Dissertations / Theses: 'Secular studies'

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Ravid, Chagit. "Bible studies in a secular school : a case study." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.343939.

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This study describesB ible studies in one autonomousju nior high school (pupils aged 13 to 15) through an examination of the teaching/learning process, pupil achievement and the implementation of the Bible curriculum. Though Bible teaching in Israel has been the object of intensive discussion, the influence of teaching methods on pupils' attitudes and achievements has not, to date, been examined. The study reviews the changes in curriculum development in Israel, including the trend to autonomous schools and the way Bible studies have been taught, from before the establishment of the State of Israel and in the first three formative decades of statehood. The evolution of the various curricula are described, and the objectives of Bible teaching as they adapted to a changing student population and the different types of schools are discussed. The research questions which drove this study deal with the environment of Bible instruction, the statuso f instruction, pupils' achievementsin Bible studies and the relations betweent he conditions of instruction, the characteristicso f the teaching process and the learning products. The starting point of the study was the desire for change that stemmed from the unhappiness of pupils, teachers and external bodies (the educational authorities, parents, supervisors) with the level of Bible studies in one school. The study records events which took place when introducing change in modes of Bible instruction in ninth grade classes and teaching some classes frontally, some through CRA (Change, Reinforcement, Advancement) and some through the inquiry mode. The study was conducted using naturalistic research methods (observations and interviews) combined with quantitative instruments (tests and attitude questionnaires) that were statistically analysed. A nation-wide achievement test was given to all twelve classes studied, and the scores of pupils in the inquiry mode were found to be consistently higher than those of pupils in the other modes of instruction. The attitude of CRA pupils was more positive perhaps becausele arning was made easier for them by providing gradedt asks on three levels. In general, pupils expressed'a very negative attitude toward learning skills needed for Bible studies, and they felt that they were more beneficial than enjoyable. The teachers were generally optimistic in their assessment of the benefit of the learning strategies in the pupils' eyes, and in their beliefs on how much pupils enjoyed the strategies. The large gap that was found between pupils' reports and teachers' estimates shows that the teachers do not really know how their pupils feel about Bible studies. The major conclusion of the research is that the three modes of instruction should be combined in Bible teaching, not only for the sake of diversity but also because together they address the full range of skills needed by pupils studying the Bible. No single mode of instruction was shown to be the best. Teachers suggested that some topics are better taught in the inquiry or CRA modes and others are more suited to the frontal mode. It is hoped that the combination of modes will provide diversity for teachers and pupils alike, and make Bible studies more creative and motivating.

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Jaffer, Sadaf. "Ismat Chughtai, Progressive Literature and Formations of the Indo-Muslim Secular, 1911-1991." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:23845441.

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This dissertation examines the life, work, and contexts of noted Urdu writer and Indian cultural critic Ismat Chughtai (1911-1991). By engaging in readings of Chughtai’s texts and contexts, this dissertation presents the first study of its kind, examining Indian secular thought through the lens of an Urdu literary figure. As such, this dissertation offers new perspectives on intersections between popular culture and political and religious thought in modern India through the lens of a celebrated literary figure whose legacy continues to be invoked. I argue that, at its core, Chughtai’s critique of society hinged upon the equality (barābarī) of all Indians. The primacy of “humanity” (insāniyat) over other identities was the keystone of her formation of the secular, and has roots in a tradition that can be termed Islamicate humanism. In the first chapter, “Sacred Duty: Ismat Chughtai’s Cosmopolitan Justice between Islam and the Secular,” I argue that, by rejecting the inferior status of women within Muslim legal codes, Chughtai pursued what she saw as moral equality to a more radical degree than the postcolonial Indian state, which enshrined separate codes of personal law based on religious community. Ultimately, the secular ideals of equality, autonomy and human dignity were the mainstays of her thought, without regard to whether these were pursued through “Islamic” means. In the next chapter, “The Personal is Political: Economic and Sexual Progress in Modern India,” I argue that Chughtai, unlike other members of the Progressive Writers’ Movement, emphasized the link between hierarchical economic injustice and limitations on autonomous sexual choice. In the third chapter, “Reform, Education, and Woman as Subject,” I argue that in her writing, particularly the novel Ṭeṛhī Lakīr, Chughtai deployed narratives of education as foundational to the formation of an emancipated girl, one who liberates herself by rejecting the “old rules” (purānī qānūn). The fourth chapter, “The Many Lives of Urdu: Language, Progressive Literature and Nostalgia,” explores the fate of the Urdu language and Chughtai’s legacy in independent India. Ultimately, this project calls into question assumptions regarding what types of textual and human subjects are considered representatives of “Indo-Muslim Culture” in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

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Leonard, Scott Arthur. "Teaching the "secular scriptures" : an institutional history of English studies 1860-1910 /." The Ohio State University, 1992. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487778663287782.

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Lebental, Dana M. "Women Principals of Jewish Secular High Schools in Israel| Access and Progress." Thesis, Loyola Marymount University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3593210.

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This quantitative investigation focused on women high school principals at Jewish secular schools throughout Israel. Despite challenges, Israeli women have succeeded in obtaining over half of the principal positions at Jewish secular high schools, but the degree to which there is equal gender access to leadership roles in the school system remains unclear. This study examined whether there was clustering of women in high school principal positions in certain geographical areas, the process by which these women obtained principal positions, what obstacles the women overcame, and an analysis if respondents differed by district in terms of their career paths, career breaks, and military experiences. This study showed that although women are in principal positions in equal or greater numbers as men depending on the region, women had a different path than men to obtain this role. The key findings in this research were that 89.5% of women principals were able to return at the same level prior to taking a career break and that 31.8% of female principals had male mentors.

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Thompson, Mary-Anne Carey. "Future tense : an analysis of science fiction as secular apocalyptic literature." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15880.

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Bibliography: leaves 208-219. Religious apocalyptic literature appears to have been written in response to a situation of crisis in which the believers found themselves. It is the catalyst which provided the energy which the society needed in order to withstand that crisis, and it did this by radically inverting the dimensions which make up a worldview, that is the dimensions of time and space, and the classification of groups, so that it reflects the possibility of a new order, a new heaven and a new earth. Since the nineteenth century, the Western world has seen itself in a constant state of crisis in terms of the rapid secularisation, industrialisation and urbanisation, and it would seem that the notion of an apocalypse is still relevant. But religious visions of the apocalypse do not seem to have relevance to the largely secular society they would have been addressing. Something new, immediate and drastic was needed, which would supply the society with the energy to withstand the crisis of a secular world. Science fiction as a literary genre arose in the late nineteenth century, and it would seem as if the new social situation generated a new symbolic vocabulary for ancient apocalyptic themes, in other words, science fiction appeared as an imaginative literary genre of mythic, apocalyptic dimensions to address this situation. In the same way as religious visions of the apocalypse, science fiction inverts the components of a worldview so that a new social order, a new heaven and a new earth are seen as possible. In order to explore this theme, science fiction is examined in the light of radical inversion of accepted worldviews, and the genre is divided into three historical periods in order to understand the conditions under which it was written, as well as the content of the material involved. These periods are: 1. Apocalypses of Expectation and Hope. The late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century; the beginnings of the genre in the crisis of rapid industrialisation, secularisation and urbanisation, using the works of Jules Verne and H G Wells. 2. Apocalypses of Irony and Despair. The nineteen twenties to the end of the Second World War; the crises of the two World Wars on a complacent world, using the works of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. 3. Apocalypses of Destruction and Redemption. The nineteen fifties to the present; the crisis of nuclear power and thinking machines, using the works of Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov. Also examined are the quasi-religious nature of science fiction, apocalypse as a cleansing agent of the universe, and the myths of noble survivors of post-apocalyptic literature and films. In the light of the above, it can be understood why science fiction can be seen as the functional equivalent to religious apocalyptic myth, but relevant to the largely secular Western world of the twentieth century.

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Brown, Caitlin Elizabeth. "Sources for the reevaluation of George Frederick Root's career| The autobiography & a secular cantata." Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1543536.

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Music scholarship has failed to fully assess the impact of the American composer George Frederick Root beyond his work in the church, classroom, and home. Most famous for composing "The Battle Cry of Freedom" and acting as music education pioneer Lowell Mason's associate, Root's other contributions to American music are often overlooked, particularly his body of secular cantatas for amateur choirs. This paper examines the commonly relayed biography of Root, Root's place in American historiography, and the advantages of examining his own autobiography. Finally, this paper presents a case study of The Haymakers and its possible place in future studies of Root. By better examining his career, we see that George Frederick Root was a typical nineteenth-century American man and that he was also a composer notable for his ability to serve the musical needs of his audience. Root pioneered large-scale choral works targeted at amateur performers with his secular cantatas and, consequently, served a wider swath of American performers and listeners.

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Shehabuddin, Sarah Tasnim. "Going beyond Conflict: Secular Feminists, Islamists, and Gender Policy Reform." Thesis, Harvard University, 2012. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10607.

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Today, most Muslim-majority countries must contend with two realities: Islamists’ increasing access to political participation on the one hand and domestic and international pressures for women’s rights on the other. This dissertation seeks to identify the conditions necessary for resolving tensions between Islamist demands for political inclusion and secular feminists’ demands for the institutionalization of women’s rights in Muslim-majority countries. Attempts at gender reform have not only been rare, but have also usually excluded either secular feminists or Islamists due to state actors’ inability or unwillingness to resolve conflict between them. In some contexts, however, power holders have initiated inclusive consultative arrangements, mechanisms (commissions, committees, and mediation) that enable both secular feminists and Islamists to participate in gender policy-making processes, in spite of divergent ideological preferences, and thereby generated more broadly supported reforms. This dissertation argues that attempts at conflict resolution between secular feminists and Islamists are more likely to arise in the context of an autonomous state where the power holder needs the support of both groups. Such a state has both the flexibility and willingness to include both Islamists and secular feminists in the policy-making process. In states that do not enjoy autonomy from non-state actors, the state is less likely to have the flexibility to adopt policy-making processes that do not serve the politicized interests of dominant actors. I build this argument by conducting a comparative historical analysis of state development and relations among power holders, secular feminists, and Islamists, as well as drawing on interviews with politicians, bureaucrats, scholars, and activists in Morocco and Bangladesh. In both of these countries, secular feminists and Islamists have had antagonistic relations and ideological differences, but both groups participated in gender policy reform in Morocco, whereas in Bangladesh, multiple attempts at gender policy-making have excluded one group or the other. I then assess the extent to which an argument based on state autonomy and political alliances explains variation in the inclusiveness of gender policy-making processes in four other Muslim-majority countries (Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Pakistan). Government

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Vvon, Benecke Gerda. "Authenticity and the transformation of the Camino : an analysis of secular pilgrimage in contemporary academic literature." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20133.

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This thesis is an analysis and critique of contemporary research on secular pilgrimage. A trend of dedifferentiation between religious pilgrimage, secular pilgrimage and tourism is identified whereby contemporary academic literature is arguing for a broadening of the definition of pilgrimage to incorporate many disparate forms of travel and the multiple motivations that initiate these journeys. In this this thesis, I acknowledge and elaborate on the development that has occurred by which pilgrimage has expanded and fragmented into various forms, termed the "turn inward". What I am disagreeing with and critiquing is the paradigm shift towards dedifferentiation in contemporary academic research on secular pilgrimage. I use Jonathan Z. Smith to critique the comparativism evident in contemporary pilgrimage literature that focuses on similarities and neglects difference. In this thesis, I argue for a differentiation between religious pilgrimage, secular pilgrimage and tourism, as well as the validity of the concept secular pilgrimage, by looking at the foundational differences between the various phenomena. In order to support this argument, I explore various foundational differences between medieval religious pilgrimage and contemporary secular pilgrimage, while using theorists José Casanova and Charles Taylor and their theories of secularisation in order to bring in a philosophical account of meaning and access deep ontological differences in order to support my argument for the distinction between religious pilgrimage, secular pilgrimage and tourism. In order to focus the study, I use the Camino to Santiago as case study because of its Christian medieval origins as well as its current popularity amongst secular pilgrims.

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Krutzsch, Brett. "Martyrdom and American Gay History: Secular Advocacy, Christian Ideas, and Gay Assimilation." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/319669.

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Religion Ph.D. "Martyrdom and American Gay History: Secular Advocacy, Christian Ideas, and Gay Assimilation" is an analysis of gay martyr discourses from the 1970s through 2014. In particular, the dissertation examines the archives, narrative representations, memorials, and media depictions of Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, Tyler Clementi, and AIDS. The project's primary focus is to investigate the role of religious rhetoric in facilitating American gay assimilation. Discourses of gay martyrdom reveal that secular gay advocates habitually employed Protestant Christian ideas in order to present gay Americans as similar to the dominant culture of straight Christians, a strategy that became increasingly prevalent by the end of the twentieth century after gays were blamed for spreading a national plague through sexual licentiousness. In turn, discourses of gay martyrdom expose the recurrence of Christian ideas in promoting, while concurrently foreclosing, the parameters of gay social inclusion. "Martyrdom and American Gay History" also questions the politics of martyrdom and analyzes why some deaths have been mourned as national tragedies. Milk, Shepard, and Clementi, the three most commonly-invoked gay martyrs, represent a narrow fraction of gay Americans that only includes white, middle-class, gay men. The dissertation demonstrates that discourses of gay martyrdom have promoted assimilation, not diverse sexual freedoms or capacious possibilities for queer lives. Ultimately, Protestant Christian dominance in the United States has been obfuscated whenever Christianity has been depicted primarily as an antigay monolith. Discourses of gay martyrdom reveal the role of Protestant Christian dominance in secular gay advocacy, and the ways in which Christian ideas have shaped and foreclosed possibilities for acceptable gay American citizens. Temple University--Theses

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Lebental, Dana Michelle. "Women Principals of Jewish Secular High Schools in Israel: Access and Progress." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2013. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/222.

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This quantitative investigation focused on women high school principals at Jewish secular schools throughout Israel. Despite challenges, Israeli women have succeeded in obtaining over half of the principal positions at Jewish secular high schools, but the degree to which there is equal gender access to leadership roles in the school system remains unclear. This study examined whether there was clustering of women in high school principal positions in certain geographical areas, the process by which these women obtained principal positions, what obstacles the women overcame, and an analysis if respondents differed by district in terms of their career paths, career breaks, and military experiences. This study showed that although women are in principal positions in equal or greater numbers as men depending on the region, women had a different path than men to obtain this role. The key findings in this research were that 89.5% of women principals were able to return at the same level prior to taking a career break and that 31.8% of female principals had male mentors.

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Fields, Lauren Ann. "Out of the Best Books: Mormon Assimilation and Exceptionalism Through Secular Reading." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2016. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5973.

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This thesis seeks to explore the relationship between Mormon assimilation, exceptionalism, and their endeavors in secular reading by analyzing Out of the Best Books (OOBB), a 1964–71 five-volume reading guide and reading program on secular reading established by the Mormon Church for its women’s organization, the Relief Society. Examining the approaches to secular literature in the OOBB program suggests that Mormons can respond to their competing desires to separate and assimilate by making efforts that fulfill both aspirations simultaneously rather than moving exclusively in one direction. Yet OOBB’s efforts to achieve both objectives did not amount to an entirely seamless navigation of this paradox. The program’s attempts to incorporate texts that might challenge Mormon notions of morality as well as their efforts to introduce world literature and fully address their female audience raised additional tensions particularly relevant to contemporary Mormonism, suggesting the complexity of Mormons navigating this identity paradox both within the context of the OOBB program and today. Furthermore, this examination of OOBB offers a venture at fleshing out the history of Mormon reading, confirming Mormons’ relationship to literature as central to their conception and expression of identity and situating Mormon reading endeavors in the broader context of American reading practices.

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Brugh, Christopher Scott. "Theravāda “Missionary Activity”: Exploring the Secular Features of Socio-Politics and Ethics." TopSCHOLAR®, 2019. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/3119.

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The purpose of this thesis is to comprehensively explore Theravāda missionary activity. The philological, textual, theoretical, and ethnographic methods used to investigate the historical, sociopolitical, religious, and ethical aspects of early Theravāda, the U.S. Vipassanā (Insight) meditation movement, and modern Burmese Theravāda revealed nuanced meanings in the descriptions of these adherents’ endeavors with respect to proselytizing, converting, and the concept of missionary religions. By exploring the secular features that contributed to their religious appearances, a more developed contextualization of Theravāda “activity” reshapes understandings of the larger concept of missionary religions. I argue that what has been maintained in the establishment of early Theravāda, and continuance of Theravāda thereafter, is the preservation of a secular activity with respect to resolving diverse sociopolitical and ethical tensions through religious articulations and practices of tolerance and egalitarianism. In brief, the first chapter is a philological study on the Pāli word “desetha” or “preach.” The word desetha, and thus its meaning, is traced to its Prākritic form—a contemporaneous language more likely spoken by Gotama Buddha—to posit a more accurate translation for this word. Next, a theoretical examination into early Theravāda’s sociopolitical, ethical, and religious environment demonstrates the larger secular, rather than religious, features that contributed to this ancient movement’s emergence. A contextual analysis comparing the emergence and establishment of the “secular” U.S. Vipassanā (Insight) meditation movement to that of early Theravāda follows, in order to explore how the former aligns with Theravāda missionizing. Lastly, an ethnographic study on Burmese Buddhist monastics is presented. In relation to missionary activity, the Abhidhamma, a Buddhist doctrinal system, not only provides Burmese Buddhist monastics with a system of applied ethics that shapes how they interact with Buddhists and non-Buddhists in America, but also helps to explain the larger concern of viewing such activity as strictly “religious.”

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Lanman, Jonathan Andrew. "A secular mind : towards a cognitive anthropology of atheism." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:99ae030b-5f3a-4863-abf2-2f63eb8b4150.

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This thesis presents descriptive and explanatory accounts of both non-theism, the lack of belief in the existence of supernatural agents, and strong atheism, the moral opposition to such beliefs on the grounds that they are both harmful and signs of weak character. Based on my fieldwork with non-theist groups and individuals in the United States, United Kingdom, and Denmark, an online survey of over 3,000 non-theists from over 50 countries, and theories from both the social and cognitive sciences, I offer a new account of why nations with low economic and normative threats produce high levels of non-theism. This account is offered in place of the common explanation that religious beliefs provide comfort in threatening circumstances, which I show to be both anthropologically and psychologically problematic. My account centres on the role of threats, both existential and normative, in increasing commitment to ingroup ideologies, many of which are religious, and the important role of witnessing displays of commitment to religious beliefs in producing such beliefs in each new generation. In environments with low levels of personal and normative threat, commitment to religious ideologies decreases, extrinsic reasons for religious participation decrease, and superstitious actions decrease. Given the human tendency to believe the communications of others to the extent that they are backed up by action, such a decrease in displays of commitment to religious beliefs leads to increased non-theism in the span of a generation. In relation to strong atheism, I document a correlation, both geographical and chronological, between strong atheism and the presence of religious beliefs and demands in the public sphere. I then offer an explanation of this correlation based on the effects of threats against a modern normative order characterized by philosopher Charles Taylor as a system of mutual benefit and individual liberty.

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Adams, Gregory L. "LDS, Catholic and Secular Perspectives on Development in the Dominican Republic." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 1994. http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/u?/MTAF,3890.

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Truelsen, Kris R. "“The Great Speckled Bird”- Early Country Music and the Popularization of Non-Secular Song." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2547.

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Perhaps no melody in the country music canon has been as widely recognized and borrowed from as that of the song “The Great Speckled Bird.” This significant song has become resonant and representative of both country music culture and religious culture of the Protestant South. Through this historiographical study, I have traced the influences that helped shape “The Great Speckled Bird” and in so doing have illustrated distinct movements that led to popularizing the non-secular song through commercial country music. The composer’s use of sentimentality, neo- traditionalism, and religious ideas made it appealing to a rural southern culture struggling with the social, racial, and economic changes of the early twentieth century. As I develop and explore the diverse influences that helped to shape “The Great Speckled Bird,” I will illustrate the interconnectedness of country music culture and the wider popular and religious cultures of the white Protestant South.

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Pomeroy, Hilary Susan. "An edition and study of the secular ballads in the Sephardic ballad notebook of Halia Isaac Cohen." Thesis, University of London, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.368887.

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Way, Patricia Anne. "Troubling Secular Assumptions: What 'Early' Feminist Resistance Can Tell Us about Globalization, Religion, and Secularism." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2013. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/214780.

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Religion Ph.D. This project uses the archive at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international Quaker peace and social justice organization headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, in order to shed light on the globalization resistance labor of the Nationwide Women's Program (NWP) and its transnational networks. The NWP was an internal program at the AFSC, initiated by women staff and committee members who challenged the practices of gender discrimination within the organization and initiated external AFSC programs that served women's unique needs in peace and social justice initiatives. By focusing primarily on the serial inserts of the group's newsletter from 1978 to 1988, entitled Women and Global Corporations: Work, Roles, Resistance, this project draws attention to the dense networks of transnational communication and resistance against global economic restructuring during this time. It uses and challenges social movement scholarship by suggesting that the analytical frameworks of transnational advocacy networks and social movement mobilization more accurately capture the antiglobalization activity that took place several decades prior to when it is conventionally identified in 1999. The project highlights the NWP's social movement brokerage and the embodied social movement activities of the activists, scholars, and laborers in its orbit. These social movement activities included boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, labor organizing, and a plethora of other on-the-ground activities and discursive practices against global corporations and the institutions that supported them. An investigation into the sources of the NWP's knowledge production in brokering this movement reveals both Quaker and feminist influences that call into question the conventionally accepted binary between religion and secularity in the Western imaginary. The presence of Quaker and feminist influences on the NWP's understandings of globalization provides the opportunity for thinking through at least two possibilities: how a tacit Protestant secularism within the organization contributed to its own erasure, and how contemporary globalization narratives are infused with a Protestant secularism that insidiously frames globalization resistance as retrograde and fuels a universalizing (and therefore exclusionary) notion of progress and unsustainable growth. Temple University--Theses

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Jonasson, Elin. "”Min första mil – en runda i regn med stort lyckorus efteråt” : En kvalitativ studie med syftet att undersöka begreppet ”sekulär helighet” i tre svenska träningsbloggar." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-385341.

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Exercising to maintain a healthy lifestyle is significant to our modern society, and more and more aids such as blogs on the internet dedicated to training are there to help us. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze three Swedish female bloggers all of them dedicated to training and health, with the aim to find the secular sacred among their descriptions, in relation to Kim Knott and her theory of the secular sacred. The analysis was based on twelve blog posts, categorized after exercising, workouts or health, with the intention to answer the questions “How is the concept of exercise and health described in the selected blogs?”, and“How could these descriptions be understood according to Kim Knott’s theory of secular sacred, based on three categories: sacred, profane and unidentifiable?”. Based on an abductive method the blog posts were analyzed with a qualitative text analyzing approach. Using Knott’s theory, I categorized the posts in to three groups: sacred, profane and unidentifiable. The result showed that many of the posts could be categorized as sacred due to its content. Therefore, I concluded that it was possible to find content that could be seen as sacred based on Knott’s reasoning, which indicates that sacredness is not only placed within the religious context, but can also be found in the secular.

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Suteu, C. A., Catherine M. Batt, and I. Zananiri. "New developments in archaeomagnetic dating for Romania - A progress report on recent directional studies." Elsevier, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4668.

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no This project seeks to address the lack of geomagnetic field data for the territory of Romania by sampling and analysing burnt archaeological features and sediments. The aim of this paper is to present the initial directional results and some magnetic mineralogical determinations from five features sampled during the first field season. Representative examples of directional and magnetic mineralogical analyses are presented, and dates are obtained using the REN-DATE software [Lanos, P., Kovacheva, M., Chauvin, A., 1999. Archaeomagnetism, methodology and applications: implementation and practice of the archaeomagnetic method in France and Bulgaria. Journal of European Archaeology, 2, 365¿392] and the published moving window averaged data from Hungary [Ma´rton, P., 2003. Recent achievements in archaeomagnetism in Hungary. Geophysical Journal International 153(3), 675¿690]. A comparison is made of the data obtained in this study with the published directional data from Bulgaria, Hungary and Ukraine.

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Nkalubo, Arthur E. "Contemplating The Didactics Of Religion In A Post-Secular Classroom In Sweden. An Analysis." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-46143.

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Despite Sweden being described as the world’s most secularised country in the world, there is belief that religion is expected to play a lesser role in public life especially amongst peoples’ lives regardless of modernisation and industrialisation. At the same time, in a post-secular Sweden, there is anticipation of the rise in private religiousness and increased religion due to factors like migration among others. Post-secular religiousness has also had an impact on religious education in Sweden especially regarding didactics in secondary schools. This study was specifically aimed at analysing how secondary school RE teachers are adapting to teaching religion in Sweden. Likewise, the study was aimed at analysing, how RE teachers in secondary schools understand the term post-secular religiousness in school. To accomplish this research, the study used only qualitative research methods which helped me analyse the impact of post secular religiousness on the didactics of religious education. The study used observations and interviews limited to secondary school RE teachers where the data gave me different kinds of results and conclusions regarding the research. The results from the study and the empirical analysis revealed that religion was about creating understanding for all religions and to achieve this, there is need to ensure an open environment where everyone can freely express themselves. Based on the findings of my study, post-secular religiousness has also been understood by RE teachers to mean increased private religiousness despite religion continuing to play a major role in public and likewise in school. In conclusion, the research shows that RE teachers have adapted in their work in a post-secular classroom by adopting different methods to teach religion depending on circumstances byusing their intercultural competences. Future research can try and explore the meaning of both post-secularism and didactics specifically in a classroom context in Sweden. Trots att Sverige beskrivs som världens mest sekulariserade land i världen, finns det, tro på att religion förväntas att spela en mindre roll i det offentliga livet särskilt, bland människors liv oavsett modernisering och industrialisering. Samtidigt finns det i ett postsekulärt Sverige, en förväntan på ökad privat religiositet och ökad religion på grund av bland annat migration. Postsekulär religiositet har också haft en inverkan på religionsundervisning i Sverige, särskilt vad gäller didaktik i gymnasieskolan. Studien syftar specifikt till att analysera hur gymnasielärare har anpassat sig till religionsundervisning i Sverige och även analysera hur religionslärare i gymnasieskolor förstår begreppet postsekulär religiositet. För att analysera postsekulärt religiositets inflytande på gymnasieskolor använde jag i studien kvalitativa forskningsmetoder som hjälpte mig att analysera postsekulärt religiösitetsinflytande på religionsundervisnings didaktiken. I studien, användes jag observationer och intervjuer som begränsades till religionslärare från olika gymnasieskolor vilket gav mig olika typer av resultat och slutsatser. Resultaten från studien och den empiriska analysen avslöjade att religionsundervisning för religionslärare handlade om, att skapa förståelse för alla religioner och för att uppnå detta är det nödvändigt att säkerställa en öppen miljö där alla kan fritt uttrycka sig. Studien visar att den postsekulära religiositeten också förståtts av religionslärare att religion fortfarande spelar en viktig roll i allmänhet samt på skolan men i form av privat religiositet. Sammanfattningsvis, visar forskningen att religionslärare har anpassat sig i sitt arbete i ett sekulärt klassrum genom att använda olika metoder för att undervisa religion beroende på omständigheter med hjälp av sina inter-kulturella kompetenser. Framtida forskning kan försöka utforska betydelsen av både post-sekulärism och didaktik, särskilt i ett svenskt sammanhang i klassrummet.

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Nehard, Erik. "Sjal, en kvinnas val : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om fyra muslimska kvinnors egna erfarenheter om hur det är att leva med sjal i Stockholm." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-41532.

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This study is about what it is like to live in Stockholm with a shawl based on Muslim women's own experiences and perspectives. In this study I interviewed four Muslim women wearing shawls of different ages and backgrounds that live in Stockholm. With the help of these qualitative interviews, the researcher has been able to analyse and discuss their responses to get a view on how they feel about living in Stockholm wearing a shawl. The aim of the study was to get answers to these two questions: How does the respondent’s choice of wearing a shawl affect their way of living in Stockholm? How do the respondents perceive the received treatment from others at their workplace and in public? The respondents respond to how the choice of wearing a shawl has affected their way of living in Stockholm and how they feel that people meet them at work and in public on their free time. This study’s respondents do not represent all Muslim women with shawls in Stockholm. But based on their answers, it is still possible to get a picture of what it is like to live as a Muslim woman with a shawl in Stockholm. The respondents explained how they felt that people had prejudices about them based on what they looked like. They feel that there are different prejudices about both the shawl and Islam, which they considered to be a factor in how they were dealt with by different people in the society. The prejudices can vary from that the shawl is not their own choice to the shawl is being seen as a religious symbol and linked to negative incidents in which Islam is involved. Wearing a shawl in Stockholm can be a challenge as the shawl stands out and women with the shawl can be seen as different

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Orton, Chad M. "Saints in the Secular City: A History of the Los Angeles Stake." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 1989. http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/u?/MTNZ,4321.

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Bhattacharjee, Shuhita. "The ‘crisis’ cornucopia: anxieties of religion and ‘secularism’ in Victorian fiction of colony and gender, 1880-1900." Diss., University of Iowa, 2015. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6370.

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My thesis problematizes the simplistically and widely accepted idea of a Victorian ‘crisis of faith’ or religious ‘decline.’ Most historical and critical narratives of nineteenth-century Britain portray the Victorian Age as a period marked by a crisis of faith and a gradual secularization through (Darwinian) scientific developments. My work questions this by examining the late-Victorian novels of colonial India and the British New Woman novels. My first chapter deals with Victorian popular fiction that presents the invasion of Victorian London by colonial idols. The idols, overdetermined as both Hindu and Theosophist in inspiration, force the British legal system to recognize the limits of its own materialist perceptions of reality, so that it finally arrives at a deeper understanding of spirituality. My second chapter deals with Victorian New Woman novels where I study how the British New Woman as a literary figure, despite apparent unbelief and disempowerment, embodies a deep-seated religious power that can be assumed only by a woman and that helps challenge the assumption of declining faith. My final chapter examines the shift of scene to India, where once again the English men and women inadvertently express their fears of British secularization in the context of their encounter with Oriental faiths, but ultimately arrive at a richer appreciation of the religious ‘impossible’ through this encounter with colonial ‘otherness.’

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Moss, John. "Storming the Castle: Non-Secular Subversion of the Pas D'Armes in The Castle of Perseverance." VCU Scholars Compass, 2008. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1600.

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It is important to remember that the categories of medieval performance were established far removed from their period in history. As a genre, the morality play includes a wide diversity of time, geography, content and performance styles. Such disparities have made it difficult to develop a comprehensive definition, without which comparisons between works cannot be consistent. As scholarship continues to explore these works in context of their performance, it becomes increasingly important to identify which performance styles best inform their production. In examining The Castle of Perseverance within the parameters of pas d’armes, new meanings can be drawn from its text. Instead of simply incorporating the conventions of tournament staging, the play exposes the faults of the secular societies they were intended to promote. Currently it is impossible to determine definitely that The Castle of Perseverance was intended to be a subversion of the pas d’armes. There is no identified author or even record of a single performance in medieval times. Yet the circumstantial evidence within the text supports the theory of subversion. Further research is still needed on the performance of The Castle of Perseverance within the appropriate historical context in order to better understand its place within the larger canon of medieval drama.

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Porchak, Aynsley. "“If I Could Only Win Your Love”: Lyrical Analysis of the Sacred and Secular Songs of the Louvin Brothers." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3687.

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In this thesis, I demonstrate how analysis through literary criticism can provide a commentary on Appalachian song. While literary analysis of both sacred and secular song lyrics is an approach that is largely overlooked in this region’s traditional music, it nonetheless provides insightful perspective on the art form itself. As I argue, one particular duo of Appalachian musicians, the Louvin Brothers, are uniquely suited to this inquiry. I propose that themes that are found in many of the Louvin Brothers’ songs, such as love, acceptance, and rejection, create a bridge between the historically documented theoretical gap between bluegrass and country music’s sacred and secular songs. I document how the Louvins successfully navigated these traditionally separate subgenres using these common subjects while offering a commentary on musical history, their own upbringing, and religion.

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Altgård, Sara. "I am super jealous of all the little girls who get to see themselves be the hero of Star Wars : en studie om fandom och sekulär helighet." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-296243.

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Finding something sacred in secular society is a relatively new field of religious studies. This thesis aims to find the secular sacred amongst Star Wars fans on the blogging platform Tumblr, in relation to Kim Knott and her theory of the secular sacred. I collected and studied 100 blog posts about Star Wars, specifically about one of its main characters, Rey. The research questions used were “How do fans of Star Wars and Rey express themselves on Tumblr?”, and “Could it be seen as sacred according to Kim Knott´s theory of secular sacred?” I analyzed the material with a hermeneutic approach, and using Kim Knott’s theory, I categorized the posts in to three categories: sacred, appreciative and sacrilegious. Even though the appreciative category was by far the largest, the results showed that a fifth of all the blog posts could be perceived as having content that could be seen as sacred to its poster. I came to the conclusion that my study supports the theory of sacredness not being exclusive to religious society, but can be found in the secular as well.

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Sitten, Rebecca Mackin. "Framing Christianity: A frame analysis of Fundamentalist Christianity from 2000-2009." Scholar Commons, 2011. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3349.

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This qualitative frame analysis examines how print media handles the concept of Fundamentalist Christianity. The researcher examined news reports in four prominent national newspapers over the ten-year period between 2000 and 2009 for references made to Fundamentalist Christianity. The sample is examined on the basis of Mark Silk's "topoi," a term taken from classical rhetoric meaning commonplaces or themes (1995). Silk outlines seven common topoi on which stories about religion are written, and these are utilized as a framework for this present study. While much has been written and researched on how religious groups, Fundamentalist Christians, and Evangelicals use mass media to promote their message to a secular audience, few studies have examined how the secular press frames Fundamentalist Christianity. This study, therefore, fills an existing literature gap by dissecting the portrayal of a demographic that has had a historical and cultural media presence for more than a century.

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Taha, Angela J. "From the Middle East to the United States: Stressors and Coping Strategies of Members of a Sacred Culture Living in a Secular Culture." PDXScholar, 1993. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4756.

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The values and beliefs involved in Islam maintain that religion is embedded in everyday life. Students from countries which subscribe to the tenets of Islam may have a difficult time adjusting to the secular society of the U.S. This study is concerned with the interrelationships among events perceived as stressful, the ways of coping with stress that are reported as most often used, and the reported level of satisfaction with living in the U.S. for the Muslim Arab international students in this study. A four page survey questionnaire was used as the instrument. The questionnaire was filled out by 102 Muslim Arab international students regarding the areas of stressors, coping strategies, satisfaction with living in the U.S., and individual descriptors. None of the hypotheses were supported with statistically significant results. Of the subjects, 83% reported that they did not receive any intercultural pre-sojourn training. Presently, pre-sojourn intercultural training does not aid in reducing the stressful situations experienced by these subjects (Hypothesis 1). The frequency of emotion-focused coping does not decrease when the perceived effectiveness of presojourn intercultural training increases (Hypothesis 2). Limited knowledge and standardized research in this area may contribute to the lack of success of intercultural training. Additional time spent living in the U.S. does not reduce the communication-related stressors Muslim Arab students experience (Hypothesis 3). Although research indicates the longer people live in a foreign culture, the more they learn the rules and norms and therefore become acculturated (Samovar and Porter, 1988), the additional considerations a Muslim Arab international student may have to deal with could override the positive effects of time. The frequency of emotion-focused coping does not substantially decrease the longer amount of time a student has lived in the U.S. (Hypothesis 4). stress is a part of any student's life. For Muslim Arab international students living in the U.S., the basic value system provided by the belief in Islam appears to be related to coping with stressful situations (Hypothesis 5). However, the results were not significant. As the variety of coping strategies increases, the variety of stressors does not decrease (Hypothesis 6). Rather, as the variety of stressors increases, so too does the variety of coping strategies. It appears that students who experience more stressors respond by using more coping strategies. Satisfaction was correlated with neither coping strategies nor stressors. One would expect satisfaction to be positively related to coping strategies (Hypothesis 7), but there was no relationship. One would also expect satisfaction to be inversely related to stressors (Hypothesis 8), but there is no relationship. Satisfaction was measured by the extent to which subjects would want to remain in the U.S., and if they would recommend a loved one to study in the U.S. Based on the highly obligatory social structure that exists in many Middle Eastern countries, contemplating remaining away from one's family and friends may not have been acceptable. Difficulties associated with living in the U.S. as an international student may have also led subjects to report they would not recommend a loved one to study in the U.S. In conclusion, there are three important results that can be drawn from this study. First, with respect, at least, to the Muslim Arab international students in this study, there is no way to empirically discriminate between different categories of stressors or different categories of coping strategies. Second, denial and wishful thinking are not effective coping strategies. Third, direct problem solving is clearly the most effective way for the Muslim Arab international students in this study to cope with stressors while living in the U.S.

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Wahlström, Fredrik. "Svenska kyrkan och kyrkovalet 2017 : Ett sekulariseringsteoretiskt perspektiv på dagstidningars rapportering kring valet 2017 i Svenska kyrkan." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-66041.

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This study’s purpose is to analyze Grace Davies theory, which points out that churches throughout the west is facing difficulties with declining memberships as a result of a separation process between the churches and the state. In contrast to Davies theory, Sweden saw an increase in number of voters in year 2017’s church election, which leads to question whether Davies theory is overemphasized or if the church of Sweden is in a unique position. This study aims to analyze the current landscape of churches in the west through media and to do this, the study delimitates to four Swedish daily newspapers: Dagens Nyheter, Sveriges Television, Kyrkans Tidning and Svenska Dagbladet, to provide content through different perspectives. To apply the information gathered, the study uses a qualitative content analysis, since it offers tools for categorizing, interpretation and understanding of the newspapers substance. This study approaches the church election through three theories, which argues that the church of Sweden has lost its dominating role in society and is now under the influence of media, the state and secular forces. The critical part of media’s relation to this year’s church election is found in the presentation of the church of Sweden as a political figure, rather than a faith community. The result shows through media’s presentation that the majority is indeed based on political influence and that Davies theory might indeed be true. Though it also shows a resistance to politics in the church domain, which argues that the churches ongoing negative trend might reverse in the future.

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Erlandsson, Johan. ""The second sex speaks..." : En studie av Alice von Hildebrands och Margaret Harper McCarthys teologiska antropologi." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-101666.

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This paper studies the theological anthropologies of the Catholic thinkers Alice von Hildebrand and Margaret Harper McCarthy. I place my research of these two theologians, categorized as religiously conservative thinkers, among other contemporary research on women in traditional religions by using types of agencies inspired by researchers such as Phyllis Mack, Talal Asad and Saba Mahmood. This paper analyzes how the two theologians construct their anthropologies, systems that see man in a relationship with a God-given order that dictates the role of freedom and responsibility in both the relationship with fellow human beings and his or her teleological goals. I argue that this anthropology comes from their reading of biblical passages and interpretations of real life experiences that break with secular, liberal and individualist patterns of thought. Using a hermeneutics aware of the tensions between secular readings of religious texts and readings that focuses on a self-transcendence, I present a reading of the theologians' systems of thought as a balancing act between liberal and poststructuralist feminist critiques. I argue that both Hildebrand and McCarthy reject the liberal and poststructuralist anthropologies because of their conviction that the liberal and poststructuralist anthropology is inadequate by not addressing the ontological reality of the human complementarity of the sexes. I also identify a tension in the theologians critique of feminism and what I take to be a dialectic between criticizing and appropriating feminist goals for women.

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Willers, Jan. "Bilden av religiösa : En studie av hur muslimer och kristna framställs i den digitala tidskriften Samtiden." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-38307.

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The purpose of the paper is to investigate how different religious groups such as Muslims and Christians are presented in the digital magazine Samtiden. Furthermore, the purpose is to investigate whether and how different religions differ in their presentation and whether there is a clear agenda related to emerging beliefs. The actual selection I chose to start from is the year 2018 where articles in relation to my keywords and delimitations have been shown. They have then been analyzed through a qualitative text analysis with the ambition to be able to answer my questions and the purpose of investigating how different religious groups such as Muslims and Christians are portrayed in the digital magazine Samtiden. By starting from my theoretical starting points about postcolonial theory, anti-emigration, post-secular theory and gender perspective, I, along with methodological approaches, have got tools to be able to analyze the material in a successful way. My results show how the representation of religions is manifested and what distinguishes them from where it appears that stereotypical categorizations such as Muslims are cruel, violent and perceived as a threat while Christians appear to be victims of Muslim aggression. The Christian and "Swedish" appear to be intertwined and constitute "we" while Muslims are portrayed as "them".

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Janson, Jens. "This World or Another? : Mapping Modern Theologies." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-451207.

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In view of the complexity characterizing the contemporary discipline of academic theology, there is a need for functional models. Against the background of significant developments in twentieth-century theology, this thesis attempts to develop an analytical model which can make sense of some of the complexity characterizing this field. More specifically, the aim is to produce a model which can be used to distinguish between and relate different theological positions to each other at a meta-level. This is achieved through the elaboration of a two-dimensional typology composed of four quadrants representing distinct theological orientations. The proposed model and its analytical categories form the basis for a discussion of some key figures and themes in modern theology, with a particular emphasis on eschatologically oriented theologies. Finally, on the basis of preceding discussions, a case is made for theology’s ability to fulfill a vital cultural-critical role in a secular context.

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Toy, J. Caroline. "Wizarding Shrines and Police Box Cathedrals: Re-envisioning Religiosity through Fan and Media Pilgrimages." The Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1587605749537652.

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Amanda, Palacios. "Medikaliseringen av den svenska omskärelsedebatten : en religionssociologisk studie om förskjutningen av ”den religiösa andre.”." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Religionssociologi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-413682.

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The question regarding male circumcision in Sweden became a relevant topic within the public debates during the last three years. Due to the Swedish political party, Centerpartiet’s decision to strive for a ban on male circumcision, this debate surfaced after the 28th of September. Participation in the public debate came from different directions and perspectives on male circumcision. In this thesis I focus on different actors and their public opinions in debate articles published between the years of 2018-2019. The aim of this thesis is to examine how critical arguments are constructed from perceptions of a decreasing significance of religion within late modern societies. This results in a motivation to ban the performance of male circumcision without medical indication. By using the qualitative text analysis of systematic text condensation this thesis closer categorizes the arguments into the three themes of “children’s bodily integrity”, “the delimitation of medicalization” and “the religious other”. In addition to this, the thesis also looks into the argument from the analytical framework on argumentation analysis in order to distinguish “normative” and “factual” arguments in the debate. To look closer at the constructions of the critical arguments within the debate this thesis uses the theoretical framework of Sara Ahmed (2011). From a phenomenological inspired perspective this thesis further looks into the argument’s correlation and construction of a collective body. This in particular is the construction of the secular- in relation to the religious body. Constructions of the religious body allows for secular ideas to circulate around national symbols and principles, which results in an exclusion of religious motives and perspectives. The thesis further sheds light on the cultural imbedded “medical gaze”, from the theoretical perspective on medicalization of Karin Johannisson (2013). This thesis aims to examine the reproduction of the medical superiority within debates on questions regarding the human body, like the one on male circumcision. The thesis illustrates the complexity of religious visibility within the Swedish context. Although the critical arguments reject the religious motives of male circumcision, the debate increases the religious visibility in the public debates.

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Harris, Linda. "On the role of religious expression in the Swedish Public School System." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-384894.

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This paper is a case study in Religion in Peace and Conflict, in which the role of religion and religious expression in Swedish education is examined. The focus of this case study is on Swedish public schools. It begins with a literature review into the role of multiculturalism and cosmopolitan theories in Swedish government and policies with a discussion of how this extends into education. This is followed by an overview of the history of religion in Sweden and Swedish schools. The impact that different stakeholders, including teachers, students, administrators, and parents, might have within the Swedish school systems is excavated as well as the impact that the school space might have on integration. A field study in three different Swedish schools was conducted and is described in this paper. The results of the data suggest that there is a clear distinction between non-religious students and the religious students. The case study points to the overall finding that practicing religious students in the Swedish public school does not have the same freedom of conscience as the majority of students and that Swedish religion education is not neutral, as is the state intends. Some objections in regards to rights claims and majority-minority group dynamics are also explored and discussed.

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Merati, Simona E. "Russia's Islam: Discourse on Identity, Politics, and Security." FIU Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1840.

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Despite the long history of Muslims in Russia, most scholarly and political literatures on Russia’s Islam still narrowly interpret Muslim-Slavs relations in an ethnic-religious oppositional framework. In my work, I examine Russia’s discourse on Islam to argue that, in fact, the role of Islam in post-Soviet Russia is complex. Drawing from direct sources from academic, state, journalistic, and underground circles, often neglected by Western commentators, I identify ideational patterns in conceptualizations of Islam and reconstruct relational networks among authors. To explain complex intertextual relations within specific contexts, I utilize an analytically eclectic method that appropriately combines theories from different paradigms and/or disciplines. Thanks to my multi-dimensional approach, I show that, contrary to traditional views, Russia’s Muslims participate in processes of post-Soviet Russia’s identity formation. Starting from textual contents, avoiding pre-formed analytical frames, I argue that many Muslims in Russia perceive themselves as part of Russian civilization – even when they challenge the status-quo. Building on my initial findings, I state that a key element in Russia’s conceptualization of Islam is the definition, elaborated in the 1990s, of traditional Islam as part of Russian civilizational history, as opposed to extremist Islam as extraneous, hostile phenomenon. The differentiation creates an unprecedently safe, if confined, space for Islamic propositions, of which Muslims are taking advantage. Embedded in debates on Russian civilization, conceptualizations of Islam, then, influence Russia’s (geo)political self-perceptions and, consequently, its domestic and international policies. In particular, Russian so-far neglected Islamic doctrine supports views of Islamic terrorism as a political and not religious phenomenon. Hence, Russia interprets both terrorism and counterterrorism within its own historical tradition, causing its strategy to be at odds with Western views. Less apparently, these divergences affect Russian-U.S. broader relations. Finally, in revealing the civilizational value of Russia’s Islam, I expose intellectual relations among influential subjects who share the aim to devise a new civilizational model that should combine Slavic and non-Slavic, Orthodox and Islamic, Western, and Asian components. In this old Russian dilemma, the novelty is Muslims’ participation.

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Lönn, Mathilda. ""Det som är norm i vardagen är inte norm här" : Svenska konvent som sekulära ritualer." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för kulturantropologi och etnologi, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-323637.

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The purpose of this thesis is to establish whether Swedish fan conventions organised around East-Asian popular culture such as anime and manga can be identified as a form of secular ritual. The methods used to determine this include participant observation, interviews and ethnographic data. Defining secular ritual as a performance event that establishes an alternative context that transforms the everyday without being connected to a religious or supernatural worldview or origin, we find that Swedish conventions of this kind may be called a form of ritual that engages people united by a common, broad field of interests and a notion of being outside of society’s norms in different ways, most notably in regards to sexuality and gender. This opens a discussion about Swedish fan conventions and how they may inform us about the use and function of rituals in a secularised society.

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Bezuidenhout, Alwyn Petrus. "Die klaarblyklike onversoenlikheid tussen die gereformeerde pastoraat en die moderne sekulêre psigologie : 'n prakties-teologiese studie / Alwyn Petrus Bezuidenhout." Thesis, North-West University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/931.

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Psychology has systematically entered and even taken possession of the field (sphere) of Biblical counselling. A number of studies have already been assumed regarding theology and psychology. The underlying problem remains: which theology is compared with which psychological paradigm. The reformed pastor finds his grounding in the five solae of the reformation as it is named in the formulae of unity. Four paradigms are recognized in psychology. Each has its own key figure. The doctrine and life of these key figures have been examined. The finding was that these people, inclusively, had above average exposure to Scripture and has yet denied it at the cost of a faith in the capability of the individual to work his own salvation. The result is that none of these paradigms is reconcilable with the reformed pastorate Thesis (M.A. (Theology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

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Solomon, Michael Tyrone. "Afghan Muslim Male Interpreters and Translators: An Examination of Their Identity Changes and Lived Experiences During Pre and Post-Immigration to the United States During the Afghanistan War (2003-2012)." NSUWorks, 2015. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dcar_etd/31.

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This research examined the lived experiences of an Afghan Muslim male participant group. This study explored their immigration from a Southwest-Asian, highly non-secular society to a Western-style, liberal, secular nation-state. Further, this research was an examination of Muslim male identity as an attribute that is closely related to lived experiences, environment and cultural assimilation. Also, this study looked closely at the meanings that this Afghan Muslim male immigrant group attached to identity, as well as exploring their unique narratives during pre-immigration and post-immigration periods. This qualitative research study used narrative methods to unearth the lived experiences of five Afghan Muslim male citizens. These participants immigrated to the U.S. while serving as interpreters and translators for the coalition forces during the Afghanistan War between 2003 and 2012. Several researchers have examined Muslim immigration from Eastern to Western nations, focusing on their adaptation, assimilation, and developmental patterns. The research objective of this study was slightly different and important to social science in that it focused on how a select group of Afghan Muslim males conceptualized their own sense of identity and how their notion of identity was shaped and influenced by their own pre- and post-migration experiences. To this end, the discoveries in this study revealed that the nature of the identities for many in this study may be deemed more blended and in some instances renegotiated, holding onto parts of their core native identities while embracing aspects of the cultural, ethnic, and social elements of their new host land that fit within their own individual frame of reference.

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Richter, Malin. "Det viktiga är inte vad man tror på, utan vad man har i hjärtat. : En studie om religionens roll i den sekulära förskolan." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-44213.

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This essay examines the role religion plays in kindergarten. Today, the Swedish kindergarten provides child care for a secular and multicultural society where religion is considered a private matter that should not influence government nor the policy documents of kindergarten and elementary school. According to a study by Jenny Berglund, there is a so-called Protestant bias present in the Swedish elementary school. Protestant bias is shaped by a ”marinade” of liberal Protestant Christianity and has an indirect influence on how other religions are described, how religion is defined and how concepts such as religion, tradition or culture are viwed. The study was also based on Ninian Smart’s dimensions of religion, which correlates to Berglund’s theory on Protestant bias. If Berglund’s theory could be applied to the results of this study, some of Smart’s dimensions would probably appear as well, some more prominently than others. The results demonstrated that some dimensions were indeed more prominent than others in the informants’ definitions of religion. This study showed that there is a Protestant bias regarding what feasts are celebrated and how concepts such as religion, tradition and culture are viewed. The study also showed that there might be an additional secular bias present in the results. This was also indicated by some unexpected answers where the explanation could not be attributed to a purely Protestant bias. The secular bias indicates that the view of religion has been modified. The reason for this transformation is analyzed with the help of the examplar view theory.

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Karakas, Ziya Mert. "Secular Challenge to Power : An intercultural-analytical insight into two prominent member organizations of the European Humanist Federation: La Ligue de L'enseignement and the National Secular Society." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-330927.

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Larsén, Linda. "”Varför tar man för givet att feminismen måste vara sekulär?” : En studie om muslimska feminister i svensk kontext." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Religionsvetenskap, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-16876.

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The purpose of this study is to examine how two Muslim feminists perceive themselves to betreated by the Swedish majority society and within the secular feminist movement. Thesurvey was conducted using qualitative method with a total of two interviews. For the study'stheoretical perspectives, I have used postcolonialism and postcolonial feminism. The result ofthe survey and the analysis show that the informants say that they face an image of Muslimwomen as considered being under oppression. The informants believe that this stereotypicalimage has its origin from the colonial period. The question that is most important for themwithin feminism is to be treated as a feminist and as a Muslim without being questioned. Theyfeel like it's hard to identify with the Swedish secular feminism, but they also feel that thegroup of Swedish secular feminists have a difficulty identifying themselves with Muslimwomen too. Consider this, one of the informants does not feel welcome among Swedishsecular feminism while the other one never had an interest in becoming a member of itbecause she did not consider them to strive for the same goal as herself. The informantsclaims that there are opportunities for them to speak in the public debate, but as Muslimfeminists they are facing a bigger struggle.

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Hagstedt, Kaj. "Representation av ateism och icke-tro i religionsundervisning." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för lärande och samhälle (LS), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-41982.

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Sverige är ett sekulariserat land där stat och kyrka ej längre går hand i hand. I detta land ska skolors undervisning vara icke-konfessionell samtidigt som utbildningen ska vila på den tradition som förvaltats av kristen tradition. Religionsämnet är brett och ska enligt läroplanen omfatta religioner och andra livsåskådningar, med fokus på världsreligioner och etiska och moraliska frågeställningar kopplat till livsfrågor. Många i Sverige är icke-troende eller ateister, men ateism behandlas först i läroplanen för årskurs 7-9 och fördjupas senare i gymnasiet. Genom en kvalitativ studie har uppsatsen haft som syfte att undersöka representation av ateism i religionsundervisning årskurs 4-6, och empirin visar att lärare inte planerar för undervisning om ateism och att elever inte känner till begreppet. Vidare redogörs för lärares och elevers diskurs om religionsundervisning och om hur religiös positionering ses som resurs i undervisningen.

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Söderberg, Per-Erik. "Integration bortom det sekulära : En teoretisk undersökning av integrationsbegreppet." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för humaniora, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-24873.

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Undersökningen syftar till att utforska en postsekulär variant av integrationsbegreppet, genom att kritiskt granska aktuell forskning om integration. Detta genom ett explorativt begreppsstudium som primär metodologisk ansats, ett allmänt litteraturstudium som sekundär ansats, samt ett intersektionellt perspektiv som komplementär teoretisk ansats. Undersökningens postsekulära teoretiska ramverk utgörs av Zygmunt Baumans teori om flytande modernitet, Charles Taylors teori om den dialogiska funktionen, och Seyla Benhabibs teori om deliberativ demokrati. Undersökningen visar på fem centrala dimensioner av det postsekulära integrationsbegreppet; (i) mer än enbart religion, (ii) förändrade maktförhållanden och villkor, (iii) intersektionalitet, (iv) samtida aktivism, och slutligen (v) ideal och visioner. Den första dimensionen syftar till att problematisera den vetenskapliga debatten om postsekularitet, och påpeka dess ensidiga betoning på religion och religiositet i relation till sekulära samhällen. Den andra dimensionen syftar till att undersöka maktförhållanden och villkor, med grund i historiska, ekonomiska, sociala och globala faktorer. En tredje dimension belyser den mänskliga identitetens komplexitet och dess transformation, utifrån maktrelationer och tillhörighetskategorier. Den fjärde dimensionen som trädde fram accentuerade begrepp som deliberativ demokrati, omförhandling, försoning och solidaritet. Fokus lades främst på socialt engagemang och gräsrotsinitiativ som former av aktivism. Den femte och avslutande dimensionen anspelar på idealets och visionernas betydelse, och hur dessa träder fram i samtida sekulär kontext. Med grund i undersökningens resultat, är det möjligt att påvisa hur traditionella förståelser av integrationsbegreppet framträder som otillräckliga och kontraproduktiva i strävan efter jämlik och inkluderande integration. The purpose of this study is to explore a postsecular alternative to the concept of integration, through a critical examination of current research on integration. This is achieved through an explorative conceptual study as the primary method, a general literature study as the subordinate method, and an intersectional perspective as a complementary theoretical approach. The postsecular theoretical framework of this thesis consists of Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity, Charles Taylor’s theory of the dialogical function, and Seyla Benhabib’s theory of deliberative democracy. The study presents five central features of the postsecular concept of integration as being; (i) more than just religion, (ii) change in power relations and conditions, (iii) intersectionality, (iv) contemporary activism, and lastly (v) ideals and visions. The first feature aims to scrutinize the scientific postsecular debate, and point out its one-sided emphasis on religion and religiosity in relation to secular societies. The second feature aims to examine power relations and conditions, constituted by historical, economic, social and global factors. A third feature illuminates the complexity and transformation of identity, with regards to power relations and categories of belonging. The fourth feature which appeared in the study emphasized concepts like deliberative democracy, renegotiation, reconciliation and solidarity. The focal point being social commitment and grassroots- levels of initiatives as forms of activism. The fifth and concluding feature refers to the significance of ideals and visions and how these appear in contemporary secular context. Based on this study, it is possible to claim how traditional understandings of the concept of integration appear inadequate and counterproductive in the endeavor of an equal and inclusive integration.

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Hildebrandt, Caroline. "Du Confidence-Man à Clarel : sécularisation et démythologisation dans l'oeuvre de Herman Melville (1857-1876)." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Lyon, École normale supérieure, 2024. http://www.theses.fr/2024ENSL0071.

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Ce travail propose une lecture de l’œuvre tardive de Herman Melville, afin de faire émerger une pensée de la sécularisation dans ses textes, tout en interrogeant la pertinence de la notion et des théories afférentes. Le corpus analysé comporte la dernière œuvre en prose publiée de Melville, The Confidence-Man (1857), le recueil de poésie Battle-Pieces (1866) et, enfin, le long poème épique Clarel (1876). L'analyse s'appuie sur la théologie herméneutique de Rudolf Bultmann et son concept central de « démythologisation », conçue comme une réinterprétation sceptique des textes bibliques et de leur contexte de réception, afin de dégager leur fondement existentiel. Complétée par la philosophie politique de Hannah Arendt, l’analyse dialogue avec les approches contemporaines de la sécularisation et, enfin, avec le champ de la philosophie et de la théorie littéraire. Il s'agit de cerner les phénoménologies religieuses, existentielles et politiques exprimées dans les textes melvilliens, qui s’articulent autour d’un pluralisme religieux en crise et de changements épistémiques majeurs. The Confidence-Man explore la rhétorique théologique de la sphère publique états-unienne et ses enchevêtrements avec les structures du capitalisme de marché naissant. Battle-Pieces révèle la crise de l’eschatologie que représente la guerre de Sécession, et formule une critique de l’idée de religion civile. Dans Clarel, la généalogie des liens entre théologie et politique aboutit à la formulation d’une disjonction totale des deux plans, non sans mettre en œuvre une forme d’amitié politique entre les protagonistes, fruit inattendu de leur quête spirituelle This work offers a reading of Herman Melville’s later works, in order to delineate a philosophy of secularization in the author’s texts, while questioning the accuracy of the notion and its multiple theories. The texts chosen are The Confidence-Man (1857), the poetry collection Battle-Pieces (1866) and the long epic poem Clarel (1876). The analysis relies on Rudolf Bultmann’s hermeneutical theology and his key concept of “demythologization”, which consists of a skeptical reinterpretation of the biblical texts and the context of their reception, in order to uncover their existential basis. The analysis is supplemented by Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy and dialogues with the contemporary approaches of secularization, and finally with literary theory. The idea is to discern the religious, existential and political phenomenologies to be found in Melville’s texts, which revolve around a crisis of religious pluralism and major epistemic changes. The Confidence-Man explores the theological rhetoric of the American public sphere and its links with the structures of a nascent market capitalism. Battle-Pieces reveals the eschatological crisis that the Civil War represents, and expresses a criticism of the idea of civil religion. In Clarel, the genealogy of the links between theology and politics traces a total disjunction between the two plans, while enabling the performance of a type of political friendship between the characters, which arises as the unexpected outcome of their spiritual quest

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Lewis, James R. "SPIRITUAL FITNESS AND RESILIENCE FORMATION THROUGH ARMY CHAPLAINS AND RELIGIOUS SUPPORT." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1447863288.

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LeBlanc, Sofia. "Una cárcel de cultura: secuelas de la dictadura chilena en un centro de arte comunitario." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1380119674.

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Borthwick, Christopher. "An Exploratory Study of Factors Inhibiting the Advancement of NGO Responses to Religion in Peacebuilding." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-429026.

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Peacebuilding NGOs are increasingly aware that religion is a steadfast and sometimes growing influence in the contexts in which they work. Despite this, many fail to meaningfully integrate religious perspectives into their initiatives. This thesis examines and consolidates criticisms of NGO responses to religion in peacebuilding programmes, identifies factors inhibiting responses from advancing, and explores NGO staff attitudes regarding religion, including perspectives on whether a conducive environment exists for developing alternative responses. It then formulates recommendations for advancing practice and suggests future research directions. The research approach consists of an examination of literature regarding NGO responses to religion, accompanied by a survey using semi-structured interviews of nine people who have worked on NGO peacebuilding programmes across the world. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that whilst NGOs consider religious actors as potential allies, they rarely utilise the role of religion in society as an analytical lens. This impinges their ability to understand contexts holistically. The contemporary funding environment is also found to discourage alternative approaches from emerging. This thesis recommends that further research is conducted in order to produce examples of improved NGO responses to religion. This will provide practical evidence of how to enhance practice.

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Hansson, Johanna. "Strävan efter den medvetna närvaron : En kvalitativ studie kring bruket av buddhistisk insiktsmeditation i ett sekulariserat samhälle." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-54352.

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In this bachelor’s thesis I have focused on the question why people who live in secular societies use insight or vipassana meditation. The study is based on the rational choice theory developed by Rodney Stark. I have used an inductive qualitative method including e-mail interviews with practitioners of vipassana meditation. The study has shown why some people start the practice and how people’s expectations of vipassana meditation can differ in what they wanted from their practice. The study showed that practitioners and the society that surrounds them influenced each other. The study highlighted the way vipassana meditation was practiced on a secular basis.

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Bryant, Kendra Nicole. ""Free Your Mind . . . and the Rest Will Follow": A Secularly Contemplative Approach To Teaching High School English." Scholar Commons, 2012. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3996.

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The purpose of my research is to provide high school English instructors and students a contemplative writing pedagogy that has the capacity to assist them in calming their bodies and quieting their minds so that they can focus their attention, openly explore self and others, rediscover their creativity, and reawaken their appreciation for the art of writing. Such a pedagogy is supported by mindfulness practices, which are exercises in moment-to-moment awareness that help to detach the practitioner from his or her thoughts. Mindfulness practices include breathing, walking, yoga, body scans, and visualizing; they provide quiet spaces wherein mind, body, and soul are allowed to concentrate on and connect with a particular being, idea, or experience. Such quiet spaces engage the whole learner, thus making possible holistic learning and being. If students are given the space to write in a classroom of contemplative practices, they will possibly have an increased chance at passing state assessments, while also developing a skill that will assist them in their own self inquiry and transformation.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Secular studies'

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