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'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.' [Rom 12:2] Hans Urs von Balthasar and Eberhard Jungel are profound and imaginative thinkers who unreservedly ground their theologies in revelation as God�s self-disclosure. This thesis asks what resources such revelation-centred authors, from different traditions, may contribute to a theological understanding of the human imagination. Although theology has often been more interested in the constructive capacities of the imagination, it is the responsive quality of the imagination that is of particular interest to this thesis. Can the imagination contribute to a theological understanding which comprehends the action and speech of God as antecedent to human response? This thesis examines the epistemological issues that are related both to the imagination and to revelation as the self-communication and self-interpretation of God. The imagination is conceived of as essential to perception and understanding; it allows for both recognition and re-cognition. Through the imagination we can rethink the patterns or paradigms that shape our lives. The renewing of the mind can be said to involve the imagination. However, spiritual transformation requires more than a notion of the imagination as a spontaneous mental act which determines its own content. Balthasar and Jungel, while thinking in lively and narrative ways, are constrained by divine self-disclosure. God�s self-revelation provides the content of the paradigm or pattern by which the Christian believer is to live. The imagination can be said to act as the context or locus of revelation. This thesis demonstrates that the three days of Easter are central to Balthasar�s and Jungel�s respective understandings of God. For Balthasar and Jungel, the triduum mortis is where the self-revelation of God is most apparent; it is here that God is understood to be self-giving love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While quite distinct in their approaches, both authors work within trinitarian, and therefore relational, frameworks. This thesis traces the motifs that not only express their understandings of the paschal mystery in relational terms but also ground their respective understandings of renewed existence; for Balthasar, the motifs of mission and kenosis, and for Jungel, those of identification and justification. For both Balthasar and Jungel, the events of the triduum mortis can be said to provide the content of, and act as a boundary to, our conception of God. Nonetheless, it is proposed that, within their respective understandings of divine prevenience, Balthasar and Jungel leave room for the exercise of the imagination. God is mystery; God is not a fixed or completed concept.

My Thesis body of work, The Mythos for the Mortal, presents visual interpretations of apocalyptic mythoi—past, present, and future. These works are both a conscious and unconscious response to childhood exposure to apocalyptic stories and form a visual record of social, political and religious interpretations of the apocalypse. The overarching theme of apocalypse (from the Greek word Apokalypsis, meaning ‘to unveil’ or ‘to reveal’) has allowed me to reconnect to my youth and heritage and has driven me to articulate more clearly a perspective regarding the future and what it will ‘reveal’ to us. I use the landscape as a stage to create narratives and metaphors expressing these ideas. These paintings and drawings are divided into four categories of apocalypse: historical, future, ecological, and personal.

This dissertation explores the concept of revelation in the writings of Ahmad Khan, Azad, and Mawdudi Using as its framework the development of modern Western thought on revelation, it raises questions related to religious epistemology and finds that the Muslims studied offer three interpretations of revelation: (1) part mystico-subjective and part natural intuitive, (2) part traditional and part mystico-subjective, and (3) traditional. The thesis concludes that out of a preoccupation with apologetics, all three authors failed to develop a coherent theory of revelation: Mawdudi did not understand modern problems surrounding revelation and hence did not feel the need for a solution to them; Azad, because of an ambivalent position regarding modernity, contradicted his own views; only Ahmad Khan was able to appreciate the modern threat to revelation and attempted a new interpretation. However, his interpretation was expressed in medieval philosophic molds and found little acceptance among Muslims at large.

Efficiency, Leverage and Exit: The Role of Information Asymmetry in Concentrated Industries This paper develops a real options model of imperfect competition with asymmetric information that analyzes firms' exit decisions. Optimal exit decision is linked to firm characteristics such as financial leverage and efficiency. The model shows that informational asymmetries can lead more efficient and less leveraged firms to leave the product market prematurely. It also demonstrates how firm efficiency can increase debt capacity relative to rival firms. The model also has implications for firm risk and asset returns. Specifically, the paper shows that, when there is information asymmetry among rivals, rival actions can have a "news effect" that change a firm's dynamic risk structure. Human Capital Investment and the Completion of Risky R&D Projects We consider a firm that employs human capital to make a technological breakthrough. Since the probability of success of the breakthrough depends on the current stock of human capital the firm has an incentive to expand its human capital stock. The present value of the patent is stochastic but can be observed during the R\&D phase of the project. The exogenous value of the patent determines the firm's decisions to invest in human capital, to abandon the project if necessary, and to invest in marketing the new product. We study the corresponding optimal stopping times, determine their value and risk consequences, and derive optimal investment in the stock of human capital. While optimal investment in human capital is very sensitive to its productivity do increase the probability of a breakthrough it is insensitive to changes in the volatility of the present value of the patent. The value of the firm is driven by fixed labor costs that occur until the breakthrough is made, the call option to invest in human capital and market the product, and the put option to abandon the project. These options together with labor costs' based operating leverage determine the risk dynamics. Risk varies non-monotonically with the stochastic value of the patent and is U-shaped. Migration Options for Skilled Labor and Optimal Investment in Human Capital This paper develops a model of optimal education choice of an agent who has an option to emigrate. Using a real options framework, we analyze the time evolution of human capital in the country of origin and investigate the role of migration possibilities in the accumulation of different types of human capital. The analysis shows that the accumulation of human capital depends crucially on the level of uncertainty and the transferability of human capital across countries. Government subsidies are an important determinant of the composition of different types of human capital and can be crucial in alleviating the brain drain problem. (author's abstract)

Predicting human behavior from a small amount of training examples is a challenging machine learning problem. In this thesis, we introduce the principle of maximum causal entropy, a general technique for applying information theory to decision-theoretic, game-theoretic, and control settings where relevant information is sequentially revealed over time. This approach guarantees decision-theoretic performance by matching purposeful measures of behavior (Abbeel & Ng, 2004), and/or enforces game-theoretic rationality constraints (Aumann, 1974), while otherwise being as uncertain as possible, which minimizes worst-case predictive log-loss (Gr¨unwald & Dawid, 2003). We derive probabilistic models for decision, control, and multi-player game settings using this approach. We then develop corresponding algorithms for efficient inference that include relaxations of the Bellman equation (Bellman, 1957), and simple learning algorithms based on convex optimization. We apply the models and algorithms to a number of behavior prediction tasks. Specifically, we present empirical evaluations of the approach in the domains of vehicle route preference modeling using over 100,000 miles of collected taxi driving data, pedestrian motion modeling from weeks of indoor movement data, and robust prediction of game play in stochastic multi-player games.

La question qui traverse toute l’œuvre de Karl Rahner continue de se poser : comment rendre crédible et croyable la révélation de Dieu en Jésus aux gens d’aujourd’hui? Cette question doit être pensée sans cesse à nouveau dans la réalité concrète de la vie humaine. Au temps de Rahner, on mettait l’accent sur la transcendance de Dieu. Depuis ce temps, la culture occidentale s’est transformée : au début du 21e siècle, elle présente de façon marquée les traits du matérialisme, du consumérisme, de l’individualisme, du relativisme et du sécularisme. Conséquemment, on a aujourd’hui tendance à évacuer la transcendance divine. Notre recherche consiste en l’effectuation d’échanges entre la théologie de Karl Rahner et la philosophie de Gilles Deleuze, dans le but d’établir des conditions de possibilités d’un croire chrétiennement aujourd’hui. La philosophie de Deleuze nous introduit dans un processus créatif avec lequel nous pouvons penser radicalement Dieu comme à la fois transcendant et immanent. Notre démarche construit huit hybrides conceptuels qui aident à penser Rahner autrement et à ouvrir la possibilité d’un croire chrétiennement aujourd’hui. Notre recherche ouvre également la perspective d’une théologie de la rencontre entre des mondes théologiques, philosophiques, artistiques et scientifiques. Enfin, elle aide à éclairer la réalité de la nouvelle évangélisation en Occident chrétien. / The question which moves throughout Karl Rahner’s work continues to lay down a principle: how can one make believable and convincing the revelation of God in Jesus to the people of today? This question must be considered again unceasingly in a practical reality of human life. In Rahner’s time, emphasis was placed into the transcendence of God. Since then, occidental culture was transformed: in the beginning of the 21st century, is showed a very obvious tendency of materialism, consumerism, individualism, relativism and secularism. Consequently, there is a tendency to evacuate the divine transcendence. Our research consists in exchanges between Karl Rahner’s theology and Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy, with the purpose of establishing possible conditions of Christian belief today. Deleuze’s philosophy introduces us into a creative process through which we can think radically of God as being at the same time transcendent and immanent. Our approach is developed with eight conceptual hybrids which help understand Rahners’s theology in another perspective and leads to the possibility of a Christian belief for today. Our research opens as well onto the perspective of theology meeting between the theological, philosophical, artistic and scientific worlds. Finally, it helps to enlighten the reality of the new evangelization in Christian Occident.

'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.' [Rom 12:2] Hans Urs von Balthasar and Eberhard Jungel are profound and imaginative thinkers who unreservedly ground their theologies in revelation as God�s self-disclosure. This thesis asks what resources such revelation-centred authors, from different traditions, may contribute to a theological understanding of the human imagination. Although theology has often been more interested in the constructive capacities of the imagination, it is the responsive quality of the imagination that is of particular interest to this thesis. Can the imagination contribute to a theological understanding which comprehends the action and speech of God as antecedent to human response? This thesis examines the epistemological issues that are related both to the imagination and to revelation as the self-communication and self-interpretation of God. The imagination is conceived of as essential to perception and understanding; it allows for both recognition and re-cognition. Through the imagination we can rethink the patterns or paradigms that shape our lives. The renewing of the mind can be said to involve the imagination. However, spiritual transformation requires more than a notion of the imagination as a spontaneous mental act which determines its own content. Balthasar and Jungel, while thinking in lively and narrative ways, are constrained by divine self-disclosure. God�s self-revelation provides the content of the paradigm or pattern by which the Christian believer is to live. The imagination can be said to act as the context or locus of revelation. This thesis demonstrates that the three days of Easter are central to Balthasar�s and Jungel�s respective understandings of God. For Balthasar and Jungel, the triduum mortis is where the self-revelation of God is most apparent; it is here that God is understood to be self-giving love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While quite distinct in their approaches, both authors work within trinitarian, and therefore relational, frameworks. This thesis traces the motifs that not only express their understandings of the paschal mystery in relational terms but also ground their respective understandings of renewed existence; for Balthasar, the motifs of mission and kenosis, and for Jungel, those of identification and justification. For both Balthasar and Jungel, the events of the triduum mortis can be said to provide the content of, and act as a boundary to, our conception of God. Nonetheless, it is proposed that, within their respective understandings of divine prevenience, Balthasar and Jungel leave room for the exercise of the imagination. God is mystery; God is not a fixed or completed concept.

Originally presented as the author's thesis, Bonn, under title: Der Auftrag des Wortes Gottes an Verkündigung und Theologie der Kirche. / Bibliography: p. [291]-296.

[pt] A pesquisa objetiva refletir sobre as possibilidades de uma pretensa relação entre a revelação divina e a vulnerabilidade humana, propondo, para isso, caminhos para uma hermenêutica da revelação que se compreenda a partir do movimento dialético entre a presença e a ausência. Discute, portanto, se essa revelação diz respeito apenas ao divino e se tal vulnerabilidade é característica apenas do humano. Para tanto, parte-se do pressuposto de que a tradição ocidental, em grande medida, se constrói sobre pressupostos metafísicos que delineiam o horizonte a partir do qual se conceberá a revelação durante a maior parte do tempo. A Modernidade, que se ergue sobre essa lógica metafísica, altamente comprometida com o desnudamento do mundo, verá a revelação apenas como um processo por meio do qual aquilo que estava oculto se manifesta absoluta, plena e substanciamente, ou seja, assumirá a revelação apenas em seu caráter manifestacional, tornando-se, nesse sentido, refratária a qualquer interpretação que se conceba sob o signo do mistério . Verifica-se, portanto, uma inflação da presença e do sentido que se materializa historicamente na cultura ocidental moderna, em geral, e no cristianismo, em particular. O cristianismo sob o influxo dessa saturação se organizará em torno da presença divina, metafisicamente concebida, e a partir de um discurso altamente apologético. Mas, ao longo do percurso aqui proposto constatou-se, também, uma crítica exacerbada ao modo metafísico de se conceber o mundo e o surgimento de uma nova tradição que se insinua cada vez mais pós-metafísica, mediante a qual se considerará o tema aqui proposto. Resgata-se esse horizonte teórico a partir de importantes mudanças históricas ocorridas nos campos da linguagem, da hermenêutica e da pragmática (Linguistic Turn). Essa mudança de paradigmas repercutiu em diversas áreas das ciências humanas, inclusive na própria teologia. Destaca-se aqui a dialética inferida de Martin Heidegger e a hermenêutica kenótica proposta por Gianni Vattimo, importantes pensadores no contexto das mudanças que estabelecerão o pensamento pós-metafísico. Além deles, e na esperança de se consolidar o referencial teórico desta pesquisa, ressaltam-se três teólogos cujas reflexões serão significativamente influenciadas pela crítica ao pensamento metafísico: Karl Rahner, Edward Skillebeekx e Andrés Torres Queiruga. Finalmente, mediante uma hermenêutica da presença-ausência , a pesquisa propõe caminhos para a construção de uma teologia da revelação que se faça a partir da vulnerabilidade humana. Assume, nesse sentido, a recepção enquanto critério hermenêutico-teológico, ao sugerir uma teologia de textos escritos — amparada no pressuposto de que está circunscrita aos limites da linguagem —, bem como uma teologia de textos vivos — consciente de que há experiências humanas que extrapolam esses limites. Em ambos os casos pressupõe-se uma epistemologia frágil , que proporcione lidar com esse caráter abscôndito e manifesto do divino ao modo de um pastoreio . Ou seja, propõe-se que o processo através do qual somos interpelados por esse Deus que se expressa na dialética da presença-ausência, que aqui se nomeia de revelação, seja alvo do cuidado humano. Pastorear o divino; pastorear os meios através dos quais o compreendemos; pastorear o produto final desse processo, que se transforma em teologia; pastorear o próprio pastoreio; enfim, pastorear a revelação — eis aí o desafio proposto pela pesquisa. / [en] This research seeks for possible relations between divine revelation and human vulnerability. To that purpose it proposes ways to a hermeneutics of revelation on the basis of the dialectic movement between presence and absence. It discusses the question whether revelation concerns only the divine and whether vulnerability is only a human characteristic. We assume that Western tradition is based on metaphysical presuppositions that frame the horizon in which revelation will generally be conceived. Since Modern Age builds upon this metaphysical logic, which is highly responsible for the denudation of the world, it sees revelation only as a process through which the hidden becomes totally, substantially and absolutely manifest. It conceives revelation only as manifestation and will, thus, become refractory to every kind of interpretation of revelation as mystery . As a result we can observe an inflation of the presence and the sense which materializes historically in modern Western culture and particularly in Christianity. Under the effect of this saturation , Christianity organizes itself around the metaphysical divine presence and with a highly apologetic discourse. During the course of the research we also detected a harsh critique of this metaphysical way to understand the world as well as the emerging of a new tradition, which tends to be more and more post- metaphysical and which helps us to deal with the research subject. This theoretical horizon emerges from important historical changes that happened in the fields of language, hermeneutics and pragmatics (Linguistic Turn). This change of paradigms echoed in several areas of Humanities, including Theology. We might mention here the inferred dialectic of Martin Heidegger and the kenotic hermeneutics proposed by Gianni Vattimo, two important scholars involved in the changes which will solidify the post-metaphysical thought. With the hope to consolidate the theoretical frame of this research, we should also mention three theologians whose thinking has been influenced by the critique of the metaphysical thought: Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx and Andrés Torres Queiruga. Finally, by means of a presence-absence hermeneutics , this research points out ways to conceive a theology of revelation that can be done on the basis of human vulnerability. In this sense, it adopts the reception as a hermeneutical-theological criterion, as it proposes a theology of written texts - upon the supposition that it is circumscribed to the limits of language – as well as a theology of living texts – conscious that there are human experiences that go beyond these limits. In both cases, we assume a fragile epistemology which helps us to deal with the hidden and manifest character of the divine in the way of shepherding . So, we propose that the process through which God speaks to us and which finds its expression in the presence-absence dialectic – here called revelation – be the object of human care. Shepherding the divine; shepherding the means through which we understand him; shepherding the final product of this process which ends up in theology; shepherding the act of shepherding itself; in summary, shepherding the revelation – that is the challenge posed by this research.