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1
Sajedi, Bidgoli Aboulfazl. "Revelation and reason in the thought of Ṭabâṭabâʾî, with special reference to the question of freedom in Islam". Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=23240.
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The relation between revelation and reason is a matter of interest for human beings and is connected with the development of reason and knowledge in modern society. Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, a modern Muslim scholar who was an expert in both Islamic philosophy and Qur'anic interpretation, developed new approaches to such issues as the role of human rational ability, logic and philosophy in religious knowledge. Furthermore he deals with such specific controversial topics on the subject of revelation and reason as, social freedom and freedom of thought and belief in Islam. He tends to elaborate his view of freedom based on both the Qur'an and rational bases. Tabataba'i's approach to revelation and reason, his reconciliation of them in general, and his specific perspective of freedom are studied in this thesis with respect to their underlying principles and their scopes.
2
Sellars, Jeffrey Thomas. "Reasoning beyond reason : imagination as a theological source in the work of C.S. Lewis." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683258.
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Young, Gwynith. "Poets, belief and calamitous times /." Connect to thesis, 2006. http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00002513.
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Rockman, Priscilla. "Euthanasia : A study of its origin, forms and aspects." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för kultur-, religions- och utbildningsvetenskap, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-12414.
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The death-and-dying debates, especially where they focus on euthanasia is now a global debated issue and this act (euthanasia) is now practiced in a lot of countries worldwide despite some countries have not legalized it. Some religious groups and individuals are in line with the arguments for euthanasia because it provides a way to relieve extreme pain, provides a way of relief when a person’s quality of life is low and it frees up medical funds to help other people while on the other hand, other religious groups and individual base their arguments against euthanasia because such act and practice devalues human life, and because there is a "slippery slope’ effect that has occurred where euthanasia has been first been legalized for only the terminally ill and later laws are changed to allow it for other people or to be done non-voluntarily. A current debated issue is whether effective palliative care laws are changed to allow it for other people or to b e done non-voluntarily. A current debated issue is whether effective palliative care can have an influence over people’s choices towards euthanasia.
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Alves, Silvia Cristina Hack. "O olhar de adolescentes-alunos/as sobre o sentido da vida : interações com um contexto escolar." Faculdades EST, 2009. http://tede.est.edu.br/tede/tde_busca/arquivo.php?codArquivo=168.
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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior<br>A busca pelo sentido da vida está intimamente relacionada à condição humana. De
várias maneiras, as pessoas estão à procura do sentido para sua existência e isto
ocorre principalmente quando se deparam com limitações, com o fato de serem
mortais e perceberem suas próprias imperfeições. Na adolescência surgem, de
forma mais intensa, os questionamentos relacionados à razão da existência. A busca
pelo sentido da vida torna-se uma constante na vida da maioria dos/as adolescentes
que, por sua vez, se deparam com a necessidade de fazer as principais escolhas
que nortearão os rumos de seu viver. A presente pesquisa se dedicou, portanto, a
trazer uma visão atual de como adolescentes-alunos/as pertencentes a uma escola
pública do município de Canoas-RS designam o sentido de seu viver e se estas
concepções se encontram contempladas ou não no contexto escolar onde se
desenvolveu a pesquisa. A relevância desta investigação reside, portanto, no fato de
conhecer como alunos/as adolescentes interpretam o sentido de sua existência
atualmente e de perceber se elementos importantes da vida dos/as adolescentes
estão sendo considerados no contexto escolar, permitindo uma maior aproximação
do universo juvenil com o âmbito escolar. Sabe-se, no entanto, que diversos fatores
estão presentes e influenciam o modo de viver dos/as adolescentes, dentre elas a
forte presença da cultura. Os/as adolescentes se tornam produtos da cultura vigente,
mas também produzem novas formas e práticas de expressão cultural. É justamente
através das culturas juvenis que o/a adolescente, muitas vezes, encontra formas de
adotar um estilo de vida para si. Segundo dados obtidos através desta pesquisa,
pode-se perceber também que aspectos como relacionamentos e a questão de obter
um bom emprego estão relacionados ao sentido da vida dos/as adolescentes
pesquisados. A fé e o modo de conceber Deus também são elementos presentes já
na fase da adolescência. O/a adolescente leva e vivencia, no contexto escolar,
muitas das questões relacionadas ao sentido de seu viver e vê a escola não
somente como um espaço onde se desenvolve o processo de ensino-aprendizagem,
mas também como um lugar próprio para exercer sua sociabilidade. A escola pública
atual, no entanto, enfrenta dificuldades e passa por crises e, muitas vezes, não
consegue estabelecer os elos necessários entre os interesses e questões
existenciais do/a educando/a com suas próprias questões. Assim, por diversas
vezes, os reais anseios, desejos, vivências e experiências do/a adolescente e as
necessidades e as especificidades da fase da adolescência não são considerados
pelo ambiente escolar, surgindo e intensificando-se as tensões e os conflitos entre
adolescentes e escola.<br>The search for the meaning of life is closely related to human condition. In many
ways, people are looking for meaning to their existence and this happens especially
when faced with limitations, the fact of being mortal and realize their own
imperfections. Arise in adolescence, more intense, the questions related to the
reason of existence. The search for the meaning of life becomes a constant in the
lives of most the teenagers who, in turn, are faced with the need to make key choices
that will guide the course of your life. This research is devoted therefore to provide a
current view of adolescents-students as belonging to a public school in the city of
Canoas-RS indicate the direction of his life and whether these concepts are included
or not in the school where developed the research. The relevance of this research is
therefore in fact know how students / teenagers to interpret the meaning of their
existence now and see if important elements of life the teenagers are being
considered in the school, allowing closer approximation of the universe juvenile with
the field school. We know, however, that several factors are present and influence the
mode of living the teenagers, among them the strong presence of culture. The
adolescents become the products of the current culture, but also produce new forms
of cultural expression and practices. It is through culture that the youth / adolescent
to often find ways to adopt a lifestyle for you. According to data obtained through this
search, you can also see that issues such as relationships and the question of
obtaining a good job are related to the meaning of life the teenagers surveyed. The
faith and way of conceiving God items are also present at the stage of adolescence.
The adolescence leads to the school and experience in many of the issues related to
his life and sees the school not only as a space where developing the teachinglearning
process, but also as a place to exercise their sociability. The current public
school, however, faces difficulties and is going through crisis, and often can not
establish the necessary links between the interests and issues of existential a student
with their own issues. Thus, several times, the real anxieties, desires and the
experiences the adolescent and the needs and specificities from adolescence, are
not considered by the school environment, is emerging and intensifying tensions and
conflicts between adolescents and school.
6
Ng, Wing Hong. "John Rawls' idea of public reason : religious reason in public justification." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2007. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/782.
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Bespalov, Andrei. "Negotiating religious exemptions: a public reason perspective." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/667498.
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In this thesis I elaborate on three reasons why religious exemptions from generally applicable laws are not publicly justifiable in a liberal democratic society. First, mere claims of the form “God says so and my conscience requires that I obey” do not explicate the rationale behind the legal provisions that they are expected to support. Therefore, such claims cannot be regarded even as pro tanto justificatory reasons for any legal provisions, be it laws or exemptions. Second, no matter how elaborate they are, reasons based on religious faith cannot be allowed in public justification of exemptions because such reasons involve non-negotiable claims about final values, which is incompatible with respect for fellow citizens as equal co-legislators. Third, even if religious arguments are allowed in public justification, carving out religious exemptions from generally applicable laws is still impermissible because it arbitrarily bends the sovereign will of the people to the dictate of religious doctrines.<br>En esta tesis explico tres razones por las cuales las exenciones religiosas de las leyes de aplicación general no son públicamente justificables en una sociedad democrática liberal. Primero, las meras afirmaciones de la forma "Dios lo dice y mi conciencia requiere que obedezco" no explican las razones detrás de las disposiciones legales que se espera que respalden. Por lo tanto, tales reclamos no pueden considerarse incluso como razones justificativas pro tanto de ninguna disposición legal, ya sean leyes o exenciones. En segundo lugar, no importa cuán elaborados sean, las razones basadas en la fe religiosa no pueden admitirse en la justificación pública de las exenciones porque tales motivos implican reclamos no negociables sobre los valores finales, lo que es incompatible con el respeto de los conciudadanos como colegisladores iguales. En tercer lugar, incluso si los argumentos religiosos son permitidos en la justificación pública, dar las exenciones religiosas de las leyes de aplicación general sigue siendo inadmisible, porque cede arbitrariamente la voluntad soberana del pueblo al dictado de las doctrinas religiosas.
8
O'Connor, Christopher. "Is there a place for religious conviction in public reason?" Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2004. http://www.tren.com.
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Dexter, Phillip. "National and religious identities : an interpretation of Regis Debray's Critique of political reason." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13906.
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Bibliography: leaves 214-223.<br>This thesis is a multi-disciplinary inquiry into the nature and functioning of national identity. By interpreting a single text, The Critique of Political Reason, by the French philosopher and activist Regis Debray, a range of new analytical concepts are located and some standard concepts are recast in new terms. The religious nature of social identities, that is, the role of the sacred in society, is identified and explained. Some mainstream theories of ideology, religion, and nationalism are explored in an attempt to determine whether these tools of analysis are practicable and how these theoretical resources might be reworked in the light of Debray's analysis. As Debray shows, the national question is not a problem to be solved but a persisting dilemma to be engaged at the levels of both theory and practice.
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Mang, Fan Lun Franz. "Beyond public reason liberalism : moderate perfectionism." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:154eaccf-40fe-439c-b0b7-158e2e79d675.
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Should the state undertake the task of promoting the good life? Perfectionism is the idea that the state should promote the good life. Many philosophers have answered in the negative to the above question, so they reject perfectionism. This thesis aims to develop a moderate version of perfectionism, and seeks to defend it against several influential anti-perfectionist arguments, in particular the argument from public reason liberalism. I begin by examining public reason liberalism. John Rawls, Gerald Gaus, Martha Nussbaum, and many other political philosophers endorse public reason liberalism. They believe that state coercion should be publicly justified, and that perfectionism cannot meet the requirements of public reason. I argue that public reason is the object of reasonable rejection, so it cannot be realised in actual politics through state intervention in a publicly justified way. In addition, I argue that respect for persons is not a reliable basis for public reason. Thus we have good reason to reject public reason liberalism. Then I develop a moderate version of perfectionism. I contend that the state should promote the good life through supporting a wide variety of perfectionist goods, and that it should do so by using moderate measures and by appealing to perfectionist judgements of a moderate kind. Some anti-perfectionists consider that perfectionism would be unnecessary when a fair distribution of resources is realised. Yet a fair distribution of resources is not foreseeable. I propose several kinds of moderate perfectionist policies that are of great importance for any neo-liberal society where the distribution of resources is far from fair, and these policies are ultimately important for the good life, not only for remedying unfairness. Contrary to the positions of many liberal philosophers including Ronald Dworkin and Jeremy Waldron, I argue that moderate perfectionism should not be rejected on grounds of paternalism and unfairness to different conceptions of the good.
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Morgan, Suzanne Melissa. "Aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft's Religious Thought." The University of Waikato, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2300.
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The works of Mary Wollstonecraft have been largely utilized in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries within the domain of feminist studies. They were influential throughout the 'feminist movement' of the 1960s and 1970s and Wollstonecraft is routinely given the title of 'mother' of feminism. One result of her works being classified as important feminist texts is the elision of the religious element in her works. Moreover, recent scholarship has drawn attention to the central importance of religion in eighteenth century British discourse. This thesis will primarily argue that Wollstonecraft was heavily influenced by religion, and that her writings were conceived in response to a profoundly theologico-political culture. This influence of religion has generally been overlooked by researchers and this thesis will aim to redress this absence. Four of Wollstonecraft's works - all produced within a 'similar' political climate and within a concise time period - are utilized to show that religion was a foundational element within Wollstonecraft's thought and arguments. This thesis shows that Wollstonecraft was not so much a 'feminist' thinker, but a unique intellectual determined to show that the inferior position of women went against 'God's will', teachings and the equality He had ascribed to both men and women during Creation.
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Donnelly, Phillip Johnathan. "Interpretation and violence, reason, narrative, and religious toleration in the works of John Milton." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/NQ66145.pdf.
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Steinmetz, Mayumi Takanashi. "Artistic and Religious Aspects of Nosatsu (Senjafuda)." Thesis, University of Oregon, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/22962.
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195 pages<br>Nosatsu is both a graphic art object and a religious object.
Until very recently, scholars have ignored nosatsu because of its
associations with superstition and low-class, uneducated hobbyists.
Recently, however, a new interest in nosatsu has revived because of
its connections to ukiyo-e. Early in its history, nosatsu was regarded
as a means of showing devotion toward the bodhisattva Kannon. However,
during the Edo period, producing artistic nosatsu was emphasized more
than religious devotion. There was a revival of interest in nosatsu
during the Meiji and Taisho periods, and its current popularity
suggests a national Japanese nostalgia toward traditional Japan.
Using the religious, anthropological, and art historical perspectives,
this theses will examine nosatsu and the practices associated with it,
discuss reasons for the changes from period to period, and explore the
heritage and the changing values of the Japanese common people.
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Susner, Lisa Marie. "To Think for Themselves: Teaching Faith and Reason in Nineteenth-Century America." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1482169008878297.
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Figueroa, Ismael. "Effective aspects : A typed monadic model to control and reason about aspect interference." Phd thesis, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, 2014. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01067730.
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Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) aims to enhance modularity and reusability in software systems by offering an abstraction mechanism to deal with crosscutting concerns. But, in most general-purpose aspect languages aspects have almost unrestricted power, eventually conflicting with these goals. This work presents Effective Aspects: a novel approach to embed the pointcut/advice model of AOP in a statically-typed functional programming language like Haskell; along two main contributions. First, we define a monadic embedding of the full pointcut/advicemodel of AOP. Type soundness is guaranteed by exploiting the underlying type system, in particular phantom types and a new anti-unification type class. In this model aspects are first-class, can be deployed dynamically, and the pointcut language is extensible, therefore combining the flexibility of dynamically-typed aspect languages with the guarantees of a static type system. Monads enable us to directly reason about computational effects both in aspects and base programs using traditional monadic techniques. Using this we extend the notion of Open Modules with effects, and also with protected pointcut interfaces to external advising. These restrictions are enforced statically using the type system. Also, we adapt the techniques of EffectiveAdvice to reason about and enforce control flow properties as well as to control effect interference. We show that the parametricity-based approach to effect interference falls short in the presence of multiple aspects and propose a different approach using monad views, a novel technique for handling the monad stack, developed by Schrijvers and Oliveira. Then, we exploit the properties of our model to enable the modular construction of new semantics for aspect scoping and weaving. Our second contribution builds upon a powerful model to reason about mixin-based composition of effectful components and their interference, based on equational reasoning, parametricity, and algebraic laws about monadic effects. Our contribution is to show how to reason about interference in the presence of unrestricted quantification through pointcuts. We show that global reasoning can be compositional, which is key for the scalability of the approach in the face of large and evolving systems. We prove a general equivalence theorem that is based on a few conditions that can be established, reused, and adapted separately as the system evolves. The theorem is defined for an abstract monadic AOP model; we illustrate its use with a simple version of the model just described. This work brings type-based reasoning about effects for the first time in the pointcut/advice model, in a framework that is expressive, extensible and well-suited for development of robust aspect-oriented systems as well as a research tool for new aspect semantics.
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Figueroa, Palet Ismael José. "Effective aspects: a typed monadic model to control and reason about aspect interference." Tesis, Universidad de Chile, 2014. http://www.repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/116427.
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La Programación Orientada a Aspectos (AOP) apunta a mejorar la modularidad y reusabilidad en sistemas de software al ofrecer un mecanismo de abstracción para manejar crosscutting concerns. Sin embargo, en la mayoría de los lenguajes orientados a aspectos; los aspectos tienen poder casi sin restricciones, lo que eventualmente entra en conflicto con las metas anteriores. En este trabajo presentamos EffectiveAspects: un nuevo enfoque para incorporar el modelo AOP de pointcut/advice en un lenguaje funcional estáticamente tipeado como Haskell.
Como primera contribución, definimos una incorporación completa del modelo de pointcut/advice al lenguaje, usando mónadas. La coherencia de tipos se garantiza explotando el sistema de tipos subyacente, en particular phantom types y una nueva type class que implemente un algoritmo de anti-unificación. Los aspectos son de primera clase, pueden ser desplegados dinámicamente, y el lenguaje de pointcuts es extensible; por lo tanto combina la flexibilidad de lenguajes de aspectos dinámicamente tipeados con las garantías de un sistema de tipos estático. Las mónadas nos permiten razonar directamente sobre los efectos tanto en los aspectos como en los programas base mediante técnicas monádicas tradicionales. Con esto, extendemos la noción de Open Modules propuesta por Aldrich con efectos y con pointcuts protegidos, que son interfaces que restringen la aplicación externa de advice. Estas restricciones son enforzadas estáticamente usando el sistema de tipos. También, adaptamos las técnicas de EffectiveAdvice para razonar y enforzar propiedades del flujo de control; así como también adaptamos su enfoque basado en parametricidad para controlar la interferencia de efectos. Luego de mostrar que este último enfoque no es suficiente en presencia de múltiples aspectos, proponemos un nuevo enfoque basado en monad views, una nueva técnica para manejar mónadas, desarrollada por Schrijvers y Olivera.
Nuestra segunda contribución se basa en un poderoso modelo para razonar sobre la composición de componentes basados en mixins que incorporan efectos computacionales. Este modelo se basa en razonamiento ecuacional, parametricidad y leyes algebráicas de las mónadas. Nuestra contribución es mostrar cómo razonar sobre interferencia en la presencia de cuantificación sin restricción, a través de pointcuts. Mostramos que el razonamiento global puede ser composicional, lo que es clave para la escalabilidad de nuestro enfoque en el contexto de grandes sistemas que evolucionan.
Demostramos un teorema general de equivalencia que se basa en algunas condiciones que pueden ser establecidas, reutilizadas y adaptadas por separado a medida que el sistema evoluciona. El teorema está definido en términos de un modelo abstracto de AOP monádico.
Este trabajo desarrolla técnicas de razonamiento de efectos, basadas en tipos, para el modelo pointcut/advice, en un modelo que es expresivo y extensible; y que permite el desarrollo de aplicaciones orientadas a aspecto robustas y la experimentación con nuevas semánticas de AOP.
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Benfey, Matthias Wilhelm. "Religious cinema as virtual religious experience : a theory of religious cinema applied to Werner Herzog's Herz aus Glas." Thesis, McGill University, 1986. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=72087.
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The dissertation is an exercise in the application of the philosophical hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur and the biblical hermeneutics of John Dominic Crossan to the aesthetics of religious cinema.<br>The thesis defines religious cinema as virtual religious experience; therefrom a theory of religious cinema is derived. This derivation depends on a discussion of the essential elements of the cinematic experience and permits the expansion of the category of religious cinema beyond its traditional frontier. Throughout the dissertation, a dialogue is maintained with general cinema theory on the one hand and religious cinema criticism on the other. The purpose of this dialogue is to increase credibility (in the former case) and to demonstrate originality (in the latter case).<br>Finally, extrapolating from a specific dialogue between Crossan and Ricoeur, a critical method is developed, then applied to Werner Herzog's Herz aus Glas, a transcription of which is included as an appendix.
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Gümüşay, Ali Aslan. "God at work : an institutional perspective on the impact of religion on organizations." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e6dc1016-0205-427a-8a54-6503cef2c371.
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The dissertation presents an institutional perspective on the role of values and meaning for organizations focusing on the institutional logic of religion. At its core are Chapter III, a conceptual paper, and Chapters IV and V, empirical papers based on an in-depth two-years long ethnographic case study on the founding process of the first Islamic Bank in Germany. They are framed by an introductory chapter and a conclusion that address the overarching research question of how diverse institutional demands are managed within and beyond the boundaries of organizations, as well as a general literature review chapter that embeds the papers within the wider institutional theory literature. Chapter III presents a conceptualization that integrates religion, specifically Islam, with entrepreneurship along three interconnected pillars: the entrepreneurial, socio-economic/ethical and religio-spiritual; and outlines how Islam shapes entrepreneurship at the micro-, meso- and macro-level. It suggests the institutional logics perspective to further analyze the impact of religion on organizations, which the subsequent papers build on. Chapter IV extends theory on organizational hybridity by outlining polyphony and polysemy as two mutually reinforcing organizational responses, that allow competing logics to coexist without structurally separating or blending them, and that produce elastic hybridity, showing how hybrid organizations can accommodate competing logics that are both central and incompatible. Chapter V shows how organizations collectively and dynamically co-generate and co-resolve institutional complexity through four combinatory mechanisms: pushing, pulling, clarifying and tolerating. These are subsequently integrated into a framework based on their desired versus required and actual versus perceptual nature. Overall, this dissertation contributes to a better understanding of how organizations manage diverse institutional demands including religion.
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Russek, Lisa Marie. "Social workers' responses to religious clients." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1995. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1042.
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Brinsfield, Gregory S., and Christopher B. Ashby. "Convergence and religious terrorism in America." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/1464.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.<br>Religious terrorism, as most recently highlighted by the horrendous 9/11 attacks, is not a new phenomenon. It is not restricted to any one particular religion or belief system, nor is it reserved as a weapon against foreign lands. Domestic religious terrorism is just as prevalent throughout history and is brought about by certain converging factors at particularly susceptible times within the society, such as economic difficulties, new or modified technologies, and social uncertainties. Under these conditions, a charismatic leader with an appealing ideology and access to sufficient resources may become a very powerful threat to society, pitting the secular against the divine. This type of convergence may result in altogether new religious movements, or the unexpected growth of fringe groups that, until they act, are not even identified. Examining the historical convergences of the Reformation, First and Second Great Awakenings, and the trends of modern domestic society, we find that the threads which hold these movements together remain consistent throughout history. Enabled by the rapid growth of technology, these groups have unprecedented potential power. A group that decides to become offensive or use weapons of mass destruction, such as Japan's Aum Shinrikyo, may pose an unacceptable risk to our country.<br>Major, United States Air Force
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Ismail, Badroen. "Potential use of Islamic finance among Muslims in Port Elizabeth." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/17526.
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The resurgence of Islam across the globe combined with the resilience that Islamic financial assets have shown against the onslaught of the current financial crisis, make Islamic finance an attractive alternative financial system. Over the past decade, the Islamic finance sector have shown double digit growth rates beyond the traditional areas of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions of Asia as well as other parts of the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) regions. Research suggests that the future of Islamic finance in Africa depends on business opportunities in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal. The South African government, in conjunction with the national finance authorities, have made their intention clear to position the country as the Islamic finance hub for the rest of the African continent. Despite various marketing campaigns over the past decade to convince the public that Islamic banking and finance is for everyone, non-Muslims generally view Islamic banking as being for Muslims alone. Scepticism towards Islamic finance has resulted in a mere 15 per cent of the estimated 1.5 million South African Muslims currently making use of the sector’s banking and retail instruments. This lack of interest is impacting negatively on the country’s aspirations to establish itself as the gateway of Islamic finance to the rest of Africa. Generally, people’s attitudes toward utilising Islamic finance are regarded as a key obstacle to the development of the Islamic banking and finance system in Muslim minority countries. A Kuwait Finance House research report (2012) highlighted a lack of awareness and knowledge of Islamic finance products and services as key factors stifling the growth of the Islamic finance sector in South Africa. In this context, it was deemed necessary to analyse how knowledge, awareness, expectations, beliefs, perceptions and ancillary external factors impact on potential users’ attitude and decision to adopt or reject Islamic finance.By means of adapting Fishbein’s (2000; 2008) Integrative Model of Behavioural Prediction, a universally-acceptable behavioural-change model, this research explains in a holistic manner how cognitive, affective and environmental measures impact on a Port Elizabethan Muslim’s attitude and eventual decision to accept (or reject) Islamic finance. This study has found that knowledge was the most important variable influencing attitude and intention to use (or reject) Islamic finance. Consequently, this thesis proposed that Islamic institutions should focus their efforts on promoting knowledge and awareness of their products among the South African Muslim and non- Muslim population. As the global Shari’ah finance industry continues its positive growth trajectory, it is imperative that Islamic finance stakeholders in South Africa ensure that they exploit the benefits derived from online learning platforms and assist, by means of cross-border collaborations, more students to have greater access to Islamic finance courses. Furthermore, universities and training institutions are encouraged to offer courses and qualifications in Islamic finance to close the talent gap that currently exist in this particular field of study.
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Macy, Alexandra G. "The Socio-economic and Religious Aspects in Robinson Crusoe." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2011. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/199.
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In the novel, Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe examines a wide range of complex issues. Defoe takes the typical adventure theme and transforms it into a thought-provoking reflection of many issues involving society. A blending of economic and religious issues is created by first focusing on economy, then bringing the issue of religion in, and finally allowing for the portrayal of the interpenetration between each. Defoe proves that it is possible to live by economic practices and monetary values while still maintaining a good, moral character. The emphasis on economic issues is extremely apparent, as Defoe calls into question the concept of money and its value, as well as its place in society. Crusoe is first portrayed as a man defined by money and ruled by economic principles. Even when removed from society, he is impelled to practice many economic conventions, such as investment, moderation and the idea of profit. Defoe creates Crusoe to be so greatly influenced by money and the economy in the beginning so as to better emphasize the intertwining of his economic side with his religious side. The Christian values and morals of Crusoe dominate the latter part of the novel. He rediscovers the Bible and its teachings and learns the importance of repentance and giving thanks. The provocative progression in unveiling the many layers of Crusoe allows for the reader to see that the man they thought to be defined by money is rather a man trying to live by the Word of God.
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Armstrong, Darren Philip. "The religious aspects of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien." Thesis, Durham University, 1994. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1044/.
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This thesis maintains that no comprehensive assessment of the work of J. R. R. Tolkien can be made without giving due weight to him as a religious writer, in the senses that : (a) he maintained an esthetic that is intrinsically Christian, believing that certain kinds of fantasy can bring new insights of the fallen world; (b) that writing, or sub-creating, was for him an essentially religious activity, participating in the myth of Creation; (c) his major fantasy texts contain subtle, often subliminal allusions to the Judaeo-Christian scriptures, although stripped of any dogmatic content; and (d) his major texts assume a cultural authority, through an allusive use of imagery and imitation of scriptural syntax to operate as a quasiscripture. I also consider Tolkien's treatment of major theological issues and assess how well suited the format of fantasy fiction is for the exploration of such themes.
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Carbonneau, André 1952. "Conscientious objectors to a medical treatment - what are the rules?" Thesis, McGill University, 1999. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=30290.
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Patients who refuse a specific medical treatment for religious reasons must often overcome strongly entrenched presumptions held by physicians and judges, presumptions frequently based on personal values. A case in point is the refusal of blood transfusion therapy by Jehovah's Witnesses.<br>This paper rests on the following theory: The sanctity of life principle is not necessarily violated by respecting the autonomous decision of a patient who, for religious or moral reasons, chooses one therapy over another that may be favored by the treating physician. Where a patient has decided for conscientious reasons against a certain treatment in any given medical situation, the need to be informed will shift from the patient to the physician. The physician must understand the nature of the religious or moral conviction, as well as his own moral and legal obligation to respect the patient's wishes by providing the best medical care under the circumstances.
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Reddy, Mike Megrove. "Communication in Christian groups from movements to organisations." Thesis, University of Zululand, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10530/456.
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A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of D. Litt. In Communication Science University of Zululand, 2004.<br>This dissertation reports the results of a study made of the forms of communication employed by Judaeo-Christian religious groups when they saw themselves as movements, compared to when they had become organisations. Beginning with ancient Israel, the study documents how forms of communication become elaborated during the organisational phase of groups' existence. The forms of communication used in Christian religious groups are documented from the rime of the eady Christian Church, through the Reformation period, through the 17* century to present-day Christian groups. The dissertation also reports as a case study an empirical analysis of the forms of communication used by the Cell Church and churches with cell groups, both of which are inter-denominational and host regular informal gatherings. It is found that these gatherings display the onset phase characteristics of Christian movements.
From a theoretical point of view the research reported here provides evidence in support for the following Christian Religious Communications Hypothesis: Christian religious groups will use a limited number offorms of communication when they perceive themselves as movements and they will expand their forms of communication, as they become organisations, which forms special instance of Klopper (2003)'s general Theory of the Optimisation of Human Communication: Humans optimise a variety of forms of communication within a culture, to ensure immediate direct personal survival and to maintain their culture as a fongterm indirect survival strategy. By confirming the validity of the Christian Religious Communications Hypothesis, the research findings also provide indirect validation for Klopper's general Theory of the Optimisation of Human Communication.
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Quandt, Ryan. "Reasoning of the Highest Leibniz and the Moral Quality of Reason." Scholar Commons, 2019. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7894.
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Loving God is our highest perfection for Leibniz. It secures our belief and trust in the Creator, which is integral to the sciences as well as faith. Those who love God have justification for reasoning, that is, they can rationally expect to arrive at truth. This is because love is a receptivity to the perfection all of things; loving God, then, is a disposition and tendency toward the most perfect being, the ens perfectissimum. Individuals who perceive the divine nature “do not merely fear the power of the supreme and all-seeing monarch,” Leibniz writes, “but are assured of his beneficence, and lastly—and what brings everything together—burn with a love of God above all else.”1 In my dissertation, I argue that Leibniz’s qualification should be taken seriously: love of God “brings everything together.”
The subject of my dissertation can be stated schematically. It consists of two pairs of claims, one pair philosophical, the other theological:
A moral quality is required to secure our reason.
From a most perfect unity, a moral quality follows.
Love of God is our highest perfection.
Love of God secures our reasoning.
Both concern the security of reason, by which I mean the rational motivation for reasoning itself. They are reasons we ought to expect reasoning to lead to truth. Yet they do not form a tight demonstration: while an inference is clearly at work in the first pair, there are no inferences in the second. Also, there is a distinction between a moral quality and love for God. Unless they are identified, Leibniz’s philosophy and theology secure reasoning apart from one another.
In 1686, Leibniz wrote his well-known “Discourse on Metaphysics.” A few months after, he composed a theological treatise, Examination of the Christian Religion. These texts, I argue, should be read side by side, and the first chapter compares how divine perfection secures our reasoning in both texts. Some Moderns’ notion of perfection—namely, Descartes’, Spinoza’s, and Malebranche’s—fail to secure our reasoning because their views entail arbitrariness in the world and the divine nature. But a proper sense of perfection, one that includes a moral quality, secures our reasoning by ensuring that everything is amenable to reason.
Descartes also sought to secure our reasoning, and for the second and third chapters I compare his account with Leibniz’s own, then draw out the latter’s criticisms. For Descartes, the deity’s moral quality is characterized by an indifferent will, which is eminently and formally revealed throughout creation. Although recognizing the infinite source of all things directs our attention appropriate in the Cartesian system, Leibniz criticizes Descartes’ detached and indifferent God. When our disposition toward God is not characterized by love, we are less rational than otherwise.
Leibniz finds intolerable moral implications in the Cartesian system, and I work out these implications in chapter three. Descartes’ criteria of true and false ideas does not settle dispute, but relies on “interior testimony.” Proper reasoning, then, does not tend toward unity among persons, and this is especially problematic in religious debate. Descartes’ method is Stoic, which also leads to trouble when it comes to church unity: one remains in the church by a sheer act of will, which can violate reason. Leibniz views such a detachment of faith and reasoning as dangerous, besides impoverishing the concept of reason altogether.
Leibniz’s notions of God and perfection secure our reason by engendering love for God. “Discourse” and Examen begin with a moral disposition and tendency. In the last chapter, I argue that this is the case by considering two criteria Leibniz adopts—his test for perfection and the kinds of knowledge—as well as the foundation of his logic at the time. Leibniz can tolerate provisional beginnings, hypothetical truths, and original sin because of his robust conception of love. He distinguishes two ways we love God: spes, or hope, is a disposition or tendency to natural perfection, and caritas, or esteem, affection, or love, regards divine perfection. These states orient us according to the divine plan.
Miracles are within the world as an effect of the deity’s moral quality: they are a means God personally relates to rational beings. Miracles reveal the moral effects of our perception of phenomena generally, included the regularity observed and classified by science. So, to conclude, I compare Leibniz’s discussion of revelation in Examen with his discussion of miracles in “Discourse” to draw out the significance of miracles for him. Besides much debate on the implications of miracles for his conception of substance, I argue that there is a moral motivation for retaining miracles, even those of the second rank.
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Tilak, Shrinivas 1939. "Religion and aging in Indian tradition : a textual study." Thesis, McGill University, 1988. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=75680.
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The purpose of the present study is to recover from selected Hindu and Buddhist texts ideas and images of aging and illumine their historical, semantic and metaphysical dimensions. The results of this endeavor indicate that as cultural adaptive systems, both religion and gerontology share a common concern in seeking to provide aging with purpose and meaning. Further, the internal logic and semantics expressing this relationship in the texts examined are governed by the formal and literary modes of simile, metaphor and myth. The analysis of such age-sensitive concepts as jara (aging), asrama (stages of life), kala (time), parinama (change), karma (determinate actions), kama (desire), and vaja (rejuvenatory and revitalizing force) suggest that the bond between the traditional Indian values of life and gerontology is particularly close and mutual.
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Van, den Berg Ruan. "An examination of Christian values and correlated concepts in small business practices in South Africa." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021094.
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The purpose of this research project was to establish in what way Christian entrepreneurs, in this case owner-managers of small and medium-sized enterprises, drew on their Christian faith – as an identity-creating construct – in the day-to-day running of their businesses. Religion was identified as one of the significant contributing elements that form part of individuals’ underlying values that are used to make numerous value-based decisions. Because SME owner-managers that adhere to the Christian faith constitute a fairly large segment of society in the Western World, a study of this nature can be regarded as a worthwhile undertaking that provides valuable insights related to how and to what extent this particular group of economic actors merge religious convictions with business operations. The research was set up in such a way that SME owner-managers in South Africa, who were self-proclaimed Christians and broadly defined as members of the Protestant tradition, constituted the sample participants. The methodology regarded as most suitable was a qualitative, grounded-theory approach whereby interviews were conducted along the lines of a semi-structured interview schedule. An openended exploratory strategy was adopted that allowed respondents to convey their thoughts and ideas pertaining to the research phenomenon from their personal perspectives. A number of conceptual and linguistic frames offered by the respondents – that gave language to the way they rationalised their faith in the context of managing their businesses – were recorded. A total of sixteen major themes and an additional eight sub-themes emerged from the data. The themes recorded and analysed were: faith, grace, calling, stewardship, kingdom, holiness, discipleship, discernment, love, relationship, anointing, inseparable dimensions of life, the Christian life journey, money, cultural perspectives and biblical principles, including the centrality of the Bible, integrity and honesty, sowing and reaping, humility, forgiveness, power of the tongue, importance of prayer and the centrality of Christ. The research findings revealed that a correct understanding of the Christian identity as well as a correct application thereof is crucial in successfully incorporating Christian ideals in the market. Full integration of the Christian identity plus an internalisation of God’s purposes and principles create an inner sense of direction that is less focused on external moral guidelines and codes of conduct – the phrase living from the inside out’ seems appropriately fitting to describe a group of economic actors who pursue their business careers with a sense of calling coupled with a belief that their commercial whereabouts are distinctively linked to a transcendent objective. In addition, general business administration guidelines, where the issue of religious affiliation per se is of no particular consequence, allow for the integration of the value concepts uncovered through the study by way of the corporate governance framework as contained in the King III report – particularly with reference to business practice interventions related to the formulation and implementation of core organisational values and moral codes.
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Sandenbergh, Hercules Alexander. "How religious is Sudan's Religious War?" Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/3470.
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Thesis (MPhil (Political Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2006.<br>Sudan, Africa’s largest country has been plagued by civil war for more than fifty years. The war broke out before independence in 1956 and the last round of talks ended in a peace agreement early in 2005. The war started as a war between two different religions embedded in different cultures. The Islamic government constitutionalised their religious beliefs and imposed them on the whole country. This triggered heavy reaction from the Christian and animist people in the South. They were not willing to adhere to strict marginalising Islamic laws that created cleavages in society.
The Anya-Anya was the first rebel group to violently oppose the government and they fought until the Addis Ababa peace accord that was reached in 1972. After the peace agreement there was relative peace before the government went against the peace agreement and again started enforcing their religious laws on the people in the South. This new wave of Islamisation sparked renewed tension between the North and the south that culminated in Dr John Garang and his SPLM/A restarting the conflict with the government in 1982. This war between the SPLA and the government lasted 22 years and only ended at the beginning of 2005.
The significance of this second wave in the conflict is that it coincided with the discovery of oil in the South. Since the discovery of oil the whole focus of the war changed and oil became the centre around which the war revolved. Through this research I intend to look at the significance of oil in the conflict. The research question: how religious is Sudan’ Religious war? asks the question whether resources have become more important than religion.
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Velthuysen, Daniel Nicholas. "A pastoral theological examination of inner healing." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016248.
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Doing a survey of the ministry of inner healing, one is arrested by three salient features: its pragmatic and correlative development, its lay orientation, and the inconsistent and naïve theoretical explanation of the phenomenon. Inner healing, or as it was first known, the healing of the memories, appears to have its roots with Agnes Sanford during the 1940's (Sandford 1982: 3-4). Over a period of time and through a series of events, Sanford experienced what she termed a healing of memories. After some reflection on her experiences she began to teach her views at the School of Pastoral Care started by her husband in 1958, at Camps Farthest Out (CFO), and at numerous churches and conferences.
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Cheung, Man-ling, and 張曼玲. "The role of religious attributions in coping with bereavement." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1995. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3197787X.
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Chant, Jeffrey MacIntosh, and University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education. "Experiences of male woundedness and the influence of understandings of Christ." Thesis, Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2005, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10133/341.
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The purpose of this study was to bring to consciousness the varied experiences that men
have had of feeling wounded and to explore how a relationship to Jesus the Christ has
influenced their understanding of those experiences. A modified naturalistic inquiry
model was used as the qualitative research method, and the research was developed using
grounded theory. This method of inquiry encouraged participants, and the researcher, to
voice their experiences and to utilize them in a way that made the research significant.
This methodological approach allowed themes to emerge, while honouring the stories and
experiences that the participants shared. The theoretical framework for the study emerged
from two major fields of research: Christian theology and gender-male studies. This
research is located where these two fields intersect and overlap. It builds on the research
from gender-male studies, specifically the psychological study of men and masculinity,
organized men's movements, mythopoetic movements, profeminist movements, as well
as the Christian theological understanding of a Messiah who has been portrayed and
understood as the "wounded healer." The research focuses on the point at which men's
experiences connect with their own sense of woundedness, their Christian faith, and their
process of healing. The researcher engaged a discriminate group of men in exploring and
trying to understand their experiences of feeling wounded in relation to the Christian
story. Four men were identified who have had formal education in both pastoral
psychology and theology. The participants were interviewed, and a constant comparative
method was employed. Throughout the process of interviewing these men and being
privy to their stories, my own story of feeling wounded often surfaced. This research is significant because allowing these men to articulate their experiences of woundedness facilitates healing, for themselves but also for other men who may access their own
stories of feeling wounded through hearing those of the participants. Identifying and
articulating woundedness helps to manifest the path of healing and self-understanding,
ultimately leading to happier lives.<br>x, 130 leaves ; 29 cm.
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MacDonald, Kathleen Anne. "Sacred healing, health and death in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=32927.
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The Tibetan Buddhist approach to healing, health and death is rooted in the sacred. Its teachings and techniques create a road map guiding the practitioner through the process of purification called sacred healing. It encompasses foundational Buddhist teachings, sacred Buddhist medicine, and the esoteric healing pathways found in tantra and yoga, which together constitute a detailed and technical guide to healing. The mind is central to all aspects of Tibetan Buddhism. The ability to focus the mind through meditation during life enables the practitioner to prepare for death by experiencing the subtle aspects of the body and mind through the chakras. Both Tibetan spiritual teachers and doctors practise healing and help practitioners learn to focus their minds in preparation for death. The moment of death presents the greatest opportunity for attaining sacred health, but healing can also occur after death. The objective of this thesis is to present the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of sacred healing in relation to life, death, the bardos and suicide through its texts, teachings and techniques.
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Menatsi, Richard. "The concept of "the people" in liberation theology." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015654.
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The concept of "the people" has become a key concept within the work of several Latin American theologians, Korean Minjung theologians and South African theologians. When liberation theologians use the concept of "the people" in their literature they do so with a lack of clarity, to the extent that the exact meaning of the term is obscure. In their usage of the concept "the people" liberation theologians come up with differing and at times contradictory meanings, particularly as regards the concrete and symbolic meanings of the concept. This thesis sets out to investigate the use of the concept "the people" by liberation theologians by consulting a selection from Latin American theology, Korean Minjung theology, South African liberation theology and Marxism, to detect its influence on the use of this notion. A general overview of the thesis indicates the following. The first chapter provides a detailed analysis of the concept of "the people" in the work of different liberation theologians. Chapter two considers "the people" in relation to poverty and oppression. The third chapter deals with "the people" as subjects of history. In the fourth chapter "the people" as a concept is developed in relation to belief within the Christian church. The final chapter is an evaluation. The thesis reveals that the following characteristics are central to "the people", they are poor and oppressed but are also inclusive of all those persons who identify and actively support the struggle against poverty and oppression. "The people" are subjects of their own history, finally they are Christian believers.
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Borchardt, Frederick Francois. "Religious experience and schizophrenia in modern man : an experiential theoretical study." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002061.
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In this study the psychological structures of two categories of religious and schizophrenic experience were examined from a phenomenological- existential perspective. Existing theories describe schizophrenia as an unfree, rigid experience with limited possibilities for selfhood. Some theorists believe, however, that some forms of schizophrenia can be seen as potential growth experiences which could facilitate existential renewal. These forms of schizophrenia are mystical, mythical or spiritual in nature. Religious experiences are, according to the literature, essentially renewal experiences facilitating existential growth and transformation through a particular system of thought and devotional relationship shared by a group of people. The Duquesne phenomenological- psychological method was used to analyse seven case studies, four of which involved schizophrenic experiences and three which involved religious conversion experiences. The general psychological structure which emerged through this analysis showed both schizophrenia and religious experience to have specific implications for the personal, social, material and mystical dimensions of being. The description of a specific psychological structure of experience which could optimally facilitate existential growth and transformation was attained by examining psychological structures where the subject's experience culminated in existential growth and transformation (such as religious experience and certain schizophrenIc experiences). As both these categories of experience displayed a strong mystical component, a psychological structure of experience which facilitates a transformative mystical experience was described. It can be concluded that an experience involving a mystical dimension could be transformative if the general psychological structure of the person displays (a) an openness towards reality as it presents itself (b) an experience of oneself as having a measure of existential freedom (c) a certain sense of security in one's own selfhood and (d) a social world which could understand, support and reflect inner experiences.
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Mermer, Alison Clare. "Aspects of religious identity : the Nurcu movement in Turkey today." Thesis, Durham University, 1985. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1614/.
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Griffing, Gene A. "Creativity and religious orientation : an interactional study of psychological wellbeing." Virtual Press, 2002. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1233199.
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Past research has shown that both creativity and religious orientation are related to psychological wellbeing. There has also been some support for the idea that a relationship exists between creativity and religiosity. The present study sought to determine whether the interaction between creativity and religious orientation would be a significant predictor of psychological wellbeing. Psychological wellbeing, in the current study, was defined as the linear composite of life satisfaction, meaning in life, and purpose in life. The independent variables were measured using the Religious Orientation Scale, the Religious Orientation Scale Revised, and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Dependent variables were assessed via the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Scales of Psychological Wellbeing Short Forms, and the Life Attitude Profile Revised. Questionnaires were administered to 291 college students at a mid-western university. Individuals were identified as being either high or low in creativity and as either intrinsic or extrinsic with respect to their religious orientation. A final participant sample participant sample of 120 participants was retained for analysis and a two by two factorial MANOVA was performed to determine if creativity and religious orientation would interact. While the results of the study suggested that creativity and religious orientation were both significant predictors of psychological wellbeing, the interaction of these variables was not found to be a significant predictor of psychological wellbeing. The independent factor of creativity was found to be a significant predictor beyond the .05 level for psychological wellbeing, satisfaction with life, purpose in life, and meaning in life. Similarly, religious orientation as an independent factor was found to be a significant predictor beyond the .05 level for psychological wellbeing, purpose in life, and having meaning in life. While this data is consistent with the current literature, religious orientation was not a significant predictor of life satisfaction. It was postulated that the lack of interaction may have been attributed to low variability in test scores, developmental characteristics of the sample, and/or the more precise psychometric properties of the instruments used in the current study. Recommendations for future research were suggested.<br>Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
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Kasmed, Fa-eeza. "The identity alignment of Christian beliefs and homosexual orientation in adult women." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/17658.
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The homosexual orientation has been controversial in many countries around the world, with religion often used as the foundation for critique against this orientation. The prevalence of discrimination, and the expectation of rejection, often results in homosexual individuals concealing their sexual identity. In the process homosexual individuals may deny, hide, or even discarded their authentic selves. However, some individuals reach a point of comfort with both these constructs of their identity, a position that supports the authentic self. The aim of this study is to explore and describe the process of how individuals who identify as both Christian and homosexual align these parts into their identity, to reach a place of comfort. The study further seeks to generate insight that can be used to assist individuals in similar positions of identity conflict. The study uses qualitative methodology, more specifically an exploratory- descriptive design. The sample is identified through non-probability purposive sampling, and data collected through semi- structured interviews. The data is analysed using an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) framework. Thematic analysis identified major themes of denial, conflict, anger, bargaining, deconstruction, and self- acceptance. These themes followed a non- linear and interactive process, and present participants reaching a place of comfort with their Christian beliefs and homosexual orientation; which is discussed through the interpretative lens of social constructionism and queer theory.
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Nkesiga, Reverend Solomon Basabose. "Virtuous living towards an African theology of wisdom in the context of the African renaissance." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/454.
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The structure of this study is a complex inter-relationship of a variety of sources in a theological work, namely, personal experience, African social and politico-economic context, philosophical reflection, wisdom traditions and Christian theology. These sources form a coherent inter-relationship which is foundational for an African theology of wisdom. The introduction gives an overview of my moral and theological formation. This is intended to provide a perspective through which the issue of moral orientation in African context has been approached. It is therefore entitled: Moral formation and the shaping of a theological mind. The first chapter answers the question: Why is Africa in need of a wisdom theology that addresses the issue of moral regeneration? This question is posed in the broader context of the current African Renaissance debates. The links between the Italian (European) and African Renaissance indicate that moral regeneration is a crucial part of the socio-political, intellectual and economic re-birth of Africa. This “socio-historical” source gives the context and urgency of a wisdom theology. It is therefore entitled: A contextual analysis: The European and African Renaissance. The second chapter re-asserts the rise of virtue ethics as an alternative ethical theory to the predominant deontological and utilitarian traditions. This is achieved through analysing Alisdair MacIntyre’s earlier work, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981), set in the context of Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Anscombe, the modern initiators of a virtue ethic. This “philosophical” source gives the theoretical framework that addresses the question of moral formation. It is therefore entitled: A philosophical analysis: The rise of virtue ethics as alternative ethical theory. The third chapter is devoted to two related “wisdom” themes: Firstly, the seven traditional virtues are briefly described highlighting the virtue of wisdom as foundational. Secondly, the idea of wisdom is further developed via three wisdom traditions, namely: wisdom in the Hellenistic, Judeo-Christian and African traditions. This “sapiential” source gives this African theology of wisdom its most important building blocks. This chapter is therefore entitled: A sapiential analysis: Wisdom as foundation for virtue ethics in Africa. The last chapter brings the previous sources together under a specific theological perspective. It draws on aspects of recent African theologians’ work, notably: Kwame Gyekye and Benezet Bujo who engage with and bring together Western and African theological traditions. I answer a pertinent question, “What does such a ‘theological’ perspective entail?” I draw on Scripture and its Trinitarian tradition to demonstrate how African wisdom, reinforced by the framework of virtue theory, and developed in the context of present-day Africa by an African student of theology, has the potential to contribute to the moral transformation of Africa. This more overt “theological” source is the distinctive Christian enterprise of an African wisdom theology. The chapter title is aligned with the overall title of this study: A theological analysis: Toward an African virtue ethics? To this end, this study achieves its attempt to construct an inter-related framework from which an African theology of wisdom may emerge.
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Venter, Johannes Machiel. "How the Christian church can help in building business ethics." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012905.
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Research suggests that there is a relationship between religion and business ethics. When looking at the South African society and the statistics that says that 80 percent of the population is Christian but on the other hand we are confronted within this country with increasing incidents of corruption in private companies as well as in public services. Why would that be the case? This study seeks to understand if Christianity or the local church really makes an impact on the lives of its members. The research starts of by looking at behaviour in general and what constitute to good ethical decision-making. In the study on Christian ethics it becomes clear that there is a strong appeal in the Bible on ethical behaviour. The Bible goes as far as to claim that, when in a relationship with the Lord, the followers will show His character in the way they live at home and the way they behave and make ethical decisions at the workplace. This study used focus groups to research the role of the local church in changing behaviour. The study finds that Christianity per se does not change the behaviour of church members. The church members‘ definition of the church largely determines the impact the church will have on their lives. In the study on the Christian ethics it was clear that ethics were seen as something that was formed in communities and not by rules or regulations. It was not a case of people telling others what to do and what not. It was more a case of mentors that helped others to live differently in community with others. The study finds that when the local church is build on relationships and if there is a strong sense of community, the church has a huge impact on the lives of its members. This suggests that the local church should be more focused on strong and intimate relationships and not so much on the church as organisation or institute. This is also important for the businesses that will employ these members because they will make better ethical decisions.
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Jackson, Robert. "The interrelationship between religious education and religious studies : paper to accompany materials submitted for PhD by published work." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1993. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/71284/.
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Nehushtan, Yossi. "Religious conscientious exemptions." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.670045.
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Dean, Robert Dale. "Manhood, reason, and American foreign policy: The social construction of masculinity and the Kennedy and Johnson administrations." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/187268.
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This dissertation explores the ways that specific constructions of "masculinity" and related "gendered" discourses of political power helped shape the foreign policy decisions of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. I argue that both prescriptive and proscriptive aspects of an elite "ideology of masculinity" played an important role in Kennedy administration innovations like counterinsurgency programs or the Peace Corps. The U.S. intervention in Vietnam under both Presidents was shaped in significant ways by a decision-making process embedded in a gendered discourse that equated negotiation with "appeasement," "softness," feminized weakness, and the collapse of boundaries; the use of force was construed as "tough-minded," a pragmatic "hardness" to buttress vital imperial and domestic political boundaries. This dissertation places analytical and interpretive emphasis on the heretofore largely unexamined role of gender and culture in American foreign policy of the Cold War. The study has two aspects. The first focuses on the creation of elite masculine "identity-narratives"; I examine the patterns of masculine socialization common to Kennedy and the elite "establishment" figures he recruited to staff his national security bureaucracy. I discuss patterns of experience in sex-segregated educational, fraternal, and military institutions, and the ritual ordeals employed by those institutions to create overlapping brotherhoods of privilege and power. I examine their experience of the gendered and sexualized political discourse of the nineteen-fifties, and the lessons they learned from the government purges which equated "subversion" and "sex perversion" when targeting victims. The second aspect of the study examines the "real world" consequences of the prescriptive and proscriptive ideology of masculinity shared by the national security staff of Kennedy and Johnson. I look at the ways that programs like counterinsurgency or the Peace Corps were shaped by ideals of masculine strenuousness and heroism, and in turn used as a political theater of masculinity for domestic political purposes. Decision-making about Vietnam was inextricably bound up with "private" identity-narratives of masculine power, and a public political discourse revolving around questions of "strength" or "weakness" in leaders. The politics of masculinity shaped the cost-benefit reason of U.S. policy-makers.
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Pillay, Miranda N. "Re-visioning stigma: a socio-rhetorical reading of Luke 10:25-37 in the context of HIV/AIDS in South Africa." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2008. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_4669_1227789291.
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<p>HIV and AIDS present challenges to the well-being of individuals and to public health proportions unpresedented in modern history, and stigma has been identified as the single most contributor to the spread of the HI-virus. While the challenges presented by the AIDS pandemic are scientific and medical, it also has a psychological, legal, <br>economic, social, ethical and religious impact on those infected and affected. The underlying question in this thesis is not whether the church should respond to this urgent societal challenge, but how it ought to respond. To explore this question, the thesis investigated how a New Testament text (as primary resource), particularly Luke's Gospel, could be a resource for shaping/sharpening the church's response to the pandemic.</p>
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Goins, Jeffrey P. (Jeffrey Paul). "Expendable Creation: Classical Pentecostalism and Environmental Disregard." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1997. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc278335/.
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Whereas the ecological crisis has elicited a response from many quarters of American Christianity, classical (or denominational) Pentecostals have expressed almost no concern about environmental problems. The reasons for their disregard of the environment lie in the Pentecostal worldview which finds expression in their: (1) tradition; (2) view of human and natural history; (3) common theological beliefs; and (4) scriptural interpretation. All these aspects of Pentecostalism emphasize and value the supernatural--conversely viewing nature as subordinate, dependent and temporary. Therefore, the ecocrisis is not problematic because, for Pentecostals, the natural environment is: of only relative value; must serve the divine plan; and will soon be destroyed and replaced. Furthermore, Pentecostals are likely to continue their environmental disregard, since the supernaturalism which spawns it is key to Pentecostal identity.
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Irwin, Kristen A. "The core mysteries Pierre Bayle's philosophical fideism /." Diss., [La Jolla] : University of California, San Diego, 2010. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3397222.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2010.<br>Title from first page of PDF file (viewed March 29, 2010). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-199).
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Chan, Sin-wai, and 陳倩慧. "Religious release of birds in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B38345821.
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Mang, Fan-lun Franz, and 孟繁麟. "Reasonable disagreement, state neutrality, and perfectionism." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2008. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B42182074.
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Wilson, Alissa Carrie. "A qualitative study of spiritual and alternative practices in social work." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2652.
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The purpose of this study is to more closely examine social workers who are practicing or familiar with spiritual and alternative techniques. These approaches are seen as highly relevant to social work values of cultural competency and empowerment.
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Brown, Robert Bruce. "Holy war as an instrument of theocratic and social ideology in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic history." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1997. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1428.
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