In this diploma thesis the verbal persuasive devices typical of two new religious movements' texts (Jehovah's Witnesses and New Age) have been analysed, with regard to manipulation. Because of the interdisciplinary character of manipulation religion and sociological aspects in new religious movements section and logical, psychological and ethical aspects in manipulative argumentation section have been considered. It was found that the style of the analysed texts and its verbal persuasive devices differ from the field of religious communication only in few aspects from verbal persuasive devices of journalistic communication and that manipulative devices are partly acceptable with regard to the sources and methods involved in the texts, however, the field of quasiargumentation have been found outside acceptability.

En 1960, la parution du Matin des magiciens, ouvrage écrit par Louis Pauwels et Jacques Bergier, marque le début d’un phénomène littéraire qu’il est d’usage d’appeler « réalisme fantastique ». D’abord porté par la revue Planète, puis par de nombreux auteurs indépendants comme Robert Charroux, le réalisme fantastique connaît en France, jusqu’à la fin des années 1970, un succès considérable.Cette thèse a pour ambition de définir ce qu’est le réalisme fantastique et de déterminer les raisons de son succès et de sa subite disparition. En reprenant la méthodologie de la sociohistoire proposée par Gérard Noiriel, nous en proposons une approche qui relève à la fois de l’histoire culturelle et religieuse et de la sociologie des religions, des croyances, des sciences et de la littérature.Si on peut comprendre le développement du réalisme fantastique en recourant à la théorie du champ littéraire proposée par Pierre Bourdieu, il est aussi possible de l’envisager comme un exemple de recomposition du religieux, caractéristique des décennies d’après-guerre. Porteur d’une forme particulière d’ésotérisme, que nous qualifions de « grand public », le réalisme fantastique constitue un mode de pensée intermédiaire entre cultic milieu, New Age et occulture.En raison de cette position originale, nous proposons de voir le réalisme fantastique comme un paradigme culturel alternatif au modèle dominant, gouverné par la science. Ce paradigme développe son propre système de connaissances et de valeurs en mêlant ésotérisme, religion et science.Enfin, ce travail s’intéresse à l’influence de la sécularisation sur l’ésotérisme. En établissant un lien avec la contre-culture, nous souhaitons montrer comment le discours ésotérique a pu se développer au sein de la culture française, au point d’en constituer aujourd’hui un élément « ordinaire ». / In 1960, the publication of Matin des magiciens, written by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, marks the beginning of a literary phenomenon commonly known as “réalisme fantastique”. First fuelled by the review Planète then by numerous independant authors such as Robert Charroux, the réalisme fantastique enjoys great success in France, until the late 70’s.This thesis aims at defining réalisme fantastique and determining the reasons behind its success then sudden disappearance. Using Gérard Noiriel’s socio-historical methodology, we suggest an approach that falls at once within cultural and religious history and the sociology of religions, sciences and literature.If the development of réalisme fantastique may be understood using Pierre Bourdieu’s literary field theory, it can also be construed as a way of reshaping religion, which is a distinctive feature of post-war decades. Presenting a particular form of esotericism called “mainstream esotericism”, the réalisme fantastique constitutes a way of thinking lying between the cultic milieu, New Age and occulture.Because of this unusual status, we propose to see the réalisme fantastique as a cultural paradigm that offers an alternative to the prevailing model, governed by science. This paradigm develops its very own knowledge system and values by blending esotericism, religion and science.Finally, this study focuses on the impact of secularization on esotericism. By establishing a link with counter-culture, we seek to demonstrate how the esoteric rhetoric managed to develop itself within French culture, to the point of becoming nowadays an ‘ordinary’ element.

This study aims to investigate Christian responses to New Age practices, specifically by examining how the New Age practice of yoga, is described in Swedish Christian press. The reasearch questions were the following two: 1) How is Yoga described in the Swedish Protestant Christian Press? 2) How is yoga presented in the Swedish Protestant Christian newspapers Kyrkans Tidning, Dagen, Sändaren and Världen idag based on Lundgren’s risk and resource theory? The method used was content analysis, both in qualitative and quantitative approaches and the material consisted of 379 articles from 4 different Christian newspapers. Risk or resource theory and yogaphobia were applied to the results and the discussion. Regarding the first question, yoga is described as either a resource, a threat or other. In the resource category, the following subcategories emerged: yoga as a resource for physical health, yoga as a resource for mental health, yoga as a resource for activity in operation, yoga as a resource for a path to Christian spirituality, yoga as a resource for a path to an internal quest and yoga as a resource for a modernization of the church. Within the threat category, the following subcategories emerged: yoga as a threat to Christianity, yoga as a threat to church activities, yoga as a threat by dark forces, yoga as a threat to non-denominationalism,yoga as a threat to taxpayers, yoga as a threat to human health, and yoga as a threat to societal progress. The second research question addresses how yoga is presented based on the risk and resource theory. Surprisingly, the majority of the articles were found to belong to the other category, meaning that the article was neutral in its reporting. However, the risk category consisted of almost twice as many articles as the resource category. An interesting discovery in the analysis part was that both the theory of yogaphobia and “yoga as a risk” advocate that the practice of yoga in a Christian context contributes to a contradiction between the fundamental dogmas of Christianity and the opposite ones based in other religions. In contrast, yogaphobia is associated with a fear or phobia of yoga, while yoga as a risk is associated with criticism based on substantiated arguments. / Folkkyrkans nya ansikten - levd religion, nyandliga praktiker och teologisk legitimitet.

Text in Dutch / In deze verhandeling worden een aantal perikopen uit het boek Hosea, namelijk Hosea 2, 4, 5:1-7, 8, 9, 10 en 14:2-9, uitgelegd aan de hand van het kemwoord afgodendienst. Vergelijk: de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea. Tevens wordt een beschrijving gegeven van de New Age-beweging en wordt een aantal zienswijzen van deze beweging uitgediept. Vergelijk: het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. Het doel van deze verhandeling is het vergelijken van de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea met het nieuwe-tijdsdenken en de overeenkomsten aan te geven. Vergelijk: vergeleken met. In hoofdstuk 1 (Probleemstelling en hypothese) wordt het probleem aan de orde gesteld dat de Kanaanitische natuurgodsdienst de Israelitische godsdienst binnengedrongen was en leidde tot afgodendienst. Tevens wordt gesteld dat heden ten dage de godskennis minimaal is, kerken leeglopen maar semi-godsdiensten zich mogen verheugen in een enorme toeloop. De New Age-beweging is hiervan een voorbeeld. Elementen uit de gedachtewereld van de afgodendienst ten tijde van de profeet Hosea blijken overeen te komen met denkbeelden die deel uitmaken van het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 2 (Werkwijze) wordt de weg aangegeven die in deze verhandeling gevolgd is om te komen tot het beschrijven van de overeenkomsten tussen de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea en het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 3 ((Godsdienst)geschiedschrijving) wordt een aantal benaderingen besproken die kunnen leiden tot een evenwichtige beschrijving van de geschiedenis van een godsdienst. Tevens wordt aangegeven waarvan de geschiedschrijver gebruik moet maken om tot een zo objectief mogelijke beschrijving te komen. In hoofdstuk 4 (De geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus) wordt de geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus beschreven aan de hand van de regeringen van de koningen Uzzia, Jotam, Achaz en Jechizkia van Juda en Jerobeam van Israel. Age-beweging is hiervan een voorbeeld. Elementen uit de gedachtewereld van de afgodendienst ten tijde van de profeet Hosea blijken overeen te komen met denkbeelden die deel uitmaken van het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 2 (Werkwijze) wordt de weg aangegeven die in deze verhandeling gevolgd is om te komen tot het beschrijven van de overeenkomsten tussen de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea en het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 3 ((Godsdienst)geschiedschrijving) wordt een aantal benaderingen besproken die kunnen leiden tot een evenwichtige beschrijving van de geschiedenis van een godsdienst. Tevens wordt aangegeven waarvan de geschiedschrijver gebruik moet maken om tot een zo objectief mogelijke beschrijving te komen. In hoofdstuk 4 (De geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus) wordt de geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus beschreven aan de hand van de regeringen van de koningen Uzzia, Jotam, Achaz en Jechizkia van Juda en Jerobeam van Israel. In hoofdstuk 5 (De geschiedenis van Israels godsdienst in de achtste eeuw voor Christus) wordt allereerst J erobeam I ten tonele gevoerd omdat hij de drijvende kracht was achter de ontwikkeling van Betel en Dan tot nationale heiligdommen in het noordelijke Israel. Deze ontwikkeling kan gezien worden als de aanleiding van de afgodendienst ten tijde van Hosea. Vervolgens wordt de invloed van de Kanaanitische godsdienst op de Israelitische godsdienst aan de orde gesteld. In hoofdstuk 6 (De profeet Hosea) worden de persoon en de prediking van de profeet Hosea uitgediept. In hoofdstuk 7 (Uitleg van enkele perikopen uit Hosea) worden de perikopen uit de aanhef van deze samenvatting uitgelegd aan de hand van het kemwoord afgodendienst. In hoofdstuk 8 (De Kanaanitische god Baal) wordt een aantal facetten van Baal belicht die wellicht kunnen bijdragen tot een beter verstaan van Israels godsdienst in de achtste eeuw voor Christus. In hoofdstuk 9 (New Age) wordt een beschrijving gegeven van de New Age-beweging en een aantal zienswijzen nader onder de loep genomen. In hoofdstuk 10 (Gevolgtrekkingen) wordt enerzijds de achtste eeuw voor Christus vergeleken met de post-twintigste eeuw en anderzijds de overeenkomsten opgesomd tussen de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea en het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. / This thesis compares idolatry in Hosea with the New Age movement. A number of pericopes from Hosea are explained in view of idolatry. Canaanite nature worship had entered into Israelite religion. Among the kings of Israel in the eighth century BC, Jeroboam I in particular was the moving force behind the development of Bethel and Dan into national sanctuaries. This development can be seen as the immediate cause for idolatry in Hosea's days. Also nowadays knowledge of God is very poor. There are fewer and fewer churchgoers, but semi-religions like the New Age movement attract a hugh number of people. Elements from the realm of thought of idolatry at Hosea's time appear to correspond closely with concepts that are essential in the New Age movement. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies

The purpose of this project was to explore mindfulness based on the literature Mindfulness från början by Charlotte Mandrup and Mindfulness i hjärnan by Åsa Nilsonne. The research was based on the following three questions: What view of mindfulness is mentioned in Mandrup´s and Nilsonne´s books? What similarities and differences are there between the books? How can the interpretations of mindfulness that Mandrup and Nilsonne have presented be understood?   Both Mandrup and Nilsonne agree that mindfulness does not have a formal and clear definition. Mindfulness is about being conscious of the present and being mentally aware. The main differences between the two books were that Mandrup claims that mindfulness lets people handle the big and small issues that they might face in life whilst Nilsonne means that mindfulness has its place in the human brain.   The conclusion is, therefore that when a definition of the concept is not clear or formal, it can cause some issues. A big thing that separates the books is that Nilsonne focuses on the connection between mindfulness and the human brain, how with the help of mindfulness an individual can train and shape their own brain. Mandrup focuses instead on mindfulness as a method and a technique to effectively limit the stress and break negative patterns of life.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Master thesis "The Elements of New Age in Contemporary Judaism (so called Jewish Renewal)" deals with mutual relationship between Judaism and New Age movement. In the first part it describes their main mutual elements such as holism, monism, environmentalism, tender issues and esotericism. The second part is focused on Jewish Renewal movement, which aroused in 60's of 20th century in the United states of America. This movement is transdenominational neoschasidic movement, which tries to renew Judaism through Chasidic and kabalistic thoughts adapted to present days, it emphasizes personal spirituality. The third part talks about the Jewish elements within new Age, which are mainly kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. The fourth part describes the phenomenon of dual religious identity, whose the best known groups are Messianic Jews, Jews for Allah, Jewbus and Hinjews.

Submitted by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2017-06-26T15:02:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_LUCIELE_NARDI_COMUNELLO_PARCIAL.pdf: 733520 bytes, checksum: a7bb95110d85b8738138d286620ebd48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-26T15:02:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_LUCIELE_NARDI_COMUNELLO_PARCIAL.pdf: 733520 bytes, checksum: a7bb95110d85b8738138d286620ebd48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-20 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq / This research aims to investigate learning processes in ecovillages. Ecovillages are defined as intentional communities that seek a sustainable way of life, turning into spaces where, often, environmental phenomenon and New Age spirituality get together. It is from considering contemporary scenery - characterized by the gap between sacred and profane from secularization processes; the environmental crisis that shows us the limits of consumerism, development at any cost, and instrumental rationality; and by the need of new ethics (or new ethic principles) - that contexts such as ecovillages become relevant because they offer, potentially, elements to rethink the relation human-world, ethics and to develop other sensibilities. From valuing learning as immersion in everyday life, by living together, these experiences turn into fertile context to reflect on educational practices, based on modern tradition, that reaffirm the dualisms body-mind, nature-culture, keeping the onto-epistemological bases that support the crisis (spiritual, environmental and ethical). It is an ethnographic research with a multi-sited approach, from which we followed the ?ecovillage phenomenon? through two different sites: one ecovillage in the South of Brazil (Arca Verde) and one ecovillage in the north of Scotland (Findhorn). Arca Verde was chosen because it is an Institute/Community with acknowledged expertise on environmental issues, through Permaculture, in the south of Brazil. Findhorn was chosen because of its lenght, generational shifts, and for being an acknowledged center of environmental education and education for sustainability, alongside Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), UN and other projects at global level. From looking at their abyssal differences: age, size, folk, cultural context etc., we also find similarities in their practices and narratives. Both of them identify with the target ?Ecovillage?, sharing the same ?definition?. The fieldwork was done, respectively, from September 2013 to September 2014, and from May 2015 to March 2016. Resonating with Ecological Epistemologies and New Materialisms, taking situated learning, communities of practices and education of attention approaches, learning is understood as part of every social practice, which happens when people get together to coparticipate in collective endeavors. Learning is understood as a process from which we become who we are, with no need of teaching and not as an individual achievement, but rather, a process that happens when people are engaged and coparticipating in activities from which subjects and world coemerge, in a recursive correspondence. Results indicate more than rational ways of learning in a more than human world, that include: interaction with the dimension of sacredness in nature (being that human or non-human), revealing a search for transcendence in immanence; practice of rituals with whom one can learn to be ?in tune? with oneself or with others, and education of senses and emotions. / Esta pesquisa tem como tema a aprendizagem em ecovilas. Ecovilas s?o definidas como comunidades intencionais que buscam um estilo de vida sustent?vel, sendo espa?os onde, frequentemente, o fen?meno ambiental e o movimento New Age - ecologia e espiritualidade - se encontram. Considerando o cen?rio contempor?neo - caracterizado por: uma cis?o entre o sagrado e o profano decorrente dos processos de seculariza??o; uma crise ambiental que enuncia os limites do consumismo, do desenvolvimento a qualquer custo e da raz?o instrumental; e uma necessidade de uma nova ?tica (ou novos fundamentos ?ticos) - ? que contextos como as ecovilas tornam-se relevantes por oferecerem, potencialmente, elementos para repensar a rela??o humano-mundo, a ?tica e para incitar outras sensibilidades. Ao valorizarem a aprendizagem como imers?o na vida cotidiana, na conviv?ncia, essas experi?ncias se apresentam como campo f?rtil para refletirmos acerca de pr?ticas educacionais embasadas na tradi??o moderna, que reafirmam os dualismos mente-corpo, cultura-natureza, mantendo as bases onto-epistemol?gicas que sustentam a pr?pria crise (espiritual, ambiental e ?tica). Trata-se de uma pesquisa etnogr?fica de car?ter multi-situado, em que seguimos o fen?meno das ecovilas em dois contextos distintos: uma ecovila o sul do Brasil (Arca Verde) e uma ecovila no norte da Esc?cia (Findhorn). A ecovila Arca Verde foi escolhida pelo ser reconhecida na regi?o sul do Brasil como um instituto/comunidade refer?ncia com rela??o ?s quest?es ambientais, atrav?s da Permacultura. Findhorn foi escolhida pelo seu tempo de exist?ncia, que inclui as passagens geracionais, e por ser refer?ncia como centro de educa??o ambiental e para a sustentabilidade, junto ? Rede Global de Ecovilas (GEN), ? ONU e outras iniciativas em n?vel global. Ao olhar para suas abissais diferen?as: a idade, o tamanho, o p?blico, o contexto cultural etc., tamb?m encontramos similaridades em suas pr?ticas, narrativas. Ambas identificam-se com a no??o de ?Ecovilas?, compartilhando de uma ?mesma defini??o?. O trabalho de campo foi realizado, respectivamente, nos per?odos de setembro de 2013 a setembro de 2014 e maio de 2015 a mar?o de 2016. Em conson?ncia com a perspectiva das Epistemologias Ecol?gicas e dos Novos Materialismos, tomando as perspectivas da aprendizagem situada e comunidades de pr?tica, bem como da educa??o da aten??o, compreendemos a aprendizagem como dimens?o de toda a pr?tica social, que acontece no engajamento da pessoa como um todo em processos de coparticipa??o em empreendimentos comuns. A aprendizagem ? compreendida, aqui, como o processo a partir do qual nos tornamos o que somos e que prescinde de situa??es de ensino. N?o se reduz a uma atividade individual, mas se d? no engajamento e coparticipa??o em atividades a partir das quais sujeitos e mundo coemergem em um processo constante e recursivo de correspond?ncia. Os resultados apontam para modos mais que racionais de aprender em um mundo mais que humano, que envolvem: a intera??o com a dimens?o do sagrado na natureza (seja em sua manifesta??o humana ou n?o humana), revelando uma busca de transcend?ncia na iman?ncia, a pr?tica de rituais, com os quais se pode aprender a ?sintonizar?, consigo e com o outro, e a educa??o dos sentidos e das emo??es.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:49:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Helyda Di Oliveira.pdf: 531543 bytes, checksum: 905d07eb9a6271ccae96f40e070e5f35 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-03-23 / The context of the modern society is based on disenchantment and reenchantment. Disenchantment, caused by the extreme rationality, promoter of the secularization that controls the human being by the super valorization of the reason of the science, hindering him of the transcendent and of the mystery that exists in his life, favoring the disenchantment. Reenchantment emerged by the necessity of remeaning the life, through the rethinking of the values related to the sacred, propitiating a new meeting with the magic and the transcendent, promoter factors of reenchantment. In the antecedent period to the secularization, the sacred was searched and lived in religious rituals; nowadays, in the modern times, it is lsearched in a diffuse way and not necessarily institutional. In the context of modernity, the sacred is presented in the New Age Moviment that is characterized as a phenomenon that corresponds the post-traditional religiosity with the notion of a phenomenon that matches a new religious perception . The field of observation and search occurred in Holistic AgapeCircle, in Goiânia. The purpose of this work is to outline the both sides of a process that arises in modern life. If there is disenchantment, is because, in some point inthe past, there was the enchantment. / O contexto da sociedade moderna é de desencanto e reencanto. Desencanto, causado pela extrema racionalidade, promotora da secularização que domina o ser humano através da super valorização da razão e da ciência, tolhendo-o do transcendente e do mistério que há em sua vida, favorecendo o desencantamento. Reencanto aflorado pela necessidade de ressignificar a vida, através do repensar de valores relacionados ao sagrado, propiciando um reencontro com a magia e com o transcendente, fatores promotores de reencanto. No período antecedente à secularização, o sagrado era buscado e vivenciado em rituais religioso; agora, na modernidade, ele é buscado de maneira difusa e não necessariamente institucional. Na modernidade, o sagrado se apresenta no Movimento Nova Era caracterizado como religiosidade pós-tradicional com a noção de um fenômeno que corresponde a uma nova consciência religiosa . O campo de observação e pesquisa ocorreu no Círculo Holístico Ágape, em Goiânia. O objetivo deste trabalho é esboçar os dois lados de um processo que eclode na vida moderna. Se há desencanto, é porque algum dia já houve o encanto.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-11-01T11:27:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Celso Luiz Terzetti Filho.pdf: 1806807 bytes, checksum: 187cff518ca2190267819f5e227c3b4f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-01T11:27:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Celso Luiz Terzetti Filho.pdf: 1806807 bytes, checksum: 187cff518ca2190267819f5e227c3b4f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Created in England at the end of the first half of the twentieth century Wicca was widespread in the United States from the 60's, and in Brazil from the end of the 90s. Based on the works of the founder, Gerald B. Gardner, productions of American and Brazilian groups as well as field observations in Brazil and the United States, this study sought to identify the elements and ideas that contributed to the deterritorialization of religion and its reception in different contexts. Our thesis is that through the combination of two project identities Wicca previously restricted to a nationalist interpretation has been reoriented to a global context / Surgida na Inglaterra no final da primeira metade do século XX a Wicca foi amplamente difundida nos Estados Unidos a partir da década de 60, e no Brasil a partir do final da década de 90. Partindo da análise das obras do fundador, Gerald B. Gardner, das produções de grupos estadunidenses e brasileiros, bem como observações de campo no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos, esta pesquisa buscou identificar os elementos e ideias que contribuíram para a desterritorialização da religião e sua recepção em diferentes contextos. Nossa tese é a de que através da articulação de duas identidades de projeto a Wicca antes restrita a uma interpretação nacionalista foi reorientada para um contexto global