Category: Free Essays

Net-zero is no longer a marketing slogan in hospitality; it’s a hard-edged operations mandate. Power prices are volatile, guests notice greenwashing, and lenders are asking for credible transition plans. The advantage for hotels and restaurants is that most emissions come from a manageable set of “hotspots” that sit squarely inside day-to-day operations and procurement. This essay maps those hotspots, shows how to shrink them with practical levers, and offers a lean roadmap any hospitality brand can apply in 2025—without drowning staff in spreadsheets or sacrificing guest experience.

Why Net-Zero Matters in Hospitality in 2025

Hospitality touches energy, water, food, chemicals, and travel all at once. That breadth makes the sector both exposed and powerful. Operators face three converging pressures. First, cost control: energy and food inflation punish properties with wasteful kitchens, aging HVAC, and leaky building envelopes. Second, revenue and reputation: corporate travel buyers and leisure guests increasingly prefer properties with transparent environmental performance; net-zero commitments now influence RFP outcomes and OTA rankings. Third, capital access: lenders and owners are using sustainability-linked covenants and performance reserves; projects with clear carbon and payback math move to the front of the queue.

Net-zero in hospitality is often misread as a pure “renewables” story. In reality, usage reduction and electrification do most of the heavy lifting, with green power and offsets as finishing steps. The aim is simple: cut absolute emissions in line with science-based pathways while maintaining comfort, safety, and service levels. A 2025 operator has the tools: sub-metering, heat pumps that work in cold climates, controls that talk to property-management systems, and mature procurement frameworks for lower-carbon food and materials.

Carbon Hotspots Across the Hotel Value Chain

Guest-facing comfort drives back-of-house emissions. Understanding that link clarifies priorities:

• Space conditioning and water heating. Boilers, chillers, and packaged terminal AC often dominate a property’s energy use. Old systems fight the building envelope and run at low efficiency at partial loads.

• Kitchens and laundry. Gas hobs, fryers, and combi ovens draw heavy fuel and ventilation loads; laundry processes waste heat and water if not recovered and recycled.

• Refrigerants. High-GWP refrigerants leak from chillers, cold rooms, and split systems; small percentage losses translate into large carbon impacts.

• Lighting and controls. Poor controls mean rooms heat or cool while unoccupied, and legacy lighting undermines savings elsewhere.

• Procurement and food. Menu composition, especially animal protein and air-freighted items, multiplies upstream emissions. Linens, amenities, and cleaning chemicals create embedded footprints and waste.

• Waste and water. Organic waste generates methane; water pumping and hot-water generation consume energy and chemicals.

The point is not to chase every gram. Target the few categories that move the meter—and integrate them so wins in one area don’t backfire in another (for instance, sealing a building envelope without recalibrating ventilation).

Pathways to Net-Zero Operations

Electrify, optimize, decarbonize supply, and design for circularity—those four pillars cover almost every credible pathway. The levers below translate them into hotel language.

Electrification of heat and cooking. Modern heat-pump systems deliver hot water and space conditioning with two to four times the efficiency of resistance or gas. For kitchens, induction delivers precision and speed while eliminating combustion by-products that degrade indoor air. When properties phase induction into chef stations and banquets first, change management is smoother and capex staged.

Controls that think like a concierge. A building-management system aligned with the property-management system can pre-cool or pre-heat rooms based on actual check-in, cut ventilation in unoccupied spaces, and avoid simultaneous heating and cooling. The best programs pair algorithms with human guardrails: engineering sets ranges; front-of-house retains override authority for guest comfort.

Envelope and water-side tuning. Simple measures—door sweeps, window films, sealing, and sensor-driven blinds—reduce HVAC loads. On the water side, heat-recovery from laundry and condenser loops pre-heats domestic hot water; low-flow fixtures deliver savings without “dribble showers” by focusing on pressure and spray patterns rather than blunt flow caps.

Refrigerant management. Switching to lower-GWP blends during routine service, tagging assets for leak detection, and reclaiming refrigerant at end-of-life cuts a stealth source of emissions at modest cost. Where feasible, new equipment should be specified with natural refrigerants.

Menu engineering and procurement. Culinary teams can rebalance menus toward lower-carbon dishes without sacrificing delight—think local seasonal produce, plant-forward hero items, and seafood sourced with verified practices. Procurement can shift linens, amenities, and cleaning products to options with recycled content and third-party environmental credentials, bundling these into supplier scorecards.

Waste and circular systems. Back-of-house sorting, organics capture for compost or biodigestion, and refill systems for amenities reduce both disposal fees and ordering frequency. In food and beverage, a disciplined prep list and dynamic portioning tackle plate waste without dampening generosity.

To help prioritize, the table below maps typical levers to capital needs and impact for a full-service hotel. Values will vary by climate and asset condition, but the relative pattern holds.

Decision principles for 2025—use these to choose projects and avoid scattershot efforts:

• Prioritize measures that reduce absolute loads before buying green attributes.

• Stage capex: quick-win optimizations fund deeper retrofits.

• Favor interventions guests can feel (air quality, quiet rooms, great showers) to reinforce brand value.

• Require meter-level verification so savings survive staff turnover.

Financing and Measuring the Transition

The cleanest math wins budget approval. Owners and operators speak slightly different dialects of finance, so a shared model keeps momentum. Three ideas simplify both approval and execution.

First, treat energy and water savings as new “virtual rooms”—recurring cash flows with low volatility. Engineering teams can express projects as revenue equivalents, which makes them comparable to ADR initiatives. Second, bundle measures into balanced portfolios: pair fast-payback items (controls, lighting) with longer-horizon upgrades (heat pumps, envelope) so the overall package clears hurdle rates. Third, connect capital to performance through maintenance contracts that include guaranteed savings and shared upside; vendors have skin in the game, and engineering focuses on outcomes, not just installs.

Measurement matters as much as money. A simple measurement stack avoids analysis paralysis:

Data capture. Sub-meter major loads—HVAC, kitchens, laundry, and event spaces—so anomalies surface quickly. Tie meters to a cloud dashboard that compares energy per occupied room, per cover, or per square meter, normalized for weather. Avoid drowning staff in alerts by setting bands, not single numbers.

Carbon accounting. Start with a pragmatic boundary: Scope 1 and 2 from energy and refrigerants, plus a prioritized slice of Scope 3 (food procurement and waste). As the program matures, add embodied carbon from renovations and capex. The key is consistency rather than perfect precision; trends and deltas drive decisions.

Governance and behavior. Engineering cannot do this alone. Allocate clear roles—culinary leaders own food waste targets; housekeeping owns linen-reuse quality; procurement owns supplier scoring. Recognition beats reprimand: quarterly shout-outs for teams that hit intensity targets build a culture that persists beyond one champion.

Guest experience is the multiplier. Done well, sustainability elevates comfort: quieter induction kitchens mean calmer dining rooms; better envelopes mean steadier temperatures and less blower noise; superior shower heads combine comfort with lower flows. When guests feel tangible quality, the story writes itself across reviews and RFP decks—even when you never mention carbon.

A 2025 Roadmap: From Pilot to Portfolio

The fastest progress comes from doing the right few things in the right order. The numbered sequence below keeps initiatives lightweight and compounding.

1. Baseline and target. Capture the past 12 months of energy, water, waste, and refrigerant data; set intensity targets per occupied room and per cover that align with long-term net-zero pathways.

2. Quick wins. Commission existing HVAC, fix obvious envelope gaps, optimize setpoints, deploy room-level controls in a pilot floor, and convert the remaining legacy lighting.

3. Kitchen and laundry focus. Install induction at priority stations, recalibrate hood setpoints, add heat-recovery on laundry outflows, and trial smart dishwashers with heat-reclaim.

4. Refrigerant plan. Inventory systems, adopt a leak-detection protocol, and specify low-GWP refrigerants for replacements going forward.

5. Procurement shift. Update supplier scorecards to include carbon intensity, recycled content, and returnable packaging; redesign one signature menu to be plant-forward without diluting perceived value.

6. Electrification projects. Advance heat-pump domestic hot water and chiller upgrades at properties with the strongest baselines and available utility incentives; stage installation around shoulder seasons.

7. On-site generation and storage. Where roofs or carports permit, add solar sized to daytime loads; consider thermal or battery storage only after demand-side measures are dialed in.

To lock in these gains, create one lightweight, property-agnostic playbook. Each site plugs in its specifics—climate, grid emissions, and building age—but the sequence remains constant, which simplifies training and vendor management. Over time, a brand builds a library of before/after performance, unit-cost benchmarks, and layout details that make future projects faster and cheaper.

The destination is credible, not cosmetic, net-zero. As the portfolio electrifies and load curves flatten, renewable power purchases deliver real additionality rather than paper claims. Offsets, if used at all, mop up hard-to-abate residuals and come from verifiable, durable projects. The operational discipline built along the way—clean data, cross-functional ownership, guest-centered design—becomes a competitive advantage that outlasts any single technology wave.

In 2025, the winning hospitality operators will not be the loudest about sustainability; they will be the most consistent. They will know their loads, stage their capex, empower their teams, and design experiences guests can feel. Net-zero, in that world, is not a certificate. It is a better way of running a hotel.

I used to believe that confidence arrived the way thunder does—loud, obvious, impossible to miss. If I didn’t feel that shock in my chest, I assumed I didn’t have it. So I organized my life to avoid storms: I sat in the second-to-last row, raised my hand only when I already knew the teacher would call on someone else, and arranged the words “It’s fine” across my face like a polite fence. Then, on a day I cannot forget, I volunteered to deliver the closing statement in a semifinal debate—and forgot the middle three minutes of it. Sentences skidded out of my reach. My mouth moved, but meaning didn’t follow. We lost by a margin that felt personal. Later, when I replayed the round in my head, I could hear nothing but the hollow inside my own hesitation.

The bus ride home sounded like apologies: my partner’s soft reassurance, my captain’s patient analysis, the mechanical hum that pretended not to be pity. I stared at the smudged window and practiced a private promise—my voice would not fail me again—and then, because promises are heavy, I added a second one: I would learn to carry it.

Before the Challenge: A Quiet Life With Small Exits

Silence had long been my solution. At family dinners, my older cousins swapped opinions like trading cards; I passed the salt. In class, I wrote A-level essays on civic participation but barely participated. I told myself I was observing, saving my words for when they mattered, but really I was waiting for the guarantee of safe outcomes that never came. It is strange to be both earnest and evasive: to want to argue about the ethics of algorithms yet choose the essay over the conversation; to advocate for stronger recycling programs but avoid the school committee that decides where new bins go.

I joined debate because the club flier promised “structure.” There would be a resolution, cards, blocks, cross-examination rules—the opposite of chaos. I believed that a script could carry me where bravery would not. During practice rounds, I wrote thorough flows, stacked my evidence, and hoped the logic would speak for itself. Often, it did—until it didn’t. When the semifinal came, the room was packed. The judge’s pen tapped the ballot like a metronome. My hands went cold. I found my first sentence and then watched the second one flee. There is nothing quite like the sound of your own voice collapsing; it is a silence with edges.

After the loss, I considered retreat. I drafted the email in my notes app: “Thank you for the opportunity… I think I need to focus on my other commitments.” It sat there, un-sent, as though even resignation required courage I didn’t have.

The Turning Point: A Coach, a Stopwatch, and a Mirror

Our coach, Ms. Santiago, refused to let me disappear. She slid a stopwatch across the table during the next practice and pointed me toward the supply closet with the full-length mirror—the place where students tried on costumes for the spring musical and where I intended never to set foot. “Two minutes,” she said. “Summarize the case as if your best friend is late to class and needs to know what happened. No jargon. No perfection. Just talk.”

I did not want to see myself speak. Yet the mirror was less judge than witness. It didn’t critique my uneven breath or the way my left shoulder lifted when I doubted a claim. It just returned me to myself. I learned to anchor my stance by planting my feet. I learned to greet silence as a tool rather than an enemy—as a comma for emphasis, not a cliff. The stopwatch taught pace. Every time I ran over, Ms. Santiago asked, “What mattered most in those two minutes?” I started slicing my argument until only the essential remained.

I built small rituals to make the unfamiliar familiar. I recorded myself reading out loud—opening statements, but also paragraphs from books I loved—and played them back until the sound of my voice stopped sounding like an impersonation. I wrote a list titled Strengths I Forget to Admit: strong researcher, careful listener, capable of humor when it helps. I practiced eye contact with a sticky note smiley face above my desk lamp. I failed, then adjusted, then failed slightly better. My progress wasn’t linear; it looked like a heartbeat.

One afternoon, my partner, Rhea, outlined the opposition’s case with a blunt honesty I craved. “You’re not weak at content,” she said. “You’re careful. That’s an asset. The problem is you let worry edit your sentences before they arrive.” She suggested we split roles so I would handle the summary speeches, which forced me to decide what mattered most—not everything I could say, but what I must. She promised to throw me cold questions in cross-ex to simulate surprises. We started meeting in the library’s echoey stairwell, where interruptions were guaranteed. The chaos became practice, which became comfort, which became a kind of quiet confidence.

Doing the Work: From Panic to Process

To track my progress, I set up a simple reflection table that lived inside my notebook:

The table was less about productivity than honesty. If I wrote “avoided practice,” I made a second column for “why.” Sometimes the why was fatigue, but often it was the old belief that confidence should arrive first, and only then would I deserve the stage. Changing that belief required evidence. So I created it.

I also carried these skills outside the club. When our school proposed limiting community service hours to on-campus events only—a policy that would have excluded the neighborhood tutoring program where I volunteered—I attended the student council meeting and spoke during public comment. I prepared the way I now prepared for rounds: one core claim (service should meet real needs, not just convenient ones), three supporting examples (tutees improving reading levels, Saturday park clean-ups, a partnership with the senior center), and a closing that made room for questions. My hands still trembled, but my voice traveled the distance between sentence and meaning without getting lost. The council voted to revise the policy.

At home, I tried listening with the same attention I wanted from judges. My younger brother hates long lectures but loves a good metaphor, so we talked about his algebra homework like measuring flour for chocolate cake. If you switch the ratios, the cake collapses; math is a recipe first. The realization that my voice could be useful without being loud was a relief and a responsibility. It meant I didn’t have to become someone else to be heard; I had to become more precisely myself.

What Changed: Redefining Confidence and Leadership

The next tournament wasn’t a cinematic redemption; there was no slow-motion standing ovation. What changed was smaller and more durable. In quarterfinals, the opposing team introduced a study we hadn’t prepped for. My body recognized the old panic and did not obey it. I paused, circled our “north star” claim, and asked one clarifying question that turned the study’s limitation into our link. We didn’t win that round because I suddenly spoke like a celebrity; we won because I organized my courage into a process and then followed it.

Confidence, I learned, is not volume; it is alignment. My best moments came when my preparation, my values, and my delivery matched. The mirror never lied, but neither did the ballot: comments shifted from “rushed, hard to follow” to “concise, persuasive, responsive.” I started to enjoy the puzzle of persuasion—the way a well-chosen example can make an abstract principle touchable, the way a question asked in good faith can invite an audience to be part of the answer.

Leadership changed meaning for me, too. I had always pictured it as the person at the front with the megaphone. But the most influential leaders in our club are the ones who ask, “What do you need?” and then mean it. When a ninth-grader joined mid-season and whispered that she was “not a talker,” I recognized the look in her shoulders. We borrowed the supply-closet mirror; I handed her the stopwatch. The first time she timed out, she looked ready to apologize. “Good,” I said, and she looked shocked. “Timing out means you had too much to say. Now we learn what matters most.” At our last practice, she volunteered to summarize the round. When she finished, she didn’t ask if she had been loud enough. She asked if she had been clear. I grinned, because clarity was the point all along.

Looking Forward: What I’ll Carry Into College

If my story were a graph, the line would zigzag, but the trend would tilt upward. I remain a careful person. I still rehearse my openings, and I still sketch tiny boxes next to the claims I don’t want to forget. But I no longer wait for thunder to authorize me. I have built a way to weather the storm and sometimes even call the rain.

In college, I want to study the intersection of technology and ethics, a course catalog section I’ve already bookmarked in my mind. I know how strong and subtle arguments can shape policy and behavior, for better or worse. I want to bring the habits I’ve learned—preparing deeply, listening first, defining a north star—to classrooms and communities where disagreements are not a crisis but a chance to refine the truth together. I want to join a debate union not only to compete but to mentor; I want to help the student who pulls their sleeves over their hands and thinks that shrinking will protect them. I want to volunteer as a peer writing tutor and show how voice can be constructed deliberately, like a bridge: with plans, with practice, with a promise that the other side is closer than it looks.

Most of all, I want to keep asking better questions. The girl who once equated confidence with thunder now prefers the sound of rain on a roof: consistent, patient, evidence that sky and earth are in conversation. I will carry a stopwatch and a mirror into the next chapter—not as crutches, but as instruments. One measures time, the other offers truth. Between them, I have found enough space for a sentence to start, a pause to land, and a life to speak.

A term paper is a course-long analysis that demonstrates your understanding of a subject. It usually synthesizes existing sources with a clear thesis and class-specific rubric. A research paper aims to create or test new knowledge using formal methods, original data, or expanded literature and follows a stricter scholarly structure.

Definitions and Core Purpose

Term paper — course mastery. A term paper is typically assigned within a single course and tied to its learning outcomes. Its core purpose is to show that you can interpret, critique, and synthesize material from the syllabus and beyond. You defend a thesis statement by connecting readings, lectures, and selected external sources. Original research may appear (e.g., a small survey), but it’s not required.

Research paper — contribution to a conversation. A research paper is anchored in a research question that engages a broader scholarly debate. Your main goal is to extend, test, or refine existing knowledge through methodology: systematic literature review, empirical study (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods), or a theoretical model. The audience is not just your course instructor but the wider academic community; hence, the paper must be replicable, transparent, and method-driven.

Key takeaway: Term papers demonstrate mastery; research papers generate or test knowledge. That difference drives everything else—scope, structure, sources, tone, and evaluation.

Structure, Components, and Scope

Although both use academic conventions, their structures and depth diverge.

Term paper structure (typical):

• Introduction with thesis that positions your stance within the course themes.

• Body sections that synthesize readings, apply concepts, and analyze examples or cases.

• Counterarguments to show critical thinking and balanced evaluation.

• Conclusion that reframes the thesis, highlights implications for course learning, and suggests next steps (further reading, applications).

Research paper structure (typical):

• Abstract summarizing the question, methods, results, and implications.

• Introduction that defines the problem, stakes, and contribution.

• Literature review that maps the conversation and identifies a gap.

• Methods (e.g., sampling, instruments, variables, reliability & validity, ethics).

• Results/Findings (statistics, coding themes, or model outputs).

• Discussion linking findings to the literature and limitations.

• Conclusion with theoretical and practical implications, plus future research.

Scope and evidence. A term paper may cite 8–20 sources aligned with course materials, emphasizing synthesis and critical commentary. A research paper typically requires more profound and more systematic sourcing (database searches, inclusion/exclusion criteria, PRISMA-style logic in health fields), or original data gathered via surveys, experiments, interviews, or archival work.

Writing tone and claims. Term papers foreground argumentation (“Here’s how concept X explains case Y”). Research papers foreground method and evidence (“Using N=214 survey responses, we estimate the effect of X on Y”).

The bottom line is that term papers argue from curated readings, and research papers argue from methods and data.

Methods, Sources, and Integrity in 2025

Methods matter most in research papers. In 2025, instructors increasingly expect transparent methods even in upper-division undergraduate work. For quantitative projects: define variables, sampling, and analysis plan (e.g., descriptive stats → regression). For qualitative projects: specify protocols (interviews/focus groups), coding steps, and trustworthiness (triangulation, member checking). For mixed methods: explain integration (sequential explanatory, concurrent triangulation).

Sourcing evolves, standards remain. Whether you write a term paper or research paper, prioritize peer-reviewed journals, academic books, and reputable reports. In a term paper, sources anchor your interpretation; in a research paper, they justify your question and design. Use a synthesis matrix to group studies by theme, method, and conclusion—this keeps you from merely summarizing article after article.

Academic integrity and AI. In 2025, most institutions allow assistive technologies for brainstorming, outlining, or editing as long as you disclose their use and remain the author of the ideas and analysis. What remains non-negotiable: no plagiarism, proper paraphrasing and citation, and traceable reasoning. If you perform empirical work, maintain a data trail (instruments, code, transcripts), and keep a methods log, so your process is auditable.

Citation and style. Term papers commonly use APA 7, MLA 9, or Chicago, depending on the discipline. Research papers should adopt the style used by the target journal or conference and follow its reporting standards (e.g., APA JARS for methods, CONSORT-like structures in clinical trials). Even when your class doesn’t require a submission-ready format, aligning to a standard reduces revisions and improves grading outcomes.

Ethics, privacy, and permissions. If you collect original data, protect participant confidentiality, secure consent, and follow departmental or IRB-like guidance when applicable. For secondary data, check licenses and usage permissions.

Practical insight: A method section turns a good paper into a credible paper. Even a small pilot study can elevate a project from “good synthesis” to “publishable direction.”

Formatting, Length, and Evaluation

Length and timing. A term paper usually runs 8–15 pages and is due near the end of the term; a research paper may span 15–25+ pages or be structured as a manuscript with strict headings, graphics, and appendices. The latter often requires proposal → IRB/ethics (if human subjects) → data collection → analysis → write-up.

Formatting and mechanics. Keep margins, font, spacing, and heading levels consistent with your style guide. Provide clear, descriptive headings—for term papers, these mirror major course themes; for research papers, they mirror methodological workflow. Use tables and figures sparingly but purposefully (e.g., a table that compares key constructs or a figure that displays your conceptual model).

Rubrics and grading focus.

• Term papers are scored on thesis clarity, synthesis depth, organization, and application to course goals.

• Research papers are judged on the originality of their questions, methodological soundness, validity of their analyses, and contribution to the literature.

Revision mindset. Build time for reverse outlining (pull a one-sentence summary from each paragraph to check logic flow), fact checks (consistency of numbers and claims), and style passes (active voice, parallel structure, signal phrases for sources).

Concise comparison table (overview):

Grader’s perspective: Term paper = depth of understanding; Research paper = depth of inquiry. Write to that expectation, and your choices about length, sections, and evidence will feel natural.

How to Choose (and Execute) the Right Paper

Start with intent. Ask: Am I demonstrating mastery (term paper) or trying to answer a research question (research paper)? If your assignment is ambiguous, draft two sentences: one argument-driven thesis and one method-driven question. Which one matches the prompt and rubric language? That’s your signal.

If you’re writing a term paper, focus on synthesis and argument quality:

• Frame a precise thesis that connects course concepts to a focused case.

• Use 3–4 thematic sections to develop your position, each anchored by a key concept from class.

• Integrate counterarguments and resolve them with evidence and reasoning.

• End with implications for practice or policy within the course’s scope.

If you’re writing a research paper, prioritize design:

• Operationalize your concepts (define variables or codes).

• Pre-commit to an analysis plan (e.g., t-test → regression; or coding framework → theme saturation).

• Document limitations honestly (sample size, measurement error, bias).

• Ensure replicability (append instruments, code, or protocol summary).

Writing mechanics that raise your grade in both genres:

• Strong topic sentences that foreshadow the paragraph’s claim.

• Signal phrases (“According to…”, “Building on…”) to guide synthesis.

• Concrete verbs (demonstrates, challenges, explains) to keep momentum.

• Bridges at the end of sections to preview the next step in your logic.

Mini-case (illustrative). Suppose a sociology course assigns “media and polarization.” A term paper might argue that algorithmic curation intensifies selective exposure, synthesizing five core readings and two recent reports to support a course-aligned thesis. A research paper might field a survey experiment measuring how exposure to curated feeds affects trust in cross-partisan sources, pre-registering hypotheses, and reporting effect sizes. Both are valid, but the research paper tests a proposition with data, while the term paper defends a proposition with synthesis.

A note on readability. In 2025, instructors increasingly value reader experience: meaningful headings, short paragraphs, and judicious visuals. Edit for clarity: remove filler, prefer specific nouns over abstractions, and convert long chains of prepositional phrases into crisp clauses. Precision is persuasive.

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Translation from a major language into a minor one is very different from translating in the opposite direction.

Introduction

It has been suggested that minority languages are not even acknowledged in many parts of the world, and where acknowledgement does exist they are defined as uncultured, primitive,simple dialects because they have been suppressed by the more dominant,official languages. Lotman and Uspensky believe the structure of language must be at the centre of every culture for it to survive, describing languages the heart within the body of culture and putting into perspective the distinctions between a language accepted as minor, and that which is a flourishing major language (Lotman and Uspensky 1978, Pages 211 – 32). Research into minor languages, however, reveals a taxonomic sophistication that adequately expressed its speakers’ cognitive requirements synchronically, but has not evolved adequately to incorporate the plethora of technological terminology that dominant languages encompass with relative ease, resulting in many loan words taken from the influence of adjacent major languages. Many minor languages die out as their speakers age, but some undergo a revival as enthusiasts propound the benefits of their continued value.

The fundamental difficulty within many of the minority languages today, however, continues to be one often minology, described asa semiotic science of cognitive and communicative organisation of knowledge (Myking, 1997) and considered to be the central discipline or the common denominator for all the aspects of a translator’s work (Holljen, Translation Journal, 1999, January). Most minority languages are often not particularly suited to adequate translation in terms of modern concepts and technologies and are more inclined towards maintaining the socio-linguistic aspects associated with those languages, as recognised by Holljen:

The scientific aspect of any languages dependent on the vocabulary of that language. The possibility must be retained for people to be able to express themselves in any given field in their mother tongue, no matter on which level of abstraction ( Holljen, Translation Journal, 1999,January).

Some of these minority language groups, such as the Nordic languages, are now utilising language planning techniques to standardise their natural languages rather than indiscriminately incorporating loan words from technically advanced languages such as English. As a result, NORDTERM has spearheaded the campaign for a standardisation procedure across Finland, Norway and Sweden, designated the ‘Nordic Terminological Record Format‘ (Holljen, Translation Journal, 1999,January), supported by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages to ‘ protect and support historical, regional

and minority languages in Europe ‘ (Part I, Article 1, Council of Europe, http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN.htm).

Discussion

We cannot yet specify satisfactorily just what we mean by a ‘perfect’ language

(Aitchison,1991, pp. 214)

Toury noted that Translation is a kind of activity which inevitably involves at least two languages and two cultural traditions (Toury 1978:200). Nida concurred, adding that, if the cultural and linguistic disparity was particularly great the socio-linguistic facet would be more of a problem (Nida, 1964, Page 130). The potential difficulties in translating major languages into minor languages can be illustrated through the concept of the ‘space of possibilities’ upon which utterances based on context provide a background for semantic representations of inferred language that might be spoken or, equally, left unspoken and from which linguistic form triggers interpretation rather than conveying information (Winograd and Flores 1986, p.57), contributing to external influences which, with memorised sequences and pre-cognitive learning (Gutt,1991, p.26), can all be attributed to a meaning’s intertextuality, or all pervasive textual phenomenon (Hatim, 1997a, Page 29).

Newmark identifies cultural,technical or linguistic disparity that might require a translator to add extra information to maintain intelligibility (Newmark, 1988, Page 91) whilst Hatim considers inter textual information provides the various textual clues(Hatim, 1997b, Page 200). A translator initially needs to identify inter textual markers and then evaluate the implications for understanding by the target audience when translated, particularly difficult in cases of extreme cultural diversity, or ‘implicates’ in Baker’s terminology (1992, Pages 71 – 77).Baker suggests translators may attempt literal translation, cultural substitution, elaboration and explication, translation by omission or transliteration through retaining the source language within parts of the text.

Hatim and Mason’s model of context takes into account the context of culture with its aspects of ideology and sets of values (Caldas-Coulthard, 2000a, Page 2), reinforced by Hoey’s connective pattern which highlights the more predominant points due to paradigmatic and syntagmatic properties of lexical priming (Hoey, 1991: 82), established in the West Greenlandic language, or kalaallit oqaasii (or kalaallisut) (Petersen,in Collis, 1990: 294), through the highly developed inflectional use of nominal and verbal paradigms (Fortescue, in Collis, 1990: 309) and which, with its spelling and pronunciation alterations being contingent upon grammatical and lexical requirements, provides an excellent illustration. West Greenlandic is a deeply inflected, polysynthetic language, heavily influenced and dependent upon the concepts of theme and rhyme, and reliant on the positions of Subject and Object to develop an adequate semantic and pragmatic morphology (Fortescue,in Collis, 1990: 309).

The ‘resource [for] making meaning‘ (Gerot and Wignell, 1995: 6) is notably, in West Greenlandic,realised through a very long string of words built up from bases and associated affixes whose meanings describe, very adequately, the sparse surrounding landscapes in very accurate and specific terms, less appropriate, however, for evolving technology. These inter textual messages are a necessary precondition for the intelligibility of texts (Hatim and Mason, 1997, Page 219) without which only partial understanding could possibly be achieved. Inter textual reference provides a semiotic approach which can link previous text to define tenuous meanings although precedence should be intentionality over informational content (Hatim and Mason, 1990, Page 136) maintaining semiotic status and lexical devices in terms of cohesion and coherence to ensure that translation continues to make sense, retains its original tone/voice and engages the intended response from the target reader.

Sapir recognised the disparity between individuals’ cognitive environments, commenting that No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality (Sapir, 1956, Page 69). This recognition that translation is not just a transfer of information between languages, but a transfer from one culture to another (Hervey et al, 1995, Page 20)controversially requires translators to acquire adequate understanding and empathy of a particular culture to enable the necessary inter textual cues to be recognised and available for transfer into language use. Modern German has sixteen forms for ‘reiten’, whereas Old English had thirteen forms of ‘ridan'[both meaning ‘to ride] (Coates, 2004). Over time these inflections became lost which added to the flexibility of language used, e.g. nominalisation;additions of pre- or -suffixes, and word-blending, e.g. the Norse word ‘rein’ meaning ‘deer’ added to the Old English word ‘deer’ meaning ‘animal’ giving a literal meaning ‘deer-animal’. Evidence of this concept is still apparent in the innumerable lexemes associated with the concept of snow in West Greenlandic

The vastly controversial Sapir-Whorf hypothesis also recognises these constraints that can be placed on communications within the concepts of cognitive experiences, according to principles of linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity, with subscription to language being utilised in order to discern differences between agents. Lexicaland grammatical devices add to the flexibility of language used, e.g. nominalisation, with additions such as suffixes or post-bases, inflectional endings and portmanteau verbs contributing to the rich diversity of this language’s morph-syntactic adaptability. Strong determinism associated with the Arctic traditions evolved from man’s close proximity to nature which, in turn, shaped their concept of language realised through cognitive thought (Maclean,in Collis, 1990: 164). The difficulty in translation, however, occurs through the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which acknowledges everyday word usage taking a rather flexible position in a typical Kalaallit sentence, with markers to identify their relation to other lexemes (Maclean, in Collis, 1990: 164).These Kalaallit characteristics can be explained through the theory of reference in relation to the semantic relation between an element in the text and some other element that is crucial to the interpretation of it(Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 8), with ‘lexical priming‘ (Crystal, 2003:162) providing the cohesion that displays an expectancy relations between words (Eggins, 1994: 101) in accordance with Nunan’s model whereby randomsentences are distinguished[through] the existence of certain text-forming, cohesive devices (Nunan, 1993: 59).

West Greenlandic relies on the static nature of word-internal morphemes. If their order was changed, the utterance would lose its full impetus and implications. The implications of local and global meanings are revealed through code-switching, i.e. switching the positions of over 400 post-bases and 300 inflectional endings to achieve con notational and denotational meanings, the ‘signals for retrieval‘(Caldas-Coulthard, 2000: 5) which can be demonstrated through reference in the form of an exophoric or endophoric context within an utterance where cohesion lies in the continuity of reference (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 31). The syntax of this language reveals a major problem when translating languages such as Kalallit into major languages. Fortes cue suggests that A particularly characteristic trait of the language is the re cursiveness of its morphologyitsword-order is fairly free; it is a ‘non-configurational language (citedin Collis, 1990: 311) resulting in a ‘global freedom’ which can, conversely create a strong cohesive bond between lexical items[that]cohere with a preceding occurrence even with different referents (Haliday andHasan, 1976: 283), a feature Hoey describes as the ‘study of patterns of lexis in text (Hoey, 1991: 10). Stoddard explained the coherence factor exhibited through cohesive devices whichmight be expected to occur most frequently might also be expected to exhibit the most fruitful network patterns…[and the] types of cohesion which are global in nature might be expected to exhibit the most common patterns (Stoddard, 1991: 32), especially pertinent to the syntax of Kalaallit.

A particularly interesting concept in translation that reveals the ethos between translating from any minor languageinto a major language and vice versa is the translation of poetry, recognised by Bassnett (1991, Page 101) who describes a gulf between cultures through distance in time and space. Thai poetry, for example, reveals the representation of ‘jai‘, or ‘mind’ of the writer, lacking appropriate morphemes to provide a suitable translation, explained as just pretty words, nice sounds to show you that the words are feeling words (Conlon,2005). The translator needs to decide whether to maintain the ethos of the target language, or to aim for literary significance, described by Bassnett as modernisation as opposed to archaisation (Bassnett, 1991), or to follow Luke’s principle of maintaining comprehensibility by providing a chain of signifier in the target language (Luke and Vaget, 1988: 121).

Conclusion

This essay focused on the difficulties associated with translation from a major language into a minor one which is a very different concept from translating in the opposite direction for various reasons, not least the differences between cultures[which] may cause more severe complications for the translator than do differences in language structure (Nida, 1964:130). The socio-linguistic aspects of translation are more profound when a major language is being translated into aminor one, evidence of which can be observed through the cognitive-conceptual significance of Kalaallit which, together with its specific connotation and denotation, is directly associated with their dependence upon survival in an inhospitable terrain. This factor has contributed to the highly specialised differentiation of its morphological characteristic, utilising a switch-reference system in preference to the development of a more syntactic-based language (Petersen, in Collis, 1990: 294), a feature that is often present in minor languages through the dependence of their speakers on ever-changing features of the landscape for survival, requiring an awareness of language planning according to Holljen (1999, January, Translation Journal).

Whilst there are various difficulties associated with translating from a minor language to a major one, these are mainly represented through expressing elusive cognitive meanings into these mantics of more prosaic terminology. However, major languages are representative of fairly well documented cultures whose ways of life, whilst not necessarily familiar, do not represent totally unknown and incomprehensible traditions and, coupled with well-established linguistic understanding, makes the task of translating an abstract concept from a minor language less arduous than attempting to establish sufficient empathy to adapt technological terminology from a major language into a more fundamental vocabulary.

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Introduction

According to Glentz (1996), the term postmodernism was coined in the 1930s and it was in reference to the major historical change that was in progress. However, it was not until 1970s that postmodernism gained widespread attention. In the academic circles, postmodernism was able to emerge as the description used for a broader culture trend as compared to when it was initially taken as a label for the theories expounded in English and Philosophy departments in the University.

Postmodernism is a term that indicates a desire to move beyond the modern mind-set while at the same time not separating it from modernity since that is where it emerged from but with time came to react against.

Modernism as Sarup (1993) puts is an experiment which can be used to find the inner truths of any given situation and can be characterized by self-consciousness and reflexive ness which makes it very closely related to postmodernism. He goes on to say that in a way, if one looks at modernism as the culture of modernity, then there is a likelihood of the same person looking at postmodernism as the culture of post modernity.

Postmodernism according to Sarup, (1993) refers to the incipient or actual dissolution of those social forms associated with modernity. He goes on to explain modernization as a term used to refer to the stages of social development which are based upon industrialization. He points out that “modernization is as a result of the uniting of the social economic changes generated by scientific and technological discoveries and innovations…”

Dimension of Postmodern Thought.

Post-modernism is defined as an eclectic movement which originates from or in aesthetics, philosophy and architecture in Ryan Bishop’s article in the Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology (1996). Postmodernism is thought to adapt to a systematic uncertainty of theoretical perspectives which are grounded in a certain way. When the uncertainty is applied to anthropology, it tends to shift its focus from the sole observation of a particular society to the observation of the anthropological observer too.

Bishop (1996) is for the idea that the postmodern attacks in ethnography are based on the belief that there is no true objectivity and the authentic implementation of the scientific method can be considered to be impossible. As he points out, “Postmodernists are suspicious of authoritative definitions and singular narratives of any trajectory of events” (Bishop 1996: 993).

Postmodernism follows similar ideas as those in modernism. It does not accept the boundaries mounted between high and low forms of art, the rigid genre distinctions are duly rejected but emphasis is placed on appropriation, caricature, playfulness and irony.

The Postmodern thought when compared with the modern thought brings out differences in five different areas namely; reasoning, science, part/whole, God and language. In reasoning, the modern thought starts from the foundation upwards whereas the postmodern thought is web-oriented such that multiple factors of multiple levels of reasoning are involved.

According to Klages (2007), Postmodernism is concerned with questions of the organization of knowledge. Knowledge in modern societies was contrasted to narrative and equated with science. Science is said to have been considered as the good or acceptable knowledge while narrative was associated with women, children, primitive and insane people since these were the people who were thought to be primitive, bad and irrational.

For one to be knowledgeable generally, they had to undergo the schooling system or in a simpler term, be educated. The Postmodern society emphasizes on not only the knowledge of things but the use of that knowledge as well, which makes knowledge functional. Sarup, (1993) points out that the educational policy nowadays lays emphasis on skills and training as compared to the vague humanist ideal of education generally.

This ensures that knowledge in Postmodernism is distributed, stored and systematically arranged in the societies which have embraced the postmodern thought than in the modern societies. Knowledge in the postmodern society is also looked at as anything that can be recognized and stored by a computer.

Klages (2007) concludes by pointing out that, postmodernism in its own way offers some alternatives to the joining of the global culture of consumption; this is where commodities and other forms of knowledge are provided by forces which cannot be controlled by individuals or to put it in her own words, “…forces far beyond any individual’s control”.

In science, the modern thought is focused on the Universal optimism whereas the postmodern thought leans towards the Realism of Limitations. The post modern thought considers the parts as comprising the whole whereas in Post-modernism, the whole is more than the parts. The post-modern thought considers God to be a Top-down causation whereas the modern thought looks at God as one who acts through the violation of the laws which are considered natural or by what is considered to be ‘immanence’ in all that exists or is.

Language is looked at as transparent with words serving only as what represents our thoughts or other things around us; the modern thought on language is referential. It depends on the idea that signifiers always point to signifieds (Klages, 2007) whereas the postmodern thought derives meaning in the social context through the manner in which it is applied or utilized which means that only signifiers exist or simply put, surfaces without any depth or signifieds.

Postmodernism according to Klages (2007) is hard to define since it is a concept that manifests itself a number of areas of study for instance in architecture, art, music, film, literature, fashion, communication and technology among others. This makes it hard to even establish where exactly postmodernism starts since it cannot be located temporarily or historically.

According to Glentz (1996), postmodernism is “…the rejection of certain central features of the modern project, such as its quest for certain, objective, and universal knowledge, along with its dualism and its assumption of the goodness of knowledge.

It is that critical agenda, rather than any proposed constructive paradigm to replace the modern vision that unites postmodern thinkers.” As opposed to the modernist thought where perception corresponds to truth and language used refers to an independent referent, postmodernism does not accept the basic premises of modern epistemology.

New Religious Movements

The last thirty years have seen an increase in the number of new religious movements as a result of the desire of the people to embrace diversification. This shows that there are changes in the nature and role of religion in the society. Religion stops being framed in terms of post-modernity, post-modernity etc since these terms can only be said to be among the many theoretical terms of analysis available and there can never be any reason to restrict the study of the New Religious Movements which have emerged or are in the process of emerging to the certain terms of reference.

In the contemporary religions, the emergence of the New Religious Movements has brought about changes in both the structure and the ideologies. This means that for the new religions to compete in the created market place of religions, they must work towards the rationalization of their efforts and just like other modernity institutions, the religious organizations become more business-like and bureaucratic.

This makes all the religious movements to appear similar in the form and manner of functioning. They must also be subject to the extra-religious criteria of efficiency. Just like in a business scenario, the products of the new religious are subject to standardization and marginal differentiation.

Every organization within the market place attempts to design a product that meets similar preferences of the consumers. The competitive edge through the development and the preservation of existing marginal differences in both style and approach used. The products are forced to conform to what is dictated by the new institutional locations they find themselves. The religions which emphasize on the satisfaction of the private life needs like issues related to sexuality, marriage, family norms etc are likely to gain a competitive advantage over the rest of the religions (Berger, 1967).

He goes on to point out that with all the pluralism that is portrayed, the religions can either accommodate themselves to the situation which will make them come to terms with the pluralism by modification of the product to suit the demands of the consumer. Alternatively, the religions can choose to continue professing their previous objectives as if nothing is happening. This means that they stay put behind the religious structures which they can be able to maintain or construct.

The New Religious Movements are however not considered to be revivals of the any tradition. They are said not to be capable of bringing to life the dying religions which existed in the past. This can be attributed to the way in which they make use of the evangelism methods which are too secular which is also reflected in other areas like in their mode of financing, the methods they use for publicity and the mobilization of believers.

The traditional religious concerns are left in preference of the more pragmatic attitudes and for systems of control, financing and other issues like propaganda and the content of their doctrines which tend to lie more on the secular enterprise as compared to the traditional religious concerns (Wilson, 1988:965).

Hard and Soft Modernism

Most aspects of modernism do not blend with the Christian faith but the correspondence theory of truth and the referential theory of language are what harmonize it with what is intended by the scriptures. Most of the leaders of the emerging churches have been known to accuse the evangelist followers for being bound to the modernism culture.

Evangelicalism is countercultural in various ways but rejects some issues like the strict empiricism associated with modernism which does not agree with miracles and revelation. The only groups who seem to have embraced modernism and all its views are the classic and theological liberals.

Patton (2008) a self declared postmodern is for the idea that the post-modern movement is hard to define but goes on to point out that it is acceptable to define post-modernism from a secular point of view and still be objective. Patton (2008) differentiates between hard and soft modernism.

Hard modernists are those who have had a philosophical shift as far as the nature of truth is concerned. Hard modernists view truth relative to the time, culture or the situation of the individual. This means that truth does not exist beyond the thoughts of the subject on focus. For instance on a subject like Homosexuality, the hard modernist will consider it either right or wrong depending on the situation of the person or person’s involved.

This is for the reason that according to them, the morality of a person’s sexual orientation can not at any time be defined by what they choose to call an “eternal principle” to which all people must adhere to at all times but by the situation(s) in which the people involved find themselves in. This distinguishes hard modernism; the concept of the correspondence view of truth to objective reality. The hard modernists are not subjective.

It is considered to be the logical outcome of pantheism or atheism which both denies the existence of an eternal God. The subject is brought out in several situations in our daily activities. Patton (2008) gives an example of how the education system in a large way shows the learners that God is not part of the objective reality compared to what is taught in class which they consider part of the objective reality. Hard modernism is not Christian in nature which explains why it has no part in the biblical worldview and why it is not advocated by Christians.

According to Patton (2008) Christianity has as its foundation the atoning work of Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection that came about as a result of the eternal counsel of a God who is triune. The atonement was necessarily since man had already broken the eternal laws of God. This makes Christianity an eternal objective truth and not truth based on someone’s own subjective experience.

The explanation behind this is the fact that in the Christianity confession, an eternal God has eternal precepts that time bound man has broken. Christians can not advocate for the hard modernism unless they do not comprehend the terms modernism and Christianity. Emerging churches have been influenced by the postmodern culture and some of what it believed in has been sympathized. The difference between the group of emerging churches and hard modernists is that they are suspicious of all truth claims. The suspicion according to Patton (2008) is based on the denial of their ability to come to terms with the certainty that exists in the human mind about truth.

Soft modernists believe in the existence of the objective truth. They are for the idea that most truth claims must be held in tension, understanding our limitations which means that it is hard to know or be certain that what we have is the right truth and if we are expressing it how it should be expressed. It is important to however note that postmodernism is not built upon the denial of truth or the metaphysical concern but with the ability to know the truth or the epistemological concern.

The emerging churches therefore would believe in an eternal God who has some laid down eternal precepts which have already been broken by man who needs to be restored through Jesus Christ. Bearing this in mind, it is therefore in order for man to hold the truth in tension since they understand that they also have there own limitations which are normally arrived at when trying to define God, who he is, what he requires out of man and how to accomplish and apply redemption.

The emerging church minimizes or tends to ignore those issues that were at some point in the center of controversy and makes these issues irrelevant. The reason provided for this is that whether or not there are right answers or not, who is to decide who is right and who is not? The emerging church emphasizes on what unites as opposed to what divides. The emerging churches therefore advocate for the going to church by Christians to worship God as opposed to learning about God. “We do not go so that we can better understand, articulate, and defend our faith; we go so that we can commune with fellow believers…” (Patton, 2008).

The Emerging Church is hard to pin down on when dealing with certain issues. It is an evolving movement and not a denomination with an official doctrinal statement to refer to. The Emergent is a community within the larger context of the Emerging church. It embraces mystery considering that faith is a process and Christianity is a journey (Oakland).

Negative Emerging Church response to Postmodernism

Gibbs (2005) defines emerging churches as communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. The practices involved when emerging churches are defined this way are that the emerging churches identify with the life of Jesus, have their own way of transforming the secular realm and at the same time are able to live extremely communal lives.

This is what makes the churches have a spirit of welcoming strangers, serving with a lot of generosity and other things like participation in spiritual activities as producers, to lead as a body and as created beings.

Emerging when compared to emergent is wider, informal, global and church-centered. Emergent on the other hand is an official organization in both the U.S and the U.K. It is an intellectual and philosophical network of the emerging movement which means that all the emerging movements cannot be narrowed down to what is referred to as the Emergent Village.

The Emerging Churches provides what can be called a guideline to churches in the postmodern culture. The emerging movements are provocative in a deliberate and conscious manner, even the Christians involved are for the idea that the church is in dire need for a change and on that note, living as if the change has already occurred (Gibbs, 2005).

The emerging movements from a postmodern point of view portrays that it is hard to reduce post modernity to the denial of truth but instead it can be considered as the collapse of the inherited overarching explanations of life just like in Science or Marxism. The reason provided for the collapse is due to the impossibility to take their assumptions outside.

The evangelical Christians are however not discouraged from joining or embracing the elements of post modernity even when the consequences for the adoption of post modernity is either good or otherwise. The emerging movement is thought to have the ability to uphold faith which seeks understanding and trust which comes before the apprehension or the comprehension of gospel truths.

According to McKnight (2007), Christians in the postmodern context means that they either minister to post-moderns, with post-moderns or as post-moderns. Those who minister to post-moderns look at them as trapped in moral relativism and epistemological bankruptcy out of which they need to be rescued. Those who minister with the post-moderns live, work and talk to them, they accept their post modernity as part of life and generally view post modernity as a condition of our present lives and into which the Christians have been called to not only proclaim but to live out the gospel.

The Christians who minister to and with post-moderns make the greatest majority of the emerging Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ as the truth, they do not deny that the Bible preaches a gospel of truth and they stand for or they do not deny the truth. The Christians who choose to minister as post-moderns are for the idea that Christians should not embrace the truth. They speak of the importance of the social location in the shaping of how one views truth and they also speak of the end of metanarratives. They are known for their frequent expression of nervousness about propositional truth.

Patton (2008) in an evaluation of the emerging churches and soft modernism points out that the emerging churches are subject to compromise. Soft modernists are unwilling to stand for anything uncertain. But since there will always be those things that are uncertain, or those that we are less certain than others, where can the line be drawn between what is certain and what is not? What should be used to determine certainty of any issue should be the evidence we have on the subject which will show the level of certainty about it.

Besides if we are to have absolute certainty on everything we encounter, what would result is moral anarchy since most people would rather settle for nothing since they are not certain about anything at all. The soft modernists’ evidence humility with the ability to know the truth but the humility can be misleading at times since it tends to seek acceptance even with the threat of compromise as the cost. The idea of compromise may be what can be attributed to why the emerging churches do not attract many people since the conviction is lacking and people need to be assured that you stand for something to prevent one from falling for anything.

Tradition is another thing that must be present in the emerging churches but caution must be taken so as to avoid the overuse of tradition without making any considerations. For instance, when considering the traditions which came with the reformation. The emerging churches accepts the earlier traditions but denies the reformation a place which is in itself very contradicting since for the development of a certain theology to take place, all history must be taken into consideration (Patton, 2008).

Positive Emerging Church responses to Postmodernism

The emerging churches recognize the human need for mystery in the course of their Christian lives as advocated for by the soft modernists. It is these mysteries that help us to learn a lot considering that it is important for Christians to hold most of their beliefs in tension (Patton, 2008). Another positive element which can be derived from soft modernism is the focus that has been brought back to the Christians methods of doing theology.

Soft postmodernism has a lot of distrust in tradition and this has resulted to the church being looked upon with a lot of suspicion due to the unfounded traditions. The good thing that can be said to have come out of fundamentalism is the rebellion which was portrayed when postmodernism unmasked the negative aspects of the fundamentalist church. The rebellion against traditionalism can be said to have played an important part.

Nonfoundationalism

It is also called anti-foundationalism. It rejects the balanced image of the beliefs that support beliefs which are not basic. The non fundamentalists support the image of a mutually supporting belief web which can be passed on through a particular community. In theology, they are known for bringing to light how doctrine operates to regulate the form of life of a particular community which holds a certain belief.

Characteristics of a Postmodern Emerging Church Theology

The emerging or emergent church according to (Reynolds, 2008), is a controversial movement that was founded in the late twentieth century to react to the influence of modernism in Christianity. The proponents of the emerging church support postmodernism and they gave the movement the term ‘conversation’ with an aim of stressing how decentralized in nature with very little coordination the movement was due to the contributions it received from people with varying beliefs. There are no agreements about the nature and role of the church.

The aim of the emerging church movement is to dismantle and re-establish Christianity since most of the members who are found in North America, South Pacific, Africa and Western Europe all live in a postmodern culture.

Many of the emergent Christians have varying doctrines and practices but some of their characteristics and values are similar;

According to Reynolds, (2008), the believers practice missional living since they hold the belief that they have been sent as blessings to the people around them. This means that the lifestyle they adopt must be able to reflect the kingdom of the Lord through a number of ways for instance, evangelizing, social activism and through the talents that have been given to them by God.

The emerging Christians emphasize on the narrative presentations of faith and Bible through propositional presentations like systematic theology viewed as reductionism. A theology that gives priority to narrative can define its core and contextualize the content of the teachings of the bible.

The emerging churches theology is a matter of commitment which is methodological and celebrates, exploits and reinforces the community. It is also said to be relational, interactive as well as conversational in nature.

The emerging churches believe in Generous Orthodoxy (Reynolds, 2008). They have a good understanding of the doctrine which is trying to move from the debate between conservativeness and liberalism while still honoring the beliefs and traditions of the Postmodern, modern and premodern Christian denominations. The do not restrict dialogue with those people who belong to non-Christian religions.

The emergent churches are Christian-centered and they tend to hold a commitment to emulate the way Jesus Christ lived and they advocate for the love of God amongst all people especially towards those people who might be considered to be our enemies. This means that they are under the lordship of Christ. They look at the gospel as centered on Christ and this is based on the message about the Kingdom of God and the reconciliation between man, God and God’s creation.

The emerging Christians can be said to have a sense of plurality in their interpretation of the bible. They provide several interpretations with consideration of what the culture and other circumstances that lead to the reader having different interpretation of the same. The initial message is therefore put in a way that blends with the reader’s surrounding environment.

The emerging churches can be said to have a sense of Authenticity in that they are for the idea of sharing their personal experiences and interactions as testimonies in the course of their teachings in church or in groups called fellowships. For this reason, the emergent Christians have been labeled “true to the social constructs of their local narratives as opposed to other absolute, past and cross-cultural authority” (Reynolds, 2008). This and the fact that their theology’s core is a reading of the scriptures and seems to have a good understanding of intimate relationship that exists between text and the historical narrative.

The emergent churches are also famous for how they create a conducive environment for conversation or dialog for all those who have differing opinions. They allow people to talk and incase of disagreements, both parties are listened to with grace compared to what is said to be “the dogmatic proclamation found in historic Christianity” (Reynolds, 2008).

Other Characteristics of an emerging theology are; they are that it is mainly for a community that possesses continuity and is selfcontinous in nature. The theology is committed to renewing of its own discourse which includes speech and all the other methods of communication. The theology of the emerging churches attempt to integrate as opposed to dissociate the modes of thought, analysis and practice that draws on the mind of the entire community of faith. The theology has an inclination towards discovering the meaning and truth that exists outside itself.

Finally, the theology of emerging churches bears an eschatological orientation towards the renewal of the creation of humanity within a comprehensive ecology which makes it more public than private.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it has been established that the emerging churches are Christian movements whose participants or followers aim to live their faith in modern society by emulating Christ Jesus without necessarily considering the traditions of the Christian religion.

Emerging churches can also be said to be the fresh thinking and practice within the church. It is considered to have a mission focus in a western post-modern context a thinking which has been developing for over a decade (Reynolds, 2008).

The emerging churches were as a result of the perceived influence of modernism in the western world of Christianity. The Christians who advocated for the changes within the church did it in response to existing cultural shifts. According to them the contemporary church was culturally bound to modernism and they therefore aimed to reach a culture that was no longer related to some common practices of the Christians.

The emerging Christians started by challenging the church of the twentieth century due to the extreme emphasis it laid on the pretense of goodness and its preoccupation with conservative Christians in the political process. Other reasons are how the twentieth century church used the institutional structures, its theology was systematic and it used propositional teaching methods, it was also perceived to have a preoccupation with buildings and how much it tried to bring people into the church as opposed to improving their surroundings.

The emerging churches therefore aimed at re-assembling the modern church and its culture by enhancing dialogue or two-way conversations whose aim was to lead people to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit on their own terms. This explains why the emerging church movements have a diversification of beliefs and practices although some concentrate on issues like social activism, political activism, sacred rituals and the good works.

Postmodernism can also be called the modernist movement. It is aesthetic, political or social philosophy and literary. It can be referred to as a cultural and intellectual phenomenon. Initially it was a reaction to modernism and was to a large extent influenced the disillusionment induced by the Second World War (Patton, 2008).

Postmodernism is diverse and the emerging churches to a large extent are diverse. The emerging churches differ on a number of peripheral theological and practical issues. The issues do not help in the definition of the movement much as they are a real part of the emerging church movement. The emerging churches share a lot of things with the non-emergent movements. For instance, the belief in contextualization, friendship evangelism, fellowship and other things like caring for the needy in the society (Patton, 2008).

The emerging church movement is popular for its diversification in terms of the groups of people in it. The people identify with Christianity but they feel that in the postmodern era, there is a need for the radical reshaping of the beliefs and practices of the church so that they can conform to postmodernism.

According to (Glenz, 1996) “…the rejection of certain features of the modern project, such as its quest for certain, objective, and universal knowledge, along with its dualism and its assumption of the goodness of knowledge. It is this critical agenda, rather than any proposed constructive paradigm to replace the modern vision that unites postmodern thinkers.” From this, it can be established that postmodernism does not accept the basic premises of modern epistemology.

The modernist theory looks at perception as corresponding to the truth and language which refers to a referent which is independent. Language refers to something real, in the mind of the person who communicates. Most aspects of modernism cannot be combined with the Christian faith but the referential theory of language and the correspondence theory of the truth is what synchronize them with the beliefs of the scripture.

The leaders of emerging churches have been known to accuse evangelicals of being bound by the culture of modernism. Evangelicalism has been a countercultural movement which rejects some of the modernisms beliefs for instance their strict empiricism that does not allow miracles and revelations.

The only groups that can be said to have accommodated modernism wholly are the classic, theological liberals. Within the post modern thought, there is no normal truth or morality which means that it is hard to dictate to postmodernists what is true and right for them. They are for the idea that truth and other morals can only be found within the context of a specific community and they are different for different communities.

Christians must be sensitive to their cultures but the gospel must never be altered to fit what is considered the culture of a certain group of people. This is what makes Christianity which has been post modernized to be called compromised Christianity which most emerging churches are guilty of due to the way they have embraced some beliefs of post modernism.

References

Berger, P. L. The sacred canopy: Elements of a sociological theory of religion. Doubleday: New York. 1967.

Gibbs, Eddie and Bolger, Ryan. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community inPostmodern Cultures. Baker Academic. 2005.

Grenz, Stanley J. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: WM. B.Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996.

Groothuis Douglas R. Truth Decay: Defending Christianity against the Challenges of Postmodernism. London: Intervarsity Press. 2000.

Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church

This work was produced by one of our professional writers as a learning aid to help you with your studies

In the world we live in today there are many different religions. Islam is a religion that has over one billion followers worldwide. It teaches that one must submit to God (Allah) in heart, soul, and deed. A person that follows Islam religion is called a Muslim. Islam is based on the teachings of Muhammad, the central figure in Islam.

He symbolizes to Muslims the perfect man that shows what it means to be a Muslim. The Quran is the book of Allah and it is written in Arabic. The word Quran means recitation in Arabic. All Muslims must recite the Quran in Arabic, regardless of their national language.

The Quran consists of one hundred and fourteen chapters of six thousand verses, originally revealed to Muhammad over a period of twenty-two years (Esposito, Islam 17). These chapters which are called surahs are arranged according to length, from the longest being some twenty-two pages of Arabic text for sura two, through the shortest being only a single line for sura one hundred and eight (Rippin19).

The name of Allah appears more than two thousand five hundred times in the Quran (Esposito, Islam 22). The Quran emphasizes service to God. “It envisions a society based on the unity and equality of believers, a society in which moral and social justice will counter balance oppression of the weak and economic exploitation” (Esposito, Islam 29). The Quran is the central religious text used by most Muslims to guide their prayer rituals, worship services, and family traditions.

Muslims have many different forms of prayer rituals that they perform on a daily basis. To them, prayer is very important in their way of life and they use the Quran for many of their prayers. They perform prayer rituals called Salat five times each day. They pray at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening. These five prayers, in the order of which they are performed, are called salat al-subh, salat al-zuhr, salat al-asr, salat al-maghrib, and salat al-isha (Rippin 101).

Since Muslims live all over the world, there are Muslims praying all the time because of the time differences. Prayer is always done in the direction of the Kaaba shrine in Mecca. Kaaba is the House of God and Mecca is the holiest city of Islam and the birthplace of Muhammad (Esposito, What Everyone 24). The prayers are said in Arabic and they combine “meditation, devotion, moral elevation, and physical exercise” (Esposito, What Everyone 24).

Their basic physical positions for prayer are standing, bowing, sitting or kneeling, and prostration (Zepp 82). The prayers take about five to ten minutes each (Ahmed 33). “The whole sequence of the ritual is repeated twice in the morning, three times at sunset, and four times in the noon, afternoon and evening prayers” (Rippin 101). This equals to seventeen daily prayers.

Additional prayers can also be performed. There is the witr prayer which is performed at night (Rippin 102). Also, the wird prayer is a private prayer based on the recitation of the Quran (Rippin 102). Before Muslims pray they must perform ablution. Ablution is a spiritual and physical cleaning. They begin by cleaning their minds from thoughts and concerns and concentrate on God and his blessings. Then they wash their hands, face and feet.

The arms they wash up to the elbows. Then they say, “I bear witness that there is no god but God; He has no partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger” (Esposito, What Everyone 25). The person that recites this must say the statement with an honest intention. If a person is under ceremonial impurity, then he must wash his whole body. The cause of this impurity is any seminal emission or contact with sexual organs (Williams 98).

Worshippers may also use sand when water is not available. This process is called tayammum. The person places the hands on the soil and rubs the face with the hands (Williams 98). There are two types of ablution. They are ghusl and wudu. Ghusl is done after acts of great defilement like sexual intercourse. Wudu is done after small defilements like going to the bathroom, sleep, and simple contact with the opposite sex (Farah 138).

Muslims also follow the Quran as a guide to do their worship services. They follow the Five Pillars of Islam to Worship Allah. The first pillar is daily confession of the faith called shahada. A Muslim must say, “There is no god but God (Allah) and Muhammad is the messenger of God” (Esposito, What Everyone 17). This proclamation confirms to Muslims that there is only one God and to idolize others is an unforgivable sin. The second pillar is daily ritual prayer called salat. They are performed five times a day.

The prayers are recitations of the Quran in Arabic. The prayers are done with physical movements. These movements are: standing, bowing, kneeling, touching the ground with one’s forehead, and sitting. The recitation and movements demonstrate submission, humility, and the adoration of God (Esposito, What Everyone 19). At the conclusion of the prayer, they recite the shahada and they repeat their “peace greeting” twice. This “peace greeting” says “Peace be upon all of you and the mercy and blessings of God” (Esposito, Islam 89).

The third pillar is paying the alms tax called zakat. Muslims are required to pay an annual contribution of two and a half percent of their individual wealth and assets. This money is used to help the poor, orphans, and widows. Zakat is an obligation to respond to the needs of the less fortunate. It is an act of worship, or thanksgiving to God, and of service to the community (Esposito, Islam 90). The fourth pillar is fasting during the month of Ramadan and is called sawn. It is done once a year on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

During this month, Muslims that are healthy must abstain from dawn to sunset from food, drink, and sexual activity. Families eat before sunrise to sustain them until sunset. Then they eat a light meal at dusk and eat a late evening meal (Esposito, Islam 91). Fasting lasts for twenty-nine or thirty days. Ramadan is a time of spiritual discipline and of expressing gratitude towards God (Esposito, Islam 90). “Total abstinence reminds the Muslim that each life is one of sacrifice, dependent on God” (Zepp 88). Muslims recite a special prayer that is only recited during Ramadan (Esposito, Islam 91).

The Eid al-Fitr is the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast of Ramadan and is a celebration that lasts three days (Esposito, Islam 91). The fifth pillar is a pilgrimage to Mecca called hajj. At least once in their lifetime, a Muslim must make the sacrifice to make this pilgrimage which is done after Ramadan. The conditions to go are that they must pay for themselves without burrowing the money and be able to afford it (Ahmed 37). They are from different classes, colors, nationalities, and races and they are in the same dress performing the same rituals (Zepp 90).

About two million Muslims go every year. Pilgrim men must wear two seamless white sheets and the women must cover their whole body except for their hands and face. These coverings symbolize purity as well as the unity and equality of all believers (Esposito, What Everyone 22). As Muslims arrive in Mecca they go to the Kaaba where they move counterclockwise around the Kabba seven times symbolizing their entry before God.

The Kaaba is known as the “House of God”. It is a cube-shaped house in which the sacred black stone is embedded (Esposito, Islam 91). In the coming days, the pilgrims participate in several ritual ceremonies that symbolize important religious events. They also visit the Plain of Arafat where they stand before God in repentance for forgiveness for all Muslims (Esposito, Islam 92). The Eid al-Adha is the Feast of Sacrifice which lasts four days and symbolizes the annual completion of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Here they sacrifice animals and most of the meat is given to the poor (Esposito, Islam 92). Also, during daily prayers, the faithful go to the mosque to pray.

The mosque is a place of peace and serenity without images or idols of worship. The mosque has a carpet on which to stand or sit and meditate. “If a mosque is unavailable, a prayer rug may serve as a “mosque”, and each rug will have a point in its design to orient the prayer to Mecca” (Zepp 81). Muslims stand and bow before God. Worshippers begin by raising their hands and proclaiming God’s greatness, “Allahu Akbar”, or God is most great (Esposito, What Everyone 25).

Then, passages of the Quran are recited. On Fridays a great congregational prayer is done in the afternoon called juma. The men and women worship in separate groups (Esposito, What Everyone 33). This prayer is led by a leader who is called imam. There is also a sermon called khutba which combines religious advice on social and political issues based on the Quran’s teachings (Esposito, What Everyone 33). Muslims use the Quran as a guide to worship Allah. They invoke the name Allah (God) on an average of no less than twenty times a day (Farah 6). Worshipping Allah has many effects on their actions.

Muslims shed the attire of daily life for a plain white linen cloth as a symbol of equality. A person must profess the Shahadah, or open testimony which states their belief in Allah. “The words of the Shahadah are said fourteen times a day if a Muslim does all daily prayers. The Shahadah is heard at every significant occasion from birth to death” (Zepp 80). “Al-Islam” signifies the total submission to the will of God. Muslims also have obligations they must follow.

For instance, they have obligations such as obedience to Allah, kindness, consideration, and chastity (Farah 127-28). They also have a social morality that requires them to place duty before right, as well as ceremonial duties (Farah 128). These duties are incumbent regardless of their status in society. Their most important act of faith in their ceremonial duties is “There is no god but God”, or al-Shahadah (Esposito, Islam 88).

Muslims also use the Quran to guide their family traditions. To them, marriage is the basis of a family. Although to have a valid Muslim marriage, a marriage contract or marriage proposal must be mutually agreed upon by the bride and the groom (Zepp 99). The man must give the bride a mahr, or gift, as a form of surety. This gift is usually money, but it can be any other thing. Two Muslim men must be witnesses to the offer and to the acceptance (Zepp 99). Unlike other religions, marriage is not a sacrament but a social contract to establish family unity (Zepp 99).

Marriage is preferred to be between two Muslims and within the extended family, even though men are allowed to marry non-Muslim women (Esposito, Islam 94). “The Quran permits a man to marry up to four wives, provided that he is able to support and treat them equally” (Esposito, Islam 95). On the other hand, “The vast majority of men are monogamous” (Ahmed 152). The marriage “emphasizes the great significance attached to family life as a force for unity in Islamic society” (Farah 166). Divorce and remarriage is allowed as a last resort. A requirement stated in the Quran says that a husband must pronounce “I divorce you” three times for a period of three months to allow time for reconciliation (Esposito, Islam 96).

Nowadays, in many countries, Muslim women can request a divorce from the courts based on different grounds. Also, in a marriage, the men must pay the household expenses and he has the final decisions on family matters. The wife takes care of the house and the children and supervises their religious and moral training (Esposito, Islam 96). On the other hand, the wife obeys her husband. The birth of a son is a joyful event for every Muslim family. When the son reaches the age of seven, the circumcision rite is performed and strictly observed (Farah 167).

Male circumcision is required in Islam according to tradition and Muhammad’s example (Sunnah) (Esposito, What Everyone 101). Circumcision symbolizes submission to God’s will. It is an important part of a boy’s life showing a transition to adulthood that includes male responsibilities and attendance to public prayer. This circumcision rite launches the boy’s formal study of the Quran at school (Farah 167). The daughter on the other hand stays close to the house where she receives her education. The girl is taught to become a good housewife and mother. The parents’ main concern is about a properly arrange marriage (Farah, 167).

For Muslims, the Quran is the central religious text that guides their prayer rituals, worship services, and family traditions. Memorization of the entire Quran brings immense prestige and merit. The Quran provides rules that guide a person in relation to modesty, marriage, divorce, inheritance, feuding, intoxicants, gambling, diet, theft, murder, fornication, and adultery (Esposito, Islam 29).

The Quran emphasizes service to God because is their belief that it is on earth and in society that God’s will is to govern and prevail (Esposito, Islam 28). Islam is not only a religion but an all-embracing way of life (Farah, 14). The Quran is the sacred text that is most widely read in the world today (Farah 79). As a result, Muslims use it to help guide their spiritual life all over the world.

Works Cited

Ahmed, Akbar S. Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World. London: I.B.Tauris, 1999.

Esposito, John L. Islam: the Straight Path. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.

Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. New York: Oxford UP, 2002.

Farah, Caesar E. Islam: Beliefs and Observances. 7th ed. Hauppauge: Barron’s, 2003.

Rippin, Andrew. Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Vol. 2. London: Routledge, 2001.

Williams, John A., ed. Islam. New York: Washington Square P Inc., 1961.

Zepp Jr., Ira G. A Muslim Primer: Beginner’s Guide to Islam. 2nd ed. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas P, 2000.