Dissertations / Theses: 'Religious anthropology'

1

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Baker, Joseph O., and Gerardo Marti. "Is the Religious Left Resurgent?" Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/7804.

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Journalistic sources seem to suggest that there has been a resurgence of the American Religious Left (i.e., politically liberal Christians who support progressive agendas) in the wake of the strong support from the conservative Christian right in the 2016 presidential election of Donald J. Trump. Using quantitative analysis, we draw on survey data from the General Social Survey, the Public Religion Research Institute, and the National Congregations Study to assess the possibility of a resurgence among the Religious Left. In comparison with a speculated rise, our analysis indicates a notable decline in both the prevalence and engagement of Americans who self-identify as both religious and politically liberal. Not only is the constituency of the Religious Left shrinking, they have also been steadily disengaging from political activity in the last decade. Especially when looking at more recent elections, it has been those among the Secular Left who have been the most politically engaged. We summarize these empirical patterns in relation to the Religious Right and consider the potential for influence among the Religious Left aside from electoral politics. We also briefly consider other possibilities for their political impact and reflect on the inadequacy of the label “Religious Left” for capturing important dynamics. In the end, we urge greater attention to politics among sociologists of religion, providing a set of research questions to consider in light of the upcoming American 2020 national election.

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Soehardi. "Mystical practices and religious belief in contemporary Central Java." Thesis, University of Kent, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.357064.

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Gath, Alexander David Hanson. "Varieties of pilgrimage experience : religious journeying in Central Kerala." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/15803.

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The thesis concerns pilgrimages undertaken by members of both Christian and Hindu communities in Central Kerala, especially in the Emakulam area. "Community pilgrimages" undertaken by Syrian Orthodox ("Jacobite") Christians are discussed in detail. These are shown to be occasions for expressing the identity and interests of Jacobites in the context of a long-running dispute which has divided Orthodox Christians in Kerala. For Jacobites, pilgrimage makes a statement about loyalty to their Patriarch and about rights of access to disputed sites. These occasions are distinguished from other pilgrimages, especially one to a famous Catholic site, which maintain broad, cross-community appeal. Parallel examples of Hindu pilgrimages of both types are described. In addition, the thesis emphasises the value of attending to experiential aspects of the pilgrimage journey. Descriptions of the pilgrimages, together with comments on the general character of experience for participants, are supplemented by personal accounts provided by individual pilgrims. A phenomenological approach is taken in order to understand the themes which emerge, in particular processes of learning and change undergone by participants.

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Juneau, Linda Matt. "Small Robe Band of Blackfeet: Ethnogenesis by Social and Religious Transformation." The University of Montana, 2007. http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-05082007-144843/.

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One of the most significant challenges facing Native Americans and their indigenous identity is a greater understanding of the historical complexity of relationships that interconnected ethnically diverse populations across geographic landscapes. This thesis examines the range of Blackfoot political, social, economic structures, spiritual beliefs, and practices that were in place at the time of Euro-American contact. I use historically documented evidence of transformations that took place from the beginning of the fur trade era through the reservation era. Through the theoretical lens of ethnogenesis I use a case study of the Small Robe (Inucksiks) band of the South Piegan of Montana to elucidate their responses to conditions of change. I conclude that all divisions of the Blackfoot Confederacy changed in response to catastrophic conditions of disease, warfare, other natural phenomena. Inclusion of Indians and non-Indians from other cultures ensured the continuity and survival of the tribe.

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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.

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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.

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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/.

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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.

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Ashenden, Claire Louise Anne. "Christianity and the primary school : the contribution of anthropology to teaching about Christianity." Thesis, University of Brighton, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.260973.

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Vom, Bruck Gabriele. "Descent and religious knowledge : #houses of learning' in Modern San'a, Yemen Republic." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.282618.

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Pan, Anshi. "Reading between cultures : social anthropology and the interpretation of Naxi (Na-khi) religious texts." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20725.

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Part 1 (Chapters 1 to 5) focuses on the theoretical aspect of social anthropology and how the problems in the study of the Tibeto-Burman peoples and Naxi religious texts can best be approached. Chapters 1 to 2 are the discussion of the theories in social anthropology, its relation with history and the meanings of history. Comparison is discussed as the important aspect of social anthropology. The specificity of comparison in the study of Naxi religious texts is formulated. Chapters 3 to 5 on one level of comparison is some examination of the scholarship between social anthropology and the cultural elite tradition in China, as related to the study of the Tibeto-Burman peoples. On another level is a historical ethnographic survey of the Tibeto-Burman peoples and their relationship with the Han Chinese. The cases discussed are the kinship of the Naxi/Moso peoples and the Han Chinese in ideological terms, the cultural identities of the Naxi/Moso and the Tibeto-Burman peoples in the region. Part II (Chapter 6 to 8) focuses on the interpretation of Naxi religious texts. This covers four aspects in the texts: 1. The question of Naxi pictographs and the writing in the region. The nature of the variety of writing in the region with reference to the origin of Naxi pictographs (Chapter 6). 2. A discussion on the relation between Naxi religion and Tibetan Bon religion, through a comparison between the legendary spiritual leaders of the two religions, a brief history of Tibetan religion and 3. The authors of the texts identified through a stylistic comparison of the texts, the ritual practitioners, the dto-mba, the ritual activities and the dating of the texts discussed through the analysis of authorship and other sources (Chapter 7). 4. The question of translating the pictographic texts: how to read the texts, the nature of the pictographs, interpretation and comparison in the question of translation (Chapter 8). The main argument of the thesis is that Naxi religious texts are interpretable through anthropological-historical approaches and that textual comparison can enrich the scope of comparison in social anthropology. The specific problems to be solved are the dating of the texts, the ritual activities and the translation/interpretation of the contents of the texts.

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Trisk, Janet Elizabeth. "Who do I say that I am? : identity as a construct and its implications for Christian anthropology." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9779.

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Bibliography: leaves 92-103.
The question of identity is one of the pressing issues for many disciplines, and is a key question in feminist theory. Theorists occupy diverse positions across a spectrum. At one end there are those who believe there is something "essential" which defines us (both as individuals and in groups). At the spectrum’s other end are those who take the view that identity is constructed - whether unconsciously through the practices identified by interactions, through performances of the body. This study seeks to explore some of these understandings of identity, using a specifically post-structuralist feminist lens which, inter alia directly challenges the dualisms upon which western philosophy is founded. Having outline some approaches to the question of identity, the study concludes by examining some of the consequences and possibilities for Christian anthropology in its understanding of what it means to be human and how the human person can be said to constitute the Imago Dei.

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Mawson, Andrew Nicholas Mirehouse. "The triumph of life : political dispute and religious ceremonial among the Agar Dinka of the Southern Sudan." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1989. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272535.

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Kennedy, Maria Helen. "The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland : sectarianism and identity." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2016. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6843/.

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This thesis is a sociological study of Quakers in Ireland that investigates the impact that sectarianism has had on identity construction within the Religious Society of Friends. My research highlights the complex identities of individual Friends in respect of culture, national identities and theology – mirrored by the Society’s corporate identity. Jennifer Todd’s work on sectarianism and oppositional identities in Ireland provides part of the theoretical framework for this thesis. An identity matrix formulated from interview data is used to illustrate how different identities overlap and relate to each other. I argue that the range of ‘hybrid’ or multilayered identities within Irish Quakerism has resulted in tensions which impact on relationships between Friends and on the Society. The thesis discusses how Friends negotiate these ‘hybrid’ identities. Irish Quakers prioritise ‘relational unity’ and have developed a distinctive approach to complex identity management. I contend that in their external relations ‘Quaker’ represents a meta-identity that is counter-cultural in its non-sectarianism, although this is more problematic within the organisation of Friends. Furthermore, by modelling an alternative, non-sectarian identity, Friends are building capacity for transformation from oppositional to more fluid and inclusive identities in Ireland.

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Kitewo, Marie-Angèle. "Healing rituals as an expression of religious thought among the Mpangu (of the Democratic Republic of Congo-Kinshasa)." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 1998. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28637/.

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The main objective of this thesis is to explore several selected healing rituals performed by the Mpangu people with the purpose of elaborating aspects of their religious thought. The thesis is composed of two parts. The first, comprising four chapters, is a detailed description-interpretation of four healing rituals: Kiziku, Nyka-N'kawu, Kuboonda and the Sunday Worship ritual of Dibuundu di Mpeeve a N'loongo (the Church of the Holy Spirit). The account of each healing ritual is followed by a commentary which is a kind of second reading of the ritual, providing appropriate explanation of keywords and the specific cultural context of the ritual. The second part of the thesis, comprising two chapters, is a comparative analysis of the four healing rituals which identifies the elements common to the rituals and the religious concepts expressed in them. Most fundamental among these concepts is the idea that the well being of the living community is dependent upon harmony with the ancestors, and other "spiritual entities", who reside in an invisible "other world". Communication between the inhabitants of these two worlds, and the maintenance of appropriate reciprocal relationships among them, are seen to be essential to the maintenance of this harmony. From another perspective, it can be said that the existence of illness, death and misfortune indicates that this essential harmony has been eroded, and the healing rituals provide the appropriate context and actions through which proper relationships with the ancestors and other spiritual entities can be restored.

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Sharpe, Heather Fiona. "From Hieron and Oikos the religious and secular use of Hellenistic and Greek Imperial bronze statuettes /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. 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:3210047.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Art History, 2006.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-03, Section: A, page: 0754. Adviser: Wolf Rudolph. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed March 16, 2007)."

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Hackett, R. I. J. "From Ndem cults to Rosicrucians : A study of religious change, pluralism and interaction in the town of Calabar, south-eastern Nigeria." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.373191.

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Norman, Lisanne. ""I Worship Black Gods": Formation of an African American Lucumi Religious Subjectivity." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467218.

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In 1959, Christopher Oliana and Walter “Serge” King took a historic journey to pre-revolutionary Cuba that would change the religious trajectory of numerous African Americans, particularly in New York City. They became the first African American initiates into the Afro-Cuban Lucumi orisha tradition opening the way for generations of African Americans who would comprehensively transform their way of life. This dissertation examines the inter-diasporic exchanges between African Americans and their Cuban teachers to highlight issues of African diasporic dissonance and differing notions of “blackness” and “African.” I argue that these African Americans create a particular African American Lucumi religious subjectivity within the geographical space of an urban cosmopolitan city as they carve out space and place in the midst of religious intolerance and hostility. The intimate study of these devotees’ lives contributes new understandings about the challenges of religious diversity within contemporary urban settings. These African Americans cultivated a new religious subjectivity formed through dialogical mediation with spiritual entities made present through material religious technologies, such as divination, spiritual masses, and possession. Through the lens of lived religion, I examine the experiences of African American Lucumi devotees to better understand how their everyday lives reflect the mediation between a private religious life, defined and structured by spiritual entities, and their public lives in the contemporary sociocultural, economic and political context of urban American society. Based on more than 8 years of intense participant observation and semi-structured interviews and discussions, I analyze how religious subjectivities and religious bodies are cultivated as these African Americans leave their mark on this religious tradition, their geographical surroundings, and African American religious history.
African and African American Studies

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Epp, Jared M. H. "Becoming Evangelical in Rural Costa Rica: A Study of Religious Conversion and Evangelical Faith and Practice." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30957.

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Almost daily emotional worship pours from a warehouse-sized evangelical church in the small rural community of Santa Cruz, Costa Rica. Within twenty years an evangelical presence has gone from virtually non-existent to standing alongside the Catholic Church in the area’s religious landscape. Scenarios like this are going on throughout Latin America as evangelical faith has become firmly rooted in the region. In this thesis I provide another ethnographic research context to the growing body of literature focused on Pentecostalism/evangelicalism in Latin America. Like others addressing this dynamic, I explore the factors and motivations that lead people to become evangelical. I approach these questions with particular emphasis on the characteristics of evangelical faith as it is constructed and practiced during church services. Through participant observation during church services and interviews with practicing evangelicals in and around Santa Cruz, I highlight the relationship between the characteristics of an evangelical faith and the factors and motivations that lead people to seek it. To be religiously active in the manner of my informants requires deep commitment and is not a faith adopted and practiced lightly. Those who become evangelical and sustain the demanding practice are likely to seek it for spiritual solutions to difficult life situations.

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Kocamaner, Hikmet. "The Politics of the Family: Religious Affairs, Civil Society, and Islamic Media in Turkey." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/333348.

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Since the ruling pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP hereafter) came to power in 2002, there has been a general transformation in Turkish politics from a secularist orientation toward a mainstream Muslim conservative line. This conservative political transformation manifests itself in the socio-cultural domain in terms of a proliferation of discourses on "family crisis" and the "decline of family values" as well as social programs and projects aimed at "strengthening the Turkish family." While the family crisis discourse situates the family as the source of socio-economic and demographic problems facing the Turkish society, strengthening the family is offered as the primary solution to these problems since the family is conceptualized as the foundation of a firm and stable social order. The Turkish state's intervention into the family sphere has occupied a central place in the governmental and legislative policies of the state since the rise of modern forms of governance in the nineteenth century in the Ottoman Empire. What is novel about the configuration of family governance under the AKP government, however, is the extension of family governance beyond the formal institutions of the state to a wide array of actors, institutions, mechanisms, and rationalities and the deployment of religious or religiously-inspired actors, institutions and organizations in the conceptualization, production, and implementation of social programs and projects aimed at "strengthening the Turkish family." Within the past decade, this concern for maintaining family values and fortifying the family institution has been widely circulated among Muslim conservative circles, and the family has constituted the foundation of most social projects designed and implemented by not only formal political institutions such as the Ministry of the Family and Social Policies and AKP-governed municipalities but also various religious or religiously-inspired organizations and institutions such as the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Islamic civil society organizations, and Islamic television channels. This dissertation focuses on the role of these religious or religiously-inspired actors, institutions, and organizations in shaping the politics of the family in contemporary Turkey. It argues that the increasing prominence given to the family by the state and these religiously-inspired institutions and organizations points to emerging forms of governance as well as reconfigurations of religion and secularism in contemporary Turkey. It also demonstrates how the dominant political discourse on declining family values and the social projects that aim at recuperating these values situate the family as an object of governmental intervention as well as a site of discursive proliferation, disciplinary practices, and biopolitical governance.

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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.

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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.

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Rose, Dale Joseph. "Our Master’s Legacy: Belief and Ritual in Mission De L’esprit Saint." TopSCHOLAR®, 2015. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1526.

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This thesis is a folkloristic examination of the religious beliefs and rituals associated with members of a religious movement known as Mission De L’Ésprit Saint. Mission De L’Ésprit Saint is a Quebecois religious denomination which believes that their founder was the physical incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and the movement strives to continue the teachings which were laid down during his lifetime. The major components of Mission theology and history, as well as an introductory consideration of their cosmology and worldview will be the major focus of this document, as well as a consideration of the role that Folklore has in understanding marginal religious movements.

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Milne, Douglas J. W., and res cand@acu edu au. "A Religious, Ethical and Philosophical Study of the Human Person in the Context of Biomedical Practices." Australian Catholic University. School of Philosophy, 2006. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp148.26072007.

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From the book of Genesis the human person is presented as divine image-bearer, a Godlike status that is further explained in terms of the dual constitution of matter and spirit. Natural Law provides a person-centred ethic that draws on a number of human goods that emanate naturally from the human person and lead in practice to human flourishing. This theory empowers towards making ethical decisions in the interest of human persons. Aristotle explained the human being as a substantially existing entity with rational powers. By means of his form-matter scheme he handed on, by way of Boethius, to Aquinas, a ready model for the Christian belief in the dual nature of the human person as an ensouled body or embodied soul. Applying the new scientific method to the question of the human self David Hume concluded that he could neither prove nor disprove her existence. By so reasoning Hume indirectly pointed to the need for other disciplines than empirical science to explain the human person. Emmanuel Levinas has drawn on the metaphysical tradition to draw attention to the social and ethical nature of the human person as she leaves the trace of her passing through the face of the other person who is encountered with an ethical gravitas of absolute demand. The genesis of the human person most naturally begins at conception at which point and onwards the human embryo grows continuously through an internal, animating principle towards a full-grown adult person. The main conclusion is that biblical anthropology and metaphysical philosophy provide the needed structures and concepts to explain adequately the full meaning of the human person and to establish the moral right of the human person at every stage to respect and protection.

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Knežević, Romilo. "Homo theurgos : freedom according to John Zizioulas and Nikolai Berdyaev." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:089576a0-a649-43ba-9055-86474e4f0964.

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For both John Zizioulas (1931), prominent Greek theologian, and Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948), renowned Russian religious philosopher, freedom is the question of ontology, i.e., freedom is about absolute otherness. Since to be is to act, and because to act means to create, we are only as long as we are capable of creating a radically unique reality. Being unique, our creation appears to every other person, including God, as a new reality. However, theistic theology claims that God added nothing to Himself by the creation of the world. Since according to this scenario human person cannot add anything to Being, we cannot speak about her ontological freedom. The doctrine of the divine image seems to be incompatible with the theistic concept of the divine omnipotence. Inquiry into the human freedom is therefore inevitably intertwined with the question of how God is God. Zizioulas's concept of the divine omnipotence does not envisage a space of freedom that God provides for human person from which she could create surplus in being. The French philosopher Etienne Gilson is therefore right when he writes that 'homo faber can never become homo creator because, having only a received being he cannot produce what he himself is not.' Berdyaev on the other hand locates the origin of our being in the Bottomless freedom or the Ungrund. The Bottomless freedom is Godhead from which both freedom of the divine Persons and that of the human person originate. Berdyaev explains that person can never create another person (something that is possible only for God). However, because person in spite of being created is not causally determined by the Creator, she can create her radically unique reality and thus realize her ontological freedom. Clearly, homo faber can never become homo creator (creator of other personalities), but this does not preclude person's power to create surplus in being and to be homo theurgos.

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Pálfi, Ágnes. "The incommunicable secret or the encountered experience: Mystery, ritual, Freemasonry in 18th century French literature." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/298788.

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The philosophers of the Enlightenment base their ideas on reason while attracting public attention on the futility of religion. The concept of the universe inherited from Antiquity is rejuvenated by contemporary sciences and, at first sight, we would think that nature governs the supernatural. A number of philosophical works, which would today be considered anthropological, deal with the customs and manners of different countries of the world, inevitably describing the religious cults and ceremonies practiced throughout the centuries. To what extent are these rituals kept, neglected or transformed in the century of Enlightenment? What is the connection between the ceremonies of Antiquity and the rituals practiced in the confined space of modern secret societies? Speculative Freemasonry, introduced to France at the beginning of the 18 th century, counts among its members a number of well-known philosophers. Do these enlightened minds, most of whom are adversaries of religion, practice the rituals based on sacred and incommunicable mysteries? These are some of the questions which this dissertation tries to answer in analyzing the philosophers' (i.e. Voltaire, Dupuis, Boulanger, Demeunier) anthropological views; the origins of Freemasonry and the ancient sacred tradition; the founding murder and the sacrificial ritual; freemasonic and initiatory symbols in Ramsay's Voyages of Cyrus (1727); Ramsay's quest and the mysteries in his Discourse (1736); Casanova's Icosameron (1788), a freemasonic utopia, hermetic allegory and symbolic fable. This dissertation attempts to demonstrate that the denial of the mystery and the supposed domination of the world by reason are only the well-known and visible aspect of the 18 th century.

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Baker, Joseph O., Andrea Molle, and Christopher D. Bader. "The Flesh and the Devil: Beliefs About Religious Evil and Views of Sexual Morality." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/7806.

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We examine an understudied connection between religion and sexuality: beliefs about the reality of supernatural evil (Satan, hell, and demons). After controlling for multiple other aspects of religiosity, beliefs about religious evil remain a strong and consistent predictor of attitudes about issues involving sexuality, including abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, extramarital sex, and pornography use. Further, the effects of religious service attendance on attitudes about sexuality are contingent upon beliefs about religious evil. Moral condemnation of non-traditional sexuality is significantly higher among regular religious participants who believe strongly in religious evil compared to actively religious people who disbelieve in religious evil, as well as compared to people who do not attend religious services. Beliefs about religious evil are therefore central to understanding the empirical connections between religion and support for conservative, traditional views of sexual morality.

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Salle-Essoo, Maya de. "Le profane et le sacré dans les tradipratiques à l’île Maurice." Thesis, La Réunion, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011LARE0010/document.

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Dans cette thèse nous avons abordé les tradipratiques à l'île Maurice et nous avons tenté de délimiter une zone d'interculturalité où se situent ces tradipratiques, partagées par les différentes communautés religieuses et ethnoculturelles de l'île et s'insérant dans un fonds commun mauricien. Ainsi, nous avons constaté qu'il existe une conception commune de la maladie, du corps, des Invisibles et des traitements qui font partie de cette zone interculturelle, issue du contact de cultures et de la créolisation. Nous avons ainsi été amenée à envisager l'imbrication du sacré et du profane au sein des tradipratiques et fait le constat que ces deux facettes sont indissociables et nécessaires à l'efficacité des traitements. Nous avons également envisagé les rituels de soins sous leur aspect identitaire, mettant en évidence le rôle central joué par les ancêtres dans les traitements, la transmission transgénérationnelle du don de guérison et de voyance, mais également comme agents à l'origine de certains syndromes. Ce qui nous amène à souligner l'aspect identitaire des rituels de soins venant répondre à la nécessité de réaffirmer les liens aux ancêtres, la filiation du patient et celle de sa famille, l'insérant dans un groupe et renforçant ainsi son identité
In this PhD thesis, the traditional medicinal practices were considered within the context of Mauritius Island and we have attempted to delimitate an area of interculturality where traditional medicinal practices are taking place and are shared by the different religious and ethnocultural communities of the island and are inserted in a common Mauritian ground. Thus, we have discovered that there is a common conception of the disease, the body, the invisibles, treatments, making part of this intercultural zone and resulting from the contact with cultures and creolization. We have thus considered the interweaving of the sacred and the secular within the traditional practices and made the statement that these two aspects were inseparable and necessary for the efficiency of treatments. We have also considered the healing rituals from the angle of identity while revealing the central role played by the ancestors in these treatments, in the inter-generational transmission of the gift of healing and clairvoyance but also as agents causing specific syndromes. This leads us to stress out the necessity to reaffirm the links toward the ancestors, the filiation of the patient and his family, inserting him in a group and therefore reinforcing his identity

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Huang, Chi-Hsiang. "Mediums et communication avec les dieux à Taïwan : étude d'une femme médium et de ses apprentis." Thesis, Paris, EPHE, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016EPHE5045.

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Cette thèse porte sur les médiums (tâng-ki, « l’enfant de divination »), leurs différentes pratiques et évolution au cours de l’histoire dans la société taiwanaise. L’enjeu est d’étudier ce domaine médiumnique en employant des approches de sociologie historique et anthropologie religieuse mettant en œuvre une démarche comparative de l’image du médium et de celle perçue après une enquête de terrain. Afin de saisir « le vrai visage » du médium. D’un point de vue méthodologique, cette thèse s’appuie sur une démarche qualitative et l’usage des entretiens directs avec les médiums et médiums apprentis. Le corpus se compose de cinq chapitres. Au chapitre I il y a les travaux de recherche sur les médiums à Taïwan d’où l’exemple du professeur Lin Fu-shih. Les évènements après la libération de l’île de Taiwan ont été relatés ainsi qu’une étude sur l’histoire de la religion à Taiwan basée sur les faits historiques marquants. Pour le chapitre II, la thèse s’articule autour des éléments du terrain où il a été présenté le récit de l’enquête que l’auteur lui-même a mené ; il s’agit de la structuration des temples : exemples de temples publics et privés qui se terminent par l’entrée au temple Tshú-nai. Le chapitre III se consacre principalement à l’univers du médium aux quatre terrains enquêtés marqués par des commentaires et interprétation. Au chapitre IV l’intérêt est porté sur la présentation et description du temple Tshú-nai. Au dernier chapitre, il y a les étapes d’initiation des pratiquants de tsáo-lîng-san (se rendre sur la montagne des esprits) et les histoires annexes des médiums apprentis
This thesis deals with mediums in taiwanese community (tâng-ki, « the child of divination »), their different practices and how they evolved with time. It aims at studying the medium field using some historical social facts and religious anthropology and a comparative approach to the general image of mediums and that obtained through a field survey to let people know the “real face” of a medium. Methodologically, this thesis relies on a qualitative approach and direct questioning of mediums and mediums to be. The corps of this paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter I is about researches on mediums in Taiwan with reference to Professor Lin Fu-shih. It also presents events which happen after the liberation of the Taiwan Island and a study on relevant historical religious facts in Taiwan. Chapter II deals with the results of a survey. The story of this survey lead by the author himself is reported in this chapter. It is mainly about how temples are structured. The study of some public and private temples will lead to the presentation of Tshú-nai temple. Chapter III specifically covers the medium’s universe discovered in the four areas of the survey followed by commentaries and interpretations. In chapter IV, the thesis focuses on the presentation and description of Tshú-nai temple. The last chapter reveals the different steps of the tsáo-lîng-san believers’ initiation (which includes going to the Spirits' Mountains) and a supplementary history of mediums to be

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Lewis, Jerome Daniel. "Forest hunter-gatherers and their world : a study of the Mbendjele Yaka pygmies of Congo-Brazzaville and their secular and religious activities and representations." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2002. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/18991/.

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This thesis is about a forest hunter-gatherer people, the Mbendjele Yaka Pygmies of northern Congo-Brazzaville. The thesis is based on field research carried out between 1994 and 2001. I begin by examining certain key terms used in the thesis and by situating my research within the existing literature. Research methodologies are presented and the fieldwork experience described. I provide an overview of the historical, political and economic context of the research including an outline assessment of the main historical reconstructions of regional history. Conservationist and loggers' models of the forest are juxtaposed with Mbendjele ways of representing landscape and the forest environment. I discuss the significance of the forest in Mbendjele social experience and its role as the ideal environment for social life. I examine the way the Mbendjele classify animals and the cosmological significance of hunting and killing. This theme is continued with a presentation of ekila, a complex set of practices and beliefs that regulate the interactions of people with animals and express a complex relationship between human fertility and the correct handling of prey animals. I continue the analysis of Mbendjele collective representations with a presentation of the activity of massana. The link between children's play and adult rituals implicit in the use of this term is analysed. I then build on this understanding to present an analysis of aspects of two ritual associations, Ejengi and Ngoku, central to men's and women's power in society. The thesis is brought to a close by moving beyond the forest to examine Mbendjele relations with and conceptualisations of outsiders and property rights. New technological developments and financial incentives are increasingly transforming the Mbendjele forest into faunal and floral assets for distribution to international organizations.

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Kikiloi, Kekuewa Scott T. "Kukulu Manamana| Ritual power and religious expansion in Hawai'i The ethno-historical and archaeological study of Mokumanamana and Nihoa Islands." Thesis, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3692049.

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This dissertation examines a period in the late expansion phase (A.D. 1400-1650) of pre-contact Hawaiian society when formidable changes in ritual and social organization were underway which ultimately led to the emergence of Hawai.i as a powerful complex chiefdom in East Polynesia. Remotely located towards the northwest were two geographically remote and ecologically marginal islands called Mokumanamana and Nihoa Islands. Though quite barren and seemingly inhospitable, these contain over 140 archaeological sites, including residential features, agricultural terraces, ceremonial structures, shelters, cairns, and burials that bear witness to an earlier occupation and settlement efforts on these islands. This research demonstrates that over a four hundred year period from approximately ca. A.D. 1400-1815, Mokumanamana became the central focus of chiefly elites in establishing this island as a ritual center of power for the Hawaiian system of heiau (temples). These efforts had long lasting implications which led to the centralization of chiefly management, an integration of chiefs and priests into a single social class, the development of a charter for institutional order, and ultimately a state sponsored religion that became widely established throughout the main Hawaiian Islands. The ideological beliefs that were developed centered on the concept of the cord (.aha) as a symbolic connection between ancestors and descendants came to be a widespread organizing dimension of Hawaiian social life. Through commemorative rituals, the west was acknowledged and reaffirmed as a primary pathway of power where elite status, authority, and spiritual power originated and was continually legitimized.

This research utilizes an interdisciplinary approach in combining ethno-historical research with archeology as complimenting ways of understanding the Hawaiian past. Through these approaches ritual power is established as a strategic mechanism for social political development, one that leads to a unified set of social beliefs and level of integration across social units. Ethno-historical analysis of cosmogonic chants, mythologies, and oral accounts are looked at to understand ritualization as a historical process one that tracks important social transformations and ultimately led to the formation of the Hawaiian state religious system. Archaeological analysis of the material record is used to understand the nature of island settlement and the investments that went into developing a monument at the effective edge of their living universe. A strong regional chronology is created based on two independent chronometric dating techniques and a relative ordering technique called seriation applied to both habitation and ceremonial sites. An additional number of techniques will be used to track human movement as source of labor, and the transportation of necessary resources for survival such as timber resources through paleo-botanical identification, fine-grained basalt through x-ray fluorescence, and food inferred through the late development of agriculture.

The results of this study indicate that Mokumanamana and Nihoa islands were the focus of ritual use and human occupation in a continuous sequence from ca. A.D. 1400- 1815, extending for intermittent periods well into the 19th century. The establishment and maintenance of Mokumanamana as a ritual center of power was a hallmark achievement of Hawaiian chiefs in establishing supporting use on these resource deficient islands and pushing towards greater expressions of their power. This island temple was perhaps one of the most labor intensive examples of monumentality relying heavily on a voyaging interaction sphere for the import and transportation of necessary outside resources to sustain life. It highlights the importance of integration of ritual cycles centered on political competition (and/or integration) and agricultural surplus production through the calibration of the ritual calendar. The creation of this ritual center of power resulted in: (1) a strong ideological framework for social organization and order; (2) a process in which a growing class of ramified leaders could display their authority and power to rule; and increased predictability and stability in resource production through forecasting- all of which formed a strong foundation for the institutional power of Hawaiian chiefdoms.

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Al-Saud, Reem. "Female religious authority in Muslim societies : the case of the Da'iyat in Jeddah." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:cf61954d-93ef-46c2-a1ca-3e38e12bd9ec.

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The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how uninstitutionalised female preachers, or dā'iyāt, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia construct authority in a context in which male ulama dominate the production of religious knowledge and represent the apex of the religious and social hierarchy. The study was broad, descriptive, and explanatory and drew primarily on the framework known as ‘accountable ethnography’. Data collection occurred between June and December 2009 and consisted of observations, interviews, and collection of literary artefacts, which were reviewed alongside literature published internationally. A flexible mode of inquiry was employed, partly in response to constraints on public religious discourse imposed in Saudi Arabia after September 11, 2001. The study concludes that the dā'iyāt construct authority predominantly by relying on male ulama as marji'iyya diniyya (religious frame of reference) when issuing fatwas, as pedagogical models, as sources of charismatic inspiration, and as providers of personal recommendations. The dissertation also addresses a set of 'alternate' strategies of authority construction employed by Dr Fāṭima Nasiīf. Almost uniquely, this dā'iyā is found to construct authority that goes beyond reproduction of institutionalised views by developing scholarly arguments to support interpretations of Islamic texts that are responsive to women’s perspectives and needs. In doing so, she expands the parameters of religiously permissible practice while remaining, for her part, within the confines of orthodox practice. Thus, although her society and most researchers perceive knowledge as a masculine attribute in the Saudi religious sphere, in matters relating to women, as well as through active leadership in ritual practice, Dr Fāṭima demonstrates that the dā'iyā can become the authority. Nevertheless, for her and for the other dā'iyāt, the study finds that legitimatising female religious authority depends upon maintaining the established social order, including the hierarchy that places women in a subordinate position to men.

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Finley, Jonathan Michael. "Postcolonial Cultural Hybridity and the Influence of the Gospel in Transnational French-Speaking Networks." Thesis, Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Intercultural Studies, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13811425.

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A central feature of Christianity is the observable historical fact that the gospel of Jesus travels across cultural and geographic boundaries, influencing and transforming each new culture and place it touches. Postcolonial migration, urbanization, and the simultaneous development of global communication and transportation technologies have radically increased the frequency and duration of cross-cultural contact worldwide.

This study explores hybrid identity construction in a multicultural church in the Paris Region in order to understand the influence of the gospel within transnational French-speaking networks. I found that French hegemony, historically rooted in the colonial project, contributes both to the cohesion of multicultural churches and to the cross-cultural spread of the gospel within French-speaking networks.

Cultural hybrids serve as bridge people within transcultural, transnational, French-speaking networks. They maintain identities and social networks on both sides of given cultural, linguistic, geographic, and national frontiers. Unique hybrid identities offer equally unique opportunities to influence for Christ on both sides of a given boundary.

Cultural hybridity can be a privileged in-between space where the distinct nature of Christian faith becomes manifest. When observing one’s original culture as an outsider and taking on a new culture as an insider, both cultures are relativized. This critical posture unmasks totalistic ideologies and sends the cultural hybrid in search of a coherent identity, which participants found in Christ and his church.

While transnational French-speaking networks and cultural hybridity contribute providentially to the spread of the gospel, they can also be pursued as strategic resources for the mission enterprise. Transnational French-speaking social links can be intentionally followed across missional boundaries. These networks take many forms, each pregnant with unique opportunities. Cultural hybrids can lead strategically between diverse peoples for specific missional purposes within transcultural and transnational French-speaking networks. Hybrid leadership stands on a two-way bridge, bringing diverse peoples across in both directions for reconciliation, for cross-cultural collaboration, and to announce the good news where Jesus is not yet known.

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Ruedell, Pedro. "Fundamentação antropológico-cultural da religião segundo Paul Tillich: perspectivas pedagógicas abertas frente aos dispositivos legais vigentes." Universidade do Vale do Rio do Sinos, 2006. http://www.repositorio.jesuita.org.br/handle/UNISINOS/2060.

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Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T21:14:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 16
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Atento à problemática do ensino religioso, minha reflexão se insere num percurso histórico, do qual participo ativamente desde a década de 1960. Associando-me a outros profissionais do ensino, em âmbito estadual e nacional, refleti com eles sobre as mudanças contextuais, procurando ressignificar a compreensão do ensino religioso e reconfigurar a sua prática, dentro da realidade cambiante. Tais reflexões foram elaboradas em textos, parcialmente publicados, e levadas à prática em projetos de formação de professores e em subsídios para aulas de educação religiosa. Com esta atividade, também entrei em contato com autoridades de ensino, no sentido de promover programas de atualização dos professores na disciplina aqui em questão. Agora, no trabalho de tese, insiro-me neste processo, o qual constitui, por assim dizer, o chão de minhas considerações, que desenvolvo em três partes:1) um olhar histórico sobre a evolução do ensino religioso, com destaque às mudanças ocorridas, visando a uma melhor compreensão do mesmo,
Having in mind the problem with the religious teaching, my reflection is inserted in a historical course of which I have been participating actively since the 1960’s. By associating myself with other professionals of the teaching, in both state and national field of action, I reflected with them about the contextual changes, trying to give a new meaning to the understanding of the religious teaching and to reshape its practice within the changeable reality. Such reflections were elaborated in texts, partially published, and taken into practice in projects of formation of teachers and in subsidies for classes of religious education. With this activity, I also got in touch with teaching authorities, in the sense of promoting programs of the updating of the teachers in the subject of this matter. Now, in the work of thesis, I insert myself in this process, which constitutes, so to say, the ground of my considerations that I develop in three parts:1) a historical look on the evolution of the religious teaching, p

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

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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

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Dungan, Katherine Ann. "Religious Architecture and Borderland Histories: Great Kivas in the Prehispanic Southwest, 1000 to 1400 CE." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/595696.

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Historically, archaeologists working on non-state societies have tended to interpret religion and large-scale religious architecture as necessarily integrative, that is, as naturalizing the social order or producing an abiding sense of community. I argue here that this focus on integration has limited our ability to understand how and why religion changed through time and how religion may have been a driver of social change. We will benefit from considering the political dimensions of religious practice in non-state societies as much as in more "complex" settings. This study explores the articulation of religious practice and religious architecture with social and spatial boundaries in the prehispanic U.S. Southwest. In particular, I examine variability and change in rectangular great kivas—large, semi-subterranean religious structures—in west-central New Mexico and east-central Arizona between 1000 and 1400 CE in relationship to socially diverse contexts that might be viewed as borderlands or frontiers. The study pulls together two broads strands of research. The first is an examination of the unusual great kiva at the thirteenth-century CE Fornholt site (LA 164471) near Mule Creek, New Mexico, in relation to the broader history of the surrounding Upper Gila area. This portion of the research is based on two seasons of excavation at Fornholt and on an examination of records and ceramic collections from the Upper Gila. I suggest that the Upper Gila may be considered a borderland or frontier through time and that viewing Fornholt as a borderland site sheds light on the site's material culture, including its great kiva. The second strand of research is a comparison of great kiva architecture and assemblages across the larger study area based on the examination of museum collections and the aggregation of published and unpublished architectural data. The broader study demonstrates that, while these great kivas make up a coherent tradition and fit within the larger world of southwestern religion, great kivas in borderland contexts show experimentation and change in ways that more centrally located great kivas do not. I argue that this diversity can be viewed in light of the negotiation of social boundaries in borderland contexts, including the role of great kivas as political venues or contested spaces.

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Baker, Joseph O., and Andrew Whitehead. "He-God, the Punisher: Masculine Images of God as the Strongest Religious Predictor of Punitiveness." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/5388.

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Stroope, Samuel, and Joseph O. Baker. "Whose Moral Community? Religiosity, Secularity, and Self-rated Health across Communal Religious Contexts." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2596.

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Scholars have long theorized that religious contexts provide health-promoting social integration and regulation. A growing body of literature has documented associations between individual religiosity and health as well as macro–micro linkages between religious contexts, religious participation, and individual health. Using unique data on individuals and county contexts in the United States, this study offers new insight by using multilevel analysis to examine meso–micro relationships between religion and health. We assess whether and how the relationship between individual religiosity and health depends on communal religious contexts. In highly religious contexts, religious individuals are less likely to have poor health, while nonreligious individuals are markedly more likely to have poor health. In less religious contexts, religious and nonreligious individuals report similar levels of health. Consequently, the health gap between religious and nonreligious individuals is largest in religiously devout contexts, primarily due to the negative effects on nonreligious individuals’ health in religious contexts.

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Tortopidou-Derieux, Kyriaki. "The politics of religious experience in Fifteenth-Century Europe through an East-West encounter : a re-interpretation." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3366/.

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My thesis works as an experiment, or rather a series of experiments, in methods of thinking about historical material. These methods come from anthropology and engage with myths and ritual, with the concept of “complementary others”, and the concept of “schismogenesis" as it has been developed by Gregory Bateson and advanced further by Marshall Sahlins. My overall goal is not to re-describe a well-researched historical event, but to explore how different ways of analysis, using different analytical frameworks, could lead to valuable explanations of the same political-cum-cultural event. The phenomenon I engage with is the last Oecumenical Council, a major religious event in the history of Councils within already schismatic societies. For this reason, I treat this Council in particular, as a ritual, unprecedented in scale and ambiguous in its inception. I am examining the structure and the return of this Event in History, and the controversies and tensions in the diachrony of East and West. I do this not only through the notion of schismo-genesis and ritual, but specifically the notion of sacrifice as developed by Maurice Bloch, in which the journey from Constantinople to Italy becomes a historical metaphor of mythical realities, regarding the Emperor John VIII Palaiologos. And finally, I explore the significance of Bessarion and complementary others within the notion of transformation and alterity. What I establish through discussions of the historical material, which span eleven centuries of history, is first of all, that there is no event without a system; that means the journey can acquire the form of the ritual. I argue that the relation between the myth and the idea of unity is dialectical in nature; the Event of a Union, which could bring peace in the one Church of Christ, from this moment of realisation becomes a fabrication, a mystery to the witnesses, and all the other myths that will be developed on the way become even more imperative and melancholic, because they seek to express a negative and unavoidable truth. The Event doesn’t portray reality any more, it exists despite it and becomes an extreme position, almost like a dream, and it justifies the vision one wished to be possible, only to show that it is untenable: the “what if it could be”; the possibility of all parts being aspirations to the whole, oecumenicity as a goal rather than unity. Overall, this thesis is about the presence of the past in the present, in relevance to the future.

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Washington, Vanessa Marie. "Destigmatisation within the HIV/AIDS pandemic : wowards a pastoral anthropology of embodiment." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/4103.

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Thesis (MTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of the thesis is on the HIV and AIDS-related stigma and stigmatisation of people who try to live positively with HIV/AIDS within the pandemic. The basic assumption is that there is interplay between the HIVAIDS-related stigma as a cultural phenomenon and the negative perception of the human body. Since a human being is created corporeal and re-created due to the fact that human embodiment is a fundamental ingredient for the understanding of soul, It is argued that in a pastoral approach, a person should be understood holistically. Anthropology within the traditional kerygmatic approach focused mainly on the notion of sin (corruption totalis) within the theological understanding of God’s judgement (judgemental attitude). I have proposed that pastoral anthropology should adopt constructive paradigms and point towards the integration of embodiment (wholeness) in a realistic approach rather than emphasising the notion of sin and forms of dualism. The thesis departs from an eschatological and pneumatological view of the human being, in which the concepts of resurrection and hope are equally crucial. I further argue that a Christian spiritual perspective on embodiment is potentially destigmatising itself. In terms of a pastoral hermeneutic I have shown that in destigmatisation the transformation of the HIV and AIDS-related stigma corresponds to the transformation of the mindset and paradigm of a person (habitus). Through the process of destigmatisation people discover meaning and are enabled to live fully embodied and responsible lives. The thesis is designed as a literature study based on text analysis and hermeneutical reflection. Moreover, in order to develop a pastoral anthropological view, the Scripture is used as a reference point.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsing fokus op die fenomeen van stigmatisiering binne die HIV/AIDS pandemie. Die kernargument is dat stigmatisering as 'n sosiaal-kulturele konstrukt binne die netwerk van verhoudinge direk in verband staan met 'n bepaalde destruktiewe persepsie wat die vraagstuk van liggaamlikheid onmiddellik raak. Vandaar die verdere fokus op die verband tussen liggaamlikheid en die verstaan van die menslike siel binne die raamwerk van 'n pastorale antropologie. Die teologiese invalshoek is die eskatologiese paradigma, die mens as 'n pneumatiese wese en nuwe skepping. Liggaamlikheid deel gelykoorspronklik aan hierdie nuwe wees-funksie van die mens sodat verstaan van die mens as „beliggaamde siel“ en „besielde liggaam“ alle vorme van dualisme in teologiese antropologie teëwerk. Die totale mens is as ‘n beliggaamde mens geskep sodat in pastorale antropologie die menslike persoon holisties verstaan moet word. Om menswees bloot vanuit die perspektief van sonde te benader hou nie rekening met die realisme van die Bybel wat die mens binne die raamwerk van die wysheidsliteratuur sien vanuit die perspektief van genade en vernuwing. Eensydige fokus op die paradigma van sonde dra by tot destruktiewe veroordelende houding (judgemental attitude). Volgens die aard van kruisteologie is die „smet“ en „stigma“ van sonde daar oorwin. In die lig van die opstandingsperspektief is die „dood van stigma“ totaal uitgewis. Hierdie opstandingperspektief moet verreken word in teologiese model wat gerig is op prosesse van destigmatisering binne pastorale hermeneutiek. Die implikasie hiervan is die transformasie van stigmatisernde paradigmas en die skep van pastorale houding (habitus) van begrip en medelye. Deur ‘n dergelike proses van destigmatisasie word mense in die kern van hul weesfunksie kwalitatief bemagtig ten einde vervulde lewens te kan ly. Die tesis volg kwalitatiewe benadering. Dit is voorts literêre studie gebaseer op teks-analises, kritiese reflektering en hermeneutiese metodologie.

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Machado, Carly Barboza. "Imagine se tudo isso for verdade: O movimento Raeliano entre verdades, ficções e religiões da modernidade." Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, 2006. http://www.bdtd.uerj.br/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=1460.

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Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar o Movimento Rae liano, grupo religioso criado por Claude Vourilhon que se auto denomina o Profeta Raël. Atribuindo a criação da vida humana na Terra a seres extraterrestres, o Movimento Raeliano teve origem na França e desde seu surgimento em 1973 expande sua atuação para diversos países, inclusive o Brasil, contando atualmente em seus números oficiais com sessenta mil adeptos em todo o mundo. Com perfil transnacional, este movimento difunde suas idéias através dos meios de comunicação de massa e seu evento de maior eficácia midiática foi o anúncio do nascimento do primeiro clone humano denominado Eva pelas lideranças do Movimento, em 2002. A cosmologia raeliana define -se como atéia e atribui suas idéias a fontes científicas extraterrestres. Este estudo desenvolve uma análise das idéias raelianas contidas na Mensagem dos Extraterrestres, articulando-as às verdades proféticas produzidas no campo científico e às ficções da literatura e do cinema também referidas à ciência. Assumindo como pressuposto que a mediação dos meios de comunicação de massa opera como estilo nas performances raelianas, esta pesquisa propõe ainda uma análise das construções do self e dos modos de relações raelianas a partir de categorias próprias da linguagem midiática como a fama e a construção de celebridades no interior deste grupo que faz de shows e festas experiências religiosas em seu ethos. Desdobrando idéias de uma ciência popularizada, analisa-se ainda no contexto desta investigação o protagonismo do cérebro como ícone sagrado raeliano e sua articulação com a polêrmica sobre a manipulação mental, bem como aspectos pertinentes à clonagem e a manipulação genética como projeto raeliano para o presente da humanidade. Polêrmico quanto à sexualidade livre sugerida a seus membros, este trabalho discute ainda o modelo moral do Movimento Raeliano, especificamente no que diz respeito às suas noções de feminilidade e família. Analisando o Movimento como uma performance da modernidade, este estudo procura discutir as conseqüências do projeto moderno levado ao extremo, provocando questões sobre o futuro e suas representações na vida social contemporânea.
The aim of t he present work is to analyze the Raelian Movement, a religious group created by Claude Vourillon who calls himself Raël Prophet. The Raelian Movement, which was founded in France in 1973, claims that human being life on Earth was created by extraterrestrial beings. Since its formation, the Raelian Movement has spread its philosophy to several countries, including Brazil, and currently has 60 thousand members all over the world. With a transnational profile, this movement has propagated its ideas through means of mass communication and its most significant mass media event was in 2002 with the announcement, by the leaderships of the Movement, of the birth of the first human clone called Eve. Raelian cosmology is defined as atheist and its ideas are attributed to extraterrestrial scientific sources. This study develops an analysis of the raelian ideas present in the Extraterrestrial Message, linking them to the prophetic truth produced in the scientific field and also to the fictions of literature and cinema related to science. Considering that the mediation of means of mass communication operates as style in the raelian performances, this research proposes an analysis of the constructions of self and the raelian relation ways starting at categories particular to mediatic language such as fame and construction of celebrities in the interior of this group that transforms shows and parties into religious experiences in its ethos. Unfolding ideas of a popularized science, the role of the brain as a raelian sacred icon and its articulation with the controversy on the mental manipulation, as well as the pertinent aspects to the cloning and the genetic manipulation as a raelian project for the present of humanity, are analyzed in this research. The movement is polemic in what concerns the fre sexuality suggested to its members; then, this work also studies the Raelian Movement moral model, especially in respect to its notions of femininity and family. Analyzing the Raelian Movement as a performance of modernity, this study discusses the consequences of the modern project taken to extremes, raising questions about the future and its representations in the contemporary social life.

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Park, Yoo Jin Deborah. "Women's effective leadership in contemporary Taiwanese churches." Thesis, Biola University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3621907.

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The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand and describe key factors contributing to the success of Taiwanese women leaders in the predominantly male context of contemporary churches in Taiwan. Participants included five effective female senior pastors and fourteen followers from these leaders' churches. Data were collected using in-depth, semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Data analysis yielded six major leadership characteristics in three dimensions: (a) Interactive dimension—spiritual leadership, relational leadership, team-building leadership, (b) Task dimension—organizational leadership, productive leadership, and (c) Change dimension—visionary leadership.

There is no rigid, linear, step-by-step progressive relationship among the six characteristics; rather, the linkage is reciprocal. Further, despite individual differences, all six major leadership characteristics were present in all leader participants. Also, while all leaders clearly saw spiritual leadership as the most essential, all the qualities were deemed important.

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Huber, Amanda. "Religious Organizations as Civic Actors: A Qualitative Study of Congregational Identity and Role in a Cincinnati Neighborhood." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276977488.

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Lane, Jonathon. "Anchorage in Aboriginal affairs A.P. Elkin on religious continuity and civic obligations /." Connect to full text, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/3691.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2008.
Title from title screen (viewed November, 11, 2008) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of History, University of Sydney. Degree awarded 2008; thesis submitted 2007. Includes bibliographical references.

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Carvalho, Fontes Larissa Yelena. "Anthropologie d'un musée silencieux : la Collection Persévérance et les enjeux de mémoire autour du "xangô alagoano" (Maceió - Brésil)." Thesis, Lyon, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019LYSE2071.

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La présente thèse a comme objet central la Collection Persévérance, un ensemble d’objets qui ont été volés des maisons de culte afro-brésilien à Maceió, capitale de l’État d’Alagoas, au Nord-est du Brésil. Le pillage de ces objets s’est produit dans un épisode de répression politique-religieuse survenu en 1912 et connu comme Quebra de Xangô. Cette Collection est abritée par le Musée de l’Institut Historique et Géographique d’Alagoas et depuis son pillage, elle n’a pas été objet d’études scientifiques. Ainsi, cette recherche a essayé de combler les lacunes existantes sur le sujet, en traçant son parcours jusqu’à présent et en démontrant les grandes transformations vécues par le culte du xangô alagoano, à la fois au niveau liturgique et rituel. Pour la production de l’inventaire de la Collection Persévérance, un travail d’investigation a été mené pour essayer de trouver les usages originaux et référencer dûment les pièces. Cette investigation a été réalisée avec la participation de la communauté religieuse afro-brésilienne, en privilégiant leur savoir traditionnel, leur mythologie et leur système cosmologique pour découvrir et construire la biographie de ces objets. De cette manière, le xangô alagoano est ici présenté, en retraçant ses particularités, fruit de mes dix ans d’expérience de terrain
The central object of this thesis is the “Persévérance” Collection, a group of pieces that were stolen from Afro-Brazilian houses of worship in Maceió, capital of the state of Alagoas, in the northeast of Brazil. The pillaging of these objects occurred in an episode of political-religious repression in 1912, known as Quebra de Xangô. This Collection is exposed by the Museum of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Alagoas and since its pillage it has not been subject of any scientific studies. In this way, this research has tried to fill the existing gaps on the subject, tracing its path so far and demonstrating the great transformations experienced by the worship of xangô alagoano, both at the liturgical and ritual levels. For the production of those objects inventory an investigation was carried out to try to find the original uses and toproperly reference the pieces. This investigation was produced with the participation of the Afro-Brazilian religious community, focusing on their traditional knowledge, mythology and cosmological system to discover and construct the biography of those objects. Therefore, the xangô alagoano is presented here, tracing its peculiarities, fruit of my ten years of field experience

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Lane, Jonathon. "Anchorage in Aboriginal affairs: A. P. Elkin on religious continuity and civic obligation." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/3691.

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In Australian Aboriginal affairs, the acculturative strand of assimilation developed in large part from Elkin’s religious and Idealist commitment, for which in the years 1928 to 1933 he won social-scientific authority. In competition with both an eliminationist politics of race and a segregationist politics of territory, Elkin drew upon religious experience, apologetics, sociology, and networks to establish a ‘positive policy’ as an enduring ideal in Aboriginal affairs. His leadership of the 1930s reform movement began within the Anglican Church, became national through civic-religious organs of publicity, and gained scientific authority as Elkin made religious themes a central concern in Australian anthropology. But from the 1960s until recently, most scholars have lost sight of the centrality of Idealism and religion in our protagonist’s seminal project of acculturative assimilation. This thesis aims to show how Elkin dealt with problems fundamental to twentieth century Aboriginal affairs and indeed to Australian modernity more generally – problems of faith and science, morality and expediency – in developing his positive policy towards Aborigines.

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Goyette, Stefanie Anne. "Indiscriminate Bodies: The Old French Fabliaux in Relation to Thirteenth-Century Medical and Religious Cultures." Thesis, Harvard University, 2012. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10646.

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This dissertation examines representations of the body in the Old French fabliaux in order to elucidate these stories’ philosophy (or philosophies) of language and their relationship to religious, medical, and dietetic cultures. An exploration of contemporary discourses referenced in the fabliaux – moral discourses around sex and food, medical and dietetic theories concerning food and animals, and rituals and rites surrounding the living and dying body – demonstrates how these elements shape narrative structure, characters, key objects, and décor. The fabliaux exhibit bodies founded by and coextensive with language, which, particularly in the form of speech, is simultaneously a function of the body. This dissertation shows the fabliaux to be profoundly anchored in the material world, but also aware that the physical and material are affected by language, and subject to transformation by the greater context of twelfth-, thirteenth-, and early fourteenth-century literature in its vernacular and Latin, secular and religious forms. The first chapter provides a critical history of the major questions in fabliaux scholarship through the 1980s, when the field began to undergo a number of important changes. The first part of Chapter 2 pursues the physical body in the fabliaux through pleasures, particularly the sexual and alimentary, while arguing that the stories respond to outside discourses about physical behavior, and that sensual or carnal pleasures and those of language coexist. The second section traces the relationship of spaces – social and domestic, permitted and forbidden – to morality. Analysis of the localization of the body in space indicates that space is essential to the construction of bodies, and may even determine (the perception of) guilt or innocence. The third chapter demonstrates that the humor of many fabliaux depends on anxieties concerning the spatial incursions of death, which mirror the visitations of outside texts. Miracles and superstitions constitute the focus of the fourth chapter, which examines the exploitation of supernatural events by the fabliaux’ human actors. The final chapter shows the importance of dysphemism and polysemy, of audience interpretation, and of the potential dangers of misinterpretation when texts become bodies and bodies become texts.
Romance Languages and Literatures

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King, Christopher J. "From Object to Other: Models of Sociality after Idealism in Gadamer, Levinas, Rosenzweig, and Bonhoeffer." Scholar Commons, 2017. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7047.

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This dissertation offers an account of the different ways in which putatively idealist and transcendental models of sociality, which grounded the subject’s relation to other human beings in the subject’s own cognition, were rejected and replaced. Scrapping this account led to a variety of models of sociality which departed from the subject as the ground of sociality, positing grounds outside of the subject. Hans-Georg Gadamer, Emmanuel Levinas, Franz Rosenzweig, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer represent alternative positions along a spectrum of models of sociality which reject the idealist concept of sociality. The central argument of this dissertation claims that the responses to idealism and transcendental models of sociality ultimately find fault with an inadequate ontology, one which grounds sociality (as well as all of reality) in the cognition of the subject. The ontology of the transcendental model locates the subject as initially unconnected to other subjects such that the first move in relating them together must be epistemological. The social relation is grounded in the subject’s cognitive grasp. Each of the thinkers I examine identifies this as the key problem with idealism; however, their solutions to this problem differ. The differing solutions of Gadamer, Levinas, Rosenzweig, and Bonhoeffer can be identified as occupying different representative positions along a continuum, call it the “scale of social grounding.” What I offer here is a topography of responses to the idealist model of sociality. The ontological ground of sociality, instead of being the subject, is posited as situation of dialogue (Gadamer), the face of the other (Levinas), or divine revelation (Rosenzweig and Bonhoeffer). In each of these alternative models, we see that the subject is conditioned rather than autonomous, that sociality is enacted through temporality and language, and that sociality is principally a normative relation rather than an epistemological one. The story that emerges from my analysis, then, is a richer topography of responses to idealism than has hitherto been mapped out. The responses, represented by Gadamer, Levinas, Rosenzweig, and Bonhoeffer each provide an alternative ontology on which any adequate model of sociality must rest. While my account of the spectrum of ontological responses to idealist sociality does not claim to be exhaustive, it does give a better topography of the field of responses than has hitherto been offered in studies of models of sociality in the 20th century. Finally, this dissertation shows the centrality of providing an alternative ontology to idealism in these projects. Far from rejecting ontology wholesale or merely offering moral revisions to the existing social order, each of the figures I examine in this study radically revise the ground of sociality by articulating a fresh ontological vision which can support social life.

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Winslow, Richard Priess Gallos Joan V. "Ethos and its influences on religious identity an undergraduate articulation of campus ethos from denominational perspectives /." Diss., UMK access, 2006.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Education. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2006.
"A dissertation in urban leadership policy studies in education and education." Advisor: Joan V. Gallos. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Jan. 29, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [266]-276 ). Online version of the print edition.

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South, Kristin Hacken. "Roman and Early Byzantine Burials at Fag el-Gamus, Egypt: A Reassessment of the Case for Religious Affiliation." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2012. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3534.

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The Late Roman necropolis of Fag el-Gamus on the eastern edge of Egypt's Fayum Oasis is a valuable archaeological site for exploring issues of personal and cultural identity in Roman Egypt. Former scholarship regarding the people buried at Fag el-Gamus has claimed-based on narrow evidence--that they represent an exceptionally early Christian community in Egypt. However, a more careful look at the evidence-using recent theoretical approaches, data-driven analyses, and comparisons with contemporary sites throughout Egypt and neighboring areas-reveals a more complicated portrait of their religious affiliation and other aspects of their identity. This study examines several potential markers of religious affiliation at Fag el-Gamus placed in the context of burials from throughout the Roman and early Byzantine eras in Egypt. Aspects of burial that appear to be "Christian" innovations or first occur in the period during which Christianity first appears are highlighted. Conclusions from this broader and more in-depth evidence suggests that the case for the early arrival of Christianity in Egypt is highly ambiguous, and any arguments concerning it must be correspondingly complex. The necropolis of Fag el-Gamus, due to its extensive size and excellent preservation, provides valuable evidence for the unfolding of this slow and piecemeal change and for the discussion of multiple aspects of identity.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Religious anthropology'

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