The work describes historical development of esotherics and its related fields. It tracks the history line back to the ancient cultures that lay the grounds for the New Age understanding of magic as well as astrology and tarot. It studies the Middle Ages and the present when new religions not only came to existence but they also have made great development since.

The purpose of this work is to chart, in what extent has the political system influence on religious life of parishioners; what were the relations between the parish and the leaders of this village, its fraternities; what were the relations between parish and school; how the parishioners have lived their faith in different time periods of 20th century. The work is divided into several topics that describe particular spheres of 20th century. This work is compiled on the basis of researches in the archives.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Darly Gomes Silveira Filho.pdf: 3004341 bytes, checksum: db4645a8cbe184eb0e64a288edc901bd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-19 / Although the expectative common of the Christian church is the resurrection ofthe dead for the absolute redemption of those who have faith in Christ, among the catholic-roman and protestant-reformed groups there is divergence about what happens during the intermediate state. The catholic-roman has the faith in the doctrine of the purgatory and interception for the dead reason for the which pray for Mary, Jesus Christ mother s, to intercede in the hour of the death and surrenders himself to St. Joseph, the patron of the good death; he participles of the Sacrament of Eucharist, gives alms, practices mercy works, makes prayers and offers suffrage in benefit of the souls of the purgatory; he prays for souls of the dead saints intercede to him before God; he praises to the virgin Mary as the first, among the redeemed, to be resurrected among the dead s; and he practices good works to attenuate his situation in the day of the final judgment (in reason of believe that the salvation is reached by the faith in Christ and the good woks). The protestant-reformed believes that while the soul of the fair is enjoying of the communion with Christ, the heretic s soul is suffering faraway from Christ. That situation is temporary, because both wait for the resurrection of the dead and the final judgment in order to the fair can to enjoy of the salvation integrally (in the body and in the soul) and heretic can to receive the fair judgment integrally (in the body and in the soul) reason for the which doesn t intercede for the dead s (not even has the habit of visiting the graves) and nor asks for the dead saint s intercession; he doesn t practice good works with views the salvation (not even look for occasion for the good works); he doesn t practice the extreme unction (but evangelizes the dying in the bed of death); and he maintains a polarized vision of the status powder-death: heaven or hell. The protestant-reformed Christian has the firm conviction of his salvation (according to doctrine of the saint s perseverance). That is the reason for which calmly faces the mourning and the idea of his own death. / Conquanto a expectativa comum da igreja cristã seja a ressurreição dos mortos para redenção plena dos que crêem em Cristo, entre os grupos católico-romano e protestante-reformado há divergência sobre o que ocorre durante o estado intermediário. O católico-romano crê nas doutrinas do purgatório e da intercessão pelos mortos razão pela qual reza para que a Santa Maria interceda na hora da morte e entrega-se a São José, o padroeiro da boa morte; participa da eucaristia, dá esmola, pratica obras de misericórdia, faz orações e oferece sufrágios em benefício das almas no purgatório; reza para que as almas dos santos defuntos intercedam por eles diante de Deus; louva à virgem Maria como a primeira, dentre todos os remidos, a ser ressuscitada dentre os mortos; e pratica boas obras para atenuar sua situação no dia do juízo final (em razão de crerem que a salvação é alcançada pela fé em Cristo e pelas boas obras). O protestante-reformado crê que enquanto a alma do justo está gozando da comunhão com Cristo, a alma do ímpio está sofrendo afastada de Cristo. Essa situação é temporária, pois ambos aguardam a ressurreição dos mortos e julgamento final para que tanto o justo possa desfrutar da salvação integralmente (no corpo e na alma) assim como o ímpio possa receber o justo juízo integralmente (no corpo e na alma) razão pela qual não intercede pelos mortos (nem mesmo tem o hábito de visitar os túmulos) e nem pede a intercessão dos santos defuntos; não pratica boas obras com vistas à salvação (nem mesmo procura ocasião para as boas obras); não pratica a extrema unção (mas evangeliza o moribundo no leito da morte); e mantém uma visão polarizada do status pós-morte: céu ou inferno. O cristão protestante-reformado tem a firme convicção de sua salvação (conforme doutrina da perseverança dos santos). Essa é a razão pela qual enfrenta serenamente o luto e a idéia de sua própria morte.

This thesis investigates how the visual arts philosophy promulgated in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council of Roman Catholic Churches is manifested by commissioned artists for a particular parish. The primary data were the new sanctuary and the artworks, which include stained glass by Lyle Novinski, a carved-glass Marian Shrine by Claire Wing, bronze Stations of the Cross by Heri Bartscht, and wooden medallions depicting two saints carved by Don Schol. This paper reviews pertinent ecclesiastical doctrines along with interpretational publications, physically and iconographically describes the sanctuary and artwork, and considers aspects of the relationship between patron churches and the artists they commission.

Master of Arts / Department of Speech Communication, Theatre, and Dance / Charles J. Griffin / This thesis is a response to a contemporary debate over the nature of rhetoric. Specifically, it has recently been declared that rhetoric is aesthetic. This move is known as the "aesthetic turn" and it has been both praised and denounced by rhetoric scholars. An aesthetic rhetoric is concerned not with the content of a message, but rather with the presentation of the message. In this thesis, I argue that an aesthetic turn is a good turn to make in theory, but that the actual turn taken by a number of prominent rhetorical scholars has been misguided. A Catholic theory of beauty is developed within this thesis as an alternative to the postmodern aesthetic. The Catholic theory posits that beauty flows from three forms: the accidental, the substantial, and the transcendental. Accidental beauty is concerned with physical traits and can be judged through integrity, proportion, and splendor. Substantial beauty deals with an object's telos or end and is judged according to the actualization of telos. Transcendental beauty is a trait of all beings and can be judged hierarchically according to participation in Being. Finally, a methodology for analyzing beauty is developed within the thesis. In order to reify the Catholic theory of beauty and its methodology the Roman Catholic Mass of 1962, also known as the Tridentine Mass, is analyzed as a case study. This artifact was chosen in particular because it was recently liberated from bureaucratic imprisonment by Pope Benedict XVI. In addition to analyzing the traditional Roman rite, several changes that were made to the Mass after the Second Vatican Council are examined. This study is important for several reasons. First, it provides rhetorical scholars with a clear understanding of beauty with which rhetoric can be analyzed. Also, the aesthetic theory offered by this study transcends the differences between rhetoric-as-epistemic and rhetoric-as-aesthetic scholarship. Most importantly though, view of beauty that is advanced implies an ethic from which rhetoric can be evaluated. Finally, the study has important implications for the development of the Roman Catholic liturgy.

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.

There is a shortage of clergy, at least in the Roman Catholic Church (cf Schoenherr&Sorenson 1982:23; Heilbronner 1998:11; Tentler 1998:348; Carroll 2001:1; Fernandez 2001:ix-x; see Seidler 1979:764; Berger 1987; Hoge et al 1988:264, 280). The Protestant Church in general is experiencing more of a distribution problem than a shortage (cf Chaves 2001:36; see Jud et al 1970:59). The two greatest hindrances to addressing this clergy distribution problem among Protestant churches is a lack of adequate compensation for clergy and the undesirable location, as perceived by clergy, of the church (Chaves 2001:36; see Jud et al 1970:59). Challenges such as secularization, duality of vocation, time management, change in type of ministry, family issues, congregational and denominational conflict, burnout, sexual misconduct, divorce or marital problems, and suicide, affect clergy. Studies on the shortage of clergy have been conducted mostly in the USA and Europe and not in South Africa. This study seeks to address this research gap by means of a practical theological grounded theory exploration of the exodus of clergy. Grounded theory methodology is used to identify the reasons why clergy trained at a Bible College of a Protestant Charismatic mega church leave full-time pastoral ministry. Findings correspond to previous studies with two reasons appearing more frequently than others: responding to a call and leadership related issues. Firstly, respondents differed in their replies with respect to reconciling their leaving full-time pastoral ministry to their call with responses of: not being called, a dual call, or called but left anyway. Secondly, respondents indicated that leadership influence was mostly negative with regard to affirming their call. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The Pope's visits are important social, political, and media events. The pope always comes to the host country with a predetermined agenda, not unlike the one for state visits by politicians. The Pope's speeches are at the center of the public part of the agenda. This thesis aims to analyze the messages that the two popes presented to the nation and the world during their visits to Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. And also how the media captured, interpreted, and brought these messages to their audiences. The results show that the popes emphasized several topics, from spiritual renewal, return to tradition, reorganization of the Church to the commemoration of Christianity as the basis of European culture. However, the media largely ignored these frames, because even the use of frames does not guarantee preferred decoding. The analysis of selected newspapers showed that the papal messages were spread the best in Lidové noviny, a paper focused on strong opinion texts. This is all the more surprising because Lidové noviny was built on the traditional anti-Catholic tradition. The narrowly focused Catholic weekly did not spread the message to such an extent. In the case of the mainstream Mladá fronta Dnes, the form of the visit prevailed over the content, and the main role was played by the...

The position of the Roman Catholic Church to Islamic extremism Abstract The present thesis deals with the attitude of the Pope, those spiritual state performing the function in individual institutions of the Holy See, theologians and a selected group of people from the Czech general public Roman Catholic Church to religious extremism, focusing on the ultimate form of extremism - terrorism - of individuals or groups espousing to Islam. Since religious extremism often associated with fundamentalism, radicalism and fanaticism, is the first chapter to analyze the basic characteristics of these concepts, with the emphasis on analyzing the meaning and essence of their grasp. A comparison of them found what they have in common and what they are different. Following the above leads to analysis of how extremism reflect the religious and intellectual personalities of islam, with attached description and comparison of the attitudes of these figures, and militant-minded muslims to the jihad by the sword "al-džihád bi̕ s-sajf". In connection with this armed form of jihad work briefly compares the concept of martyrdom in islam and the roman catholic church and the result in the summary analyses. It is also a brief look into the history of religious extremism, as an integral part of the development of Christianity and...

The dissertation shows one of the possible portraits of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia between the years 1927-1963. On the example of Václav Boštík (1897-1963), the dean in Ústí nad Orlicí between the years 1934-1942 and 1945-1961, the thesis focuses on continuities and discontinuities in the history of the local Roman Catholic parish. The presented analysis combines the socio-historical, microhistorical and biographical approach, by means of which it shows pastoral and other strategies of dean Václav Boštík - an ecclesiastical administrator and statutory representative - in various situations during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Local events are interconnected with the context of Czech ecclesiastical history at the statewide and diocesan level as well as with a broker context of Church history. Key words 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church, Czechoslowakia, communism, Ústí nad Orlicí, Václav Boštík (1897-1963)