Laity Expectations of Ministers in the Black Urban Church: A Study of Political and Social Expectations in the Context of Ministry to Community and World

The study examined the Black church laity\u27s expectations of the urban minister regarding his involvement in specific social and political issues that confront inhabitants of urban areas. A survey was administered to individuals in Black churches of different protestant denominations in a Southeastern Virginia City in order to determine the degree of the laity\u27s expectations. Specifically, the survey sought answers to the questions: Do Black church laity expect the minister to deal with socio-economic and political problems in urban areas? and, What particular urban problems do the laity expect the minister to offer leadership in facing or solving? While this study used a portion of a survey used in a national study, it focused exclusively upon the Black laity\u27s expectations of clergy in an urban area. It also dealt only with statements that had previously clustered under three areas--Aggressive Political Leadership, Active Concern for the Oppressed and Precedence of Evangelistic Goals. Statements that constituted Active Concern for the Oppressed received the highest percentage of important responses from the laity. An impressive 78 percent of the respondents to the statements in this cluster felt that they were important in terms of their expectations of the minister. This cluster was followed by Aggressive Political Leadership with a mean level of importance of of 68.5 percent and Precedence of Evangelistic Goals with a mean level of importance of 60.25 percent. The survey responses suggest that the Black urban minister has a constituency that expects his active involvement on behalf of the oppressed as well as his providing aggressive political leadership in the urban milieu. Black laity are quite homogeneous in the expectations of the minister such that denomination and socio-economic status do not significantly affect the overall expectations of those who are constitutive of the Black church

A Reevaluation of the Idea of Perfection

Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston UniversityThe problem of this dissertation is that of examining the idea of perfection as it has traditionally been used in metaphysics. The traditionally accepted definition of perfection was formulated by Aristotle. Perfection is the conformity of a thing with its end. The idea needs critical reevaluation for it has had widespread and crucial use, but use which has not always been wise. The constructive possibilities of the idea should be explored, for the idea of perfection holds promise as a point of relation between ontology and ethics. Five logically possible attitudes have been taken toward the idea that all of Reality conforms to its end: (l) Perfection may be attributed to Reality on the basis of logical implication. A distinction is made between Appearance and Reality, and the imperfections which appear are used to argue for a transcendentally perfect order which serves as their basis. (2) Perfection may be attributed to the present space-time order in a sense which denies an intentional, purposive character to our "ends." Each thing reaches its "end" because everything is contained in an order which is causally complete. (3) Perfection may be challenged by advocates of a revelational, super-rational theology. Such critics fear that all attempts to define Reality are fraught with anthropomorphism and sinful pride. (4) Perfection, and all other metaphysical ideas, may be considered merely subjective and scientifically meaningless. Our need to form ends is separated from the perception of facts. (5) Perfection of Reality may be asserted on the basis of the particular perfections which we experience. Appearance is not divorced from Reality, although it is recognized that Appearance is only a part of Reality. Natural perfections are not denied, nor ignored, but are used as the basis of metaphysics. The conclusions of this study may be drawn together as follows: (1) The idea of perfection is a useful instrument for bringing together ethics and ontology. (2) The idea of perfection is of particular importance to religious metaphysics, since religion is an expressed conviction that our fundamental ends correspond to Reality. (3) Such equally important ideas as personality, infinity and creativity are adversely affected if perfection is affirmed of absolutely all of God's being. (4) Each feeling of obligation is implicitly characterized by a tension to perfect an Ideal of Perfect Personality. This tension is misunderstood and dissipated if the Ideal is held to be perfectly actualized, or if the tension is seen simply to arise from conditioning. (5) The tension toward perfection experienced in moral obligation, in cognition, and in expanding freedom, gives us our principal insight into the existence and nature of God. [TRUNCATED

Alien Registration- Harris, Henry E. (Eastport, Washington County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/1538/thumbnail.jp

Ontogenesis in the Cranium of Alligator mississippiensis Based on Disarticulated Cranial Elements

The American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, is a large extant archosaur and member of the Order Crocodilia. Crocodilian ontogeny has been studied in great detail, the skull being of particular interest. One aspect of the skull left unstudied is how individual cranial elements change through ontogeny independent of one another. This study observed morphological change in a growth series of 34 specimens of A. mississippiensis from ETSU Vertebrate Paleontology Lab collections. The premaxilla, maxilla, nasal, jugal, frontal, and parietal were analyzed using landmark morphometrics. The frontal, jugal, and parietal showed more allometric growth with the orbits reducing in size posteriorly. The premaxilla, maxilla, and nasal showed more isometric growth. This suggests the common observation that the snout elongates with age is mistaken. The cranium showed allometric growth in very early in life but more isometric growth after that. Unique to this study, the premaxilla showed almost no shape change throughout ontogeny

Retaining Opportunities, Completing Key Projects with Remote Student Employees During COVID-19

As the field of higher education began furloughs and layoffs to alleviate COVID-19 budget concerns, cultural heritage workers were directed to clearly demonstrate how their work contributes to institutions’ educational missions. Although physical library and archival collections were deemed inaccessible and less critical during the pandemic than ebooks, electronic journals, and digitized special collections, the two special collections projects considered in this case study demonstrate the value of continuing collections management work remotely and the relevance of student employees and other contingent workers in libraries and archives. The projects—one an inventory and bibliography of books acquired from a defunct religious library, and the other a review of digitized audio cassette tapes with little content information outside of the audio itself—enabled the retention of student workers facing few summer job opportunities and ineligibility for unemployment insurance, providing additional experience as well as compensation during an economic, as well as public health, crisis

Fuels and Burners for Domestic Heating

Discusses fuels and burners for domestic heating, including hand-fired coal or coke, automatic coal stoker, gas-fired heaters, oil burners. INlcudes table of comparative fuel costs