Canada has distinct contemporary faith communities that differ from western and European counterparts. Unfortunately statistics tracking denominational allegiances give little insight into the daily intricacies of collective religious practice. The purpose of this study is to contribute towards filling a gap within scholarly research on the lived culture and experiences of contemporary religious communities within Canada. This study examines the pattern of culture-sharing within a non-denominational faith community as lived and practiced in Ottawa. Through autoethnography, this study asks why members attend and how members view the use of popular culture video clips within church. Individual and collective religious identities are constructed through observations, interviews and material artifacts gleaned through participant observation from January 2011 to December 2011. The results show that within the church, a community of practice is built around shared parenthood and spiritual journey. Members place importance on children, on providing support of all kinds for one another, and on keeping religion relevant. Reasons for attending are echoes of the patterns of culture-sharing: members enjoy the feeling of community, the support, the friendships, the play dates. Participants view popular culture video clips played within church as one aspect of an overall importance placed upon relevance. Mutuality of engagement results in members experiencing their lives as meaningful, it validates their worth through belonging, and it creates personal histories of becoming within the context of a community of practice. Future research recommendations include further study of other contemporary faith communities within Canada, with investigation into the possibility that communities of practice may be what the churched and unchurched are seeking.

The purpose of this thesis paper is to investigate womanist theology and method, along with restoration practices involving spirituality and healing within the context of the visual arts. The thesis exhibition will attempt to create new visual possibilities that inform womanist theological scholarship in terms of promoting contemporary female religious imagery within a metaphorical language. While womanist theology is steeped in interdisciplinary practices, it has yet to consider seriously the studio arts as a means to explore and develop the womanist language. This study will investigate how essential and natural the visual arts assist our understanding of spirituality, especially through a womanist context.

American presidents have maintained an equilibrium between the role of church and state in government affairs via the nation’s civil religion and a “rhetorical contract” between those secular and sacred interests. While other presidents have incorporated religion in their rhetorical execution of office, George W. Bush has done so in a manner different from his predecessors, emphasizing the role of faith in his administration’s beliefs, actions, and policies. Such rhetoric upsets the tenuous relationship between sectarian and secular affairs. Bush’s breach of the rhetorical contract can be explained by Foucault’s notion of pastoral power. Using practices once associated with the church, the savvy government leader may better control his public. I argue that President Bush has shifted the balance of power between organized religion and government, specifically by means of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, thereby corrupting traditional notions of civil religion in the process of implementing his unique form of new pastoral power.

When describing faith development, established models often fail to incorporate the effects of an individual’s sociocultural context and control for additional dimensions of their identity such as ethnicity, gender and religious denomination (Mattis, 2001; Myers, 1991; Willis, 2005). This study involved 18 African American women and men between the ages of twenty and seventy-seven who identified as Baptist Church goers within the Southeastern region of the United States. A mixed methods design informed by interpretive and emerging social network paradigms was used (Hanson, 2005; LeCompte & Schensul, 1999). There were two phases of this study. Within phase one, twelve participants completed one semi-structured interview and the Optimal Theory and Identity Development-Revised (OTAID-R) instrument (Haggins, 1996) which was designed to evaluate identity development along multiple dimensions, including spirituality. Within phase two, six participants took part in a follow-up focus group to validate the emergent themes. Grounded theory was used to analyze the data (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). A circular socioculturally informed model of faith development was devised. The current model was most congruent with African centered models of faith development and revealed non-linear process of faith development. The OTAID-R survey was not significantly correlated with the age of the participants. Implications for research and practice include the importance of considering sociocultual context and experience when conceptualizing developmental processes within a culturally informed framework.

Syftet med föreliggande undersökning är att få kunskap om hur några arbetslösa ungdomar upplever sin situation som arbetslös, vilket studeras med fokus på framtidstro, sin egen förmåga/kompetens till att påverka möjligheterna att få jobb samt vilka faktorer de upplever är viktiga när det gäller att få ett jobb inom en snar framtid. Detta studeras utifrån teorierna om locus of control och self-efficacy. Två tjejer och fem killar i åldrarna 16-24 år, samtliga arbetslösa och inskrivna på Ungdomskraft, deltog i semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visade att majoriteten av ungdomarna har en hög tilltro till sina egna resurser och upplever att de själva har kontroll över sin situation som arbetslös. Vidare visade resultaten på ett mönster mellan intern locus of control och hög self-efficacy i samband med en positiv framtidstro med avseende på att få ett jobb. / The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge intohow some unemployed young people perceive their situation as unemployed,which is studied with a focus on their faith in the future, their ownability/competence to affect thechances of getting a job, and whichfactors they feel is importantwhen it comes to getting a jobin the near future. This is studied from theories of locus of control and self-efficacy. Two girls and five boys in the age between 16-24, all unemployed and enrolled in Ungdomskraft, participated in semi structured interviews. Theresults showed that the majority of young people have a high confidence in their own resources and feel that they have control overtheir situation as unemployed. Furthermore,the result showed patterns between internal locus of control and high self-efficacy in relation to a positive faith of the future when it comes to getting a job.

I denna uppsats undersöker jag relationen mellan känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) och styrkan i den religiösa tron (SCSORF) genom en enkätundersökning genomförd utifrån ett bekvämt urval. Resultatet från undersökningen visade att ingen korrelation föreligger mellan KASAM och SCSORF och att styrkan i den religiösa tron därför inte kan antas påverka KASAM. Dock innebär urvalsmetoden och storleken på urvalet (n = 22) att denna slutsats är osäker och att en större undersökning med bättre forskningsdesign behövs för att slutligen kunna fastställa om styrkan i den religiösa tron påverkar KASAM.

This study seeks to articulate how and to what extent the religious-education programs, faith formation, and spiritual ethos in Catholic schools can cultivate dialogue about and foster experiences of religion and God in light of the diversity of faith traditions present in the student population. The methodology involves demographic and document inquiry, participant observation, and individual, semistructured interviews using an analytical framework inspired by Thomas Groome’s seminal work on a shared Christian praxis. Research was conducted between November 2004 and March 2005. One school in Canada, one school in the United States, and two schools in India were observed, and 15 interviews were completed. What was demonstrated most clearly is that specific dialogue about religion and God is not a primary focus in any of the schools. Rather, their approaches seek to foster character development and religious tolerance based on the principles of moral and values education that are rooted in the experiences of the students. This study is useful for schools that desire to stimulate religious expression and dialogue that are rooted in, but not limited to, the narrow language of a single faith tradition. / May 2005

Global climate change (GCC) may be the most pressing social and environmental issue of our time. The use of fossil fuels tops the list of human behaviors that contribute to GCC. Several ‘alternative’ energy sources are now being considered in an effort to mitigate GCC, including—controversially—nuclear energy. Examined here were environmental worldview and faith in science as moderators of the relationship between beliefs about and attitudes toward nuclear energy (ATNE). Participants were 272 college students who completed an on-line survey. Predictor variables were beliefs about whether nuclear energy contributes to GCC (GCC-beliefs) and to energy independence (EI-beliefs). Results indicated that environmental worldview moderated the negative relationship between GCC-beliefs and ATNE. Results implied that the effectiveness of arguments salient to the current nuclear energy debate concerning GCC have a medium effect on ATNE except when people are more ecocentric in their environmental worldviews.

This thesis engages in an interpretative debate over Kant’s general aims in the first Critique. I argue that a defense of the rational legitimacy of religious faith is at the very center of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Moreover, I argue that Kant’s defense of faith is inextricably bound up with his views on the legitimacy of science. On my account, Kant’s Critique not only demonstrates that science is fully consistent with religious faith, but also that science, when properly understood, actually favors religious belief over non-belief.

2009 genomgick den svenska apoteksmarknaden en stor förändring. Marknaden ändrades från statligt monopol till konkurrerande marknad. Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur det statligt ägda Apoteket AB förändrade sitt ethos när de tvingades att anpassa sig till de nya förutsättningar som omregleringen innebar. Denna uppsats undersöker hur ethos uttrycks i sex olika texter, tre från 2002, innan omregleringen, och tre från 2011. Analyserna görs i par, då analysmetoden är delvis jämförande. Jag kommer att titta på teman, röster, ordklasser och dygder. Texterna är alla skrivna för kunderna, men de skiljer sig åt när det gäller genre och funktion. Slutligen finns en sammanfattande diskussion där jag tar upp och diskuterar intressanta aspekter kring Apotekets ethos, i ljuset av min frågeställning. En av de huvudsakliga slutsatserna jag drog från läsningen och analyserandet av texterna var att Apoteket idag försöker att vinna kundernas hjärtan genom att fokusera på deras behov. Apotekets ethos har skiftat från att vara fokuserat på organisationen, kompetens och status som monopolen ger till en auktoritet som föredrar mer mjuka värden.