The artist discusses the work in Mud and Ashes, his Master of Fine Arts exhibition held at Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, from March 28 to April 1, 2005. The exhibition marks a turning point in the artist’s work, occupying a beginning place as he completes his graduate career. The work consists of fifteen paintings and one sculptural installation. The paintings are on paper and employ local materials such as red clay, pollen, and beeswax along with traditional artist’s materials such as oil and charcoal. Fire and a power sander have also been used as drawing tools. Each painting is 22 x 22 inches square and hangs directly on the wall, unmounted and unframed. Topics discussed include the artist’s development and work leading up to and including the exhibition works; the influences of Sung Dynasty Chinese landscape painting, Zen Buddhism, aboriginal art, nature, myth and ritual; the influences of artists Montien Boonma, Paul Cezanne, Jim Dine, Andy Goldsworthy, Morris Graves, Brice Marden, Georgio Morandi, Kiki Smith, Mark Tobey, and Cy Twombly; and the influences of composer John Cage and poet Gary Snyder. Included are images of the artist’s early work as well as a catalogue of the Mud and Ashes exhibition.

The work in this show reflects my interest in the role of the ceramic vessel historically as well as its place in the dialogue of contemporary art. Traditionally thought of as an object of craft and function, the vessel has found footing also as a conceptual container of ideas and artistic expression. It teeters on the threshold between craft and art, between art and life. Because of its strong association with the domestic, I find the vessel to be a fitting form on which to paint ornamental patterns and imagery associated with my own home life and to put into question its role as a strictly functional object.

Eugène Ionesco's plays are often thought of only as absurd. This thesis explores another possible interpretation of his plays, including Rhinocèros, Le Roi se meurt, Jeux de massacre, Les Chaises, Victimes du devoir, La Jeune fille à marier, and La Leçon. These plays are investigated with the help of anthropologist René Girard's theory on ritual, violence, and sacrifice. Since these elements are recurring themes in Ionesco's plays, Girard's theory is a useful key to unlocking what may seem at times to be nothing but nonsense, but is full of meaning. In the first chapter, the rituals and repetitions that abound in Ionesco's plays are discussed in the light of Girardian theory, illustrating the negative effects of ritual without substance. Chapter two analyses the violent and sacrificial nature of these plays, and their contagious qualities. The third chapter discusses where redemption can be found amidst the violence. This thesis also debates the possible Christian aspects within Ionesco's works relating to the themes of ritual, violence, and redemption.

As scholarly interest in family religiosity has grown, scholars have called for a closer look at proximal measures of religiosity that are more connected to the individual and familial daily experience (Mahoney et al., 1999). The purpose of this paper is to explore in detail how religion and family religious rituals relate to, interface with, and affect the day-to-day activity of family life. It includes qualitative analysis of interviews with highly religious parents and children in 67 families that belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Grounded theory was employed to analyze the data and a conceptual model was developed to illustrate how this particular sample experienced religious integration. Findings suggest that for this sample, religion was more than an external influence; it was viewed as an integral part of one's individual, familial, structural, and social systems. This finding challenges traditional human ecological theory which suggests that religion is merely an external influence. Findings also indicate that religious rituals were viewed as being an important part of everyday life for the majority of this sample. Despite challenges of religious rituals, participants indicated that they experienced positive individual and familial outcomes when participating in family religious rituals. No negative outcomes were reported. Comparative analysis between participants in the higher and lower overall family functioning groups suggests that religious ritual properties and perceptions differed for these two groups. Those in the higher family functioning group mentioned more frequently that religious rituals were an enjoyable part of family life while those in the lower family functioning group mentioned more frequently they were motivated by a sense of duty to participate in these rituals. Other differences between these two groups are discussed. Though this sample allowed for a thick description of one particular culture to be produced, findings from this study cannot be generalized beyond highly religious LDS families. Despite limitations, the overwhelming perception that religious integration and religious rituals enhanced individual and family life has potentially far reaching implications. These findings should be strongly considered and applied to future research, clinical practice, and family life education.

Niches are common features in the Nabataean landscape (Healey 2001; Starcky 1966: cols. 1008-10; Patrich 1990:50-113). From their frequent appearance in the archeological record, it is evident that the Nabataeans placed great importance on these cultic features. However, very little is known about them. The purpose of this study was to find and record Nabataean cultic niches in a field survey and then to interpret these niches as part of a research design that proposed purposes of niche variation in construction, orientation, and placement of niches on the landscape. My research addresses several neglected issues in the study of cultic niches in Nabataean religion. Robert Wenning has stated there is a need "to research the elements and details of niches in order to understand which detail or combination of elements indicates a specific function or points to an individual deity or certain divine aspect" (Wenning 2001:88). With this research, I hope to determine whether or not certain characteristics of niches can show preferred orientations, indicate a specific function, determine how sanctuaries containing niches were organized, show preferred niche façade ornamentation, or aid in the potential identification of deities.

This paper examines and provides the best model, degrees of preparation, and various steps the Diocese of Manchester can provide and encourage in order to resuscitate parish sacred music programs. In Chapter One, I provide the contextual framework needed in which to fully understand sacred music by first defining liturgy. I also examine the ancient/modern axiom of Lex orandi-Lex credendi-Lex vivendi by discussing the ways which worship shapes our beliefs and, in turn, how we live our lives. Since worship involves codified words, I discuss how the church safeguards her ritual texts and how the process of translations occurs from Latin into various vernacular languages, taking a moment to examine a few texts and compare translations. Because liturgy requires assembly participation, I conclude the chapter by detailing what active participation means and what it does not. Dedicated to sacred music, Chapter Two begins by defining sacred music and its associative qualities. I then move to discuss the attributes and polarity of Apollonian and Dionysian music. Next, I pivot to examine how sacred music serves as an important tool for evangelization. The chapter is concluded by rethinking the musician’s role as vocation versus employment and dissecting the role and function of the position Director of Music. Acknowledging the Church has a particular culture associated with it, Chapter Three traces the affect popular culture has on society and the widespread cultural deficit of attention to beauty. I trace the concept and components of the “culture of mediocrity” gripping the church and how best to reverse the trend. I then speak of the importance of richness found within liturgical texts and how human beings respond to beauty itself. Finally, I propose that parishes must establish a clear cultus Dei within their community in order to undertake authentic evangelization by providing an alternative to secular culture. Highlighting the reality that the path to resuscitate parish music programs, such as attaining both musically and liturgically competent musicians, is a complex situation involving multiple layers, Chapter Four begins with outlining various Diocesan responsibilities beginning with the Bishop, the Cathedral, Diocesan Office for Worship and Liturgical Commission, Diocesan Director of Music and the necessity for the Diocesan Office for Worship to collaborate with the Catholic Schools Office to cultivate a new generation of church musicians. The chapter ends with discussing the importance of continuing education and surveying both national and local structures, programs and initiatives for ministerial formation. Although our present time is complex and full of various seemingly insurmountable challenges, Chapter Five speaks of the unending hope for continued restoration within the liturgical and sacred music apostolate. Recapping some of the major themes found in the paper, I remind the reader that the journey towards total parish renewal is possibly for everyone and not just for a select few. The paper culminates in Chapter Six where I offer a strategic plan that supplies a model for the resuscitation of church music programs in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire. The paper concludes with several appendixes. Appendix A details various chant resources, Appendix B lists various choral resources applicable for smaller and medium-sized choirs, a comparison/contrast of the 1970 and 2010 English translations of the Latin text of the Exsultet are in Appendix C, and Appendix D offers a model course focused on the history of sacred music and of liturgical theology. / 2026-09-30

Syftet med studien är att utforskar vad stolphålen i ”Buttlekrigaren” indikerar utifrån hur de förhåller sig till varandra, till andra konstruktioner i graven samt till den övriga gravkontexten. Ytterligare har de omkringliggande lämningar i Buttle Änge samt de källkritiska aspekterna av dokumentation av stolphål beaktas. Materialet avgränsas till Buttle Änge och grävningarna sedan 2009. Analysen av materialet har genomförts utifrån ett kronologiskt och rumsligt perspektiv samt via tolkningar och definitioner av konstruktionselement av gravar; rituella företeelser och minnen kopplade till gravar; samt utifrån källkritiska aspekter över metodik och tolkning. Resultatet indikerar att stolphålen i ”Buttlekrigarens grav” var en del av begravningsritualen och utgjordes av en eller flera konstruktioner som var uppförda tidigare eller samtida med primärgraven. Graven har successivt förändrats jämte bruket av den och området Buttle Änge samtidigt som de ursprungliga avgränsningarna och användningsområden har behållits. Å andra sidan är stolphål enklare att tolka men svårare att fastställa. / The aim of this study is to explore what the postholes in the “Buttlewarrior’s grav” indicate based on how they relate to each other, to other constructions in the grave and to the rest of the grave context. Additionally, the surrounding remains of Buttle Änge, and a source-critical aspect of the documentation of postholes has been taken in consideration. The material is delimited to the area of Buttle Änge and to the excavation conducted since 2009. The study applies a chronological and spatial perspective and analyses the material though interpretations and definitions of construction parts of graves; ritual aspects and memories connected to graves; and source-critical aspects of methodology and interpretation. The results shows that the postholes in the “Buttlewarrior’s grave” were a part of the burial ritual and consisted of one or a few constructions erected later or contemporary with the primary grave. The grave has gradually changed along with the use of it and the area of Buttle Änge, while the original boundaries and areas of use have been preserved. On the other hand, postholes are easier to interpret but more difficult to verify.

Based on three and a half years of research among semi-cloistered Christian monastics and a dispersed network of non-monastic Christian contemplatives around the United States, this study shows how religious practitioners in both settings combined social action and intentional living with intellectual study and intensive contemplative practices in an effort to modify their ways of knowing, sensing, and experiencing the world. It explores the interplay of social diversity and cohesiveness in pluralistic society and the relationship of agency and habitus in practitioners' conscious attempts at spiritual transformation. Organized by the metaphor of a seeker journeying towards the inner chambers of a monastic chapel, The Porous Cell uses innovative "intersubjective" fieldwork methods to study these opaque interiorized, often silent communities, in order to show how solitude, chant, contemplation, attention, and a paradoxical capacity to combine active ritual with intentional "unknowing" develop and hone a powerful sense of communion and foster a unitive state in relationship to "life in the world." Cloistered monastics encouraged a commitment to ancient Christian ideals and practices, but both they and dispersed non-monastics enriched the movement's character by including aspects of other religious traditions. Partially inspired by Fredrik Barth's anthropology of knowledge, the thesis develops a novel theory of clines of multiple epistemologies, which include intellectual, experiential, performative, and contemplative knowledges, as well as the notion of "unknowing." This model of variable knowledges (both conscious and "embodied") shows how contemplative communities can be diverse and yet retain considerable cohesiveness and stability. American Christian contemplatives' ability to fuse so many spheres of knowledge and to live contemplatively challenges the often taken-for-granted segregation of the religious, secular, sacred, and profane in the modern world. Further, this study contributes to the anthropologies of perception, silence, embodiment, and experience, and to the anthropology and epistemology of Christianity. It extends American ethnography by its use of new methods for studying silence and performance, and by focusing on a highly educated and mostly urban, professional, Euro-American community (in both its geographically-situated and "non-gathered," network-based guises) which is rarely the subject of ethnographic research and is often assumed to be the demographic most likely to reject religion. / 2022-08-01T00:00:00Z

Why, in the second decade of the 21st century, do Chinese temple-goers visit Buddhist temples even if they are religiously unaffiliated, folk religionists, or even self-proclaimed secularists? How can we develop new conceptual tools to better understand religious involvement in contemporary China? The thesis investigates the significances of temple-based activities under late socialist state secularism, which defines religion in a specific way. It suggests that temple participation allows diverse Chinese citizens to flexibly negotiate modernity, sidestep institutional constraints, and introduce ritual-religious momentums to their temple-going lives in a mainstream society. Based on fifteen months of fieldwork, the study identifies and documents three stylistic forms of temple participation that are widely accessible and require no prior religious commitments: making wish-vows, drawing efficacious lots, and providing residential temple services. It refines a method of ritual analysis for studying how these non-institutional activities affect temple-goers’ self-understandings and their worldly stances. Theoretically, the dissertation discusses the social conditions for creative actions and the relationship between religious participation and state secularism. It shows that “temples” as spatial entities can be a place for many-sided meaningful activities and an incubator for complex visions of life, outside the conventional typecast of sacred spaces based on institutional religious differences. In late socialist China, Buddhist temples exist as semi-public sites because of an inclusive Mahayana Buddhist ideal of bodhisattva practices and, paradoxically, because of a state secularist policy that endorses “Religious Activities Venues” as spatial and even residential units. Overall, the dissertation treats Chinese temple-goers as our interlocutors sharing the global modernist predicament of state secularism. We theorize a sidestepping, non-confrontational mode of religious activism, move beyond a dichotomous view of religiosity and secularity, and consider the existing creative transformative processes of a hegemonic linear-developmental view of history. Temples as places of self-transformation are historically constituted sites within the sovereign state spaces. When Chinese temple-goers reconfigure their historical selves by actively visiting temple spaces, they also open the possibility of different futures for the late socialist regime. This brings us to an anthropology of religion effectively considering the making of humanity in contemporary China in a shared modern world.

The daunting sojourn of migrant church members can be likened to what’s described in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. What the Church offers them are the rituals of formation and a host’s temporary benevolence. Their expressed spirituality sees sacraments as means of grace towards a higher status through competition. The quest for earthly status by using sacraments as means to economic salvation is an expression of a progressive spirituality. This thesis closes the gap between spirituality and earthly status through a progressive form of liberation theology as an evangelistic framework, using farming as an ancient and economically beneficial ritual.