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The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers
to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is
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Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
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Showing 51 to 54 of 54 (0.038 seconds)Spelling suggestions: "subject:"datan"" "subject:"satsa""
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Investigating the prevalence of Satanism in Zambia with particular reference to the Kabwe districtKayuni, Hachintu Joseph 04 1900 (has links)
This study examined the alleged prevalence of Satanism in Zambia, with a particular reference to the Kabwe District during the period 2010-2013. The overall objective was to ascertain the claims and speculations on the alleged prevalence of Satanism in the district of Kabwe.
The claims about the alleged prevalence of Satanism and the satanic scare were found by this study to be a reality in Kabwe, with eighty-eight per cent (88%) of the respondents acknowledging the alleged prevalence of the phenomenon. People’s knowledge of Satanism was mainly through rumours, messages from Churches and the electronic media. Studies on rumours (by Stephen Ellis, Gerrie Ter Haar and Jeffrey Victor) have shown that rumours can be investigated in the search for facts, especially rumours that offer plausible explanations for people’s shared anxieties. The above mentioned scholars argue that with efforts at corroboration, such as by interviewing key informants, the researcher can seek credibility on prevailing rumours by verifying or dismissing mere rumours from true stories.
The assertions from scholars above justified the use of rumours as a methodological tool in this study. From sources of information the study relied on, claims about the alleged prevalence of Satanism in the district were investigated. The study refuted the satanic claims in a number of cases that were analysed, because they were mostly based on ‘pious legends’ hence lacked objective evidence. From the few incidents that suggested the prevalence of Satanism, there were still two basic problems faced in assessing their credibility: the first being the difficulty in determining the reliability of the confessions from informants who in this case either claimed they were ex-Satanists or served on behalf of Satanists. The second problem consisted in what seemed to be the inconsistency in the explanations of motives behind human killings found in the ritual murders. Some explanations did not suggest satanic motives.
One example of refuted claims concerned the two locations within Kabwe district which were highly rumoured to be sites for Satanists, which were found by this study to be Freemasonry Lodges, contrary to what was rumoured.From the findings of this study, it was believed that people joined Satanism either because of the greedy for riches or to avoid poverty. It was also believed that other peoples joined Satanism unconsciously through luring methods used by Satanists.
The study also found the satanic scare to have effects on the lives of people in the district. For example, it caused some people to become more committed Christians in their defence against the alleged satanic forces. Because people had associated riches to Satanism, certain individuals avoided getting rich for fear of being labelled ‘Satanists’. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)
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Exploration of the healing ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC)Tacheche, Nchangfu Florence 12 1900 (has links)
The renewal of interest in religious healing methods in the past few decades, in response to various perspectives of illnesses, is ‘blowing’ through the PCC-one of the reformed churches in Africa. There are two underlying assumptions in this project: the first is that sickness constitutes a major threat to good health and the second is that the ministry of healing in the PCC is not contextual in view of respecting and incorporating the cultural, social, religious beliefs and values of its people in the formation of meaningful healing ministry. The healing ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is lacking in efficacy and essence because it does not make much meaning in the lives of the sick and their relatives.
This project gives an overview of some of the causes of tensions that exist in the
PCC concerning its ministry of healing. It critically analysis, interprets and discusses the
empirical results of 26 (20 laity and six clergy) members of the Musang congregation alongside some theological reflections. The project explored and highlighted the importance of the traditional worldview regarding health, illness, healing and defines healing as the work of God and that it is imperative for the Church to focus on a more meaningful healing ministry that includes physical, spiritual, social and psychological aspects, thus healing needs to be holistic.
Putting together the results of the literature review, the empirical research and the critical and theological reflections, the project suggests and affirms that there are theological, practical and socio-cultural reasons for the PCC to rethink, reformulate and reshape its healing ministry in the light of Jesus’ healing ministry. The project points out the theological, practical and cultural basis for a more meaningful ministry of healing within the PCC.
These results reveal that the PCC has no choice but to embrace this emerging biblical healing ministry if it truly wants to remain faithful and in obedience to Jesus’ three but inseparable ministries of preaching, teaching and healing.
Finally, the project proposes an integrated healing service as one of the ways towards a more practical and meaningful ministry of healing in the PCC at home and in the diaspora. Some objective comments and recommendations are also made. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)
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Blood beliefs in early modern EuropeMatteoni, Francesca January 2010 (has links)
This thesis focuses on the significance of blood and the perception of the body in both learned and popular culture in order to investigate problems of identity and social exclusion in early modern Europe. Starting from the view of blood as a liminal matter, manifesting fertile, positive aspects in conjunction with dangerous, negative ones, I show how it was believed to attract supernatural forces within the natural world. It could empower or pollute, restore health or waste corporeal and spiritual existence. While this theme has been studied in a medieval religious context and by anthropologists, its relevance during the early modern period has not been explored. I argue that, considering the impact of the Reformation on people’s mentalities, studying the way in which ideas regarding blood and the body changed from late medieval times to the eighteenth century can provide new insights about patterns of social and religious tensions, such as the witch-trials and persecutions. In this regard the thesis engages with anthropological theories, comparing the dialectic between blood and body with that between identity and society, demonstrating that they both spread from the conflict of life with death, leading to the social embodiment or to the rejection of an individual. A comparative approach is also employed to analyze blood symbolism in Protestant and Catholic countries, and to discuss how beliefs were influenced by both cultural similarities and religious differences. Combining historical sources, such as witches’ confessions, with appropriate examples from anthropology I also examine a corpus of popular ideas, which resisted to theological and learned notions or slowly merged with them. Blood had different meanings for different sections of society, embodying both the physical struggle for life and the spiritual value of the Christian soul. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 develop the dualism of the fluid in late medieval and early modern ritual murder accusations against Jews, European witchcraft and supernatural beliefs and in the medical and philosophical knowledge, while chapters 5 and 6 focus on blood themes in Protestant England and in Counter-Reformation Italy. Through the examination of blood in these contexts I hope to demonstrate that contrasting feelings, fears and beliefs related to dangerous or extraordinary individuals, such as Jews, witches, and Catholic saints, but also superhuman beings such as fairies, vampires and werewolves, were rooted in the perception of the body as an unstable substance, that was at the base of ethnic, religious and gender stereotypes.
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...And Reconcile Us With Evil : A Critical Investigation of the Imagery of Good and Evil in Western Religion, Film and PoliticsGellrich, Arne L January 2016 (has links)
With an eye on the current social and political situation in Europe, and with regards to the so-termed refugee crisis, this study aims to map the discourse on assumed good and evil shared among Western cultures, as represented by Sweden, Germany and the United States. The thesis takes its point of departure from essayistic reflections of the philosophical tradition and theological and religious analytical positions respectively. These are then followed by two investigative main chapters, designed along the lines of Norman Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA). The first of these chapters studies the narratives of good and evil employed in the mainstream cinema of the past ten years in the mentioned countries. The second analysis is made up of three case studies, in turn looking at similar narratives in the campaigns of the two main competitors in the 2016 presidential race, a German protest movement against free trade agreements, and the everyday political communication of Swedish Facebook users. In a final chapter, findings from all four preceding chapters are brought together in an attempt to sketch an image of the congruences and discrepancies of narratives on good and evil in the overall discursive field. The thesis finds that the discursive field shared by the three investigated societies is largely homogenous, with certain imagery permeating all analysed orders of discourse. Many of the reoccurring images are however likely rooted in the human psyche and therefore less dependent on discourse practice. Furthermore, certain principles are agreed upon in theory while not reproduced in social practice. Themes assigned to either good or evil often seem to take on secondary functions next to assumed fixed identities of in- and out-groups. Being a qualitative study, this thesis aims at giving an overview and delivering a base for further investigations rather than providing definitive answers.
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