The Rite of Funerals in the Transylvanian Unitarian Church and in the British Unitarian Movement in the 21st Century - Similarities and Differences

  • Csaba Todor

Student thesis: Phd

Abstract

This research originates in my personal interest in death and funerals, and attempts to build up a correlational pathway between theology and anthropology. It begins to explore similarities and differences between Unitarian funeral rites in Transylvania and Britain through the survey of literature. Due to the limited number of resources dealing explicitly with Unitarian funerals, it focuses specifically on the structure of Unitarian funerals, analysing the inner dynamics and identifying and examining the inter-relation of some of the most important elements of the ritual. In the liberal Unitarian context, the ritual seems to have lost a dominating theological focus and the catharsis of ritual changes accordingly. The research argues that as a Unitarian funeral comes to focus mostly on the needs of the bereaved family, it loses its transitional character and becomes more complex depending on the needs of the individuals and bereaved family. It explores the question: How do the theological (official/Church side) aspects and folk/local/cultural aspects of the funeral within the Unitarian tradition relate to enrich our liturgical and theological life? In attempting to answer this question it argues that the relation between the Church and the cultural aspects is not straightforward but has holes/gaps in-between. Interviews, participant observation and a Research Diary, are the primary sources of the research. Data is interpreted and analysed through the understanding of ritual provided by van Gennep and Victor Turner. The methodological challenge of this approach is to relate theological contents with structural elements. The research concludes that gaps emerge because Unitarian individuals have lost a common theological ground, therefore, ritual is not used to express commonly accepted theologies but becomes a co-created framework where individuals who create this framework enact their personal theologies. While in England, a co-created funeral is the most popular way in which individual theologies are acted out in the liturgy, in Transylvania local customs and folk elements tend to be ignored by the official Church. This is because they are considered pagan aspects of a traditionally Christian society.
Date of Award31 Dec 2017
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • The University of Manchester
SupervisorAnn Peart (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • ritual
  • co-created
  • Unitarian
  • Transylvania, England
  • funeral

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