The Search for Christian America: History’s Echo Essay -- Christianit

In The Search for Christian America historians Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch and George M. Marsden address the recent insurgence of desire to return to the American nation’s â€Å"Christian Heritage†; a call to revisit the solid and revered foundations of the colonial period (15). This premise frames the authors’ two-part thesis: first, that America was never a Christian nation and secondly, that the very concept of a Christian nation, after the time of Christ, can be harmful to Christian action and effectiveness within society (17). This assertion, and the evidence which surrounds it, proves that Christians find great value in elements of the founding. When considering the reason behind this assumption the authors suggest many possibilities: love of a glorious myth, preaching and identification with the Mosaic prophecy, a â€Å"city on the hill† mentality, and or nationalistic necessity (108-116). However, these points still with standing, the author s do not fully develop the possibility that Protestants doctrinally resonate with the ideals of the founding. The authors do assert that many use the past as a mirror simply reflecting one’s already established views: â€Å"by a subtle and often unconscious process we pick out . . . those strands which reinforce our point of view† (145, 148). This paper will attempt to bring these two concepts together: asserting that the ideals of the founding, mainly liberty, freedom and individualism, are mirrored in Protestant doctrine itself, providing an echo American Christians can identify with, allowing reverence to be felt toward the founding and urgency to drive the search for Christian America. Toward the end of the text the authors set out to explain the difficulties and the necessity of â€Å"openi... ...ce of similar values or familiar echo, only uphold â€Å" a high regard for our country and its heritage. But . . . not, in the words of the Psalmist (118:9), ‘put confidence in princes’ instead of taking ‘refuge in the Lord† (102). Bibliography Luther, Martin. â€Å"The Appeal to the German Nobility.† In Documents of the Christian Church, edited by Henry Bettenson, 192-197. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. --------------------Concerning Christian Liberty. Vol. XXXVI, Part 6. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14. Bartleby.com, 2001. www.bartleby.com/36/6/. (accessed Jan. 21, 2012). Calvin, John. "John Calvin: Institutes of Christian Religion." Translated by Henry Beveridge, Esq. Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. http://www.reformed.org/master/index.html?mainframe=/books/institutes/. (accessed Jan. 21, 2012).

The Portman Hotel Case Study

The Portman Hotel Company was a relatively small hotel with only 348 rooms and 21 floors located in San Francisco’s booming hotel district. It was influenced with Asian philosophy of services, to provide high quality hospitality to its guest at affordable rates. On paper, the hotel sounded like a great success, one that would definitely flourish amongst the competition. However, even with this philosophy, there were numerous problems that plagued the Portman Hotel. A few examples of these problems are the common mistake of fundamental attribution error (FAE), expectancy theory, as well as operant conditional theory.This essay will explain how these three things can potentially bring down an entire company very quickly. First we will look at FAE and how it relates to the Portman Hotel. To find an example of FAE located in The Portman Hotel case, we must first define what FAE exactly is. Fundamental Attribution Error is the tendency to over-value dispositional or personality-bas ed explanations for the observed behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for those behaviors. It is typically most visible when people explain the behavior to others.Essentially, what FAE suggests, is that we, as human beings, tend to be too judgmental of others without actually seeing that there might be external factors causing that individuals behavior. Now that we have defined exactly what FAE is, we can begin to identify an example of this contained within the case. One great example of this common error in action involves the personal valet’s (PVs) of the company and Spencer Scott. Scott criticizes the PVs for always taking on additional tasks and pursuing new needs and even states that they want to do everything, which causes them to suffer short attention spans.He is so focused on the PVs being a group of freethinkers that he has failed to remember his companies purpose, which is to cater to every desire the hotel guests might have. He has fai led to realize that the guests are to blame for ordering the PVs around getting them to tend to their every need. In this specific case, the guests are the external environmental forces that are causing the behavior. If Scott had realized that his employees were just doing their job, then his opinion of them would be a lot different and would begin to realize that he might need to change something about the companies’ day-to-day processes.Next we will discuss the Expectancy Theory (ET) and how it relates to this case. Again, first we must define what exactly ET is before we can know how it relates to this case. ET proposes that a person will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to what they expect the result of that selected behavior will be. Now that we have defined what ET is we can relate it to the case. Due to the social and environmental forces pushing down on certain PVs, they tend to engage in â€Å"shirking†.An example of this act is when a few PVs began to be lazy and not do their fair share of the work, other PVs had to begin picking up the slack of their colleagues. After a while of doing this, they began to wonder why they were working twice as hard and getting paid the exact same. The PVs that were picking up the slack for the others then became less motivated to perform which lead to all of the valets lost their sense of responsibility. So to go back to the original definition, the PVs that were originally working harder than the others began to work less hard because they knew that they weren’t going to be fired.Lastly, we will look at the Operant Conditional Theory to see why supervisors would choose to avoid using the Portman’s disciplinary procedures. Operant conditional theory is defined as, getting people to do things because they want to by applying positive and negative reinforcements to move them in a particular way. The supe rvisors of the Portman Hotel were adamant about avoiding formal disciplinary actions towards their employees. The supervisors believed that discipline was actually going against what the hotel’s philosophy was.Therefore, instead they used positive reinforcement under the operant conditioning theory as a means to motivate the poor performers. Spencer Scott tried to persuade the poor performers to believe that good performance had many rewards, such as good tips. He felt that with showing the valets the benefits of working hard for the guests, that those same guests would in return graciously reward them. Now that we have analyzed and pointed out the flaws of the Portman Hotel, we can begin to describe some simple solutions to these problems.First, with the FAE, the problem is with management. If Spencer Scott attempted to figure out why his PVs were running around everywhere he might figure out the source of the problem, instead of jumping to conclusions as he did. He might ex plore other options such as; hiring additional PVs so that the current ones aren’t always so busy, or attempt to figure out a different strategy in assisting the guests with their high demands. Secondly, we must analyze the problem with the PVs and their constant habit of â€Å"shirking† and how we could fix it. Shirking† is a bad habit that happens in a lot of work places no matter what industry a person is in. The difficulty is finding a way to overcome these types of action and being effective at it. One way to overcome this dilemma is to begin to figure out which few are the individuals initially starting it and begin to discipline them accordingly. If discipline is not the answer, the managers could sit the entire PV staff down at once and explain that they are beginning to notice a downward trend in performance and that there will be a new set standard for what the expectations are.With this new standard, if anyone fails to meet the standards of work, then they will be disciplined and eventually let go if it continues. Finally, we have the obstacle of the supervisors choosing to avoid using the Portman’s elaborate disciplinary procedures. Unfortunately, implementing a formal system of disciplinary actions would be violating the ideals that Portman wanted to establish. The solution for this would be for the management team to be stricter on their expectations of the employees.I feel that the good employees are not being praised enough for their actions while the bad employees continually get worse. It is a common behavioral understanding that people want to reach and operate at the â€Å"normal† level of standards and not do anything more or less. In order for them to strive to be better employees, there must be a rewards system in place. Performance reviews should be put in place to analyze, which employees are the good employees and which are the bad employees.Once management establishes this, they will begin to underst and where the problems are and how to correct them/discipline them by giving them written warnings. All in all, there are numerous obstacles that each and every company has to overcome throughout the company’s lifetime. Some are easily remedied while others take much more time and thought to correct. Using the theories; FAE, ET, and Operant Conditioning, almost any company can begin to understand where the real problems consist, which will allow that company to begin taking action and fixing them.

The Grapes of Wrath Trauma of The Great Depression - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1138 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/04/30 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Grapes of Wrath Essay Great Depression Essay Did you like this example? American novelist, John Steinbeck, is author to one of the most influential novels of his time period. That being, The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939 depicted the trauma which Americans induced during the Great Depression. Many families were scarred from the memories of this time period, which forced them to leave what they called home and made them scavenge for money to support themselves. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Grapes of Wrath: Trauma of The Great Depression" essay for you Create order The novel hit home for many Americans, as The Grapes of Wrath acted as a voice for many families who suffered during this time period. The Great Depression was the result of a domino effect: from the stock market crash in 1929 and the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. In The Grapes of Wrath, the struggles of the Joad family informs readers about culture, politics, and society in this era. Steinbeck teaches about the culture, politics, and society of this era through settings, scenarios, and characters in his novel. The 1930s had a large spotlight of the American Dream and the thirst to be wealthy, which was a result of the Great Depressions scrutinizing effects. This urge for wealth shaped the culture of this era, which was quite understandable thinking back on the conditions of this time period. Steinbeck used his knowledge of this thirst towards richness, to contrast life of migrant workers and the glamorous life, shown in a few scenarios.1 For example, the novel goes on to say, The walls decorated with posters, bathing suits, blondes with big breasts and slender hips and waxen faces, in white bathing suits, and holding a holding a bottle of Coca-Cola and smiling, see what you get with a Coca-Cola. With that being said, the ad brings awareness to the lack of relation within the poster and reality. Furthermore, the migrant workers who had lost their homes and could barely afford to eat.3 Not to mention, there is a section in The Grapes of Wrath where Rose of Sharon had to heal a starving, grow n man with her breast milk, which showed the desperation during this era. At the same time, there are posters of healthy women who do not seem to have a care in the world, while in reality, there are others struggling to make ends meet. As it has been noted, The Grapes of Wrath depicts the culture of the time period, as there was an urge for wealth, while the masses were striving for the American Dream. Another way in which John Steinbeck denotes culture of the time, is by casting out the disadvantage migrant families had in this time period. For instance, in The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck says, Mules! Hey, Joe, hear this? This guy wants to trade mules. Didnt nobody tell you this is the machine age? They dont use mules for nothing but glue no more. When this occurs, it shows the reader how the culture of the time period was changing. With that being said, there was a slight shift between relying on manual labor and technologys assistance. At the same time, it is depicting the disadvantage between the higher class and the lower class. Since the upper class acquired the knowledge of technologys advancements, it left the lower class completely oblivious. Not only was the culture of this time period depicted throughout the novel, but so was politics. For instance, Steinbeck states, A million acres? What in the world can he do with a million acres? During this crisis, many individuals would have supported this question. Notably, there was a huge gap between the social classes during this time period. Steinbeck was voicing for the thousands of Americans, who also believed there should have been a fairer distribution of land to all individuals. The Grapes of Wrath was proclaiming that the government should not focus merely on society as a whole, but more centered around the conditions of the time period and what was needed to mend the era. Steinbeck was not insisting that the government needed to shift towards socialism, but that the government needed to govern more by reason to alleviate the problems of the people. Thus, depicting the politics during the era and how they were thought to be unjust and prolonging the issues at hand. In addition, another contributing factor to politics during this time period, was the rise of anti-capitalism. Capitalism is merely a system with the reliance on corporately owned profits, not managed by the government. To demonstrate the sense of anti-capitalism of the time period. Steinbeck stated, Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. This was stated during the section where the Joads family lost their farm to the landlords when they were not able to pay for their land. Capitalism at the time, could have been considered as a means of a Trap against humanity. 8Thus, Capitalism forced the landlords do something they felt guilty of doing, yet if they did not follow though, they would be jeopardizing their own income. With that being said, The Grapes of Wrath depicts the politics of the time period through anti-capitalism scenarios and the inhumane nature of Capitalism. Due to the deprivation during the Great Depression, many people decreased their need to be generous. Society as a whole, felt torn between their instinct to help others in need and to help themselves. Nearing the end of the novel, Steinbeck illustrates an unforgettable scene, in which Rose of Sharon delivers her stillborn baby and then finds it in her heart to breast feed a dying man.9 During this scene, Steinbeck was trying to captivate the struggle between humanitys instincts. That being, the instinct to do what is morally right and the instinct to help yourself rise. For example, Rose of Sharon had the necessary nutrients, that could ultimately change this mans situation, so she chose to do what she thought was morally right. This could be applied to many situations during the Great Depression, between landowners and tenants or between the rich and poor. All things considered, John Steinbeck wrote a captivating novel that depicted the true essence of the Great Depression. His accumulation of integrating culture, politics, and society during this era acts as voice to the thousands of Americans who had undergone this unforgiving time period. He drew attention to the obvious contrast between the reality of the time and the American Dream, which contributed to the culture of the time period. Even so, Steinbeck bought awareness to the unjust politics and the trend of anti-capitalism of the Great Depression. There is no question as to how The Grapes of Wrath left a remarkable impression worldwide.