Both Psychology and Christianity are concerned with the well-being or wholeness of the human person. Since God is no respecter of persons, then all men are alike in their basic nature. Psychology bears out this conclusion. Therefore, upon the foundation of this basic agreement psychology may be used effectively in helping to establish a fundamental agreement for the effective worship of Christian men. The scope of this treatment will consider only three of the basic acts of Christian worship - prayer, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

<p>How did rock and roll, the best music for worshipping the devil, become the finest music for worshipping God? This study narrates the import of rock music into church sanctuaries across America via the rise of contemporary worship music (CWM). While white evangelicals derided rock n' roll as the "devil's music" in the 1950s, it slowly made its way into their churches and beyond over the next fifty years, emerging as a multi-million dollar industry by the twenty-first century.</p><p>This study is a cultural history of CWM, chronicling the rise of rock music in the worship life of American Christians. Pulling from several different primary and secondary sources, I argue that three main motivations fueled the rise of CWM in America: the desire to reach the lost, to commune in emotional intimacy with God, and to grow the flock. These three motivations evolved among different actors and movements at different times. In the 1970s, the Jesus People movement anchored in Southern California, adopted the music of the counterculture to attract hippies to church. In the early 1980s, the Vineyard Fellowship combined rock forms with lyrics that spoke of God in the second person in order to facilitate intimate worship with the divine. In the late 1980s, the church growth movement embraced CWM as a tool to attract disaffected baby boomers back to church. By the 1990s, these three motivations had begun to energize an entire industry built around the merger between rock and worship.</p> / Dissertation

anglicky The diploma thesis Contemporary Trends of Protestant Liturgical Music in the Czech Republic deals mainly with both - musical and unmusical - element of contemporary praise and worship songs used at protestant Sunday services. The aim of praise and worship music in a Sunday service, is to give praise to God, as well as it was in biblical times. Therefore the first chapter of the thesis presents observations about music in the Bible and examines its connections to non-musical ways of praising God, which throws light upon the situation today. The part of the thesis which makes the reader familiar with current situation of protestant liturgical music in the Czech Republic, points out weaknesses in present-day song writing and shows a need of musical education for Christians, who take part in performing music at Church, compose songs and translate them from other languages. There is also a notable trend of adapting hymnbook songs, which therefore become friendlier to younger generation who prefers livelier music. Although there is not any board for protestant liturgical music, there are several influential personalities, whose view on various components of music liturgy and relationship to God's praise are presented in the third chapter. All of them agree on the fact that praising God through...

In this dissertation the author seeks to present a holistic theology proper (hereafter, simply "theology") for the first epistle to Timothy, with special regard to the letter's doxologies (King) and divine title, Savior. Chapter 1 identifies the problem, includes a history of research, and describes the method and procedure of the dissertation. The method of inquiry consists of determining the meaning and function of the letter's theology. Thus, the author seeks to understand the background and character of 1 Timothy's theology, while also wishing to discern why the author of 1 Timothy chose to emphasize these peculiar theological themes. Chapter 2 explores the meaning and function of the theological descriptions found in the doxologies of 1 Timothy 1:17 and 6:15-16. By thorough comparison to Greco-Roman, early Jewish, and OT literature, the author suggests a basically OT-informed view of God. The doxologies depict God as the only Sovereign who rules over all. The writer then determines that the doxologies function as a support and encouragement for Timothy to heed Paul's charge. This conclusion is largely based on the positioning of the doxologies and the macrostructure of the letter. Chapter 3 examines the meaning and function of the divine epithet Savior. After comparing this term to its occurrences in Greco-Roman, early Jewish, and OT literature, the author again favors an OT background for Savior. This term depicts God as one who mercifully and indiscriminately reconciles sinners who trust in Christ. While also recognizing other functions, the author suggests that God as Savior may have been aimed at the primary implied reader, Timothy, as well. Accordingly, the idea of Savior informs and strengthens Timothy, so that he might continue to labor in presenting the life-giving gospel of God. Chapter 4 considers every remaining theological description in 1 Timothy, as well as themes that significantly relate to the letter's theology, such as Christology. The author suggests that the entire theology of 1 Timothy either coheres with or supports the predominant ideas of God as King and Savior. Chapter 5 summarizes the dissertation's findings and concludes with suggested implications for NT studies. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Este trabalho analisou o culto aos antepassados okinawanos Sosen Suuhai, procurando compreender seus significados à construção identitária dos okinawanos no Brasil. Para isso, as entrevistas e os dados de campo foram trabalhados sob duas perspectivas: 1. Uma histórica: que analisou as relações entre o governo e a sociedade brasileira, na Era Vargas, especialmente, durante o período do Estado Novo. 2. Uma de análise do culto baseada no animismo e xamanismo, cujos rituais de manipulação do corpo complementam os significados do Sosen Suuhai. Percebeu-se que a simbologia do corpo (sangue e sêmen) mostra-se concatenada à percepção de sagrado e profano no culto, que, por sua vez, repercute na distinção de papéis sociais a partir de dicotomia de gênero. Nesse caso, pode-se dizer que essa simbologia reflete a importância da patrilinearidade na sucessão do butsudan e a importância das mulheres na comunicação, tanto no sentido religioso, quanto na perpetuação da tradição e da memória familiar. Também foi possível notar que o pertencimento okinawano, movido pelo culto, opera a partir de dois pontos de vista: a religiosidade e a história. Em algumas famílias, o butsudan representa a comunicação com os ancestrais e as crenças no poder de influência deles na vida familiar. Em outras famílias, porém, o butsudan seria visto muito mais como um lugar da memória, reverência à historicidade dos ancestrais, o que coloca em evidência as especificidades okinawanas no processo de imigração ao Brasil. Essa forte presença da historicidade nos discursos dos interlocutores relaciona-se à construção de uma identidade okinawana no Brasil que busca exaltar suas características de expansão e alegria em contraposição às características de reserva e frieza dos japoneses. Essas diferenças, construídas no discurso identitário, foram lidas na baila da cultura, em que hábitos e costumes nativos passam a ser acionados como estratégia de afirmação e de reconhecimento do grupo na sociedade / This paper describes the Sosen Suuhai, which is a ritual of the Okinawans ancestors. It seeks to understand its meanings in the construction of the identity of Okinawans in Brazil. In order to achieve this, the interviews and the field data were analyzed from two perspectives: 1. A historical one, which examines the relations among the Okinawans and the government and the Brazilian society in the Vargas Era, especially during the Estado Novo. The process of identity affirmation of Okinawans in Brazil and the extension of the Sosen Suuhai, especially since the arrival of new immigrants in the postwar period, was discussed. 2. An analysis of the Sosen Suuhai focused on animism and shamanism. It was perceived that the symbolism of the body (blood and semen) appears concatenated to the perception of sacred and profane within the Sosen Suuhai, which have repercussions on the social distinction, like gender dichotomy. One can say that this symbolism is reflected in the importance of the patrilineality in the butsudan succession, and the importance of women in communication, in a religious sense, as in the perpetuation of tradition and family memory. It was also noted that the Okinawan belonging, moved by worship, operates from two points of view: the religion and history. In some families, the butsudan signifies communication with the ancestors and beliefs in their power of influence on family life. In other families, however, the butsudan would be seen more as a \"place of memory\" reverence for ancestors history, which highlights the specificities in Okinawan immigration process to Brazil. This strong presence of historicity in the speeches of speakers is related to the construction of an Okinawan identity in Brazil that seeks to exalt their expansion and joy characteristics as opposed to the reticent and coldness features of the Japanese. These differences, built in the discourse identity, were read within the \"culture\" in which habits and native customs become triggered as a statement of group strategy and recognition whitin the society

Les biens cultuels, et plus généralement les cultes eux-mêmes, ont connu de nombreuses évolutions de leur régime juridique. S'intéresser au régime juridique des biens cultuels revient nécessairement à étudier le régime des cultes, dans sa globalité. En partant de la gestion des biens matériels des différents cultes, nous proposons une analyse de l'actuel droit des religions. En 1905, la loi sur la séparation des Églises et de l’État est votée. Loi éminemment politique, elle vise à séculariser les institutions publiques et propose une nouvelle organisation matérielle pour les différents cultes présents sur le territoire national. En vue de remplacer les anciens établissements publics du culte concordataires, des associations cultuelles, privées, sont mises en place : elles ont vocation à représenter le culte et à gérer ses biens matériels. La difficulté est apparue avec le refus de l’Église catholique de se constituer en de telles associations, obligeant ainsi le législateur à accompagner cette loi de séparation par un corpus juridique, prémisses des futurs accommodements étatiques en la matière. La loi de 1905 n'a pas été appliquée dans sa globalité dès sa promulgation et le corpus juridique qu'elle a engendré, a entraîné une multitude de compromissions envers deux cultes en particulier : l’Église catholique et l'Islam. Aujourd'hui, ces deux religions ne sont guère soumises aux dispositions de la loi de 1905, d'un point de vue tant matériel et organisationnel que financier. L'absence d'unité du droit des cultes en France (au sein même de la loi de 1905, en Alsace-Moselle et dans les DOM-TOM) n'est pas de nature à répondre aux interrogations que pose la métamorphose religieuse que connaît la France. Il est peut-être venu le temps de faire, à nouveau, évoluer ce régime juridique des cultes, en l'adaptant davantage au contexte religieux actuel. / Cultual goods, and more generally the cults themselves, have undergone many changes in their legal system. To be interested in the legal regime of the cultual goods is necessarily to study the system of cults, as a whole. Starting from the management of the material goods of the different cults, we propose an analysis of the current law of religions. In 1905, the law on the separation of churches and the state was passed. An eminently political law, it aims to secularize public institutions and proposes a new material organization for the different cults present on the national territory. In order to replace the former public establishments of the cult concordats, cult associations, private, are set up: they are intended to represent the cult and to manage its material goods. The difficulty arose with the refusal of the Catholic Church to constitute such associations, forcing the legislator to accompany this law of separation by a body of law, premise of future state accommodations in this area. The law of 1905 was not applied in its entirety since its promulgation and the body of law it engendered resulted in a multitude of compromises to two cults in particular: the Catholic Church and Islam. Today, these two religions are hardly subject to the provisions of the 1905 law, from a material, organizational or financial point of view. The absence of unity of the law of cults in France (even within the law of 1905, in Alsace-Moselle and in the DOM-TOM) is not likely to answer the questions raised by the religious metamorphosis that occurs France. It may have been time to make this juridical regime of cults evolve again, adapting it more to the current religious context.

Ma thèse porte sur l’étude de l’évolution du culte des reliques de saint Martin de Tours, du haut Moyen Âge jusqu’à aujourd’hui ; travaillant aussi bien sur les reliques corporelles que les reliques de contact de saint Martin. Pour cela, je dois faire l’inventaire de ses reliques qui existent à travers le monde et expliquer leurs séparations, translations et déplacements. Il s’agit aussi pour moi de les replacer dans leur contexte historique, puis d’analyser à travers elles la diffusion et l’étendue du culte de saint Martin dans le monde en confrontant les différentes sources qui évoquent ces reliques et en menant une réflexion plus générale sur la propagation d’une vénération religieuse. Les reliques Martiniennes demeurent le thème essentiel de mon travail, mais la recherche sera étendue à d’autres figures hagiographiques, dans un souci de comparaison notamment. / My PhD deals with the study of the evolution of the relics cult of Saint Martin of Tours, from the Early Middle Ages to today; I work on corporal relics as well as contact relics of Saint Martin. For that, I must make an inventory of his relics that exist around the world and explain their separations, translations and movements. It is also a question for me of replacing them in their historic context, then of analyzing through them the diffusion and the extent of the worship of Saint Martin in the world by confronting the different sources which talk about these relics and by leading a more general reflection about the spread of religious veneration. The Martinian relics remain the main theme of my work, but the research will be extended to other hagiographic figures, for the sake of comparison in particular.

Pour triompher de ses adversaires et faire valoir le christianisme, Arnobe de Sicca, apologiste chrétien de l'Afrique du Nord, s'évertue à saper les bases du paganisme en s'attaquant respectivement aux idoles et aux pratiques idolâtriques païennes. Dans le livre VII de son traité apologétique l'Adversus nationes, il pose la question des sacrifices et des offrandes faits aux dieux ainsi que d'autres cultes institués en leur honneur. Il explique que, loin de faire plaisir aux dieux, les sacrifices sanglants constituent une abomination dont les dieux ne sauraient se rendre responsables. Comptant "parmi les documents les plus riches dont dispose l'historien de la religion romaine sur les finalités et les modalités du sacrifice ...", le livre VII n'a pourtant pas fait l'objet d'une recherche approfondie de son contenu. Aussi, ce travail de recherche propose un commentaire littéraire et stylistique du livre VII ainsi qu'une analyse thématique et comparative. / To triumph over its adversaries and to put forward Christianity, Arnobe of Sicca, Christian apologist of North Africa, strives to sap the bases of paganism by attacking both the idols and the pagan idolatrous practices. In book VII of his apologetic treaty "Adversus Nationes", he questions the sacrifices and the offerings made to the gods as well as others worships instituted in their honor. He explains that, far from pleasing the gods, the bloody sacrifices constitute an abomination that gods could not make themselves responsible of. Counting "among the richest documents availableto the historian of the roman religion on the finalities and the methods of the sacrifice...", book VII however was not the object of a deep research regarding its contents. This research work proposes a literary and stylistic study of book VII as well as a thematic and comparative analysis.

This thesis examines the practice of the camp meeting as a significant factor in the growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church in nineteenth-century New England. Such a comprehensive investigation into camp meetings in New England has never been done before. Also, with the exception of one book and one other recent dissertation, the general history of Methodism in New England is a topic that was overlooked for nearly a century. This research helps to fill those gaps. Many scholars give credit to camp meetings for fostering conversion, though the focus has generally been on camps held in the American South and the western frontier. After briefly recounting the rise of Methodism and camp meetings in the United States, the thesis turns to a more specific focus on the rise of Methodism and camp meetings in New England prior to 1823. Zion's Herald newspaper provides a steady and previously untapped source of primary information about camp meetings in New England from its first appearance in 1823 to well into the twentieth century. After discussion of some key developments of New England Methodism relevant to camp meetings between 1823 and 1871, a thick description of one camp meeting in 1823 is presented to show how the many parts worked together. This is followed by an account of aspects of the camp meetings that might be classified broadly as ritual, how these changed over time, and the impact they had on the process of identity formation at the camps. The spotlight is then directed toward the liturgical aspects of camp meetings as practiced in New England. These include components of worship practices common to Methodist congregations of the period as they gathered for prayer meetings, Sunday worship and quarterly conferences, such as preaching, praying, singing, and love feasts, and also those acts of worship developed specifically for camp meetings such as dedicating the grounds, and the closing ritual procession and "parting hand." As with the ritual practices, attention is again given both to how these worship practices influenced worshippers, and how they changed over time. Finally the interpretive framework of "poetic discourse" offered by Stephen Cooley is used to analyze the most potent ritual elements involved in the process of conversion and church growth in conversation with contemporary scholars in the fields of sociology and ritual studies. In the end this study shows not only the factors that fostered conversions and church growth, but also how the camp meetings gradually lost their potency as they changed over time. / 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z

Les rapports entre puissance publique et édifices du culte – et notamment la multiplicité d’usages de ces derniers – se comprennent par l’étude de la réception des normes canoniques relatives aux églises et par la transformation de leur sens en droit séculier.Selon l’enseignement du droit canonique, l’édifice cultuel est un lieu liturgiquement consacré au culte, revêtant dès lors une nature théologico-juridique spécifique.Empruntant au langage du droit romain antique, la doctrine canonique le qualifie de ressacræ.Au XVIe siècle, l’apparition des cultes issus de la réforme protestante etl’interprétation moderne des textes du Corpus iuris civilis conduisent la doctrine séculière etla puissance publique à repenser juridiquement le statut canonique des sanctuaires. D’unlieu sacré, l’édifice religieux devient progressivement à un lieu destiné au culte pour n’êtreplus qu’un édifice juridiquement affecté au culte.Au-delà du simple glissement lexical, on assiste, depuis l’ancien droit jusqu’à laséparation des Églises et de l’État, à un changement d’appréhension juridique de l’édificedu culte. Le lieu de culte confié à la protection de la puissance publique est finalement misà la disposition du culte par celle-ci. / The relations between public power and places of worship – and notably themultiplicity of their using – can be understood by the study of canonical norms reception’sand the transformation of their meaning in secular law.According to the teaching of the canon law, the place of worship is a place liturgicallydedicated to worship, holder of a particular theological and juridical nature. Borrowingfrom the antic roman law language, the canonical doctrine call him res sacræ.In the 16th. century, the apparition of worship issued of the protestant reform and themodern interpretation of texts from the Corpus iuris civilis lead the secular doctrine and thepublic power to rethink legally the canonical status of the sanctuaries. From a sacred place,the place of worship become progressively a place assigned to the worship and finally just abuilding legally affected to the worship.Beyond the simple lexical sliding, we are present, from the french ancient law until theseparation of Churches and State, at a juridical grasp’s change of the place of worship.This place, entrusted to the public power’s care, is at last putted at the worship disposal bypower.