The main goal of this project is trying to understand how a modern church looks like. If it follows the same principles like traditional churches and or weather the new liturgy needs new idea of nowadays signs. What affects the religious architecture, weather it's designed in a context of a intense housing developement.

The Spirit tradition is a fairly new tradition with its essential focus on experiencing the Holy Spirit. This tradition has made its latest and most influential appearance during the Azusa street revival in Los Angeles at the start of the 1900s. This has started a new wave or move if you want across the earth andhas made inroads into most other existing traditions. It is a tradition fashioned by the needs of believers and the reality of experiencing the Holy Spirit. Worship is a vital part of any Charismatic church service. Upbeat music with talented bands is up front and ready to lead people into passionate and expressive worship. Their worship stretches further than just music. They attempt to fashion their lives as a worship offering to God. Within the Charismatic tradition, the word Liturgy is unheard of, even though it is part of their service. Part of this worship includes the celebration of Communion. Communion is celebrated all over the world in most Christian churches. It has been one of the most sacred sacraments of the church through the centuries. With it came many feuds over doctrine and challenges regarding the form, meaning, presence, elements and so forth. It has been thecenter of many debates. But it still remains central to any believer. The researcher has looked at the history of the Spirit tradition within chapter 2 with its main focus on liturgical rituals of healing, exorcism and speaking in tongues. These rituals are researched and traced all through history. The rituals are present and active in every era the researcher looked at. The Theology of the spirit tradition was also explored. She then went on to look at the history of the Eucharist. The changes and forms were noted. A deeper understanding of the celebration of the Eucharist was realized and the Theology depicted the differences in opinion. No current day practical theological research is complete without Empirical research. This made the researcher more involved. By participatory observation and questionnaires, essential information was gathered regarding how believers in Charismatic churches appropriate their participation during the celebration of Communion. New insights were gained. Based on this research the researcher came to the conclusion that the Meal-and the Spirit worship traditions can come together in a more meaningful way. The true meaning needs to be taught to believers so that a deeper knowledge of the truth of Communion can be gained. Communion cannot remain watered-down and enter as an afterthought during a service. It has the potential to be an incredible experience by any Christian believer. When the Spirit and the Meal can be brought together in a more meaningful way, it has the potential to become the future of Charismatic worship. This conclusion is worked out in some detail in the final chapter. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The beginning of the 20th century saw an emergence of new ideals for and ways of living a Christian life in Church of Sweden. As a consequence of both a revival for Sweden’s own medieval heritage as well as intensified ecumenical contacts with, principally the Church of England, several Christian communities took similar form to that of “Third orders”, but without any canonical status. This present study focuses such an order, Sodailitium Sancti Christofori,(Fraternity of Saint Christopher), founded in the university town of Uppsala in 1921 by students of theology studying for the priesthood in Church of Sweden. The fraternity’s work is outlined during its complete lifespan, approximately 20 years. A total of 19 men were received as novices, 17 of these went on to become brothers. Some of these became profiled churchmen in Church of Sweden, for example Gustaf Adolf and Sven Danell, dean of Växjö and bishop of Skara respectively, Bengt Sundkler, bishop of Bukoba as well as professor of missiology at Uppsala university, and Harry Ljungar, long-time vicar of Moheda, diocese of Växjö. They were influenced by the Youth Church movement, the emerging High Church movement, as well as likeminded groups in Denmark, England and Germany. As time went on, the brothers were ordained and sent out to different parts of Sweden and new brothers were received, keeping in touch through extensive letter correspondence. Sometime during the 1930s, activity in the fraternity went down drastically, and the last sign of life within the fraternity is a chronicle of a general chapter in 1939.

The diploma thesis presents Tarsicius, a Czech magazine for altar servers, in comparison with its German counterpart MINIPOST. It comes with an analysis of the content of both periodicals - with a focus on individual sections and on the graphic aspect. On the basis of partial analyses and comparations it describes and evaluates the pastoral significance of both magazines for the formation of altar servers.

This thesis is concerned with the recent trends within church gatherings where it is reported that there are growing numbers of 15-35 year olds missing from many evangelical churches. This is the generation commonly labelled as postmodern, and is even associated with the most up to date reaction of post-post modernism. The startling facts around this missing generation are explored in this thesis. This investigation looks at the present status of church services (Chapter 2) where the research identifies this problem of attendance of the younger generation at church gatherings, as well as the danger of the irrelevance of the church in its postmodern context. From here the study moves to suggest the basis of authority (Chapter 3), which is the biblical model for church gatherings. Once this foundation is established we move to detect the specific gaps between the current status (Chapter 4) and the biblical model. This leaves the application (Chapter 5) of what the church needs to do to get back to the original scriptural shape, and to be relevant to the postmodern era in which it finds itself. Due to the nature of the topic, the thesis discusses the characteristics of emerging generations, and what it means to be relevant to postmodern society in the way that a church gathering worships, preaches and styles itself. Other elements of liturgy are examined, such as the Lord’s Supper. In this manner, this thesis moves the reader to a point where they are able to see that the church at large needs to make some drastic changes to the way that it designs its gatherings. The author is careful to show that being relevant to culture is an endless quest, and that church leaders are wise to understand that this pursuit must be secondary to the main issue of seeking Jesus Christ and sticking to the power of the unchanging gospel. This must come before trendy worship music, flashy lights, big loud sound systems and professionally designed web pages. All these are simply smoke and no flames if the church is simply passionate about the superficial surface stylistic features of its gatherings. Therefore, in moving towards relevant church services for the postmodern era, the author takes the reader on a journey where he encourages the church to take some bold steps into adapting and “redesigning the packaging” of Christian ministry in church gatherings. Church meetings cannot just be about being social, creative and communal. They must be defined by the biblical framework that calls for a spiritual gathering of believers that come to worship together as God ordained, to participate in a reverent, powerful, experiential, participative, creative, multi-sensory meeting where they meet with God. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The outcomes of the Second Vatican Council have brought essential changes into liturgy, having impacted the liturgical space as well. However, the totalitarian communist regime that was in power in Czech lands at the time allowed only a limited space for the application of the Council outcomes in practice. That is why the post-Council situation in liturgy is in many ways unique in the Czech Republic. After the Velvet Revolution there was a rapid and rapturous development that has brought not only positives, but also certain negatives stemming from the too-quickly loosening grip of bondage. The aim of this thesis is to monitor the state of the discussion on liturgical space in the period between the Second Vatican Council and the present day. The theoretical part looks at the summary of the discussion in the Czech Republic before the Second Vatican Council, then briefly presents concept of sacred space of the Second Vatican Council and at the end outlines the pre-Council and the post-Council European context. The practical part consists in the finding, researching and evaluating of materials concerning the subject. They have been assessed according to three main criteria. The first is a historical viewpoint sorting the materials by the time they came into being. The second classifies them by the...

The thesis deals with teaching liturgics and related disciplines in Catholic theological faculties and diocesan theological vocational schools in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia in the period 1900-1968, the study plans, the concept of individual educators and their textbooks. It compares extant schoolbooks of liturgics within each period. The ultimate goal is to partially reconstruct the state of teaching liturgics within a defined period before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Bc. Michal Pohunek: Dějiny kláštera Na Slovanech za husitství v letech 1419 - 1442 Abstract History of the Slavonic Monastery in the Hussite Period between 1419 - 1442 This thesis describes the history of the Slavonic monastery, situated in Nové Město in Prague, and later also known as Emaus. My thesis concerns the period of the Hussite revolt between 1419-1442. At that period Holy Communion in the Slavonic monastery was offered to lay people in the utraquist mode - i.e., both bread and wine - and the monastic community became a part of the Hussite movement. The goals of this thesis are primarily theological, in line with the discipline of church history. First I want to contribute to the understanding of the spiritual and religious atmosphere in the whole of the Czech kingdom of that historical period, by describing its particular history in the Slavonic monastery. Second I would like to contribute to the comprehension of the possibility of Benedictine monastic life in the context of the Hussite movement and the influence of the utraquist monastery on the religious evolution of the time. This needs knowledge of the situation in the monastic community and its neighbourhood in that time. To understand the theological orientation of the monastic community in that period it is necessary to describe the...

Summary in German and English / Text in German / Diese Arbeit ist eine detaillierte Analyse von Gottesdiensten und Predigten, die im Rahmen öffentlicher Gedenkveranstaltungen nach katastrophalen Krisenereignissen gehalten wurden. Untersucht wurde die Frage, wie angesichts einer heterogenen Ge-sellschaft und einer breiten Öffentlichkeit, in öffentlichen Trauergottesdiensten Trost gegeben und von Hoffnung geredet wurde. In Thesen werden mögliche Kriterien ge-geben, wie in ähnlichen Situationen angemessen von der christlichen Hoffnung gere-det werden kann. Die Schlussfolgerung ist, die Predigt als Teil des Gesamtgeschehens wahrzunehmen und den Gottesdienst, mit der Musik, den Liedern, Lesungen und Ri-tualen, als eine Art Gesamtkunstwerk und auch als kontextualisiertes Antwortgesche-hen an die Teilnehmenden unterschiedlichen Hintergrunds zu verstehen. Die Predigt, profiliert in der christlichen Botschaft, soll respektvoll die Unterschiede in Gesell-schaft, Glaube und Person achten. Der reiche Schatz des biblischen Kanons kann in der Predigt, im Gebet, Gesang und in den Ritualen reflektiert werden, insbesondere durch die Psalmen mit ihrer formulierten Klage, und mit der christlichen Hoffnung ins Gespräch gebracht werden. / This work is a detailed analysis of worship services and sermons delivered during pub-lic commemoration events after catastrophic events of crisis. The question is explored how, in the face of a heterogeneous society and a broad public presence, comfort was given in public commemoration services and how hope was reflected. In closing the-ses, possible criteria are given for adequately speaking of Christian hope in similar sit-uations. The conclusion is that the sermon should be perceived as part of the whole process and that worship, with its music, songs, readings and rituals, should be under-stood as a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk and also as a contextualized response to the par-ticipants of different backgrounds. The sermon, profiled in the Christian message, should respect the differences in society, faith and person. The rich treasure of the biblical canon can be reflected in preaching, prayer, song and ritual, in particular through the psalms, with their formed lament, and brought into conversation with the Christian hope. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Phil. (Theology)

[pt] A presente tese tem como objetivo principal contribuir para um renovado conceito dos sacramentos da Igreja, a partir da teologia litúrgica das ações simbólicas dos profetas de Israel e de Jesus. Com o avanço das pesquisas na área bíblica, patrística e dogmática, tem sido possível explorar um conceito mais bíblico e eclesial dos sacramentos celebrados pela Igreja. À luz do Concílio Vaticano II é traçada a natureza litúrgica dos atos proféticos realizados pelos profetas e por Jesus. Como sinais do poder Deus, inseridos na história da salvação, estes atos hoje são prolongados no mundo por meio da liturgia da Igreja. Inseridos na última etapa da historia salutis, os sacramentos são atos divinos que revelam a presença salvífica de Cristo no mundo e antecipam o cumprimento escatológico do reino de Deus. Sendo assim, os sacramentos como atos proféticos da Igreja querem provocar uma expressão renovada dos atos litúrgicos da Igreja. As ações simbólicas provocam uma reposta, fazendo com que o cristão participe ativamente do mistério e compreenda que os sacramentos são atos que possuem uma força transformadora na própria vida, na Igreja e em todo o mundo. / [en] The main purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a renewed concept of the sacraments of the Church, starting from the liturgical theology of the symbolic actions of the prophets of Israel and Jesus. With the advance of biblical research, patristic and dogmatic, it has been possible to explore a more biblical and ecclesial concept of the sacraments celebrated by the Church. In the light of the Second Vatican Council, the liturgical nature of the prophetic acts performed by the prophets and by Jesus is outlined. As signs of God s power, inserted in salvation history, these acts are prolonged in the world today through the liturgy of the Church. Inserted in the last stage of the historia salutis, the sacraments are divine acts that reveal Christ s saving presence in the world and anticipate the eschatological fulfillment of the kingdom of God. Therefore, the sacraments as prophetic acts of the Church want to bring about a renewed expression of the liturgical acts of the Church. The symbolic actions cause a response, making the Christian participate actively in the mystery and understand that the sacraments are acts that have a transforming force in their own life, in the Church, and in the whole world.