This thesis is first and foremost the result of my grappling with the works of Meister Eckhart. Accordingly, I intend to present here my reading of Eckhart's thought. This reading, my struggle to interpret the Meister, was, from the beginning, however, motivated by the aim to join a certain conversation. This conversation is what I have come to know as 'Christian philosophy'. I am new to the circles of those who admit to be participating in this scandalous project, yet already I have become quite aware of the controversy pervading this notion. It comes to the fore not only in the critical voices from the 'outside', questioning its meaning, relevance and legitimacy, but also in a lack of 'internal' consensus concerning its entailments. This is not necessarily a point of criticism on my part. In fact, I am much a proponent of conversations or projects that have an openness to them and lack clear cut deliminations. It does, however, make a brief apologia in preparation to this thesis necessary. I have no ambition whatsoever to state here what Christian philosophy is or should be. God forbid! I merely deem it important to place my project in context, and for that purpose I intend here to point out to the reader the direction I am facing. Thus, what needs to be clarified at the outset of my argument is that particular understanding of Christian philosophy this thesis intends to engage. The question here is, where and how to locate the conversation this thesis hopes to join. [from Prologue, p. 3]

This thesis takes issue with the standard critical attribution to Milton of a backward Aristotelian scientific paradigm for his work, demonstrating that body and soul represented in Paradise Lost are inscribed in terms of radical contemporary medical theories of vitalism. Milton’s close friendship with his doctor, Nathan Paget, links him to Paget’s colleague, Francis Glisson, Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge University, an academic and practising physician who was closely involved in cutting-edge contemporary medical research. Not only can Glisson’s heretical notion of the energetic, living nature of substance be seen to match the dynamic scale of nature represented in Paradise Lost, but in fact Milton’s animist materialism corresponds precisely to the chemical innovations made by Glisson in the anatomy of blood and bodily fluids and spirits. Exploring Milton’s representation of body and soul, spirit and matter, in the light of these contemporary medical innovations, this thesis focuses upon the way that his theodicy is supported by this most heretical natural philosophy. Milton’s vital anatomia animata is shown to be central to the harmonious integration of science and theology in Paradise Lost; it complements the literalism of the poem and provides a non-satanic logic of self-determination. Beginning with the basic evidence of Milton’s materialism of the soul in the Christian Doctrine, the first chapter correlates the theological assertions made with the language of natural philosophy that Milton uses to make them. The next chapter addresses the problem of the antinomy between the material soul proposed by Milton and the Aristotelian terminology with which he describes it, arguing that the latter is more heterogeneous than literary critics have acknowledged. The third chapter examines several versions of vitalism in order to delineate a working, medical model of the active matter presupposed by Milton’s body-soul composites and the wider natural philosophy of Paradise Lost. This model of active matter and spirit is then used in chapter four to illuminate the representation of Creation, demonstrating the acute accuracy with which Milton’s Creation draws upon contemporary medical research into conception. Chapter five extends the analysis to compare early notions of chemical digestion with the metabolic transformations of paradise. The final chapter demonstrates that the physiological and psychological corruptions of the Fall correspond to the effects of the putrid or poisonous ferment, while Milton’s representation of regeneration calls upon the vital, generative anatomia animata.

Some of the most interesting facets of Edgar Allan Poe's fiction are his imaginative speculations concerning the metaphysical experiences of the soul, the individual psychic "identity." His interest focuses primarily on three related aspects of the soul's experiences (1) metempsychosis (or reincarnation and transmigration); (2) suspension between "death" and the after-life or states of unconsciousness and consciousness, sleep and waking; and (3) the terrors, real or imagined, of premature burial.

The purpose of this thesis will be to examine one student's personal struggle in life and how those events have helped him to find his purpose and reason for being. This examination will be done by using a Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) approach to explain how music has been at the forefront of all moral and ethical decisions ever made in his life in order to find his true calling or vocation. This thesis will be broken down into 3 main chapters with several sub chapters taking the reader though the life of Jared M. Ford. This thesis will then culminate with the authors own understanding of what he feels is his purpose for living. A fourth and chapter will also be included to show the author's own musical works in an attempt to give the reader a better understanding of how music has helped him to understand his true calling.

The main aim of this thesis is to present and compare the approaches of the two important Hellenistic philosophical schools - the Old Stoics and Epicurus - to the phenomenon of death in relationship to the concept of the soul. First, the problem is viewed through the perspective of physics. Epicurus and the Stoics adhere to the belief in the substantial (and not individual) immortality of the soul, resembling in some aspects the view of presocratic philosophers. The soul is uderstood by both schools as basis of life functions connected with heat and breath. Second, the ethical approaches to death by Epicurus and the Stoics and their different proposals for disposing of the fear of death are shortly introduced.

Thesis advisor: John R. Sachs / Thesis advisor: Margaret E. Guider / Catholic faith affirms human nature as an intrinsic fundamental unity between body and soul. Nonetheless, because the soul is immortal, Catholic teaching asserts that the soul survives even when it is separated from the body between death and resurrection. This belief in the survival of the separate soul can lead to a misguided understanding of the afterlife. It also has potentially detrimental consequences for the people of God in the present life. If the afterlife is conceived as a pure spiritual reality disconnected from the material world, the faith-filled practices of popular religiosity can lose their embodied character and be reduced to nothing more than pious spiritual devotions that are totally disengaged from the responsibilities and realities of Christian life. Guided by these concerns, this inquiry reflects on the manner in which Church teaching on the human soul is communicated through rites and rituals for the dead, especially in the selection and interpretation of biblical texts and in the choice of liturgical prayers. This study also reviews the historical evolution of Church teaching on the soul as well as the foundations that have contributed to Catholic understandings of theological anthropology and eschatology. Particular attention is given to Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of human nature and the human soul as the substantial form of the body. Further attention is given to the inherent difficulties encountered with regard to the notion of the separated soul after death. Challenged by questions raised in accord with theological reasoning, the separation of body and soul also is contested by contemporary scientific data suggesting that the brain has a central role in the generation of human intellectual functions. As Catholic theology has traditionally attributed these functions to the soul, it becomes evident that theology must be in dialogue with science if Church teaching is to give a more reasonable account of human nature. The problem of the separated soul is further examined in the light of the post-Vatican II theological debate on the notion of intermediate state. Two distinct views on this subject are presented in the works of Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger. While Rahner considers the intermediate state as an intellectual framework for thinking about the afterlife and not a matter of binding faith, Ratzinger considers the intermediate state as an important belief connected to the doctrine of the immortality and the survival of the soul after death. This study argues that Rahner’s view is more appropriate as it leaves the question of the intermediate state open to theological debate while also affirming the symbolic dimension of eschatological language. In conclusion, this dissertation proposes Rahner’s hermeneutical principles for the interpretation of the Church’s eschatological assertions as a means to preserve foundational Catholic beliefs while respecting their metaphorical nature. It also proposes that all eschatological assertions of the Church only can be rightly understood and interpreted in light of the resurrection of the body, the central Christian hope and symbol of the permanent and fundamental body-soul unity of human nature. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Naicker, Nisha. student no: 8900519E. MMed thesis, Public Health Medicine, 2006. / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Soul City is a non-governmental organisation that runs a HIV/AIDS Adult Education Training Programme. The training involves fourteen partner organisations. The training programme uses the Soul City HIV/AIDS materials to train master trainers, who then train others (community trainees) to use the materials (A cascade model of training). Objectives of the study The study evaluated whether the training programme has met its objectives, the effectiveness of the training cascade model and the impact of the training. Methodology Study design: The study was divided into 2 sub – studies. The respondents were randomly and proportionately selected per province. Questionnaires were developed and the participants were interviewed telephonically or face to face. Study Period: July- August 2004. Study population: 1. Partner organisations managers and master trainers. Sample size of 30. 2. Community trainees. Sample size of 265. Results Master trainers: Impact of the training on the organisations and individuals was positive, since it strengthened the organisations and improved knowledge and attitudes of participants.A few, mainly administrative problems were experienced by the partner organisations, however these problems were subsequently dealt with. Community Trainees: A large number of community trainees are being trained and they are training others in the community. The majority of the training took place in urban areas. Reaching rural areas was a challenge. 83% of participants had a very good knowledge and understanding of HIV/AIDS related issues. Participants scored highly on assessment of their behaviour as well. The majority of trainees had positive views of the training. Conclusion The study showed that the training programme had met its objectives and the cascade training model used was effective. Thus the training process was effective in training individuals and contributing to positive changes in the partner organisations and on an individual level.

Pretendemos demonstrar como Agostinho reconduz a questão gnóstico-maniqueia das duas almas para o campo da interioridade humana, associando vida e alma como bens compreendidos pelo intelecto e, consequentemente, irredutivelmente verdadeiros. Na primeira parte da dissertação, buscamos os traços da questão no livro III das Confissões, parágrafos 1,1 à 6,12, em duplo interesse quanto a noção de pecado: primeiro, como ser ou ausência de ser, defectus da vontade individual; em seguida, como miséria - herança de uma impotência dejá lá e sintoma de uma situação de dessemelhança (regio dissimilitunis). Essa dupla visada tem o intuito de verificar possibilidades de assimilação e afastamento da gnose-maniqueia, a fim de que possamos seguir os argumentos filósofo de Hipona no enfrentamento do problema da existência da alma má em um tratado de 392, Sobre as Duas Almas (De duabus animabus) segunda parte de nosso trabalho. Nessa obra, o bispo procura derruir o dogma maniqueu a partir da alma como primeira consideração (cogito cf. tríade ser-vida-intelecto); atribui-lhe natureza intermediária entre sensíveis e inteligíveis e livre determinação de si pela atividade de valorar os bens que a cerca. Consequentemente, a alma tem a missão de julgar os valores das naturezas apreendidas e organizá-las internamente segundo a via de percepção própria: sensível ou inteligível. Ora, esse procedimento é volitivo, então Agostinho descobre a absoluta indeterminação interior da vontade como único elemento do móbile humano e convoca a teoria das partes da alma, segundo a tradição neoplatônica, para redefinir o 7 alcance da parte intelectiva da alma a partir de sua experiência de falibilidade pessoal. Ao final, o esforço de reconhecer ontologicamente a alma como incorporeamente una momento em que pecado é definido como estado negativo de ser -, deve considerar a cisão original e supra individual: um involuntário instalado no seio do voluntário. Reintroduzse a questão das duas almas no plano geral da filosofia do bispo, em registro notoriamente distinto: interioridade e confissão / The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how Augustine reappoints the Manichaean issue of \"two souls\" to the field of human interiority, as associate life and soul as goods perceived by the intellect and therefore irreducibly real (cogito). Thus, the soul can judge the value of natures and organize them internally according to each way of perception of soul: sensible or intelligible. In the first part, we seek to understand the question through the analysis of third book of the Confessions, paragraphs 1.1 to 6.12. We proceed in double interest, interrelating two notions of sin: 1) The nature of being or not beingdefectus of individual will- and 2) as misery -heritage impotence deja lá in order to aim possibilities of assimilation and refusal of the Manichaean gnosis. In addition, we explore how Augustine faces the problem of the existence of evil soul in analysis of the treatise of 392, About the Two Souls (De duabus animabus) - second part of our work. In this work, the Hipponate seeks to demolish all gnose through doctrine of two souls. Thus, the soul is the first consideration -cogito: being, life and intellection comprenhended only by the intellect- by which intuitive definitions of will and sin are allowed. After discovering the absolute indeterminacy of the will as the only element of human mobile, Augustine proceed to adapt the theory of \"parts of the soul\", according to the Neoplatonic tradition, and sharply modify the role of intellectual part of the soul- in context of his own experience of fallibility. At the end, the effort to recognize the soul as ontologically non-corporeal and undivided moment in which sin is 10 defined as denial of being (defectus) - should also consider the original and supra-individual cleavage: \"an involuntary installed within the volunteer\". It was reintroduced the question of two souls\" in the philosophy of the bishop in distinguished register: interiority and confession

O tema principal do Fédon de Platão é a imortalidade da alma. Meu objetivo nesta tese é apresentar um estudo dos argumentos sobre a imortalidade da alma no Fédon e uma tradução parcial do diálogo. / The main topic of the Platos Phaedo is the immortality of the soul. My aim in this thesis is to present a study of the arguments for immortality of the soul in the Phaedo and a partial translation of the dialogue.

O nosso trabalho consiste na tradução e no estudo do De Ira do filósofo estoico e político romano Lucio Anêu Sêneca. A obra é endereçada ao seu irmão Novato que, supostamente, o indaga como conter essa paixão. Assim, nos 3 livros, o filósofo apresenta a gênese dessa paixão e os males causados por ela para, por fim, apresentar meios para extirpa-la da alma. A defesa dos ensinamentos do Estoicismo ecoa explicitamente nos diversos exemplos dados pelo filósofo quando contraposta com as demais escolas filosóficas da época. Assim, a ira é tratada como a paixão mais danosa dentre todas as paixões do homem. / Our dissertation consists in the translation and study of De Ira from the Stoic philosopher and Roman politician Lucious Annaeus Seneca. The book is addressed to his brother Novato who supposedly inquires him how to restrain this passion. Thus, in three books, the philosopher presents the genesis of that passion and the evils caused by it to finally introduce ways to extirpate it from the soul. The defense of the Stoicism\'s teachings explicitly echoes in several examples given by the philosopher when contrasted with other philosophical schools of the time. So wrath is treated as the most damaging passion among all human passions.