The manuscript of the medieval morality play The Castle of Perseverance contains an illustration commonly understood as the earliest example of a medieval stage plan. Yet The Castle is an allegory, an extended metaphor, the meaning of which comes from the exegetical tradition. Medieval drama is didactic, and education, like exegesis and metaphor, operates on many levels. The Castle plays on the meaning of play: to read it solely as a play is to read merely the first level of meaning. This thesis considers The Castle not in its usual dramatic context but in that of devotional literature: specifically, exegesis, mysticism, and the monastic practice of lectio divina, divine reading. It focuses on the text and diagram as the verbal and visual illustration of classical and biblical metaphors: among these, the pilgrimage of life, the castle of the mind, the treasure chest of the heart, and the river of the soul. Gregory the Greats Moralia in Job is discussed as the likeliest source of the metaphors found in The Castle; the Moralia serves as an exemplar of allegory as a systematic metaphor and a metaphoric system. The Castle allegorizes and actualizes an abstraction, the process of temptation; depicting the mind as a stage on which players become prayers. Morality plays concern the ethics of salvation: one is the sum of ones choices. Thus, the manuscripts goal is to foster contemplation or Christian Socratism, the examination of conscience, as a prerequisite to salvation and the mystical union with God.

The manuscript of the medieval morality play The Castle of Perseverance contains an illustration commonly understood as the earliest example of a medieval stage plan. Yet The Castle is an allegory, an extended metaphor, the meaning of which comes from the exegetical tradition. Medieval drama is didactic, and education, like exegesis and metaphor, operates on many levels. The Castle plays on the meaning of play: to read it solely as a play is to read merely the first level of meaning. This thesis considers The Castle not in its usual dramatic context but in that of devotional literature: specifically, exegesis, mysticism, and the monastic practice of lectio divina, divine reading. It focuses on the text and diagram as the verbal and visual illustration of classical and biblical metaphors: among these, the pilgrimage of life, the castle of the mind, the treasure chest of the heart, and the river of the soul. Gregory the Greats Moralia in Job is discussed as the likeliest source of the metaphors found in The Castle; the Moralia serves as an exemplar of allegory as a systematic metaphor and a metaphoric system. The Castle allegorizes and actualizes an abstraction, the process of temptation; depicting the mind as a stage on which players become prayers. Morality plays concern the ethics of salvation: one is the sum of ones choices. Thus, the manuscripts goal is to foster contemplation or Christian Socratism, the examination of conscience, as a prerequisite to salvation and the mystical union with God.

It has been more than seven years since the events of the September 11 terrorist attacks have changed the way in which American citizens live on a daily basis. Some of us have become anxious while traveling, some more guarded in what we choose to discuss in public and with whom we associate, some more suspicious of other races and religions, some more suspicious of our own government. All American citizens-whether or not they were victims of racial profiling post September I I-have had to change the way in which they obtain information and understand their rights to privacy and knowledge. In my thesis, I explore how the enactment of the Patriot Act and the affiliated surveillance of American citizens (as well as foreign nationals) have not only violated our constitutional rights to free expression, but have also violated our intellectual and privacy rights. Specifically, I am concerned with the negative impact of the Patriot Act on the ability and willingness of American citizens to obtain information and to express their opinions about politically sensitive topics. This fear of being labeled a threat to national security or a potential terrorist has created a nation in which many citizens are increasingly complacent about violations of their intellectual rights, negligent about upholding their epistemic responsibilities, and increasingly ignorant about their own nation's policies, as well as global events In order to eradicate the negative influence of the Patriot Act on the epistemic rights and responsibilities of American citizens, I propose that the American public cultivate the epistemological virtues necessary to educate themselves on domestic as well as global matters. I suggest that this would enhance our national security, in addition to preserving our civil liberties and enlarging our intellectual understanding of global events and relationships.

[pt] O monaquismo antigo é um fenômeno de complexidade notável. Os Padres do Deserto foram homens e mulheres que viveram a vocação à perfeição deixada por Jesus de maneira bastante peculiar. O abandono dos centros urbanos para ir ao encontro do deserto marca a passagem de um cristianismo público, próprio dos mártires, ao cristianismo particular, próprio dos monges. No deserto, este espaço de solidão, silêncio e abnegação, homens e mulheres viveram em busca de seu aprimoramento, seja na busca de virtudes, seja no abandono dos vícios. Para os Padres do Deserto, as paixões são campo do combate em busca da perfeição, ideal herdado desde o testemunho dos mártires. A teologia dos Padres do Deserto trata com muita profundidade de temas relativos à vida interior. A recuperação da teologia destes autores é justificada pela relevância de suas análises das paixões humanas, para as quais a ascese e a oração serviram de remédio. / [en] Ancient monasticism is a phenomenon of remarkable complexity. The Desert Fathers were men and women who lived out the call to perfection left by Jesus in a very peculiar way. The abandonment of urban centers to go into the desert marks the transition from a public Christianity, characteristic of martyrs, to a private Christianity, characteristic of monks. In the desert, this space of solitude, silence, and self-denial, men and women lived in pursuit of their own improvement, whether in the pursuit of virtues or the abandonment of vices. For the Desert Fathers, passions are the field of combat in the pursuit of perfection, an ideal inherited from the witness of the martyrs. The theology of the Desert Fathers deals very deeply with themes related to the inner life. The recovery of the theology of these authors is justified by the relevance of their analysis of human passions, for which asceticism and prayer served as a remedy.