Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-176).

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1999. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-138).

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1993. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-118).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-128).

Bibliography: pages 89-92. / To date numerous works in the African traditional religion have appeared In this devoted to the description of field many have been particular religion phenomena, while some have attempted to refute the beliefs and practices of the religion. But examining the effort of various investigators who have grappled with this task, one has the impression that they may have overlooked something. This something is bringing together the beliefs and practices of African traditional religion to form the worships in other world religions. It can be said the worship of God in Africa traditional religion is the very soul of African religion. This study attempts and examines what some scholars have written about African traditional religion, its beliefs and practices, and brought it together to form what may be called the worship of God in the religion. In constructing the purpose of this study, many writers have been used. Here the writer would like to mention some scholars by name, because much of their material have been constantly used. Such scholars as John S. Mbiti, Geoffrey Parrinder and Emmanuel, Bolaji Idowu. These writers recorded careful observation of African traditional religion, its beliefs and practices. This provides useful insights into the worship of God in the religion. In achieving the study, the problem of ancestor-worship has been discussed, although a final conclusion has not been reached, because it is an ongoing debate. The practices and believes have been discussed as the starting point of the worship in religion. The study observed particular practices which constitute the worship. These includes: sacrifice, offering, prayer and the religious leaders who performed the worship. To make what constitutes the worship complete, the spiritual aspect of it has also been discussed. At the end of the study, some suggestions and recommendations have been made so as to stimulate and motivate the African students undertaking the studies of African traditional religion. It is also a challenge to the students who are studying African theology.

The concept of worship projected in this study is the broad Isaiah pattern of worship of awareness of God, restructuring of the life of the individual, and dedication of the worshiper in service. From this concept, standards of worship are set forth by which Latter-day Saint worship is evaluated.

A study of the comprehensive understanding of worship in the New Testament, according to which corporate worship is the center - not less than the center, but also only the center - of the whole worship Christians owe to God, while holiness, love and witness to Christ in all circumstances of life are the context both necessary to and dependent upon that center. This new and greater way of worship, ethical-missionary in character and ruled by the New Testament spirit of conscious and responsible freedom, replaced the cultic worship of the Old Testament law, thus being deprived of holy places, times, intermediating authorities and rites. The logic of service to God through service to people is explored. And a misunderstanding of the role of the old cultic order in God's pedagogy of revelation is alleged to be the reason why this worship pattern has long been ignored by the churches in general. / Sys Theology & Theol Ethics / MTH (SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY)

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The present dissertation combines sequential and analytical approaches to Augustine's De Trinitate to elaborate a description of the treatise based on the presupposition of its unity and its coherence from the structural, rhetorical and theological points of view. The sequential analysis of books 1-7 and 8-15 describes first the outer layer of the argument of the treatise: Scripture and the mystery of the Trinity (books 1-4); discussion of'Arian' logical and ontological categories (books 5 —7) and a comparison between self-love/knowledge and formal aspects of the confession of the mystery of the Trinity (books 8-15). However, this outer layer does not adequately account for the * unity and the coherence of the treatise. On the contrary, the most comprehensive and satisfactory structural, rhetorical and theological description of the De Trinitate results from an inner layer which can be detected throughout the treatise around the theme of knowledge of God. Augustine, in the De Trinitate, implicitly endorses the threefold classical definition of the purpose of rhetoric: teach, move, delight (explicitely mentioned in the De Doctrina Christiana). The outer layer of the De Trinitate, especially the so called 'analogical' line, is meant to entice the interest and the curiosity of the reader, to delight him. Other aspects of the outer layer, especially in the first half of the treatise, have a predominant instructive or polemical function. The deepest thrust of the treatise, however, aims at 'moving' the reader, that is leading him to the visio and frutio of God the Trinity, in whose image he is created. This mystagogical aspect of the rhetoric of the treatise entails its own distinctive delightfulness and eloquence, unfolded through Christology, soteriology doctrine of the Holy Spirit and doctrine of revelation. At the same time, from the vantage point of dilectio, Augustine detects and powerfully describes the epistemological consequences of human sinfulness, thus unmasking the fundamental deficiency of received theories of knowledge. Only dilectio restores knowledge and enables philosophers to yield to the injunction which resumes philosophical enterprise as a whole, namely cognosce te ipsum.

This is a study of the relationship between music and spirit possession among the Yorùbá of the South-Western part of Nigeria. Through the ages, philosophers and scholars have been interested in the relationship between music and trance possession, especially the question of whether music triggers, influences or sustains trance or spirit possession, and if so, how. This thesis seeks to focus on the relationship between the music used in worship practices where possessions take place, and how the music might initiate and drive the possession states. Spirit possession is a phenomenon which springs from and is associated with the social and belief systems of different people. However, the Aládurà church (an Independent African Church - AIC) worshippers dissociate themselves from the possession practices that are experienced among the Yorùbá indigenous traditional worshippers, while the traditionalists claim that the spirit possession practised in the Aládurà churches originated and has its roots in the traditional practices. This suggests an inherent difference in the two belief systems even though the possession experiences among them are characterised by similar presentations. Following the theory that spirit possession practices are culturally determined, this research seeks to identify the specific cultural elements in the music used in Yorùbá worship traditions where possessions take place, not as a cause and effect, but how music affects the possession process. My study, therefore, sets out to investigate what could be a common factor between the two structurally and contextually different types of music used by the two sects of worshippers with the aim of identifying the common factors in the music, which seem to be the link between the two worship groups. Key words: Music, Spirit Possession, culture, worship.