Baptismal Ceremonies of Christian Churches The diploma thesis Baptismal Ceremonies of Christian Churches deals with baptismal ceremonies of Roman Catholic Church, Greek Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and Czechoslovak Hussite Church; and Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. The phenomenon of the baptismal sacrament will be taken in of historical view of baptismal ceremonies and itself in the process of baptismal liturgy. The thesis which is on the ground of historical studies and of contemporary forms of worship will demonstrate common and different elements of baptismal liturgy and to what extent the baptismal theology incorporated into ceremonies varies or resembles. Keywords Baptism, the liturgy, baptismal ceremonies

South African people love sport. In a context where sport events like the Soccer World Cup or a Super 15 rugby match can draw crowds of up to 95 000 people, we cannot ignore the importance of sport. In contrast to the popularity of sport events and the huge crowds they manage to attract, most churches struggle to get 500 people to church on a Sunday morning.This situation raises two questions, namely: “What draw people to sport?” and “Can theology and Liturgical Studies in particular, learn something from sport?”<p< In order to pursue these and similar questions I used a practical theological model to guide me in my observation of the South African context. I’ve chosen the practical theologian RR Osmer’s model to work with. He works with the four tasks of Practical Theology and suggests four questions to guide a researcher or minister in their interpretation and response to situations. Answering each of these questions is the focus of the four core tasks of practical theological interpretation. The first question is: “What is going on?” Gathering information that helps us discern patterns and dynamics in particular episodes, situations, or contexts is the descriptive-empirical task of practical theological interpretation. I gathered information since the Soccer World Cup in South Africa in 2010. I identified ten moments in our sport contexts that will be looked at more closely within the framework of Osmer’s model. The ten moments are: <ul> <li>the need to predict the future</li><li> rituals</li> <li>physical contact</li> <li>tribal and together</li> <li>symbols</li> <li>tole models</li> <li>performance</li> <li>the meeting space</li> <li>Godly role</li> <li>defying death</li> </ul> The second question is: “Why is this going on?” Here we try to make sense of what we’ve found. What theories might help us to better understand and explain the patterns and dynamics we’ve begun to discover? These are the key questions of the interpretive task of practical theological interpretation. Here I’ve used theories from the arts and sciences to better understand and explain why the ten moments I identified in sport are occurring. The third question is: “What ought to be going on?” This is the normative task of practical theological interpretation. Here theological concepts are used to interpret particular episodes, situations, contexts or in this study, the ten moments. The aim of this task is to construct ethical norms to guide our responses, and to learn from “good practice”. The fourth question is: “How might we respond?” This is the pragmatic task of practical theological interpretation. The aim is to determine strategies of action that will influence situations in ways that are desirable. Here I looked into the possibility of the liturgical inculturation of the ten moments. In conclusion suggestions for the liturgical praxis were made./ Copyright / Dissertation (MDiv)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The present thesis "Religious literacy" describes the parish of Kyje and Černý Most first. Then it deals with the concept of literacy itself - starting from the basic ability to read and write, proceeding on to the importance of education in a number of spheres, and finally resulting in such competences that enable people an independent existence within the human society. The thesis then proceeds to focus on individual kinds of literacy and on the relationship between cultural literacy and education. The following part of the thesis is focused on religious literacy itself. Knowledge of other, non-Christian religions, is helpful in this respect. The thesis defines the subject matter and analyzes the circumstances which influence the development of religious literacy, namely from the viewpoint of universal principles of faith and from that of basic terms connected with the sacraments. The development of religious literacy can best be stimulated within the particular family and by an active parish community. The thesis then looks in particular at the development of religious literacy in the parish of Kyje and Černý Most. The core of the thesis is the general view of the parish and the way its religious literacy is intensified there. The religious and cultural literacy has been evaluated from a survey...

The diploma thesis "Dance as a Manifestation of Devotion, its History and Use in the Christian Liturgy" enquires into the phenomenon of dance in the context of Christian culture. It outlines the development of the religious dance in the history of mankind, its forms and modes of perception in different cultures and religions. The thesis also deals with dance as an expression of faith in Jewish culture whence the Christian liturgical dance often drew inspiration and thus went back to its own roots. It seeks to explore the positive attitudes of believers towards dance, but also the mistrust that accompanied dance throughout the history of Christianity. Additionally, the paper presents the situation of dance in the contemporary Christian culture on different continents (Europe, America, Africa), to pursue finally the question of dance as a manifestation of devotion in the Czech Republic. Based on the collected material, the thesis seeks to present the deep potential of dance that make believers express through gestures and movements their respect to God, their joy and anxiety, grief and hope, and thus can, alongside music and singing, enrich the liturgy to a great extent. Keywords Dance, gesture, liturgy, prayer, expression.

Officium to Saint Norbert and its development This thesis focuses on Premonstratensian order liturgy, in particular, on officium of St. Norbert, its origin, development, structure and implementation within the liturgical year of the order. This liturgical devotion is closely connected already with the early existence of the order, however, in the course of development of Norbertine devotion in the period of 12 -17 centuries significant variations in the focus of individual liturgical celebrations can be observed (memorial, triumph, translation). Celebration of the Norbertine officium later results in creation of the so-called Officium Votivum and the antiphony to St. Norbert. As the basis of source research, following documents were used: individual editions of the Roman and Premonstratensian Breviary, and, in particular, the later editions of the breviary of the period of 16-19 centuries. For the comparative purposes in general, I take into account also the first biographies of St. Norbert (Vita A, B), with their characteristic features. This thesis should contribute to a deeper understanding of the issues of officium in the Premonstratensian context. It also points to the broader tradition underpinning the current Premonstratensian solemnity of St. Norbert, the feast of translation of relics of...

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, life in the United States fractured over political and social unrest. The fracturing spilled into churches in the United States and caused grief over the loss of members, friendships, and community. Churches and their members often lack the language to process the experienced trauma and grief. This project seeks to equip church communities with the language needed to name and process their grief by introducing lament into the regular rhythms of the church year through experiential participation in the practices of lament. By reclaiming practices and language of lament, persons, and congregations may find healing through renewed connection with God, with ourselves, and with each other.

The concept of worship projected in this study is the broad Isaiah pattern of worship of awareness of God, restructuring of the life of the individual, and dedication of the worshiper in service. From this concept, standards of worship are set forth by which Latter-day Saint worship is evaluated.

People of Color (POC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ) people have experienced disembodiment due to the Christian dualism in the white Evangelical Protestant (WEP) church and its liturgies. The project first analyzes how this Christian dualism interacts with white supremacy and homophobia within the Sunday liturgy. Then, the project describes how disembodied liturgies significantly harm POC and LGBTQ people. As a response, a theology of embodiment can bring healing to POC and LGBTQ people by implementing embodied liturgies at Table San Diego, a multiracial, LGBTQ-affirming congregation attempting to integrate the Christian faith with the physical body, the lived experience, and social contexts. Addressing the racial, gendered, sexual, and classed experiences of the congregation across various social, political, economic, and religious climates requires a reimagination of the Sunday liturgy as an embodied experience. Liturgical research is drawn from the Black Spirituals, the Gay Liberation Movement, and Asian-American liturgies.

<p> This thesis is an initial attempt to shed light on mutual interaction between Coptic and Jewish traditions by demonstrating a Jewish impact on the early stage of the Alexandrian Church as seen in the Coptic Morning Service. It explores the possible influence of the Jewish liturgies and prayers including the writings of the late Second Temple era (200 BCE - 70 CE) on some of the origins of fundamental Coptic rituals. The Coptic Morning Service holds almost identical texts, order of prayers, and, many major Jewish thematic interrelations.</p> <p> This study argues for an important lacuna in the spirituality of the contemporary Coptic worshiper. The mystifications that surround many Coptic liturgical components prevent parishioners from praying with understanding (1 Cor. 14:15). The twenty-first century Copt needs a sort of "Halakah" guidance towards their worshipping practices.</p> <p> This thesis hopes to offer a potential reconstruction of the early history of the Alexandrian Church through liturgy that could open a new scholarly field of Judeo-Coptic studies.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / This project attempts to draw the contours of defining the human experience of prayer as an intentional act in which we come before God and reach beyond the moment we pray to a life that embodies a prayerful attitude. It does so by examining the conceptions of prayer Jean-Louis Chrétien’s and Johann Baptist Metz’s writing and by bringing them into a conversation with Jewish liturgical concepts on prayer as found in the Talmudic discussions and Rabbinic interpretations. The dialogue between the three interlocutors provides the basis for defining the human approach to prayer as prayerfulness –the conscious mindset in which a person is aware of their existence before God, embodied in the moment of prayer and as a lifestyle. Jean-Louis Chrétien’s poetic take on prayer as a responsorial act of speech conceptualizes prayer as an intimate experience of one’s relationship with God. We give ourselves to God insofar as we become present with God. Prayer, then, becomes a vulnerable act in which we become aware of God and our limitations and frailties. This exposure of ourselves causes Chrétien to call prayer “wounded speech.” Our exposure is a blessure, a wound, because in it we recognize our inadequateness compared to God. This awareness becomes an unforgettable struggle, an ordeal. Also, we become aware that our speech, our prayer contains nothing that God does not already know. In other words, everything we say and do is preconceived by God. Here, memory becomes a factor in Chrétien’s thought. It seems as though prayer helps us relieve ourselves from this agony in our lives insofar as we are reminded of God’s love and the memory of God’s suffering for us. Johann Baptist Metz adds another layer to the discussion. Metz conceptualizes prayer within his political theology. Like Chrétien’s thought, this account frames prayer within the context of suffering. However, Metz is less interested in the personal suffering caused by one’s own limitations than in the suffering of those who are at the margins of society. Embedded in the context of post-world-war Germany and the shaking events of the Shoah, this concept of prayer calls for a compassionate embodiment of the suffering of the disenfranchised voices that endure physical or emotional pain. Prayer becomes a mode of remembering the other when embodied and experienced to compassionately raise the voices of the other. Here, Metz introduces a spirituality that he calls “Poverty of Spirit” that envisions one’s embodiment of prayer as a lifestyle. Prayer becomes an agent that incentivizes moral action. When brought together into dialogue with one another, the three interlocutors paint the picture of an experience of prayer this project defines as “prayerfulness.” It is the conscious mindset in which a person is aware of their existence before God, embodied in the moment of prayer and in their life. This awareness is multi-faceted and springs out of the connection between memory and prayer. One facet is the awareness of God’s presence. When considering Chrétien’s account, it is not so much the act of communicating one’s thoughts that is the primary purpose of prayer but the presence before God. This exposure itself reflects an unreserved vulnerability before God. In remembering God’s own suffering for us, we also become aware of God’s love for us. Metz, then, shows how prayer is a cry that expresses the wish that God is present, yet in this cry, God is already and always present, even if we do not perceive it. The memories of the Jerusalem Temple and the Patriarchs in Jewish liturgy bolster a perceived awareness of God. For instance, the imagery of the Temple, the focal point of God’s presence in the world, immerses the praying person in its memory. In the face of the reality that the Temple has been destroyed, the discussed texts reveal that the Sages took great care in providing guidelines to orchestrate a Temple memory through postures and liturgical attributes. Prayer, considered as service of the heart, and thus referring to the Temple cult, becomes a vessel for the memory of the same. This palpable notion of God’s presence adds to the perception of our presence before God, enhancing one’s focus. This concept of intentionality or focus, kavvanah, in part facilitated by the memory of the Temple and the Patriarchs, applies to a broader range of issues and speaks to what Metz has been calling for to realize prayer in daily life. It allows for us Christians across the denominational spectrum to reconsider the value of intentionality and prayerful engagement, not just in the moment of prayer but in life. Judaism helps facilitate a pragmatic, practice-oriented view to the often rather concept-oriented Christian thinking. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.