Melodram für Sprecher und Orgel; Musik: Matthias Drude (2005); Text: Dietrich Mendt

Melodram für Sprecher und Orgel, Musik: Matthias Drude (2005), Text: Dietrich Mendt; Informationen zum Komponisten: www.drude.info

<p>The aim of this essay is to illustrate a modern phenomenon, the Olympic Games, by applying the ideas of Mircea Eliade concerning space, time and myth. This literature study is mainly divided in two parts, one descriptive and one analytic. In the first part Eliade’s ideas and some criticism, which has been pointed against his theoretical approaches as well as his character, are presented. In the second part an analysis is carried out, based on the previously presented ideas and elements essential for the Olympics; the idea of the Olympics, the place, the ceremonies, the competition and the concept of individual idolism.</p><p>I have discussed what seems like gnostic tendencies in Eliade’s ideas, in the sense that both Eliade’s ideas and the concept of Gnosticism argue that knowledge is a necessary condition for salvation, as well as the fact that Eliade and his ideas have not always a pro-Christian approach. I have also shown that incoherency exists in his theoretical approach concerning the manifestation of the sacred.</p><p>I have found that Mircea Eliade’s ideas, with some difficulties, very well can reflect a modern phenomenon such as the Olympic Games. I have also put forth the idea of translating Eliade’s conception of axis mundi into an ideological landscape; the Olympic values become an analogy to axis mundi. Furthermore, I have also shown that modern man in different ways desires to be close to the sacred, and how this fact to some extent may explain people’s devotion to and worship of sport heroes, and thus why not only athletes but also billions of spectators are inclined to attend the Olympics. Finally, I show that, according to Eliade’s ideas, the Olympics might facilitate the process of creating modern myths.</p>

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-37). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The editor's thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1967. / Typescript (v. 1) Hymns, psalms, sacred and secular part-songs. For cantus, altus, tenor, and bassus. German words; editor's commentary in English. "Simler ... wrote many of the poems set to music and some of the music, but in the first edition ... he names Andreas Schwilge as the composer and arranger of the melodies." -- Leaf 30. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: v. 1, leaves [281]-285.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-166).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 419-420).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 189-192).

When analyzing the role religion plays in contemporary American society, one is forced to address the notion of secularization. This is a term that broadly refers to the marginalization of religious influence in culture and society that began at the outset of the Enlightenment, sometime during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but, as Peter Berger argues, can actually be traced back to the times of the great Israelite prophets who emerged during the Axial Age (800-200 BCE). Throughout the available literature, proponents of the secularization thesis extend the marginalization of religious influence from the societal level to the level of individual consciousness; however, this thesis contends that these analyses appear to be inadequate in describing postmodern culture. This thesis affirms Lyotard's description of classifying postmodernity as a time exhibiting "incredulity towards the meta-narrative." Thus, this thesis will argue that postmodern culture is not best described as secular. By employing Jacques Ellul's understanding of the sacred and Vincent Pecora's "semantic resonance" of religion, this thesis will provide a more adequate theoretic platform to develop accounts for religion in postmodernity. Through analysis of various deployments of the secularization thesis in the context of Ellul's theory of the proliferating sacred, the adequacy of the available literature that examines secularization in contemporary society will be evaluated. On the basis of this evaluation, proposals for reconsideration of the secularization thesis will be offered. Furthermore, this thesis will locate renditions of the sacred in postmodern society through participation in traditional institutional religion and the proliferation of New Religious Movements by employing a substantive approach. By taking a functional approach, this thesis will analyze the religious dimensions of sports in contemporary American culture. It will become evident that whether one understands religion substantively or functionally, it is clear that the sacred in postmodernity appears to be thriving rather than eroding. This thesis will advocate a phenomenological functional understanding of religion and society and support the astute observation made by Graham Ward in his recent work Theology and Contemporary Critical Theory, that "Religion is once again haunting the imagination of the West."

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