The use of light has always been a vehicle of symbolic meaning and spiritual experience in religious spaces. Depending on culture and religion this use differs, but in any case, the connection between the built form, the architecture and the history makes the relationship with light a compelling issue that is worth exploring. This thesis aims to study the role that light played in the designing of St: Eskilskyrkan church in Sweden, and the way it affected the perception of the architecture and its materials. In order to answer this question, a methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative methods, was generated. Evaluation and discussion of literature review, interviews, survey on perception of light, a comparison between two similar buildings, daylight analysis using lighting software and testing lighting design tools are the key elements to create the guidelines for the lighting design proposal that will be generated in the last part of the thesis. This proposal aims to redevelop the existing illumination of the interior of the church, emphasizing on functionality, on the built form and the enhancement of spiritual experience.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University. PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The stature of Samuel Wesley, liturgical composer, organist, editor, lecturer and man of letters, has been obscured by the prominence of his son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley. The father's contributions have been reflected dimly in his recognition as an organist-improvisator and Bach enthusiast, and by the fleeting notoriety accorded him as another religious eccentric named Wesley. The composer's hitherto unacknowledged sacred choral compositions reflect his genius and Romantic dedication to his religious ethos in an unstable environment. Twenty-three English anthems and thirty-one Latin motets have been analyzed. The anthems are less impressive than the motets; they reflect the conservative verse anthem forms which prevailed in English sacred music after 1700. The Latin works constitute a significant contribution which marks the resurgence of English full choral traditions [TRUNCATED]. / 2999-01-01

Modern religious architecture is studied and understood inadequately, partly because modernity has been considered antithetical to religious practice and belief, and partly because studies of modern religious architecture have typically sidelined its distinctively religious aspects. Furthermore, would-be interpreters have lacked an adequate interpretive framework for the modern and religious identities that together characterize modern religious architecture. Thus, the problem is rooted both in history and theory: the solution requires 1) an interdisciplinary approach to the historical context of modernity that can properly situate such buildings in architectural and religious terms, and 2) a hermeneutic that is sufficiently rich to address the religious content, yet fluid and modest enough to be fruitful even from outside such theology-laden contexts. As identity is largely a matter of mainstream practice, the historical setting for this research is a significant but non-experimental context: post-WWII Rome. This period is marked by both a multifaceted identity crisis with distinctive political, architectural and theological aspects, and the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) that marked a shift in Catholicism’s attitude towards modernity. The chief interpretive concept offering sufficient richness and fluidity to address modern religious architecture is mediation, relevant to both religious identity (especially on beauty and sacrament) and the identity of modern architecture (especially on ornament). The main interlocutors here are Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-88), Karsten Harries (1937-), Oleg Grabar (1929-), and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973). The hermeneutic framework is forged and tested through formal and phenomenological analyses of four post-WWII Catholic churches in Rome that are exemplary of four modes of mediation: 1) San Giovanni Bosco (1952-59), by Gaetano Rapisardi: critique; 2) San Gregorio VII (1959-61), by Paniconi and Pediconi: updating; 3) San Policarpo (1960-67), by Giuseppe Nicolosi: retrieval; 4) Sancta Maria Mater Ecclesiae (1965-70), Luigi Moretti’s unbuilt “Chiesa del Concilio”: invention. These analyses also reveal four distinct forms of ornament — material, tectonic, geometric, and spatial — that are discernible largely through a reconsideration of ornament as defined primarily through its mediating function. The conclusion evaluates the fecundity of the hermeneutic and suggests possibilities for further research. / text

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This thesis takes its starting-point in the post-secular changes in society and how these interplay with tourism. In spite of the intensive academic debate on and theorisation of the post-secular and post-secularism, the role of tourism in this change, called the return of religion, has not been studied. Conversely, neither has the role of post-secularism in tourism been addressed. The overall aim of this thesis is to describe and understand the relation between post-secularism and tourism. Specifically, the aim is to clarify and understand the relation between religious faith, place and tourism in our time on the basis of a case study of pilgrimage in the area of Santiago de Compostela. In other words, the thesis highlights the role of tourism in the emergence of what is now called the post-secular condition. Santiago de Compostela is a Catholic Church instituted holy city, which has increase in number of visitors. The growing number of pilgrimages and their significance lend vitality to the return of religion phenomenon. The empirical material derives primarily from individual interviews as narratives are considered to be a vital dimension to constitute and construct human realities and modes of being. This thesis shows that contemporary pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is a post-secular performative and place-creating phenomenon. Post-secular tourist places are subjective and spiritually meaningful destinations. Unlike traditional pilgrimage destinations a key attribute is that neither traditional religious faith nor loyalty to institutionalised faith are (pre)ordained. Rather, place is constructed by the narratives and experiences of post-secular tourists. / This thesis takes its starting-point in the post-secular changes in society and how these interplay with tourism. In spite of the intensive academic debate on and theorisation of the post-secular and post-secularism, the role of tourism in this change, called the return of religion, has not been studied. Conversely, neither has the role of post-secularism in tourism been addressed. The overall aim of this thesis is to describe and understand the relation between post-secularism and tourism. Specifically, the aim is to clarify and understand the relation between religious faith, place and tourism in our time on the basis of a case study of pilgrimage in the area of Santiago de Compostela. In other words, the thesis highlights the role of tourism in the emergence of what is now called the post-secular condition. This thesis shows that contemporary pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is a post-secular performative and place-creating phenomenon. Post-secular tourist places are subjective and spiritually meaningful destinations. Unlike traditional pilgrimage destinations a key attribute is that neither traditional religious faith nor loyalty to institutionalised faith are (pre)ordained. Rather, place is constructed by the narratives and experiences of post-secular tourists.

This dissertation presents a study of one of the most difficult texts in the Psalter, Psalm 68. After an introduction setting out the distinctive features of my treatment and arguing for the need for a painstaking literary study, I divide my work into three sections. The first of these presents a translation with detailed notes on the text. The second explores this world of the text in more detail by examining the vocabulary of the Psalm (characterisation, semantic domains including geographical terms), its structural makeup (building from the smallest units to the largest), the central use and importance of intertextual connections, and the presence of ambiguity and `underdeterminacy'. I examine each of these as being of interest in their own right, but the ultimate purpose is to use them to deduce what a good reading of the Psalm might be and to cast light on its meaning(s) both to an original audience and to subsequenrt eaders.B y the end of this section I will have argued for a an `original' setting in the reigns of David or Solomon, one which is closely linked to the bringing of the ark to Zion and the building of the temple. My third section tackles the matter of writers and readers more explicitly. Although I shall have studied the text as one hitherto (since this is the only form in which we possess it), I now examine whether the Psalm `should' be seen as essentially a unity, and ask what can be known about its compositional history. I then turn to the question of dating, followed by a more explicit consideration of the implied audience of the text. Much work ha> been done on the possible cultic use of Psalm 68; I review this as part of my work on audience, before turning to the question of other readers in a final chapter. Although I shall have been primarily concerned with the initial meaning of Psalm 68 in the dissertation (for reasons of space), that chapter presents concluding reflections on the way in which the Psalm has been used subsequently and may sti'1 be used; I reflect on the continued power of the Psalm to speak through the centuries. Psalm 68 is indeed a complex text, but one which abundantly repays close reading and study, and one which is still fascinating, vivid, and arresting in the modern world.

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.

O fenômeno de Sincronicidade apresenta-se como um tipo de raciocínio que considera os eventos como elementos significativamente correspondentes inseridos em campos, e não tão somente a partir da ligação causal existente entre eles. A Sincronicidade pode oferecer respostas muitas vezes até mais eficazes do que o raciocínio causal e mostra-se passível de categorização. É hipótese desse trabalho que esse tipo de apreensão da realidade apresente-se mais desenvolvido em indivíduos pertencentes a uma esfera mais religiosa. Para investigar a ocorrência e sua percepção do modo sincronístico de apreensão da realidade em indivíduos de diferentes tipos de religiosidade, foram conduzidas entrevistas semi-dirigidas com representantes de diferentes cultos religiosos e indivíduos supostamente de raciocínio mais cartesiano ou incrédulos, para posterior análise fenomenológica. Trazemos aqui as análises das entrevistas de, por um lado, um indivíduo supostamente mais afetado pelo fenômeno sincronístico - uma praticante sufi - e, por outro, entre os supostamente menos afetados, de um ateu. Notou-se claramente um desenvolvimento maior de uma apreensão sincronística da realidade entre os indivíduos supostamente mais afetados pelo fenômeno e, na medida do possível, conceitou-se particularidades do fenômeno de Sincronicidade, assinalando-se a possibilidade de caracterizá-lo como evento sagrado, em conformidade às concepções apresentadas do fenômeno sacral / Synchronicity presents itself as a kind of reasoning that considers the events as significantly corresponding elements inserted into fields, and not solely from the causal link between them. Synchronicity can offer answers often more effective than causal reasoning and shows itself liable to categorization. Working hypothesis here is that this kind of apprehension of reality presents itself more developed in individuals belonging to a sphere more religious. To investigate the occurrence and perception of synchronistic way of apprehending reality in individuals of different types of religiosity were conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives of different religious cults and individuals supposed more Cartesian or unbelievers, for further phenomenological analysis. We bring here the analysis of interviews, on the one hand, an individual supposedly most affected by the phenomenon synchronistic - a Sufi practitioner - and, secondly, between the supposedly less affected, an atheist. It was noted clearly further development of a seizure synchronistic reality between individuals allegedly most affected by the phenomenon, and to the extent possible, it is thought particularities of the phenomenon of synchronicity, indicating the possibility to characterize it as a sacred event, according to the conceptions of the phenomenon presented sacral

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Exercising to maintain a healthy lifestyle is significant to our modern society, and more and more aids such as blogs on the internet dedicated to training are there to help us. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze three Swedish female bloggers all of them dedicated to training and health, with the aim to find the secular sacred among their descriptions, in relation to Kim Knott and her theory of the secular sacred. The analysis was based on twelve blog posts, categorized after exercising, workouts or health, with the intention to answer the questions “How is the concept of exercise and health described in the selected blogs?”, and“How could these descriptions be understood according to Kim Knott’s theory of secular sacred, based on three categories: sacred, profane and unidentifiable?”. Based on an abductive method the blog posts were analyzed with a qualitative text analyzing approach. Using Knott’s theory, I categorized the posts in to three groups: sacred, profane and unidentifiable. The result showed that many of the posts could be categorized as sacred due to its content. Therefore, I concluded that it was possible to find content that could be seen as sacred based on Knott’s reasoning, which indicates that sacredness is not only placed within the religious context, but can also be found in the secular.