A comparison of three songs of Brecht’s “Mother Courage and her Children” with the parados and 3rd stasimon of Sophocles’ “Antigone”

The play, â€Å"Mother Courage and her Children† was written by Bertolt Brecht in 1939 as an anti World War II play. â€Å"Antigone†, by Sophocles, was written somewhere between 400 and 500 B.C and talks about the debate between family laws and state laws in the form of a popular drama. Through analyzing the three songs â€Å"The Fraternisation Song† (scene 3), â€Å"The Song of the Wise and the Good† (scene 9) and â€Å"The Song of the Hours† (scene3), it will be seen that these songs can be contrasted with the parados and 3rd stasimon of the play â€Å"Antigone†. â€Å"The Fraternisation Song† is a song of caution voiced by Yvette, the camp prostitute, to the gullible Kattrin. Yvette denounces the opportunistic faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade of love and the foolishness of belief in the higher concepts of love. In the first stanza consisting of 12 lines, Yvette portrays her deflowering by the enemy. The three types of rhyming patterns are â€Å"abcb†, â€Å"aabb† and â€Å"abba†. In the second stanza of 12 lines, Yvette gives us a closer look at the idiocy when she gave herself up to the camp cook and saw other girls do the same. The third stanza of 12 lines relates the birth of recognition and understanding in Yvette as it dawns upon her that war brings nothing but melancholy and disaster in its wake. She describes how men condescended with her notions of love and how love was twisted to rape towards December. The month December is an allegory for the departure of the soldiers as well as the loss of innocence. There is grief an d a sense of terrible loss etched in those two words: â€Å"December came.† Her song brings to light the general futility of conflict and the personal loss of her innocence. The second and third stanzas follow the same rhyming pattern as the first. â€Å"The Song of the Wise and the Good† boldly criticises and ridicules virtues during times of war. The first stanza of 10 lines is a simple tale of the wise Solomon who was acclaimed for his lofty ideals and his throne like position above the littleness of mortals. The first stanza goes on to tell the readers how Solomon was cut down because of his wisdom. The second stanza of 10 lines describes Julius Caesar's mighty fall from his invulnerability due to his reckless courage. The third stanza of 10 lines shows the death of Socrates because of his honesty. Death because of altruism is seen in the death of the unfortunate martin in the fourth stanza. The fifth stanza jests at the essence of the Ten Commandments and the precarious position that godliness occupies. All the stanzas follow the rhyming patterns â€Å"abcc†, â€Å"ab† and â€Å"abab†. Throughout the song, the following four lines act as a necessary refrain to reinforce the idea that virtues are unreliable during war: â€Å"But ere night came and day did go The fact was clear to everyone: It was our wisdom/bravery/honesty/unselfishness/godliness that brought us low. Better for you if you have none.† â€Å"The Song of the Hours† consists of 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The song is presented by the hapless Chaplain which talks about Jesus Christ and the Crucification. The song describes how Jesus was condemned of murder in the 1st hour by Pilate the heathen and later taken to King Hesiod. In the 3rd hour, Jesus is flogged mercilessly and the mockery of a crown made of thorns was placed on his head and a robe flung over his body. The 6th hour recounts the Crucification and Jesus' plight and his continual mockery by bandits resigned to the same fate. The scene is so cruel that even daylight looks away. In the 9th hour, Jesus gives up his soul and miracles are seen. The most interesting aspects of the song are the last two stanzas which talk about Jesus' maltreatment by the heathens who laugh at ‘this simple son of man' The song, in context of the play, reminds the readers of the imminent death of Swiss Cheese who is compared to Jesus in this regard. It tells us that war reveals all the blood and gore and the ugliness of society and any semblance towards beauty is mutilated. All three songs from the play bring to light one aspect of the play. They are all reminders to Mother Courage of war bringing along agents of destruction and mayhem in its wake. Moreover, not even a drop of profit can be wrenched from a time of war; it tends to suck in all virtues and innocence. The parados in â€Å"Antigone† highlights the events that have occurred till the moment of the entry of the Chorus and the present situation. The Chorus talks about the battle between the seven commanders of Argos and seven heroes of Thebes outside its seven gates. The Chorus claim that victory was foreseen as Zeus and Ares had themselves lent a hand towards their aid. The Chorus also notes with misery the death of the brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices. Finally the Chorus harks for peace and forgetfulness. There is also a general stir as they have no idea why they are summoned to council by the new king, Creon. The 3rd stasimon projects the theme of Love as an evil entity. Eros, harbinger of passion, is omnipresent and omnipotent. No man or god can resist its allure. The 3rd stasimon records how love drives beings to unreasonable actions and fires them up into activity. The 3rd stasimon underscores the fact that Antigone, a daughter of Oedipus, had committed treachery because of the love of her brother. The parados and the songs are both lyrical pieces which relate to war. However, unlike the ridicule of virtue and the loss of innocence which revolve as themes, the parados applauds and glorifies the notion of war. Lines such as â€Å"he flew over the land/Screaming like an eagle† and â€Å"Too much for him as he fought/The dragon of Thebes† adds an appealing quality of myth and heroism to war. The stark contrast is evident in â€Å"The Song of the Hours† in which the lines â€Å"And the blood and water ran/And they laughed at Jesus† tells us that the best of intentions and sacrifices mean nothing to minds fed by war. The concentration of the parados is on war itself whereas the songs examine lateral themes as a consequence of war. The other point to note is the fact that there is a sight of victory and virtues like forgetfulness are broached and seen with optimism. The songs shun notions of victory and virtue. The 3rd stasimon condemns the idea of love as an unpardonable emotion which drives men to recklessness. However the contrast is seen when love is feared and given a godlike stature whereas the songs treat any semblance to virtue like dirt. Love is, clearly, laughed at. Moreover the objects of criticism are not similar as love does not entirely constitute a virtue. There is an underlying similarity seen in the 3rd stasimon and â€Å"The Song of the Wise and the Good†. Virtues and love drive men and women to commit recklessness which sentence their existence to the doldrums consequently. Yvette and Antigone are clear examples. In the 3rd stasimon, love as a flaw is the object of focus whereas in the songs the idiotic behaviour is brought to light. Both the 3rd stasimon and the songs look at criticism; however the songs view the object with ridicule whereas the 3rd stasimon criticizes with unconditional reverence.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 37

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN A Whaley Death Nate was five more days alone in the apartment before they came for him. It started at dawn on the sixth day, when he noticed a group of whaley boys gathering around below his window. There had been humans out on the streets since the day he'd told Cielle about the Colonel's plan, but Gooville hadn't quite returned to normal (given that normal in Gooville was still extraordinarily weird to begin with). He could tell that the humans and whaley boys alike were on edge. Today there were no humans in the streets, and all the whaley boys were emitting a shrill call that he was sure he'd heard before, but strangely enough it hadn't been in the city under the sea. Hearing the hunting call in these circumstances made him shudder. He watch them gather, rubbing up against one another as if to strengthen the bond among them, milling around in small walking pods as if working off nervous energy, each of them raising his head occasionally and letting go the hunting call – flashing teeth, jaws snapping like bear traps. He knew they were coming. Nate was dressed and waiting for them when they came through the door. Four of them took him, lifted him in the air by his legs and shoulders, and carried him over their heads down the stairs to the street, then on into the passageways. The whole crowd moved into the passageways, their calls becoming more frequent and deafeningly shrill in the smaller confines. Even as his captors' long fingers dug into his flesh, a calm resolve came over Nate – an almost trancelike state, the acceptance that it was all going to be over soon. He looked to either side, only to have mouthfuls of teeth snarl at him, and even among the frenzy, here and there he heard the characteristic hissing snicker of a whaley-boy laugh. Well, they do know how to have a good time, he thought. He soon recognized the path they were taking him down. He could hear the calls of hundreds of them echoing through the caverns from the mother-of-pearl amphitheater. Maybe the entire whaley-boy population was waiting there. As they entered the amphitheater and the calls reached a crescendo, Nate stretched his neck and saw two big killer-whale-colored females holding the Colonel in the middle of the floor. The whaley boys holding Nate lowered him to his feet, and then two of them pulled him back against the benches to watch with the others. One of the big females holding the Colonel shrieked a long, high call, and the crowd calmed down, not quite silent, but the hunting calls stopped. The Colonel's eyes were wide, and Nate wouldn't have been surprised if the old man had started to bark and foam at the mouth. When things quieted down enough for him to be heard, he started shouting. The big female who was holding him clamped a hand over his mouth. Nate could see the Colonel fighting for breath, and he struggled against his own captors in empathy. Then the female started to speak – in their whistling, clicking language – and the crowd stopped even snickering. Their eyes bulged, and they turned their heads to the side to better hear her. Nate couldn't understand much of what she was saying, but you didn't have to know the language to understand what she was doing. She was listing the Colonel's crimes and pronouncing a sentence. It was no small irony, Nate thought, that the whaley boys who saw to justice were colored like the killer whales, the most intelligent, most organized, most glorious and horrible of all the marine mammals. The only animal other than man that had exhibited both cruelty and mercy, for one was not possible without potential for the other. Maybe memes were triumphing over genes after all. When she finished speaking, she handed the Colonel's arm to the other female, so that he was bent over forward, his hands held together high behind him. Then the female let out another extended shrill call, and the whole ceiling of the amphitheater dimmed until it was completely dark. When she finished her call, the light came back up again. The Colonel was screaming at the top of his lungs, random curses and mad pronouncements – calling the whaley boys abominations, monsters, freaks, railing like some mad prophet, his brain fried by God's fingerprint. But when the light was full again, he caught Nate's eye, just for a second, and he was quiet. There was something there, the depth and wisdom that Nate had once known the man to possess, or maybe it was just sadness, but before Nate could decide, the big female bent over and bit off the Colonel's head. Nate felt himself start to pass out. His vision tunneled down to a pinpoint and he fought to stay conscious, to concentrate on his breathing, which he realized had stopped momentarily. His vision came back, as did his breath, harsh and panicked through his gritted teeth as he watched. The killer spit the head across the amphitheater to a group of whaley kids, who picked it up and tore at it with their teeth. Then the female started tearing great chunks of meat out of the Colonel's body with her teeth, even as it twitched in the hands of her cohort – throwing the chunks to the crowd, who shrilled the hunting calls even more frantically than before. Nate couldn't tell how long it went on, but when it was finally done, and the Colonel was gone, there was a large red circle in the middle of the amphitheater floor, and all around him he saw bloody teeth flashing in whaley grins. Even the two whaley boys who held Nate's arms had partaken in the communion, grabbing chunks of meat and eating them with their free hands. One had hissed and sprayed blood in Nate's face. Then they dragged Nate to the middle of the amphitheater. He felt faint, the pulse banging away in his ears, drowning out all other sound. Everywhere he looked, he saw bloody teeth and bulging eyes, but he felt strangely detached. As the big female began another oration, he remembered a thought he'd had right after the humpback whale had eaten him. It came through to him like a malicious d? ¦j? ¤ vu: What an incredibly stupid way to die. Then there was another long, whistling call and Nate closed his eyes, waiting for the death blow, but it didn't come. The crowd had gone quiet again. He squinted through one eyelid, almost regretful that the moment had been delayed, and he saw teeth before him, but not the bloody teeth of the killers. The shrill whistle went on and on, made by the mottled blue whaley-boy female that had come out of the passageway and was striding across the amphitheater toward Nate. At her side was a very determined, petite brunette with unnatural maroon highlights, wearing hiking shorts and a tank top. The whaley boys holding Nate seemed confused. The female who had killed the Colonel was looking for some sort of guidance from the one holding Nate when Amy pulled the stun gun from her pocket and blasted her in the chest, knocking her back five feet to convulse on the bloody floor. â€Å"Let him go,† Amy commanded the one who was holding Nate, and for some reason, maybe just because it sounded so definitive, she let go of Nate's arms, and he fell, at which time Amy pulled up a second stun gun and pressed it to the big killer's chest, knocking her to the floor to twitch with her companion. Through it all, Emily 7 had continued to whistle. â€Å"You okay?† Amy asked Nate. He looked around at the situation, not sure at all if he was okay, but he nodded. â€Å"Okay, Em,† Amy said, and Emily stopped whistling. Before the crowd could react or a murmur of whaleyspeak start, Amy shouted, â€Å"Hey, shut up!† And they did. â€Å"Nate didn't do anything,† she continued. â€Å"The whole thing was the Colonel's idea, and none of us knew anything about it. He brought Nate here to help him destroy our city, and Nate said no. That's all you need to know. You all know me. This is my home, too. You know me. I wouldn't lie to you.† Just then the first big female started to recover, and Amy leaped in front of Nate to stand over the killer. â€Å"You get up, bitch, I'll knock you on your ass again. Your choice.† The female froze. â€Å"Oh, fuck it,† Amy said, and she zapped the big female on the nose with both stun guns at once, then wheeled on the other one, who was getting up but quickly dropped and played dead under Amy's gaze. â€Å"Good,† Amy said. â€Å"So we clear?† Amy shouted to the crowd. There was whaleyspeak murmuring, and Amy screamed, â€Å"Are we fucking clear, people?† â€Å"Yeah, clear,† came a dozen little mashed-elf voices in English. â€Å"Sure, sure, sure, you know it,† said one little voice. â€Å"Clear as a window,† came another. â€Å"Just kidding,† said an elf-on-helium voice. â€Å"Good,† Amy said. â€Å"Let's go, Nate.† Nate was still trying to find his feet. His knees had gone a little rubbery when he thought his head was going to be bitten off. Emily 7 caught him by the arm and steadied him. Amy started to lead them out of the amphitheater, then stopped. â€Å"Just a second.† She went back to where the lead killer female was just climbing to her feet and zapped her in the chest with the stun gun, which knocked her flat on her back again. As Amy strutted past Nate and Emily 7, she said, â€Å"Okay, now we can go.† â€Å"Where are we going?† Nate asked. â€Å"Em says you slept with her.† Nate looked at Emily 7, who grinned, big and toothy, and snickered. â€Å"Yeah, slept. Just slept. That's all. Tell her, Emily.† Emily whistled, actually a tune this time, and rolled her eyes. â€Å"Really,† Nate said. â€Å"I know,† Amy said. â€Å"Oh.† Nate heard squeaks coming from behind them in the corridor. â€Å"Wasn't that a little risky, taking on a thousand whaley boys with a couple of stun guns?† â€Å"I love these things,† Amy said, clicking the buttons to make miniature blue lightning arc across the contacts. â€Å"No, I didn't take on a thousand whaley boys, I took on one – an alpha female. Know what that makes me?† She smiled and then, without even breaking stride, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. â€Å"And never forget it.† â€Å"I won't.† Then that last week's anxiety about losing her came tumbling back over him. â€Å"Hey, where did you go? I thought the Colonel had taken you.† â€Å"I went out on my mother's ship to send a message.† â€Å"What message?† â€Å"I was calling our ride. All the whaley boys had been put on notice: No pilot was going to take his ship out of here with you on board, still won't. But I could go, so I went out with my mother to pick up some supplies. And I called a ride.† â€Å"What, Emily 7 can't pilot a ship?† â€Å"Uh-uh,† squeaked Emily 7. â€Å"Only pilots can pilot a ship, duh. Anyway† – Amy checked her watch – â€Å"your ride should be in the harbor soon. I have to go by my place and grab something I want to take.† An hour later they stood at the water's edge in the harbor, and Amy was checking her watch again. â€Å"I am so pissed,† she said, tapping her foot frantically. It seemed as if every thirty seconds they had been cornered by some human resident of Gooville, and Amy had to tell the story again. Emily 7 was the only one of the whaley boys, other than the crew of Amy's mother's ship, that was still in the grotto. â€Å"You think they'll revolt, hurt humans?† Nate asked. â€Å"No, they'll be fine. That was a first. It's not every day you find out that your messiah is plotting to kill you. Give 'em a day or two to get over the embarrassment – everything will be back to normal.† â€Å"I guess it's just as well that we're getting out of here. You don't want to face those two females you zapped.† â€Å"Bring it on,† Amy said, patting the pockets of her shorts. â€Å"Besides, I'm sort of special here, Nate. I don't want to sound egotistical, but they really all do know me, know who I am, what I am. No one will bother me.† Just then Nate spotted a light coming from deep in the mirror-calm water. â€Å"That's him,† Amy said. â€Å"Him?† â€Å"Clay, coming to take you home.† â€Å"Me? You mean us.† â€Å"Em, can I get a minute?† Amy said. † ‘Kay,† said Emily 7, skulking away from the shore toward town. When Emily was out of hearing range, Amy put her arms around Nate and leaned back to look at him. â€Å"I can't go with you, Nate. I'm staying.† â€Å"What do you mean? Why?† â€Å"I can't go. There's something about me you don't know. Something I should have told you before, but I thought you wouldn't†¦ well, you know – I thought you wouldn't love me.† â€Å"Please, Amy, please don't tell me you're a lesbian. Because I've been through that once, and I don't think I could survive it again. Please.† â€Å"No, nothing like that. It's about my parents†¦ well, my father really.† â€Å"The navigator?† â€Å"Uh, no, not really. Actually, Nate, this is my father. She pulled a small specimen jar out of her pocket and held it up. There was a pink, jellylike substance in it. â€Å"That looks like – ; â€Å"It is, Nate. It's the Goo. My mother was never intimate with her navigator, or with anyone in the first three years she was here, but one morning she woke up pregnant.† â€Å"And you're sure it was the Goo, not just that she had way too many mai-tais at the Gooville cabana club?† â€Å"She knows it, and I know it, Nate. I'm sort of not normal.† â€Å"You feel normal.† He pulled her closer. â€Å"I'm not. For one thing, I don't just look a lot younger than I really am, but I'm also a lot stronger than I look, especially as a swimmer. Remember that day I found the humpback ship by sound? I really can hear directional sound underwater. And my muscle tissue is different. It stores oxygen the way a whale's tissue does, I can stay underwater without breathing for over an hour, longer if I don't exert myself. I'm the only one like me, Nate. I'm not really, you know†¦ human.† Nate listened, trying to weigh what it really meant in the bigger picture, but he couldn't think of anything except that he wanted her to go with him, wanted her to be with him, no matter what she said she was. â€Å"I don't care, Amy. It doesn't matter. Look, I got over all this† – he gestured to all that – â€Å"and the fact that you're sixty-four years old and your mother is a famous dead aviatrix. As long as you don't start liking girls, I'll be fine.† â€Å"That's not the point, Nate. I can't leave here, not for long anyway. None of us can. Even the ones who weren't born here. The Goo becomes part of you. It takes care of you, but you become attached to it, almost literally. Like an addiction. It gets in your tissues by contact. That's how my mother had me. I've been gone a lot already this year. If I left now, or if I left for longer that a few months at a time, I'd get sick. I'd probably die.† At that moment a yellow research submersible bubbled up to the surface of the lagoon, a dozen headlights blazing into the grotto around a great Plexiglas bubble in the front. â€Å"That's it, then. I'll stay. I don't mind, Amy. I'll stay here. We can live here. I could spend a lifetime learning about this place, the Goo.† â€Å"You can't do that either. It will become part of you, too. If you stay too long, you won't be able to leave either. You had to have noticed that first night we got drunk together, how fast you recovered from the hangover.† Nate thought about how quickly his wounds had healed, too – weeks, maybe months of healing overnight. There was no other explanation. He thought about spending his life with only fleeting glimpses of sunlight, and he said, â€Å"I don't care. I'll stay.† â€Å"No you won't. I won't let you. You have things to do.† She shoved the specimen jar in his pocket, then kissed him hard. He kissed her back, for a long time. The hatch at the top of the dry exit tower on the sub opened, and Clay popped up to see Nate and Amy for the first time since they'd both disappeared. â€Å"Well, that's unprofessional,† Clay said. Amy broke the kiss and whispered, â€Å"You go. Take that with you.† She patted his pocket. Then she turned to Clay as she checked her watch again. â€Å"You're late!† â€Å"Hey, missy, I set a time when I'd be at the coordinates you sent – six hundred and twenty-three feet below sea level – and I was there. You didn't mention that I had another mile of submarine cave with some of the scariest-looking rock formations I've ever seen.† He glanced at Nate. â€Å"They looked alive.† â€Å"They are alive,† Amy said. â€Å"Are we close to the surface? The pressure is –  » â€Å"I'll explain on the way,† Nate said. â€Å"We'd better go.† Nate stepped onto the sub as Clay slipped down inside the hatch to allow him to pass. Nate crawled into the hatch and looked back to Amy before he closed it. â€Å"I'll stay, Amy. I don't care. For you I'll stay. I love you. You know that, right?† She nodded and brushed tears out of her eyes. â€Å"Yeah,† she said, Then she spun around quickly and started walking away. â€Å"You take care of yourself, Nathan Quinn,† she shouted over her shoulder, and Nate heard her voice break when she said his name. He climbed down into the sub and secured the hatch above him. Clay had watched Amy walk away from the big, half-submerged Plexiglas bubble in the front of the sub. â€Å"Where's Amy going?† â€Å"She can't come home, Clay.† â€Å"She's okay, though?† â€Å"She's okay.† â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"I've been better.† They were quiet for the long ride through the pressure locks to the outside ocean, just the sound of the electric motors and the low hum of instruments all around them. The lights of the sub barely reached out to the walls of the cave, but every hundred yards or so they would come to a large, pink disk of living tissue, like a giant sea anemone, which would fold back to let them pass, then expand to fill the passageway once they had gone through. Nate watched the pressure gauge rise one atmosphere every time they passed through one of the gates, and it was then that he realized he wasn't escaping at all. The Goo knew exactly where and what they were, and it was letting him go. â€Å"You're going to explain what all this is, right?† Clay said, not even looking away from the controls. Nate was startled out of his reverie. â€Å"Clay, I can't believe – I mean, I believe it, but – Thanks for coming to get me.† â€Å"I never told you, you know – it's not really appropriate or anything – but I have pretty strong feelings about loyalty.† â€Å"Well, I respect that, Clay, and I appreciate it.† â€Å"Yeah, well, don't mention it.† Then they were both a bit embarrassed and both pretended that something was irritating their throats and they had to cough and pay attention to their breathing for a while, even though the air in the little submarine was filtered and humidified and perfectly clean. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT Pirates Nate was standing with Clay on the flying bridge of the Clair as she steamed into the Au'au Channel. â€Å"You'd better put on some sunscreen, Nate.† Nate looked down at his forearms. He'd lost most of his color while in Gooville, and he could feel the sun cooking him, even through his T-shirt. â€Å"Yeah.† He looked off toward Lahaina, the harbor he'd piloted into a thousand times. They'd have to anchor far outside the breakwater with a ship this size, but it still had the feeling of coming home. The wind was warm and sweet, the water the heartbreak blue of a newborn's eyes. A humpback fluked about eight hundred yards to the north of them, its tail glistening in the sun as if it were covered with sequins. â€Å"There's still a month left of the season,† Clay said. â€Å"We can still get some work done.† â€Å"Clay, I've been thinking. Maybe we can be a little more purposeful in what we're doing. Maybe a little more active, conservation-wise.† â€Å"I could go for that. I like whales.† â€Å"I mean, we have the resources now, and even if I could prove the meaning of the song – somehow decipher the vocabulary of it – I could never prove the purpose. You know, without compromising Gooville.† â€Å"Not a good idea.† During the trip home Nate had explained it all. â€Å"I mean, there's no reason we can't do good science and still, you know – ; â€Å"Kick some ass.† â€Å"Well, yeah.† Clay affected an exaggerated Greek accent. â€Å"Sometimes, boss, you just got to unbuckle your pants and go looking for trouble.† â€Å"Zorba?† â€Å"Yeah.† Clay grinned. â€Å"Great book,† Nate said. â€Å"Is that the Always Confused?† Clay pulled up a pair of binoculars and focused on a speedboat that was rounding the Lahaina breakwater, showing more wake than she should in the harbor. Kona was driving the Always Confused. â€Å"My boat,† Clay said, somewhat distressed. â€Å"You need to get over that, Clay.† The speedboat came around to a parallel course with the Clair as the ship cut her engines in preparation to drop anchor. Kona was waving and screaming like a madman. â€Å"Irie, Bwana Nate! Irie! The lion come home! Praise Jah's mercy. Irie!† Nate came down the steps from the flying bridge to the deck. Whatever resentment he might have had for the surfer at one time was gone. Whatever threat he might have felt from the boy had melted away. Whatever irrelevancy Kona's youth and strength might have underscored in his own character was irrelevant. Maybe it was time to be an example instead of a competitor. Besides, he was genuinely glad to see the kid. â€Å"Hey, kid, how you doing?† â€Å"Jammin' now, don't you know.† â€Å"That's good. How'd you like to go be a pirate?† Because the Navy didn't maintain permanent offices on Maui, Captain L. J. Tarwater had been given a small office that the navy sublet for him in the Coast Guard building, which meant that, unlike on a naval base, here the public could pretty much come and go as they wished. So Tarwater wasn't that surprised to see someone come strolling through his office door. What he was surprised by was that it was Nathan Quinn, whom he thought quite drowned, and who was carrying a four-gallon glass jar full of some clear liquid. â€Å"Quinn, I thought you were lost at sea.† â€Å"I was. I'm found now. We need to have a chat.† He set the jar on Tarwater's desk, leaving a wet ring on some papers there, then went back and shut the door to the outer offices. â€Å"Look, Quinn, if this is some kind of stunt, like spray-painting fur, you're wasting your time. You guys act like the military is the great Satan. I'm here to study these animals. I grew up in the same generation you did, and so did most of the people in the navy who do what I do. We don't want to hurt these animals.† â€Å"Okay,† Nate said. â€Å"We only have two things to talk about here. Then I'll show you something.† â€Å"What's in the jar? That better not be kerosene or anything.† â€Å"It's seawater. I got it at the beach about ten minutes ago. Don't worry about it. Look, first you're going to finish your study and you're going to strongly recommend that the navy's torpedo range not be moved into the sanctuary. You will not let that happen. The animals do dive to depths where they can be hurt by the explosions, and they will be hurt by the explosions, which you'll be setting off not to defend the country but just so you guys can practice.† â€Å"There's no evidence that they ever dive deeper than two hundred feet.† â€Å"There will be. I've got data tags coming in from the mainland, I'll have data in a month.† â€Å"Still†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Shut up,† Nate said, then thought better of it and added, â€Å"Please.† Then he continued. â€Å"Second, you need to do everything in your power to back off of testing low-frequency active sonar. We know that it kills deepwater hunters like beaked whales, and there's probably some chance that it also injures the humpbacks, and under no circumstances do you want to do that.† â€Å"And why would that be?† â€Å"You know what my work has been for the last twenty-five years, right?† â€Å"You've been studying the humpback song. What, trying to figure its purpose?† â€Å"I found it, Tarwater. It's a prayer. The singers are praying.† â€Å"That's preposterous. There's no way you could know that.† â€Å"I'm positive of it. Absolutely positive. I know it's a prayer, and that the torpedo base and LFA will harm a God-fearing animal.† Nate paused to let it sink in, but Tarwater just looked at him like he was an annoying rodent that had crawled in from the cane fields. â€Å"How could you possibly know that, Quinn?† â€Å"Because their prayers are answered.† Nate took a portable tape recorder out of his shirt pocket and set it on the desk next to the seawater, into which he'd already mixed part of the Goo that Amy had given him. He pushed the ;play; button, and the sound of humpback-whale song filled the office. â€Å"This is ridiculous,† Tarwater said. â€Å"Watch,† Nate said, pointing to the water, which began to swirl, a tiny pink vortex forming in the middle. â€Å"Get out of here. I'm not impressed with your Mr. Wizard tricks, Quinn.† â€Å"Watch,† Nate said again. As they watched, the pink vortex expanded while the whale song played, until half the jar was filled with a moving pink stain. Then Nate turned off the tape. â€Å"So what?† Tarwater said. â€Å"Look more closely.† Nate opened the jar, reached in, strained out some of the pink, and threw it on Tarwater's desk. Tiny shrimp – each only an inch long – flipped about on the blotter. â€Å"Krill,† Nate said. Tarwater didn't say anything. He just looked at the krill, then scraped a couple into his hand and examined them more closely. â€Å"They are krill.† â€Å"Uh-huh.† â€Å"What, it's like Sea Monkees, right? You had brine-shrimp eggs in there.† â€Å"No, Captain Tarwater, I did not. The humpbacks are praying, and God is answering them, giving them food. We could run this little experiment a hundred times, and that water would be clear when we started and full of krill when we ended. Trust me, I've done it.† And he had. The little bit of Goo in the water created the krill out of the other life in there, the ubiquitous SAR-11 bacteria that existed in every liter of seawater on the planet. Tarwater held up the krill. â€Å"But I thought they didn't eat when they were here.† â€Å"You're thinking on too small a scale. They don't feed for four months, and then they do nothing but feed. They're thinking in advance – the way you might think about breakfast before you go to bed at night. Doesn't matter, really. What you need to do, Captain, is everything in your power and influence to stop the range and the LFA testing.† Tarwater looked stunned now. â€Å"I'm just a captain.† â€Å"But you're an ambitious captain. I can have a jar of seawater on the secretary of the navy's desk in ten hours. Do you really want to be the one to explain to this administration that you're hurting an animal that prays to God? Particularly this administration?† â€Å"No, sir, I do not,† said Tarwater, looking decidedly more frightened than he had been just a second before. â€Å"I thought you were an intelligent man. I trust you'll handle this, and this will be the last anyone will hear of my jar.† â€Å"Yes, sir,† Tarwater said, more out of habit than respect. Nate took his tape recorder and his jar and walked out, grinning to himself, thinking about the praying humpbacks. Of course, it's not your particular God, he thought, but they do pray, and their god does feed them. He headed back to Papa Lani to make the calls and write the paper that would torpedo any hope of Jon Thomas Fuller's ever building a captive dolphin petting zoo on Maui. A pirate's work is never done. Three months later the Clair cruised into the cold coastal waters off Chile on her way to Antarctica to intercept, stop, harass, and generally make business difficult for the Japanese whaling ship Kyo Maru. Clay was at the helm, and when the ship reached a precise point on the GPS receiver, he ordered the engines cut. It was a sunny day, unusually calm for this part of the Pacific. The water was so dark blue it almost appeared black. Clair was below in their cabin. She'd been seasick for most of the voyage, but she had insisted on coming along despite the nausea, using her saber-edged persuasive skills on the captain. (â€Å"Who's got the pirate booty? All right, then, help me pack.†) Nate stood on the deck at the bow, his arm around Elizabeth Robinson. Above them swung an eighteen-foot rigid-hull Zodiac on a crane, ready to drop into the water whenever it was needed. There was another one on the stern, where once the submarine had been stowed. Up on the flying bridge, Kona scanned the sea around them with a pair of ;big-eye; binoculars on a heavy iron mount that was welded to the railing. â€Å"There's one, a thousand yards.† Clay came out onto the walkway beside Kona. They all looked to starboard, where the residual cloud of a whale blow was hanging over the calm water. â€Å"Another one!† Clay shouted, pointing to a second blow closer to the ship off the port bow. Then they started firing into the air as if triggered by a chained fuse: whale blows of different shapes, heights, and angles – great explosions of spray erupting so close to the ship now that the decks started to glisten with the moisture. Then the backs of the great whales rolled in the water around them, gray and black and blue, hills of slick flesh on all sides, moving slowly, then lying in the water. Nate and Elizabeth moved up to the bow railing and watched a group of sperm whales lolling in the water like logs just a few feet off the bow. Next to them a wide right whale floated, bobbing gently in the swell, only a slow wave of the tail revealing that the creature was alive. It rolled to one side, and its eye bulged as it looked at them. â€Å"You okay?† Nate asked Elizabeth, squeezing her shoulder. This was the first time she'd been out on the water in over forty years. In her hands she clutched a brown paper lunch bag. â€Å"They're still amazing up close. I'd forgotten.† â€Å"Just wait.† There were probably a hundred animals of different species around the ship now, most rolled on their side, one eye bulged out to focus in the air. Their blows settled into a syncopated rhythm, like cylinders of some great engine firing in succession. Kona jumped up and down next to Clay, praising Jah and laughing as each animal breathed or flicked a tail. â€Å"Irie, my whaley friends!† he shouted, waving to the animals close to the boat. Clay desperately resisted the urge to grab up cameras and start blasting film or digital video. It felt like he had to pee, really badly, from his eyes. â€Å"Nate,† Clay called, and he pointed to a bubble net forming just outside the ring of floating whales. They'd seen them dozens of times in Alaska and Canada, one humpback circling and releasing a stream of bubbles to corral a school of fish while others plunged up through the middle to catch them. The circle of bubbles became more pronounced on the surface, as if the water were boiling, and then a single humpback breached through the ring, cleared the water completely, and landed on its side in white crater of splash and spray. â€Å"Oh, my goodness!† Elizabeth said. Flustered, she pressed her face into Nate's jacket, then looked back quickly, lest she miss something. â€Å"They're showing off,† Clay said. The lolling whales lazily paddled out of the way, opening a corridor to the ship. The humpback motorboated toward the bow, its knobby face riding on top of the water. When it was only ten yards from the bow, the animal rose up in the water and opened its mouth. Amy stood up, and next to her stood James Poynter Robinson. â€Å"Hey, can we get a ladder down here?† Amy shouted. â€Å"Praise Jah's mercy,† Kona said, â€Å"the Snowy Biscuit has come home.† Nate threw a cargo net over the side, then climbed halfway down and pulled Amy up onto the net. He held her there as the ship moved in the swell, and she tried to kiss him and nearly chipped a tooth. â€Å"Help me with Elizabeth,† Nate said. Together they got the Old Broad down the cargo net and handed her to her husband, who stood on the tongue of a whale and hugged his bride after not seeing her for four decades. â€Å"You look so young,† Elizabeth said. â€Å"We can fix that,† he said. â€Å"You'll get old?† â€Å"Nope.† He looked back to Nate and saluted. Nate could hear whaley-boy pilots snickering inside the whale. â€Å"I brought you a pastrami on rye,† she said. Poynter took the paper bag from her as if he were accepting the Holy Grail. Nate and Amy scrambled up the cargo net and stood at the bow as the whale drifted away from the bow. â€Å"Thank you, Nate,† the Old Broad said, waving. â€Å"Thank you, Clay.† Nate smiled. â€Å"We'll see you soon, Elizabeth.† â€Å"We will, you know,† Amy said as the whale ship closed and sank back into the waves. â€Å"I know.† â€Å"I have to come back here every few months, you know.† â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Forever.† â€Å"Yeah, I know.† â€Å"I'm the new colonel now. I'm sort of in charge down there, you know, since I'm sort of the daughter of their god. So we'll have to spend time down there.† â€Å"Do I have to call you ‘Colonel'?† â€Å"What, you have a problem with that?† â€Å"No, I'm okay with that.† â€Å"You realize that the Goo really could decide to wipe out the human species at any minute.† â€Å"Yep. Same as it's always been.† â€Å"And you know if I live out here, I'm not always going to, you know, look like this?† â€Å"I know.† â€Å"But I will always be luscious, and you – you will always be a hopeless nerd.† â€Å"Action nerd,† Nate corrected. â€Å"Ha!† Amy said. AUTHOR NOTES Science and Magic â€Å"The science you don't know looks like magic,† Kona says in Chapter 30. I have generally come down on the side of magic, simply because it involves less math, but with Fluke it was necessary to learn a little science. Because so much of Fluke does fall into the realm of magic, though, I thought it only fair to give you, gentle reader, some idea of what's fact and what's not. The body of knowledge on cetacean biology, especially as it relates to behavior, is growing at such a staggering rate that it's hard to be sure of what you know from one day to the next. (This happens to be exactly the way I live my life, so that worked out nicely.) Scientists have been studying humpback song for fewer than forty years, and it's only in the last decade that studies have been undertaken to try to relate the song to social behavior and interaction. (And a challenging question there: What constitutes interaction in an animal whose voice can carry a thousand miles?) As I write this, September 2002, much about the humpback song is still unknown. (Although scientists do know that it tends to be found in the New Age music section, as well as in tropical waters. There is no reasonable explanation for this, but as of yet no tagged humpbacks have been tracked to the New Age section at Sam Goody's.) At this point no one has ever seen or filmed the mating of humpbacks, so while it would appear that the song has something to do with mating, because it is performed only by males and because it is sung only during the mating season, no one has drawn a direct correlation between the song and mating. Theories abound: The males are marking territory sonically, they are showing their fitness and size by singing, they are calling mates, they are just saying ;howdy; – all of the above, none of the above. The fact remains that, regardless of its purpose, the humpback-whale song is the most complex piece of nonhuman composition on earth. Whether it's art, prayer, or a booty call, the humpback song is an amazing thing to experience firsthand, and I suspect that even once the science of it is put to bed, it will remain, as long as they sing, magic. Beyond the song, much of the whale behavior and biology described in Fluke is accurate, or as accurate as I could keep it and not overburden the story. (Excepting the whale ships, the whaley boys, and every killer whale's being named Kevin, all of which I made up. Killer whales are actually all named Sam. Duh.) The acoustic data, and the analysis thereof, is generally balderdash. While scientists do indeed collect data in the manner described, much of the analysis process came from my imagination. For the record, though, low-frequency whale calls can and do travel thousands of miles under the sea. While the Lahaina Harbor is indeed inundated with whale researchers every winter, and while there are indeed lectures given periodically at the Whale Sanctuary visitor center, the acrimony, competition, and tension described among the researchers is completely of my own creation, as are the individual descriptions and personalities of the characters. Tension among a bunch of neurotics is just more interesting for a story than is a description of dedicated professionals doing their work and getting along, which is the case in reality. When in doubt, assume I made it up. CONSERVATION The reason we shouldn't kill whales is because they fire the imagination. – JAMES DARLING, PH.D. Hey, I thought they were saved already! No one likes the â€Å"We're glad you enjoyed this story about the rainforest with all its cute little animals and charming native people, BECAUSE IT WILL ALL BE A CHARRED DESERT NEXT WEEK!† approach, and I hate to do it to you, but you should know that much of the conservation information in Fluke is accurate. They aren't quite saved. The Japanese and the Norwegians continue to practice whaling, each taking up to five hundred minke whales a year under â€Å"scientific research† permits (the meat ends up in markets in Europe and Asia). Despite â€Å"free market† arguments to the contrary, whaling is not a profitable business in Japan. It is subsidized by the government, and, to bolster consumer demand, they have introduced whale meat into the school lunch program so children will develop a taste for it. (Good thinking there. Don't we all crave the cafeteria cuisine of our youth? Mmmm, mashed peas.) Biologists working undercover in Japanese markets (spy nerds), by running DNA tests, have found endangered whale species (including blue whale) in cans of whale meat labeled as â€Å"minke whale meat.† (So someone is still killing them.) Except for scientific whaling, the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on hunting great whales is still in effect, but several whaling nations are rallying hard to have the moratorium lifted and finance survey studies to prove that great-whale populations, including humpbacks and grays, have recovered enough for them to resume hunting. The U.S. antiwhaling position in the IWC is severely compromised by the fact that they support aboriginal whaling – that is, subsistence hunting by indigenous people. The argument for aboriginal whaling by the actual indigenous people is seldom made on a basis of subsistence, but more often because hunting whales is a â€Å"cultural tradition of their people that must be preserved.† This, of course, is utter bullshit. It's a tradition of Americans of European descent to commit genocide on indigenous people, but that doesn't mean we ought to start doing it again. Even some old ideas are still bad ideas. While it is true that many whale species seem to be recovering, like the gray and the humpback, other populations still struggle, and some, like the North Atlantic right whale, may yet disappear from the planet. (Not due to hunting, but as one researcher, whom I won't name, said, â€Å"because they're stupid as shit and won't get out of the way when they hear a ship coming.† Hell, I almost wreck when a squirrel runs in front of my car, and there're millions of them. I can't imagine trying to keep a supertanker from going in the ditch while swerving to avoid one of the last remaining right whales.) Recent surveys estimate (and they can only estimate, because scientists can't find enough of the animals to actually count – I guess when you find one, you just have to count the bejeezus out of him, then extrapolate with algorithms and computer projections) that there may be fewer than three hundred North Atlantic right whales left in the world. But on a happier note, some of the populations are recovering, and although the Japanese government appears to be a bunch of nimrods (and who are we to talk?), the Japanese people seem more interested in watching whales than eating them, so the pressure to extend the hunt may relent. The kicker to all this is probably that habitat loss and pollution, not hunting, present the greatest threat to marine mammals. (Wha†¦? Habitat loss, don't they have the whole ocean?) For the most part our oceans are great, wet deserts, with millions of square miles in which life is very sparse. Predictably, human populations have started to compete with marine mammals for the food sources, and, under increased demand and improved fishing methods, many once rich fishing grounds are becoming as barren as a clear-cut forest. Hydroelectric dams that restrict the migration of salmon and other species to their freshwater breeding grounds are already having an impact on the populations of marine mammals that feed on the adult salmon. As industrial pollution and agricultural runoff take toxic chemicals to the ocean, it would seem that the enormous volume of seawater would dilute these chemicals to harmless levels, and that's what happens until the chemicals are gathered up by a mechanism called the food chain. Recent studies of tissue samples of some toothed whales (killer whales and dolphins, who feed fairly high up on the food chain) show levels of man-made toxins so high that the animal's blubber actually qualifies as toxic waste. Studies are now going on to determine if declining marine mammal populations on the west coast of North America may not be caused by the lower birth rates and the compromised immune systems of animals who feed on toxic fish. (Oh yeah, guess who else is at the top of the seafood chain?) You want to help? Pay attention. Caring about the condition of our oceans does not make you a psycho, tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberal, it just makes you smart. The health of all life on this planet depends on the health of the oceans. It's just good business. (Even a supply-sider has to admit that if you fish a population to extinction, there will be no supply, so there will be no demand. It's bad economics from the right or the left.) So watch what you eat, and don't eat fish that are being over-fished (like Chilean sea bass, for instance). And don't pour the used oil from your oil change down the storm drain unless you want your next shrimp platter to taste like Quaker State and you sort of like the idea of having your own children born with flippers. And go look at some whales. Not captive ones, wild ones. It all comes down to economics, and as long as it's more profitable to have whales around to look at, we'll have them around to look at. If you don't live near water and can't get to any, rent a whale video. It all comes around. Barring that, just yell at people randomly to stop killing whales. It could catch on. Really. (â€Å"Would you like fries with that?† â€Å"Shut up and stop killing whales!† â€Å"Thank you. Drive through, please.†) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, my thanks to the home team: to Charlie Rodgers, as usual, for thoughtful reads and cogent comments; to my editor, Jennifer Brehl; and to my agent, Nicholas Ellison, who a couple of years ago said, â€Å"Hey, how about a book about whale song? I don't know – like there's meaning in it or something. You figure it out.† Blame or credit goes to Nick for that. As always, thanks to Dee Dee Leichtfuss for being my â€Å"reader without an agenda.† Thanks, too, to Galen and Lynn Rathbun, for taking time away from studying the hose-nose shrew to fill me in on the home life of the field biologist and for putting me in touch with the people at NOAA. My thanks also to Kurt Preston for geological information, to Dr. David Kirkpatrick for information on genetics, to Mark Joseph for my â€Å"Introduction to Sonar† phone lecture, and to Bret Huffman for Rasta-Pidgin tutoring. Much of the background on genes, evolution, and memes came from the work of Richard Dawkins: The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, The Extended Phenotype, and others; also from Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea and from Susan Blakemore's excellent book The Meme Machine. I recommend them all for further reading, but when you're finished, you may have to read several of my books and watch a lot of TV just to get stupid enough again to function in the modern world again. Fortunately I am gifted in this respect and have recovered nicely, thank you. The laser-measurement algorithm described in Chapter 1 was formulated by Dr. John Calambokidis of the Cascadia Research Collective. He should get credit for that as well as for many other contributions to the field. Many of the research anecdotes I used in Fluke were fashioned out of stories told to me by the researchers themselves. The story of the Japanese whalers being affected by seeing a mother sperm whale and her calf (Chapter 30) was told to me by Bob Pittman of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. The story of the Pacific Biological Research Project, where the military funded a feasibility study to use seabirds as a biological-warfare vector, was told to me by Lisa Ballance, Bob's wife, who also works at NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Thanks, too, to Dr. Wayne Ferryman, also from NOAA, who shared many hours of stories, providing me with information about the lifestyles of researchers. My thanks to Dr. Ferryman as well for inviting me to observe the California gray whale survey in person and not insisting that I always bring the pizza. Thanks to Jay Barlow from NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center for information on navy research projects and the relationship between researchers and the navy. Much of which I blew off so I could put Captain Tarwater in Maui, but still, thanks, Jay. My thanks, too, to Carol DeLancey of Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Program, who told me the great story of the female right whale using a researcher's Zodiac as a diaphragm while the researchers were assaulted by a pair of prehensile whale willies (Chapter 8) – something that happened directly to Dr. Bruce Mate, but which I embellished in that I don't believe that the whales ejaculated in the boat, and Dr. Mate did not become a lesbian. For information on underwater acoustics and the nature and range of blue-whale calls, much of which I totally ignored, many thanks to Dr. Christopher G. Fox of the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. It was Chris's description of an unidentified, persistent throbbing noise coming from deep under the Pacific Ocean, somewhere off the coast of Chile, that first inspired the undersea city of Gooville. For the inside story on harbor life in Lahaina and the dating life of the female researcher, my thanks to Rachel Cartwright and Captain Amy Miller, who study humpback cow/calf behavior and biology in Maui in the winter and Alaska in the summer. My thanks, too, to Kevin Keyes for whale and dolphin stories, as well as for his infinite patience in teaching me ocean kayaking and providing the â€Å"cold-water discipline† safety training that probably kept me from drowning while trying to get out among the animals. Finally, my deepest thanks to Dr. Jim Darling, Flip Nicklin, and Meagan Jones, who for two seasons allowed me to ride along and observe their research in Maui, as well as for giving generously of their time to answer my questions both in person and by e-mail. While most of the information about humpbacks and humpback song in Fluke came out of these trips, the inaccuracies and liberties taken with the information are my own. The anecdotes and science I learned from these folks, all of whom have spent their lives working in the field, were enough to fill two books, and were certainly too voluminous to list here. Simply put, this book would not have been possible without their help. Kinder, more intelligent, more dedicated people than these do not the face of this earth walk. To support their ongoing research on humpback song and behavior, send your tax-deductible donations to: Whale Trust 300 Paani Place Paia, HI 96779

The Canon

4. Define the â€Å"canon† and describe the basic criteria and chronology behind the formation of the New Testament canon. What evidence exists in this area? Why did early Christians feel a need to establish an authoritative list? Which elements in the criteria are the most and least important? State your reasons for choosing these elements. How would you respond if someone claimed that the canon of the Bible should still be open? a. Define the â€Å"canon† and describe the basic criteria and chronology behind the formation of the New Testament canon.What evidence exists in this area? The word â€Å"canon† is a Semitic loanword that initially meant â€Å"reed† but came to mean â€Å"measuring reed and hence rule or standard or norm† (Carson, 726). In the history of Christianity the word canon was first used to designate doctrines which established the basic beliefs and practices of the church (Lea, 70). In our reading in Carson/Moo and Lea/Black, th ree elements of criteria’s are used to show that certain books belonged in the canon known as â€Å"orthodoxy, apostolicity, and universality† (Lea, 72).Lea/Black states, that the gages for defining canonicity are difficult to determine, but the most vital criterion for determining canonicity is inspiration (Lea, 71). The first basic criteria involved â€Å"the rule of faith† (Carson, 736, Lea 71), which meant that the teaching of the book followed the beliefs the church honors as acceptable and correct, (Lea 71). The second basic criteria entail of the demonstration of apostolicity, which â€Å"required authorship by an apostle or by the companion of an apostle† ( Lea, 71), the final basic criteria is universal acceptance meaning used and accepted by churches everywhere (Carson, 737). . What evidence exists in this area? The foundations that the Church uses to base canonicity upon are the use of the works by early Christian writers (Lea and Black, 73). T he regularity of references from various books informs modern students of how the books were viewed in ancient times (Carson and Moo, 733). Another basis affecting the results of the canonical question are the early lists put forth of books deemed inspired (Lea and Black, 73).Lastly, the addition of manuscripts in early codices indicates the opinion of the book by the binder (Lea and Black, 73). c. Why did early Christians feel a need to establish an authoritative list? There is not a definite cause why early Christians felt a need to institute an authoritative list, some of the reasons for the list could have included persecution, distance from the historical Jesus, the pressure of Montanism, the rise of Gnosticism and other movements with scriptures to be rejected (Carson, 736).With this being the case I feel that the formation of an authoritative list by early Christians was deemed necessary to contest the teachings of heretics that were appearing in the Church. Through the inser tion of books that possessed non-Christian ideals or the rejection of books accepted as inspired, false and incomplete teaching ran the risk of corrupting orthodox doctrine d. Which elements in the criteria are the most and least important? I believe the most important element of canonicity is inspiration and that God chooses to work in a person’s lives in other ways.Someone may say inspiration, I cannot see why man would try to limit God’s ability to move and I believe that our minds cannot even begin to grasp the depth, width or even an ounce of God’s wisdom or knowledge or even half of what he is able to do, when looking at creation and the vastness of the universe it is mind blowing to me. I also believe that â€Å"Apostolicity† is also an important criterion, being that Matthew, John and Peter, were members of the twelve along with Paul, commissioned by Christ, along with their associates such as Mark who with Paul .The least important criteria to me is universality based on Carson’s assessment of it being â€Å"scarcely less important† (Carson, 737). e. How would you respond if someone claimed that the canon of the Bible should still be open? In most modern churches today, the Canons are considered to be â€Å"closed†, meaning that God does not add to or take away from the writings of the bible, and instead chooses to work in a person’s lives in other ways. We all recognize that the New Testament canon contains the authorative record of Jesus life and the interpretation of its significance (Lea, 74-75), with that reason the canon should not still be open.But we also must keep in mind that God who is sovereign and can choose to move however he desires and many times I feel that we try to put human reasoning in areas that our mind cannot even perceive, for as stated in Isaiah 55:8 God says: â€Å"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. † 4. Explain how we have approximated the dates of Jesus' birth and death as well as the length of his ministry. List primary and secondary sources describing his life. Which of these sources is the most important?How important is accurate historical information in providing a foundation for accepting and believing the gospel message? a. Explain how we have approximated the dates of Jesus' birth and death as well as the length of his ministry. We have an awareness of the date of Jesus birth because of three main events. A period before the death of Herod the Great, during the time of a census ordered by Augusts, and when there was a bright start in the sky leading men from the east (Lea, 95). Ancient records designate that Herod possibly died around March 4B.C. this means that Christ was born before that (Lea, 95). Quirinius was governor of Syria during the officiating of the census under Augustus. (Lea, 95). The registration for the census could have happened possibly in 8 B. B. and could have taken years to execute. This places the birth of Jesus anywhere from 6 to 5 B. C. (Lea, 96) Jesus’ death is very reliant on the Gospel of John. John associates Jesus’ death to a system of time based on the ministry of John the Baptist, who preceded Christ, which took place on the 15th year of Tiberius reign. Lea, 96) John mentions that the construction of the temple had taken 46 years in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. (Lea, 97). If you evaluate both of these statements and add the approximate three years of Jesus’ ministry they both arrive at a death for Jesus in A. D. 29 or 30 (Lea, 97). The approximate length for the ministry of Jesus is arrived at using the number of Passovers that Jesus attended. (Lea, 96) b. List primary and secondary sources describing his life. Which of these sources is the most important? The gospel of Matthew and Luke are the prime sources of the life of Jesus.The birth of Christ is most fully covered by Matthew and Luke, (Lea , 97). Matthew and Luke also present the most information about the life of Jesus before his ministry, or the â€Å"Period of â€Å"Preparation. † (Lea, 98) John is the only Gospel that relates Jesus Judean ministry. The rest of Jesus ministry is recorded in the entire Gospel, which makes Mark and John the secondary complete record of the life of Jesus. c. How important is accurate historical information in providing a foundation for accepting and believing the gospel message? The Gospel message comprises substantial facts about the life of Jesus.Important academic attention has been devoted to the historical examination of the New Testament, explicitly with respect to establishing it as a reliable historical document. The vast amount of material, in the form of manuscripts, archaeology, and authorial phenomenon delivers an priceless glance into the depths of events surrounding the historicity as well as the development of the New Testament. For many people without establish ing historical believability for the New Testament, there would be no grounds to suggest any sort of belief in it as a reliable source.But for me even if the dates cannot be exactly known for the Christian, it should not affect the belief in the life of Christ. The great men of the Bible prophesied accurately that highly educated men and women who scoff at God and His revealed Word would dominate our world. Although men have sneered at God in every generation beginning with Adam, ours was to be the worst. The Apostle Paul wrote: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient (Romans 1:21-22, 28). Although Paul is speaking specifically about the earliest men, we have not changed for the better; we have grown worse. Since the 17th and 18th centuries, men have produced an amazing fund of knowledge in the industrial and scientific areas. Yet pursuing knowledge about God has been left out. We have several sources that provides foundations for accepting and believing the gospel message.Carson, D. A. and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. 2ded. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. Lea, Thomas D. and David Alan Black. The New Testament: Its Background and Message. 2ded. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2003 Carson, D. A. and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. 2ded. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. Lea, Thomas D. and David Alan Black. The New Testament: Its Background and Message. 2ded. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2003

Goings Manufacturing Division and Just-in-Time Essay

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Marketing Plan - Coursework Example ice is essential for everyone and this means that with a diverse menu, the right place and innovation the restaurant can be a success in the face of tough competition. Restaurants exist to meet the needs of customers and this is the only way in which they can make a profit. Although habits and social construction influence culinary taste and preferences, the price charged for a culinary experience has an impact on demand (Sloan, 2000, Chapter 1). In addition, it is important to decide about the requirements of customers who will patronize a restaurant, depending on its location. Thus, if a restaurant is within a locality that will attract busy business executives during their lunch hour, it is only proper to try to entice these with the proper cuisine and marketing. Business executives are unlikely to want relaxed gourmet meals in a business district at lunchtime, although they may want to bring in their business guests. Thus, the healthy eating restaurant must provide a wholesome, nourishing, healthy and fulfilling culinary experience at the right price to attract a maximum number of customers to maximize profits. The following presents a discussion about the needs of the customers within the locality in which the restaurant is situated. Other restaurant marketing plans provide insights into expectations from a marketing plan for a restaurant (Palo Alto Software, 2008, â€Å"Sandwich Restaurant Franchise Marketing Plan† and â€Å"Sigmund’s Gourmet Pasta Restaurant†). The Lighthouse restaurant situated near busy office complexes that are at their busiest during the day, while operating at reduced capacity during night, is likely to attract those who must eat out but who want healthy meals. Customers can pay slightly more than the price for junk foods, but want something equally exotic, fulfilling and healthy. Sky rise office blocks near Lighthouse restaurant guarantee customers, but the competition is tough because a large number of other restaurants also

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Collaborative work in IDE development - Essay Example As a Project Manager, adapting to changing request is a crucial factor that can be the pinnacle of the success or the failure of any given project. The programmers are able to mimic the code and ‘lingo’ of the code in a very easy manner which makes development much more feasible. Visual Studio IDE also takes the workload of coding much more feasible. Visual Studios allows around the functionality of drag and drop to be supplemented with actual coding. This is perfect for even new developers who can drag and drop and then code with objects. An IDE that is somewhat similar to it is Java Eclipse. It allows individuals to have open source coding that be beneficial. IDEs are greater because even non-programmers can see the notes instead of just CLI. Java again is open source, but C-sharp is easier to program. It does diminish the value of coding because the complexity to code itself becomes easier. However even with IDEs, the role of programmers and scope has never been reduc ed. With the recent advent of enhancements, visual IDEs can even transform GUI based projects using Agile methodology, gathering business requirements, creating workflows and wireframes. Imagine a wireframe that can converted into actual OOP. Microsoft Visual Studio IDE allows each sprint to have something testable and can be given to the client much quicker than

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Organizational Diagnosis in MBA Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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Aviation History in Qatar - Research Paper Example Currently, Qatar Airways has shown flying colors in the aviation industry and it is competing equally with the other well established airline companies. Skytrax has given Qatar Airways a five–star rating, which is also possessed by airline companies like Kingfisher Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines. The headquarters of Qatar Airways is in Doha. Qatar Airways link almost hundred international destinations from its base place at Doha, using a fleet of ninety six aircrafts. During 2010, Qatar Airways has launched nine new destinations like Tokyo, Sau Paulo, Phuket, Nice, Hanoi, Copenhagen, Ankara, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Bangalore. In the pipeline, were other destinations like Aleppo, Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels, Oslo, Montreal and Stuttgart. (Projects Middle East. (Oct. 2008). 2. Qatar Airways Qatar Airways has provided a very suitable environment for the Middle East business aviation market to flourish. Ali A l Naqbi, who is the founding chairman of the Middle East Business Aviation Association, has given extra importance to Qatar’s strategic importance to the charter jet market. Ali Al Naqbi majorly focused on the growth potential of Qatar so as to capitalize on it in order to bring about a huge development in the international aviation market. He predicted that by the year 2012, there will be a massive growth in the Middle East aviation sector where its worth will be near to one dollar billion and the yearly growth rate will be by fifteen to twenty percent. Ali Al Naqbi was very optimistic about his view and prediction as the growth in the aviation market was new in the region. He believed that a new era will begin with the growth and progress of the aviation business entity. The aviation business has covered almost forty percent of the Middle East aerospace market within about four years. Ali Al Naqbi believed that the significant gains from the aviation market will attract Qat ar to join his founding organization, that is, Middle East Business Aviation Association, and serve them for further betterment in the future. But being excited on one side, he was also quite aware of the global financial crisis. He knew it very well that one day or the other, in some way, the growth in the aviation sector will be hampered due to a fall in the global financial sector. (Qatar Airways, 2010) Qatar has its own well flourished natural gas industry which acts as a catalyst to spur interest in the aviation market in order to bring in more demand. Moreover, Ali Al Naqbi reiterated that Qatar has a lot to contribute in the expansion of the aviation sector and this has encouraged the local companies to a huge extent to join the Middle East Business Aviation Association. (Qatar Airways, 2010) The services of Qatar Airways have expanded its service to Africa, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, North America and South America. It is one of the fastest growing industries of airl ines in the world. The industry consisted of fifteen thousand employees among which ten thousand employees work for the industry directly and the other five thousand employees work in the industry subsidiaries. (Qatar Airways, 2010) Qatar Airways have tried to serve all sort of satisfaction to its passengers, thereby making every ride for the passengers very comfortable. Those who want to travel in the A330 and

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Comparing and contrasting the information presented by Glaze and Forster - Essay Example They move from one grove section in the village to another and camp at groves, which become recognised as initiation posts. The forest can also be considered a grove. The Senufo people have a secret society of men called the Poro with the members called Colobele and one member called a Colo. This society has different age grades which have differing responsibilities. According to Forster, the minor age group consists of men aged 20 years (Forster, 1993). A more senior Poro tests the younger age grade by asking them â€Å"passwords† using the secret language of the society. The age group above the junior Poro also teaches the junior Poro the work they should do. In the farmer’s category, the junior Poro carry out tasks in the field where they are not allowed to speak to other members in the village. When comparing the two, Glaze (1986) mainly focuses on the ceremonial activities. She explains activities such as the initiation ceremony. As per her explanation, the junior Poro use their masks to story tell. This activity by Poro happens to be the only similarity in the activities between Glaze’s and Forster’s explanation. The Poro practice different activities in their daily routine. Some of these practises have a spiritual inclination, whereas others have a practical inclination. The activities described by Glaze have the spiritual inclination (Glaze, 1986). These revolve around rituals such as initiation, funerals and use of masquerades. Those described by Forster seek practical solutions such as food, making equipment and ornaments. Forster also goes on to describe spiritual activities such as dancing in the masks (Forster, 1993). The spiritual activities have ceremonies such as initiation whereby procedures with a symbolic meaning occur. For the practical procedures, goals such as obtaining food, making equipment and ornaments happen to be the main objective. The Senufo people have various forms

Review of a Reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Review of a Reading - Essay Example For this reason, the author says that, the concept of designing strategy for a business organization must address the whole business organization. Consequently, the author says that, strategy in business must be formulated at three independent levels, i.e. corporate level, business level, and functional level. A critical analysis of this view by the author shows that the author’s conception of strategic management is right. This is because strategic management affects all facets of a business organization unlike other areas of business. The author of this reading defines strategic management as the process of creating interdependent activities that will enable an organization to compete successfully. The author goes on to say that, for most business organizations, creating the interdependent activities is the difficult part. An evaluation of this view shows that author’s views on this point are true. This is because harmonizing various portfolios of a business organization to operate with synergy is quite a challenging task; it normally requires skills in management and leadership to create such synergy in an organization with different portfolios. In the assigned reading, the author discusses in details the corporate Level Strategy and the scope of corporate level strategy. According to the author, corporate level strategy sets the overall direction for the whole Company. The author recognizes specific tasks and questions to that are unique to corporate level strategy. Expressed as questions, the author argues that the scope of corporate level strategy is: To explain further the actual meaning of corporate level of strategy, the author explains in details the meaning of each of the four questions; the author uses a concrete case of the Pepsi Company to demonstrate how the four questions of corporate level strategy are applied in actual situation. The author begins by explaining how the Coca-Cola Company has applied the

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible Essay Example for Free

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible Essay A crucible is defined as a severe trial or a container in which metals are melted at very high temperatures. Much like how metals mold to a new shape at very high temperatures, people change when severe trials and challenges present themselves. When innocent lives are lost, a person will realize the wrongs and attempt to make things right again. The character John Hale must forget his old teachings and way of life to try to return the town of Salem to a peaceful community. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Reverend John hale transforms from a prideful prosecutor of witches to a humble defender of the accused because of the guilt he experiences over the innocent lives lost during the Salem witch trials. Reverend John Hale arrives in Salem as a prideful man with intentions of persecuting the accused of witchcraft and ridding the town of all evil. Author Arthur Miller says of Hale, â€Å"This is a beloved errand of him; on being called here to ascertain witchcraft he felt the pride of the specialist whose unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for.†(Miller 1252) Miller explains that the reverend has great pride in having the opportunity to show off his skills to rid the town of Salem of witchcraft. His skills in the beginning of the trials come from his books instead of from his own intuitions. Reverend Hale brings many books into the town in order to use their knowledge to persecute the accused. He believes these books to be infallible, and they cause him to believe that he will solve all of the town’s problems with them. Along with the knowledge from his books, he speaks, â€Å"with a tasty love of intellectual pursuit.†(Miller 1257) These stage directions imply that Hale thirsts to be the all-knowing savior of Salem. In his early days at Salem this thirst and his faith in the judicial system guide him to find the suspected witches and deal with them accordingly. The reverend’s early thirst for heroism soon vanishes as the trials pursue and more unexpected people in Salem are accused of witchcraft. Hale travels to the Proctor residence by his accord, without the court’s authority, to learn more about them because Elizabeth Proctor has been mentioned in the court. Learning about the faith life of Elizabeth, Hale starts to question whether all of the accused participate in witchcraft, and doubt of the infallible judicial system starts to arise in him. This doubt grows as he says to Judge Danforth about the trials, â€Å"But is does not follow that everyone accused is part of it.†(Miller 1300) He realizes now that the accused are given no chance to plead innocent without the sure fate of death. Hale sees flaw in the judicial system that he has lived by, and wonders if the many he has condemned to death had no opportunity at all to seek innocence. Knowing that the accused have no chance for survival but through confession of witchcraft, Hale proclaims, â€Å"I have this morning signed away the soul of Rebecca Nurse, Your Honor. I’ll not conceal it, my hand shakes yet as with a wound!†(Miller 1301) He knows that Rebecca has a good life of faith, and she will most definitely be condemned to death by the so called infallible judicial system because of him. Hale shows the feeling of guilt by signing away the life of Goody Nurse, and realizes that he must try to defend the accused because the court will not. Hale loses all motivation to condemn the accused and no longer holds pride in himself or his judicial system. With his motivation to seek out witches now gone, Hale believes many of the accused to be innocent and tries to convince this to the court. He tells Judge Danforth, â€Å"I beg you, stop now before another is condemned! I may not shut my conscience to it no more—private vengeance is working through this testimony! From the beginning this man has struck me true. By my oath to Heaven, I believe him now.†(Miller 1311) His guilt pushes him to defend the accused in front of the judge so that their blood will not be on his hands. Hale knows his association with the courts will result in the loss of innocent lives, and he cannot live with himself knowing this. Knowing now that the court operates with error, he quits it and denounces its proceedings. John Hale no longer want to participate in the court’s murdering of the innocent, and feels guilty for the lives that he has already condemned through the judicial system. Hale now knows that he needs to think for himself rather than following the laws and rules of the judicial system he has lived by his whole life. Working separate from the court, the reverend says, â€Å"I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves.†(Miller 1325) Hale knows that the only way to rid the guilt from his mind is to convince the accused to lie and confess so that their lives may be saved. He has lost faith in the court system that will condemn innocent lives, and, throwing away his pride, puts out one last effort to save some of the lives he has condemned. His motivation has changed from condemning the witches in the town to attempting to save the accused. As his efforts are about to fail, he drops to his knees and says, â€Å"What profit him to bleed? Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worms declare his truth? Go to him, take his shame away!†(Miller 1334) His efforts to defend the accused fail, and guilt overwhelms him. Reverend John Hale cannot live with the innocent lives he has sentenced to murder and is humbled as the accused are led to their death. â€Å"Cleave to no faith when faith brings blood†(Miller 1326) says a transformed reverend as the Salem witch trials come to an end. Reverend Hale loses not only his faith in the judicial system, but also in the God who he believed to be too perfect to allow these tragic events to happen. He humbles himself because the pride that he once had leads to the death innocent lives in Salem. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend John Hale changes from a prideful prosecutor of the witches to a humble defender of the accused because of the guilt that overwhelms him due to the innocent blood shed at his hands during the Salem witch trials.

German Essays Immanuel Kant and Moses Mendelssohn

German Essays Immanuel Kant and Moses Mendelssohn The interpretation of the enlightenment by immanuel kant and moses mendelssohn. The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement that considerably influenced scientific and social thinking of the eighteenth century, was exposed to a profound analysis by Immanuel Kant who connected the concept of enlightenment with personal freedom, pondering over ‘private’ and ‘public’ usage of reason, and Moses Mendelssohn who introduced the notions ‘civil enlightenment’ and ‘human enlightenment’ to differentiate between social and individual understanding of enlightenment. While Kant looked for the ways to achieve a balance between public and private usage of reason, Mendelssohn paid attention to the differences between human and civil enlightenment, revealing the difficulties of acquiring this balance. However, in their definitions of enlightenment both Kant, the follower of the German Enlightenment, and Mendelssohn, the originator of the Haskalah, the Enlightenment of Jews, uncovered â€Å"the tension between the agenda of enli ghtenment and the exigencies of society† (Schmidt 5). Making an attempt to provide his definition of the Enlightenment in the essay â€Å"Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?† written as a response to the Reverend Zollner, Immanuel Kant states that â€Å"enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage† (83). Thus, according to Kant, enlightenment is achieved through personal freedom that is impossible to acquire without such crucial human traits as courage and intellect (Belas 457-460). However, Kant’s definition of enlightenment expels an open struggle, because it can return people to tutelage, depriving them of the possibility to achieve enlightenment. Proposing to eliminate certain church and state restrictions, Kant applies to two different usages of reason that constitute true enlightenment – ‘private’ usage and ‘public’ usage. As Kant points out, â€Å"By the public use of one’s reason I understand the use of which a person makes of it as a scholar before the reading public. Private use I call that which may make of it in a particular civil post of office which entrusted to him† (89). Although the philosopher draws a parallel between these concepts, he points at the fact that the private usage of reason should be subjected to certain limitations, while the public usage of reason should be kept free, because â€Å"it alone can bring about enlightenment among men† (Kant 89). In this regard, Moses Mendelssohn’s definition of the Enlightenment is similar to Kant’s definition, but Mendelssohn relies on different concepts in his analysis. Mendelssohn regards enlightenment as the acquisition of particular knowledge that creates the necessary balance between a person as a citizen and a person as a human being. In view of this definition, Mendelssohn differentiates between ‘civil enlightenment’, which corresponds with certain social interests, and ‘human enlightenment’, wh ich deals with individual knowledge of a person and, according to James Schmidt, â€Å"paid heed neither to some distinctions nor to the maintenance of social order† (5). However, unlike Immanuel Kant, Moses Mendelssohn admits that there are some particular cases when public aspects of enlightenment should be strongly restricted. As Schmidt states, â€Å"While Mendelssohn was willing to concede that there might be certain unhappy circumstances in which philosophy must remain silent lest it pose a threat to public order, Kant was uncompromising in his insistence that the public exercise of reason should never be restricted† (5-6). To some extent, Kant’s attitude can be explained by that fact that the philosopher interprets enlightenment through the issues of religion, considering the existing religious dogmas as an obstacle towards personal freedom (Lassman 815-820). Thus, regarding freedom as one of the most crucial aspects of enlightenment, Kant simultaneously brings up a question of people’s independence from religion, while Mendelssohn points at freedom within religious faith. In this context, Kant tends to define enlightenment in practical terms, while Mendelssohn analyses theoretical aspects of enlightenment, claiming that â€Å"Enlightenment seems†¦ to have to do with the theo retical, specifically with reasoned apprehension of the world in an objective sense† (313). Operating with the notion ‘Bildung’ that means knowledge in a wider sense of the word and combines two social elements – enlightenment and culture, Moses Mendelssohn claims that enlightenment greatly depends on culture. As the philosopher puts it, â€Å"Enlightenment is to culture as theory is to practice, as discernment is to morality, as cultural criticism is to virtuosity. When viewed objectively in and of themselves, they exist in the closest possible synergy, even if they can be viewed subjectively as separate categories† (314). In view of this definition it is clear that for a person as a citizen both culture and enlightenment are important, because, according to Mendelssohn, â€Å"all practical virtues only acquire meaning in relation to life in the social sphere† (315). However, for a person as a human being enlightenment is more crucial than cu lture. On the other hand, Mendelssohn states that enlightenment contributes to theoretical usage, while culture is better applied to practical usage. But those nations that manage to combine both culture and enlightenment achieve the highest level of the Enlightenment, like the Ancient Greeks. Mendelssohn considers that modern societies rarely achieve this standard, as he claims, â€Å"Nurembergers have more culture, Berliners more enlightenment, the French more culture, the British more enlightenment, the Siamese more culture and little enlightenment† (314). The similar notion is expressed by Kant who points at the fact that various religious dogmas deprive people of the possibility to achieve freedom and enlightenment; that is why modern people only strive for enlightenment, but they do no live within enlightenment. According to Kant, people find it really difficult to get rid of someone’s guidance, especially the guidance of church or state. But Kant puts major responsibili ty for such dependence from religion on people who are unable to appropriately use their intellect to acquire true enlightenment. The philosopher thinks that religion destroys people’s selves and deprives them of the possibility to attain the equilibrium of private and public usage of reason. For Kant, enlightenment is determined by a person’s capacity to freely utilise his/her reason. Theoretically, every person has rights and abilities to utilise his/her reason, but in practice only some individuals reveal power and courage to achieve enlightenment. For instance, Kant states that a priest should restrict his private usage of reason, because he follows the religious dogmas of his church; however, he should not restrict his public usage of reason, if he can make some useful offers and provide new knowledge. In this regard, Immanuel Kant regards enlightenment as a continuous progress, but he states that â€Å"a public can achieve enlightenment only slowly† (84). The philosopher acknowledges that some social changes can result in the elimination of certain biases or dogmas, but these old prejudices can be replaced by new biases and rules of behaviour that may slow down the process of enlightenment. However, Kant points out that enlightenment can be delayed onl y for a short period of time, but â€Å"to give up enlightenment altogether, either for oneself or one’s descendants, is to violate and to trample upon the sacred rights of man† (86). Kant considers that the eighteenth century is the age of enlightenment, as various religious issues are exposed to critical analysis by some individuals who apply to reason to enlighten themselves. Discussing the issue of enlightenment, Mendelssohn reveals that â€Å"reason could demonstrate the fundamental truths of natural religion† (Arkush xiii). Mendelssohn claims that reason provides new understanding of religious dogmas, and it is this particular understanding that contributes to people’s enlightenment. In this regard, Mendelssohn manages to adjust the Enlightenment’s rationality with religion, although the philosopher realises that enlightenment provides people with free will and thinking, while religion controls people’s actions and thoughts. In view of this interpretation of enlightenment, Mendelssohn’s viewpoint corresponds with Kant’s vision, as both philosophers support the notion that true enlightenment can be achieved by those individuals who are able to dispute, but at the same time obey. For Mendelssohn and Kant, the ability to dispute reveals people’s reason and courage, while the ability to obey reflects their enlightenment. Thus, enlightenment is more than a simple process of acquiring certain knowledge; rather it is a particular stand, which people may create. However, according to Kant, society can acquire enlightenment more easily than an individual, if taken into account the fact that public usage of reason is not exposed to any restrictions. As Kant states, â€Å"it is difficult for an isolated individual to work himself out of a dependency that has become virtually second-nature to him† (84). The philosopher considers that only some individuals manage to overcome this dependenc y; however, as Kant further claims in the essay, â€Å"but that a public at large might manage to enlighten itself is, in contrast, something quite possible† (84). Unlike Kant, Mendelssohn points at the necessity of some limitations and states that enlightenment can be achieved, if every person receives freedom of religious faith. But Mendelssohn claims that this freedom is possible if two major institutions of power – state and church are separated. Making an attempt to draw a parallel between the ideas of the Enlightenment and Jewish religion, Moses Mendelssohn regards enlightenment as a crucial aspect of Jews’ emancipation (Shmueli 167-169). In this regard, Mendelssohn’s interpretation of enlightenment is based on the principles of natural religion and reason that contribute to the formation of enlightened society (Meyer 29). Kant’s definition of enlightenment is founded on the connection between reason and modified authoritative laws. However, both Mendelssohn’s and Kant’s ideas of enlightenment are cantered on the concept of freedom, although the philosophers utilise different approaches in their interpretation of the role of freedom in the process of enlightenment. As Immanuel Kant regards enlightenment as both a continuous progress and a particular attitude or responsibility, he considers that a person is able to achieve freedom and enlightenment only if he/she changes himself/herself. In other words, enlightenment serves as a specific tool, through which a person expresses his/her self, and, on the other hand, it is a certain command that a person gives himself/herself and provides to other individuals. Therefore, Kant presents enlightenment as a progress in which people act together and as an individual expression of courage. Taking this interpretation of enlightenment into account, it is clear that Kant differentiates between the usage of reason and the sphere of obedience, but the philosopher clearly demonstrates that both states depend on people’s courage and intellect. For instance, if a person pays his/her taxes, but expresses his/her negative attitude to the taxation system, he/she reveals intellect and courage that speak of his/her maturity. In this case, a person acquires enlightenment that results in his/her inner freedo m. In his interpretation of enlightenment, Mendelssohn points at freedom of conscience; this freedom is closely connected with people’s religious faith. According to Mendelssohn, a state should not influence religious faith of people; it is this particular freedom of choice that constitutes the core of Mendelssohn’s definition of enlightenment. Critically analysing Jewish religious dogmas through the idea of enlightenment, Mendelssohn manages to overcome the existing religious biases and bring together Christian and Jewish religions (Beiser 92-93). For Moses Mendelssohn, such changes constitute true enlightenment, reviving humanism and indulgence. Although both Mendelssohn and Kant apply to religious aspects in their interpretations of enlightenment, they utilise different viewpoints. Kant discusses the issue of enlightenment through religion, because he considers that the existing religious institutions are too harmful for people; thus it is crucial to reduce their influe nce on individuals, utilising reason to challenge church authorities. Kant considers that a person should reject the prevalent religious stereotypes and produce new standards for himself/herself in accordance with reason and free will.   Unlike Kant, Mendelssohn points at the fact that the process of enlightenment is religious in its essence; that is why the philosopher makes an attempt to conciliate religious issues with rationality of philosophical thinking (Sorkin 35-42). Despite the fact that Mendelssohn regards Judaism as religion that possesses the highest level of reason, he nevertheless criticises some aspects of this religion, destroying traditional understanding of Judaism (Altmann 13-19). Mendelssohn considers that enlightenment can provide people with the logical interpretation of certain religious issues. The philosopher thinks that simple faith in God is not able to prove the existence of God, but, applying to reason, people are able to find answers to all controversial religious aspects. As Arkush points out, in his definition of enlightenment Mendelssohn reveals that â€Å"reason could demonstrate the fundamental truths of natural religion; that is, the existence of God, providence, and immortalityâ €  (xiii). Kant expresses the similar notion, claiming that reason can both prove and disapprove the existence of God; in other words, reason inspires both people’s beliefs and doubts. But only analysing two sides of the issue with the help of reason, an enlightened individual is able to realise the essence of the universe and his/her own existence. In this regard, Kant reveals the idea that even the striving for enlightenment relieves people of their dependence and provides them with freedom. On the other hand, contrasting such aspects of enlightenment as reason and freedom with immaturity and dependence, Kant opposes Mendelssohn’s appreciation of Judaism. For Kant, Judaism greatly depends on a materialist world; it is a religion that utilises people for its own benefits, depriving them of freedom and enlightenment.    The differences between Kant and Mendelssohn are intensified even more when the philosophers discuss the dawning of the age of enlightenment. According to Moses Mendelssohn, the era of enlightenment would hardly come, because throughout their history human beings have moved onward and backward, preventing further development of humankind. Moses considers that an individual person is able to acquire a certain level of enlightenment; however, entire humankind creates constant limitations and laws, either religious or state, which hinder the process of enlightenment. In his analysis of enlightenment Kant expresses a different viewpoint; in particular, he claims that humankind always progresses in its development. Although the philosopher acknowledges the existence of some limitations and obstacles, he points at the fact that these limits may only slow down the process of enlightenment, but they can never completely destroy it. As Kant regards enlightenment as a continuous progress, he r ealises that people, utilising reason and acquiring some knowledge, will continue to strive for enlightenment. And it is this aspiration for profound knowledge and understanding of human existence that Kant interprets as enlightenment. In this regard, Kant thinks that it is really important to draw a parallel between past and present generations, analysing various stages of their development. On the other hand, Kant reveals an obvious obstacle to the progress of enlightenment; as people usually analyse only separate parts of the universe, they fail to combine these elements into a complete picture. As a result of this inability, human beings may find it difficult to influence each other and fully integrate into the process of enlightenment. However, despite these obvious differences, both Kant and Mendelssohn in their interpretation of enlightenment make attempts to maintain the ideas of rationalism without an open rejection of the existence of God. This is especially true in regard to Moses Mendelssohn who does not challenge the existence of God, but opposes the existing religious laws that create the unchanging truth for believers, depriving them of the possibility to achieve enlightenment. Thus, both Mendelssohn and Kant define enlightenment through the analysis of the practical ways to achieve enlightenment; however, unlike Mendelssohn, Kant bases his definition on ce rtain negations, such as ‘dependence’, ‘immaturity’, ‘shortage of courage’. In this context, Kant demonstrates that the first step in acquiring enlightenment is the elimination of everything that deprives people of reason and freedom; only overcoming the first stage of elimination, a person is able to proceed to the second stage of acquisition. Analysing the definitions of the Enlightenment by Immanuel Kant and Moses Mendelssohn, the essay has revealed that Kant’s interpretation of enlightenment is based on the concept of freedom and mainly deals with a person’s ability to overcome immaturity and inner fears. Discussing enlightenment, especially through religious aspects, Kant provides two major concepts that constitute his vision – ‘private’ and ‘public’ usage of reason. Mendelssohn’s interpretation of enlightenment reflects a close connection between enlightenment and culture, but the philosopher’s distinction of ‘civil enlightenment’ and ‘human enlightenment’ demonstrates the difference between a person as a citizen and a person as a human being. Although both Kant and Mendelssohn adhere to public and private aspects in their understanding of enlightenment, their interpretations considerably differ. In particular, Kant considers that t he public usage of reason should be kept free, while the private usage should be exposed to certain limitations; unlike Kant, Mendelssohn thinks that in some cases the public usage should be restricted, or otherwise it may produce some negative consequences for society. In this regard, Kant’s definition concerns a practical side of the issue, although it is based on the principles of ‘escape’, for instance, escape from inner fears toward maturity. On the contrary, Mendelssohn’s definition is created on a theoretical basis and interprets enlightenment through the principles of ‘achievement’. 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