This thesis attempts to construct a systematic Irenaean Pneumatology, making a contribution in the history of dogma. The aim of this thesis is to develop a theological system, based on the Irenaean writings, that demonstrates that the area of Pneumatology was one of the central constructs in Irenaeus' thought. The methods employed in this thesis are: An evaluation of the data available in the context of Irenaeus' premise in the light of Scripture's presentation; a detailed analysis of literary contributions on the subject; and a research of the patristic thought and how other Church Fathers have identified and interpreted the Spirit's involvement in its development. This thesis compares Irenaeus' pneumatological writings with biblical and patristic texts, and presents the opinions of various Ireanaean scholars, offering either positive comments or academic disagreements on these opinions. Irenaeus' pneumatological thought is presented and evaluated in five particular chapters: The creation and spiritual destiny of humanity; the fall of humanity; the spiritual redemption of humanity; the Church and the Holy Spirit; and eschatology and the Holy Spirit. The final conclusion of the thesis is that the person and the work of the Holy Spirit governed Irenaeus' understanding of most -if not all- other theological concepts. / PhD (Church and Dogma History), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, in association with Greenwich School of Theology, UK, 2011

This thesis attempts to construct a systematic Irenaean Pneumatology, making a contribution in the history of dogma. The aim of this thesis is to develop a theological system, based on the Irenaean writings, that demonstrates that the area of Pneumatology was one of the central constructs in Irenaeus' thought. The methods employed in this thesis are: An evaluation of the data available in the context of Irenaeus' premise in the light of Scripture's presentation; a detailed analysis of literary contributions on the subject; and a research of the patristic thought and how other Church Fathers have identified and interpreted the Spirit's involvement in its development. This thesis compares Irenaeus' pneumatological writings with biblical and patristic texts, and presents the opinions of various Ireanaean scholars, offering either positive comments or academic disagreements on these opinions. Irenaeus' pneumatological thought is presented and evaluated in five particular chapters: The creation and spiritual destiny of humanity; the fall of humanity; the spiritual redemption of humanity; the Church and the Holy Spirit; and eschatology and the Holy Spirit. The final conclusion of the thesis is that the person and the work of the Holy Spirit governed Irenaeus' understanding of most -if not all- other theological concepts. / PhD (Church and Dogma History), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, in association with Greenwich School of Theology, UK, 2011

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A presente tese é sobre gnosticismo, doutrina religiosa da Antiguidade tardia, em sua relação com a poesia. Procura circunscrever seu âmbito, definir suas características e localizar seus principais temas: entre outros, o dualismo, os mito do demiurgo, das duas almas, do andrógino primordial, sua noção do tempo e sua relação com hermetismo, astrologia e alquimia. Mostra como mitos e temas gnósticos e até um estilo, um modo gnóstico de escrever, reaparecem ou são retomados por poetas românticos, simbolistas e modernistas, inclusive aqueles de língua portuguesa. Entre outros, examina William Blake, Novalis, Gérard de Nerval, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Lautréamont, Breton, Fernando Pessoa, Dario Veloso e Hilda Hilst. Sustenta que, sendo arcaico e anacrônico em seu dualismo e sua complexa cosmovisão e teologia, ao mesmo tempo o gnosticismo pode ser associado a uma mentalidade moderna e, como parte dela, a criações literárias, algumas inovadoras, pelo caráter sincrético e por formular uma crítica total, cósmica, na era da crítica. Também mostra como poetas não apenas absorveram ou reproduziram aquela doutrina, mas o fizeram de modo pessoal e original, transformando-a e reinventando-a. E, principalmente, como, utilizando suas categorias e temas, tentaram promover uma subversão do senso comum, da percepção instituída do mundo, justificando paralelos do gnosticismo como misticismo rebelde com a rebelião romântica e seus continuadores. / The present thesis is about Gnosticism, the religious doctrine of Late Antiquity, in its relationship to poetry. The focus is to establish the realm of Gnosticism, to define its characteristics, and to locate its main themes. Dualism, the myth of the demiurge, the two souls, the primordial androgynous, its notion of time, and relations of Gnosticism with Hermetism, Astrology and Alchemy are, amongst others, some of the subjects and themes. The thesis shows how Gnostic myths and subjects and even a Gnostic style of writing reappear or is resumed by romantic poets, symbolists and modernists, including those of Portuguese language. Among others, examines William Blake, Novalis, Gérard de Nerval, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Lautréamont, Breton, Fernando Pessoa, Dario Veloso and Hilda Hilst. Holds that Gnosticism, being archaic and anachronic in its dualism, complex weltanschauung and theology, can be associated at the same time with a modern mentality and, as part of it, with literary creations, some innovative, for its syncretism and its formulation of a total and cosmic review in the era of the criticism. Finally, also shows how poets didn\'t just absorb or reproduce that doctrine, but that they did it in a personal and original way, transforming and reinventing Gnosticism. And, most outstandingly, how, using its categories and themes, poets encouraged subversion of the common sense, and the formal perception of the world, therefore justifying parallels of Gnosticism as a rebellious mysticism with the Romantic rebellion and its followers.

Det huvudsakliga syftet med min uppsats var att studera hur tre olika traditioner har berättat, läst och tolkat bilden av den bibliska Eva. Detta för att få en förståelse för den bild vi har av Eva i den kristna världen idag. De traditioner jag har studerat är den rabbinska/hebreiska, den gnostiska och den tidiga katolska genom en del av de antika kyrkofäderna. Med hjälp av tre teman, skapelsen, syndafallet och sönerna, har det målats upp tre olika bilder av Eva. Den hebreiska bygger mycket på legender som inte finns i de övriga två och förmedlar en praktisk gemenskap med Adam. I den gnostiska är hon mer en symbolisk och ibland allegorisk bild av kvinnan och en andlig makt. Kyrkofäderna förmedlar en arbetsam och flitig kvinna, ett arbetsideal som ska bära och föda Adams barn. Inom den hebreiska och katolska traditionen är Eva skulden till all världens synd.

Humboldt-Univ., Diss.--Berlin, 2005. / Literaturverz. S. [419] - 436.

This thesis forms a sociological investigation of the ‘hipster’ subculture that has grown in importance in recent years. Using the methodology of semiotic analysis, it examines the trends and themes shown by the images that hipsters post on the microblogging website Tumblr, as well as analysing hipster journalism, texts and companies. This communication is conceptualised with reference to Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality in order to show that hipsters communicate in a way that distorts the perception of real space and results in the abstraction of the meaning of ideas like “global” and “local”. It also explores the importance of secret knowledge in a community that manages to be both secretive and extremely open, comparing this example with the historical case of the Beat Generation, who hipsters have adopted as their progenitors, and discusses how their influence drives the hipster to view the world as a literary text to be re-read and re-interpreted.

This essay aims to investigate the role of fate in the Apocryphon of John – an issue which, with a few exceptions, has been surprisingly overlooked by modern scholarship. In the few modern publications available on the subject, the concept of fate has previously solely been examined in the light of the Greek Philosophical schools, often neglecting texts from a Jewish-Hellenistic context.  Here it is argued that the depiction of fate in the Apocryphon of John, as well as the dualism between Pronoia – the providence of god – and its negative counterpart, the imitating spirit, is closely related to Jewish speculations about external influence and free will in literature such as the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Community Rule from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Furthermore, it is argued that the author – much like Philo of Alexandria - presents Pronoia – the providence of god - as an extension of God, a concept which preserves his transcendence and at the same time allows him to intervene in earthly activities. Similarly, the imitating spirit, which is also presented as identical to fate, works as an extension of the demiurge. As a result of this reading of the text, the dualism between God’s providential activities carried out by Pronoia and the influence of fate over mankind, carried out by the imitating spirit, becomes more evident and radical. It has recently been argued that the discourse of enslavement under fate only was applied to “the other” and that it was used primarily to draw boundary demarcations between the own group and the ones outside it. In this essay, I go against this hypothesis and suggest that the threat of enslavement under fate primarily appears in conjunction with paraenetic discourse and is used to exhort the followers to emulate a certain behavior.

This thesis is a literary-critical and theological analysis of the Apocryphon of John and the closely related material found in Irenaeus adversus haereses I 29 and 30. It attempts to determine (1) which of the four Coptic versions in two recensions is nearest to the original, and what the precise relationship of the Apocryphon is to Irenaeus' two chapters; (2) whether the Apocryphon represents a process of Christianization or de-Christianization, and (3) what the precise relationship of the Apocryphon is to Valentinianism. The first two chapters, on Gnostic theogony and cosmogony, argue that one can best explain the relation between the Apocryphon and Irenaeus I 29 by assuming that Irenaeus' account represents an earlier, less-developed form of the main traditions found in the Apocryphon which the latter modified to suit its own different theological tendency. The short recension, and particularly the version in Nag Hammadi Codex III, is closest to the original and to Irenaeus' account, the long representing a harmonising and spiritualising interpretation, but also containing more original traditions omitted by the short. Chapters three, four and five deal in more general terms with the relationship between the Apocryphon and Irenaeus I 30 and cover Gnostic anthropology, soteriology and eschatology. They attempt to show how the Apocryphon' understanding of the central paradox of Gnostic experience of being elect yet trapped in matter and governed by fate, has determined its selection and interpretation of anthropological, soteriological and eschatological motifs. Its reinterpretation of Genesis 1-7 forms the core of its anthropology and soteriology which agree that, although man possesses a divine spark, he requires redemption and a Revealer/Redeemer. This paradox is expressed in terms of primal, continuous and decisive revelation, represented by various divine figures. The varieties of eschatology in the Apocryphon, too, reflect not only varied traditions but also the paradox of Gnostic salvation, the "Now" and the "Not Yet". On the question of Christianization, the thesis argues that although the central exposition (unlike the frame story) is apparently uninfluenced by Christianity, much of its material is best understood in the context of early Christian speculation about Christ based on the Old Testament and contemporary Hellenistic Judaism. While evidence of progressive Christianization or de-Christianization is scanty and mixed, there is, thirdly, some indication, not only that the Apocryphon influenced Valentinianism, but that, in its present form, it shows signs of acquaintance with Valentinianism.

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