Before Martin Luther, one of the first people to begin the reformation of religion was John wycliffe of England, who was the first to sound the trumpet for the reformation. Now, we all agree that Martin Luther was the first person to initiate the reformation, but wycliffe also played an important role. In Britain, he used his service and struggle to rehearse many path choices and game models of the religious reform, leaving valuable lessons and experience for later reformers including Martin Luther.
John wycliffe was born in Yorkshire around 1324 and died in latworth in 1384. He lived about 100 years before Martin Luther, not long after the black death and before printing was invented. His freedom in the British Isles was secured by the turmoil of continental Europe.
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Between 1345 and 1350 wycliffe attended Oxford University, where he taught for more than 20 years. He served as a chaplain to the king from 1369 to 1374 and retired to latworth for the last 10 years of his life.
Like later religious reformers such as Martin Luther, wycliffe did not initially intend to antagonise the holy see. But the more he studied the bible, the more he saw that the holy see had abandoned the faith of god. He called on the people to read the bible and translate it from Latin into English by themselves, so that the authority of the bible could be restored to the highest authority of the church. He was the first to put forward the doctrine of justification by faith, and in this sense Martin Luther said, if wycliffe is a heretic, I am a heretic like him. Of the “big five” of the reformation, at least “bible” and “faith” were wycliffe’s first.
A professor of theology at Oxford University and a noted scholar, wyclef was also an eloquent preacher. He lived an extremely pious life and practiced the truth he preached, which soon won the respect, trust and support of the people.
During his time as a court priest, he courageously opposed the Pope’s order to pay tribute to the king of England, arguing that it was against reason and the bible for the Pope to interfere with the king. The remark quickly gained widespread acceptance among the British upper classes. English Kings and nobles united to deny the political authority assumed by the Pope and to refuse tribute. In this way, the supreme authority that the Pope once enjoyed in England was dealt a heavy blow.
Wycliffe had four contributions: first, wycliffe was one of the first Englishmen to insist on the completeness and authority of the bible; Second, wyclif was one of the first Englishmen to attack and publicly accuse the Roman church of errors; Third, wycliffe was one of the first Englishmen to accept the apostolic method of preaching; Fourth, and most important, wycliffe was the first Englishman to translate the bible into English.
In these senses alone, wycliffe is the first self-conscious religious reformer in history, the pioneer of the wave of European nation-state independence, and the father of Britain. And in that sense, the later reformers, Jan hus and Martin Luther, were students of wycliffe. So the reformation started with Martin Luther, but he wasn’t the originator of the reformation. Wycliffe was. His place in theology and the history of the church was a pivotal link between the past and the present, ending the middle ages and ushering in the modern era.
The second we are going to discuss is jan hus, a Czech patriot and prominent religious reformer. The reformation in the Czech republic led by huss created public opinion for the war in huss and had a profound influence on the reformation throughout Europe in the 16th century.
Hus was born around 1372 into a poor peasant family in the southern Czech village of hussinitz. As the only boy in his family, he was loved by his parents. His parents had worked hard to get him through elementary school in the town of prahtizai, not far from the village. In 1391 huss entered the school of liberal arts at the university of Prague. He graduated in 1394 with a degree and taught at the school. In 1401 huss was elected dean of the faculty of arts at the university of Prague. He was elected rector of the university of Prague in 1402 and began his ministry at Bethlehem chapel in Prague that year.
Hus was a pioneer of the reformation and many of his words were accepted by later protestants. He also had an important influence on the nations of Europe and on Martin Luther King. Hus wrote many books in his life and made outstanding contributions to the history of Czech literature. Huth believe the bible first, rather than the Pope ordered on the clerics, such as rules, emphasized the sovereignty belongs to the church of Jesus Christ, to the thoughts and ideas and wrote a book of church, even harshly criticized the Pope and other clergy, is deviating from the Christian faith, and loved money and abuse of power, and so on, is really to teach one of the pioneers. The church was in the midst of a “great schism” : two competing popes were elected before the Roman cardinal council: quigley xii of Rome and John xxiii of avignon. King John xxiii to combat with the slope and release the indulgences to all who are in need, with money in exchange for huth is once spent a lot money to buy indulgences, but now huth is greatly condemn such violation of the bible teaches, then John xxiii will teach, huth cancel finally, even in the name of the heresy under him into prison. After eight months in prison, haggard and frail, hus was taken to the city gate, tied to a stake and burned to death. This led to the re-emergence of the crusaders and the campaigns of the Bohemian faithful of huss, which did not end until the 15th century. Hus also created a new orthography that laid the foundation for the written language of Czech.
SWOT Analysis Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is a technology company that designs, manufactures and sells mobile electronics, software and other online solutions for the consumers of tech products. It is an American multinational founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak. The company has had great success in the past decade and has dominated the technology industry, evident from the amount of revenue generated (O’Grady, 2009).
Some of the major changes that have taken place in the company since 2013 is in the top leadership, after the passing on of Steve Jobs, former chairperson of the company. Leaders carry the vision of the company and steer the organization towards achieving more than the employees believe they can. Tim Cook took up the task of leading the organization, he has executed the task mandated to him excellently and life after Steve Jobs has been marked by several changes due to the difference at the top.
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Another major change is on embracing collaborations; Tim Cook has extensively considered the option of collaborating. Steve Jobs had a very high level of secrecy that created internal silos in the company. Collaborations have helped the company’s online services perform much better and gone are the days of disastrous launch of Apple products, such as the Apple maps. The company has also become more investor friendly as compared to the years before 2013, where Steve Jobs was very averse in giving investors a return on their investment. He also downplayed Warren Buffet’s advice on giving investors a return on their capital. Tim Cook established a capital return program for the investors, this move helped them feel that the company had their best interest at heart and reaping out of their investment (Heracleous & Papachroni, n.d.).
One of the strengths of Apple is its unique ability to come up with its own hardware and software solutions. These include applications, online services and its unique devices that have a high niche in the market for the solutions it offers its customers. This strength has evolved over time from the conventional mobile devices to having a wide variety of Apple products, more electronic devices, and more software tailored to meet the consumer’s needs. These include the watchOS, tvOS, Final cut Pro, and iWork.
The technology industry is rapidly growing and changing as compared to many other industries, this means that Apple has to keep innovating to remain among the market leaders, and have unique inventions that help it stand out of the rest. Some of the two biggest competitors for Apple Inc. include Samsung Electronics and Google. Most of the companies have tried but failed in trying to imitate Apple’s product ecosystem that is very comprehensive because of the great investment in designing, developing and manufacturing Apple products.
This strength of Apple Inc. has evolved from the few apple products that were in the market before 2013, to a wide variety of Apple products in the market now. The company has a great competitive advantage against its competitors especially after Tim Cook took over and the company has had several collaborations that have enabled its products work better. Its great strength lies in the design, development, and manufacture that most competitors are unable to match and they lack a similar product ecosystem such as the one coveted by Apple(Thao & Tsanthaiwo, 2017) .
In the lifetime of every successful company, there are points of strength and weaknesses that make up the company’s journey. One of the weaknesses of Apple is the compatibility of its products with third-party software or other accessories. Consumers who buy Apple products get into the Apple universe and can only use Apple products and therefore they must be well informed about their decisions. Apple limits its consumers from using other products together with its products. This weakness however is a disadvantage to consumers but an advantage to the company since it enhances the security and sale of its auxiliary products. This situation has not changed from 2013 to date as Apple continue to enjoy its competitive advantage in the market.
From 2013 to date, Apple has seized most of the opportunities present in the market through introduction of new products such as the Apple watch, the large-screen iPad, a MacBook Air with Retina display, and the redesigned Apple TV. These opportunities have come about from customer demands and the need to keep up with technological advancements. There are growing opportunities in the technology industry for Apple to take them up and the company has been a pace setter rather than a follower. The opportunities have evolved from the traditional mobile phones and computers to iPads, Apple TV and Apple watch.
Additionally, Apple has invested in their electric car project and is competing with other inventors such as Tesla with their innovation. Apple has named their project ‘Titan’ and is researching and developing before the product gets to the market (Sachon, 2016). The plan is to enter the automobile industry by 2020. Apple barely gives information about its projects and the market has to keep on speculating.
Lastly, Apple faces threats in the market from its competitors for its products such as Apple TV, smartphones, and laptops. Amazon has Roku that competes with Apple TV under streaming devices. Dell, HP, and Lenovo are among the laptops that threaten the sale of Apple’s MacBook since some of these products are more affordable and readily available in the market. As apple launches its series of smartphones, Samsung on the other hand is continuously coming up with its own to keep up with the competition. It is therefore upon Apple to recognize its strengths, weaknesses and threats and turn them into opportunities for continued dominance in the market.
References
- Heracleous, L., & Papachroni, A. Strategic leadership and innovation at Apple Inc.
- O’Grady, J. (2009). Apple Inc. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
- Sachon, M. (2016). An Apple Car on the Horizon. IESE Insight, (29), 5-5. doi: 10.15581/002.opi-3714
- Thao, T., & Tsanthaiwo, S. (2017). Apple Inc. In the Years to Come. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2993019
