Wilson The process of evolution - Essay Example The fall of one set of species, such as dinosaurs later gives a rise to another set of species (Archibald 46). Yes, Wilson’s statement on loss of genetic and species diversity is true. As Wilson states, the actions brought about by human beings throughout the history seem to always result to the extinction of certain species. The whole process of life or existence is necessary for preservation of species (Wilson 121). It is also evident that the diversity of genetics and species is a biological necessity (Roberts 31). Species and genetic diversity is extremely important for the survival of all species. For example, if human beings lost their genetic diversity, such as the loss of the Y chromosome, only women would exist in the world. Of course, without a diverse population of men and women, having a future population would be uncertain. It is also apparent today, that genetic diversity in different people has enabled the human race to ward off certain diseases, particularly viruses. As Robert indicates in page 31 her book, a non-fatal change to a human reproductive cell is likely to r esult to the change being passed to other generations. Therefore, the loss of such diversity means that no one would be immune to any virus because a generation in the past is not able to pass the immunity to future

Internalization of Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Internalization of Business - Essay Example Presently, the company employs 100 staff to deal with its manufacturing of products such as DVD players and MP3 players. Although the company is supplying products to the Japanese market, it has failed to expand its business over the last two years. A number of reasons are attributable to the company’s stunted growth including higher wages it has been paying and lack of research and development staff. Furthermore, the company is struggling to address highly competitive market environment in terms of technology development and innovation. Hence, it is necessary to critically analyse the present situation of the company and to anticipate the key trends for Elecdyne over the next five years. The 2008 global crisis and recession raised potential challenges to the global economy and it impeded the economic growth worldwide. Many economists are of the view that the global financial crisis 2008-09 is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in 1930s. As Soifer (2010) poi nts out, the crisis led to the collapse of a series of large financial institutions, the bailout of major banks by national governments, and downward movements in stock markets around the world (p.163). This crisis might have contributed to the growth decline of the Elecdyne. In modern days, market competition is very intense and therefore manufactures tend to design innovative models that would effectively dominate the market. Due to this stiff competition, customers get the extensive exposure to choose the best quality and affordable products. Since the Elecdyne lacks an effective R&D team, the company is really striving to develop innovative product models; and this worse condition keeps them away from the main stream of the international market. According to Despont (n.d), innovation and continued R&D is very important for an enterprise to survive the intense market competition because the modern customers always ask for the best products. However, it seems that the process of u rbanisation though networks and partnerships offer ranges of opportunities to organisations. It is observed that Elecdyne is currently near to sources of information and hence it can certainly become stronger by preparing itself to face international competition. Nowadays social networking sites such as facebook and Twitter have attained worldwide popularity and these social channels will enable the Elecdyne to understand customer tastes and specifications and thereby to maintain profitable market segments by realizing potential business territories. As Gourmelen (2004) points out, EU union expansion has created potential opportunities for organisations. In addition, Eastern European countries like Romania have cheaper salary margins as compared to UK .Hence, the Elecdyne can effectively offshore its manufacturing activities to such countries where favourable business conditions are prevailing. In addition, the company may obtain beneficial market environment in rapidly developing e conomies like India and China where the Elecdyne would get cheaper business inputs. The term STEEP is the acronym for Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political Factors. While analysing the socio-cultural factors, it seems that the company possesses a range of potential challenges. To illustrate; Japan, the company’s home country, is one of the world’s most famous countries for its electronics industry. Therefore cheap and close substitutes to Elecdyne’

Self reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Self reflection - Essay Example tion of leadership from a broad perspective that is a skill that can be learnt rather than a personal trait that always remains with a single individual. Although many individuals are born with qualities that allow them to become leaders in their domains, however, it is not something that cannot be learnt. In the past, whenever I used to act as a leader, I used to dominate the group members in order to control them; however, the course helped me in realizing that leadership is not about controlling others but it is more about understanding others and transforming group into teams and teams into learning communities. All this can happen with application of different tools and strategies and that is the reason nowadays, educational institutions are offering courses on leadership that indicates the validity of my earlier reflection related to leadership. While I reflect more, I believe vision and farsightedness is not something that is always God-given but it is something that an individual can learn by using tools of strategic planning and effective management of resources (Cheng, pp. 15-32). Unfortunately, these tools are usually overlooked and ignored by individuals at organizations and institutions, and which do not allow them to transform from managers into leaders. I am a confident person and love to accept challenges; however, I have mostly dealt challenges with emotions and most importantly, kept everything with myself to make it a one-man show. From deep reflection, I have come to an understanding that leadership is not about ‘me’ but more about ‘us’ (Taylor, Machado, & Peterson, pp. 363-386). Leadership focuses on motivating and appreciating members in the team rather than focusing on giving orders. In this regard, I surely will put efforts in ensuring such practices in the future and would surely involve strategic planning in my projects that was missing in the past. I remember an inspiring saying from the group discussions in the class and that

To What Extent was Napoleon Master of Europe Essay Example for Free

To What Extent was Napoleon Master of Europe Essay I govern not as a general, but because the nation believes that I have the civilian qualities necessary to govern, to heal the wounds, to correct the extravagances, to secure the conquests, Napoleon Bonaparte. Was he really such a person a man of strength, determination and complete domination of Europe, or was he an over rated character, over exaggerated by the press and historians. Those are the questions, which I am going to answer in this composition. I acknowledge this question as asking the actual proportion of Napoleons domination over Europe, during his reign of Frances Emperor. He was well-renowned for the major reforms he made to France. During the revolution, Napoleon strongly supported the Jacobins, a debating society, which consisted of a committed group, dedicated to solving the Republican problems. They believed in establishing a strong centralised government and supported in maintaining peace in France while winning the war against his enemies. Napoleon did not change his opinions even when he came to power. He still maintained the practical ideas and logic during and after his reign. When Napoleon came to power, he changed the lives of many in France. He made many reforms, which before the revolution restricted civilians of doing such activities. He first established a centralised government, and worked on the peace and consolidation of France as this was what the people of France were aiming for before the revolution. He wanted stability. We have finished the romance of the Revolution we must now begin its history, only seeking for what is real and practicable in the application of its principles, and not what is speculative and hypothetical. He also declared other philosophical quotes. The Revolution is made fast on the principles on which it began; the Revolution is finished. These statements support the argument that the new regime was a break and the continuality of the past. He decided in order to dominate Europe he would have to permit stability and order in his France itself. He did exactly that. Once he came to power it was Napoleons leadership to combine the old France with the new. Religion was a huge factor in Frances daily troubles. Therefore Napoleon decided to reconcile the differences between the religions. The main reason for such a rivalry between the religions was that, during the revolution, France was de-Christianised. Millions of Catholics were outraged at such a move. In western France, where Catholics were strong in many, formed rebel groups and tried to overthrow the government at that time, and stop the revolution before any other outrageous reforms were made. On the 15 July 1801, Napoleon signed the Concordat, permitting Catholicism, as the main religion is France. They did not hurry to make it an established religion, as Britain had done. In doing so, the Concordat also allowed protestants and Jews to practice their religion and retain their civil rights and freedoms. This settled the argument between the religions and once again, people of different backgrounds were allowed to walk out of their house without getting hard glares or insults flung onto them. Not only did this restore peace in France, but it also made Napoleon very popular among the priest. All were allowed to believe in what they wanted to believe in without the government or politics interfering in their way. After promoted Consul for life by the senates, with increased confidence, Napoleon started making reforms in the way France should be run. In secondary schools, he created the lycee. The environment of these schools would be run with strict military disciplined. The students in these schools learnt everything that was programmed by the government and took the Baccalaureate to enter university. Science and mathematics increased in importance in secondary schools. The school were extremely selective and it was difficult to get in. Napoleons greatest achievement was probably the Napoleons code, which was a Civil law, produced in 1804. Throughout history, these laws have always been a spectacle to read, as it showed the equality Napoleon tried to share among his people. Those of the most complex codes, existing for centuries, had been simplified in this code. The main codes were that the suspected would be guaranteed a trial, there were no special rights among the people, privileges and feudal rights ended, and parents had control over their children. One could call Napoleon a bit sexist to woman. In this code he included that wives were not permitted to sell anything away, and wives could not own their own property without the consent of their husband. This once again showed Napoleon, as not only just a military general, but also a strategist, improving France to its potential. This truly showed his leadership in his own country, but also a person to be feared of, throughout the leaders of Europe, striking fear into countries like Britain, Austria and Germany. The other side of the argument is Napoleons soon domination when becoming king. He seems to be a bit similar to Macbeth, in the way that he is a bit paranoid in others competing for his place: To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus. Napoleon began to censor newspaper articles concerning the governments actions. From 32 newspapers he reduced the number to 4 in five years. Ironically it seemed contrary to what his leadership was all about when he censored the newspapers. Napoleon having complete control over the publics opinion controlled the newspapers, which remained in France. It was sort of a restriction of liberty and free-say in the world, the individuals opinion on an issue would not be published. Certainly, Napoleon was highly distinguished as the best of the best war generals existed in this world. Was he really a brilliant war general or was he just general picking easy fights against weak opponents? The Siege of Toulon was a battle against the British soldiers who had captured the town. Napoleon was not at his height yet and was only in command of the French army gunnders, bombarding the French. He was quickly promoted for his victory. This shows that Napoleon was not just a good strategist, but also a person ideal for weaponry combat. After being victorious in Egypt, Napoleon got the agreement from the Directory to an expedition in Egypt. It was hoped to threaten the English power and trade in Egypt. It was going to be an easy victory against the weak Egyptians. It was therefore called the Battle of the Pyramids and, then there was a sudden craze for Egyptian fashions. In fact in Egypt, their expedition was going down the other way. Due to the conditions and the inadequate supply of food and water, Napoleons army was getting into sickness and plague. In August 1789 Nelson, the British general defeated the French navy at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. His expedition was so close to failure. Napoleon left his soldiers, and went back to France, in defeat. The most famous battle in history could be said of the Battle of Trafalgar. It all started when the French army refused to leave Holland. The British were afraid that Napoleon would conquer Holland and capture a great trading spot. Napoleon decided to start an invasion with Britain. Britain had the famous, large navy, whereas Napoleon had the large soldiers. Napoleon was the completely controller of this campaign. He built a new port, ordered the navigations for the ships and even wrote a song to go along with it! The Spanish joined in the alliance with France but both countries lost the battle at Trafalgar. In the end this was a failure since Napoleon realised that his navy will never be a strong as the British, so he rescinded the idea to the Directory of declaring war. A lot of money was wasted in the end since, the French civilians had to pay higher taxes, due to the fact that the war was extremely expensive. The battle of Marengo was a victorious battle that Napoleon won against the Austrians. Napoleon withheld his peace and honour. He beat the Austrians, all through strategy. He tricked the Austrians into chasing a small group of French soldiers. While the Austrians chased them, Napoleons army attacked from the rear, creating a huge surprise for the Austrians. During this surprise attack he spread his generals out, so the Austrians could not escape them. Desaix, the Austrians general came in to save the day. There was a certain amount of confusion that actually won the battle, but many historians says that Napoleon came out victorious. The French defeated the Austrians later that year and the Austrians made peace with France that year. During 1802, Napoleon made peace with Britain. The peace made him even more popular when he came back to France, as it had been the first time in 10 years, Europe had been in peace. The peace eventually did not last and practically the whole of Europe formed another Coalition in 1805. Through a series of battles, Napoleon beat the whole coalition beating Britain, Russia, and Austria at the same time. A few battles against the Austrian armies were at Ulm and Austerlitz, which as I will not elaborate on these battles, proved to be a great victory. Soon Napoleon began controlling mostly of entire Europe. By ruling smaller villages, they provided him food, money and resources in return for protection under his reign. There was too much land that he spread it all among his brothers. This truly also depicts of his domination in Europe, to be able to share land among four brothers. The Bonapartes reformed Europe to a kind of France itself. They followed French ways to rule and organise a country. Obviously there were some disadvantages with their rule. The conquered country had to supply troops to the French. The German states contributed 560 million francs. People around Europe began hating the French. Their domination was proven to control Europe and, they were beginning to become too powerful. All of the powerful countries were beginning to fear the French so much since they were growing in such size. Many painters, especially Spanish, depicted the French soldiers as being cruel and ruthless. This just displays how much Napoleon had dominated Europe that people were beginning to fear his mighty presence, and were jealous of his victories. The continental system was a order forbidding states under his control to trade with Britain. He wanted to make Britain yield to his power since he quoted: Britain is a nation of shopkeepers Bonaparte though that Britain could not survive with trade. The continental system was simply a failure. Bonaparte was greedy and wanted Spain under his liege. They were friends with the British and he really wanted to stop trading. Portugal turned against the invasion of the French and fought for several years using the Guerrilla tactic. The Peninsular War it was called where failure was inevitable. The Spanish people did not welcome the Frenchs intrusion and wanted them out. They ended up leaving Spain, damaged by the attacks. Russia left the system as it was loosing too much money. Napoleon wanted to force Tsar, Russian Emporer to go along with this system, since Russia were big traders, so Bonaparte force a war upon the Russians. The problem with Napoleon, which led him to failure was that he was overly ambitious and egotistical. As time went on, and he became victorious, he became too confident in himself as a leader. He did not know when to stop his domination spree and once he kept on winning, he wanted to achieve more, and if it werent for his failure in the Russian campaign, he would have been spurred onto greater heights, probably next going after Asia or so. Right before the war had started Napoleon boasted that the war against Russia would not take until winter to complete. In fact he was wrong, very, very wrong. He entered Russia presuming that Russia was like any other country he beat. He presumed that they will leave food, resources on the lands for them to use. He thought that the winter will come early and affects his armies progress. They were fighting two wars at that time. Four problems severely affected his army. Napoleon lost 400,000 men in two months. In the end, as he was forced to leave France due to his failure of the Russian campaign, Napoleon fled to Elba. He came back to France for his combat. The British and Prussian forces were collaborating further to erase Frances domination in Europe and they needed his leadership to guide them through the war against Europe. Europe was coming in for the kill. In addition to this Frances economy was collapsing. They needed Napoleon back. He was greeted with much respect when he re-entered France to regain his title as Emperor. He stood in a crowd of thousands, tens of thousands to proclaim to the: If anyone wishes to kill me, they can do so now. Instead, the confluence of people stood on their feet and chanted Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, several times. He was back to work. Napoleon concluded the only way to stop the war against Europe, was to stop the troops from Britain and Prussia from coming into France. He decided that he needed to attack them before they entered France and it was too late. The Duke of Wellington was his enemy. He was renowned for having the best defences in Europe alone. Describes as having nerves of steel, the Duke brought 68,000 men. Another 52.300 were expected to come from the Prussians army. The Prussians general was Blà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cher. Napoleons chances were slim. He only had 72,000 men. Before he entered the battle he quoted I thought fortune was leaving me, already displaying his distrust of his luck and the outcome of this battle. The night before the battle, it rained. The Duke of Wellington positioned his men on the bridge. It was Napoleons time to attack. Risking everything, he ordered all of his troops to attack through one frontal attack. The British formed squares and waited for the French army to come. Napoleon was living in a dream world. He ordered his cavalry to attack from the British soldiers. It was a massacre. With 74 guns in the front line, the British just gave the French a barrage of fire, on and on and on. Napoleon did not stand a chance. His cavalry were destroyed. The English soldiers were fairly battered up, and the Prussian troops just came in to time to settle the score. Napoleon sent in the National Guard the most feared of his troops. Again and again he soldiers were shot down with the arms of the alliance forces. In less than 12 hours Napoleon was defeated at the battle of Waterloo. On June 22nd 1815, 4 days after the battle. Napoleon begged for mercy from the triumphant English, wishing to reside in a country house in Britain. The British just answered St Helena. St Helena was an island situated in the middle of nowhere. It was an island 10 miles far, 6 miles wide. He was a prisoner in this island with 2 ships and 2000 soldiers guarding it. He was assigned a wooden bungalow, with no communications outside this island. He got fairly depressed on this island without anyone to speak to. To die is not a problem, but to be defeated, it is like to die everyday. Bonaparte decided that his last campaign in life will be one devoted to the use of language. He wrote articles, read all the books he could find, and expressed his downfalls and his glistening heights. Napoleon decided to leave a legacy behind for the world in the future, present and past upon. As you can see above, I conclude that after all Napoleon was a great leader, but with the egotistical and over-confidence, he never eventually was the Master of Europe for a long period of time. He won a lot and lost a lot in a few years, which in my consideration, he was the master of Europe throughout his lifespan of domination. Although one can see from what I have said and described above, Napoleon lived a life to be admired by, brought France together and increased Frances land and domination. Quoting My business is to succeed, and Im good at it. I create my Iliad by my actions, create it day by day, Napoleon will always be considerate throughout future as a fierce master of Europe, even through a limited amount of time, he will be a person to be forever admired by historians and people alike.