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Schools, Lineages, and Movements (1)
The Reformation (44)
Theology and Philosophy of Religion (61)
Theology and Philosophy of Religion x
Baptism in Martin Luther's Theology
Kirsi Stjerna
Baptism opens a window to the heart of Martin Luther's 16th-century theology. It offers a perspective for how Luther understands the impact of grace and its channels, as well as the nature of justification in an individual's life. In his teaching about baptism, Luther demonstrates the vital working of the Word and lays a foundation for a Word-centered and faith-oriented spirituality. With baptism, Luther articulates his vision for the purpose of the Church and the rationale for sacraments. Baptism reveals different sides of the theologian: one who argues with a zeal on the "necessity" of baptism and its meaningful God-mandated practice in Christian communities and another who imagines God's saving grace too expansive to be limited to any ritual. The apparent tensions in Luther's articulation can be understood from his overlapping agendas and different audiences: in his baptismal talk, Luther is both processing his own Angst about salvation and negotiating his developing position in relation to the medieval sacramental theology and other emerging reform solutions. While feistily refuting his opponents, he is also speaking from his personal religious experience of being as if reborn with the encounter of the Word of grace and passionately extrapolating his most foundational conviction: God's unconditional promise of grace as the ground of being for human life, given to humanity in the Word. The matter of baptism leads to the roots of different Christian "confessional" traditions. The format of the ritual has generated less anxiety than differing theological opinions on (1) the role of faith in the validity of baptism, and (2) the effects of baptism in one's life. Whether infant or adult baptism is favored depends on whether baptism is primarily understood as a sign of faith, a cause of forgiveness and transformation, or an initiation into the Christian community—or all of the above. Baptism is at the center of Luther's theological nervous system; it connects with every other vital thread in the theological map. Baptism is a mystery and a matter of faith; it calls for a philosophical imagination and mystical willingness to grasp the questions of reality beyond what meets the eye. "I study it daily," Luther admits in his "Large Catechism." "In baptism, therefore, every Christian has enough to study and practice all his or her life. Christians always have enough to do to believe firmly what baptism promises and brings."
Biology and Theology: Contemporary Issues
Celia Deane-Drummond
Contemporary issues in biology and Christian theology are still dominated by the legacy of 19th-century biologist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Debates in evolutionary biology in relation to religious belief have been reinforced by historical myths that stress conflict over integration. More conservative branches of Christianity, often allied to particular Protestant traditions, argue for a form of popular theology that attempts to compete with science, namely, creationism. More sophisticated versions of this position may appear under the guise of intelligent design, though creationism and intelligent design are not synonymous. The mirror image of this position has developed among biologists who identify themselves as new atheists, adding further fuel to the fire of an existing controversy. Methodologically speaking, the engagement of biology and theology will depend on different philosophical presuppositions according to basic models of (a) conflict, (b) independence, (c) dialogue, and (d) integration. The biological sciences also have broader relevance to allied subject domains including, for example: (a) ecological, agricultural, animal, and environmental sciences; (b) anthropological, social, and political sciences; (c) medical sciences, including genetic science and embryo development; and (d) new technologies that include bioengineering. Theological engagement with the biological component of each of these domains is particularly intense where there are controversial ethical issues at stake that seem to challenge specific Christian beliefs about human nature or divine purpose. A more positive approach to the biological sciences that draws on research in the constructive systematic theological task, while avoiding historically naïve forms of natural theology, is starting to emerge in the literature. Within Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christian traditions, there is a spectrum of possible positions, such that the field of science and theology as a whole tends to be ecumenical in orientation rather than divided along denominational boundaries. The Catholic and Orthodox churches, however, give greater precedence to official statements by their respective churches that then influence public reception of controversial issues in biology and theology in particular ways.
Certainty and Security in Martin Luther's Theology
Susan E. Schreiner
Crucial for Luther's theology and his own experience was the question of whether one's salvation was certain. And the security of the truth which underlay doctrine was complexly related to that question. Luther thus received and developed notions of certitude and security. The concepts as Luther inherited them have a long and somewhat complicated history that can be traced back to ancient Greece. These terms were often distinct throughout antiquity and up to contemporary times. The term "security" has referred to the realm of the political; namely, the security or tranquility of the city state or "nation" both in terms of physical security in times of conflict and also in the history of law. Certitude has a more complex history. For example, Aristotle often understood certainty or akribeia to mean precision, especially in mathematical terms. Those sciences that had the most properties removed (aphaeresis) were the most precise and consequently the most certain. Most prominent in the history of certitudo was the issue of epistemic certainty. Thus we find in Augustine's doctrine of illumination that uncreated, immutable exemplars were the guarantors of certainty. It was in the later Middle Ages that the issue of epistemic certainty, in the form of mental representation, became a controversial topic. Scotus criticized Henry of Ghent's views of human cognition and contended that certainty could be had only of self-evident propositions, knowledge of contingent acts, repeated occurrences ordained by God, and sense knowledge of the external world. Ockham argued for epistemic certainty on the basis of self-evident propositions and, most importantly, the reliability of intuitive cognition of individual external objects. Certainty also had a long history in Christian theology and most often referred to the certainty of faith. Certitude was the conviction of the truth regarding the contents of the faith. Frequently the issue referred to the relationship between faith and reason. Certainty referred primarily to definition of the Christian faith. Not surprisingly, throughout the Christian tradition, certainty was related to the problem of heresy. The early church Fathers tried to establish orthodox doctrine over and against various heretical groups. Everyone agreed that the foundation for Christian truth was Scripture. However, different people interpreted the Bible in ways that were judged to be contrary to Christian faith. Around the year 434, Vincent of Lérins provided a rule that distinguished Catholic truth from heresy. This "Vincentian Canon" required that Christian truth be that which was believed everywhere, always, and by all (Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus). These criteria guaranteed the certainty and stability of doctrine. One target of Vincent's was probably Augustine, because he could be quoted against himself. Due to the many conversions in his life, Augustine made many pronouncements he later retracted, and such retractions were not meant to contribute to uncertainty about the faith. Medieval Scholastic inheritors of Augustine continued to define faith as a cognitive certitude. Their training in dialectic was crucial because it provided the certainty of doctrine against heretics. Luther was trained in dialectic, but in his Disputation against Scholastic Philosophy he opposed the use of Aristotle and logic in theology. Nonetheless, dialectic remained a subject in the university at Wittenberg. Dialectic could not answer the questions of certainty for which Luther sought answers. His questions were about the certainty of salvation and, for Luther, this certainty could only be found in Scripture and the experience of the Holy Spirit. Such certainty also required a redefinition of faith. As the various reformations continued to divide Western Christendom, controversies about the exegesis of Scripture multiplied both among various reformers and between reformers and Catholics. Throughout the course of the turbulent 16th century, the real source of certainty for all parties became the Holy Spirit. Throughout the late Middle Ages, certainty and security referred to the relationship between the individual and God. For Martin Luther and the other Protestant reformers, these terms took on a meaning beyond the faithful knowledge of the contents of the faith. Any examination of Luther's writings show that he used "security" and "certainty" synonymously to refer to the certitude of salvation whereby one experienced the security, assurance, and certitude of God's benevolent will. Moreover, despite his lack of a firm terminology, Luther meant the same thing by "the certainty of forgiveness," "the certainty of justification," and "the certainty of God's good will," as well as the phrase, "the certainty of being in a state of grace." All of these phrases referred to the certainty of salvation or the security of knowing that God's benevolence was directed to one's own individual salvation.
Christian Feminist Theology and the Arts
Elizabeth Ursic
Christian theology is the study of God and religious belief based on the Christian Bible and tradition. For over 2,000 years, Christian theologians have been primarily men writing from men's perspectives and experiences. In the 1960s, women began to study to become theologians when the women's rights movement opened doors to higher education for women. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, female theologians developed Christian feminist theology with a focus on women's perspectives and experiences. Christian feminist theology seeks to empower women through their Christian faith and supports the equality of women and men based on Christian scripture. "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). The arts have an important role in Christian feminist theology because a significant way Christians learn about their faith is through the arts, and Christians engage the arts in the practice of their faith. Christian feminist theology in the visual arts can be found in paintings, sculptures, icons, and liturgical items such as processional crosses. Themes in visual expression include female and feminine imagery of God from the Bible as well as female leaders in the scriptures. Christian feminist theology in performing arts can be found in hymns, prayers, music, liturgies, and rituals. Performative expressions include inclusive language for humanity and God as well as expressions that celebrate Christian women and address women's life experiences. The field of Christian feminist theology and the arts is vast in terms of types of arts represented and the variety of ways Christianity is practiced around the world. Representing Christian feminist theology with art serves to communicate both visually and performatively that all are one in Christ.
Creation and Contingency
Dirk Evers
Contingency is a term that occurs in philosophical discourse as well as in theology in a number of contexts and with a number of meanings. In its modern sense the English term contingency refers to events, processes, or properties that may occur, but are not certain to occur; or that have, but might not have, occurred, because they depend on factors beyond our knowledge or which themselves are contingent. Generally speaking, it refers to events, objects, and properties that could be otherwise, that do not have to be as they are, and that do not have to be at all, and for whose existence we cannot give a sufficient cause. Thus contingency covers a whole range of meanings, including "not necessary," "by chance," "random," and "unpredictable." In the discourse on science, the debate pivots on questions of determinism vs. indeterminism in physics (especially in quantum physics and in systems theory), on the contingent character of the cosmos and its fundamental physical laws, and on the question of whether the development of evolution and the actual forms of life that result from it are merely coincidental in biology. Some have referred to the first form of contingency as nomological and to the second as local contingency (Robert J. Russell, "Contingency in Physics and Cosmology: A Critique of the Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg," Zygon 23.1 [1988]). The alternative is between physical determinism (all events necessarily follow from prior initial conditions, so that contingency only refers to a lack of knowledge) and indeterminism (some events are not determined by prior conditions, hence contingency is an ontological fact). In religion and theology, contingency often marks the fundamental difference between the Creator and creation. It is used in ontological and cosmological proofs of the existence of God in the sense that all created beings cannot account for their own existence, but—in their contingency—point to a Creator, who is not contingent, but the necessary ground of his or her own being. However, it is disputed whether such a conclusion is valid or itself contingent. Another divide is between those who argue for total divine predestination (God determines everything that happens; again contingency is only a human category regarding insufficient knowledge and insight) and those who argue that God leaves some things to chance or to being determined autonomously by created entities. A consequence of the latter view seems to be that God cannot have sufficient fore-knowledge with regard to the process of creation so that God's omniscience and omnipotence seem in danger. On the other hand, the option of total predestination faces the problem that in its view the Creator seems to be responsible for everything, including all evil.
The Distinction between Law and Gospel in Martin Luther's Theological Development
Charles P. Arand
Martin Luther's insistence on the proper distinction between law and gospel in theology marks one of his most important contributions to the Reformation movement and subsequent Protestant theology. In particular, it played the critical role in Luther's "breakthrough" by which he came to his understanding of God's righteousness and his justification of the sinner. The distinction between law and gospel served at least two key functions in his thought. First, it kept the story of Christ focused on the benefits to people achieved by his death and resurrection. In this way, it magnified Christ's work in accomplishing a person's justification. As a corollary, it provided consolation to Christians struggling with the burden of their sins. Second, the distinction of law and gospel served as a hermeneutical tool for pastors not only to interpret the scriptures in line with their purpose, but also to apply the scriptures in a pastoral way to the lives of their people in order to comfort them and to strengthen their faith. Luther's distinction of law and gospel raised questions for his followers regarding the law and whether or not it had any positive role to play within the Christian life. Luther's distinction between law and gospel is closely related to several other distinctions in his theology. First, it bears a number of similarities with Luther's distinction of the two kinds of righteousness. But whereas the latter focuses on a description of anthropology, law and gospel focuses on the works of God by which he brings about two kinds of righteousness in the life of a person. Second, law and gospel is also related to Luther's distinction of the two realms. But whereas the latter focuses on how God rules with his left hand for the well-being of creation and with his right hand for the well-being of the church, law and gospel deal with the two works of God by which he brings about his goals for creation and the church. In the centuries since, scholars have debated aspects of Luther's distinction, particularly as it impinged on the understanding of the third use of the law.
Eucharistic Liturgy and Theology
John Baldovin
The Eucharist is a liturgical meal of bread and wine, which is almost always preceded by a service of reading the Scriptures. Christians attribute the origin of the Eucharist to Jesus Christ himself at the Last Supper on the night before he died. Many Christians regard the Eucharist as a sacrament and as their central ritual, and many celebrate the Eucharist weekly or even more often. This sacred meal has had various names throughout history: the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, the Offering, the Divine Liturgy, the Mass. The most common name in the early 21st century, however, is Eucharist, which derives from the Greek word Eucharistia, a thanksgiving. What we know since the 3rd century as the basic form of the Christian Eucharist is most probably the result of a number of trajectories from the first 150 years of Christianity coming together, including: fellowship meals in remembrance of Jesus, celebrations of his passion and resurrection, and the tradition of his significant meals such as the Last Supper and the Supper at Emmaus (Luke 24). In the late 4th and 5th centuries, many local traditions coalesced to produce (1) a basic common form of Eucharistic liturgy consisting of entrance rite, liturgy of the word, homily, prayers, the sharing of a kiss of peace, presentation of gifts of bread and wine, Eucharistic prayer, Lord's Prayer, fraction of the bread, distribution of communion, and dismissal; and (2) the various traditional liturgical families tied to major Christian cities: Byzantine (Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch), Coptic (Alexandria), East Syrian (Edessa), and Roman. The church of the first millennium knew a common affirmation of the understanding of Christ's real presence in the Eucharistic elements as well as a variety of ways of expressing the notion of Eucharist as sacrifice. The first controversies over how to express Christ's presence arose in the 9th century, and they rose to a crescendo with Berengar of Tours in the 11th century. The most sophisticated explanation of that presence (transubstantiation) was provided by Thomas Aquinas in the mid-13th century. The Protestant reformers of the 16th century made various criticisms of traditional Roman Catholic theology and practice. They insisted on using the language of the people, giving communion in both bread and wine, and dismissing the language of Eucharistic sacrifice. The Reformed tradition (John Calvin) and the Lutheran differed considerably, however, on how to affirm Christ's presence in the Eucharistic celebration, with Luther taking a much more realist position and Calvin a more "spiritual" understanding. The Church of England was reluctant to take sides in this discussion and its own theological position on the Eucharist remains a matter of debate. The liturgical movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, combined with renewed interest in biblical and patristic scholarship, has produced a remarkable convergence among various Christian churches, and it has led to Eucharistic liturgies among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists that bear a notable similarity to one another.
God in Martin Luther
Jan-Olav Henriksen
Luther's understanding of God saturates his oeuvre, and in turn, this understanding is saturated by his doctrine of the justification of the sinner. God is the sovereign source and origin of all that is, and Luther develops his understanding of God in a manner that tries to safeguard this position in such a way that the personal relationship to God becomes the focus point for all he says. The doctrine of God as creator and as savior is modeled in a parallel way in Luther, as he sees God as the source of everything positively in both contexts. God is the sole giver of the gifts that human life requires. As creator, God is omnipresent, omniscient, and sovereign. Nothing can determine God. God is accordingly also the only instance in reality that has free will. Everything else is dependent on God, God's foreknowledge, and God's predestination. It is possible to see Luther's position as an attempt to offer the human being a reliable and trustworthy notion of God, someone he or she can cling to in times of despair and desolation. The only God who deserves to be God, who is trustworthy with regard to being able to provide a safe and reliable basis for human life, is the God who justifies the sinner because of God's own righteousness. In contrast, a human who puts her trust in herself and her own works or merits makes herself a god and will not be able to stand justified coram deo in the last judgment. Luther develops the idea about God's hiddenness in different ways, most notably in his ideas about the hidden God in De servo arbitrio. But also in his notion of the theology of the Cross in the Heidelberg Disputation, and in other places where he writes about the masks of God, behind which God hides in order to do God's work, we can see related or similar ideas. Thus, Luther develops an ambiguous element in his understanding of God.
The Incarnation in Martin Luther's Theology
Anne Käfer
Luther's understanding of the Incarnation concerns various subject areas in his theology, among them his understanding of scripture, his teaching on the sacraments in particular, as well as his description of a human being's life of faith. All these subject areas are based on Luther's Christology, which is essentially determined by his insights into the Incarnation and the humanity of God in Jesus Christ. Luther's description of the Incarnation and the humanity of God is particularly oriented towards the creed of Chalcedon. The insight that Christ is at the same time true human and true god is something Luther holds as relevant to salvation. For this reason, it is important for him on the one hand to think about the Incarnation of God in a Trinitarian context and thereby to highlight Christ's divine existence. On the other hand, he refers to the concept of the Virgin Birth in order to show that God was born a real human being. Luther describes the union of God and man in Christ principally as a reciprocal exchange of the respective divine and human characteristics. He uses the figure of the communication of properties (communicatio idiomatum) to highlight the Incarnation's fundamental significance for salvation, which becomes manifest in the course of Christ's life. Luther's conception of the fact and manner in which human and divine natures are united with each other in Christ is of soteriological relevance. With the incarnate God, the sin that Christ has taken upon himself for the salvation of humankind is defeated on the Cross, since by virtue of his human nature the characteristics of being able to suffer and to die were proper to the incarnate Son of God. Accordingly, God himself suffers and dies on the Cross in Christ for his own creatures under the burden of their sins. On the Cross, the God who died in Christ and with his resurrection has overcome the death of sin meets his creatures so that they attain faith and ultimately eternal life in community with God. This saving event is, according to Luther, founded in God's immeasurable love. The saving effectiveness of Incarnation, Cross, and resurrection presupposes Christian proclamation, according to Luther. The preaching of the incarnate God is needed, so that through the operation of the Holy Spirit the truth of the proclaimed event can be recognized and faith can thereby arise. In faith in the Son of God who has become man, the believer himself experiences a most intimate connection with Christ. According to Luther, this community of faith determines the consummation of the life of the believer, who therefore lives in love for God and for neighbor because the love of God has been revealed to him/her in Christ. The community of Christ's faithful with one another is, according to Luther, above all formed through the celebration of the sacraments. In celebrating them, the believers experience the real presence of the incarnate God in Christ, through whom they are bound in faith based on the communication of properties between the human and divine natures.
The Influence of Renaissance Humanism and Skepticism on Martin Luther
William J. Wright
When Martin Luther began his academic studies at Erfurt, Renaissance humanism and skepticism had become well entrenched in the German academic world. He also found them at Wittenberg. Starting with Petrarch, humanists appeared in Italy who acquired the skills necessary to find solutions to their needs in the content of ancient pagan classics and Christian writings. Two major groups of humanists existed after the mid-15th century with distinct solutions for the needs they felt: rhetorical humanists epitomized by Valla and Neoplatonic humanists led by Ficino and Pico. Rhetorical humanism appealed to the heart and exempted the truth of Christian teachings from skepticism. Neoplatonic humanism sought to establish absolute truth by synthesizing the wisdom of all religions and philosophies. It is well-known today that ultramontane Renaissance humanism was imported from Italy by large numbers of students from the north who studied there. German and other northern humanists mostly followed either in the path laid by Valla or that of Ficino and Pico. Luther was a beneficiary of the Christian humanism and biblicism of the rhetorical path, which also led to the development of the loci method of learning and the educational work of Melanchthon. The Neoplatonic path led to further development of logical solutions based on both Plato and Aristotle. This path developed remarkable syntheses of Christianity with ancient and medieval philosophies and religions, mostly meant to improve Christian life. Though familiar with the Neoplatonic path, Luther did not accept its basic views.
Islamic Theological Views on Darwinian Evolution
Nidhal Guessoum
The various positions that Muslim scholars have adopted vis-à-vis Darwin's theory of evolution since its inception in 1859 are here reviewed with an eye on the theological arguments that are embraced, whether explicitly or implicitly. A large spectrum of views and arguments are thus found, ranging from total rejection to total acceptance, including "human exceptionalism" (evolution is applicable to all organisms and animals but not to humans). The two main theological arguments that are thus extracted from Muslim scholars' discussions of evolution are: 1) Is God excluded by the evolutionary paradigm or does the term "Creator" acquire a new definition? 2) Does Adam still exist in the human evolution scenario, and how to include his Qur'anic story in the scientific scenario? Additional, but less crucial issues are sometimes raised in Islamic discussions of evolution: a) Does the extinction of innumerable species during the history of life on earth conflict with the traditional view of God's creation? b) Is theodicy ("the problem of evil") exacerbated or explained by evolution? c) Are "species" well-defined and important biological entities in the Islamic worldview? d) Can the randomness that seems inherent in the evolutionary process be reconciled with a divine creation plan? These questions are here reviewed through the writings and arguments of Muslim scholars, and general conclusions are drawn about why rejectionists find it impossible to address those issues in a manner that is consistent with their religious principles and methods, and why more progressive, less literalistic scholars are able to fold those issues within a less rigid conception of God and the world.
Jesus Christ in Martin Luther's Theology
Johannes Zachhuber
Luther's theology is strongly Christocentric, but Christology is rarely the central focus of his writings. In some of his most considered summaries of his own faith, he presents Chalcedonian Christology alongside the church's teaching on the Trinity as the uncontroversial foundation of the Catholic faith, which he shared with his opponents. At the same time, it is evident that Luther's most celebrated theological innovations, including his teaching on justification by faith, his theology of the cross, his soteriology, and in particular his doctrine of the Eucharist, had considerable Christological implications that sometimes seem at variance with received orthodoxy. Luther's Christology must therefore be largely reconstructed from these various strands in his thought. The result is a distinctive albeit not systematic Christology that is focused on the paradoxical unity of divine and human in Christ. In this, Luther often appears close to the teaching of the Alexandrian fathers, but with a much fuller emphasis on the concrete humanity of the savior. His historical debt to late scholasticism is most evident in his few, albeit consequential, attempts to enter into the field of technical Christological doctrine, especially his affirmation in his controversy with Zwingli of the ubiquity of Christ's human nature after the ascension.
Liturgical Theology
Joris Geldhof
Liturgical theology studies the meaning of Christian worship. Although it is a relatively recent approach, it is solidly anchored in the Christian tradition. Its present shape, fame, and impact would not be what they are and its major representatives would not be able to do what they are doing without the lasting influence of the Liturgical Movement and some inspiring figures that helped shape its theological profile. Their ideas and writings were widely received beyond linguistic and denominational borders and continue to be influential in the early 21st century. More concretely, the key to comprehending what liturgical theologians do lies in their appeal to and usage of the liturgy, broadly understood as the Church's ritual, prayer, and worship practices. Therefore, liturgical theology is not so much a subdiscipline corresponding with a specific object of research and requiring a set of specialized methods, but rather a way of theologizing pertaining to the entire scope and content of the Christian faith and religion. Liturgical theologians interpret the liturgy as the normative horizon for any theoretical theological reflection and take the liturgy not as the only but definitely as the primary source for theology. This operational principle is reflected in the age-old adage lex orandi, lex credendi, which in its earliest formulation implies that the "law of faith," or belief content, is determined, or shaped, by the "law of prayer," or liturgical praxis. Because liturgical theology is still a field in full development, it faces a lot of challenges for the future—both within the Church and in the academy—but at the same time entails a promising ecumenical potential.
Martin Luther on the Vocations of the Christian
Robert Benne
A teaching of Martin Luther that has had great historical effect is his teaching on vocation. Protesting the Roman Catholic arrangement in which the clergy had callings of higher religious and moral significance than the laity, Luther taught that all Christians have callings or vocations, and that all callings are equal in moral and religious seriousness. They only differ in function. This teaching unleashed unprecedented commitment and energy to worldly work in the Western world. Paralleling his teaching on the priesthood of all believers, Luther taught that all Christians are called by God through Christ to be his beloved and forgiven children, and that they need no mediators to receive that graceful call directly. At the same time, however, Christians who receive that grace through Christ become priests to their neighbors, mediating God's love through them to the neighbor. They do that very concretely in their vocations. Thus, Christians become conduits of God's love received through Christ and offered to the neighbor in the various places of responsibility they have been given. For Luther, Christians do not need to cast about for places to exercise their obedience; they were given in the orders of creation into which each Christian was inevitably placed—marriage and family life, work, citizenship, and church. Each person—lay and clergy alike—is called to work in the world. In fulfilling their work gladly and conscientiously, they serve their neighbor. Plain ordinary work is transformed into a Christian vocation as the Christian exercises his faith-active-in-love. Work is no longer simply a job or occupation; it is a calling, a vocation. It is a summons from God. Vocation is also where the Spirit sanctifies the Christian's life, not in a self-centered quest for perfection, but rather in humble service to the neighbor. While Luther thought there were some occupations that were off-limits to Christians, he accepted most worldly roles as useful to the neighbor. The Christian could be a soldier in a just war and even a hangman in a just cause. One alleged weakness of the classic Lutheran teaching on vocation, however, was that it tended to accept uncritically the roles prescribed by the world. In such teaching, the Christian willingly does what the world prescribes. However, recent Lutheran interpretations of vocation are more dynamic. For example, Gustav Wingren, in Luther on Vocation, argued not only that the orders of creation are dynamic and call for constructive change, but that in Christian vocation the two ways that God reigns in the world intersect. The Christian under the reign of God's gospel interjects the love liberated by that gospel into one's worldly occupation, transforming it into a genuine vocation. Love has a transformative effect. It functions critically and constructively. Lutheranism at its best has incorporated more dynamic elements into its great teaching on vocation.
The Luther Renaissance
Heinrich Assel
The Luther Renaissance is the most important international network for Luther research, as well as an ecclesial, ecumenical and cultural reform movement between 1900 and 1960 in Germany, Scandinavia, and Finland. It was the first exemplary attempt to construct theologically, under the conditions of modernity, a coherent unity of Reformation thought, based on various national discourses and with a focus on the person and experience of Martin Luther. For European Luther studies between 1910 and 1960, the impact of the Luther Renaissance is essential in regard to heuristics, methodology, and scientific results, as well as its ecclesial, cultural, and ecumenical applications. This impact, though declining since 1960, is still vivid, even in critiques and in the shift of paradigms in Luther research. Recent research has comprehensively evaluated the national trends of the Luther Renaissance in Germany and in Sweden. Research has later addressed the Luther Renaissance in Denmark, Norway, and Finland. Theologically, the German Luther Renaissance is the "other new start" in Protestantism after 1918, besides and alongside Dialectical Theology; scientifically, the Luther Renaissance responds to the crisis of historicism (e.g., in the work of Ernst Troeltsch) and is intertwined with the rise of Weberian-influenced religious history and sociology. It originated around 1910 with the gewissensreligiöse interpretation of Luther's first Commentary on Romans (1515/1516, rediscovered and newly edited in 1908) by Karl Holl. Its visible breakthrough as a new theological paradigm came with Holl's Luther, a comprehensive collection of his studies on Luther written between 1909 and 1921. In Germany the Luther Renaissance included Karl Holl (1886–1926) and his school, most prominently Emanuel Hirsch (1888–1972); Carl Stange (1870–1959), and his network, including Rudolf Hermann (1887–1962) and Paul Althaus (1888–1966). It also comprised younger theologians such as Hans Joachim Iwand (1899–1960) or, in his early work, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945). The German Luther Renaissance emphasized the foundational status of the experience of justification in two respects: in terms of religion as a "worldview" (Dilthey) and as a social theory of confessions (Troeltsch, Weber). Concurrent neo-Idealistic and neo-Kantian philosophies of religion were the background for interpreting justification as a foundational and orientational religious experience in the "crisis of modernity" after 1918. The elaboration of this program during the 1920s developed in different directions, with increasingly contradictory results in the two branches of the Luther Renaissance: the school of Karl Holl, and the German-Swedish network of Stange, Hermann, Nygren Runestam, and Aulén. After 1933 international cooperation within the Luther Renaissance disintegrated because of contradictory theological, ecclesial, and political positions in conformity with or in critique of the (church) politics of the German Nazi party, with its militarism, racism, and totalitarianism. The German Luther Renaissance had lost its international nature by the end of the 1930s. Current and forthcoming research will have to evaluate historically the international network of the Luther Renaissance before 1933, between 1933 and 1945, and after 1945, including the function of political theologies within the Luther Renaissance—both the totalitarian, racist, and fascist types, and the liberal-democratic, welfare-state types. The foci of recent and forthcoming research are overarching topics of the international Luther Renaissance; source strata of the later reception of Luther, methodological constraints and deficits of different national discourses as possible reasons for the shift of paradigms around 1960, and the long-lasting impacts of the Luther Renaissance.
Martin Luther and Love
Antti Raunio
The questions of love's nature and its different forms were crucial to Martin Luther from the beginning of his theological career. Already as a young monk and theologian he struggled with the human incapacity to love God and sought a satisfying answer to this problem. He criticized the views of late medieval theologians such as Duns Scotus and Gabriel Biel and developed his own interpretation on the basis of the distinction between human and divine love. In the 1930s, the Swedish theologian Anders Nygren presented an interpretation of Luther's theology of love that became widely accepted. Nygren made a strong distinction between two kinds of love and called them eros and agape. In his view they were contradictory to each other. Only the latter, selfless and disinterested agape, which gives to the object its value, is proper Christian love. For Nygren, Luther is the main representative of Christian agape, which is directed from God to a human being and from that human being to a neighbor. A human's love of God is actually excluded, and God is considered to be the object of faith. The strength of Nygren's view has probably prevented a larger discussion of Luther's theology of love. Nevertheless, since the 1980s some scholars have criticized Nygren's interpretation of Luther. Among Catholic Luther scholars, Peter Manns in particular was interested in Luther's conception of love of God and its connections with monastic theology. On the Lutheran side, Tuomo Mannermaa came to Luther's theology of love from the viewpoint of the relation between faith and love. For Mannermaa, "faith" in Luther's view is above all real participation in Christ and through him in the life of the Triune God. This led Mannermaa to think about Christian love in terms of real participation in divine love. In understanding the ontological nature of love, Mannermaa thus clearly differs from Nygren's value-theoretical approach. When seeking answers to his questions concerning Christian love, Luther used elements of the theological tradition. As an Augustinian monk, he could adhere to many emphases of his own order: Christian life as love of God and one's neighbor, receiving of God and his gifts and denying oneself, and living in Christian unanimity where Christians have one mind and one heart. Luther interpreted all these Augustinian aspects through his own understanding of self-giving divine love, which sets one in the other's position in order to understand his or her needs. Such love fulfills the demand of the law, which orders one to love God above all and one's neighbor as oneself. To love God means to consider him to be goodness itself and the source of everything good, as well as to will the same with him. In other words, one has to set oneself in God's position in order to understand that the only living God wants and needs to be considered as such. Only then is one able to receive everything good from God and to serve one's neighbors with everything one has. The self-giving divine love gives to its objects their existence, goodness, beauty, righteousness, strength, wisdom, and wealth. In this sense, everything comes from God. A human being is meant to love with a similar love, which is oriented to those who are "nothing," sinful, weak, poor, foolish, or unpleasant, in order to make them living, righteous, holy, strong, wise, and pleasant. This kind of love does not "seek one's own" from its objects but gives them what it is and has. However, it does not exclude love of good and of things, such as God himself and his beautiful creatures. They may and should be loved because of their divine goodness, not because of some benefit which one may get from them. Luther often says that God is to be loved in one's suffering, needy, and ailing neighbors. God is thus hidden within disadvantaged humans, so that his goodness is to be seen only through them. But God may also be loved when one has experienced his love and mercy. Then one experiences how God loves one who in himself or herself is "nothing." This experience arises from love as thankfulness and from joy in God's goodness. In both cases God is loved as a good and merciful heavenly Father, but without the intention of seeking for one's own benefit from him. The love of God in this sense means that one does not "dictate" to God what is the good that she awaits from God, but is ready to receive everything that God wants to give.


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Notes et références

Annexes

Liens externes

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Salve UR
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Prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing
Urmi Ravindra Salve
Department of Ergonomics and Human Factor Engineering, National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Date of Web Publication 14-May-2015
Department of Design, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati - 781 039, Assam
Background: The workers engaged in jewellery manufacturing exposed to various occupational risk factors that lead to development of musculoskeletal disorders. But there is scarcity of reporting the prevalence of the musculoskeletal disorders among them. Aims: To evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers engaged in jewellery manufacturing in India. Setting and Design: Case Control Study. Methods and Material: This study was divided into two phases. First phase: prevalence rate were calculated using Modified Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and compared with the control group. Second phase: strength, flexibility and tightness of the muscle groups (neck, lower back and knee) were evaluated through physical examination for the subjects who reported positive prevalence. Statistical Analysis: A comparative inferential statistics was used. Results: This study was divided into two phases. First phase: prevalence rate were calculated using Modified Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and compared with the control group. Second phase:strength, flexibility and tightness of the muscle groups (neck, lower back and knee) were evaluated through physical examination for the subjects who reported positive prevalence. Conclusions: The musculoskeletal disorders among the workers engaged in jewellery manufacturing were found to be specific to the occupation.
Keywords: Disability, low back pain, range of motion, strength
Salve UR. Prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing. Indian J Occup Environ Med 2015;19:44-55
Salve UR. Prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing. Indian J Occup Environ Med [serial online] 2015 [cited 2021 Jan 16];19:44-55. Available from: https://www.ijoem.com/text.asp?2015/19/1/44/157008
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are injuries or disorders of the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage, and supporting structures of the upper and lower limbs, neck, and lower back that are caused, precipitated or exacerbated by sudden exertion or prolonged exposure to physical factors such as repetition, force, vibration, or awkward posture. [1] Costs of MSDs are well-accepted in the industry in developing and developed countries. [1],[2],[3],[4],[5] The risk factors of MSDs are divided into occupational and nonoccupational factors. Sedentary work population is prone to various MSDs as there are various risk factors present at the workplace. [6] Disk herniation for sedentary people, who work in a sitting condition is well reported in the literature. [7],[8] Health and safety executive and European agency of safety and health at work suggest that sedentary work style has an association with the low back pain. [9],[10] The same concept is also accepted in recent literature. [11] The jewelry manufacturing process is sedentary in nature and requires prolonged sitting occupying the same posture. There are various studies available, which reports that there are risk factors are present, for developing the MSDs, at the workplace of jewelry manufacturing. [12] The prevalence rate of various MSDs is not reported well in literature for the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing. Even though, large number of workforce is engaged, and the profession is engaged in substantial economic activity, jewelry manufacturing has received very little attention with reference to occupational health related problems, especially MSDs. [13],[14],[15],[16],[17],[18] Therefore, a study need was felt to evaluate the prevalence rate of various musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing.
Selection of subjects
Selection of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing (Group 1)
Minimum 1-year experience in the same job (jewelry manufacturing) was the inclusion criteria for Group 1.
Selection of the control group (Group II)
Graduate students, who were engaged in the post bachelor study considered as a control group and were selected based on following criteria.
Age-matched
They occupy mostly sitting posture during normal work schedule
The activities are sedentary in nature.
Study location
Workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing: Various jewelry manufacturing units, Mumbai, India
Control group: Educational Institutes, Mumbai, India.
Approval of the study from ethics committee
The study was duly approved by the Institutional Human Ethics Committee, Department of Physiology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India.
After explaining the purpose of the study and the study protocol, signed informed consents were obtained from all the participants, who participated in this study (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control group).
Descriptive and analytical statistics were computed using NCSS, 2004.
The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the prevalence rate was identified among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and compared with the control group. In the second phase of the study, physical assessment was carried out for the subjects, who were having positive responses for musculoskeletal discomfort and then again compared with the control group. Tools and methods followed in the study were as follows:
Questionnaire study using modified Nordic musculoskeletal disorders
Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ) was developed by a group of researchers to screen the MSDs as a part of the ergonomic program and epidemiological studies on MSDs. [19] The questionnaire is used for identifying the presence of physical troubles including ache, pain, and discomfort for past 12 months and past 7 days in each of the body parts (neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists/hands, upper back, low back, both hips/thighs/buttock, both knees, ankle/feet). It also evaluates grades of frequency by using a measure of functional status: "How often you get or had (specific body parts) the trouble?." Length of the persistence of the trouble also evaluated by asking "what is the total length of time that you had (specific body parts) trouble during the last 12 months?" Severity of the trouble is also evaluated by using a three-point scale (mild, moderate, and severe). NMQ is used in the present study as it is accepted universally as a screening tool to evaluate the work related MSDs. [20] MSD survey was carried out using modified NMQ [21] on the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and the control group. Annual and weekly prevalence data were obtained and compared for both the groups using statistical software (NCSS, 2004). In the present study, the difference in the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort between the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control group were calculated using Chi-square test.
Experimental procedure
The purpose of this part of the study was explained to all the participants. Furthermore, it has been explained to the owners of the jewelry manufacturing units. The responses were obtained at the workplace for the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and at the classrooms for the control group.
Physical examination for musculoskeletal disorders
In order to ascertain the nature of specific musculoskeletal problems, specific MSD diagnostic tests were carried out. The examinations were carried out under the supervision of a qualified physical therapist. The strength, range of motion (ROM), and tightness of the specific muscle groups were tested for back, neck, and knee. The test protocol [22],[23] was as follows:
Inspection (observation): An inspection is an organized examination or formal evaluation. Observing any specific body discomfort or pain or any deformities in the body parts considered as inspection
Palpation (the examination of the body using the sense of touch): Palpation is used as part of a physical examination in which an object is felt (usually with the hands) to determine its size, shape, firmness, or location
Range of motion: ROM refers to the number of degrees of motion that are present in the joint. ROM is classified in three groups; active, passive, and resistant
Muscular and neurological examinations: It is a systematic examination that surveys the functioning of nerves delivering sensory information to the brain and carrying motor commands (peripheral nervous system) and impulses back to the brain for processing and coordinating (central nervous system)
Strength of specific body parts: Strength of back, neck, and knee muscles were measured using preferred method (Appendix 1). Grade represents an examiner's assessment of the strength of a muscle group.
• Phase I - self-reported MSD problems using standardized NMQ
The response rates were 81.4% (407/500) and 89.09% (89/110) for workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control group respectively. However, 385 (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing) and 79 (control) results were included in the study as rest of the questionnaires were incomplete. [Figure 1] [Figure 2] [Figure 3] [Figure 4] [Figure 5] [Figure 6] [Figure 7] represent the data of prevalence, frequency, and the severity of the musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control group.
Figure 1: Annual prevalence data of musculoskeletal disorders (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing, N - 385; control, N - 79)
Figure 2: Weekly prevalence data of musculoskeletal disorders (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing, N - 385; control, N - 79)
Figure 3: Frequency of discomfort of low back (Group 1, N - 385; Group 2, N - 79)
Figure 4: Frequency of discomfort of neck (Group 1, N - 385; Group 2, N - 79)
Figure 5: Frequency of discomfort of knee (Group 1, N - 385; Group 2, N - 79)
Figure 6: Severity of the discomfort (Group 1, N - 385; Group 2, N - 79)
Figure 7: Length of the discomfort (Group 1, N - 385; Group 2, N - 79)
Annual prevalence
[Figure 1] represents the values of annual prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort for both the groups (Group 1 - workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing, Group 2 - control). The result revealed that the neck (33.51%), low back (66.49%), and knee (76.10%) were the most affected body parts among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing. The percentage of responses for upper back, wrist, shoulder, and elbow were reported <10% for the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing. For the control group, these values were just above 10%. Therefore, these responses were not considered for further analysis. For the control group low back, neck, upper back, and wrist were the most affected body parts. The prevalence rate of knee, low back and neck of both the groups were compared using statistical software NCSS 2004. The Chi-square tests were performed. The χ2 values for knee, low back and neck were 129.29, 37.09, and 6.17, respectively. The results of the Chi-square tests showed that the annual prevalence of knee (P < 0.001), low back (P < 0.001), and neck (P < 0.02) of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were significantly higher than the control group.
Weekly prevalence
[Figure 2] represents the values of weekly prevalence data of musculoskeletal discomfort for both the groups (Group 1 - workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing, Group 2 - control group). The figure revealed that the responses for all the body parts were <10% or just above 10%. Therefore, further analyses were not been conducted.
Comparison of prevalence data of current study with literature
The prevalence data of the present study of low back, neck, and knee were compared with the data available in literature and presented in [Table 1] [Table 2] [Table 3].
Table 1: Comparison of low - back prevalence data with literature
Table 2: Comparison of Neck prevalence data with literature
Table 3: Comparison of Knee prevalence data with literature
The above result [Table 1] revealed that the annual prevalence of low back pain of the present study significantly higher in most of the cases as compared to other literature. Result of weekly prevalence is lower than the values reported in the literature.
The above table revealed that the annual prevalence of neck pain of the present study in some cases significantly lower and in some cases significantly higher as compared to other literature. Result of weekly prevalence is significantly lower.
The above table revealed that the annual prevalence of knee pain of the present study mostly significantly higher as compared to other literature. Result of weekly prevalence is comparable with the literature.
Annual disability
The result of the NMQ revealed that no one was absent from work due to discomfort or pain in any part of the body (neck, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist or knee).
Self-reported causes of the musculoskeletal problem
From the questionnaire analysis, it was observed that the daily work was perceived by the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing (100%) as the main activity which resulted in the development of low back, neck, and knee discomfort or pain. No one reported any kind of accident caused musculoskeletal discomfort or pain in the respective body parts, whereas, the respondents of the control group informed that the discomforts at neck were due to work (20%), activities at home (40%), supporting activity (10%), and other reasons (30%). For low back pain, these responses were work (45%), activities at home (25%), supporting activity (30%), and other reasons (40%). For the knee, the responses were work (10.53%), activities at home (36.82%), accident (42.11%), and other reasons (20.99%).
Frequency of musculoskeletal discomfort
[Figure 3] represents the frequency of discomforts at low back for both the groups. It revealed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing perceived low back discomfort mostly (93.44%) "one or more times a week" (odds ratio [OR] - 68.37, confidence interval [CI] - 26.53-176.19), whereas control group experienced low back discomfort mostly "one or more times a year" (37.93%). Workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing did not experience any discomfort or pain in low back "daily" or "only one episode of trouble."
[Figure 4] presents the frequency of the discomfort at the neck region. It showed similar kind of results as observed in low back discomfort. For neck, the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing experienced pain or discomfort mostly "one or more times a week" (OR - 57.35, CI - 22.56-145.78). The workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing didn't experience the pain or any discomfort at neck "daily," whereas, control group experience "one or more times a month" (20%), "one or more times a year" (20%), "one or more times every few year" (5%), and "only one episode of trouble" (30%).
[Figure 5] presents the frequency of the discomfort at knee region. For knee, the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing experienced mostly pain or discomfort, "one or more times a week" (OR - 119.39, CI - 30.579-97.62). Both the groups didn't experience the pain or any discomfort at knee "daily."
Severity of musculoskeletal discomfort
The result of the severity of musculoskeletal discomfort is presented in [Figure 6].
The above figure showed that 82.24% of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing (Group 1) experience "mild" low back pain. On the contrary, 68.97% among the control group (Group 2) experience "mild" low back pain. Statistical treatment showed that the difference was significant (OR - 2.08, CI - 1.07-4.05). For neck pain majority of the subjects of both the groups experience "mild" pain/discomfort (OR - 1.16, CI - 0.56-2.82). The result of the severity of the knee discomfort showed that the majority of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing has "mild" knee pain (OR - 5.377, CI - 2.13-13.56).
Length of musculoskeletal discomfort
This study was also carried out to find out the total length of the discomfort suffered by both the groups during last 12 months. The result [Figure 7] revealed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were experienced discomfort in the low back (OR -46.32, CI - 19.21-111.72), neck (OR - 204.08, CI - 60.52-688.17), and knee (OR - 38.23, CI - 9.76-149.73) for "1-7 days," whereas, for control group these values for "1-7 days" discomfort were 20.51%, 11.54%, and 52.63%, respectively. No one from the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing experience any discomfort (low back, neck, and knee) for "more than 30 days" or "every day."
• Phase II - Physical examination (under the supervision of a physical therapist)
For physical examination neck, low back and knee were considered. The results of modified NMQ revealed that the discomfort or pain in shoulder, upper back, wrist, and elbow regions were not observed to be severe among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing. The annual and weekly prevalence rates of shoulder were 7.01% and 0.26%, respectively. For upper back, the values were 8.31% and 1.56%, respectively. For wrist and elbow also similar results were observed. Therefore, it may be concluded that all these body parts were not much affected and were not included in the further study.
Range of motion, strength and tightness of neck muscles
Range of motion (neck)
Majority of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had full ROMs (neck flexors - 99.25%, extensors - 98.50%, lateral flexors (right) - 64.42%, lateral flexors (left) - 64.42%, lateral rotators (right) - 98.50%, and lateral rotators (left) - 98.50%). For the control group also similar values were observed. The ROM for lateral flexor (left and right) of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing was significantly lower than that of control group (OR - 27.06, CI - 6.29-116.37) [Figure 8].
Figure 8: Result of range of motion of neck (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50), *Significant difference
Strength (neck)
Strength testing of neck muscle groups showed that all muscle groups had "grade 5" strength for both the groups (the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and the control group).
Tightness (neck)
68.91% workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and 80.00% of the control group had flexible neck muscles without any tightness (OR - 1.80, CI - 0.94-3.45) [Figure 9]].
Figure 9: Neck muscle tightness - physical examination (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50)
About 31.09% and 20.00% respondents from the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control group, respectively, had tightness in the neck muscles. The result of the tightness of the neck muscles were presented in [Figure 10]. It revealed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had higher level of bilateral trapizitis tightness, although the difference was not statistically significant (OR - 1.44, CI - 0.74-2.78). Among the other types of tightness, lateral flexors, and lateral rotators tightness were present among the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing, which were absent among the control group.
Figure 10: Types of tightness of neck muscles - physical examination (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50)
Range of motion, strength and tightness of back muscles
Range of motion (back)
Majority of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had full ROMs (back flexors - 94.38%, extensors - 86.89%, lateral flexors (right) - 73.03%, lateral flexors (left) - 73.03%, lateral rotators (right) - 92.88%, and lateral rotators (left) - 92.88%). For control group also similar values were observed (back flexors - 100.00%, extensors - 98.00%, lateral flexors (right) - 98.00%, lateral flexors (left) - 98.00%, lateral rotators (right) - 100.00% and lateral rotators (left) - 100.00%). The values of full ROM for lateral flexors (left and right) of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were significantly lower than that of control group (OR - 18.09, CI - 4.17-78.55) [[Figure 11].
Figure 11: Range of motion of back - physical examination (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50), *Significant difference
Strength (back)
Muscle strength testing showed that there was a reduction of strength of back extensors. However, the strength of back flexors, lateral flexor (right and left), and rotators (right and left) were at "grade 5" that is normal.
From the [Figure 12], it was observed that there were significantly (OR - 2.02, CI - 1.12-3.55) less numbers of workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing, who are having back extensor's strength in good to normal range. It was also revealed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were having significantly (OR - 1.99, CI - 1.13-3.50) more number of respondents with back extensor's strength in the range of "fair." The data of back extensor's strength also showed that none of the subjects (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control group) had back extensor strength values in the categories of "poor," "trace" and "no movement." Therefore, it may be concluded that the back extensor strength of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were reduced substantially, but it had not been reduced to the level of disability.
Figure 12: Back muscle extensor's strength - physical examination (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50)
Tightness (back)
[Figure 13] revealed that 84.64% subjects of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had full flexibility of back muscles, whereas, none of the subjects of the control group had tightness of the back muscles. Therefore, the result further suggested that 15.36% workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing have had tightness of the back muscles and they were the affected group.
Figure 13: Back muscle tightness - physical examination (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50)
Range of motion, strength and tightness of leg muscles
Range of motion (knee)
Physical examination showed that both of the groups had full ROM of the knee joints.
Tightness (knee)
Results of tightness of leg muscles (hamstring and quadriceps) presented in [Figure 14]. It revealed that 34.83% of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and 20.41% of the control group had "normal" flexibility of the hamstring muscle group. Approximately, half of the population of both the groups (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control) had "mild" tightness in the hamstring muscle group (OR - 0.70, CI - 0.40-1.22). The result also revealed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had a higher percentage of respondents, who had "severe" tightness in the hamstring muscle group. However, statistical result showed that the difference was not significant (OR - 1.80, CI - 0.64-5.08). The result of the tightness of the quadriceps muscle groups showed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had significantly higher quadriceps tightness (OR - 12.36, CI - 4.26-35.99). The control group had significantly more numbers of subjects, who had "mild" tightness in the quadriceps muscle group (OR - 10.29, CI - 3.36-31.56).
Figure 14: Tightness of hamstring and quadriceps - physical examination (Group 1, N - 267; Group 2, N - 50)
Annual prevalence results revealed that almost two third of the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were complaining about the low back pain. The result was compared with different studies available in the literature which showed that the annual prevalence data varied from 18% to 66.7%. [24],[25],[26],[27],[28],[29],[30],[31],[32],[33],[34],[35] The comparable work groups were office workers, computer operators, carpenters involved in finishing, bank officers, carpet weaver, workers in communication company. It revealed that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing had a high prevalence (66.49%) of low back pain.
Weekly prevalence data available in the literature are very rare. The literature showed that the weekly prevalence data varies from 4.5% to 30.3%. [30],[35],[36] The present study showed that the weekly prevalence data (10.65%) for low back was also comparable to the data available in the literature.
Chyuan et al. found in their study that the observed work population (workers of hotel and restaurant) experience low back pain "2-3 times" (30.9%) and "more than 3 times a week" (29.6%). [29] In another study carried out by Atlas More Details et al. showed that the jeepney drivers experience mainly "1-7 days" pain during last 12 months. [37] Similar kind of responses was also obtained in a study carried out by Alrowayeh et al. [38] In the present study, a large number of the subjects (93.44%) indicated that they were experiencing back troubles one or more time a week. This suggests more number of respondents having similar problems.
The present study showed that the majority (82.24%) of the observed subjects (workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing and control) experienced "mild" low back pain. Similar results were also observed in the literature. Hillman et al., Omokhodion and Sanya, Spyropoulos et al., reported that 26.5%, 68%, and 24% of the observed population experience "mild" low back pain, respectively. In their study, the values for "moderate" and "severe" low back pain were 40.8%, 12%, and 27% and 32.6%, 73%, and 9%, respectively. [24],[27],[28]
The study revealed that workers were suffering from the back problem; frequencies of such episodes were on higher side. The severity of the problem may categorize as mild, which was corroborated by the physical examination. ROM of the back muscles for majority of the workers was within the normal range. Strength of back extensors of none of the workers was found to be poor and below, even though, a substantial percentage (OR - 1.99, CI - 1.13-3.50) of the workers had a reduced back strength at fair level (grade 3). Thus, it can be stated that the workers engaged in jewelry manufacturing were suffering from back related problems even though, it was not severe in nature.
Annual prevalence rate reported in literature showed that the neck pain varied from 9.1% to 64.7% among the office workers, finishing workers of the carpentry, data processing workers, bank workers, [25],[26],[29],[30],[31],[35],[39] whereas, the availability of the weekly prevalence data of neck pain is rare and varies from 21% to 27%. [35] In the present study, annual and weekly prevalence were observed to be 33.51% and 3.85% for jewelry manufacturing workers and control group, respectively.
Chiu et al. in their study carried out among the general population at Hong Kong, found that 38% observed population reported the "moderate" to "severe" neck pain. [40]
In the present study, responses were mild (87.68%). The physical examinations of the neck muscles also corroborated with this finding. It revealed that the ROM, strength, and tightness of the neck muscles were within the normal range.
Chee and Rampal carried out a study on bank office workers reported that annual prevalence of knee pain was 31.9%. [26] In some other studies on office workers, computer operators, papad makers the value varied from 12% to 30%. In another study, on the carpet menders who carry out their job in seated cross-legged posture (similar to the posture adopted by the workers of the present study) showed the annual prevalence of knee pain as 23.6%. [32],[33] In the present study, such values were observed to be 76.10%.
Back was an area of concern as the majority of the respondents were complaining about the low back, which was supported by the physical examination. However, problems did not result in any disability. Even though workers were reported neck troubles, but problems were "mild" in nature which was supported by physical examination. The self-reported responses for knee prevalence showed higher values than the other comparable group although; the physical examination revealed that the severity of the knee was not predominant. Results were compared with the control group and with the data available in the literature. The problems were found to be specific to the occupation. Almost all the workers had indicated that low back, neck, and knee problems were due to their work and not due to other causal factors.
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[Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4], [Figure 5], [Figure 6], [Figure 7], [Figure 8], [Figure 9], [Figure 10], [Figure 11], [Figure 12], [Figure 13], [Figure 14]
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Expansion Notebook
With an alleged announcement about expansion on the near horizon, some of the remaining candidate cities have been making news in the last few days. In Portland, Merritt Paulson has reportedly reached a tenative agreement with city leaders on $60 million in loans to renovate PGE Park and build a new stadium for his AAA baseball team. In making the deal, Paulson has made the loans virtually risk free by agreeing to make rent payments even if the teams fold. At the end of the loan term, ownership of the stadiums remains with the City.
Remarkably, the loan package is still not guaranteed safe passage through the City Council. Some City money is still required, even with Paulson contributing 80% of the funds. A vote may go forward as early as March 11. Additional details of the Portland expansion bid can be found here and here.
Paulson is definitely putting his money on the line in this deal. Ultimately, this comes down to needing one more vote on the 5 member City Council. Two votes are confirmed for the franchise, but three others remain uncommitted. As supporters of the Portland bid, we think that the City should move forward. This is a much better deal than some other cities have secured and the City seems primed for a second major league franchise.
In Canada, the Globe and Mail is reporting that Vancouver will likely receive one of the two 2011 bids. The bid spearheaded by billionare Greg Kerfoot would follow the Sounders' model, by moving a successful USL franchise into MLS. Kerfoot has supported Canadian soccer for years and has the dough to support a franchise. While the idea of a renovated BC Place is not ideal, its proximity to downtown and public transportation are ideal. The 24th Minute makes the case for BC Place here. We discussed the Vancouver bid here.
Amazingly, Jeffrey Cooper's St. Louis bid seems to be lagging behind the Pacific Northwest. Despite an in place stadium deal, the League has repeatedly expressed worries about Cooper's finances. With an announcement expected before the end of March, it appears that the Gateway City might find itself on the outside looking in: again.
As we have repeatedly stated, we strongly believe that the "mid size" model is a great one and both Portland and Vancover fit the bill. An MLS franchise will immediately become part of the sports landscape in those cities, wherease a St. Louis team would quickly fall to fourth in the sports pecking order. Add in St. Louis' reputation as a baseball hotbed in the summer, and Portland and Vancouver may be the best choices .
Filed under: Expansion and Stadiums | Tagged: Kerfoot, Merritt Paulson, MLS expansion, Portland, Soccer Business, Vancouver |
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ManU, on March 11, 2009 at 3:38 pm said:
I would love to see the same fervor in Vancouver that they have in Toronto. Portland would also be a great city. I agree about St. Louis, and even the interest in the college game at SLU is starting to wane.
Ben Berger, on March 11, 2009 at 10:18 pm said:
Portland took a big step forward today, but the door to St. Louis remains open. Anheiser Busch offered some of its property as part of the St. Louis deal; that is a big time partner.


text:
Jung Woo
정우
Kim Jung Gook
Jung Woo is a popular South Korean actor. Born on January 14, 1981, as Kim Jung Guk, he launched his acting career in 2006 with minor roles in films and television dramas. Jung Woo's first leading role was the 2009 film "Wish," which Jung Woo wrote himself based on his own experiences as a troubled youth. The film became an official selection at the 2009 Busan International Film Festival, and Jung Woo won Best New Actor for his role at the Grand Bell Awards in 2010. Jung Woo's popularity rose after his roles in in the television dramas "You're the Best, Lee Soon Shin" (2013) and "Reply 1994" (2014).
FNC Entertainment (Korea)
New Trial
Dandelion Family
Go Ara
Co-star
Han Hyo Joo
Son Tae Young
August Movie Star Brand Reputation Rankings Announced
Jung Woo To Return To The Big Screen With New Crime Film
Jung Woo In Talks To Star In New Film
Celebrities You May Have Forgotten Are Already Fathers
June Movie Star Brand Reputation Rankings Announced


Data centres and their management are under increasing pressure; to increase the efficiency of their operations, to reduce their carbon emiss ions and to contribute to the bottom line by reducing their costs. To help address these issues, IVI a consortium of leading organizations from industry, the non - profit sector, and academia has developed and tested a framework for systematically assessing and improving Energy Efficien cy capabilities within a mature Data Centre. This paper describes IVI's approach, by detailing the maturity model which identifies current practices, targets achievable goals, and develops an improvement roadmap so these targ ets can be achieved.