CHANGES IN THE RELATIONS OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES TO THE ROMA ON CZECH TERRITORY FROM 1918 TO THE PRESENT
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the forms and changes in the relations of Christian churches to the Roma in the Czech territory from 1918 to the present. At the beginning of the research I set out two main research questions. churches among the Roma on Czech territory from 1918 to the present? What is or has been the degree of participation of Roma in the church life of the individual Christian communities located near the most important Roma localities? An important part of the preparation for the research was also defining basic terms.
First of all, it was a matter of defining the characteristics of the churches under study and defining the "relationship of the churches to the Roma", which I framed in terms of missionary and pastoral work. The aim of the thesis was to show what ideas about missionary and pastoral work with Roma the representatives of the selected churches have and whether these ideas have changed in any way during the period under study.
At the same time, it was examined to what extent Roma participate in church life and what specific activities the representatives of the churches say they seek out and for what reason they prefer them. To answer these questions, I decided to divide the stages of the research and to use two research methods.
Through an online questionnaire survey, I was thus able to map the initial quantitative data, which I could then examine in more depth in semi-structured interviews in the qualitative part.