<p>Among the writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, the most interesting are those which deal with topics of a religious or philosophical nature. These writings, once believed to be the wisdom of ancient Egypt, are now more commonly thought to have originated within the Greek speaking part of the Roman Empire, put at a date which, as we shall see, remains in dispute. Thus we have in the movement responsible for these writings one of the competitors of Christianity.</p> <p>This dissertation deals with two sources for these religious or philosophical Hermetic writings, the Corpus Hermeticum and the fragments given in Stobaeus' Anthology. These two collections form a natural starting point, since it is the Corpus Hermeticum which has attracted the most attention from students of the Hermetic movement, and since many of the Stobaean fragments overlap to a large degree with the documents of the Corpus Hermeticum. The question discussed in this dissertation is basic to any further discussion of the material: How reliable are these collections both as witnesses to the text of the writings of the Hermetic movement and as witnesses to the movement which gave us those texts? Any discussion of these writings must presuppose an answer to this question. As this question has not previously received disciplined treatment, it is hoped that the results of this dissertation will provide a sounder basis for future studies in these writings.</p> <p>The answer given in this dissertation is somewhat complicated. Neither collection is in itself a reliable witness to the Hermetic movement. The Corpus Hermeticum, it will be seen, is a late compilation, and is to be dated between the ninth and the eleventh century. The quality of the transmission of the text of the documents included in the Corpus Hermeticum is very uneven; moreover, some of the documents were wrongly included. There is, however, no deliberate attempt to give a false picture of these writings. Therefore, if the Corpus Hermeticum, is used critically, it is possible to gain a reasonably accurate picture both of the text of these writings and of the movement which produced them. The tractates which are useful in that respect are ii, iv, v, vi, viii, ix, x, xi, xii, xiv, and (with reservations) xiii.</p> <p>The Stobaean fragments, on the other hand, seem to be quite unreliable in both respects. Not only do they have their share of manuscript errors, but it would appear that certain Hermetic doctrines, notably the doctrine that apotheosis is the proper goal of man, are systematically excluded. In addition, there is good reason to believe that the style of the Hermetic writings is emended in the Stobaean fragments. The most probable explanation of these facts is that Stobeaus was using a Christian anthology of Hermetic writings. Therefore the Stobaean fragments must be used with great caution as evidence for the writings of the Hermetic movement. In tractates in which these two sources overlap, it is the Corpus Hermeticum which is the more trustworthy, apart from manuscript errors. Accordingly, Nock's edition of tractates ii, iv, and x needs revision.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Harold Innis remains, some twenty-two years after his death, the paramount scholar on the subject of the effects of communication in the history of the West. This thesis is the first attempt to deal comprehensively with his works from the perspective of what they say about religion. The approach taken is to examine what he says and to elucidate its significance for an understanding of religion. The thesis supported in this work is that, on the basis of Innis' works, religion in the West may be viewed, at least in part, as an effect of communication.</p> <p>Innis' works suggest that religion, in an organizational sense, is a monopoly of knowledge or a monopoly of truths with a bias either to time or to space. The bias is an effect of the dominant medium of mechanized communication. However, his works also identify a fundamental religious experience, outside any organizational or institutional setting, which is an effect of oral communication. This is a spiritual creativity which implies individual freedom and the pursuit of truth.</p> <p>Mechanized communication is seen to convert the pursuit of truth into the maintenance and defence of truths on a large scale and the resulting monopolies of knowledge or systems of "religious" truths provide for the efficient control of man over either time or space.</p> <p>Innis' works emphasize the value of questioning all "religious" truths. Since they are the basis of large scale control all must be continually questioned in order for man to be free. His works suggest that they must also be questioned in order for man to be truly religious. A central message in his works is that an agnostic state of mind is indispensable for individual freedom and spiritual creativity. This state of mind is an effect of oral communication and it may be seen to be of the essence of religion.</p> <p>Innis' works point out that no means of mechanized communication adequately or fully communicates the oral tradition. Each technique and technology imposes a message of its own. This suggests that the message of the Christian gospels, for example, which came out of an oral milieu, will be changed when communicated in mechanized forms. It will be different from and less than the original. An understanding of the effects of communication is therefore important for an understanding of the gospel message. Innis' later works help to provide such an understanding.</p> <p>They emphasize that the message always reflects the means and the medium of communication. Man's thinking is biased by the way he communicates. Therefore, he may never know in any absolute sense what truth is. He may, however, have faith that truth is. This brings an important new perspective to the understanding of religion.</p> <p>This thesis identifies early and later stages in Innis' work but it concentrates on the later stage. A brief synthesis of his early works is included at the beginning in order to provide a better understanding of his theory of effects and monopolies. The main body of the thesis synthesizes Innis' writings on the effects of communication and explains their significance for an understanding of religion in the West. An Appendix helps to explain further the somewhat different perspective to Innis' works taken in this thesis and the significance of this perspective for the study of religion.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The problem of evil is meant to show that the propositions (A) "God exists and is all-good and omnipotent," and (B) "There is evil in the world," are logically inconsistent and incompatible. Formulated in this way, the problem of evil confronts theism with the following dilemma. If, on the one hand, it can be shown that propositions (A) and (B) are logically incompatible, therein lies a proof of atheism and the end of theism as a rational enterprise. If, on the other hand, propositions (A) and (B) are not logically incompatible, then religious and theological utterances become, on the basis of Antony Flew's falsification challenge, vacuous and meaningless, and are, at best, pseudo-assertions.</p> <p>The purpose of this study is to attempt to resolve the above-mentioned dilemma by attacking both horns; that is, by showing that both alternatives are in fact false. It is argued that propositions (A) and (B) are not logically incompatible and that, although (B) does not falsify or count against (A), religious language is nonetheless meaningful. In order to substantiate this latter claim, a careful study of the concept "meaning" is made to show why the falsification criterion of meaningfulness is not the only criterion of meaningfulness, but that the actual use of any language provides a sound criterion.</p> <p>In substantiating the former claim, a careful examination of the nature and use of such concepts as "omnipotence", "omniscience", "all-goodness", and "freedom" is made' in order to compare them as they appear in the formulation of tho problem of evil with their traditional usages. Next, the whole question of Divine Omnipotence, Omniscience and Foreknowledge, Divine Goodness and Human Freedom is discussed to show that the traditional free Will Defence is valid in that it shows that not even an omnipotent God could make men such that they would always choose freely what is right. The notion of a perfect world, a world free of evil, suffering and defect, is next discussed. It is argued that a world free of evil and defect is logically impossible, and further that even if such a world were possible, human life insofar as it involves moral developments and rationality would not be possible.</p> <p>The discussion ends with a consideration of the attitude of the religious believer when faced with evil and suffering in the world. It is my contention that, although religious people are affected by the great deal of pain; evil and suffering in the world, their faith is not threatened; that is, they need not (and do not) give up their belief in a God of love. This does not mean that evil and suffering do not affect the believer, that he is not concerned about them, for clearly he is. He is constantly struggling with suffering and evil, all the time trying to understand why these must be. He may never understand why evil and suffering must be, but he does not relinquish his belief in God because he knows that evil will be overcome. Others (nonreligious people) may never understand his attitude, but that is only because they do not share his beliefs. And it is here that the whole issue between the believer and the non-believer reaches (it seems) an unresolvable deadlock.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>As a case study in Christian ethics, this thesis is an investigation of Norman Thomas' Christian social ethics, its background, its explicit presentation, and its continuing importance after Thomas abandoned other aspects of Christianity. The study focuses primarily on the values and ethical principles expressed in Thomas' social philosophy, during his year as Presbyterian minister and later as Socialist Part leader. This examination of his social thought is presented by a consideration of the social ethics of the Protestant Social Gospel tradition and the entire study concludes with relections on Thomas place in the history of Christian social ethics. The study makes it abunduntly clear that Norman Thomas, as a Christian minister, was part of the Protestant Social Gospel tradition that sought to establish the Kingdom of God on earth in America and that, by the twentieth century, had come to see that the Kingdom as characterized by peace, socialism, and individual freedom. Even more important, the analysis of Thomas' later social philosophy reveals that he continued throughout his later life to adhere to the same social goals and ethical principles that had been at the heart of his understanding of Christianity. With the rejection of his earlier notion of a God who intervenes on the side of right, Thomas was no longer so able to take absolute stands, but the entire approach of his political work remained ethical and the values were the very same ones that had characterized his Christian days. While it has been widely though that Thomas' mature social philosophy reflected some of his earlier Christian ethical principles in his socialism has not been examined prior to this thesis. Norman Thomas' social ethics was considerably closer in character to the social ethics of perennial Christian theology (for example, Thomas Aquinas) than to that of orthodox Protestantism. This is the conclusion reached in relating Thomas' thought to other forms of Christian social ethics; it may shed some light on the likelihood of persons from particular traditions finding Thomas' socialism compatible with their theological views.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The aim of this thesis is to show the soteriological significance of the concept of craving in early Buddhism. It is argued that more than any other single factor, craving is the central problem in early Buddhism, and that when properly understood, it can be seen as the crucial link holding the entire soteriological system of the Four Noble Truths together. Craving thus stands at the heart of the Buddha's gospel, and a correct interpretation of its complex and unique structure is essential for an adequate understanding of the Buddhist religion as a whole.</p> <p>The concept of craving in early Buddhism is a theme that has not been adequately subjected to systematic analysis by Buddhist scholarship in the past. This study is undertaken in response to this deficiency.</p> <p>Methodologically, this thesis investigates the concept of craving from both the phenomenological and the theological perspectives. It is not a semantic analysis of the word tanhā as such, but an attempt to get behind the general disposition indicated by that word, to see exactly what the Buddha meant when he said that to experience was 'to burn with thirst'. In one way, then, we must furnish a detailed phenomenological description of the origin, development and manifestation of craving as set down in the Pāli Nikāyas. In another way, however, we have an even more pressing responsibility as we attempt to interpret this data and give it meaning.</p> <p>In order to best accommodate these aims, the thesis is divided into four parts. First we have to ascertain what primary textual sources we should use as the foundation of this study, and what the possible historical and theological problems are that we might encounter in understanding these sources. At the same time we review what scholarship has already been offered in this area, and establish our own approach and method.</p> <p>Secondly, in order to see how craving is part of a much larger general theological structure, it is important to understand how it is related to the central Buddhist concept of painfulness (dukkha). Here the primary object is to see the psychological nature of this painfulness, and to examine how the early Buddhists described the psycho-physical structure of man.</p> <p>Thirdly, we turn our attention specifically to how painfulness is provoked by grosser forms of craving. At this point our concern centres in upon the various mental factors which make up consciousness and unconsciousness. This is a strategic part of the thesis, for not only does it provide an in-depth study of the psychological structure of man, but it also demonstrates that the individual has the potential to control craving, and even use it as a positive force.</p> <p>This lays the groundwork for part four, where we argue that in an important sense, craving has a definite soteriological value in early Buddhism. Here we investigate those passages which indicate the significance of conation in the Buddhist way (Magga), and show that even tanhā can be used as the instrument for its own purification, that it can be 'redirected' from deleterious aims to a more 'skilful' (kusala) form of intention. Only when this positive conative discipline has been undertaken can the individual fruitfully undertake the mindfulness (sati) and mediation (samādhi) necessary for insight (pannā) and thus enlightenment (nibbāna). In this final transcendent experience, craving of any kind is at last eradicated, its unconscious roots determined, and its relationship with painfulness at last fully understood.</p> <p>It can be seen, then, that the central thesis concerning craving is woven into an entire framework of Buddhist soteriology, and that is cannot be properly understood as only a psychological phenomenon. For the early Buddhists, craving is of course partly a psychological dilemma. But unchecked and uncontrolled, it is also a serious obstacle in a spiritual sense, keeping the individual bound to ignorance and thus preventing the wholesome development of the mind and the transcending experience of enlightenment. In this sense, craving clearly is the ultimate soteriological problem in early Buddhism, yet it has often been taken out of its theological context and been inadequately understood.</p> <p>The purpose of this thesis is to make a study of this central concept within the context of the religious system if Buddhism.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate the religious thinking of José Vasconcelos (1880-1959). Vasconcelos was a Mexican thinker, politician and philosopher who worked out a theory of philosophical thought which he called Aesthetic Monism. In that title lies the key to an understanding of his philosophy: it is aesthetic because Vasconcelos felt that feelings and emotion best put the knower into contact with the known object, and it is monistic because Vasconcelos envisaged all reality unified in what he refers to as the Absolute or God.</p> <p>Most of our knowledge of the Absolute and Vasconcelos' religious philosophical thinking are contained within his work, Todología. Therefore, for this as well as for other reasons, I have decided to analyze this work in detail. Our understanding of his religious thought, however, depends on our knowledge of how he approaches philosophy generally, and, in particular, how he conceives the nature and function of the aesthetic a priori.</p> <p>Consequently, after the early chapters on his life and influences on his thought, I will spend some time surveying his philosophy, especially the way he conceives the instruments of the unification of reality. Vasconcelos wants to establish the unity of existence and in order to do this, he proposes a method of synthesizing various levels of reality -- cycles of being, in his terminology -- in an upward progression towards the highest levels of being. This is accomplished by human consciousness employing the instruments of the aesthetic a priori.</p> <p>This thesis takes the view that the Todología aids, in outline form, the completion of this synthesis on the spiritual level of being, that of the absolute. I will argue that the synthesis needs this level and the activity of the absolute in order to attain the complete unity of existence which Vasconcelos set out to achieve. Our analysis of Todología in Chapter Four, consequently, is the heart of this study and I attempt to show in detail the necessity of the absolute for Vasconcelos' synthesis and, therefore, his contribution to religious philosophy.</p> <p>The Union attempts to be both expositional and critical in character. I propose to outline only as much of his philosophical thinking as is necessary to comprehend his religious thought and thus avoid an exact duplication of other studies on his philosophy. At the same time, because Vasconcelos is controversial and, at times, inconsistent and vague, I intend to offer critical evaluations where appropriate, keeping in mind at all times, however, the nature of the men and the culture within which he formulated his thought.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The Song of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43) has been variously dated in the critical literature of the past 160 years. Scholars have proposed dates ranging from pre-monarchial Israel to the post-Exilic community. The effort of the present thesis is to present a critical review of the arguments on dating and, more important, to make a positive, concrete proposal for dating and, more important, to make a positive, concrete proposal for dating the Song. This proposal is based, first, on a new philological analysis; second, on the converging evidence of other analyses (genre, structure, style, and historical allusions). The conclusion is that the date of the Song's original composition is the late ninth century, B.C.</p> <p>The sequence of treatment is as follows: a review of the history of research on dating; presentation of text and translation with supporting notes; philological analysis (including consideration of some stylistic as well as linguistic traits); analysis of rhetorical and strophic structure and so, finally, of the sense of the Song, in particular of those elements of the sense which are indicative of the date of composition.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The conception "māyā" has been translated as "illusion" by many who interpret the Advaita Vedānta of Śankara. What we intend to accomplish in this dissertation is to determine if this translation is the correct one. This will be accomplished in two parts. The first will entail an historical survey of māyā in the early tradition and samvrti in Mādhyamika Buddhism and pre-Śankara Advaita. Then we will review Śankara and the post-Śankara Advaita on māyā. Part Two is a phenomenological inquiry into māyā, in the Brahma Śutra bhāsya of Śankara. Here we will be concerned with the structures of the name-form complex, language, and analogue, and their relation to māyā. We will also point out other possible interpretations of the concept "māyā" in Śankara's thought.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This in a study of a Rammohun Roy's participation in the development of Hindu religious thought. It is an attempt to understand Hindu religious thought through the writings of Rammohun Roy by examining why so much of what he said, wrote, and did was contentious.</p> <p>It has been customary, in studies of Rammohun Roy's religious thought, to concentrate on his opposition to the use of images in worship. This emphasis has made it appear that Rammohun Roy's most substantial contribution to the development of Hindu religious thought has been to draw attention to polytheism and image worship, and to make it clear that these do not represent the best expressions of Hindu theology and worship.</p> <p>That issue forms part of this study, but this study is considerably broader. It discusses Rammohun Roy's theological position both in terms of the polytheism which he opposed and the monotheism which he supported. But it includes more than his theological position. It analyzes the authority upon which he based his theology. That discussion has two dimensions: firstly there is Rammohun Roy's criticism of what he perceived to be the accepted basis of authority, and secondly there his suggestion for a more adequate basis of authority. This study also analyzes the debates which Rammohun Roy had with some of his contemporaries about the qualifications which were expected of those involved in theological discussion.</p> <p>This study indicates that Rammohun Roy's religious thought was contentious in many areas, and that the theological issues were not necessarily the most contentious. In fact, it is misleading to study the debates between Rammohun Roy and his contemporaries in purely theological terms, since that fails to account for the vehemence of some of the opposition which he encountered. The most contentious issues between Rammohun Roy and some of his contemporaries were not definitions of God, but questions about people's capacity to benefit from theological discussions and questions about the qualifications expected of those who engaged in such discussions.</p> <p>The study suggests that in this situation theological debate was contentious as much because of the context in which it occurred as because of the actual theological positions enunciated in the debate. It suggests that the distinctions between the insider and outsider, initiate and uninitiate, and qualified and unqualified are distinctions of great importance in religious discussion, and that if the implicit boundaries these categories are disregarded, serious disagreement will result. The study concludes that Rammohun Roy challenged the traditional boundaries between these categories, and that this challenge was the most important reason for the opposition to him.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>It is the aim of this study to define the meaning and delineate the significance of the concept of righteousness in the Gospel of Matthew. In order to achieve this aim, it was necessary to incorporate an analysis of the concept of righteousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Tannaitic literature. It is only against this background that the full significance of the Matthean concept to the opinion of righteousness is revealed.</p> <p>Contrary to the opinion of numerous scholars, this study concludes, that in the Gospel of Matthew, righteousness does not refer to the gift of God for man but rather to the demand of God upon man. Righteousness refers to right conduct, namely conduct based on an extremely meticulous interpretation of the law; an interpretation based on a hermeneutical principle reminiscent of the Rabbinic practice of making a fence around Torah.</p> <p>This conclusion does not imply that Matthew advocates that salvation is attainable by man's own effort. In the Gospel of Matthew the concept of righteousness does not have a soteriological function as it does in the Pauline writings. To compare the Matthaean and Pauline concepts of righteousness is not equivalent to comparing their respective teachings on the nature of salvation. Matthew and Paul agree that salvation is the gift of God. But in contrast to Paul, who expresses this idea in terms of the concept of righteousness, Matthew expresses it without reference to this concept. Consequently, the theological reason underlying the numerous attempts to bring the meaning of the Matthaean righteousness-terminology into agreement with that of Paul has been obviated by this study.</p> <p>With respect to the problem of significance, this study clearly shows that the concept of righteousness does not play a role in Matthew's self-understanding as a follower of Jesus. According to Matthew, those who are properly religious in a Christian sense are known disciples, not as the righteous. The essence of discipleship is not expressed as doing righteousness (a term referring to the demand of God upon man) but as doing the will of God (a term stressing both the gift and demand).</p> <p>Why in fact does Matthew employ the concept of righteousness in his gospel? This study concludes that the concept of righteousness has a provisional function in the Gospel of Matthew. It provides a point of contact between the religious understanding of first-century Palestinian Jews and the teaching of Jesus as Matthew understood it.</p> <p>It is the nature of such a provisional concept merely to facilitate in bridging a gap of understanding. Consequently, once the way to the new understanding has been shown, the provisional, concept is discarded. In the final analysis, Matthew's emphasis is placed on the disciples who are to do the will of God rather than on the righteous who do righteousness.</p> <p>That the concept of righteousness was in fact able to function as a significant provisional concept, is supported by its use in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Tannaitic literature. The present study demonstrates that he component parts of the Matthaean concept of righteousness can be readily understood against the background of the thought expressed in these writings.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)