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Fall 2018

Simmons, Jonathan

This dissertation joins a vibrant conversation about atheism in Canada. Although the sociology of non-religion has exploded in the last decade, Canada remains an understudied component of atheism research. Consequently, the focus of this research is secularist activists in a major Canadian city,...

Fall 2009

Manca, Terra

Christian Science is one of several religious groups with doctrines that suggest that medical use hinders spiritual development and/or is ineffective. Because of the beliefs, Christian Science has faced controversy in both Canada and the United States, and experiences difficulty maintaining a...

Spring 2017

Muster, Janine

In this manuscript, the author unravels the journey of Next Christian Community, an Evangelical congregation in St. Albert, from being a subsidiary ministry within St. Albert Alliance Church, its mother church, to becoming its own independent entity through the lens of space. After Next Christian...

Fall 2020

Klippenstein, Kristian

As a broad classificatory category, new religious movements (NRMs) refers to groups as varied as they are unorthodox. As diverse emergent agents of restoration or change, the social transformations that their doctrines promote and behaviors achieve vary in both articulation and form. To cope with...

Spring 2012

Petruik, Courtney R

This study explored how seniors experience casino gambling and how they manage risks associated with casino play. The research focused on the patterns of seniors’ casino gambling, the purposes given for play, how seniors perceive and manage risk associated with casino gambling, and whether any...

Fall 2010

Willey, Robin D.

This manuscript traces the development of sexual abstinence and virginity as a commodity and describes how this development has contributed to modern conceptions of sexual abstinence. Within this analysis, the author provides what demographic and statistical information is available on abstinence...

Fall 2014

Joosse, James Paul

This dissertation interrogates the concept of ‘leaderless resistance.’ Traditionally defined as a strategy that allows for and encourages individuals or small cells to carry out acts of violence or sabotage entirely independent of any hierarchy of leadership or network of support, leaderless...

Fall 2009

Dunfield, Timothy

This thesis studies the benefits that a religious organization acquires from its identification of, and reaction to, “deviants” within it. If an organization is to continue growing while still maintaining a unique identity, periodically it must have deviant movements within it. Theoretically, I...

Fall 2015

Swanson, Kayla M

The quasi-religious space is important for examining groups and organizations that exhibit qualities of both the sacred and the secular, particularly when groups have a vested interest in being perceived as either secular or sacred. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Gentle Wind...

Fall 2017

Manca, Terra A

In recent years, narratives about various embellished and imaginary risks of vaccination have come under criticism because of their implications for the widespread acceptance of vaccines. Criticisms of these narratives often accompany assumptions that all mainstream health professionals accept,...