Scholars have long noted the number of similarities that seem to exist between Gnosticism and Jewish Apocalypticism. Numerous hypotheses have been suggested to account for them, but no one has yet attempted to examine these similarities in detail in order to define what it is that makes Apocalypticism apocalyptic and Gnosticism gnostic in spite of these similarities. The present work is an attempt to define, examine and classify these similarities by comparing the two systems. For it is our working hypothesis that such similarities can only be characterized when they are examined in terms of their function and form within their respective systems. Consequently, a number of similarities are traced through the concepts of world, God, man and salvation that exemplify both systems. First, we note, many of those similar features, i.e. motifs, mytholo-gumena and attitudes that characterize both movements such as the importance of Wisdom, the Primal Parents, and the anti-godly powers, to name but a few. Such common features, while interesting, are significant only when they are examined in terms of their function. Here we find that both systems do use many of the same features to serve the same function. Both systems are attempts to provide a soteriological theodicy, i.e. a theodicy which itself functions to bring man salvation even as it is revealed to him. But it is in terms of form that the distinction between Gnosticism and Apocalypticism is finally to be made. Both systems are dualistic in form, yet each has its own type of dualistic expression. Gnosticism is ontologically dualistic while Apocalypticism is ethically and eschatologically dualistic. As a result the common features appear in both systems in ways that are consistent with their respective forms (dualisms). The Gnostic thus rejects world understood as matter while the Apocalyptist rejects world understood as history. Thus it is in examining both systems as systems that we find that Apocalypticism and Gnosticism maintain a consistent correspondence in features, form and function. Although such a correspondence does not in itself provide proof of an historical relationship between the two systems, it does demonstrate that Apocalypticism was the Jewish counterpart of Gnosticism and so may well deserve being categorized as a Jewish Gnosis.

The dissertation offers a comparative reading of Eben Venter's Horrelpoot (2006) and Joseph Conrad's A Heart of Darkness (1902). The aim of this investigation is to establish whether the Afrikaans novel is overshadowed by the classical text, or whether it is an independent text in its own right. Following on a short reception study of reviews and articles published on Venter's latest fictional work, Horrelpoot, is read as an apocalyptic and / or dystopic novel. Whereas Conrad's novel is set in the Congo, Eben Venter opts for a fictionalized post-apartheid South African society riddled with social problems and a complete lack of infrastructure. The ideological notions pertaining to white South African fearing a black future form the crux of Venter's analysis of the contemporary white psyche in South Africa. From an intertextual point of view Venter's re-writing of Conrad's classic is a clear example of how, according to Kristeva's definition, one sign system is transposed into another. What is the result of this for the reception of the contemporary novel? Is one able to read Venter's novel without having to rely on Conrad's novel as intertext? An overview of the different theoretical views on intertextuality is also provided. The apocalyptic vision in Venter's novel is also examined against the background of a series of related novels in South Africa that deal with the same issue. In the 1980s apocalyptic novels focused primarily on apartheid society as symbolizing a dystopic, amoral and oppressive society that needed to be overthrown in favour of a more utopian non-racial society. Venter's novel places a question mark behind such an assumption as it shows that living in a post-apartheid society could even be worse and more dictatorial.

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Thesis (Th. M.)--Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-111).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept. of English and Foreign Languages. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 57 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Capital Bible Seminary, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves 77-81.

Tony Tanner's book City of Words analyzes American literature from 1950-1970; in the chapter entitled "Everything Running Down" the theme of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, is explored and revealed to be a common motif within many works of American literature. Tanner's analysis does not specifically address the presence of entropy within the genre of the American road narrative; when considering his analysis presented in "Everything Running Down" with Kris Lackey's analysis of American road narratives presented in his book RoadFrames, the presence of entropy and how it is applied within the American road narrative becomes apparent. Although Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Cormac McCarthy's The Road were published over sixty years apart from one another and are seemingly disparate texts, these two texts reveal the thematic use of entropy which connects them in an ongoing dialogue within the genre of the American road narrative.

Werkstuk voorgelê in die vierde studiejaar vir die graad Theologiae Baccalaureus in die Fakulteit Teologie aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys / Assignment (ThB)--PU for CHE, 1983

Werkstuk voorgelê in die vierde studiejaar vir die graad Theologiae Baccalaureus in die Fakulteit Teologie aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys / Assignment (ThB)--PU for CHE, 1983

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-119).