The current study examines several recent comparisons made between the writings of Nagarjuna and Derrida. The main question under examination is why in particular should such a comparison of two widely different thinkers hold obvious appeal for contemporary scholars? In an attempt to answer this question the comparisons of Robert Magliola, David Loy, Harold Coward and others are analysed as are critiques of this type of comparison presented by Richard Hayes, A. Bharati and others. It is concluded that the basis for these comparisons is a strong concern for a "middle way" perspective between forms of absolutism and nihilism in contemporary Western culture.

This thesis is a thematic examination of two primary texts from the Second-Temple period of Judaism. 1st and 2nd Maccabees, two "histories" which cover the same political events from diverging perspectives, were examined exhaustively for their depiction of women. These depictions were catalogued and analysed, resulting in the creation of seven original categories which organized the results. The results were compared with contemporaneous depictions of women, and it was decided that the literary treatment of women was, in both works, in keeping with a patriarchal Greco-Roman Jewish status quo, with some noteworthy exceptions.

This thesis situates the three-vow texts written by the founders of the new (sarma) schools within the broader processes of school-formation during the "Tibetan Renaissance" (950 to 1250 CE). The texts of focus are authored by Atiśa, Gampopa, Drakpa Gyeltsen, and Drigung Jikten Gönpo. In order to expand our understanding of these under-studied texts I examine them from three perspectives, with each perspective defined by a different set of goals that guided the authors. First, I explain how these texts describe and arrange the three sets of vows (the prātimokṣa, bodhisattva, and tantric vows) in order to clarify the commitments of a vow holder. Second, I show how the positions taken in these texts are connected to the process of monastic institutionalization. Third, I show how some of the texts engaged in public polemics in order to assert the supremacy of the author and his school. / Ce mémoire situe les textes sur les trois voeux composés par les fondateurs des nouvelles (sarma) écoles comme faisant partie du processus plus large de la formation des écoles durant la "renaissance tibétaine" (950 à 1250). Les textes examinés ont été composés par Atiśa, Gampopa, Drakpa Gyeltsen et Drigung Jikten Gönpo. Afin d'étendre notre compréhension de ces textes négligés, je les examine selon trios perspectives, dont chacune est définie par les objectifs différents que visaient les auteurs. Premièrement, j'explique comment ces texts décrivent et organisent les trois types de voeux (du prātimokṣa, bodhisattva, et tantrique) afin de clarifier les engagements du détenteur des voeux. Deuxièmement, je démontre comment les positions défendues dans ces textes sont reliées au processus d'ordination monastique. Troisièmement, je démontre de quelle façon certains des textes prenaient part à des polémiques publiques afin de promouvoir la supériorité de l'auteur et de son école.

That the study of the history of Christian doctrine and dogma had its heyday in nineteenth-century German Protestantism is well known. What is not well known is that theologians in two Presbyterian denominations in Victorian Scotland, the Free Church and the United Presbyterians, made the most concerted attempts in an English-speaking Protestant tradition to account historically for the genesis and progress of doctrine. This dissertation recovers this half-century of Reformed theological labour and neglected chapter in Victorian church history through close analysis of how prominent theologians in these evangelical bodies wrestled with the new, disconcerting idea that doctrine develops in history. The story that emerges tells of Scottish Presbyterian theology in the period c. 1845-c. 1900 coming to recognize that church doctrine was not simply the repetition of biblical teaching. Doctrine was the church's confession of God's truth—and the church was in history. Nonetheless, because the historical spirit was far from monolithic in the nineteenth century, the manner in which theologians from this tradition negotiated their Reformed and evangelical doctrinal inheritance with the claims of history was markedly diverse.William Cunningham (1805-61) rejected John Henry Newman's groundbreaking An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845) by reiterating the classical Protestant doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. Although subsequent theologians also held this belief, their understanding of revelation was being historicized. Robert Rainy (1826-1906) drew upon a concept of "salvation history" then current among conservative German theologians to argue that doctrine was not deposited in Scripture as Cunningham assumed; rather, it formed as the church interpreted God's acts in history. Rainy's tacit admission that doctrine, being historically conditioned, was also historically conditional was radicalized by A. B. Bruce (1831-1899). In concert with the influential Ritschlian critique of dogma, Bruce urged evangelical theology to tear down the "scholastic" dogmas of yesteryear to rebuild anew on the witness of the historical Jesus. In firm opposition, James Orr (1844-1913) creatively deployed philosophical idealism to show how orthodox dogma had developed over centuries as the rational unfolding of Spirit in history. Accordingly, the system of doctrine maintained in evangelical Protestantism was largely inviolable.Along with summarizing some themes common in the diverse handling of the problem of history and dogma by Free Church and United Presbyterian divines, the concluding chapter tentatively suggests where their labours intersect contemporary ecumenical interest in the issue of the historical development of doctrine. / Il est bien connu que l'histoire du dogme et de la doctrine chétienne a connu son apogée au sein du protestantisme allemand du dix-neuvième siècle. Ce qui est moins connu c'est que des théologiens de deux dénomination presbytériennes de l'écosse victorienne, la Free Church et les Presbytériens Unis, ont fait le plus d'efforts concertés, au sein d'une tradition protestante anglophone, de rendre compte historiquement de la genèse et du progrès de la doctrine. Cette dissertation couvre ce demi-siècle de travail théologique réformé, un chapitre négligé de l'histoire de l'église, particulièrement par une analyse attentive de la manière dont d'éminents théologiens des deux corps évangéliques sus-mentionnés ont lutté avec cette idée que la doctrine connaît des développements dans l'histoire.Le récit qui en émerge rend compte de la théologie presbytérienne écossaise dans la période débutant dans les environs de 1845 à 1900 venant à reconnaître que la doctrine ne se cantonnait pas seulement à rèpéter les enseignements bibliques. La doctrine était la confession de l'Église Par rapport la vérité de Dieu – une église située dans l'histoire. Mais parce que l'esprit historique du temps était loin d'être monolithique, la manière dont les théologiens ont composé tant avec leur héritage doctrinal réformé et évangélique que les revendications de l'histoire fut marqué par la diversité. William Cunningham (1805-61) a rejeté le document innovateur de John Henry Newman, An essay on the ChristianDoctrine (1845) en rehitérant la position protestante classique sur la suffisance de l'Écriture. Par contre, même s'ils partageaient cette position, des théologiens ultérieurs avaient une compréhension plus historique de la révélation. Robert Rainy (1826-1906) utilisa le concept « d'histoire du salut » alors en usage chez les théologiens conservateurs allemands pour faire valoir que la doctrine n'était pas contenue, proprement dit, dans l'écriture comme le suggérait Cunningham, mais plutôt elle prit fome à mesure que l'Église a interprété l'inetervention de Dieu dans l'histoire. Cette admission tacite de Rainy, à savoir que la doctrine étant historiquement conditionnée était aussi historiquement conditionnelle, fut radicalisée par A.B.Bruce (1831-1899). De concert avec l'influente critique Ritschlienne du dogme, Bruce a poussé la théologie évangélique à mettre en pièces les dogmes « scholastiques » d'hier afin de reconstruire à neuf sur le témoignage du Jésus historique. Complètement à l'opposé, James Orr (1844-1913) a, de manière créative, déployé un idéalisme philosophique afin de démontrer comment le dogme orthodoxe a pris forme à travers les siècles comme le dévoilement rationnel graduel de l'Esprit dans l'histoire. Par conséquent, le système de doctrine maintenu dans le protestantisme évangélique était en grande partie inviolable.Tout en résumant certain thèmes communs dans le maniement du problème de l'histoire et du dogme par les théologiens de la Free Church et de l'Église Presbytérienne Unie, le chapître final suggère prudemment les lieux où leurs travaux croisent l'intérêt oecuménique contemporain dans la problématique du développent historique de la doctrine.

It has been recognized that Western bereavement programs, and the research on which they are based, rely primarily on models of female grief and fail to adequately take into account gender differences, especially men's experiences of bereavement. As a result, in contemporary research, fathers' grief has been studied primarily through the lens of mothers' grief. This comparative approach has lead to the perception, in some bereavement studies, that fathers' experience of grief is less intense and debilitating than that of mothers. This has been reported in studies of infant death, catastrophic accident death, and death from childhood cancer. The study to be discussed examines fathers' experience of bereavement, using both the ethical framework of the moral philosopher Paul Ricoeur, and phenomenological analysis. The findings from a series of interviews conducted with 5 bereaved fathers will be presented. The emergent themes will be discussed, specifically: 1) Bereaved fathers' experiences of social expectation and regulation; 2) bereaved fathers' challenges with issues of morality (for example, what it means to be a good father, a good spouse, etcetera.); 3) bereaved fathers' experiences with bereavement support services. By focusing on the experience of bereaved fathers', my study challenges the common practice of comparing fathers' grief to that of mothers will be avoided. This study is designed to show how the experience of bereaved fathers is gendered and must be examined in relation to social and familial expectations, as well as internalized standards of proper behavior. This study will contribute to building both a theoretical and clinical evidence base for the field of bereavement studies as well as to the interdisciplinary field of palliative care. / Les programmes de deuil occidentaux et la recherche qui les soutiennent ont été reconnus comme étant basés sur des models de deuil en grande partie féminins, donc qui échouent à tenir compte des expériences des hommes. En conséquence, la recherche actuelle en grande majorité étudie le deuil des hommes en comparaison avec le deuil des femmes. Cette approche comparative amène une perspective selon laquelle le deuil des hommes est moins intense et incapacitant que celui des femmes. Ceci a été reporté dans les études portant sur le deuil des nourrissons, les morts part accidents catastrophiques et les morts de cancer dans l'enfance. Cette étude examine l'expérience du deuil chez les pères, en utilisant l'approche étique du philosophe Paul Ricoeur ainsi que l'analyse phénoménologique. Les résultats d'une série d'entrevue avec cinq pères endeuillés seront présentés. Les thèmes saillants seront discutés, notamment 1) leurs expériences des attentes et des règles sociales, 2) les défis que les pères endeuillés perçoivent en rapport avec les questions morales (tel que, qu'est-ce qu'être un bon père, un bon époux, etcetera.) et finalement 3) leurs expériences des services de soutient au gens endeuillés. En mettant l'emphase sur les expériences des pères endeuillés, la pratique commune de comparer le deuil des mères et des pères se trouve évité. Cette étude a pour but de démontrer que l'expérience des pères est affectée par leur sexe et doit être examinée en relation avec les attentes sociales et familiales, ainsi que les standard de comportements adéquats qui sont intériorisés socialement. L'étude contribuera à bâtir une base théorique et empirique dans le domaine des études sur le deuil et apportera une contribution substantielle à l'approche interdisciplinaire qui prime en soins palliatifs.

This thesis examines the construction and utilization of gender in religious nationalist projects. Communalist groups sacralize gendered understandings of time, space, and community, rooted in the bifurcation of the public (masculine) realm and the private (feminine) sphere. Nationalist understandings of citizenship maintain the public and private division, but acknowledge the potential to politicize both. In this conception of citizenship, the private (feminine) is deployed to achieve social and religious change. This thesis analyzes two contemporary South Asian transnationalist groups, the Muslim Tablighi Jama`at and the Hindu Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and investigates women's participation in the nation as cultural repositories and as pedagogues. In these roles, women are able to recover and disseminate the "true" values and identity of the degenerate community, thereby revitalizing the nation. However, while women are empowered in these roles, they are simultaneously limited by patriarchal expectations of ideal womanly behaviour.

This thesis examines Jaina strategies for justifying violence (himsa) in societal self-defense in contradistinction to the religion's overwhelming emphasis on nonviolence (ahimsa). The thesis' main focus is an ethnographic study of the views on societal self-defense of some contemporary lay Jainas in Delhi and Jaipur, India. I compare these views with the textual-historical Jaina position on ksatriya-dharma (the duty of kings) and "Just War," as advanced through ancient and medieval Jaina texts. Recent ethnographies omit the issue of Jaina attitudes to self-defense almost entirely. However, since India's nuclear tests in 1998, India has become a major Asian political, social and economic power. Indian Jainas have changed along with other Indians in the way that they see themselves in relation to the world and to other Indians. My findings suggest that major changes might have occurred since the latest ethnographic studies of Jainism in the nineties.

Karl Barth (1886-1968) was an ardent defender of the filioque, the doctrine which states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Generally, scholarly analysis is restricted to Barth's defence of the filioque in the first half volume of the Church Dogmatics. However, this thesis proceeds on the assumption that a fuller understanding of the filioque in Barth must take into account the genesis and development of the doctrine in his earlier thought. A latent dialectical christocentric pneumatology in the second edition of Romans (1921) provides the material theological support for the doctrine, which subsequently appears in a formal discussion of the filioque in the Gottingen Dogmatics (1924). There Barth speaks of the filioque as a theological analogy of the structure of his developing doctrine of the threefold Word of God. As preaching proceeds from revelation and Scripture, so too the Spirit is to be understood as proceeding from the Father and the Son. / Barth continues to defend and apply the filioque in the Church Dogmatics, though the original connection to the threefold form of the Word of God recedes into the background. Instead, the filioque functions systematically both as a theological guarantee of the unity of the work of the Son and the Spirit and as the eternal ground of fellowship between God and humanity. Barth's most mature view of the filioque is construed in dialectical terms whereby the Spirit is understood to be eternally active in uniting and differentiating the Father and the Son. Furthermore, Barth is atypical in the Western filioquist tradition because he refuses to speak of the filioque in terms of a "double procession"; rather, he views the Spirit as proceeding from the common being-of-the-Father-and-the-Son. Barth's stance on the filioque does not result in a form of pneumatological subordinationism, as critics often maintain. Rather, his adoption of the filioque reflects a tendency toward a superordination of the Spirit over Father and Son in a structurally similar way to Hegel's pneumatology. The thesis concludes by pointing to a tension in Barth's thought which in practice tends toward a conflation of economic and immanent Trinity as he reads back into God the problem and confrontation he perceives to exist between God and humanity.

Note: / This thesis explores the ways that Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno's Critical Theory and the ethics of Christian liberation theology mutually inform each other. Horkheimer and Adorno' s theories of the "dialectic of enlightenment" and “negative dialectics" provide a self-critical social analysis that interconnects the domination of humanity by humanity and the domination of nature in a way that strengthens the critique of Christian ethics. Further, Horkheimer and Adorno's "longing for the wholly other" resonates profoundly with Christians who believe in a God of Justice. By the same token, Christian reflection on critical Theory leads to a critique ofHorkheimer and Adorno's excessive distance from political practice and their narrow understanding of radical praxis. In this “new dialogue" the project of Christian ethics develops a more substantial critique of domination, while the Critical Theory of Horkheimer and Adorno is critiqued and renewed. / Cette thèse examine les différentes manieres avec lesquelles la Théorie Critique et l'éthique de la théologie de la libération chrétienne s'entrecroisent et s'informent mutuellement. Les théories d'Horkheimer et d'Adorno sur la "dialectique de la raison" et "dialectique négative" apportent une analyse altocritique de la société et associent la domination de l'humanité par l'humanité et la domination de la nature de manière à renforcer la critique de l'éthique chrétienne. De plus, le concept du "désir pour le tout Autre" qui ont Horkeimer et Adorno résonne profondément chez les chrétiens qui fondent leurs foi dans un Dieu de Justice. Dans ce sens, la réflection chrétienne sur la Théorie Critique amène une critique d'Horkheimer et Adorno qui veut noter leur distance excessive envers les pratiques poli tiques et leurs mécompréhension du praxis radical. Dans ce "nouveau dialogue ll le projet chrétien de l'éthique, amène une critique plus substantiel de ce qui est la domination et de ce fait renouvelle et illumine la Théorie Critique d'Horkheimer et D'Adorno.

The present study aims to examine the modern Chinese Pure Land thought and movements, which are part of the general context of reforms that involved the whole Chinese Buddhist community starting from the beginning of the 20th century. In this study, I examine (1) the socio-political context of modern China when Chinese Buddhist communities began to re-think their traditions and reform monastic education, under the influence of socio-political chaos and Western culture; (2) Ven. Yinguang's (1861--1940) syncretism of Pure Land thought with Confucian ethical teachings, which promoted a more secular and lay movement in response to Western influence; (3) Ven. Yinshun's (1906--2005) critical Pure Land thought which went back to early Indian Buddhism to clarify some teachings which had been corrupted during the transmission of Buddhism to China; (4) modern movements influenced by their thought. According to Robert Bellah, there are two kinds of response of Asian traditional elites to modernization: neotraditionalism and reformism. Based upon my analysis of modern Chinese Pure Land thought and movements, I argue that this dichotomy is not mutually exclusive; the two categories can overlap. Yinguang and Yinshun were both neotraditionalist and reformist.