Submitted work is based on a critical evaluation of Weber's thesis "the spirit of capitalism", which justified by the "Protestant ethic". The author uses the Weber's starting point for the processing of general spiritual concept, which has a major impact on the emergence, development and maintenance of the economic environment, business and management. After clarification of the fundamental concepts, the work focuses on clarifications to the phenomenon of spirituality, which is connected with the entrepreneurial and managerial activities. Presence of the spiritual character of business potentials was divided into positive and negative factors. General spiritual factors are reflected on the background of basic religious systems -- Judaism, Christianity (Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy), Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other Asian directions. Spiritual perspectives are compared with the concepts of the science that have their limits or potentials. The practical part is devoted to the proof of spiritual influences on business and economic development. The work culminates in a research of spiritual factors and potentials of entrepreneurship and management between the selected entrepreneurs and managers. The collected factors and potentials are summarized and proposed for their use in the entrepreneurial and managerial practice or managerial training.

The study of possession phenomena in South Asia presents a unique set of challenges for scholars. Because of its occurrence within diverse contexts, from healing temples and ritual performances to festival celebrations and devotional practices, attempts on the part of scholars to hone in on a concise vocabulary and conceptual framework with which to articulate the critical nature and function of possession has resulted in an extensive body of literature with wide-ranging methodological and theoretical dispositions. Each of these approaches, in its own way, contributes to an increasingly complicated web of intersecting disciplinary approaches. As this body of literature continues to grow, and with it, the resources for generating a more productive academic discourse surrounding possession, so too grows a set of distinct challenges. How is one to sort through the maze of interpretive strategies and the conclusions they produce? Is it possible to assemble them in such a way as to develop a cooperative and mutually beneficial approach? Is there hope for arriving at a commonly shared vocabulary of possession capable of functioning across disciplinary boundaries? And if so, would such a vocabulary avoid forcing localized experiences and practices to conform to ill-fitting, non-native criteria of analysis? Through critical evaluation of ethnographic contributions to the study of possession, this paper sets out to arrive at a set of conclusions about what works best for furthering the depth of appreciation and understanding for how diverse, complex, and pervasive possession practices are within a South Asian context. My criteria for this evaluation focuses on the degree to which specific approaches are established in, and guided by, an ethos of inclusivity, one that develops a healthy and vibrant dialectic between indigenous models of experience, practice, and interpretation, and those of the scholar. Along the way, I investigate key issues raised in the study of possession, such as ritual efficacy, embodiment, agency, and the nature of human relations with various nonhuman beings.

This study examined the relationship between workplace spirituality and employees’ perception of stakeholder relationships on a primary and secondary stakeholder level. The purpose of the research was to establish whether an employee with higher spiritual perspective, as manifested n the workplace, displays increased consideration for relationships with stakeholders. The quantitative research took the form of a cross sectional survey design to answer three research questions. The electronic survey was administered to a sample of post-graduate business students. A positive correlation was found between workplace spirituality and employees’ perception of secondary stakeholder relationships. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In the late 1990's researchers began studying spirituality as a workplace phenomenon. In the year 2000 a distinction was made between individual spirituality and organisational spirituality. This meant that spirituality could be studied on more than one level and that it was no longer just a personal phenomenon, but rather that organisations (as non-human entities that are made-up of clusters of humans) could in fact also be spiritual entities. In 2004, Kinjerski and Skrypnek, identified a third dimension of spirituality distinct from individual spirituality and organisational spirituality the experience of spirit at work. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the functionality of spirituality by testing the relationship between these three spirituality constructs individual spirituality, organisational spirituality and the experience of spirit at work and the resultant impact of these constructs on two positive work outcomes work engagement and affective organisational commitment. A sequential mixed methods approach was utilised in this study and the research was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the research was quantitative. During the quantitative phase of the research an online survey was distributed to respondents across South Africa. The second phase of the research was qualitative and consisted of follow-up semi-structured personal interviews with selected respondents to the survey. It was found that the three spirituality constructs individual spirituality, organisational spirituality and the experience of spirit at work are independent constructs but that strong positive correlations exist between individual spirituality and spirit at work, between individual spirituality and organisational spirituality and between spirit at work and organisational spirituality; with the strongest correlation between spirit at work and organisational spirituality. From these correlations one can conclude that the experience of spirit at work has the greatest impact on work engagement and organisational commitment; followed by the level of organisational spirituality in the workplace. Therefore, organisations that are more spiritual seem to have employees who are more engaged in their work and more committed to their respective organisations. Spirit at work was found to be the strongest predictor of work engagement, meaning that when there is an increase in experiences of spirituality in the workplace, work engagement levels also increase. This means that the extent to which people feel engaged and immersed in their work, is dependent on the extent to which they experience spirit in their work. This finding highlights the critical importance of enabling employees to discover their strengths and passions and matching them to work that they both enjoy and are good at, for enhanced work engagement. Spirit at work was also found to be the strongest predictor of organisational commitment. As the experiences of spirit at work increase, the levels of affective organisational commitment in the organisation also increases. It could thus be argued that when people experience spirit at work or in their work, they tend to be more committed to their organisations. The current study has strengthened the business case for workplace spirituality. The findings of this study indicate that the organisational environment is the greatest predictor of whether employees will experience spirit at work or not and thus indirectly the greatest factor for predicting work engagement and organisational commitment levels. These findings substantiate the need for organisations to start playing a more active role in creating a work environment that is conducive for employees to experience spirit at work. There are a number of things that organisations can do to create more spiritual work environments and as a result reap the benefits of greater work engagement and greater organisational commitment. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Human Resource Management / PhD / Unrestricted

This thesis "Comparison of selected catechist tools in connection with the sacrament of Confirmation" compares selected catechist books regarding the criteria related to theological, anthropological and catechist themes. The first part presents theological themes - it includes the form and quality of informing about the Holy Spirit and its demonstration in the Old and New Testament, as well as liturgical demonstration of the Church in connection with the Holy Spirit and the dimension of symbols. Further it covers the relation of the Holy Trinity to the sacraments and the close relation of the initiation sacraments with its effect on the receiver. It also deals with the position of catechism in relation to evangelisation and the fact how its structure reflects the catechumen's faith. The second part describes anthropological themes - it focuses on the natural behaviour of the humans, their relation to rituals, on the process of maturing and the importance of a community in the life of a human being from the point of view of faith and religious experience. In the third part we compare the contents and the tasks of the catechisms in the selected catechist tools. Upon an analysis and description of the individual catechist tools, the thesis concludes with an evaluation of the development of the approach towards...

The aim of this diploma thesis is to offer a comprehensive commentary of Patočka's unpublished lectures on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, which he gave at the Charles University during the summer semester of 1949. These lectures remain unfinished and the exposition of the Phenomenology of Spirit ends before the chapter on morality. Patočka is influenced, to a considerable degree, by the unorthodox reading of Hegel that Kojéve presents in his Inroduction à la lecture de Hegel (1947) and also by a somewhat more conservative commentary by Jean Hyppolite, published in 1946 under the title Genese et structure de la Phénoménologie de l'esprit de Hegel. This thesis follows their influence on Patočka's commentary, in an attempt to discover Patočka's own interpretative stance. Patočka places the Phenomenology of Spirit into a wide context and tries to illustrate its genesis. Following Kojéve, Patočka's interpretation remains nested within an anthropological perspective, considering the master-slave dialectic to be the centerpiece of Hegel's philosophy.

Orientador: Jean Cristtus Portela / Banca: Arnaldo Cortina / Banca: Edna Maria Fernandes dos Santos Nascimento / Banca: Elizabeth Harkot-de-La-Taille / Banca: Ivã Carlos Lopes / Resumo: Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar a prática da psicografia ou escrita mediúnica com base em relatos de experiência de médiuns psicógrafos da cidade de Uberaba (MG). Sob a perspectiva da semiótica greimasiana e com base nas contribuições de Jacques Fontanille para o estudo das práticas semióticas, foi possível compreender: a sintagmática do ato mediúnico e da escrita mediúnica; a constituição do actante e do ator-médium nesses relatos de experiência; seus mecanismos enuncivos e enunciativos, responsáveis pelos efeitos de sentido de "verdade", implicados no estabelecimento do contrato fiduciário; a existência, no córpus, de uma figuratividade "mediúnica" e do além-vida; e, finalmente, as relações entre corpo e transmissão, que nos permitem descrever como a memória de uma prática pode ser constituída e transmitida, enquanto configuração semiótica e cultural. A análise do córpus nos permitiu, assim, reconstruir o percurso da psicografia como prática semiótica, em seus diversos níveis de imanência. Considerando a influência sociocultural e o impacto editorial da escrita psicográfica no contexto brasileiro, bem como a inexistência de estudos linguísticos ou semióticos a esse respeito, acreditamos que o presente estudo tenha auxiliado a preencher uma importante lacuna para a compreensão dessa prática tão polêmica quanto inexplorada, e que atesta a diversidade linguística, linguageira e cultural de uma expressiva parcela de brasileiros. / Abstract: This research aimed at investigating the practice of psychography or mediumistic writing based on experience reports of psychographic mediums from the city of Uberaba (MG). From the perspective of the Greimassian Semiotics and based on the contributions of Jacques Fontanille to the study of the semiotic practices, it was possible to understand: the syntagmatics of the mediumistic act and of psychographic writing; the constitution of the actant and actor-medium in these experience reports; its enuncive and enunciative mechanisms responsible for effects of meaning of "truth", involved in the establishment of the fiduciary contract; the existence of a "mediumistic" and "afterlife" figurativity in the corpus; and, finally, the relationship between body and transmission, which made possible to describe how the memory of a practice can be constituted and transmitted as a semiotic and cultural configuration. The analysis of the corpus allowed us to reconstruct the process of psychography as a semiotic practice in its various planes of immanence. Considering the sociocultural influence and the editorial impact of psychographic writing in the Brazilian context, as well as the lack of linguistic or semiotic studies in this regard, we believe this study has helped fill an important gap in the understanding of this practice, which is so controversial as unexplored and demonstrates the linguistic and cultural diversity of a significant number of Brazilians. / Doutor

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<p>The Virgin Mary reportedly began to appear at Greensides Farm, just outside the village of Marmora, Ontario, Canada, in 1992. She continues to appear to three central visionaries at the pilgrimage shrine. Catholic pilgrims come from around the world to pray, many of them with the hope of seeing Mary or experiencing a miracle. Countless pilgrims claim to have received spiritual, emotional, or physical healing through their miraculous experiences, events which they attribute to the power of the Holy Spirit. I argue that contestation is present at the Marmora pilgrimage shrine and occurs over symbols embedded in the activities of individuals and different Catholic groups. Communitas also exists at Marmora through the shrine's liminality, but it is normative communitas, and not spontaneous communitas, because the pilgrimage is structured by outside social, political, and religious influences. Further to this point, most pilgrims retain their status in everyday life at the shrine, and some pilgrims (namely the visionaries) obtain a heightened status that transfers into their mundane lives. My research indicates that contestation and communitas among both pilgrims and Catholic groups affect each individual's interpretation of their pilgrimage experience at Marmora, just as individuals' interpretations of their own background and knowledge inform their experiences of contestation and communitas. An analysis of pilgrims' miracle and healing narratives demonstrates that it is important to explore individuals' interpretations of their pilgrimage experience, as the journey can have tangible effects on a pilgrim's mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being </p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

new building Salesian church in Nová Lišeň following the complex of salesian center with accommodation of monks. Church of Holy spirit.