Dissertations / Theses: 'Anthropology of religion'

1

Gregor, Brian. "Anthropologia Crucis: A Philosophical Anthropology of the Cross." Thesis, Boston College, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3763.

Full text

Abstract:

Thesis advisor: Richard Kearney
What does the word of the cross mean for philosophical anthropology? That is my question in this dissertation, which undertakes a philosophical engagement with a word that is both a scandal and folly for philosophical wisdom. My task is to give a hermeneutical description of what I call the cruciform self, and to examine the significance of the cross for several key themes of philosophical anthropology. Because my focus is thematic, I engage with several interlocutors--most prominently Paul Ricoeur and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but also Luther, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Levinas, and Charles Taylor. Given the pronounced theological aspects of this project, a recurring theme is the relation between philosophy and faith, reason and revelation. The word of the cross interrogates anthropology as well as philosophy, and so I present a hermeneutics of the cruciform self as well as a distinctly cruciform philosophy. Chapter 1 outlines the hermeneutical turn in philosophical anthropology, and argues that the self is constituted in being addressed by an external word. Chapter 2 then draws on Luther's theology of the cross to sketch an ontology of justification by faith, in which the self is constituted by eschatological possibility rather than achieved actuality, and stands outside of itself with its identity in another, in promise rather than presence. Chapter 3 interprets sin and evil according to the image of incurvature--i.e., the self curved in on itself, cut off from its true relations to God, others, and itself. Chapter 4 then argues that this incurvature must be broken open by an external word. There I draw on Bonhoeffer's phenomenological christology, which identifies this word as Christ, the Counter-Logos who reverses the intentionality and interrogation of the immanent human logos. The chapters in Part II then use Bonhoeffer's account of the ultimate and the penultimate to show how the word of the cross refigures philosophical thinking about the concreteness and continuity of faith (Ch.5), human capability, agency, and ethical responsibility (Ch.6), reflexivity, self-understanding, and intentionality (Ch.7), and the tension between faith and religion (Ch.8)
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

2

Hinz, William. "Alan Watts' theological anthropology and its implications for religious education." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=60471.

Full text

Abstract:

To those individuals who felt alienated and disillusioned by traditional Western forms of religion, Alan Watts offered a different way of looking at the world and a new understanding of what it means to be religious. Borrowing heavily from Taoism, Zen Buddhism, Vendanta Hinduism and other Eastern traditions, Watts argues that our widely accepted notion of a person as an active, willing agent existing as a lonely island of consciousness is an illusion rooted in social and linguistic conventions.
In place of the typical Western image of God as an external personal being governing the universe by means of his omnipotent will and omniscient intellect, Watts argues in favour of the Eastern image of God as the mysterious depth and ground of all being.
If education is concerned with the task of enabling a person to grow and mature as a full human being and religion is concerned with fostering the uniquely human capacity to be fully present and open to the mystery and wonder of existence, then it follows that being educated and becoming religious are part of the same process. For Watts, religious education is characterized not according to a specific content but rather an underlying set of values which promote an awareness of humanity's interrelationship and interdependence with the rest of the universe.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

3

Yumul, Arusyak. "Religion, community and culture : the Turkish Armenians." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.334266.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

4

Zeitlyn, David. "Mambila traditional religion : Sua in Somié." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1990. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/237240.

Full text

Abstract:

This work is an analysis of Mambila religion based on fieldwork in Somié village, Cameroon. An ethnographic and historical introduction to the Mambila is followed by an account of their religious concepts. It is argued that, despite their adherence to Christianity (and to Islam), traditional practices continue to be of great importance in everyday life. In order to examine traditional practice descriptions are given of divination and oath-taking rites. Translated transcripts of the different forms of the sua-oath form the empirical core of the thesis. The transcripts illustrate the way that Mambila experience and understand the meaning of sua. Descriptions are also given of the sua masquerades. Finally I examine problems inherent in the analysis of non-literate societies lacking a reflective tradition, and in particular, societies lacking precise, structured religious concepts. This allows for discussion of resulting implications on the relationships between religion, politics and ‘symbolic power.’

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

5

Zackariasson, Ulf. "Forces by Which We Live : Religion and Religious Experience from the Perspective of a Pragmatic Philosophical Anthropology." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2002. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-1906.

Full text

Abstract:

This study argues that a pragmatic conception of religion would enable philosophers to make important contributions to our ability to handle concrete problems involving religion. The term 'philosophical anthropology', referring to different interpretative frameworks, which philosophers draw on to develop conceptions of human phenomena, is introduced. It is argued that the classical pragmatists embraced a philosophical anthropology significantly different from that embraced by most philosophers of religion; accordingly, pragmatism offers an alternative conception of religion. It is suggested that a conception of religion is superior to another if it makes more promising contributions to our ability to handle extra-philosophical problems of religion. A pragmatic philosophical anthropology urges us to view human practices as responses to shared experienced needs. Religious practices develop to resolve tensions in our views of life. The pictures of human flourishing they persent reconstruct our views of life, thereby allowing more significant interaction with the environment, and a more significant life. A modified version of reflective equilibrium is developed to show how we, on a pragmatic conception of religion, are able to supply resources for criticism and reform of religious practices, so the extra-philosophical problems of religion can be handled. Mainstream philosophy of religion attempts to offer such resources by presenting analogy-arguments from religious experience. Those arguments are, however, unconvincing. A comparison of the two conceptions of religion thus results in a recommendation to reconstruct philosophy of religion.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

6

MacKay, Donald Bruce. "Ethnicity and Israelite religion, the anthropology of social boundaries in judges." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ27686.pdf.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

7

Dargan, Geoffrey David. "The possible self : an exposition and analysis of metaphysical themes in Kierkegaard's theological anthropology." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:939bc331-d3af-4144-8aac-f6fa6be95f0b.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis proposes that Søren Kierkegaard's thought - in particular, his theological anthropology - is undergirded by an inchoate metaphysics of modality. It focuses on the concept of possibility (Danish: Mulighed), arguing that possibility is a primary ingredient of the Kierkegaardian self and serves as a kind of 'engine' for the development of the individual before God. Accordingly, viewing Kierkegaard's works through the lens of possibility is a fruitful way to gain new insights into his beliefs, and clarifies what he sought to express in his authorship. Kierkegaard, I argue, formulates a multilayered account of possibility that, while not abandoning metaphysics, re-frames possibility existentially, in terms of what the self may actually become, not only in and for itself but also in relation to God. One's selfhood and one's relation to God both require an ontology of possibility. His existential concerns arise from this metaphysical footing. This thesis then considers how possibility is integral to human selfhood. Genuine selfhood is an openness towards God's eternal possibility, rather than the self's attempting to create its own eternal possibilities via some other means of actualization. If the human person, by faith, becomes 'grounded in the absolute', then that person is becoming a self precisely because God is actualizing her possibilities. God is for Kierkegaard the source of all possibility. Theologically, Kierkegaard's conception of possibility presents us with ideas that may be fruitful in further discussion of God's attributes and the ways in which God is understood to relate to the created world. Anthropology, ontology, and theology are thus inextricably linked.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

8

Thorold, Alan Peter Hereward. "The Yao Muslims : religion and social change in southern Malawi." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1995. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/226813.

Full text

Abstract:

The African Muslim minority in Malawi has been identified with one particular linguistic group, the Yao. The dissertation begins with the problem of their conversion and adherence to Islam in the face of seemingly adverse circumstances. In exploring-solutions to this problem the emergence of a Yao identity is outlined and the politics of conversion are described. The narrative then moves on to the transformations of the Yao Muslims in the hundred years since their conversion. A model of religious change is developed that attempts to account for both the dynamics of change and the contemporary situation of Islam in southern Malawi. The Yao Muslims are shown to be divided into three competing and sometimes hostile factions that are termed the Sufis, the sukuti or 'quietist' movement and the new reformists. The appearance of these movements and their interaction with one another is described in relation to the questions of identity and religious practice. The model proposes a three phase scheme of Islamic change (appropriation and accommodation followed by internal reform and then the new reformist movement) that is defined in part by the relationship of the Yao Muslims to writing and the Book. It is suggested that a certain logic of transformation is endogenous to Islam as a religion of the Book and that the scripturalist tendencies of the reformist movement give it an advantage over the followers of Sufi practices, especially in the context of modern systems of communication and education. The general approach is that of an historical anthropology, linking notions of structured change to anthropological concerns with ritual and practice. The analysis concludes by raising questions about the nature of religious change in the context of an increasingly volatile world system and the place of the anthropology of religion in the understanding of modernity.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

9

Gibb, Camilla C. T. "Religion, politics and gender in Harar, Ethiopia." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.321548.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

10

Pettinger, Alasdair. "Irresistible charms : African religion and colonial discourse." Thesis, University of Essex, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.328351.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

11

Baker, Joseph O. "Teaching in the Sociology of Religion." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/5386.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

12

Tosetto, Guilherme Marcondes. "Entre o plastico e o simbolico = a festa de Corpus Christi revelada em imagens." [s.n.], 2009. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/284013.

Full text

Abstract:

Orientador: Etienne Ghislain Samain
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T20:33:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tosetto_GuilhermeMarcondes_M.pdf: 140775784 bytes, checksum: 30c8a56f4672bc35deae307dc59c4199 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009
Resumo: Esta dissertação tem como fio condutor o estudo das imagens dentro do campo da antropologia. A festa católica de Corpus Christi foi escolhida como objeto de pesquisa por ser uma importante celebração cultural e religiosa em nosso pais e que se manifesta através de sua visualidade. Explorá-la através de fotografias e iconografias nos permite conhecer a cultura humana a partir de uma experiência própria, num primeiro momento apresento o trajeto de pesquisa. Utilizando texto e imagem abro uma espécie de caderno de campo, onde relato os percursos e o método adotado nesta pesquisa. Num segundo momento apresento algumas iconografias, gravuras que contam a historia de Corpus Christi através de texto e imagem. São interessantes ao revelarem uma dinâmica única, que aqui denomino de imagens-narrativas, onde indicações numéricas e textos traçam um caminho de leitura destes quadros. Além desta primeira abordagem estrutural, busco entender como o sagrado e o humano são revelados nestas gravuras, e como texto e imagem são utilizados nestas representações. A importância deste trabalho está em revelar como texto e imagem podem ter suas potencialidades máximas exploradas a partir do encontro dessas formas de comunicação humana, e inseridos no campo da antropologia podemos ir ao encontro dos nós que conectam os estudos da imagem e sociedade.
Abstract: This work has as its leading thread the study of images in the anthropological Field. The catholic party of Corpus Christi was chosen as a research object for being an important cultural celebration in our country, which manifests itself mainly through visuality. Exploring it through photographs and iconographies provide us possibility of both plastic and symbolic approaches. Initially I introduce the research trajectory in which text and image reveal some notes I took, plus the work report, the pathways and the method taken in this research. Secondly I show some iconographies, engravings that tell the Corpus Christi's story also by text and images. These are interesting for revealing an unique dynamics, which I name here narrative-images, in which numeric indications and texts trace a reading path for these pictures. After this first structural approach, I attempt to understand how sacred and human are revealed in these engravings and how text and image are employed in these representations.This work's relevance lays in revealing how two forms of human communication, text and image, can have its maximum potentialities once they meet each other. Inserting these question in the anthropological field, we can get to know the connections that link studies on image and studies on society.
Mestrado
Multimeios
Mestre em Multimeios

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

13

Stafford, Charles Lester. "Good sons and soldiers : religion, education and the family in a Taiwanese village." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.245612.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

14

Haisell, Simon. "Indigenous modernity and its malcontents : family, religion and tradition in highland Ecuador." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/20072/.

Full text

Abstract:

A growing body of work on modern indigenous culture in the Andes has focused on various aspects of an urban, transnational and cosmopolitan identity. However, what does indigenous modernity mean in the poorest region of highland Ecuador, where indigenous identity continues to be associated with rural traditions, poverty, and racialised marginalisation? This research is based on ethnographic fieldwork in two rural communities in the canton of Guamote in central Ecuador. Looking at narratives of family life, religion, and tradition, it explores ambivalent engagements with modernity. In less than forty years Guamote has been transformed dramatically. Once the heartland of both the Catholic Church and the haciendas, land and local government is now in indigenous control, whilst Protestantism is steadily gaining converts in the communities. Meanwhile, the local economy has become dependent on domestic migration to the coast and the highland cities. However despite wide-ranging social, cultural and economic changes, Guamote remains an extremely poor and marginalised region. Rising aspirations have not been met and modernisation has brought its own problems. How has this frustrated modernity affected ethnic identity in Guamote? This thesis argues that, rather than understanding indigenous modernity as the hybridisation of tradition and modernity, it is more productive to look at the contemporary interaction of two frameworks of indigeneity - relatedness and alterity - that both have their roots in the colonial and postcolonial Andes. Through negotiating these related but distinct ways of being indigenous, people in Guamote make various decisions with regard to family, religion and tradition. In their nuanced and pragmatic responses to lives stretched out between city and community, and even between opposed religions, Guamoteños complicate the dichotomies of urban/rural and traditional/modern. Through stories of work and education, migration and conversion, drinking and dancing, this research explores what it means to be modern and indigenous in Ecuador.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

15

Mallikarachchi, Desmond Don. "Religion, ritual and the pantheon amongst the Sinhalese Buddhist traders of Kandy City, Sri Lanka." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.299347.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

16

Padgett, Douglas M. "Religion, memory, and imagination in Vietnamese California." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3255506.

Full text

Abstract:

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Religious Studies, 2007.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 19, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: A, page: 1023. Advisers: Robert A. Orsi; Jan Nattier.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

17

Reiss, Stephanie Rosel. "Religion and Resistance: African Baptist Churches in Virginia." W&M ScholarWorks, 1997. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539626089.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

18

Jafek, Timothy Bart 1968. "Community and religion in San Miguel Acatan, Guatemala, 1940 to 1960." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/291960.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis examines San Miguel as a cultural symbol in the Mayan community of San Miguel Acatan, Guatemala from 1940 to 1960. During the decades examined the community underwent a series of political, economic, social, and religious changes. This thesis focuses on the religious transformations. American Maryknoll priests were assigned in 1946 as the town's first full-time priests. They sought to 'convert the pagan Catholics' by introducing a universal form of Catholicism. Resistance to the efforts of the priests culminated in 1959, when San Miguel fled the town center to the nearby village of Chimban where a chapel was built for San Miguel and a market established. The traditional religious hierarchy moved to Chimban shortly afterwards. Within a year people from the town center kidnapped and burned Chimban's image of San Miguel. The thesis draws primarily on archival and oral history sources.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

19

Alhaj, Mustafa Mohamed Abdaljbar. "Colonial and Post-colonial Politics of Religion and Ethnicity : Historical Anthropology of Eastern Sudan Marginalization." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Paris 8, 2022. http://www.theses.fr/2022PA080043.

Full text

Abstract:

Cette thèse analyse l’histoire longue de la marginalisation économique et politique de l’Est du Soudan et la formation des classes sociales dans la région. Elle s’appuie sur un travail de terrain ethnographique mené dans l’Est du Soudan de 2017 à 2021 et faisant appel à des techniques et méthodes qualitatives (entretiens, observations, focus group discussion). Des sources locales écrites et des documents d’archives ont également été utilisés. Du point de vue théorique, en mobilisant des perspectives marxistes et postcoloniales, la thèse aborde la notion foucaultienne de « gouvernementalité » pour comprendre comment l’Indirect Rule coloniale a servit à catégoriser les populations autochtones à travers des identités religieuses et ethniques, en construisant des idéologies et des pratiques qui ont conditionné les dynamiques socioculturelles locales. La thèse soutient que sous la British Native Administration, « définir » signifiait « donner du pouvoir », et dans cette perspective, elle se concentre sur les processus de « formation des classes sociales » comme une clé de lecture majeure des configurations sociales contemporaines dans l’Est du Soudan. La thèse montre également comment les régimes post-indépendance ont sapé les formations socio-économiques et politiques coloniales afin de créer de nouvelles loyautés, alimentant de nouvelles contradictions et de nouveaux conflits entre les groupes locaux. Ce faisant, ils ont confirmé les principes de la politique coloniale en matière de religion et d’ethnicité et ont accru les conflits dans la région. À travers une approche historique, la thèse vise à questionner les racines d’une marginalisation de longue date de l’Est du Soudan, éclairant également les processus de troubles et d’instabilité dans la région, qui ont émergé depuis 2019, dans la période qui a suivi la Révolution de Décembre
This thesis analyses the long history of economic and political marginalization of Eastern Sudan and class formation in the region. The work is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Eastern Sudan from 2017 to 2021, by using qualitative techniques and methods (interviews, observations, focus group discussion). Written local sources and archival documents have also been used. From the theoretical point of view, employing Marxist and Postcolonial perspectives, the thesis tackles Foucault’s notion of “governmentality” to understand how the colonial Indirect Rule categorized native populations across religious and ethnic identities, building ideologies and practices which conditioned local socio-cultural dynamics. The thesis argues that under British Native Administration to “define” was to “empower”, and from this perspective it focuses on processes of “class formation” as a major reading key of contemporary social configurations in Eastern Sudan. The thesis also shows how the post-independence regimes undermined the colonial socio-economic and political formations in order to build new loyalties, fuelling new contradictions and conflicts among local groups. In doing so, they confirmed principles of colonial policy of religion and ethnicity and increased conflict in the region. Through an historical approach, the thesis aims to question the roots of a longstanding marginalization of Eastern Sudan, also shedding light on processes of unrest and instability in the region, that emerged since 2019 in the period that followed December Revolution

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

20

Bushman, Jesse Smith. "A Qualitative Analysis of the Non-LDS Experience in Utah." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 1995. http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/u?/MTAF,15591.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

21

Word, Jeanette. "Ritual and beyond: a field study of Black Pentecostalism." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1320417921.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

22

Dioba, Mélanie Zita. "Interprétation et croyance : le sens de la religion chez Ludwig Feuerbach." Thesis, Lille 3, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018LIL3H019/document.

Full text

Abstract:

Cette thèse porte sur la critique feuerbachienne de la religion. Nous proposons d'envisager cette critique à partir des concepts d'interprétation et de croyance. L'analyse rend compte des divers rapports réels ou imaginaires (mais parfois nécessaires) que la conscience entretient avec soi, avec les autres et avec le monde environnant. Il s'agit par-là de mettre en avant la méthode génético-critique, développée par Feuerbach, qui se veut une herméneutique du sens, comme direction et signification, qui se donne pour but de dévoiler, c'est-à-dire de mettre au jour et à jour la vraie signification de la religion, qui est une signification anthropologique (et non théologique). Expression naturelle et intrinsèque de l'essence humaine, fonction éternelle de l'esprit humain, la structure de la conscience religieuse se doit d'être réinterprétée selon Feuerbach - afin de sonner le glas de la fausse religion - qui se caractérise par un rapport faussé au réel - et de revenir à la vraie religion, la religion de et pour l'homme, dans laquelle ce dernier peut s'accomplir en tant qu'être libre et communautaire. Il s'agit donc pour Feuerbach non pas de supprimer ou d'oublier la religion, mais de la restaurer et peut-être de la réinventer. Pour réaliser cet objectif, Feuerbach s'est proposé de lire anthropologiquement la religion - plutôt que religieusement ou théologiquement. Il a ainsi fallu déplacer la critique vers un terrain séculier ; le but n'étant pas de contester la valeur, ni même la valeur historique du donné religieux, mais de rétablir le sens qui concorde avec la réalité humaine. C'est d'ailleurs sur cette base que Feuerbach propose sa philosophie de l'avenir en rapport avec cette nouvelle religion de l'homme qui exige un retour au sensible. On voit apparaître - à partir de cette nécessité de faire valoir le sens à travers les diverses expériences de conscience du sujet - un humanisme qui se présente à la fois comme athée et religieux. Mais ce qui semble relever du paradoxe mérite d'être analysé comme une possibilité de redéfinition des concepts d'athée et de religieux, de telle sorte qu'il n'apparaît pas nécessairement oxymorique - d'un point de vue général, mais surtout feuerbachien - de parler d'un athéisme religieux. Cela rejoint d'ailleurs le développement de thèmes plus actuels qui ne cessent d'accorder de la valeur et de faire place à cette possibilité de vivre le religieux ou la spiritualité autrement qu'en rapport avec des dogmes ou des pratiques codifiées. Notre thèse se propose ainsi de saisir l'intention, la valeur, l'envergure de la pensée de Feuerbach et surtout l'influence qu'elle a eu sur d'aitres pensées philosophiques
Our work deals with Feuerbachian criticism of religion. We consider that criticism from an articulation between interpretation and belief. This analysis reports on various, real or imaginary (but sometime necessary) relationship that consciousness has with itself, with others and the surrounding world. That is to highlight the genetics and critical method which claims to be a hermeneutics of meaning - as direction and meaning - which aims to unveil or uncover and update the true meaning of religion, which is an anthropological (and not theological) meaning. As natural and intrinsic expression of human essence, eternal function of human mind, the structure of religious consciousness must be reinterpreted, according to Feuerbach, in order to spell the end of/sound the death knell for false religion - which is characterized by a distorted relationship to the real - and return to the true religion, the religion of Man in which the latter can be fulfilled as a free and communal being. For Feuerbach, therefore, it is not a question of suppressing or forgetting religion, but of restoring it and perhaps reinventing it. To achieve this goal, Feuerbach proposed to anthropologvically read religion - rather than religiously or theologically. For that it was necessary to move thet criticism to a secular ground/field. Disputing the value, nor the historical value of religions data, is not the objective. Feuerbach wants to restore the meaning which aligns with human reality. It is on this basis that Feuerbach proposes his philosophy of the future in relation to this new religion of man which requires a feedback to the sensible. Then we can see - from the need and the urgency to let the meaning appears through the various experiences of subject consciousness - a humanism which is both atheistic and religious. But what seems to be the paradox deserves to be analyzed as a possibility for redefinition of the concepts of atheist and religious, in such a way that it is not necessarily oxymoronic - from a general point of view, but especially Feuerbachian one - to talk about a religious atheism. It also joins the development of more current topics/contemporary thems which, more and more, value and make room for this possibility of living religion or spirituality otherwise than in connection with dogmas or codified practices. Our thesis thus intends to grasp the intention, the value, the scale of Feuerbach's thought and especially the influence he had on other philosophical thoughts

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

23

McGuigan, Noel Damascus. "The social context of Abelam art : a comparison of art, religion and leadership in two Abelam communities." Thesis, University of Ulster, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.359352.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

24

Buckland, S. G. "Theology and the 'logic of practice' : a study with reference to Shona anthropology, history and religion." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.597057.

Full text

Abstract:

Like all practices, anthropological knowledge is situated (in space and time), laborious (taking time and labour, carrying a risk of failure), and directed (oriented in a direction). This situation, labour and direction are specifiable in social and political space, in history. Chapters Two and Three of this dissertation reconstruct the fieldwork and scriptural practices which in recent decades have produced anthropological accounts of some groups of the Shona-speaking peoples of Zimbabwe. Being a practice (or a set of practices), anthropological knowledge can itself become the object of a 'science of practices'. Chapter Four argues that a 'reflexive anthropology', which insists on knowing the social, political, and historical conditions of its own possibility, is necessary to pass beyond 'subjectivism' and 'objectivism' to an 'adequate science of practices'. At the level of theory, such reflexive knowledge quickly opens to an unresolvable infinite regress. It is at the level of practice, and relative to its own (often unspoken) project, that reflexive empiricism is intelligible. Speaking knowingly of God, Christian theology too is a form of laborious practice, situated within specifiable communities and directed within specifiable projects. However, since its holds that its knowledge is both situated, laborious and directed and also 'revealed', it is to an ultimate moral authority that theology lays claim. To speak not just knowingly but also responsibly about God, therefore, theology strains towards reflexive awareness of the social and political conditions of the possibility of its own knowledge, towards opening all its accounts of God's project to a reflexive critique. Its intelligibility is that of a practical form of hope in a future which, with God, remains radically unknown.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

25

Sumegi, Angela. "Dreams of wonder, dreams of deception: Tension and resolution between Buddhism and shamanism in Tibetan culture." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/28969.

Full text

Abstract:

This study explores the nature of dreams and dreaming in shamanism and Buddhism. It focuses on the specific case of Tibet where the indigenous layer of religious beliefs and practices has been dominated by Buddhism but continues to emerge as a vital presence in the religious world-view of Tibet. The three major divisions in this study are concerned with (1) the shamanic world-view and attitude towards dream, (2) the ancient Indian world-view and the Buddhist approach to dream, and (3) the use and meaning of dreams and dreaming in Tibetan culture. With regard to Tibetan attitudes to dream, it will be shown that conflicting statements and views expressing, on the one hand, the value of dream as a vehicle of prophecy and knowledge and, on the other, dismissing the world of dream as the ultra-illusions of an illusory world were present in the Indian Buddhist tradition that entered Tibet. However, in the Tibetan context, dream comes to play a heightened role in Buddhist religious life as a method of authenticating spiritual status and as a path to liberation. The Tibetan attitude toward dream is shown to encompass earlier contradictions, but also to involve an additional tension arising out of the Buddhist competition with, and eventual hegemony over, indigenous religious systems that also use dream to transmit and validate knowledge and religious power. These tensions are reflected in conflicting statements over dream that appear in Tibetan literature. Resolution and harmony, however, are possible because of a concept of interdependency and interconnectedness that is fundamental to both shamanism and Buddhism. I have proposed that the conflicting views on dream in Tibetan literature reflect a much more complex situation than is expressed in assigning the differing views to the categories of 'popular' and 'elite', and I have provided an alternate model for understanding the contradictory attitudes to dream in Tibetan Buddhism.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

26

Deconinck, Kate Yanina. "The Aftermath: Memorialization, Storytelling, and Walking at the 9/11 Tribute Center." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:15821956.

Full text

Abstract:

Located in the heart of Lower Manhattan, the 9/11 Tribute Center is a small memorial museum that commemorates the attacks of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath. Tribute’s five small galleries house numerous exhibits and artifacts; however, this museum is most widely recognized for its daily walking tours, which are led by individuals who hold direct connections to the attacks. These docents—who include survivors, first responders, rescue and recovery workers, local residents, and family members of the deceased—share historical information, statistics, and their own stories as they lead visitors around the new World Trade Center site. Drawing from four years of ethnographic research and interviews at this memorial museum, my dissertation argues that Tribute has been a site of profound meaning making for many individuals struggling to gain purchase on an event that shattered their lives. I employ an existential and phenomenological approach to show how everyday acts of memorialization, storytelling, and walking have allowed individuals to cultivate a sense of agency and restore intersubjective bonds. Case studies also illuminate the complex interplay between personal memory and collective memory at this site as docents attempt to navigate the space between private and public realms. In analyzing the continual negotiation of memory and discourse, I reveal how tensions can inhere when individual and official framings of the past diverge. Particular attention is given to the ambiguous place of religious narratives, histories, and interpretations of the past at Tribute, an institution that strives to remain religiously and politically neutral. I analyze the reasons why Tribute’s leaders have attempted to prohibit conversations about religion from their site while also pointing to some of the consequences—both individual and social—of their framing. Ultimately, this dissertation makes two important contributions to the field of Religious Studies. First, this work moves beyond conventional frames of reference to analyze the manifold resources (whether conventionally called “religious” or not) upon which humans draw to reconstruct viable lives in the wake of a trauma. And, second, it examines how institutional ideas about religion can shape exhibits, tours, and larger public perceptions of an event.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

27

Vlassidis, Burgoa Maria Cristina. "Sobre La Marcha: The Fiesta of Santiago Apostol in Loiza, Puerto Rico." Thesis, Harvard University, 2016. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27194249.

Full text

Abstract:

The annual Fiesta of Santiago Apóstol is the most significant religious festival in Loíza, Puerto Rico. This dissertation examines this religious ritual applying an indigenous methodological approach I call sobre la marcha, meaning “on the move.” Sobre la marcha places at the center the voices and the stories of the people of Loíza. Focusing on people’s every day lives, or lo cotidiano, I bring to the forefront people’s lived experiences, their individual perspectives, and their indigenous ways of being. This ethnographic approach is known as ethnographies of the particular, privileging the people’s own stories, their feelings, sufferings, contradictions, aspirations, hopes, etc. Beginning with the lived experiences of a limited number of people who identify as Loiceños (natives of Loíza), their voices illuminate the complex movements great and small that are part of their quotidian experiences, lo cotidiano. This includes testimonies from a local artist and an Espiritista practitioner, who speak about the presence of the ancestors and the rituals that maintain a relationship between the living and the dead. The people known as Mantenedores, or keepers of the image of Santiago Apóstol, also share their stories of the miraculous apparition of Santiago Apóstol and how the Santiago came to live among the people of Loíza. Through the stories of the Mantenedores we get a glimpse of what it means to be a Mantenedor/a, their responsibilities, how the processions are organized, and how the people of Loíza express their devotion to Santiago Apóstol. Finally, I include a discussion about rescate de terrenos (land rescues) within the context of the gentrification of Loíza and the impact upon the people’s every day lives. As a coastal town, Loíza faces constant threat of indiscriminate tourism expansion. Gentrification displaces individuals and tears apart entire communities who risk losing their homes and their communally held cultural and religious rituals. In summary, this thesis examines The Fiesta of Santiago Apóstol, Espiritismo, and rescates de terreno (land rescues) in Loíza, Puerto Rico, through the oral testimonies of a limited number of people. Applying ethnographies of the particular, these oral testimonies show lo cotidiano, the day-to-day movements by the people and their connection to the movements within the processions of the Fiesta of Santiago Apóstol, the healing rituals of Espiritismo, and the rescates de terreno (land rescues). All of these movements come together sobre la marcha, on the move, and are filled with potentiality for transformation in the face of multiple oppressions.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

28

Sebestény, Anikó. "Les offrandes domestiques à Bali (Indonésie) comme point d'ancrage de la cohérence cérémonielle balinaise." Thesis, Paris 10, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015PA100198.

Full text

Abstract:

Le rituel de l'offrande domestique, petite cérémonie intégrée aux activités quotidiennes de la quasi-totalité des familles balinaises permet, par une analyse approfondie puis une mise en rapport avec d'autres niveaux, rituels et non-rituel, de la culture balinaise, d'éclairer certains principes structurants les rites balinais. L'espace domestique balinais est une unité fortement structurée par des principes déterminant la culture balinaise et c'est un noeud essentiel de leur transmission et maintien. La tournée d'offrandes quotidienne y met en valeur une série d'éléments en créant une atmosphère spécifique qui présuppose l'attention d'une entité invisible. Sur cette pratique ininterrompue viennent s'ajouter des rites ponctuels. Une partie essentielle de ce qui fait la culture balinaise est ancrée dans l'espace domestique et rappelé par les offrandes au quotidien. C'est la cas des principes hiérarchiques cruciaux que sont l'oppositions haut/bas et les directions cardinales hiérarchisées, qui se reflètent même dans les pratiques non rituelles comme l'orientation ou la direction du sommeil. L'homologie entre microcosme du corps et macrocosme de Bali passe par le microcosme de l'espace domestique. Le principe d'ancestralité, socle de l'appartenance à toute une série de groupes sociaux et à l'île de Bali est ancré par l'autel des ancêtres, et la relation émotionnelle aux défunts y est intégrée par des rituels funéraires complexes. Le style esthétique et la structure des offrandes balinaises et de la danse se retrouvent dès les petites offrandes canang déposées. Cette exploration révèle une vie rituelle d'une richesse et complexité fascinantes ancrées dans des espaces domestiques urbains abritant des personnes respectables n'étant pas des professionnels de la religion
The daily offering ritual, small ceremony integrated into the daily lives of most Balinese families, by its thorough analysis and comparison with other ritual and non-ritual levels of Balinese culture, helps shed light on some basic structuring principles of Balinese ritual life. The Balinese domestic space is a structured unit strongly determined by Balinese culture's essential principles, and it is also the knot that unites these principles and hence allows their transmission and maintenance. The daily domestic offerings create a specific atmosphere that presupposes the attention of invisible entities. An essential part of what constitutes Balinese culture is anchored into the domestic unit, and brought into attention by daily rituals. It is the case with the crucial hierarchical oppositions of high and low and the hierarchised cardinal directions, that are reflected even in non-ritual practice like daily orientation or the direction people turn when sleeping. The homology between the microcosm of the body and the microcosm of Bali or the Universe is mediated through the microcosm of the domestic space. The principle of ancestrality, the base through which Balinese are connected with a large series of social groups and even to the island, this principle is also anchored into the domestic space through the ancestor shrine, and the emotional bond connecting with the deceased ones is also integrated to it through complex funeral rituals. The aesthetic style and the structure of the offerings is there from the smallest canang offering, as is there the principle that leads to dance in larger ceremonies. This exploration reveals an incredibly rich and complex ritual life lead by ordinary respectable people who are not professionals in religion

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

29

Espinosa, Laurence. "Anthropologie d'une rencontre - Les Sotho dans les écrits des pionniers de la Société des Missions Evangéliques de Paris au XIXe siècle (1830-1880)." Thesis, Pau, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014PAUU1004/document.

Full text

Abstract:

Cette étude anthropologique est une interrogation sur la possibilité d’une rencontre entre les Sotho de l’Afrique australe et des missionnaires de la Société des missions évangéliques de Paris au XIXe siècle. Elle est un exercice de « sur-écriture » à partir de l’analyse renouvelée de textes insérés dans les Journaux des missions évangéliques. Trois partis pris principaux guident cette exploration. D’abord, si la rencontre a eu lieu, qu’en est-il de sa répartition ? La première piste suivie invite à se questionner sur les modalités des contacts avec l’ensemble des Sotho, la femme Sotho ou le chef Moshoeshoe. Ensuite, si Dieu a conduit les religieux auprès des Africains, omniprésent, il n’est pas que surplombant. Le second point aborde la question de la matérialité de Dieu comme pour le toucher et éventuellement atteindre la rencontre. Enfin, les Sotho, hôtes des missionnaires, deviennent les otages des narrateurs. Leurs adversaires, les autres Africains, croisés par les évangélisateurs sont-ils l’Autre dont l’absence ne peut que remettre en cause toute idée de rencontre ?
This anthropological study is an interrogation about a possible talks between Sotho of Southern Africa and missionaries of the French 'Société des missions évangéliques de Paris' during the 19th century. It is an exercise of transcription from renewed analysis of write-ups published in journals of evangelical missions. Three major preconceptions have guided this analysis so far. First of all, if meetings took place, what was the occurrence of such events? The first trail questions the modalities of the contacts with the Sotho together, the Sotho woman or with the chief Moshoeshoe. Then, if God has led clergymen to the Africans, omnipresent God is not only overhanging. The second point deals with the materiality of God so as to touch him and eventually reach the meeting. Finally the Sotho, hosts of the missionaries, became the hostages of the storytellers. Are the Sotho's opponents, the other Africans who were met by the evangelists, the ones whose absence may lead to reconsidering the idea of meeting?

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

30

Cortez, Neil Andrew C. "Towards a cultural psychology of religion| Differences between American and Chinese expressions on religiosity." Thesis, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Psychology, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3721026.

Full text

Abstract:

Current psychological research into religiosity can be located into two paradigms: the cross-cultural psychology interpretive tradition and the cultural psychology interpretive tradition. To generate support for the latter paradigm, American and Mainland Chinese respondents were asked to describe a religious or spiritual other as a way of exploring the impact of individualism-collectivism cultural values on expressions of religiosity. Statements from Chinese respondents were expected to have more socially related content compared to American respondents. Responses were analyzed using a linguistic analysis computer program with attention given to social process, family, friends, and humans content. Raters were also instructed to generate categories based on the content of the responses. No significant differences were found between American and Mainland Chinese respondents on all four content categories. Religious self-rating was found to significantly predict family content, while religious and spiritual self-ratings significantly predicted humans content. Raters also generated 11 categories from American responses, and 10 categories from Mainland Chinese responses. Methodological and theoretical implications are also discussed.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

31

Martins, Felipe Assunção. "A encarnação da filosofia: uma análise da filosofia da sensibilidade de Ludwig Feuerbach." Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2016. http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/5936.

Full text

Abstract:

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-08-12T20:29:21Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Felipe Assunção Martins - 2016.pdf: 2954830 bytes, checksum: 3eb77553e22b23bcdae3be3e02d45fac (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-08-15T13:52:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Felipe Assunção Martins - 2016.pdf: 2954830 bytes, checksum: 3eb77553e22b23bcdae3be3e02d45fac (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-15T13:52:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Felipe Assunção Martins - 2016.pdf: 2954830 bytes, checksum: 3eb77553e22b23bcdae3be3e02d45fac (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-29
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
The thought of Ludwig Feuerbach, when we realize its true dimension and scope, is far from being limited to a simple critique of religion and Christianity. The almost universal label of a atheistic seems to pursue him, generating impoverishing interpretations of his thought. However, if we look at the movement of his works - which we limit ourselves, for various reasons, to the period from 1839 until 1843 - we can identify a more relevant subject: the attempt to give a new meaning to the Human Sensibility within the philosophical tradition. In that direction, we can understand his juvenile works, passing by the Essence of Christianity, and arraving to his later "philosophy of the future." The image of this development as an "incarnation" also summarizes the evolution, accompanied here chronologically, of the Feuerbachian philosophy from the unfolding of a post-Hegelian scene, with the claim for a "realization of the idea" yet in the Hegelian horizon, to his emancipation and formation of an authentically "incarnated philosophy" in the human figure and in the sensibility ground..
O pensamento de Ludwig Feuerbach, quando bem se apercebe sua dimensão e alcance, está longe de estar limitado à uma simples crítica da religião e do cristianismo. O quase generalizado rótulo de ateísta parece persegui-lo, gerando interpretações empobrecedoras do seu pensamento. Contudo, se observarmos o movimento de suas obras – das quais nos limitamos, por diversos motivos, ao período de 1839 até 1843 - podemos identificar um eixo temático mais relevante: a tentativa de revalorização para a filosofia dos aspectos sensíveis do homem. Sob esse prisma, podemos compreender tanto as obras juvenis, passando pela própria A Essência do Cristianismo, e chegando à sua posterior “filosofia do futuro”. A imagem desse desenvolvimento como uma “encarnação” sintetiza também a própria evolução da filosofia feuerbachiana que, acompanhada aqui cronologicamente, se desdobra desde um cenário pós-hegeliano, cuja reinvindicação inicial da “realização da ideia” se prende ainda no horizonte do hegelianismo, até a sua emancipação e formação de uma filosofia autenticamente encarnada na figura humana e na sensibilidade da qual está completamente submetida.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

32

Jeppson, Karolina. "Gender, religion and society : a study of women and convent life in coptic orthodox Egypt." Thesis, Uppsala University, Cultural Anthropology, 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-3641.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

33

Wong, Wai Yip. "Reconstructing John Hick's theory of religious pluralism : a Chinese folk religion's perspective." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2012. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/3627/.

Full text

Abstract:

Hick’s pluralist assumption has remained the most knowable model of religious pluralism in the last few decades. Many have, from the perspectives of various major world religions, questioned his notion that the teachings of all religions are derived from the same Absolute Truth and that salvific-end is one, yet little attention has been paid to the traditions that he graded as unauthentic and non-valuable according to his soteriological and ethical criteriology. The purpose of this thesis was to demonstrate the exclusiveness of Hick’s model by describing a tradition called “Chinese Folk Religion” that does not fit into his definition of ‘authentic religion’. As the study suggested, his understanding of the world religious situation is over-generalised and simplified, and his particular criteriology does not treat all traditions fairly or pluralistically. As a response, this thesis proposed a more inclusive theory that also integrates the currently disregarded tradition into the interpretation.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

34

Hossain, Makshuda. "Women’s education, religion and fertility in Bangladesh." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148750.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

35

Wilson, Tracie L. ""Wild nature" globalization, identity, and the performance of Polish environmentalism /." [Bloomington, Ind] : Indiana University, 2005. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3167804.

Full text

Abstract:

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, 2005.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-04, Section: A, page: 1455. Adviser: Beverly J. Stoeltje. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Nov. 15, 2006)."

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

36

Elofer, Richard. "Attractions and hindrances in the proclamation of the Gospel to Jews." Thesis, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Intercultural Studies, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3558045.

Full text

Abstract:

This study explores the attractions that make for a successful ministry among Jews, and the hindrances that have impeded, and continue to impede, that mission. It begins with an overview of the theological, historical and missiological frameworks of this ministry, and then introduces the results of fieldwork done in Israel through interviews, case studies, observations, focus groups, and surveys, supplemented by other relevant literature that, altogether, forms a data base for strategizing future missionary work.

Non-believing Jews and Jews who had accepted Yeshua—so called Messianic Jews were asked what motivated them to either accept Yeshua as the Messiah or to reject him. From their responses the researcher has established a list of eighty-seven attractions. Among the most important inducements to conversion are: reading the New Testament, discovering Yeshua the Jew, and a witnessing friend or family member. Parallel with this list of attractions, the researcher has compiled a list of forty-five hindrances (theological, historical and sociological), among which are, most importantly: family opposition, fear of giving up one's Jewish identity, Christian doctrines (trinity, supersessionism…) and the Church's traditional anti-Judaism.

A second focus is on leadership. Here the researcher explores the differences between a secular and religious leader; the necessity of an effective training; and the need for contextual preparation, in which the Mission to the Jews is undertaken by persons who are equipped to effectively lead in a cross-cultural ministry and contextualized congregations.

\This leads us to our third focus, on contextual issues. A ministry among Jews must be a contextualized ministry. It is supported in this study by a presentation of a positive view of Jews and a friendly Christian theology based on the awareness of the Jewishness of Yeshua, which is one of the first attractions for Jews.

This study concludes with recommendations and applications to leaders of the World Jewish Adventist Friendship Center, which minister to Jews. Jews don't lose their own Jewish identity in accepting Jesus but fulfill themselves in the Messiah, which, pragmatically, means retaining Jewish rituals that are compatible with Yeshua's message.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

37

Bakker, Sarah. "Fragments of a liturgical world| Syriac Christianity and the Dutch multiculturalism debates." Thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3589305.

Full text

Abstract:

This dissertation explores the reconfiguration of Syriac Orthodox liturgical tradition among Aramaic-speaking Christian refugees in the Netherlands. Under the pressures of Dutch integration policy and the global politics of secular recognition, the Syriac liturgy is rapidly losing its significance as the central axis of social life and kinship-relations in the Syriac Orthodox diaspora. As such, it has become a site for debate over how to be religiously, culturally, and ethnically distinct despite the narrative binary of Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East that dominates Dutch multiculturalism discourse. Every week, young Syriac Orthodox women and men congregate at their churches to practice singing the liturgy in classical Syriac. What they sing, and how they decide to sing it, mediates their experiments in religious and ethical reinvention, with implications for their efforts at political representation. Singers contend not only with conditions of inaudibility produced by histories of ethnic cleansing, migration, and assimilation, but also with the fragments of European Christianity that shape the sensory regime of secular modernity. Public debates over the integration of religious minorities illuminate this condition of fragmentation, as well as the contest over competing conceptions of ethical personhood inherent in the politics of pluralism in Europe.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

38

El, Obaid El Obaid Ahmed. "Human rights and cultural diversity in Islamic Africa." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34495.

Full text

Abstract:

This thesis establishes a framework for analysing and evaluating human rights within the contexts of global, African-Islamic and Sudanese cultural diversity. The normative impact of culture on international human rights is viewed from the perspective that culture is adaptive and flexible. African-lslamic culture, as exemplified by the Sudan, is no exception.
The first part of this thesis advances a theoretical framework for recognition of cultural diversity and its impact on human rights. Recognition of change as an integral part of culture is vital for a successful mobilisation of internal cultural norms to the support of international human rights. An important conclusion is that ruling elites and those engaged in human rights violations have no valid claim of cultural legitimacy.
The second part of the thesis examines the notion of human rights in traditional Africa and under Shari'a with a specific focus on conceptions of the individual, the nation-state and international law. It is argued that the African-Islamic context is an amalgam of both communitarianism and individualism; further, that the corrupt and oppressive nature of the nation-state in Islamic Africa demands an effective implementation of human rights as set out in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
It is suggested in the third part of the thesis that three of the rights included in the African Charter are paramount to effective human rights protection in Islamic Africa: the right to self-determination, the right to freedom of expression and the right to participate in public life. These rights are examined within the Sudanese context in order to provide a more concrete illustration of their potential implementation. The dynamics of Sudanese culture are explored to exemplify a culturally responsive implementation of these rights.
This thesis contributes to the debate on the role of culture in enhancing the binding force of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It aims to inspire pragmatic discussion on the need for effective protection of human rights in order to alleviate the suffering of millions of Africans under existing ruthless and shameless regimes.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

39

Shuttleworth, Judy. "'Keeping the lamp burning' : a study of a mosque congregation in London." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3599/.

Full text

Abstract:

This research explores the different forms of religious practice within a mosque in north London. It was built by one migrant group, the Guyanese, but the congregation includes those from different Muslim communities now living in the vicinity. These different communities have brought with them their own religious traditions. The ritual of Friday prayer brings this diverse group together as a congregation but the mosque is also a space for the communal life of the Guyanese and those who share their way of being Muslim, while globalised currents of thinking are apparent in the work of a Guyanese preacher who teaches an explicitly text based Islam in classes and lectures. My research examines the different ways in which Islam is present within these three domains and the relationship between them within the context of the mosque. The research contributes to the idea of ‘mundane Islam’ and ‘everyday religion’ through an exploration of the implicit, unsystematic way of being Muslim lived by the Guyanese and the everyday relational concerns and ethical commitments it carries. Though the classes offered the very different view of Islam to which the teacher was committed, one purified of cultural traditions, the women who attended them brought the complexity and ambiguity of the mundane back into the process of religious transmission.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

40

Reynell, J. "Honour, nurture and festivity : aspects of female religiosity amongst Jain women in Jaipur." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1985. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272927.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

41

Ogunnaike, Oludamini. "Sufism and Ifa: Ways of Knowing in Two West African Intellectual Traditions." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:23845406.

Full text

Abstract:

This dissertation examines and compares the epistemologies of two of the most popular West African intellectual traditions: Tijani Sufism and Ifa. Employing theories native to the traditions themselves and contemporary oral and textual sources, I examine how these traditions answer the questions: What is knowledge? How is it acquired? And How is it verified? Or more simply, “What do you know?,” “How did you come to know it?,” and “How do you know that you know?” After analyzing each tradition separately, and on its own terms, I compare them to each other and to certain contemporary, Western theories. Despite having relatively limited historical contact, I conclude that the epistemologies of both traditions are based on forms of self-knowledge in which the knowing subject and known object are one. As a result, ritual practices that transform the knowing subject are key to cultivating these modes of knowledge. Therefore I argue that like the philosophical traditions of Greek antiquity, the intellectual or philosophical dimensions of Tijani Sufism and Ifa must be understood and should be studied as a part of a larger project of ritual self-transformation designed to cultivate an ideal mode of being, or way of life, which is also an ideal mode of knowing. I further assert that both traditions offer distinct and compelling perspectives on, and approaches to, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, psychology, and ritual practice, which I suggest and begin to develop through comparison.
African and African American Studies

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

42

Cabot, Zayin Lawrence. "Ecologies of participation| In between shamans, diviners, and metaphysicians." Thesis, California Institute of Integral Studies, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3606921.

Full text

Abstract:

This dissertation revolves around the riddle of how to honor seemingly disparate traditions such as West African (Dagara) divinatory practices and Western philosophical praxis. The project, following the participatory approach of Jorge Ferrer and Jacob Sherman, sets out to honor these differences by embracing the agapeic-erotic metaphysics of William Desmond, and in so doing delimits modern distinctions between science, philosophy, religion, and anthropology. Rather than move beyond the important scholarly contributions of these fields, however, this dissertation embarks on an interdisciplinary adventure between these traditions by critically reading the work of Philippe Descola and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro in parallel with Desmond. This project articulates multiple ecologies of participation, with totemism, animism, and naturalism foremost among them. It clarifies how Descola and Viveiros de Castro's robust reading of animist/Amerindian shamanic perspectivism is in keeping with Ferrer and Sherman's participatory enaction. It is critical of Viveiros de Castro's dismissal of totemism as overly abstract, as well as Descola's conflation of naturalism solely with post-Enlightenment thought, and his broad use of the category of analogism to include disparate traditions such as Vedic, Ancient Chinese, Greek, West African, and Central American thought. By way of clarifying this critique, this dissertation applies the same participatory understanding offered to animism by Descola and Viveiros de Castro to both totemic (divinatory) and naturalist (metaphysical/philosophical) enactions, placing all three under the broader heading of ecological perspectivism. The subsequent comparative lens allows for a more balanced reading of these three ecologies by broadening the use of these terms. By including the work of Desmond, it also answers important concerns leveled by critics regarding the metaphysical underpinnings of Descola and Viveiros de Castro's assertions regarding ontological relativity. In so doing, this project sets the stage for renewed dialogue between what are often seen as radically divergent traditions (e.g., the animism of the Achuar, the totemism of the Guugu Yimithirr, and the naturalism of modern science).

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

43

Elliott, Mark 1948. "Archaeology, Bible and interpretation: 1900-1930." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288877.

Full text

Abstract:

This is a study of the interpretation of archaeological data by Anglo-American Bible scholars, though the emphasis is primarily American, in scholarly and popular publications from 1900-1930. The major archaeological research interest for many Anglo-American biblical scholars was its direct reflection on the biblical record. Many were devout and reared on a literal reading of Scripture. Traditional scholars insisted that the function of archaeology was to provide evidence to validate the Bible and to disprove higher criticism. They were clearly motivated by theological concerns and created an archaeology of faith that authenticated the word of the Lord and protected Christian doctrines. Liberal or mainstream scholars rejected conservative methods that simply collated archaeological data to attack the documentary hypothesis and its supporters. Several eminent Bible scholars developed important studies on the interpretation of archaeological results from Palestine. They participated eagerly in analyzing archaeological material and refused to concede the field of biblical archaeology to theologically-motivated conservative scholars and theologians. They were determined to conduct important investigations of the archaeological evidence free from theological bias. Palestinian excavations lacked the spectacular architectural and inscriptural remains unearthed in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The popular press did occasionally report on the progress of several excavations from Palestine, but, for the most part, Palestinian excavations concentrated on tells and pottery and the results were disappointing. However, by the 1920s the New York Times was a major source of information concerning archaeological news and frequently carried stories that indicated that archaeology was confirming the biblical record and many of the Bible's revered figures. The Times played a vital role in popularizing biblical archaeology and contributed many illustrations of amazing archaeological discoveries that "proved" the historicity of the biblical text. W. F. Albright's scholarly conclusions in the 1920s were moderate. Albright's scholarship was not motivated by theological concerns as many have assumed. Though his religious convictions were assuredly conservative, his scholarship had little in common with the tendentious archaeological assumptions created by conservative Bible scholars and theologians. Albright's interpretations were based on the archaeological data and not on theological dogma.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

44

Diez, Alejandro. "Reading Fuenzalida." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2012. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/80349.

Full text

Abstract:

El artículo proporciona un breve recuento de la trayectoria antropológica de Fernando Fuenzalida a partir de sus principales obras. El trabajo antropológico del autor Fuenzalida puede ser rastreado a lo largo de una serie de etapas que marcan una serie de transformaciones tanto en la sociedad como en el sujeto del análisis, la interpretación y el enfoque desarrollados por el autor. A lo largo de cuatro décadas pasa de un enfoque etnográfico centrado en temas «culturales» a enfoques que privilegian la política y la transformación social, para retornar en los últimos años a temas globales y culturales.
This article offers a brief account of Fernando Fuenzalida’s intelectual trajectory. His anthropological research can be tracked along several stages that show a series of transformations in society, as well as in the subject of analysis, and interpretation, and in his approach to the subject-matter. Throughout four decades he switches from an ethnographic approach centered on culture to approaches that give more importance to political and social transformation. In recent years he returns to global and cultural topics.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

45

Walters, Christopher P. "Theology and technology humanity in process /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2008. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p077-0121.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

46

Brusi, Frédéric. "Sufiland - Everyday life with the living dead in Upper Egypt." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Avdelningen för mellanösternstudier, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-120641.

Full text

Abstract:

This paper describes how everyday muslims with no formal (or weak) affiliation to sufi brotherhoods in Upper Egypt practice and relate to sufism as a grand scheme or larger islamic tradition. The thesis highlights the importance of islamic sainthood in everyday religion, whereby the saintly dead are regarded as acting intermediaries between the divine and the worldly realms. Saints, holy people and blessed places are given agency through divine blessings, thus allowing villagers to partake in a larger islamic tradition through the mediation of– or cult connected to saints. This paper intends to demonstrate that an islamic concept of sanctity in muslim environments does not only exist historically, but is central to the contemporary religious landscape of Upper Egypt.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

47

Mahieddin, Émir. "Faire le travail de Dieu : une anthropologie morale du pentecôtisme en Suède contemporaine." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM3069.

Full text

Abstract:

Comment se fait-on sujet de Dieu dans une société envisagée comme l’une « des plus sécularisées du monde » ? Dieu exerce-t-il un pouvoir sur les humains ? Quels sont les rouages du changement moral dans le domaine religieux ? C’est autour de ce faisceau de questionnements que s’est construit ce travail de recherche, en prenant le milieu pentecôtiste suédois comme étude de cas ethnographique. Le contexte nordique est un contrepoint comparatif heuristique pour l’anthropologie du christianisme. Il permet de mener une discussion critique avec de nombreux travaux menés dans les « pays du Sud ». En Suède, les pentecôtistes engagent en effet une « conversation » avec d’autres forces que celles qui sont si prégnantes ailleurs. Les variables économiques, sociales ou politiques y sont bien différentes et les agents de la surnature des systèmes de croyances coutumiers en sont absents. Ici, c’est le « séculier », à la fois comme régime de subjectivation et comme figure plus ou moins imaginée de l’altérité de l’intérieur, qui devient l’interlocuteur privilégié et l’alter ego de référence dans la construction des subjectivités chrétiennes. À l’intersection entre anthropologie du christianisme et anthropologie morale, il est question dans ce travail de penser les techniques de subjectivation morale des pentecôtistes en Suède comme autant de manières de rendre Dieu co-présent au monde. Il s’agit de voir comment ce dispositif de construction de soi et de transformation du monde, que les pentecôtistes appellent le « travail de Dieu », se réarticule et se renouvelle en permanence le long de la frontière instable et poreuse entre le religieux et le séculier
How does one shape oneself as a subject of God in a society that is purportedly « one of the most secularized in the world »? Does God have a power over human beings? What are the mechanics of moral change in the religious field? The research presented here is based on these general questions, using the Swedish Pentecostal milieu as a specific ethnographic case study. The Nordic context offers a heuristic comparative counterpoint for the anthropology of Christianity. It provides the discipline with ethnographic data allowing a critical discussion of the many studies carried out in developing countries. Indeed, Swedish Pentecostals can be observed engaging a conversation with significant forces different than elsewhere. In Sweden, social, political and economic variables are very different and the supernatural agents of customary systems of belief are absent. It is the secular, both as a subjectivation mode and as a more or less imagined « other » from the inside, that becomes the privileged interlocutor and prime alter ego in the shaping of Christian subjectivities. At the intersection of the anthropology of Christianity and moral anthropology, this work deals with the techniques of moral subjectivation, all of them being ways of making God present to the human world. This research questions the ways in which this self-fashioning and world-transformation apparatus, that Pentecostals call the « Work of God », permanently (re)adjusts itself along the porous and unstable boundary between the religious and the secular

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

48

Cochran, Bradley R. "Justification in Aquinas: Pauline Foundations, Aristotelian Anthropology and Ecumenical Promise." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1430207582.

Full text

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

49

Baker, Joseph O., Samuel Stroope, and Mark H. Walker. "Secularity, Religiosity, and Health: Physical and Mental Health Differences between Atheists, Agnostics, and Nonaffiliated Theists Compared to Religiously Affiliated Individuals." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/5383.

Full text

Abstract:

Extensive literature in the social and medical sciences link religiosity to positive health outcomes. Conversely it is often assumed that secularity carries negative consequences for health; however, recent research outlining different types of secular individuals complicates this assumption. Using a national sample of American adults, we compare physical and mental health outcomes for atheists, agnostics, religiously nonaffiliated theists, and theistic members of organized religious traditions. Results indicate better physical health outcomes for atheists compared to other secular individuals and members of some religious traditions. Atheists also reported significantly lower levels of psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion) compared to both other seculars and members of most religious traditions. In contrast, physical and mental health were significantly worse for nonaffiliated theists compared to other seculars and religious affiliates on most outcomes. These findings highlight the necessity of distinguishing among different types of secular individuals in future research on health.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

50

Antonio, Leonardo Siqueira. "Entre as injustiças e os sofrimentos: uma etnografia dos modelos societários produzidos por programas televisivos religiosos." Universidade de São Paulo, 2018. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8134/tde-01112018-193958/.

Full text

Abstract:

Esta tese está inserida no debate da relação entre religião e televisão e possui como objetivo analisar as práticas discursivas de atores religiosos no contexto televisivo, comparando três programas de três canais brasileiros distintos. o \"Em Pauta\" da Rede católica Canção Nova, o \"Mundo Maior Repórter\" da TV Mundo Maior, e o \"Fala que eu te escuto\" da Igreja Universal - para estabelecer as semelhanças e as idiossincrasias de cada um, analisando as categorias mobilizadas, o repertório posto em cena, e os significados e as variações semânticas dos termos. Esses programas, do modelo debate, possuem uma determinada configuração: propõem debates de questões candentes da sociedade brasileira; possuem três posições de fala- a figura do especialista no tema da polêmica, o âncora, responsável pelo gerenciamento do debate, e sujeitos anônimos que calcam a argumentação na própria vivência e experiência-; e, por fim, um estilo argumentativo pautado pelo jargão \"jurídico\", \"científico\" e do \"sofrimento\". Vale destacar ainda que produzem, na sua dinâmica, ordenamentos sociais, isto é, eles são modelo teóricos da sociedade que prescrevem a relação da religião com a sociedade. Desse modo, eles participam de um debate público que pretende definir suas posições na ordem social.
This thesis is inserted in the debate of the relationship between religion and television and aims to analyze the discursive practices of religious actors in the television context, comparing three programs from three different Brazilian channels. - The \"Em Pauta\" of the Rede católica Canção Nova, the \"Mundo Maior Repórter\" of TV Mundo Maior, and the \"Fala que eu te escuto\" from the Igreja Universal- to establish the similarities and idiosyncrasies of each one, analyzing the categories mobilized, the repertoire put on the scene, and the meanings and the semantic variations of the terms. These programs, of the debate model, have a certain configuration: they propose debates on burning issues of Brazilian society; they have three positions of speech - the figure of the expert on the theme of controversy, the \"centralizing presenter\", responsible for the management of the debate, and anonymous subjects who put the argument in their own life trajectory and experience; and, finally, an argumentative style based on \"legal\", \"scientific\" and \"suffering\" jargon. It is also worth mentioning that they produce, in their dynamics, social orderings, that is, they are the theoretical model of society that prescribes the relationship between religion and society. In this way, they participate in a public debate that intends to define their positions in the social order.

APA, Harvard, Vancouver, ISO, and other styles

Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Anthropology of religion'

Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles