A criminal is thrown from a high cliff into the sea. He has been covered in feathers, live birds attached to him to slow his fall. Fishermen wait below, hopeful of being able to carry him safely away. The people are punishing the criminal with death, yet simultaneously rooting for his survival. This startling image from Strabo, with its delicious ironic tension, is the center‐piece of “Civic Poetics.” The thesis consists of a cycle of poems imagining life in a city where this bizarre ritual is performed, coupled with a number of essays written for several Religious Studies courses on related themes. The interplay of poetry and essay aims to illuminate the experience of my own journey from criminal outsider to re‐integrated citizen. The lenses of (1) my own experiences in 21st century Atlanta and (2) poetic imaginative reconstruction of this ancient ritual reveal a startling picture: a criminal’s relations with the divine, as mediated by his state, and a state’s relations with the divine as mediated by its criminals.

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Münster--Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 1997. / Bibliogr. p. 399-414. Index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-129). Also available via the World Wide Web.

A criminal is thrown from a high cliff into the sea. He has been covered in feathers, live birds attached to him to slow his fall. Fishermen wait below, hopeful of being able to carry him safely away. The people are punishing the criminal with death, yet simultaneously rooting for his survival. This startling image from Strabo, with its delicious ironic tension, is the center‐piece of “Civic Poetics.” The thesis consists of a cycle of poems imagining life in a city where this bizarre ritual is performed, coupled with a number of essays written for several Religious Studies courses on related themes. The interplay of poetry and essay aims to illuminate the experience of my own journey from criminal outsider to re‐integrated citizen. The lenses of (1) my own experiences in 21st century Atlanta and (2) poetic imaginative reconstruction of this ancient ritual reveal a startling picture: a criminal’s relations with the divine, as mediated by his state, and a state’s relations with the divine as mediated by its criminals.

Australia has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world. Epidemiological data indicate that young men (15-25 years of age) make up one of the most vulnerable groups. The print media regularly portray men in this age group as aggressive and violent in various ways (on the sporting field, at war, in their cups, in contests and in leisure, all of which which take on many different forms). This dissertation presents a collection of such images gleaned over a number of years, the purpose of which is to evoke Durkheim's notion of suicidogenic currents that flow through the ??collective consciousness??, finding, according to Durkheim, their clearest expression in suicide rates. Using the notion of ??suicidogenic current?? as a sensitizing concept, this thesis traces the way in which violence weaves its way through social life and influences social relations that may be conducive to suicide. It will be argued that the images presented ?? arranged, for effect, as photomontages ?? express the celebration of violence as a powerful social trend which runs not only through social activity, but also through hearts and minds of contemporary persons; as such, it constitutes one of the suicide-inducing conditions in contemporary society.

Thesis(M.A.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (S.T.L.)--Catholic University of America, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [82]-83).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1990. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).