Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1996. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-128).

The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in defectors former religious lives. The literature is rich in references topeople from secular societies being fascinated by religions that are individualistic in nature and hence allowpeople freedom of choice in regards to their beliefs. However, we rarely hear about people who have left this new age belief environment or other religious environments. The study specifically focuses on the defectors, who have left a religious organization or have chosen to leave their religious belief. This study seeks to discover why defectors first came to believe and what got them to leave the religious arena. What happened to their faith, and what caused them to leave their former religion? This is what this study is attempting to shed more light on. The findings indicate that close group-relationships can be vital to one's person and create both positive and negative experiences. The social connections with other people is vital to not create a feeling of alienation and emptiness, leading to loss of meaning in life. Peter L Berger and other sociologists have stressed that religion is meaningful to people, that every society has religion, and that people need religious consolation to face difficult existential questions.

This essay focus on Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume and how they in their writings describe the doctrine of the original sin, and what they replace it with. The theoretical framework this essay work form, is Peter. L Bergers theories concerning society and religion as a social construction, were religious systems purpose is to establish order and previewed a meaning for people. From a history point of view religious system and institutions have had a significant role in establish system that will provide people with explanations about the world. In the eighteenth century, during the period in Europe often named as the enlightenment a new sort of criticism took place against religion. My study shows that in the part of Rousseau’s work Émile that goes under the name The Savoy priest's confession the doctrine of the original sin, is replaced with a faith in the human nature. Doctrines such as the original sin is for Rousseau something that is formed by humans in society, and has nothing to do with God. In the second part of Hume’s work Dialogues concerning natural religion, the dialogue shifts and focus on more moral concepts of religion, and also the question of evil, sin etc. Hume’s work presents three solutions instead of one.

This interview study examined the religiosity of eight Ukrainian refugees. The aim of the bachelor thesis was to study how religiosity and religious commitment are affected as a result of war and flight. The data was collected through eight semi-structured interviews and then analyzed based on previous research and theories, like Charles Glock´s theory of deprivation and Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmanns theory of plausibility structure. The results of the study showed that no one lost their faith in God due to the war, the escape and the arrival in Sweden. For some of the refugees, faith in God had become stronger and religious commitment had increased. This can be explained by the theories about deprivation and change in plausibility structure. The distinguishing feature of the study was that the bomb shelters in Ukraine became a place for faith in God, even for people who had not been religious believers before. The confined place, the physical proximity to other people, the collective in prayer created an important community for the affected people. People who were not believers before the war did not develop a religious faith after the escape. The conclusion of the study was that faith in God becomes tangible in war-torn situations where people fear for their lives. Religious affiliation and community was important for the Ukrainian refugees and was shown for example through increased church involvement in Sweden to find comfort and meaning.

Syftet med studien är att skapa en ökad förståelse inom berörda yrkes- och studentgrupper för hur individer, som blivit rullstolsburna senare i livet, upplever sin identitet och eventuella identitetsförändringar. Resultatet tolkades utifrån Anthony Giddens teorier om senmodernitet och identitet samt Peter L. Berger och Thomas Luckmanns kunskapssociologiska perspektiv. Den tidigare forskningen har berört funktionshinder och identitet utifrån olika aspekter, dock har inte syftet för denna studie behandlats i sin helhet i andra studier. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sex stycken respondenter för att nå deras upplevelser. Utifrån det material som inkommit genom intervjuerna har åtta stycken kategorier framträtt: självbild, yttre attribut, vanor och rutiner, arbete och fritid, relationer, bemötande från andra, drömmar och planer samt handikappanpassning. I studien framkommer att respondenterna använder framträdande och uppträdande för att påverka den spegling de får av omgivningen. Studien visar även att det har skett en förändring av respondenternas regimer och rutiner. En identitetsförändring har därmed skett hos respondenterna. I studien diskuteras även det faktum att respondenterna själva inte framhåller den identitetsförändring som påvisas i studien. Detta tyder på att respondenterna inte själva tänker på förändringen i sig, de tänker mer indirekt på förändringen genom att denna påverkat dem i olika situationer. I studien framkommer även vikten av det omgivande samhällets attityd gentemot den funktionshindrade när det gäller speglingen av individen. Detta är av relevans för de instanser i samhället som arbetar med frågor rörande funktionshinder.

<p>Syftet med studien är att skapa en ökad förståelse inom berörda yrkes- och studentgrupper för hur individer, som blivit rullstolsburna senare i livet, upplever sin identitet och eventuella identitetsförändringar. Resultatet tolkades utifrån Anthony Giddens teorier om senmodernitet och identitet samt Peter L. Berger och Thomas Luckmanns kunskapssociologiska perspektiv. Den tidigare forskningen har berört funktionshinder och identitet utifrån olika aspekter, dock har inte syftet för denna studie behandlats i sin helhet i andra studier. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sex stycken respondenter för att nå deras upplevelser. Utifrån det material som inkommit genom intervjuerna har åtta stycken kategorier framträtt: självbild, yttre attribut, vanor och rutiner, arbete och fritid, relationer, bemötande från andra, drömmar och planer samt handikappanpassning. I studien framkommer att respondenterna använder framträdande och uppträdande för att påverka den spegling de får av omgivningen. Studien visar även att det har skett en förändring av respondenternas regimer och rutiner. En identitetsförändring har därmed skett hos respondenterna. I studien diskuteras även det faktum att respondenterna själva inte framhåller den identitetsförändring som påvisas i studien. Detta tyder på att respondenterna inte själva tänker på förändringen i sig, de tänker mer indirekt på förändringen genom att denna påverkat dem i olika situationer. I studien framkommer även vikten av det omgivande samhällets attityd gentemot den funktionshindrade när det gäller speglingen av individen. Detta är av relevans för de instanser i samhället som arbetar med frågor rörande funktionshinder.</p>

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the ideology of the cultural phenomenon, that is as political as it is controversial, the new atheism. By studying the ideas and values of four prominent new atheists, commonly referred to as the ‘four horsemen of the new atheism’, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett, this study aims to, in some ways challenge, and in others, nuance, the categorization of the movement. Its adherents have often been labeled as, for example: ‘secular fundamentalists’, ‘evangelical’ and ‘radical secularists’. None of these designations are inherently wrong. But I think there is a more fitting term available: ‘societal secular maximalist’. This term is a modified version of ‘religious maximalism’, coined by the historian of religion at the University of Chicago, Bruce Lincoln. I argue that the new atheist ideology is not fundamentalistic because it admits fallibility if another theory where to disprove it within its own scientific discourse. Considering this fact, it does not hold is central ideological feature, most commonly a Darwinist theory of evolution, as absolute. Due to this, and some other factors, I argue that the societal secular maximalist categorization is more fitting because the scientific and humanistic views of the ‘four horsemen’ lay claim to all aspects of human existence, private and public, emotional, and factual along with the morals, ethics and aesthetics of our societies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Anoar Jarbas Provenzi.pdf: 1155462 bytes, checksum: 48318e7c0a982942ec4541880001698e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study is about the secularization according to Peter L. Berger (theory of secularization) and according to Rodney Stark/William Sims Bainbridge (rational choice theory). Berger (chapter 1) affirms in Sacred Canopy the decrease of religion in modernity, whereas Stark/Bainbridge (chapter 2) supports in A theory of religion its increasing or maintenance. However, both theories have problems (chapter 3). Berger is criticized to affirm the equivalence between modernity and secularization, the belief in a previous age of the faith and the necessity of religious monopoly; Stark/Bainbridge are criticized to defend previous power of rational choice theory, a decontextualized universal rationality and an merely economic approach of religious phenomenon / Este estudo é sobre a secularização segundo Peter L. Berger (teoria da secularização) e segundo Rodney Stark/William Sims Bainbridge (teoria da escolha racional). Berger (capítulo 1) afirma, na obra O dossel sagrado, a diminuição da religião na modernidade, enquanto Stark/Bainbridge (capítulo 2) defendem, na obra Uma teoria da religião, seu aumento ou manutenção. Mas ambas as teorias apresentam problemas (capítulo 3); Berger é criticado porque afirma a equivalência entre modernidade e secularização, a crença em uma pregressa idade da fé e a necessidade de monopólio religioso; Stark/Bainbridge são criticados porque defendem o poder preditivo da teoria da escolha racional, uma racionalidade universal descontextualizada e uma abordagem puramente econômica do fenômeno religioso