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Firstly, as a background to Liu Tsung-chou’s thought, this study documents the re-emergence of the School of Mind in the early Ming. It describes Ch’en Hsien-chang’s teaching of sitting in meditation and his doctrine of emphasizing tranquillity. The development of the School of Mind in the middle Ming is explicated by way of Wang Yang-ming’s doctrine of the extension of innate knowledge. The fictionalization of the School of Mind in late Ming is documented through a study of the doctrines propounded by Wang Yang-ming’s followers. Secondly, Liu Tsung-chou’s family background, early life, political career, and intellectual achievement are introduced. Finally, Liu’s contribution to the reconsideration of the doctrines of Mind in Ming Neo-Confucianism are investigated through a systematic study of his views on the existing schools. With reference to Ch’en Hsien-chang’s doctrine, I will discuss the doctrine of “emphasizing tranquillity” and the teaching of sitting in meditation in the Ch’en Hsien-chang School; the arguments regarding them in the Wang Yang-ming School; and Liu’s views on them. With reference to Wang Yang-ming’s doctrine, I will discuss Liu’s changing, attitudes towards Wang’s doctrine; the two men’s different attitudes towards overcoming selfish human desires and extensive learning; and the difference between Wang and Liu on the correct interpretation of the <i>Great Learning. </i>In my investigation of Liu’s reconsideration of the doctrines promoted by Wang Yang-ming’s followers, I will discuss Liu’s sense of the degeneration of Wang’s followers; the debates on Wang’s “Four Sentences of Teaching”; Liu’s criticism of Wang’s “Four Sentences of Teaching” and the debates on it; Liu’s criticism of the moral decay in the circle of Wang Yang-ming’s followers; and Liu’s scheme of moral reformation of his time. The study concludes with an assessment of the impact of Liu’s reconstruction of Ming Neo-Confucianism and its influence in the period from late Ming to early Ch’ing.

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This thesis examines concepts of Islamic informal religious leadership, narrowing to one particular village in Bangladesh. It centres around two key ideas; the relationship between classical theories of leadership and practice in the village of Rosulpur, and the importance of ambiguity in the style of leadership adopted by informal religious leaders in the village which facilitates the giving of hope and meaning to their followers. The first chapter examines the Islamic legal system, partly pondering how this theoretical mechanism for governing behaviour actually relates to village practice; but more importantly this section notes how the shari'a has expanded into critical roles other than the strictly legal one it supposedly fulfils. Such 'multi-tasking' parallels the way Islamic leadership in general operates since this too has several facets. This leadership is the focus of chapter two, and again there are theoretical ideals (with Qur'anic and hadith writings finding expression in institutions such as the caliphate and <I>imamate</I>) that have neither been utterly discarded nor closely adhered to. As these forms of governance failed to fulfil their supposed potential they were augmented with an almost mythical element (whereby it is held that they will be realised when Islam is victorious). The central aspect of this thesis concerns one village in central Bangladesh, a topic that is approached by reviewing studies of Islamic mysticism in the Indian subcontinent (particularly Bengal). Individuals in Rosulpur village are identified and their importance discussed. Finally, there is an examination of how this practice of Islam relates to theoretical concepts. Consistent with the thesis as a whole, this relationship is neither a direct reflection of theory nor a total rejection of it.

The thesis is an ethnohistorical study of one major pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka, known as Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak), where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually visit to worship the sacred footprint where is looted in the mountain top temple. This sacred footprint has different sacred connotations for Sri Lanka’s major religious groups (Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Catholic). However, this pilgrimage site, which was considered a multi-religious site until the turn of the twentieth century, has now been constructed or ordered into an ethnic majoritarian Buddhist space. My thesis, therefore, concentrates in part on the historical process which has led to the construction of the pilgrimage site as a Buddhist space, and then locates this process within the wider context of the rise of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lankan. My work highlights the powerful role pilgrimage can play in particular religious discourses and the manner it legitimates certain ways of envisaging power and relationships of domination at particular conjunctures, which is clearly apparent in the contemporary Sinhala Buddhist cultural nationalism in Sri Lanka. This thesis is divided into three interconnected parts. The first part considers ‘knowledge production’ about Sri Pada while the second part explores the major competing discourses that have been arisen during its political and religious history. The final part is mainly focused on the style of religiosity and the social composition of pilgrims, and explores social factors in the practices of worship. One chapter deals with the style of “official” Buddhist religiosity found at this centre and two further chapters look at devotional and expressive forms of religiosity of pilgrims, which is oriented to the Buddha rather than the gods and as such is markedly different from that documented by anthropologists working in other parts of the island. The final chapter investigates links between devotional styles and the shifting socio-political contexts. The documentation of the prevailing styles of religiosity at Sri Pada enable me to show on one hand how such religiosity further undermines the broadly Weberian antinomies that have dominated the anthropology of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, and on the other hand the intensity or scale of Buddhicization of the historically viewed ‘sacred site’.

This dissertation was undertaken partially in response to previous studies on the goddess Asherah. These studies have tended to gather together information from the various cultures in which 'Asherah' appears, and the information is generally presented as a portrait of the goddess. This dissertation approaches the problem from a different perspective. The primary issue addressed is: did the goddess 'Asherah' develop in the same way in all the cultures in which she appears? In order to answer this question, this study considers the evidence as contained in the written records of the first two millennia B.C.E. The mythology preserved in the tablets written by Elimelek in ancient Ugarit is the primary source of information on the goddess Athirat. After considering this mythology, it should be possible to examine Athirat's role in other mythologies, and to attempt to distil her essential characteristics and nature. Within the Ugaritic mythology of Elimelek, she appears most active in the 'Palace of Baal' episode in the Baal Cycle. In this culture Athirat appears primarily in relationship to other gods. She is the consort of E1, the head of the pantheon. In the Elimelek tablets her title is <i>rbt atrt ym</i>. This title indicates an unspecified relationship with the sea. She is the mother of the gods but does not, however, appear as an amorphous 'mother goddess'. Her role as a mother is limited to divine children and royal children. She appears to be the <i>rabitu</i>, the 'queen mother'. Although Athirat is associated with the head of the pantheon, she maintains a connection with mortal women. This may account for her emblem, which is a spindle. In the Ugaritic tablets without a colophon by Elimelek, Athirat also appears. She is mentioned in the myth Shachar and Shalim, in text 114, and in ritual texts. Her small role in these texts adds no substantial characteristics to what may be discerned in the Elimelek tablets. A goddess Asherah may appear in the Old Testament. Certain passages seem to require a godess interpretation for the word <i>asherah</i>. In other texts <i>asherah</i> designates a cultic object. If Asherah does appear as a goddess in the Old Testament, her characteristics are difficult to discern. She does not, however, appear as the consort of Baal or as a fertility goddess.

This study is about the management of ‘truth’ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It aims to investigate the ways in which the official ‘truth’ is constructed and institutionalised in the country. It attempts to critically analyse some of the ways in which the official ‘truth’ is tailored to rationalise the prevailing model of the distribution of power in Saudi Arabia. This study argues that truth is not born in a power vacuum and often its construction and institutionalisation signify domination in one way or another. Hence, what the management of truth means is, in principle, the management of power, and the quest for truth is the quest for power. The main focus of this study is Wahhabism, which functions as the official ‘truth’ of the state in Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism, which is the product of an eighteenth century revivalist movement, is portrayed as the most ‘authentic’ reading of Islam, which provides the raison d'être for the prevailing political mechanism in the country. This thesis puts forward an argument that there are two interrelated notions which articulate the ways in which ‘truth’ is conceptualised in Islam. One, at macro level, constitutes the trans-historical foundational principles of the religion, a set of engrained beliefs, which establish the ‘finality’, and ‘oneness’ of Islam in relation to other competing narratives, and the other at the micro level takes place internally to find ‘truth’ within the ‘truth’. Unlike Islamic truth at the macro level, which is entrenched, the Islamic truth at the micro level refers to the various attempts by different agencies to claim to have found the ‘truth’ within the ‘truth’. Wahhabism is introduced as an example of truth management at the micro level. This study underlines four factors of narrative construction, leadership, socialisation and violence, which are instrumental in the management of truth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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