The Validity of a Sociology of Religion

The purpose of this thesis is not to provide any of these. No attempt has been made to construct a valid and completely methodology, much less system, of the sociology of religion, either by primary research in, or observation of, the religious institutions and groupings, or by careful study or compilation of the theories and principles which have been advanced by other writers. Rather we have chosen to sample the literature of the field in an attempt to break down, plot out, and isolate into component elements many of the concepts which are with greater or lesser regularity used by writers in the field. In some cases we have tried to summarize the theories as a whole with the arguments advanced in their favor. But our major concern has been, in each case, to attempt an evaluation of the conclusions they have reached largely in respect to definition, assumptions, and method, hoping thereby to set down some basic requirements of, and perhaps a few methodological prolegomena to, a valid approach

The Future of Theological Education

Theological education has become one of the more controversial issues in today\u27s ecclesiastical world. Almost everyone associated with the establishment has some opinions on how to improve it

Importance of the exopolysaccharide matrix in antimicrobial tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa aggregates

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can infect the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and persist in the form of antibiotic-tolerant aggregates in the mucus. It has recently been suggested that such aggregates are formed due to restricted bacterial motility independent of the production of extracellular matrix components, and that they do not rely on an extracellular matrix for antimicrobial tolerance. However, we show here that biofilm matrix overexpression, as displayed by various clinical isolates, significantly protects P. aeruginosa aggregates against antimicrobial treatment. Alginate-overproducing mucA mutant bacteria growing in aggregates showed highly increased antibiotic tolerance compared to wild-type bacteria in aggregates. Deletion of algD in the mucA mutant strain abrogated alginate production and reversed the antibiotic tolerance displayed by the aggregates to a level similar to that observed for aggregates formed by the wild type. The P. aeruginosa ΔwspF and ΔyfiR mutant strains both overproduce Pel and Psl exopolysaccharide, and when these bacteria grew in aggregates, they showed highly increased antibiotic tolerance compared to wild-type bacteria growing in aggregates. However, the ΔwspF and ΔyfiR mutant strains, deficient in Pel/Psl production due to additional ΔpelA ΔpslBCD deletions, formed aggregates that displayed antibiotic tolerance levels close to those of wild-type aggregates. These results suggest that biofilm matrix components, such as alginate, Pel, and Psl, do play a role in the tolerance toward antimicrobials when bacteria grow as aggregates