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The Socratic method of questioning and answering as a learning and teaching strategy has been used widely over time, for it effectively stimulates meaningful learning. Its learner-centered and transformative nature promotes ongoing dialogue. Since cultural differences influence the nature of questions asked, induction of the Socratic method is inevitable so that faith formation leads to thinking theologically where faith becomes a contextual form of thinking and thinking a form of contextualized faith. Some mainline churches in Africa have adopted catechisms with pre-asked and pre-answered questions formulated in Europe between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The challenges of time, culture, and geographical contextual differences create a gap between the church's faith formation and context-based spiritual quests. These gaps demand asking the right questions that challenge and inverse wrong attitudes that foster deep reflective self-evaluation, interpretation, and understanding, shaping appropriate perceptions to address the contemporary spiritual quests of Africa. Using the qualitative literature review methodology, this article discovered that there are some gaps between questions and answers in catechisms used in mainline churches and contemporary spiritual quests of Africa. This article aims to discuss the means of closing the gap between questions and answers in catechism and context-based spiritual quests. It recommends induction of the Socratic method so that the questions and answers in catechisms are contextual, communicable, assimilable, and appropriable in African contexts. This study contributes to faith formation by recommending the induction of the Socratic method so that the questions and answers in catechisms are contextual, communicable, assimilable, and appropriable in African contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Members of consecrated life communities exhibit homogeneity with regard to factors that are relevant to health, including diet, daily activities, religiosity, and housing. This may be indicative of the manner in which the community influences the formation of the health-seeking attitudes of its members. Purpose of the study: The objective of this study was to validate a survey about health awareness and health-seeking attitudes among consecrated people and to identify potential issues to be improved. In addition, the study aspires to provide insights into the lifestyles of consecrated persons in Poland, based on the results of the survey and available data. Materials and Methods: The study group included 27 female participants, members of societies of apostolic life and non-habitual apostolic religious congregations of the Roman Catholic Church. The participants were invited to express their comments and suggestions on the survey, with the purpose of validating the survey before using it as a tool for a larger study. Results: All participants agreed that nutrition, rest, and physical activity had a significant impact on health. A total of 89% of participants considered their lifestyle as healthy and a similar proportion indicated that living in a consecrated community had a positive impact on their health, with the most positive influence of factors related to spiritual exercise, rhythm of the day, and sense of interpersonal connection within the community. Approximately 44% of participants indicated that their attitude was based on a healthy diet and adequate sleep quality. However, they identified an existing need to improve the balance between work and rest. Additionally, 4% of respondents admitted irregular eating habits, ignoring quality of alimentary products, non-satisfactory rest time, and insufficient sleep. Conclusions: Even though the purpose of this study was only to validate a survey predestined for a larger study, it already gives an insight into the level of awareness of health behavior and lifestyle of residents of religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproductive autonomy encompasses one's ability to make decisions around contraceptive use, pregnancy, and childbirth. An individual's geographic location affects access to a wide range of information and care related to reproductive choice. Individuals in rural areas face additional barriers to reproductive health and decision-making than those in urban areas. This phenomenological qualitative study examined the experiences with and perceptions of reproductive decision-making among women in rural Appalachian communities in the United States. Four themes emerged from the data: autonomy tied to choice, role of religion and church on autonomy and decision-making, navigating limited access to care, and shame. Women should be supported in making reproductive health decisions, and efforts are needed to increase autonomy within reproductive health care and decisions. Sexual health programming within school and other community settings should address shame that often occurs around reproductive health topics, particularly among religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we examine the two crises of the Church: crisis 1, which is the decline of the Church, and crisis 2, which is the Church forgetting its calling. Crisis 1 draws the most attention from churches, but it is crisis 2 that churches should attend first. We argue that the order matters: a church paying attention to its calling will not solve its decline, but will help break free from tiresome attempts at repair. It will also help churches to practise an attitude of receiving, being directed at the kingdom of God. The distinction between crisis 1 and 2 will help churches and theologians name the challenges that the Church faces and will help prioritize them. It requires that discernment as a communal practice with others becomes an important part of the theological method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than a century, in the center of Sofia, the capital of the Republic of Bulgaria, there is and functions the church of St. Nikolai Mirlikiyski the Wonderworker, known as the Russian church. The church was built at the beginning of the 20th century with the idea of being part of the complex of the Russian imperial diplomatic body in Sofia and to serve the Russian diplomats, their families and the Orthodox Russian citizens living permanently or temporarily in the Bulgarian capital. However, after its consecration in 1914, disputes began, both regarding the ownership of the church building and the canonical jurisdiction of the church—of the Metropolitan of Sofia or the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. This dispute culminated in September 2023, with the expulsion from Bulgaria of several Russian and Belarusian clergies serving in the Russian church on charges of espionage in favor of the Russian Federation. The subsequent closure of the church by the Russian ambassador Mitrofanova led to internal and external political tension and ecclesiological chaos in the country. The Russian side violated the Bulgarian Law on Religions, known as the Confessions Act 2002, and directly infringed the Statute of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. This article provides expert answers to the public law, property rights and canonical issues concerning the case of the Russian church in Sofia, based on the relevant sources of law (ecclesiastical and civil). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liturgical space represents the embodiment of Christian theology in church buildings, encompassing both physical and metaphysical aspects. This space carries holiness and sacredness through a set of architectural elements that create sacred and profane zones within the church architecture. For centuries, design elements have shaped the form of Eastern churches in Iraq. This research aimed to answer the following question: what does a participant see at first glance in the liturgical space of a church building? This paper revisits the impact of design elements on the liturgical space of Eastern churches. The research methodology involved analyzing qualitative data using visual attention software (VAS) 3M, version 2024, to examine eye-tracking data and identify what visitors first noticed when entering these church interiors in Mosul, Iraq. The results highlight the variations and dominance of specific design elements in their impact on Eastern churches. The conclusions emphasize the importance of scientifically based restoration for the perception of design elements in these churches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Black church has long been seen as a crucial partner in addressing public health issues. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a community-engaged church intervention addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in underserved Black communities in Jefferson County, Alabama. We partnered with churches to implement and evaluate the intervention between March and June of 2022 and found that our church partners were capable of significant messaging reach, particularly through electronic means. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(S5):S392–S395. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307683) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes how faith-health-academic partnership addressed COVID-19-related challenges experienced in a large-scale, religiously and culturally tailored COVID-19 testing intervention in Kansas City, Missouri from 2021-2022. Topics discussed include participant characteristics, the use of a community engagement approach, and concerns of project partners.

When delimiting the power of churches to discriminate, U.S. and European jurisprudence have developed significantly different responses. The U.S. Supreme Court has embraced an "absolutist approach" by using the ministerial exception doctrine, which allows churches to discriminate against their ministers even if the grounds for discrimination are not based on religious doctrine. The European Court of Human Rights, on the other hand, has adopted a "balancing approach," according to which the rights conflicting in each case must be weighed. The result is that acts of discrimination by churches that are not based on religious doctrine do not appear to be protected in Europe. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has recently taken a different approach to the permissibility of discrimination by religious communities. While influenced by U.S. and European jurisprudence, the Inter-American Court has rejected both the United States' "absolutist approach" and Europe's "balancing approach" in favor of a more "egalitarian approach." This third approach remains unclear in many aspects but doubtlessly implies changes in the way the right to religious freedom is interpreted. The more "egalitarian approach" has already reached prohibiting churches from discriminating in public schools (even if based on religious belief), a prohibition that may be extended to private schools as well. Under the Inter-American approach, discrimination may at times be permitted in the internal sphere of churches, but under restrictions that appear more stringent than in the United States and Europe. By identifying the salient features of the Inter-American standard, this Article analyzes a new adjudicative approach to the tensions between non-discrimination and religious freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigaciones Historicas is the property of Universidad de Valladolid, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Investigaciones Historicas is the property of Universidad de Valladolid, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church is one of the main centers of the Roman Catholic community of Ukraine, an architectural monument of national significance, a neo-Gothic building of the beginning of the 20th century, unique for Kyiv, built in the innovative for that time material of reinforced concrete and experimental structures. As a result of problematic soils, design miscalculations, destructive to the structures of the building city transport communications (vibrations from subway traffic), a catastrophic fire in the building in 2021, deterioration of the stability of the building as a result of the barbaric Russian bombing of the civilian center of Kyiv, the church building is in a critical condition, and currently is no functioning. An urgent survey and restoration is needed to prevent the church ruining. The restoration should apply new practical technological measures to correct the critical situation. This publication sheds light on the current issues of the state of the monument and presents proposals for priority measures for its preservation, highlights the role and significance of St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in the history of Kyiv and in the formation of stylistic architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge in obtaining objective parameters for evaluating the aesthetic appeal of buildings is what we try to explain through a case study, presenting a pioneering methodology that can be applied and adapted to different architectural styles. Our focus is on a substantial investigation of Romanian Orthodox churches in the Wallachia region, which exhibit striking similarities from their early stylistic developments in the 16th century to contemporary examples. By examining the geometric relationships within their interior spaces, we aim to derive objective insights that enable an alternative classification. This classification, in turn, helps us measure the emotional impact these spaces have on users or visitors, influencing emotions based on spatial proportions. Through these relationships, we can evaluate the importance of different buildings of the same category, classify them and, objectively explain their differences. Applying the findings of this study, along with specific variables, to other architectural contexts allows us to address user preferences more effectively to enhance architectural designs by improving comfort and the quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to synthesize recent knowledge about the churches built between 1492 and 1918 in the Kaštela area and present its characteristics obtained by research in the doctoral thesis of the first author. The research covered 18 churches located in the coastal area. Fourteen churches have been preserved, two were pulled down, while the existe nce of two other churches was detected on old maps and in written documents. After a genealogical and catalogue study, a typological and stylistic analysis of the churches has been made. The longitudinal aisleless churches as a dominant shape vary in dimensions, type of construction, construction solutions and elements of architectural decoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Contemporanea is the property of Historia Contemporania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on the religious exemption of the Copyright Act and its implications for copyright protection, particularly in cases involving performances of creative works by religious institutions. It examines a specific instance where a church's production of the musical "Hamilton" raised questions about copyright infringement and the applicability of the religious exemption.

Aim: The physical availability of alcohol is a modifiable determinant of alcohol consumption and related harm. However, Nigeria currently does not have national regulations restricting the physical availability of alcohol. The study measured alcohol outlet density and marketing in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive community design was employed. Seven wards in Abeokuta South local government were surveyed street by street for functional alcohol outlets and nearby public institutions (schools and worship centres). Outlet characteristics were documented, and the location of outlets and public institutions was geocoded using a global positioning system app. The density and proximity of outlets and public institutions were analysed using QGIS 3.22. Results: Four hundred and seventy-six alcohol outlets and 194 public institutions (82 schools, 87 churches, and 25 mosques) were sampled across the 7 wards. The most common type of alcohol premises and outlets was on/off-premises and liquor/non-alcoholic drinks stores. Alcohol banners on liquor store lintels were the most prevalent marketing item. Alcohol outlet density ranged from 8.06 to 200 per km2. The smallest average distance between alcohol outlets was 28 m in Sodeke , while Ago Egun/Ijesa had the highest number of outlets and on/off premises. The shortest distance from an outlet to a school was 18.77 m in Ijaiye and 44 (14.7%) schools were located within ≤100 m of an outlet. Conclusions: Findings indicate high alcohol density, resulting in short distances between alcohol outlets and public institutions in Abeokuta South local government area. These results underscore the importance of implementing evidence-based alcohol availability policies in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Codrul Cosminului is the property of Codrul Cosminului and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Church is a place of worship for Christians; to ensure the smooth and solemn implementation of worship activities, many factors that affect their overall effectiveness must be considered, and one of the conditions that must be met in the worship room is audial comfort. Certain churches are situated in noisy surroundings, which may impact the comfort and auditory experience of worshippers during prayer. This research examines the issue of audial comfort in a church positioned at the periphery of a cross-town road. The main goal of this research was to determine the audial quality deemed comfortable in the Java Christian Church in Bandung from the noise impact caused by high vehicle traffic. The prominent noise that arises from the highway is mostly caused by motorized vehicles. The methodology employed in this study involves a case study approach using quantitative descriptive analysis to evaluate the audial quality of the church. This study uses the Decibel X Sound Meter application to collect data through field measurements. The measured data were analyzed using NoiseTools and IBANA-Calc software was used to analyze the level of noise around the outer church buildings, which are directly adjacent to the main road. The standards used as research references are based on the Decree of the State Minister for the Environment, Number KEP-48/MENLH/11/1996, concerning environmental noise, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines regarding spatial noise. Based on the observations made in this research, the noise level within the premises of the Java Christian Church in Bandung is fairly good, so the only addition needed is a barrier that can reduce environmental noise in the Java Christian Church in Bandung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, addressing the climate crisis eight years after Laudato si'. Topics include the clarity and emphasis of Laudate Deum's message, positioning the ecological issue as a critical crossroads for both the Church and society.

The article reports on a seminar organized by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état that occurred in 1973. The event sought to remember the role of the Church during the dictatorship and renew the commitment to peace. Panelists such as Fernando Salas SJ, María Luisa Sepúlveda, and Tomás Scherz participated, discussing the importance of memory, justice, and reparation. In addition, a bibliographic and archival exhibition was held at the Theology Library. The article also mentions the exhibition "Arpilleras: 30 articles on Human Rights" organized by the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicariate of Solidarity to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The article highlights the call for an International Symposium on human rights in Chile, in which important figures from churches and human rights organizations participated. Cultural activities and contests related to human rights are also mentioned. [Extracted from the article]

The article delves into the relationship between nonprofit law, with a focus on religious institutions like churches and synagogues, and election law. It highlights Professor, Ellen Aprill's expertise in nonprofit and tax law. It revolves around the possibility of nonprofits, particularly religious entities, being employed to challenge and weaken existing campaign finance regulations, potentially leading to their erosion.

The article focuses on the tax benefits and protections provided to churches in the U.S. It explores the extra benefits and robust protection granted to churches under U.S. tax law, emphasizing their automatic exemption from income tax and safeguards against IRS (Internal Revenue Service) enforcement actions. It discusses the implications of this preferential treatment on individual churches, democratic order, and the balance struck by Congress in providing such benefits.

Assemblies of God church in Nigeria, which has for over 40 years now, experienced various crises that have led to sucession and factionalism in that church. The once giant of spirituality and the mother of Pentecostalism has grappled with the problem of administration, leadership tussle and bigotry. This study is a review of previous and current crises that AG Nigeria has gone through at the General Council level in a bid to mend what seems to have torn asunder the seamless coat of Christ in line with the prayer of Jesus, 'that they may be one'. The study uses historical-critical method and phenomenological design to analyse the depth of the crack in the church in order to predict the future of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. Contribution: To chronicle the crises in Assemblies of God Nigeria through a study of current and past patterns of events with a view to recommending possible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Churches have always been regarded as a safe haven during calamities. This changed during COVID-19 lockdown when churches were forced to shut down. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a new normal to the world at large, calling for immediate action from authorities and introducing vaccination as an antidote. However, some religious practitioners as a vehicle of change through the institution of the church have been acting on the contrary because it discourages the uptake of vaccines, leading to vaccine hesitancy. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been observed in the Christian community because Christians use Bible verses as a scapegoat for not getting a jab. There is a chasm that exists between faith and science, and it perpetuates the discourse of vaccine hesitancy. Contributions: This article applies a qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach and seeks to address the conspiracy theories and the use of Bible verses as discourse on vaccine uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Santos Enslaved and Enslaver Dataset (SEED) is a comprehensive record of enslaved individuals and their enslavers in Santos, Brazil from 1800 to 1888. The dataset, created between 2003 and 2006, cross-references information from 13 Brazilian archives and 43 primary source types, providing detailed insights into the lives and experiences of enslaved people. It contains over 42,806 entries, with more than 1,960 individuals identified and cross-referenced through multiple historical sources. The dataset is particularly valuable for researchers interested in the history of slavery in Brazil and the Americas, as many of the archival sources included in SEED are not digitized and therefore inaccessible outside of Santos. The SEED offers an innovative approach to understanding the diverse narratives and social patterns of enslaved individuals, providing a more holistic view of their lives. The article discusses the Santos Enslaved and Enslaver Dataset (SEED), which provides insights into slavery in Santos, Brazil from 1800 to 1888. The dataset includes information on enslavers and enslaved individuals, as well as their social and economic status. The SEED has been used to explore topics such as the quality of life for enslaved people and the impact of epidemic diseases on different groups. It is a valuable resource for understanding the history of slavery in Brazil and its diaspora. The dataset is available on the Harvard Dataverse and is represented on Enslaved.org. [Extracted from the article]

Until the twentieth century, the interiors of churches and cathedrals constituted the largest enclosed spaces accessible to natural philosophers. Such immense volumes of air provided unique opportunities for the examination of sonorous phenomena and, from the seventeenth century, featured centrally in the production of acoustic knowledge. During the nineteenth century, however, these ecclesiastical buildings took on increasing scientific significance following the publication of Ernst Chladni's acoustic research and amid intense Anglo-French church-building programs. Focusing on France and Britain, this essay unpacks nineteenth-century churches as experimental sites and argues that these locations were crucial to the formation of new philosophical understandings of sound. From the design of church organs and the use of acoustic pots to the observation of echoes and resonance, these were places where understanding sonorous phenomena was extremely urgent. As the essay demonstrates, elite scientists were keen to draw on practical and architectural experiences in their own scientific works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A significant challenge for developing nations, including Indonesia, is the occurrence of poverty. An example of a poverty-stricken area based on the number of poor people is Cianjur Regency. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the influence of religiosity, work ethics, age, education, occupation, and gender on the poverty level. It also intended to examine the perspectives of churches in Cianjur regarding poverty and its role in poverty mitigation. The methodology used was a mixed method with 100 respondents, and the sample size was determined proportionally and randomly from churches located in Cianjur Regency. The results from the BPS (Central Bureau of Statistics) showed that 18% of the 100 respondents lived in poverty, as opposed to the remaining 82%. In terms of work ethics, 71%, 29%, and 0% belonged to the high, moderate, and low categories, respectively. The independent variables that significantly affect the poverty level are religiosity, age, and occupation. The independent variables that were not significant were work ethics, education, and sex. This study also shows that the five churches had diverse perspectives on poverty. Some actively implemented programs are aimed at poverty reduction, while others lack specific initiatives to address poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the special issue theme of the response of conservation practice to shifts in heritage theory towards the intangible, through exploring some specific aspects of practice and statutory process in the UK. The paper starts with an overview of conservation in the UK, and the extent to which it does or does not interface with developments in heritage theory. It explores the conventional understanding of significance—here termed 'subtractive'—which reflects the antiquarian concerns from which conservation developed. It then considers the Ecclesiastical Exemption, a parallel consent mechanism within UK law for Christian places of worship that remain in use, which specifically recognises their need to change over time to ensure their survival. Evidence for a growing appreciation of non-tangible value and community participation in heritage is provided in recent research by The National Churches Trust into the economic and social value of church buildings to local communities across the UK. The paper concludes that a positive response to changes in heritage theory requires conservation to undertake its own theoretical work; this will involve a recognition of living buildings as central rather than peripheral both to conservation and to heritage more broadly, and a move towards a 'generative' understanding of significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the effects of legislative conditions that the Czech governmental recognition of the NRMs with Asian roots as religious organizations bring to the movements themselves. It strives to answer two interconnected questions: Is there a specific cultural or religious character of the demands which the Czech legislation put on the candidates for governmental recognition? What happens when NRMs with Asian roots react to these demands while striving for the status of recognized religious organization? The possibility that the set of characteristics assumed to define any religious organization in Czech law basically follows the pattern of the established Christian Churches, as a tentative answer to the first question, opens an important direction for finding answers to the second question. The article also provides summary and discussion of the legislative changes in the Czech Republic pertaining to these two questions, and describes the development of several NRMs with Asian roots in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A house of worship abroad, far from one's homeland is always more than religion for migrants, it plays useful roles such as place for social aggregation, mutual aid, welfare, supporting in dealing with burocracy or learning the language of the country of arrival. In chief, it is the suitable framework to preserve customs and musical practices of the countries of origin, and a metropolitan city like Rome, which has a demographic record concerning the residence of immigrants, it is a living testimony about the cultural richness that diasporic minorities have provided in Italy. The soundscape thus is enhancing despite the increasingly flintiness of the laws hindering the integration of migrants in recent years. These places of worship, in Rome, lie in civil or industrial buildings that are assigned to different communities, or they are "shared churches" welcoming different Christian religions. This article is about three volumes, Esengo, Al?ān and Galoba published by Neoclassica, in the series te MusicheMigranti and explores some "treasure chest of the motherland", experiences of religious music in three case studies: the Congolese Catholic church in the centre of Rome, the Coptic Orthodox church in a garage in the Tiburtina area and the Georgian church in the Monti district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses a significant research problem related to the typology and topography of early Christian baptisteries. After the historical and philological introduction, two main issues are discussed. The first is to present various architectural forms of baptisteries and their decorations. The second is to discuss the topography of baptisteries in church complexes. In conclusion, it was emphasized that in antiquity there was no type of building that would be characteristic of Christian baptisteries, and would clearly indicate the liturgical purpose of the building. The erection of baptisteries was also not guided by Christian symbolism, but existing architectural patterns were used, which the space could be adapted to the rites celebrated in them. It was also pointed out that there were no strictly defined rules for the location of baptistery in church complexes, because they were erected in various connections with the central object, which is the church. The Christian and liturgical purpose of the objects is indicated primarily by their decoration with a Christian theme and their location in the complexes of church buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Church in the World / Crkva u Svijetu is the property of University of Split, Catholic Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rupestrian churches are spaces obtained from excavation of soft rocks that are frequently found in many Mediterranean countries. In the present paper the church dedicated to Saints Andrew and Procopius, located close to the city of Monopoli in Apulia (Italy) is studied. On-site acoustical measures were made, obtaining a detailed description of the acoustics in the current state pointing out, thanks to a combination of analysis techniques, the presence of significant modal behavior in the low frequencies, causing reverberation time to be about 2 s, four times longer than in the other bands, as well as being strongly dependent on source and receiver position (with variations of about 1 s when source is moved outside the chancel). However, as the church is characterized by significant degradation of surfaces and large amounts of debris cover the floor, the original acoustic conditions can be expected to somewhat differ. Acoustical modelling can be very helpful in grasping the original conditions, but given the small dimensions of the space, conventional geometrical acoustic prediction methods cannot be applied to simulate the low-frequency behavior. Thus, the present paper proposes an application of finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) computation to simulate the low-frequency behavior and analyze a possible reconstruction of the original state. Results showed that a very good agreement was obtained between predictions and measurements, both in terms of resonance frequencies and reverberation times that differed by less than 5%. Modal response strongly affected the acoustical conditions also in the hypothetical reconstruction of the original state, although the sound field proved to be more uniform than in the current state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]