This dissertation examines whether Buddhist beliefs and practices serve to reinforce and/or promote a Korean and/or Canadian cultural prism for next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Toronto, Canada. I define Korean and Canadian cultural prisms based on the cross-cultural psychological framework of Individualism-Relational Collectivism (I-RC) and Analytical-Holistic (A-H) cognition. The aim of my research is to problematize culture in the construction of religious meaning and behaviour for relatively bicultural individuals. My research question can thus be summarized as follows: How is religious meaning and behaviour culturally constructed by next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Canada? What role do individual cultural orientations and the different Buddhist cultural traditions play in this cultural construction and how does Buddhism compare to the other religions (namely Protestantism) practiced by younger-generation Korean-Canadians in this regard? By answering these questions, I ultimately hope to show whether the meaning system of Korean culture is preserved through religion among the younger generation of Korean Buddhist practitioners. I hypothesize that, due to the relatively non-authoritarian nature of Buddhism, the light of Buddhist beliefs and practices will predominantly be refracted through the a priori cultural prism of the individual in question, and the role of Buddhist doctrine and institutions in promoting a particular orientation (individualistic/relationally collectivistic and analytic/holistic) will be minimal and subordinate to the individual. The particular cultural orientation of this prism will, in turn, be dependent upon individual levels of monoculturalism (Korean or Canadian) or biculturalism (Korean and Canadian). In this way, Buddhism may serve to both preserve and undermine the Korean cultural meaning system. By comparison, I hypothesize that the relatively authoritarian nature of (Protestant) Christianity will likely encourage younger-generation Korean Christians to relate to their religion in a predominantly uniform way, regardless of the individual’s cultural orientation.

This dissertation examines whether Buddhist beliefs and practices serve to reinforce and/or promote a Korean and/or Canadian cultural prism for next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Toronto, Canada. I define Korean and Canadian cultural prisms based on the cross-cultural psychological framework of Individualism-Relational Collectivism (I-RC) and Analytical-Holistic (A-H) cognition. The aim of my research is to problematize culture in the construction of religious meaning and behaviour for relatively bicultural individuals. My research question can thus be summarized as follows: How is religious meaning and behaviour culturally constructed by next-generation Korean Buddhist practitioners in Canada? What role do individual cultural orientations and the different Buddhist cultural traditions play in this cultural construction and how does Buddhism compare to the other religions (namely Protestantism) practiced by younger-generation Korean-Canadians in this regard? By answering these questions, I ultimately hope to show whether the meaning system of Korean culture is preserved through religion among the younger generation of Korean Buddhist practitioners. I hypothesize that, due to the relatively non-authoritarian nature of Buddhism, the light of Buddhist beliefs and practices will predominantly be refracted through the a priori cultural prism of the individual in question, and the role of Buddhist doctrine and institutions in promoting a particular orientation (individualistic/relationally collectivistic and analytic/holistic) will be minimal and subordinate to the individual. The particular cultural orientation of this prism will, in turn, be dependent upon individual levels of monoculturalism (Korean or Canadian) or biculturalism (Korean and Canadian). In this way, Buddhism may serve to both preserve and undermine the Korean cultural meaning system. By comparison, I hypothesize that the relatively authoritarian nature of (Protestant) Christianity will likely encourage younger-generation Korean Christians to relate to their religion in a predominantly uniform way, regardless of the individual’s cultural orientation.

This study considered indigenisation to involve a process of making the local people `feel at home' in their Church. The ministry of early catechists such as Bernard Mizeki and Frank Ziqubu was crucial in showing the fact that the Anglican Church was not necessarily a church for Europeans only, but for the indigenous people as well. After this first generation of catechists there were numerous indigenous catechists who also ministered in the Diocese of Mashonaland by way of preparing people for the different sacraments found in the Anglican Church. On the other hand the training of the indigenous people for the ordained ministry was also another significant step in the process of indigenisation in the Diocese of Mashonaland. In this regard theological institutions such as St Augustine's Seminary in Penhalonga Manicaland, St Peter's Seminary Rossettenville in Johannesburg and St John's Seminary in Lusaka provided the much needed training. This study also revealed that although the Diocese of Mashonaland had an indigenous person at its helm in 1981, it remained European in several facets of its life. Although translations as a form of indigenisation started from the beginning of the Diocese of Mashonaland and continued right up to 1981, it seems it actually crippled the local indigenous peoples' innovativeness and ingenuity. In addition indigenous musical instruments also took sometime before they could be accepted in divine worship. On the other hand local art and décor as well as local architectural expressions took time to be incorporated into the Diocese of Mashonaland. However few early European missionaries such as Arthur Shirley Cripps and Edgar Lloyd tried to implement local architecture and décor in their churches in Daramombe and Rusape respectively. This study has also established that although the Anglican Diocese of Mashonaland got indigenous leadership by 1981, its liturgy, theology as well as its Acts and Canons remained European. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Div. (Church History)

The identity of Russian Evangelical Churches theology is considered in this thesis. This identity arose as result of interactions of Western Evangelical movements with the Orthodox Church, and with native pre-Protestant groups. The separate area of theology chosen as the subject of research is ecclesiology. The historical background of the appearance of inner-orthodox movements is shown in this work in order to understand the theological peculiarities. Peculiarities of the orthodox and extra-orthodox mentality also are considered, as they become an important environment for the appearance and development of Evangelical theology in Russia. The last part of this work shows peculiarities of recent Evangelical ecclesiology. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

This study describes and analyses lay training programmes at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF) with emphasis on: Women's Training; Conference, Research and Development; and Youth Leadership. Mindolo is seen as an expression of the church's presence in society and a symbol of hope, peace and reconciliation. Lay training programmes at Mindolo aim at equipping Christians to act as 'leaven', salt and 'light' in society. The values and morals of the African people could be the basis of such teaching. The study discusses how the term 'laity' has negative implications such as regarding the laity as non-competent or specialist because they are not priests or theologians. It illustrates that although the majority of Christians are women, leadership in the church is dominated by men. The study illustrates how critical it is for Mindolo to evaluate its original vision in light of current challenges and promises. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / MA (Religious Studies)

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis is about the social, political, and economic interactions that took place in and around the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) in two very different regions: north-eastern Tanzania and Zanzibar. The mission was for much of the period a space in which people could – often inventively – make a living through education, employment, and patronage. Indeed, particularly in the period preceding British colonial rule, most Christians were mission employees (usually teachers) and their families. Being Christian was, in one sense, a livelihood. In this era before the British altered the political economy, education had only limited appeal, while the teaching profession was not highly esteemed by Africans, although it offered some teachers the security and status of a regular income. From the 1860s to the 1910s, the UMCA did not offer clear trajectories for most of the Africans interacting with it in search of a better life. Markers of coastal sophistication, such as clothing or Swahili fluency, had greater social currency, while the coast remained a prime source of paid employment, often preferable to conditions offered by the mission. By the end of the period, Christians were at a social and economic advantage by virtue of their access to formal institutional education. This was a major shift and schooling became an obvious trajectory for future employment and economic mobility. Converts, many of whom came from marginal social backgrounds, sought to overcome a heritage of exploitative social relations and to redraw the field for the negotiation of dependency to their advantage. However, as this thesis shows, the mission also contributed to new sets of exploitative social relations in a hierarchy of work and education.

Esta dissertação tem como objeto de estudo o livro Dia do Mar (1947) da escritora portuguesa Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. A leitura dos poemas mostra-nos a preocupação da autora com a relação estabelecida entre o homem e o mundo em que vive. Daí, destaca-se a relação do eulírico com a natureza, que compõe a poesia de Sophia Andresen de modo muito especial. A partir dessa evidência, passamos a pensar a questão do homem em relação ao meio natural sob duas óticas, a pagã e a cristã, e isso pelo fato de que Sophia consegue conjugar em sua obra, de maneira muito pessoal, os dois pensamentos em questão. Percebemos, então, que a natureza é, na obra da poeta, um meio para se atingir uma relação harmônica com o mundo, pois o espaço natural tem a função de unir a voz-poética à divindade. Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os poemas da autora em que se evidenciem a presença do sagrado pagão e do sagrado cristão. / This dissertation has as object of study the book Dia do Mar (Day of the Sea) (1947) of the portuguese writer Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. The reading of the poems shows us the author\'s concern with the relationship established between the man and the world in that he lives. Then, it stands out the relationship of the I-lyrical with the nature, that composes the poetry of Sophia Andresen in a very special way. From that evidence, we started thinking the man\'s subject in relation to the natural way under two optics, the pagan and the christian, and that for the fact that Sophia gets to conjugate in her work, in a very personal way, the two thoughts in subject. We noticed, then, that the nature is, in the poet\'s work, a form to reach a harmonic relationship with the world, because the natural space has the function of uniting the poetic voice to the divinity. This work has as objective analyzes the author\'s poems in those are evidenced the sacred pagan and the sacred christians presence.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:42:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valeria Zeidan Rodrigues.pdf: 9362178 bytes, checksum: f8782de57d4238cc34fc027910e45966 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-11 / This work aims at the historical and cultural survey of tambourines in its path to Brazil in a period from the Middle Age in the Iberian Peninsula to the first two hundred years of the Brazilian colonial period. / Este trabalho faz um levantamento histórico e cultural da trajetória dos pandeiros desde a Idade Média, na Península Ibérica, até os primeiros duzentos anos do período colonial brasileiro.

In this thesis, I engaged in a possibility of developing a Post-Heteronormative mission praxis with the black Pentecostal Christians and the sexual minorities in Polokwane, South Africa. The thesis critically examines the current heteronormative oriented mission praxis of the black Pentecostal Christians in Polokwane. It moves from the premise that the hegemonic position of heteronormativity within the black Pentecostal Christian’s circle in Polokwane needs to be problematized. I show in this thesis that the Christian church which challenged the social ill such as poverty, racism and apartheid in South Africa should take as its moral crusade the challenging of heteronormativity in the contemporary South Africa. Additionally, the re-reading of Biblical passage of scriptures when developing mission strategies is in a way recommended. Following the same recommendation, the sexual minorities in Polokwane are regarded as a type of the Good Samaritan. From a Samaritan who was marginalised because of his ethnicity however, Jesus placed him in a position of a good neighbour as presented in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The black Pentecostal Christians in Polokwane are called to come out of their confines. They are further challenged to see the good in the lives of the sexual minorities. By doing that, they can in process discover the presence of God already at work in the lives of the sexual minorities. Consequently, the post-heteronormative mission praxis was defined in the following manner: Mission as going out to see the good in the lives of the sexual minorities. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)