The strategy of Christian mission to Muslims: Anglican and reformed contributions in India and the near east from Henry Martyn to Samuel Zwemer, 1800-938

"What constitutes an adequate Christian approach to non -Christian religious and secular man?" This contemporary question elicits lively discussion among Christians in many lands. The urgency of the question appears to be intensified by rapid world change. Technological advance, revolutionary social and political ferment, and the growing inter- dependence of nations means that the religions of man are to be in unavoidable contact. This situation of proximity and plurality could be described as the new era of inter -religion.Christian- Muslim relationships and attitudes are no small part of this world scene. The Islamic community of about 450 million and the Christian community of nearly one billion, roughly half of the world's population, will have increasing contact. What shall be the end result of it? Their past record of trial and error, tension and enlightenment, hope and fear is all too descriptive of our universe and its humanity. Yet man desires something more than fragmentation and continual chaotic conflict. He longs for the experience of "community ", a realization of the true family of man. He realizes that he does not fulfill the true destiny for which he was created simply by co- existing in time and space with other inhabitants of this planet. Conflicting or even parallel existence will not suffice. In his deep interior, man is aware that his problem is theological. The solution of "wholeness" (peace, shalom, salaam) is to be found in his Creator.This dissertation will examine the historical development of various Anglican and Reformed missions to Muslims as an answer to the vital question: What constitutes a Christian approach or approaches to Muslims? It is written in the conviction that history contains lessons that man can learn in the light of Christ. As McGavran says:"The Church can develop right strategy in mission. All she has to do is to observe what has taken place in the hundreds of matchless laboratories which a hundred and sixty years of modern missions have provided. By amassing knowledge, by pooling the common experience of missions and churches, by assembling the evidences of instances where the Church was planted, where it grew, where it stopped growing, and where it never even started, she can discern which processes in which specific circumstances receive God's blessing and which do not. Right strategy will spend large sums of money and the lives of some of its best men and women in intensive research into the most effective ways and means of reconciling men to God and of multiplying churches. "The inquiry into the actual developments "in- the -field" in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has but begun. The history of the "Church in Mission" demands serious consideration.In a missiological study, one finds two levels requiring attention. First, there is the actual activity of a person or group as they labor on the field to communicate their message, build the church and achieve other objectives in the given situation. Their interpretation of their situation and their message greatly affects their course of action. Second, there is the reflection of a person or group upon their activity, the formulation of what may be called, an approach. In such they describe their motive ,methods, means, and objectives. They may also struggle with such crucial issues as the meaning of "mission ", the content of their "message ", their relation to non -Christian religions, their relation to the culture of the land, the eschatological understanding of the Church - Kingdom, etc. Some scholars attempt to keep these two levels of "activity" and "approach" separate, but this seems neither possible nor desirable.1 This is especially true when examining the nineteenth century where one finds the best source materials for Christian "approaches" interwoven into the very life, work and writings (or "activity ") of men serving in the field. Often the life and work of individuals or groups discloses a distinct "approach" which may or may not agree with their written statements.The quantity of primary materials for Anglican and Reformed contributions to the Christian mission to Muslims in India and the Near East from Henry Martyn to Samuel Zwemer, 1800-1938, is almost overwhelming. There are surveys, appeals, and reports of individual missionaries and mission societies; studies of these lands, peoples, their history and religion; tracts, booklets, and literature used in evangelism on the mission field; autobiographical accounts and frequently articles and monographs by missionaries themselves. Of more secondary nature, yet valuable are the official histories and numerous biographies. Wherever possible, the author will show preference for primary monographs, correspondence, and other writings of personnel engaged in the actual work. The reports of the various missionary conferences also contain a wealth of material.Of necessity, a study such as this must contain certain self -imposed restrictions. First, this study has been confined to the time -span from the advent of modern Protestant missions to the crisis at Tambaram, 1800 -1938. While this may appear unwieldy in itself, it is a unit revealing important development in both theory and practice. For those who would fully realize the strides achieved, the preceding twelve centuries of Muslim- Christian relationships and attitudes must be examined. Second, this research has been limited geographically to endeavours in northern India (present -day Pakistan and North India) and the Near East (sometimes called the Middle East or Western Asia, but defined in this case as running from Egypt to Iran, from Turkey to the Arabian Peninsula). This is not to minimize the vital mission work carried on in Indonesia and the Far East, or Africa, or in southern Europe. Thirdly, this study concentrates on the work of the Churches of the Reformation. Roman Catholic ventures preceded, paralleled and sometimes surpassed Protestant efforts. More limited, and not yet given their due credit, are the Russian Orthodox missions. In the process of this research, it was discovered that the bulk of mission work for Muslims in the above lands was initiated by various Anglican and Reformed (includes Presbyterian and Congregational) groups. By confining this study to them, it is not to be forgotten that many other dedicated individuals and bands sacrificially labored and labor still in the Name of Christ. Fourthly, wherever possible representative figures of Anglican and Reformed efforts have been selected as "focal points ". Where available, monographs of these repre- sentatives have been examined in addition to their life and work. In those areas or situations where the work lacked distinct leaders or the emphasis was placed upon a team- effort, the broader activity and approach of the group have been treated. Other details have been extracted from the thousands of pages of surveys, reports and histories read to describe the missionary milieu and to provide a sense of continuity.The arrangement of this dissertation is quite obvious by a perusal of the table of contents. In chapter one, a brief examination is made of the development of the concept of "mission" and the growth of various attitudes towards Islam in Protestant circles from the Reformation to 1800. Chapter two, a study in methods, presents the development of the rather direct approaches made to Muslims by Anglican and Reformed workers in northern India from 1800 to 1910 and the emergence of Churches conscious of their unity and mission to Islam. Chapter three describes the activities and approaches of Reformed and Anglican workers in the Near East from 1800 to 1910. In the Near East one discovers the situation was complicated by ecclesiastical relations, governmental restrictions, social pressures, and communal tensions. Ecclesiastical and environmental factors have become the focal points for this study of "encounter ". In order to grasp what was intended and that actually happened, the student of history must devote more attention to the organizational development and activity of the Mission Societies and Churches and thus less to individuals. The concluding chapter discloses the emergence of maturing ecumenical Anglican and Reformed approaches to Muslims in the persons, works and writings of W. H. T. Gairdner and Samuel M. Zwemer. These two outstanding figures give honorable representation to developments in their traditions over the preceding century. It is the author's belief that they deserve fuller attention than they have been given inasmuch as they serve as "hinges" between the best of their traditions in two centuries. They give expression to the culmination of nineteenth century efforts to reach Muslims for Christ and introduce the twentieth century's concern for sympathetic communication of the Gospel to the people of Islam.It is hoped that this study may contribute in some measure to an understanding and appreciation of the great achievement in thought and action from 1800 to 1938; to a grasp of the significance of the debate regarding theology and mission since World War I; and to the strengthening of the Church in her present resolve and effort of mission to Muslims in the Name of Jesus Christ

Increasing STEM Accessibility in Students with Print Disabilities through MathSpeak

Individuals with print disabilities have difficulty processing information through visual means and rely heavily on spoken input. Mathematics and fields that have a heavy emphasis on mathematics are difficult for these individuals because of ambiguity inherent in typical everyday spoken renderings of mathematical expressions. MathSpeak is a set of rules for speaking mathematical expressions in a non-ambiguous manner. The present study tested the efficacy of MathSpeak rules for disambiguation of auditory renderings of spoken mathematics. Findings suggest that MathSpeak is efficacious for disambiguating spoken mathematics

Ambiguity and Inconsistencies in Mathematics Spoken in the Classroom: The Need for Teacher Training and Rules for Communication of Mathematics

Mathematics has the potential for being spoken ambiguously. This is problematic for many students, in particular those who have disabilities that inhibit processing of printed material. This paper documents the magnitude of potential ambiguity arising from textbooks and provides a measure of the degree to which potential ambiguity is actualized through teachers’ speech. Inconsistency among teachers in speaking mathematics is also documented. Evidence is provided that teachers are not adequately aware of ambiguity in speaking mathematics and that they believe that they should have training regarding ambiguity in communication of mathematics and how to speak mathematics non-ambiguously

Chemical Weed Control in Crops

Guide to chemical weed control in crops discusses stages of growth in field crops and calculating the amount of chemical to apply per acre. Included are safety precautions

Perennial Weed Control

Guide for perennial weed control gives weed control recommendations for types of weed and methods of control

Chemical Weed Control in Crops

Guide for chemical weed control in crops addressing when to spray weeds in crops

Translucency ratings of blissymbols over repeated exposures by children with autism

The use of graphic symbols forms an integral part of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies, particularly for pre-literate children. Although some studies have indicated that typically developing children and those with autism are able to learn symbol meanings with multiple exposures to graphic symbols, little is known about how children with autism rate the degree to which the symbol represents its referent (translucency) with repeated exposures. The purpose of this study was to describe the translucency ratings of children with autism over three consecutive exposures. Twenty-two children with autism participated in a Blissymbol translucency task that included 40 symbols. The Blissymbol task was modifi ed from Bornman, Alant, and du Preez (2009), who explored the translucency of Blissymbols with typically developing children. Findings of this study indicated statistically signifi cant differences in total translucency ratings of the Blissymbols by the children with autism between Day 1 and Day 3 (medium effect size) with Day 3 yielding more positive ratings than Day 1. No single Blissymbol showed statistically signifi cant differences over the days. Findings are interpreted and further implications for research are discussed.National Research Foundation (NRF)http://informahealthcare.com/loi/aac2015-09-30hb201

Integrated information increases with fitness in the evolution of animats

One of the hallmarks of biological organisms is their ability to integrate disparate information sources to optimize their behavior in complex environments. How this capability can be quantified and related to the functional complexity of an organism remains a challenging problem, in particular since organismal functional complexity is not well-defined. We present here several candidate measures that quantify information and integration, and study their dependence on fitness as an artificial agent ("animat") evolves over thousands of generations to solve a navigation task in a simple, simulated environment. We compare the ability of these measures to predict high fitness with more conventional information-theoretic processing measures. As the animat adapts by increasing its "fit" to the world, information integration and processing increase commensurately along the evolutionary line of descent. We suggest that the correlation of fitness with information integration and with processing measures implies that high fitness requires both information processing as well as integration, but that information integration may be a better measure when the task requires memory. A correlation of measures of information integration (but also information processing) and fitness strongly suggests that these measures reflect the functional complexity of the animat, and that such measures can be used to quantify functional complexity even in the absence of fitness data.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, one supplementary figure. Three supplementary video files available on request. Version commensurate with published text in PLoS Comput. Bio

Keratin K15 as a Biomarker of Epidermal Stem Cells

Keratin 15 (K15) is type I keratin protein co-expressed with the K5/K14 pair present in the basal keratinocytes of all stratified epithelia. Although it is a minor component of the cytoskeleton with a variable expression pattern, nonetheless its expression has been reported as a stem cell marker in the bulge of hair follicles. Conversely, suprabasal expression of K15 has also been reported in both normal and diseased tissues, which is inconsistent with its role as a stem cell marker. Our recently published work has given evidence of the molecular pathways that seem to control the expression of K15 in undifferentiated and differentiated cells. In this article, we have critically reviewed the published work to establish the reliability of K15 as an epidermal stem cell marker

Subversion of Cellular Autophagosomal Machinery by RNA Viruses

Infection of human cells with poliovirus induces the proliferation of double-membraned cytoplasmic vesicles whose surfaces are used as the sites of viral RNA replication and whose origin is unknown. Here, we show that several hallmarks of cellular autophagosomes can be identified in poliovirus-induced vesicles, including colocalization of LAMP1 and LC3, the human homolog of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Atg8p, and staining with the fluorophore monodansylcadaverine followed by fixation. Colocalization of LC3 and LAMP1 was observed early in the poliovirus replicative cycle, in cells infected with rhinoviruses 2 and 14, and in cells that express poliovirus proteins 2BC and 3A, known to be sufficient to induce double-membraned vesicles. Stimulation of autophagy increased poliovirus yield, and inhibition of the autophagosomal pathway by 3-methyladenine or by RNA interference against mRNAs that encode two different proteins known to be required for autophagy decreased poliovirus yield. We propose that, for poliovirus and rhinovirus, components of the cellular machinery of autophagosome formation are subverted to promote viral replication. Although autophagy can serve in the innate immune response to microorganisms, our findings are inconsistent with a role for the induced autophagosome-like structures in clearance of poliovirus. Instead, we argue that these double-membraned structures provide membranous supports for viral RNA replication complexes, possibly enabling the nonlytic release of cytoplasmic contents, including progeny virions, from infected cells