Section A provides a review of the current research literature on religion and parenting a child with a learning disability. Religion is generally associated with positive outcomes, although there are some mixed views regarding religious communities. Most literature is carried out abroad and differences between study designs make it difficult to compare between studies, indicating a strong need for UK research. Implications for services are discussed and suggestions provided for future research. Section B is a research study exploring the role of religion for parents of children with a learning disability in the UK. Existing research shows religion plays an important role for some parents of children with a learning disability. To date, most studies have been carried out in America and have focussed on religious observance. This study aimed to assess the personal role of religion for parents in the UK. Eight parents of Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith were interviewed. Data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a method designed to capture lived experiences. Religion was found to help some parents make sense of their child’s disability and their role as a parent. Having faith gave parents hope and was an important part of their personal identity. The religious community was generally perceived as supportive, although there were barriers to participation for many families, including limited time and lack of family support. Further research assessing parents with other faiths and from specific ethnic groups and religious denominations may broaden understanding in this area. Section C outlines further issues pertaining to the research study including research skills acquired and lessons learned during the completion of the project, implications for future clinical practice, and ideas for future research.

Mindfulness is a spiritual concept adopted from Buddhism by Western clinicians and while change processes in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) were initially explained in terms of cognitive/emotional impacts, there is now growing interest in the relationship between mindfulness and spirituality. Seven participants who had completed an MBCT course in a mental health service context gave in-depth interviews about their experiences in relation to spiritual change, and the factors influencing these processes. The themes represented a range of interconnected processes, including connecting with the body, experiencing thoughts and feelings in a less reactive way, a changed perspective on the self, self-insight, a greater sense of compassion and connection, wisdom, a sense of meaning and a sense of connection to a transcendent source. For some, mindfulness helped create a context in which painful experiences could be brought into awareness, and unusual or difficult experiences integrated so that people could experience a deeper and more authentic way of being. While intentions seem to be important in mapping the particular aspects of change that occur, themes were common to people from a variety of spiritual backgrounds, and spiritual changes occurred in some people who had no prior spiritual orientations. The role of intentions versus ‘letting go’ in relation to mindfulness is explored. Clinical implications are discussed and suggestions made for future research.

Published edition of Thesis (doctoral)--Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 270-285).

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2017-10-09T17:53:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Caio Augusto.pdf: 1018674 bytes, checksum: 6ef8484b1ee3b63747eb4c0d184c87eb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-09T17:53:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caio Augusto.pdf: 1018674 bytes, checksum: 6ef8484b1ee3b63747eb4c0d184c87eb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-14 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The Pastoral Catholic School (Pastoral Escolar Católica) works with kids from kindergarten to high school. The purpose of this institution is to approach the young community starting from bases offered by theory of complexity. The main goal of this research are investigate the scenario experienced by the Pastoral School from its actions with young teenagers during high school, analyze the contributions that the themes about the theory of complexity offers to the Pastoral Catholic School to work with young teenagers in high school, and identify the relationship between the needs of the young teenagers and the Pastoral Catholic School actions. There are specific questions that we expect to answer by the end of this research like what is the scenario experienced by the Pastoral Catholic School working with young teenagers in high school? What are the contributions of the theory of complexity to the work of the Pastoral Catholic School with young teenagers in high school? Which relationship can be established between the needs of the young teenagers and the actions taken by the Pastoral Catholic School? Since the story and the social environment that the institution and the people involved interfere directly in the actions practiced by the Pastoral Catholic School, this research was developed in a methodological process in which were conducted interviews with the young teenagers in an exploratory way. / A Pastoral Escolar Católica atua com crianças e jovens desde a educação infantil até o término do Ensino Médio. A proposta aqui levantada foi uma aproximação com o público jovem a partir de bases oferecidas pela teoria da complexidade. Os objetivos da pesquisa são: investigar o cenário vivenciado pela Pastoral Escolar a partir das suas ações com jovens no período do Ensino Médio; analisar as contribuições dos temas da teoria da complexidade para as ações da Pastoral Escolar com jovens no Ensino Médio; identificar a relação entre as necessidades dos/das jovens com as ações da Pastoral Escolar. Entende-se que há questões específicas as quais espera-se responder durante a pesquisa; são elas: qual o cenário vivenciado pela Pastoral Escolar na sua atuação com jovens no Ensino Médio? Quais contribuições os temas da teoria da complexidade oferecem para as ações da Pastoral Escolar com jovens no Ensino Médio? Qual relação pode ser estabelecida entre as necessidades dos/das jovens e as ações específicas da Pastoral Escolar acerca dessas questões? A pesquisa foi desenvolvida a partir de um processo metodológico no qual foram conduzidas entrevistas semiestruturadas com os/as jovens e assumiu um caráter exploratório, uma vez que a história e o contexto social no qual a instituição e as pessoas envolvidas interferem de forma direta nas ações praticadas pela Pastoral.

Zugl.: Halle (Saale), Univ., Diss., 2006

Divine healing has been often seen in opposition to human healing. The two spheres, have been considered as separate, both in space and in terms of elements involved. Asclepian sanctuaries have been mostly presented as domains of exclusively divine intervention, without any involvement of the human factor, possibly with the sole exception of dream interpretation. However, the written testimonies of temple cures, both those in the form of cure inscriptions dedicated in sanctuaries and the literary accounts of the incubation experience, give us reasons to suppose that the practical side of the functioning of the asklepieia could have assumed the involvement of human medicine, with the extent of this involvement differing in various epochs. Regardless of physicians' participation or its lack in the procedure, the methods applied in sanctuary healing appear to have evolved in parallel to the developments in medicine and their popular perception. Archaeological finds as well as the image of Asclepius as the god of medicine itself seem to confirm this. Nevertheless, by no means should these connections between the two spheres be treated as transforming the space of religious meaning into hospitals functioning under the auspices of a powerful god. Although acknowledging them does entail inclusion of human medicine within the space dedicated to Asclepius, it does not thereby deny the procedure of incubation its religious and metaphysical dimension. On the contrary, it shows that to the Greek mind divine and human healing were not mutually exclusive, but overlapped and coincided with each other, proving that the Greek sense of rationality was quite different from the modern and could comprise far more than what we call today "scientific thinking".

The text deals with the relation between religion and politics, in particular, with the conceptualization of religious identity in the discipline of International Relations from the position of postmodern approaches. The main goal is to examine whether and how feasible, useful, and usual is to work with the religious (and inseparable cultural) dimension of identity. The author claims that the concept of religious identity well reveals an important link between the religious and the political and represents a useful analytical tool. A categorisation and a model of identity are introduced and applied. The application is twofold, the categories are used in the academic discourse analysis and then once again it is used for the case of European identity in interactions of the EU and the RCC. Finally, the concept of the religious actor is discussed on this empirical basis and also the political construction of the religious, in general, is debated.

Parmi la multitude de manifestations de nature religieuse et spirituelle qui animent présentement la société occidentale contemporaine, une attire notre attention par son mode d’action et l’intérêt grandissant qu’elle exerce sur le public. Elle est mise en place, organisée et administrée par un nombre d’individus prétendant posséder des capacités spéciales, résultat d’une relation particulière entretenue avec un pouvoir qualifié par la plupart de spirituel. Ces personnages sont généralement nommés « médiums », mais peuvent aussi être appelés suivant le nom de leur pratique qu’ils développent. Ainsi, celui qui prétend pouvoir « voir » le passé et l’avenir d’une personne est appelé « voyant » et sa pratique est appelée la « voyance ». Celui qui se réclame de la capacité de guérir des maladies et d’identifier leur cause par un contact privilégié avec son pouvoir spirituel est appelé guérisseur et sa pratique est appelée guérison. Ceux qui peuvent se mettre en contact avec les âmes des personnes décédées, chasser des esprits qui tourmentent des individus ou hantent des maisons et des lieux sont appelés médiums ou « médiums exorcistes » et leur pratique est l’exorcisme. Nous regroupons toutes ces manifestations en termes de « pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies » vu la caractéristique sous-tendant son expression : elle se produit en dehors d’un cadre institutionnel . À la suite des entrevues menées auprès d’un certain nombre de médiums, clients et individus ayant entendu des récits d’expériences de séance médiumnique, nous nous proposons de comprendre la manière dont cet univers de pratiques fonctionne. Nous cherchons également à déterminer comment il est possible de parler de l’émergence d’une expression inédite de pratique médiumnique selon la modalité qui la structure et la manière dont elle approfondit sa dimension croyante et idéologique. Nous séparons notre travail en trois parties distinctes. Dans la première, nous nous proposons de survoler la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies à partir des témoignages des médiums qui ont participé à notre étude. La seconde partie de notre travail révèle l’image de cette pratique à partir du point de vue des clients qui ont fait appel aux services des médiums et ceux qui sont entrés en contact avec des récits décrivant des expériences vécues en séance médiumnique. La troisième partie est vouée à l’analyse de la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies. Nous concevons cette dernière en deux temps. Le premier fait la lecture de plusieurs expressions médiumniques réparties dans le temps et l’espace afin de cerner différentes constantes régissant ces manifestations. Nos conclusions se confrontent à celles sur la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies. Dans un second temps, nous analysons la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies à partir des données fournies par les trois groupes de personnes interviewées afin d’en comprendre le mode de fonctionnement. Nous concevons le fonctionnement de cette pratique en trois étapes qui seront analysées à l’aide des travaux de plusieurs auteurs. L’étape précédant la séance et le rôle qu’elle joue pour la pratique médiumnique est analysée sous l’angle de la réflexion de l’anthropologue Jeanne Favret-Saada. La séance médiumnique, son mode d’implémentation et son efficacité sont analysés grâce à la réflexion de l’anthropologue Marc-Antoine Berthod sur le travail des voyants. La dernière partie de la pratique médiumnique, l’après-séance, sera analysée à l’aide de la dynamique entre « croire » et « savoir », et entre « instituant » et « institué » telle qu’élaborée par le théologien philosophe et historien français Michel de Certeau. Notre étude nous permet d’arriver aux conclusions générales suivantes : la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies n’est pas l’expression d’une valorisation institutionnelle. Elle est l’expression de manifestations individuelles mises en place par ses représentants médiums. Chaque étape qui la compose est représentée par une série des stratégies capables, par leurs actions concertées, d’assurer sa pérennité. L’acte de croire participe activement à chacune de ces étapes, mais d’une manière sélective selon le parcours de chaque client. La pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies incarne par ses spécificités une nouvelle expression du phénomène médiumnique. / Among the myriad forms of religious or spiritual practices stirring contemporary Western society right now, one attracts our attention by its mode of operation and mounting public interest in this phenomenon. It is set up, organized and managed by a number of individuals claiming to have special abilities due to their unique relationship with a power qualified by most as spiritual. These individuals are usually known as "mediums" but may also be referred to by the name of their particular practice. Someone who claims to be able to "see" a person's past and future is called a "psychic" and their practice is called "clairvoyance." A person who claims the ability to heal illnesses and identify their cause through a special contact with their spiritual power is called a healer and their practice, healing. Those who can make contact with the souls of the deceased, cast out spirits that torment individuals or haunt homes and places are called mediums or "exorcist mediums" and their practice is exorcism. We describe these practices as "a mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions" since they happen outside the institutional framework. Based on interviews with mediums, clients, and individuals who have heard accounts of mediumistic séances, we seek to more fully understand the approach employed by practitioners in this domain. We also hope to determine whether, based on its structural modality, we are seeing the emergence of a new expression of mediumistic practice, and how this reinforces the associated faith and ideology. Our work is grouped into three distinct parts. In the first part, we conduct an overview of mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions based on the personal accounts of mediums who are taking part in our study. The second part of the research portrays this practice from the perspective of clients who have requested the services of mediums and people who have heard stories describing others’ experiences of mediumistic séances. The third part consists in an analysis of mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions. This last part is conducted in two phases. In the first phase, we interpret various mediumistic practices as they occurred over time and place to identify any constants. Our conclusions are set against those concerning mediumistic practices conducted on the margins of the established institutions. In the second phase, we analyze mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of the established institutions based on data provided by our three groups of interviewees with a view to obtaining an understanding of its functioning. We conceive three stages of functioning and draw on the works of several authors to aid us in analyzing them. The stage preceding the session and the role it plays for mediumistic practice is analyzed from the perspective of the anthropologist Jeanne Favret-Saada. The mediumistic session, its implementation method and its effectiveness are analyzed using the anthropologist Marc-Antoine Berthod’s reflections on the work of psychics. For the last stage of the mediumistic practice, the after-session, our analysis refers to the dynamic between "believing" and "knowing" and between "instituting" and "instituted" as the French theologian-philosopher and historian Michel de Certeau elaborated. Our study leads us to the following general conclusions: mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions is not an expression of institutional valorization. It is the expression of individual manifestations enacted by its psychic representatives. Each stage of the process is represented by a series of strategies capable, through their concerted actions, of ensuring its continuity. The act of believing is an active element in each of these stages, but in a selective way, associated with the path of each client. Mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions embodies by its specificities a new expression of the mediumistic phenomenon.

In conceptualising the new visibility of postsecular social work this thesis develops alternative perspectives to former secular, liberal and neoliberal hegemonies within the profession. Firstly secularism is considered as compromising deliberative and participatory democracy by inhibiting religious citizenship within the public sphere and in response the new visibility of postsecular social work incorporates the inclusion of religious perspectives into social welfare considerations with particular reference to faith based social action. Secondly liberalism is observed as perpetuating the marginalisation of religion, tolerated merely as a personal lifestyle choice, from public legitimacy and the new visibility of postsecular social work therefore recognises the contribution of public religion to addressing social welfare concerns in challenging this marginalisation. Thirdly neoliberalism is critiqued as an outcome of the marginalisation of religion from the public sphere by both secularism and liberalism and accordingly the new visibility of postsecular social work engages with political economy in the interests of social welfare and social justice. Resultantly the new visibility of postsecular social work affirms faith and reason as integral to public religion which is indicative of a new politics of social work that develops postsecular, post-liberal and postneoliberal perspectives through the reconfiguration of Christian socialism.

Univ., Diss.-2005--Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2004. / Literaturverz. S. 311 - 331.