Fingarette thinks what is sacred in Confucianism is the element of human civilization modeled upon holy rite. Eno claims the holiness of Confucian ritual consist in its coherence with cosmic reality, Heaven. But both of them didn't think metaphysics is one intellectual focus for early Confucianism. Nevertheless, we think only in reference to a Confucian metaphysics which provides a sufficient exposition of the most generic features of cosmic reality, what is sacred in Confucianism can be fully clarified. Due to his unflinchingly sociological methodology, Berger's concept of religion as sacred canopy is partial and limited. His concept of "chaos" can't encompass all the cases in world religions, and his understanding of the holy as "the wholly other" deviates from its original expression in Rudolf Otto. Contributing to the innovation of Berger's idea of sacred canopy, Neville thinks religion is human engagement with ultimacy, and one of the most important functions of sacred canopy is cognitive, to know ultimate reality. Keeping to Neville's understanding of sacred canopy, we will analyze two key texts of classical Confucian metaphysics, Yijing and its "Great Treatise"(系辞), to try to illustrate what a Confucian sacred canopy is. Traditionally, shengsheng (生生) is understood as ceaseless creative advance into novelty, a most generic description of cosmic reality in Confucian metaphysics, but this understanding can't include the ultimate ontological creation of the world from nothing by ultimate polarity, which is also enunciated by Great Treatise. In relation to the Decision of Hexagram Qian, we can furthermore parse out four possible ways to understand shengsheng: to create creatures, to create this and to create that, this creates and that creates, and creatures create. They correspond to the four characters in the decision: initiation (元), permeation (亨), harmonization (利) and integration (贞), and indicate early Confucians' reflections about the ontological traits of ultimate reality: Heaven is the initiative, permeative, harmonious and integral creation. Heaven creates being from non-being, initiates the world as a ceaseless creative process; it creates everything, imparts creativity and form into every creature; and then every formed creature itself strives for being and creation in a dynamical relationship with each other. Based upon such a "cosmontology", a Confucian sacred canopy will be finally outlined and the importance of ritual in reference to that canopy will also be illuminated.

This study aims to investigate the changes and trend for the official policies, celebration activities, and ceremonies of national holidays¡¦ in Taiwan over the period of 1950 to 2004. The interactions and confrontations among competing authorities in defining the time and space for national holidays, and the process by which they influence Taiwanese people¡¦s collective memory are further studied. The method applied is literature review and historical analysis. The findings show that the formation and development of Taiwanese national holidays¡¦ are the outcomes of a love story and sometime struggles between political and other social powers. Utilizing the uniqueness and the special sphere of time and space, politicians and other groups co-construct a collective memory that serves their own interests. There are affinities between national holidays and religions, as the legitimacy of their existence, activities and ceremonies both come from the ¡§sacred canopy¡¨ provided by the belief system. The later grants the national holidays with sacred values, and thus made the existence, activities and ceremonies of the former possible. However, while the making of national holiday¡¦s collective memory is dominated by political authorities, they have their limitations. As we shall present in the study, there are competing forces in the pursuit of legitimacy. These interventional and balancing factors include economic factors, ideologies of confronting political parties as well as leisure culture. They are actually the most important factors in the changes and development of national holidays. They come from and also reflect on the social change. It is also clear that the ¡§the holiday overset phenomenon¡¨ has started since the Lee Deng Huei period.

Thesis advisor: Gustavo Morello / This qualitative study aims to understand how Mormon religious practice and individual family upbringing shape faithful Mormon women’s goals for marriage and motherhood. The sacred canopy (Berger, 1967), which provides the theoretical context for this study, asserts that those who practice religion seek to act according to a religious worldview. This study examines the roles of personal faith, Church teachings, peer culture, and family upbringing in these women’s lives to determine how the sacred canopy is maintained. The analysis reveals how religious perspective has a slightly different role in the women’s lives than family upbringing, yet both work together to maintain the sacred canopy. This research is important for better understanding a demographic of a growing religious subpopulation and contextualizing their experiences. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.

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