Church in the life and thought of Oto Mádr. The thesis portrays the impicit ecclesiology of the Czech theologian and priest Oto Mádr. It highlights Mádr's key attitudes in the context od his life. It traces his main and enduring ecclesiological contributions and shows where his thought could be further developed. The method of research is bi-polar paradox applied on the signs of the Church. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development is an entity created in the Dallas County Community College District to serve the community in workforce and economic development. The history of the Priest Institute over the last ten years parallels and illustrates the commitment of community colleges nationally to workforce and economic development. The history also reflects similar goals and trends within the state of Texas and, particularly, in the city of Dallas. The Priest Institute is made up of three distinct entities. One entity is the Edmund J. Kahn Job Training Center; another is the Business and Professional Institute, which provides consulting and training services to business clients. The final service area is the complex made up of the regional North Texas Small Business Development Center and its several related local service operations. This study provides an analytical history of each of these components and the process by which they came together in a model facility in Dallas. This study also describes perceptions of persons within the Institute regarding its present mission and purposes and the efficacy of the current organizational structure both internally and within the district operation as an appropriate structure enabling the Institute to meet its goals.

Activity of Ecclesiastical Secretaries at Šumperk region till 1968. The thesis comprises of activities of ecclesiastical secretaries in Šumperk district. The frame of the work covers period from year 1948 till 1968. After a breaf description of situation in Olomouc diocese after February 1948, the text follows territorial delimination of Šumperk district during fifties and sixties. Then it takes a closer look at influence of secretaries during specific years and from their reports to the senior authority it's trying to determine the most important events and problems of roman catholic church at that time. Special part belongs to religious teaching (connected with difficulties of joining this subject) and antireligious propaganda, therefore atheistic education. Further the text follows litigations of priests, that were unlawfully sentenced and imprisoned based on fabricated cases of communist regime. Even though these were local cases, that no one knew about past the district borders, it is worthwhile mentioning them as they substantially influenced lives of these priest. Last but not least the attention is brought to persons of ecclesiastical secretaries and priests, that had to try to get on under the pressure despite being on oposite sides of the barricade.

Funerals are still considered as very important and well attended occasion in the black townships of South Africa. In the recent past, traditional African funerals practices have affected a number of powerful and complex systems that have been interaction in Africa. The three most important being traditional African cultures, modern Western culture and the environment. The study was conducted to establish factors that led to excessive funerals expenditures in some black townships communities of South Africa, in order to create a pastoral response to this phenomenon. The project was done in Ramatlabama village in the North West province and also in Soweto in the province of Gauteng. A qualitative methodological plan was followed allowing exclusive experiences to emerge. Families, adults and young church groups, clergy, Bishop, Social group and a Funeral undertaker , an in-depth qualitative analysis was employed in order to find the real reasons that led to excessive funeral expenditure. The data collected and analyzed revealed that factors such as impressing neighbors, meeting community and family expectation were the reasons for the phenomenon. There were other external factors that contributed indirectly to the practice and such as commercialization and politicization. In order to address this practice that is making the poor more vulnerable, the Shepherding Model of Gerkin’s and Pollard’s Theory of positive deconstruction was explored. It was found that the Clergy needed to be helped to be aware of the fact that excessive funeral expenditure requires a pastoral response with the right attitude and meaningful dialogues with those affected. The pastoral care-giver with adequate knowledge and exposure to life of pastoral care seeker will have a greater advantage to help most if not all families that usually find themselves in this predicament or dilemma. The best way for the church to help the poor families venture into the future, it’s by educating our communities on how not to spend beyond their means. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Practical Theology / unrestricted

This essay explores the way in which priests and church-musicians choose music for different ceremonies such as funerals, sunday service, baptism and weddings. The questions at issue regard how the clerks personal preferences, the Swedish Church’s cultural heritage and the attending community contributes to the musical choice at large. Other complementing questions explore how different rooms affect what is seen as suitable music, and also how the clerks value live music compared to pre-recorded music in the halls of ceremony. The exploration and answering of these questions were done through interviewing both priests and church-musicians. In the analysis of the produced material mainly Bourdieu's concepts of taste, fields, illusio, habitus, cultural-, and educational capital were applied. To further grasp the intricate inner workings of the church-musicians and the priests reasoning when selecting music, such as emphasizing openness, inclusion and musical width, the study also give valuable insights in the significance of how the fields of the clerks interact with the field of the assembly, the cultural heritage of the national church and societal norms as a whole, most notably in regards to the selective struggle between tradition and renewal. The findings in this essay contributes to the academic field with new knowledge of how music is used in religious contexts to mediate theological messages and aesthetics. As such, this essay is more focused on the horizontal, rather than the vertical, aspects of how music is interacted with, thus shaping peoples expectations and perceptions of different rooms and of the church services. These aspects play a pivotal part in keeping the identity of the given community alive, and is therefore an important phenomenon to understand in regards to the Swedish Church.

No Abstract Included / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

[pt] A realidade atual exige dos educadores da fé novos passos em busca de uma renovação catequética, que requer anunciadores convertidos e bem preparados. A Iniciação à Vida Cristã com inspiração catecumenal se apresenta como uma boa proposta para a transmissão da fé no mundo atual. Os presbíteros, enquanto colaboradores do ministério Episcopal, são os primeiros educadores da fé de uma comunidade, sobretudo pela missão que desempenham. A presente pesquisa tem como objeto material a dimensão catequética na formação dos futuros presbíteros. Do ponto de vista formal, nosso objetivo será analisar como tem sido realizado a formação catequética dos seminaristas, principalmente na perspectiva do paradigma da Iniciação à Vida Cristã e a partir da reflexão do Magistério da Igreja, nos documentos publicados a partir do Concílio Vaticano II sobre a formação presbiteral. Assim, o escopo do presente trabalho visa explicitar a importância da catequese no processo formativo dos candidatos ao ministério presbiteral, tendo em vista o desenvolvimento da missão dos futuros presbíteros. Para tanto, abordaremos a realidade na qual o contexto da formação presbiteral se realiza, considerando os desafios que interpelam a missão dos futuros presbíteros, no intuito de estabelecermos uma nova configuração para sua atuação diante do paradigma da catequese a serviço da Iniciação à Vida Cristã: formadora de discípulos missionários em comunidade. / [en] Today s reality demands that educators of the faith take new steps in search of catechetical renewal, which requires converted and well-prepared proclaimers. Initiation into Christian Life with catechumenal inspiration is a good proposal for transmitting the faith in today s world. Priests, as collaborators in the Episcopal ministry, are the first educators of the faith in a community, above all because of the mission they carry out. The material object of this research is the catechetical dimension in the formation of future priests. From a formal point of view, our objective will be to analyze how the catechetical formation of seminarians has been carried out, mainly from the perspective of the paradigm of Initiation into Christian Life and from the reflection of the Magisterium of the Church, in the documents published since the Second Vatican Council on priestly formation. Thus, the scope of this work is to explain the importance of catechesis in the formation process of candidates for priestly ministry, with a view to developing the mission of future priests. To this end, we will address the reality in which the context of priestly formation takes place, considering the challenges that challenge the mission of future priests, in order to establish a new configuration for their performance in the face of the paradigm of catechesis at the service of Initiation into Christian Life: forming missionary disciples in community.

The heart of Pentecostal practice has always been an experience of the Holy Spirit. These experiences are often claimed to have the direct guidance of the Spirit and form the decisions and actions that result in the ongoing of the development of practices and doctrine. It is my contention that the third and fourth so-called waves of the Spirit are not truly waves of the Spirit, neither are they new. They are the rebirth, albeit in a new manner, of three disappointing and tragic movements of past Pentecostal history, namely the (New) Latter Rain, the Shepherding Movement, and the Prosperity Movement. I maintain that these two waves do not follow a solid Pentecostal doctrinal stand of an experience in the Holy Spirit of separability and subsequence, neither do they draw their doctrinal stand from the book of Acts, but rather the Synoptic gospels. Unfortunately, even though Pentecostal scholarship is on the rise, the majority of the prolific writers of these last two waves are extremely eisegetical in regards to their dealing with the Word of God. They claim vision and direction from Heaven, as opposed to an exegesis of the canon of Scripture. I maintain that these two, so called waves of the Spirit are not Heaven sent but man conceived and thus dangerous heresy to the church. `I believe that courage is the most important virtue, the foundation that underlies and gives realty to all other virtues and personal values. Without courage we become conformists. Conformity is not the fibre good and courageous leaders are made of… Do not be frightened by the aloneness that may come with your holding unpopular positions. It is in aloneness that wisdom will visit you and smile upon you'. These are not, as a theologian might be entitled to expect, the words of Elijah or Jeremiah. They are quoted from a speech given in 1999 by Mamphela Ramphele, vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town. Her context was the silence that has so often fallen on African societies once liberation has taken place. It is just such silent acquiescence, she insists, that allow former `heroes of the struggle' to become despots and dictators. Her words are challenging to Pentecostal theologians for at least two reasons. The first and more mundane is that Pentecostalism is most vibrant today in precisely those countries, which can be termed `postcolonial'. The second, and to my mind the most relevant to the movement, is that Pentecostalism was at its beginning a powerful spiritual force because it inherited an ethos of radical difference and because its proponents were unflinching in refusing to be co-opted into any other agenda than the one for which they knew they had been empowered by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In this sense it was a prophetic religion, a religion similar to that of Elijah and Jeremiah. It is my plea then in this presentation that the so-called `postcolonial' countries will not swallow this new error, which has been called the new Pentecostal rhema from Heaven, which stems, as do so many new theological trends from the Western world. The new emerging Pentecostal Charismatic churches, particularly of the Third World need to have the courage not to be conformists, for such is not the fiber good and courageous leaders have. The hermeneutical pneumatology of the Pentecostal tradition has always been questioned. The early Pentecostals did not even bother to develop a theological hermeneutical position of a subsequent experience of the Spirit; they accepted their experience as from God . When they did begin to develop a Pentecostal theology it was often ridiculed as being primarily experiential, thus in the minds of most, devoid of Biblical theology. Fifty years after the outpouring of the Spirit at Azusa Street many Pentecostal scholars began to re-examine the pneumatology of Luke's writing. In the latter part of the 20th Century many Pentecostal scholars came into their own, examining and challenging many of the previously accepted conclusions of theologians, in regards to the Classical Pentecostal doctrinal position . Their position was that there was a separable and subsequent experience of the Spirit following salvation, which was accompanied by the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues. The initial evidence was for a few, and still is for some, questionable evidence. Such a position stood in opposition to those who declared that there was no second experience of the Holy Spirit for any person other than salvation. If those who believed in the `conversion-initiation, which included the baptism in the Holy Spirit' were indeed correct, then everything that Luke talks about in relation to pneumatology in his two-volume work is totally in relation to salvation. This was the theological pneumatological position prior to Classical Pentecostalism. It did and has resulted in many theological challenges. Scholars who take this position do so on the premise that Pentecost is more of a historical situation for the church. However scholars convinced of the Classical Pentecostal position are refusing to accept this position and have and are continuing to develop an exegetical position for a secondary work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life. This is my personal position made vitally real for me since I did not grow up in a Pentecostal church setting, but rather came into the Pentecostal experience in my early 20's. It is my contention that the theological impact of Christ's ascension prior to the public ascension witnessed in Acts 1 has not been fully examined. Few scholars have dealt with the typological fulfillment firstly, of the work of the High Priest as seen completed in the life of Jesus Christ, or secondly, of His fulfillment of the first four feasts which the Jews were commanded to keep. Both of these aspects very clearly enhance and form a clear indication that the classical Pentecostal theology was and is correct in speaking of a separable and subsequent work of the Spirit following a clear salvation experience. I will seek to elucidate this by an examining the historical background of the first two waves of the Spirit, followed by a preview of the work of the Holy Spirit as seen in the canon of Scripture with emphasis on the New Testament. I will follow this by the development of the idea of regeneration in the New Testament. Finally I will examine Lukan writing in regards to the experience known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These chapters will then serve as a base for comparison with the material, which will follow. In the late 20th and early 21st century the Classical Pentecostal doctrine has been challenged by the last two charismatic waves of the Spirit, both of which have spawned a plethora of writings. It is my contention first; that the traditional Pentecostal understanding of the authority of Scripture has been abandoned in that now experience takes precedence over Scripture. Secondly it is clear that these last two waves do not fall within the same parameters as the first two waves in their understanding of a doctrine of separability and subsequence, since they revert to a pre-Classical Pentecostal theological position of only one experience of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, in a day when Pentecostal scholarship is seeking to become acceptable in their exegesis, the authors of these waves are almost totally eisegetical. The question needs to be asked `Have they subtly taken on a title to glean a following?' It is thus my contention that a survey of these waves shows that they have no common ground with the initial two waves of the Spirit. The indication is that they have deliberately chosen a different Biblical basis and thus disqualify themselves from the Pentecostal Charismatic stream. I will seek to elucidate this by examining the historical background of the last two waves of the Spirit, followed by an examination of the Pentecostal hermeneutic and their lack of hermeneutics, as seen so clearly in their writings. This will be done by pointing out the comparisons to the latter two waves of the Spirit both in theory and in the voluminous writing, which are largely based on eisegesis. The stated desire to `have church without making anyone sick' has broached and taken the movements far into left field. Finally, it is my contention that the third and fourth waves of the Spirit are not new at all. They are simply a rebirth of three disappointing and tragic movements in Pentecostal history. Thus I hope to clearly substantiate that the third and fourth wave of the Spirit are not really waves of the Spirit at all. They are not such in terms of their Biblical theological basis, neither are they such exegetically. They are simply the result of those desirous of the moving of the Holy Spirit who have reached back into the past and reintroduced past aspects of renewal, which unfortunately were man centered and resulted later in much havoc among Christians. I will seek to elucidate these facts by an examination of the history and practice of the (New) Latter Rain, which still haunts Saskatchewan, Canada where tragedies still exist, and the Shepherding movement out of Florida, which after a few years was denounced even by the leaders and finally totally disbanded. Then, finally the Prosperity Movement, which rose and fell as an unacceptable, illegitimate deduction of so called truth of the canon. One hopes and prays that the tragedies in lives will not live to haunt the church if Jesus tarries. We do not want the "heroes of spiritual struggles" to become the despots and dictators of the Pentecostal churches in the Third World. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Church History)

Gerard Manley Hopkins produced poetry in the Victorian era which was noted for its originality of syntax and form. The essence underlying a large body of his poetry was his Catholic religion. His early religious poetry utilized nature-based metaphors to express his love of Christ and trace the immanence of God within nature. He borrowed heavily from the aesthetics of Pater and the philosophy of Duns Scotus. The dissertation explores these early influences and assesses their contribution to the formation of a unique religious interpretation of life and the formulation of an aesthetic congruent with this religion. The dissertation dissects early symptoms of religious doubt within his poetry and finally analyses his `Terrible Sonnet' phase in detail to ascertain whether the crisis so often described as occurring during this period was religious or merely reflected a loss of creative ability. / English Studies / MA (English)

This study looks into Malachi’s emphasis on the offering aspect of the cult within Israel’s prophetic heritage. Malachi presents a different attitude toward offerings than his pre-exilic predecessors who spoke harshly against the cult focusing on religion’s ethical and spiritual aspects. The thesis of this study argues that pre-exilic anti-cultic statements do not diminish or reject the cult per se but a corrupted form of it conditioned historically and religiously. Malachi’s post-exilic pro-cultic emphasis presents a different context in which criticism of the cult’s corrupted usage takes place while remaining positive toward the cult itself. The key to understanding properly both anti- and pro-cultic attacks on different aspects of the cult is the covenantal relationship with Yahweh. Malachi’s positive attitude toward offerings balances the anti-cultic prophetic heritage of Israel showing that there was never a rejection of the cult, only misunderstandings and misuses of it. / Old Testament / M. Th. (Old Testament)