<p>This thesis explores the messianic politics that Walter Benjamin develops in his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" by examining the relationship between historical materialism and theology that he proposes in the first thesis. I therefore begin by examining Benjamin's conception of historical materialism in order to differentiate it from Marx's and to elucidate the way in which Benjamin seeks to reorient proletarian praxis. I argue that Benjamin seeks to solve the proletariat's problems of organization (to which Marx's conception of revolution has given rise) by resituating history and proletarian praxis within the frame of a messianic apocalyptic. I then attempt to reconstruct the major features of this apocalyptic by showing the connections between Benjamin's cryptic theological formulations in the "Theses" and the thematically similar formulations scattered throughout some of his other writings (in particular, "Critique of Violence," the "Theological-Political Fragment," and <em>The Origin of German Tragic Drama</em>). I clarify the way in which Benjamin's theological messianism enables him to offer a critique of profane politics that eschews the doctrine of progress which has caused the proletariat to forsake its revolutionary vocation. Furthermore, I show how Benjamin's critique of profane politics also specifies a mode of enactment that is messianic in that it orients the subject to activity which participates in history's coming to fulfillment.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis addresses the general question of the relation between the Bible and the rise of modern political thought. It begins from the observation that Hobbes, Spinoza, and Locke were simultaneously the founders of liberal thought and interpreters of the Bible. It then attempts to argue that Hobbes's Leviathan is a work which is Biblical in thought and presentation.</p> <p>In the !first chapter, there is a general discussion of Hobbes's explicit interpretation of the Bible, which shows his reading to be plausible at many points but suspect at others. Finally the discussion points to the Old Testament as the key' to understanding Hobbes's ambiguous interpretation. The second chapter shows that Hobbes implicitly presents themes from the Five Books of Moses (Torah) creation, divine speech, covenant, law -- throughout his work. The third chapter takes up this lead, and in a tentative exploration of the Torah's political teaching finds that Hobbes has adopted the political thought of the ! Torah while rejecting its theological claims.</p> <p>The conclusion suggests that the political thought I of liberal democracies, following the lead of Hobbes and like thinkers, has turned away from classical and Christian precepts and toward those of the Old Testament.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The major finding of this study is that Whitehead is engaged in a religious as well as a metaphysical inquiry. This religious inquiry is not confined to the dogmas of one religion but seeks to outline the logical structure of rational religious inquiry itself. Whitehead tries to show through an examination of phenomenological evidence that the basic question addressed by high religions is "What is the character permanently inherent in the universe'?" The religious answer is not a dogmatic formulation but an intuition that settles conjointly the value of individuals for themselves and for each other and the value of the objective universe. But there can be no confirmation of the validity of a religious intuition.apart from some definite metaphysical way of conceiving the universe. Thus rational religion must have recourse to metaphysics for a scrutiny of its terms.</p> <p>Examination of Whitehead's metaphysics reveals that it is not a deductive system 'based upon self-evident premises. Deduction can only magnify the testability of premises. Before systematization begins and after it has been Concluded the speculative philosopher must continue to confront, his tentative formulations with the circumstances to which they should apply. Metaphysics is an ongoing adventure in the clarification of thought. Examination of Whitehead's metaphysical inquiry indicates that while religion may serve as a source of suggestions as to how to conceive the ultimate features of everything that is, the final judgment as to what sorts of things there are and how they are interrelated are metaphysical decisions to be made on the basis of metaphysical criteria and not upon the basis of peculiarly religious evidence. The major instance where the generality of Whitehead is metaphysics might seem to be compromised by the introduction of a religious presupposition is the use of the concept "God" within his metaphysics. It is concluded that God is not introduced into his metaphysics as the logical subject of a particular religious intuition. God is introduced as a derivative metaphysical concept and the question of how this concept is to be understood and whether it refers to anything real is to be determined on the basis of metaphysical considerations.</p> <p>At the point at which metaphysics is introduced into the structure of religious inquiry the question arises as to whether Whitehead's metaphysics compromises the generality of his religious inquiry. The first point to note is that any rational religion must have recourse to metaphysics to affirm the objective validity of its doctrines. It is clear that a metaphysics will not adjudicate seriously conflicting metaphysical presuppositions of different rational religions and find them equally valid. But this does not mean that serious discussion between conflicting religious traditions is arbitrarily terminated by the imposition of a metaphysics. In these instances a basic religious disagreement deepens into a basic metaphysical disagreement. The conflict is an invitation to a discussion of the first principles of metaphysics. This study also suggests that in his postulation of first metaphysical principles Whitehead does not arbitrarily dismiss divergent metaphysical conclusions.</p> <p>Given the validity of Whitehead's metaphysics the question arises of how much can be affirmed solely upon the basis of an abstract general metaphysics and whether religion in any sense can be said to go beyond metaphysics. In Whitehead's view metaphysics does go beyond a mere intellectual unity of experience. The intellectual unity discerned by metaphysics is only a bringing to self-reflective awareness a unity that is already present at a more fundamental level of experiencing. However, in this study no adequate answer is found to the question of the extent to which metaphysics is demonstrative of more than an abstract intellectual unity in experience. It is concluded that in at least one sense religion does go beyond metaphysics. What escapes metaphysics is the concrete particularity of personal experience and the uniqueness of great religious insights whose "originality is the very element in their expression which remains unformularized" CRM 131). Religions claim more definite and concrete knowledge of the nature of things than can be ascertained on the basis of a general metaphysics. Given that these claims are consonant with the conclusions of metaphysics it is appropriate to assess these more detailed claims on the basis of more special evidence religious or otherwise (UM 107).</p> <p>This thesis has found sufficient evidence to conclude that Whitehead is engaged in a religious inquiry whose purpose is to identify the sphere of religious activity in human life and to present an analysis of religious inquiry itself. The introduction of metaphysics into that inquiry has been examined in some detail. A partial answer has been suggested to the question of the degree to which religion may be said to go beyond truths discerned in a general metaphysics. The precise nature of the relation of ~his analysis of religious inquiry to Whitehead's fully developed discussion of the notion of God is a topic awaiting further exploration as is also the question of "the degree to which Whitehead's metaphysics may be considered demonstrative of more than an abstract intellectual unity of experience.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The following thesis traces the development of Indra/Sakra in Buddhist iconography in India up to the third century A.D. The change in representations of Indra/Sakra parallels a larger evolution of popular Buddhism itself from a religious system, in which the figure of the historical Buddha was predominant, into a devotional cult centered on the figures of both the historical Buddha and numerous boddhisattvas. The study thus highlights one aspect of this shift in emphasis from early Hinayana Buddhism to Mahayana Buddhism. Art forms in conjunction with relevant texts provide the context in which Indra appears in early Buddhist art (around the first century B.C.E) and his subsequent development in Mahayana art (early Gandhara and Mathura).</p> <p>The first chapter reviews the character of Indra in non-Buddhist contexts: the Vedic and Epic traditions. Evidence from these periods provides the context out of which the Buddhist Sakra emerged. The Vedic Indra developed into the Epic Indra from which the Buddhist Sakra seems to have evolved.</p> <p>At the early Buddhist sites of Saffichi and Bharhut Sakra emerges as a devotee of the Buddha. He appears in iconography and relevant texts, in a narrative context as one of several characters in the Jataka tales. He is identifiable either by his iconographic form (a royal figure who sometimes wears a cylindrical crown specific to him and who carries a vajra and/or jar of amrta), or by virtue of the context in which he appears.</p> <p>At Gandhara and Mathura Sakra becomes a figure of greater complexity who is often removed from any narrative context. Sakra and Brahma attend the Buddha in prototypical representations of the Buddhist triad (the Buddha and two boddhisattvas). This triad signals an important development in the art and theology of Buddhism. It is indicative of the development of the worship of the Buddha as the main object of devotion acompanies by Sakra and Brahma in early Buddhism and by boddhisattvas in the later tradition. It is the emergence of these latter figures in this role which represents the most significant change in popular Buddhism in India which was to be transmitted to the Far East. The Buddha has become a transhistorical figure worshipped independent of a narrative context. His attendants though they still adore the Buddha are lifted from a narrative context attaining the status of Buddhist deities.</p> <p>In addition, Sakra is intimately related to the vajra-bearer who emerges at Gandhara. The context in which this latter figure appears, his function, and his primary attribute, the vajra, indicate the nature of this relationship. This iconographic form may be prototypical of the later boddhisattva Vajranani and certainly is the basis of the Nio who appear as fierce guardian figures in iconography in Japan and China.</p> <p>These two developments reflect the emergence of Mahayana Buddhism and are indicative of the directions it will take as it grows and develops in India, where it arose, and outside of India, in China and Japan.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Nüshu, or "Women's Script" is a system of writing indigenous to a small group of village women in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, China. Used exclusively by and for these women, the script was developed in order to write down their oral traditions that may have included songs, prayers, stories and biographies. However, since being discovered by Chinese and Western researchers, nüshu has been rapidly brought out of this Chinese village locale. At present, the script has become an object of fascination for diverse audiences all over the world. It has been both the topic of popular media presentations and publications as well as the topic of major academic research projects published in Engli$h, German, Chinese and Japanese. Resultantly, nüshu has played host to a number of modern explanations and interpretations - all of which attempt to explain I the "how" and the "why" of an exclusively female script developed by supposedly illiterate women. Invariably, the development of this script has been seen as a sign that I women reacted against a male-dominated social order through the creation of language. However, in this thesis, I seek to give a divergent interpretation. In trying to appreciate nüshu on its own terms, I will situate the phenomenon within the dynamic world of Chinese popular religion. In so doing, I will examine popular trends in religious and moral culture that were contemporaneous with nüshu and I will analyze the relationship between the individual and the written word vis-a.-vis popular religious orthodoxy. As a result, 1. will question many of our assumptions about the nature of women's oppression in China and hopefully open nüshu up to new and diverse methods of analysis.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In the Siksasamuccaya Santideva, a Madhyamika philosopher of the early eighth century A.D., builds upon the philosophy of sunyata (emptiness) to demonstrate its practical implications in religious life. In his portrayal of the Bodhisattva Santideva focuses on this religious hero's ascent from imperfection toward the realisation of prajnaparamita, the perfection of wisdom. Wisdom, philosophically the end of all false ideas about reality, in the sphere of behaviour is an ethical ideal characterised by compassion and altruism. The Bodhisattva is one who has mastered wisdom and whose conduct is permeated with this ethical ideal. Santideva's presentation of the Bodhisattva is not ,limited to the ideal, but also explores the many levels of achievement through which an aspiring novice-Bodhisattva must progress toward fulfilment of the ideal. Though Santideva refers to certain levels in a Bodhisattva's development and to certain turning points in his career these factors as presented in the Siksa do not explain how Santideva understands the novice-Bodhisattva in terms of the ideal. The concept of bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment which all Bodhisattvas possess, parallels in its development with the Bodhisattva's development, and as a possible equivalent to wisdom itself serves to link the imperfect to the ideal. Santideva's use of comparison between the imperfect and the ideal suggests that his presentation of the Bodhisattva is designed to encourage novice-Bodhisattvas to strive for perfection. The themes of teaching, example, and purpose indicate that Santideva's understanding of the Bodhisattva and wisdom which the ideal of moral perfection and wisdom has effect in the imperfect world.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis explores the role and concept of the sage in Cheng Xuanying's commentary to the Zhuangzi. The concept of the sage will be examined in light of Cheng Xuanying's participation in the Buddho-Daoist court debates held in early seventh-century China. It will be argued that some aspects of Cheng Xuanying's commentary on the Zhuangzi may be related to developments within the court debates. Nevertheless, it will also be argued that many "Buddhist" elements of Cheng Xuanying's conception of the sage cannot be entirely explained by his interaction with Buddhists in the court debates. It will be shown that much of what constitutes his conception of the sage can be ! explained by the presence of sinified Buddhist thought in the early developing stages of Daoism in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The misunderstandings between Kumārajīva and Hui-yüan about the term dharmakāya in the Ta-ch'eng ta-i chang center around four things: ontology versus epistemology; practicality versus speculation; the use of the Abhidharma; and the attitude of the two men toward the texts they were citing. Previous research on the topic has focused on the difference between the Indian and Chinese mentalities and ignored the different roles played by Kumārajīva and Hui-yüan in their respective communities. The sections of the Ta-ch'eng ta-i chgns which deal with dharmakāya (1-8,13,18) have been translated.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis is an experiment in using Northrop Frye's concept of metaphor, as articulated in The Great Code, Words With Power, and On Religion, to illuminate how the habit of language can remind us that our cultural paradigms are always created and we have the ability to think above them. The thesis will begin by explaining how Frye utilises Giambattista Vicos' ideas of "Verum Factum" and the ''three stages of history" to formulate his ideas on metaphor. It will then be argued that Gustave Guillaume's ideas on language, in particular "thinking time," can illuminate for the reader a new concept of how thinking about language can remind us of our creative imagination. The part of imaginative thinking that Frye refers to as "ecstatic metaphor." Finally, Samuel Butler's book Life and Habit will be utilised to demonstrate that with practice, and the proper thoughts on language, one can consistently think beyond that which has been created for them.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)