The Protestant reformation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Protestant reformation - Essay Example Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation when he nailed his manifesto on the chapel door on October 31, 1517, in Wittenberg. The manifesto consisted of ninety-five theses.That day was the Feast of All Saints in which pious folk came to venerate the precious relics of His Highness the Elector, Frederick the Wise. Valuable indulgences were gained when one venerates the relics. Luther's document was about the abuse of the granting of indulgences to the people. He stated that those preaching in favor of indulgences make a serious error when they say that these indulgences alone can grant man salvation. Luther stated that the indulgences have only one merit, which is to bring money to the church. He also attacked the theological teachings of Catholicism. He stated that true contrition means being open to doing penance for their sins. The indulgences granted by the Church remits the punishment due to sin. Luther believed in justice by faith alone without the necessity of good works . Through the grace of Jesus Christ, the soul's sins are covered by a cloak of light. Thus the one means and only hope of salvation is to entrust oneself to Christ, as it were to cling to Him.There were many causes of the Protestant Reformation. First, the moral authority of the Church in the temporal and spiritual spheres had been diminished. This development was due to the opulence and liberal ways of the Church leaders and bishops at that time.By the sixteenth century, pockets of discontent and indignation had seriously affected Christian unity in France, England,Italy and Germany. Italy and Germany. The strength of the Papacy had also weakened due to constant political differences with the different European leaders who harbored political ambitions. Difficulties and conflicts also rocked the Papacy. In 1305, a Frenchman ascended to the chair of Peter. The new pope, Clement V, settled in France. The Papacy established itself for 70 years at Avignon, France beginning in 1307. It w as during this time that the Papacy had diminished in influence and in public esteem. The Popes had been seen as opulent, bureaucratic, politically-astute politicians and businessmen. Due to the shifting loyalties of its closest allies, the Papacy had also lost its independence and international character. Pope Gregory XI vigorously pursued the heretics and remained true to the faith. After Gregory XI died, a new pope Urban VI, was elected to succeed him. However, the French, who were dissatisfied,decided to elect an anti-pope. Moreover, there was a rise in anti-clericalism in Europe combined with the spread of mysticism and heresy. (Gochberg 43) The most important cause of the Protestant Reformation was the abuse of the use of indulgences by some Catholic preachers. Some of them just wanted the money of the people and they made a business out of a holy practice. Many of the poor Catholics had felt offended and had decided to turn away from the faith. Some of these became Protestants. 2. Historians often consider to the Renaissance to be the "birth of modernity." It was during the Renaissance that Florence used her widespread and highly organized business to extend her banking business parallel to that of her commerce. Florentine banking business controlled the credit all over Christian Europe. The wealth of Florence established the banking business in the Middle Ages. Florence had trounced all its competitors. In 1338, there were eighty Florentine firms doing frenetic banking and exchange business. The Florentines had exchanges everywhere: London, Bruges, Paris, Avignon, Majorca, Pisa, Genoa and Venice. (Greer, 50) Renaissance represented a time for freedom for thought and culture. The Renaissance was the portal to secular humanism which emphasized of an anthropocentric perspective. In this scenario, man determines right and wrong. Secularism states that economics, society, and politics functions well without the intervention of religion. Religion, which used to dominate the

Primary Causes of Problems at Amazon.Com and their Remedies Case Study

Primary Causes of Problems at Amazon.Com and their Remedies - Case Study Example Question 4 If Amazon buys products from other firms and simply ships them to customers, why does it need so many of its own distribution centers Amazon.com needs many distribution centers of its own because doing so enables it to make product deliveries to customers quickly and also helps the company to save on costs. In addition, the distribution centers were already in operation and therefore just had to be used by Amazon.com in the partnership deals with other companies ("Amazon.com"). Question 5 Will other retailers buy or lease the Web software and services from Amazon Can Amazon make enough money from selling these services Other retailers will buy or lease software services from Amazon.com because the company has immense infrastructure. Although Amazon.com has been making losses for many years due to the high initial costs and intensive promotion activities, it can still make enough money from selling the services it deals in. This evidenced by the fact that the company's financial position has improved somehow since the year 2000 (Post & Anderson, 2006). Customers' confidence in the company put it in a position to make profit. Question 6 Write a report to management that describes the primary cause of the problems, a detailed plan to solve them, and show how the plan solves the problems and describe any other benefits it will provide. Running Head: PRIMARY CAUSES OF PROBLEMS AT AMAZON.COM Primary Causes of Problems at Amazon.Com and their Remedies Abstract This report evaluates the problems faced by Amazon.com since its inception in 1994 and its current status. A detailed plan to solve the problems is given together with an account of how the... In the year 2000, Amazon.com on overhauled its entire system in order to give it a more customer-appealing look.The company spent $200 million on new systems such as software from Epiphany, logistics from Manugistics Company and a new database management system (DBMS) from Oracle. Furthermore, the company signed more contracts with companies such as SAS for data withdrawal and appraisal. All these services of course came with additional costs to the company. In spite of the additional costs, the biggest and perhaps most expensive deal was between Amazon.com and Excelon as a form of business-to business (B2B) integration. In the same year, Amazon.com linked with HP in a deal that would see the company offer information technology services to Amazon’s customers. Despite, Amazon’s desire to expand and dominate the online market, the company was criticized over its activities in 2000. For instance, that year the company conducted a price experiment by quoting different prices on DVDs to different customers. However, customers who logged in to Amazon.com web site at different times discovered that different prices were being offered at different times. Although Amazon.com later confirmed that it was offering random discounts of between 20 to 40 per cent, this never augured well with some of its customers. Among the customers’ sentiments were that they were being charged more when they shopped more and that the exercise was awfully sneaky and unscrupulous. Other customers referred to Amazon.com as a shyster.