Thesis (M.A.)--Abilene Christian University, 1992. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-125).

Recent secularization debates have helped to interpret the changing influence of religion over time and over social life. I argue that Chaves' (1994) conception of secularization, that secularization occurs as a decline in religious authority, is an effective theoretical tool for describing religious change over time. Using GSS data and the example of gender ideology, I attempt to illustrate this concept and argue that this view of secularization, combined with a multidimensional approach to gender, is necessary to more fully explain the changing relationship among religion and gender over time.

No description available.

The secularization theses has over the last decade been a central issue within the sociology of religion. The two classic theses has been criticized for being one-sided and only focus on the change from traditional to modern society. The intention of this study is to evaluate this critique and to discuss what is defendable in the early secularization thesis in our contemporary world.This essay’s primary purpose is to compare the secularization theses Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. I use two analytical models, posing three levels and three categories of secularization, in order to make the comparison explicit. The levels are societal, organization and individual. The categories are descriptive, normative and analytic.As result I have found that there are perspectives of the classical theses of Weber and Durkheim that is defendable in the contemporary world. The critique is valid in some aspects, but not in every.

Thesis (B. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1971. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [64]-65).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Heidelberg, 1914. / "Die staatskirchenrechtlichen Bestimmungen der vor- und frühkonstitutionellen Zeit in ihrem Einfluss auf die Behandlung der Ordensfrage." Includes bibliographical references (p. xii-xiii).

Originally a part of the author's doctoral thesis entitled La desamortización en El Bierzo. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-137).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on September 14, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis explores the problematic nature of theodicy (theological explanations for suffering). It questions what kind of meaning-making might occur in place of theodicy in societies which are undergoing a change in attitude to religious belief and practise. In doing so, it looks to shed light on how the Church might respond to instances of mass suffering (referred to as 'ground-zero' events) and other traumatic experiences in the current social context. Drawing on a practical theological methodology, and employing ethnographic tools of investigation, this thesis includes data collected via interviews (thirty in total) and observation with the Sunday Assembly. This burgeoning global movement is not religiously affiliated, yet it draws on the structures and practises of the Christian Church to the extent that it has been referred to as an 'atheist church' (and, laterally, a 'secular congregation.') Data gathered at communities in London and Edinburgh provides a critical basis for theological reflection on the group's responses to suffering. The key finding of this thesis concerns the Sunday Assembly's adoption of a philosophy of celebration, which, in practise, can lead to the 'passing over' of suffering on both a global and individual scale. In response, this thesis concludes with a reflection on the Church's propensity to also avoid discussion of suffering, and suggests that churches resist this by constructing a 'culture of lament' in which suffering might be acknowledged and addressed. This practise is intended to prevent Christian communities from evading traumatic events, or else reverting to potentially harmful theodicies.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are portrayed in four Swedish textbooks for use in upper secondary school using José Casanova’s theory about the public and the private sphere and Craig Calhoun’s interpretation of Jürgen Habermas theory of the public sphere. The four textbooks examined are all to fit the latest curriculum for upper secondary school education on the subject Religionskunskap 1 (Religious education 1). The research questions for this paper are: (1) how can the depictions of the five world religions in Swedish textbooks be understood analysed with the concept of public and private and (2) how can the presentations be understood using José Casanovas theory of de-privatization. The result of the study showed that the depictions given of the religions differed from religion to religion while being rather consistent throughout the different textbooks. It showed that Christianity and Buddhism were depicted as private while Islam and Judaism are depicted as public. Hinduism on the other hand were harder to decide which category they belonged to since they are depicted as both public and private.