This study is about a conceptual framework in order to assist a minister to ensure that the whole family (consisting of different generations) is addressed in the same family service. In many churches different services are held for different generations while, when the family attend a service, the children and teenagers mostly feel that they are not addressed. Children are part of the family of God and should attend the church service with their parents or caretakers. They are the child’s mentors in more than one way and should also guide them to live their lives as Christians. Church leaders increasingly realise that what is happening in the life of a child is directly related to what is happening, or not happening, at home. Leaders recognise that in order to pass on the faith from generation to generation, a new paradigm of ministry is needed – one that is holistic and connects children, youth, family, congregation, community and culture. The generation theory is a tool to help a minister to understand the family members better. It is not a mechanism to label people. It is more like a dipstick into a period of time that groups people who tend, generally speaking, to think and act in a similar manner under certain conditions. With understanding comes insight as well as vision, and problem-solving may follow. A sermon group where families are invited to discuss the Scripture reading as well as the message of the text before and after the sermon may help the minister to address the whole family. The sermon group will enhance communication and understanding. It may also help with the building of relationships between the different generations within the family as well as with the minister. Praise and worship plays an important role in the family service. Traditional worship is word-driven and punctuated by organ music. Contemporary worship is music-driven with pianos, drums and guitars. In order to accommodate all the generations an integrated style is a possibility to explore. This style integrates all the music instruments and songs of the different generations. In a family service worship should link each part of the liturgy in such a way that the reformed character of the service is not neglected. The sermon in a family service, as well as the whole service itself, should be short. The minister should use ample metaphors and visual material in the sermon. It is also important to use simple language (and seldom theological terms) in order to facilitate better understanding amongst the children and teenagers. The person of the minister plays an important role in a family-service. There is always a minister who conducts the service. An honest, transparent and trustworthy minister’s message will be accepted by all generations, even if he/she might not be the best orator. After studying the literature, empirical research was conducted. The original conceptual framework was enriched and broadened by the life-experience interviews of the families regarding the church service. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The impact of ethnic residential concentration on the process of integration of ethnic minorities into the mainstream society has been increasingly debated among both scholars and policy makers across Europe. This thesis seeks to contribute to this debate by addressing the effect of ethnic residential concentration on the political participation of Black Africans in Britain. The study pursues three main objectives: investigating the marginalising or mobilising impact of co-ethnic residential concentration on political participation; disentangling the processes underpinning this relationship by focusing on the effect of ethnic-based social networks, represented here by voluntary organisations, religious institutions and informal social networks; exploring the influence of the immigration-related heterogeneity that characterises the Black African community on the relationship between residential concentration, ethnic social networks and political participation. A mixed-method approach is adopted. The quantitative enquiry focuses on the Black African community as a whole and relies on secondary data drawn from the 2010 Ethnic Minority British Electoral Survey. The qualitative enquiry is based on primary data collected through face-to-face interviews and participant observation among Ghanaians and Somalis in London. The quantitative analysis shows that, among Black Africans, residential concentration has a mobilising effect on voter turnout but a marginalising effect on non-electoral participation. Ethnic social networks do not seem to mediate this relationship. Residential concentration is significantly, and positively, correlated to individual participation in ethnic places of worship and embeddedness in ethnic informal networks but not to involvement in ethnic organisations. In turn, the latter positively influences non-electoral engagement whereas ethnic places of worship and informal networks are not related to political engagement. The qualitative findings suggest that residential concentration is more relevant for the creation of and participation in ethnic organisations among Somalis than among Ghanaians. However, this relationship is likely to be influenced by other contextual factors such as institutional support, ethnic diversity and tribal homogeneity. Somali organisations also seem to play a more active political role than Ghanaian groups with regard to both electoral and non-electoral engagement. The two communities appear to be more similar when considering the relationship between ethnic religious institutions and informal connections with co-ethnics. These networks are not necessarily dependent on ethnic residential clustering and their effect on political engagement is primarily linked to informal political discussion. Overall, the results suggest that the relationship between residential concentration, ethnic social networks and political participation of Black Africans varies considerably between the two national groups researched, primarily due to their immigration-related characteristics, as well as across modes of political engagement (i.e. electoral, non-electoral) and local contexts.

Le but de ce travail est d’étudier une composante de la société de l’Afrique romaine, constituée par les allogènes originaires de la partie orientale de l’Empire. Le cadre de cette étude est le Haut-Empire romain, car l’essentiel de la documentation dont on dispose date de cette époque. L’épigraphie est la principale documentation. Avant de passer à l’étude de ce sujet, il était essentiel de déterminer les clés de sélection qui ont aidé à fixer l’origine de ces allogènes et à dégager le corpus des 260 notices épigraphiques qui constituent le support de ce travail. Le principal outil pris en considération est l’onomastique, tout en tenant compte du caractère parfois imprécis de cet indice. Ensuite, plusieurs aspects de la présence de ces Orientaux étaient étudiés. En premier lieu l’aspect démographique ainsi que la répartition sur le sol africain. Le second aspect est le volet social. Il a pour but d’étudier les diverses caractéristiques de la présence de cette communauté d’Orientaux. D’abord, la nature des activités qu’ils pratiquaient. Si le métier des armes était leur vocation majeure, ils exerçaient néanmoins plusieurs autres activités. L’étude de leur vie religieuse a montré qu’ils sont restés majoritairement fidèles aux cultes de leurs pays. L’onomastique ou encore les pratiques matrimoniales ont été des indices qui ont servi à étudier la nature des contacts qu’ils ont eu avec les Afro-romains et à évaluer leur intégration dans la société d’accueil. En dernier lieu, une partie du travail a été consacrée à l’étude du phénomène culturel qu’est l’hellénisme et du rôle que ces Orientaux ont joué dans la promotion de ce genre de culture. / The aim of the present work is to study a component of the Roman African society: the one constituted by the aliens originating from the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. The study is framed within the Early Roman Empire, as most of the documentation available dates back to that period. Epigraphy is the primary documentation for this work. Before turning to the study of this subject, it was essential to identify selection keys that helped fix the origin of these non-natives and come up with the body of 260 epigraphic records that constitute the corpus of this work. The main tool taken into consideration is onomastic, notwithstanding the vagueness sometimes inherent in this index. Thereafter, light was shed on the many aspects of the presence of these Orientals. First, the demographic layer: figuring, motives, conditions and structures of departure and the distribution on the African soil. The second layer concerns the social aspect. It aims to explore the various features of the presence of the Oriental community in Roman Africa. First, the nature of the activities they exercised. If the job of arms was their main vocation, they still exercised several other activities. The study of their religious life showed that they remained largely faithful to the worship practices of their home countries. Onomastic and also marriage practices were clues that were used to study the nature of the contacts they had with Africans and evaluate their integration within the host society. The last part of the work was devoted to the study of the cultural phenomenon of Hellenism and the role that these Orientals played in promoting this kind of culture in a predominantly Latin province.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:12:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 mauro_jose_alves_azevedo.pdf: 26048110 bytes, checksum: 05f024fdda00b90154fbf8846806dbc0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-29 / Rituals Catholics think the theme and its connection with violence in football flodplain Recife, from data collected with athletes from that region, situed in the Field do bueirão (Torre), the cacique field (Zumbi) and field of the Stream of Gameleira (Stream Gameleira), is the target of this work. As a means to understand and analyze the extent to which the athlete practicing Catholic Christian rituals before, during and after the game that uses your body for acts of violence that clashes that natural sport. The methodological approach of our research is qualitative and descriptive, using the method and empirical data collected from structured interviews. In the interviews the athletes floodplain recognized that even practicing Catholic Christian rituals, reasons outside the environment of the dispute led to act violently against their opponents. In sports football varzeana difficulties are present socio economic and ritual in the Catholic Christians who spend their lives as a demonstration of their faith in the sacred. / Pensar o tema Rituais Católicos e sua conexão com a violência no futebol de várzea recifense, a partir dos dados coletados com atletas da referida região, situados no campo do bueirão (Torre), campo do cacique (Zumbi) e campo de Córrego da Gameleira (Córrego da Gameleira), constitui o alvo deste trabalho. Como um meio de compreender e analisar até que ponto o atleta que pratica os rituais cristãos católicos antes, durante e depois da partida utiliza seu corpo em ações de violência que destoa daquela natural do esporte. O procedimento metodológico da nossa pesquisa é qualitativo e descritivo, através de método empírico e com dados coletados a partir de entrevista estruturada. Nas entrevistas os Atletas de várzea reconheceram que mesmo praticando os rituais cristãos católicos, motivos exteriores ao ambiente da contenda os levam a agir com violência contra seus adversários. Na prática esportiva futebolística varzeana estão presentes dificuldades sócio econômicas e rituais cristãos católicos que passam nas suas vidas como demonstrativos de sua fé no sagrado.

[pt] O salmo 101 é analisado em sua relação com a monarquia e com o culto, enfatizando-se os vv. 2 e 6, onde sobretudo se notam indícios que permitem explorar essa relação. No poema o rei deseja cantar o amor e o direito de YHWH, - dons divinos outorgados a Israel e Davi - respondendo não apenas através do culto, mas também através de um estilo de vida em fidelidade à Lei de YHWH. Este projeto de vida, caminho sem mancha, se torna critério na escolha dos seus colaboradores e deve pautar a vida de todos os habitantes da cidade de Deus. Através da pergunta quando virás a mim?, no v. 2, o rei reclama a vinda de YHWH até ele, para que ele seja capaz de realizar seus propósitos de fidelidade. No v. 6 o verbo servir, que é usado para designar o serviço cúltico a Deus, e aqui designa serviço ao rei, parece indicar uma proximidade entre o ambiente monárquico e o ambiente cúltico. Essa proximidade se depreende também do discurso real, que revela que o critério norteador da vida do rei e dos que são admitidos à corte, é semelhante ao que, segundo as liturgias de ingresso, deve orientar a vida dos que são admitidos ao templo: a fidelidade à Lei. Portanto, enquanto no v. 2 o rei reconhece sua dependência de YHWH, no v. 6, parece estabelecer sua corte, de certa forma, em dependência ao templo. / [en] The relationship between worship and monarchy is analyzed in the light of Psalm 101, being emphasized the vv. 2 and 6, where above all, they are noticed indications to allow to explore this relationship. In the poem the king wants to sing the love and the right of YHWH, divine gifts granted to Israel and David, not only responding through the cult, but also through a faithful lifestyle according to the Law of YHWH. This life project, road without stain, becomes the criterion in the choice of his collaborators, and should rule the lives of all inhabitants of the city of God. Through the question when will you come to me? in v. 2, the king claims the arrival of YHWH to him, so that he might be capable to accomplish his fidelity purposes. In v. 6 the verb to serve, is used to designate the cultic service to God, and here it designates the service to the king, it seems to indicate the proximity between the monarchic atmosphere and the cultic atmosphere. This proximity also infers the royal speech, which reveals that the criterion that orientates the king s life and of those who are admitted to the court, is similar to what, according to the entrance liturgies, should guide the life of those who are admitted to the temple: the fidelity to the Law. Thus, in v. 2 the king recognizes his dependence on YHWH and, in v.6, the king establishes his court, in a certain way, in dependence on the temple.

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

No description available.

A relatively unexplored phenomena of the Nordic Bronze Age is the occurrence where monumental cult houses of stone foundation are discontinued, instead smaller cult houses are constructed in wood. This change occurred during the middle of the Bronze Age, a time werethe Nordic society experienced extensive contact and trade with cultures on mainland Europe. Cult houses were misunderstood for the majority of the 20th Century and it was not until recent they were acknowledged, and this shift noticed. This paper will examine the mentioned change in cult houses with the hypothesis that they were of symbolic importance and use of the elites. It will be discussed whether the cult houses form is attached to the elites display of power and is dependent on a grander ideology in how the elites legitimize their privileged position in society. In essence the paper aims to investigate the two types of cult houses and see to what extent they can be derived to underlying institutions, set up by the elite as a strategy to stay in power.

In this study, I worked with an ensemble of teenagers from Ayts Chayim Messianic Synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida to develop an original Purim play to be presented for the congregation and the public. I specifically explored "What is theatre's role as a worship tool in a Messianic Jewish Synagogue?" My ultimate goal in this process was to honor God through the creative arts, and I used the process of creating the play to discover the specific ways that theatre can be used as a worship tool, from script development to theatrical presentation. I hypothesized that theatre could be used as a worship tool if both the attitude of the artists is one of worship and the artists strive for excellence because it is ultimately for God. I furthermore hypothesized that worshipping throughout the process by way of the group's teamwork, attitude, and quality of work would be an integral part of producing a successful product. I sought to discover specifically what theatre as a worship tool looks like in the context of a Messianic Synagogue and what practices I glean from models of Christian drama ministries and what practices emerge from my process that are unique to Messianic theatre when used as a worship tool. How can I infuse my spiritual foundation with my artistic training? The majority of this project focused on the process of creating the play, from writing the script to dress rehearsals. The ensemble met weekly to explore the themes of the biblical story of Esther, brainstormed ideas for our adaptation, developed a script, and executed production aspects such as acting and design elements. Simultaneously, I kept a rehearsal journal with reflections on each lesson and the process as a whole. I completed research on contemporary theories and practices of Christian theatre artists in order to compare and contrast different approaches to faith-based theatre; these approaches are described in this thesis and conclusions are made as to how this research can be applied to my study. At the end of the presentation, I conducted interviews with members of the ensemble and the leaders of the congregation to receive feedback about the process, final presentation, and their perception of how theatre may be used as a worship tool. In this thesis, I write about the experience as a whole, evaluating our ability to use theatre as a worship tool for this specific presentation. I then process the implications this project has for future Messianic Jewish theatre, as well as the project's impact on my growth as a theatre artist. My final conclusions based on this experience are that theatre's role as a worship tool is to create an atmosphere where people are comfortable worshipping. Furthermore, the process of creating the play helped the youth and I discover how to be effective "ministers" and artists that create an atmosphere of worship. Based on my research, I posit that theatre can play many "roles" in the context of a Messianic synagogue: a bypass, sandpaper, or light, to name a few. Finally, artists and places of worship have something to contribute to one another, but both parties must move forward with the understanding that the Scripture provides a theological framework from which to base artistic choices and that artists need to develop their own specific approach to theatre while suiting the mission, vision, and values of the host congregation.

The paper argues that the distinction between religious and secular realms of society is not as clear-cut in modern societies as it appears in theories of functional and institutional differentiation. The data used are mainly from China with a short excursion to the United States. The starting point is ancestor worship, which is a central element of traditional Chinese religion. The significance of ancestor worship in Chinese history and culture is briefly explained to illustrate on the one hand its central importance as a ritual practice and on the other hand the ambiguities of interpretation. On this basis, some theoretical considerations about the existence of ancestors are presented. This is followed by a report on contemporary temple festivals focusing on the worship of Fuxi, a mythic figure considered to be the first ancestor of the Chinese people. The next step is the description of official state rituals devoted to the worship of the very same mythological hero in contemporary China. Against this backdrop, the last part of the paper discusses the theoretical questions of classification and distinguishing between the religious and the secular. / Theoretischer Ausgangspunkt des Beitrages ist die Unterscheidung zwischen Religion und säkularen Bereichen der Gesellschaft. Es wird argumentiert, dass diese Unterscheidung auch in modernen Gesellschaften weniger klar ist, als es Theorien der funktionalen und institutionellen Differenzierung unterstellen. Die empirische Basis der Überlegungen bilden Beobachtungen zu kollektiven Formen von Ahnenkult im heutigen China. Dazu werden zunächst die Bedeutung und verschiedene Interpretationen von Ahnenkult in China historisch erläutert. Daran anschließend folgen einige theoretische Überlegungen zur Existenz von Ahnen. Die nächsten Abschnitte beschreiben die heutige kollektive Verehrung von Fuxi als Ahn des chinesischen Volkes in zwei verschiedenen Formen: im Rahmen eines populären Tempelfestes und im Rahmen eines offiziellen staatlichen Rituals. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird im letzten Abschnitt gezeigt, dass bei der Verehrung von Toten die Grenze zwischen religiösen und säkularen Ritualen verschwimmt.