This thesis examines six factors that helped to shape beliefs and expectations about death among evangelical Nonconformists in England from 1830 down to 1880: the literary conventions associated with the denominational magazine obituaries that were used as primary source material, theology, social background, denominational variations, Romanticism and the last words and experiences of the dying. The research is based on an analysis of 1,200 obituaries divided evenly among four evangelical Nonconformist denominations: the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, the Congregationalists and the Baptists. The study is distinctive in four respects. First, the statistical analysis according to three time periods (the 1830s, 1850s and 1870s), close reading and categorisation of a sample this large are unprecedented and make it possible to observe trends among Nonconformists in mid-nineteenth-century England. Second, it evaluates the literary construct of the obituaries as a four-fold formula consisting of early life, conversion, the living out of the faith and the death narrative as a tool for understanding them as authentic windows into evangelical Nonconformist experience. Third, the study traces two movements that inform the changing Nonconformist experience of death: the social shift towards middle-class respectability and the intellectual shift towards a broader Evangelicalism. Finally, the thesis considers how the varying experiences of the dying person and the observers and recorders of the death provide different perspectives. These features inform the primary argument of the thesis, which is that expectations concerning death and the afterlife among evangelical Nonconformists in England from 1830 down to 1880 changed as reflections of larger shifts in Nonconformity towards middle-class respectability and a broader Evangelicalism. This transformation was found to be clearly revealed when considering the tension in Nonconformist allegiance to both worldly and spiritual matters. While the last words of the dying pointed to a timeless experience that placed hope in the life to come, the obituaries as compiled by the observers of the death and by the obituary authors and editors reflected changing attitudes towards death and the afterlife among nineteenth-century evangelical Nonconformists that looked increasingly to earthly existence for the fulfilment of hopes.

This theses concern with psychological aspects of dying and death. Its purpose is to comprehend ideas of modern people concerning death and dying (eventually to gain some kind of mental representation of death). Theses consist of two parts, theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part concerns at first with death and dying and areas connected to those. Then it covers two quite new areas related to this topic, namely deaht in psychology and various explanations of death including their psychological explanation. The empirical part uses qualitative research (used methods are half-structured interview, free aassociations and marginally also analysis of a drawing) on people's conception of death, their explanation of death and feelings related to the topic, their fears and wishes. The findings are of qualitative character and they were obtained from 28 respondents. The results of empirical part could provide valuable psychological material in the area, that is even nowadays still concidered to be a taboo. They could deepen research in the area that, due to the overall aging of population, would be more and more valuable. Keywords: death, dying, mourning, burial, death in psychology, spirituality, deaht and religion, afterlife, spiritism, near-death experience

Bc. Monika Pavelková ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to study closely the influence of spirituality on attitude towards death among people who find themselves in a situation of proximity to death. Due to the fact that spirituality proves to be a significant factor influencing the process of accepting death, increasing attention is paid nowadays to the spiritual component of personality and to saturation of its spiritual needs. Spirituality is understood in a broader sense as relation towards sanctity of either a religious or an irreligious person. Another aspect is the means by which the person comes to terms with own spirituality, whether it is intrinsic and becomes the goal of the person's life-long endeavour, or it can be described as extrinsic because it does not permeate his or her everyday reality. Spiritual orientation of a person is projected into his or her values and goals, it determines the way towards the meaning of life, which exceeds the person proper. V. E. Frankl speaks about reaching the meaning of life through self- transcendence by way of realization of values of creation, experiences and attitudes. A pronounced element of spirituality and attitude towards death is the belief in life after death, be it literal or symbolic, with reference to Terror Management Theory or Meaning Management...

1 Abstract The purpose of this work is to evaluate the post-mortem journey of the soul theory in the Warring States and early Han dynasty periods. Since this theory is presented by it's propoents as an alternative to the so-called "happy-home" theory, before starting his own analysis the author first introduces both theories citing the main arguments of their proponents. Author's own analysis consists of two parts: interpretation of archeological sources consisting of four tombs and translations of passages from textual sources connected to burial ritual dating to said period. Throughout the work, the author views all sources from the standpoint of both theories and evaluates their applicability of said theories to those sources. Through his own analysis, the author reaches the conclusion that neither the theory of post-portem journey, not the "happy-home" theory prove suitable when it comes to explaining the presence burial articles in tombs of said period and their theses do not seem to be reflected in the period's literature. The author considers the role that the deceased played in their society to be a better key to explaining burial articles than either of the theories concerning what the ancient people thought followed after death. Keywords: journey, post-mortem journey, "happy home", afterlife,...

Cette thèse est une enquête sur les peintures murales et sur panneaux représentant l’archange Michel en Italie, entre 1200 et 1518. Elle propose une large mise au point historiographique et un panorama du développement du culte et de l’iconographie michaélique des origines à 1200. À travers un corpus de plus de 500 images, les représentations de l’archange sont étudiées dans les moindres détails, et leur évolution générale est située dans un cadre spatio-temporel, propre à en faire ressortir les spécificités. Au niveau formel et iconographique, la figure de Michel est partagée entre évocation de la spiritualité de sa nature et monstration de sa force physique, à forme humaine, alors que son image se simplifie par une cristallisation autour du guerrier dès le milieu du Trecento. Cette étude considère en outre la peinture en tant qu’objet fabriqué, pensé, reçu et utilisé. Les évolutions iconographiques participent à une sanctification de l’archange et sont au cœur d’expériences visuelles mêlant images peintes, représentations et visions miraculeuses de l’archange. Symbole universel du bien contre le mal et de la justice divine, et acteur efficace de l’au-delà intermédiaire, organisé et géré par l’Église, l’iconographie michaélique est un outil de son système pénitentiel. Mais Michel est un être sans apparence réelle et sa représentation est donc un reflet de sa perception par les hommes. Les représentations du plus humain des anges et du plus céleste des saints, sont ainsi un moyen de penser l’homme, dans sa relation avec l’Église, avec Dieu, et surtout dans la perception de l’homme par lui-même, de son rôle et de sa responsabilité au moment même du salut. / This work is an investigation into murals and panel paintings depicting Archangel Michael in Italy, between 1200 and 1518. It presents a broad historiographical update and an overview of the development of the michaelic cult and iconography from its origins to 1200. With a corpus of over 500 paintings, the images of the Archangel are scrutinized in their finest details and their general evolution is put back into a spatiotemporal framework, so as to bring out its specificities. On both formal and iconographical levels, Michael's figure is split between evoking his spiritual nature and showing his physical strength, in human form, and it crystallises around the image of the warrior in the middle of the fourteenth century. This study considers a painting to be a manufactured object, a thought-through object, a received object, an used object. The iconographic developments play a role in the archangel's sanctification and are at the heart of visual experiences using painted images, representations and miraculous visions of the archangel. Universal symbol of the fight of Good against Evil or divine justice, and efficient agent in the intermediate afterlife, organised and managed by the Church, the michaelic iconography is a tool of its penitential system. But Michael has no real figure, therefore his representation is a reflection of how men perceive him. The representations of the most human of angels and the most heavenly of saints, are no less than a way of thinking Man itself, in his relationship with the Church, with God, and especially in the way Man perceives himself, perceives his role and his responsibility when time of salvation arises.

The purpose of this paper consists of examining the different ways of thinking about death and life beyond death conveyed in the game Grim Fandango Remastered. This was done by using a theoretical framework consisting of a self invented definition of death called "Bodily death". This definition consists of common notions about death such as cessation of life functions like movement, metabolism, respiration and overall cessation of brain functions. It also included cessation of vital processes, which includes the ability to make energy transfer, making reparations, for example by cell replication, as well as the waste system of the body.  Besides this, the study examines the prevalence of dualism, a conception that views the soul essential to the individual's mental state. Two kinds of dualism were investigated, simple dualism with the assumption that the individual is made up of the soul, and compound dualism, where soul and body are dependent on each other for the survival of the individual. The study also examined the prevalence of materialism, a mindset where the individual is comprised of a combination of things without life or consciousness, in other words an existence dependent of the body. The results showed mainly a view that was non agreeable with bodily death, as the characters had many life signs such as breathing, ability to move, nutrition, metabolism and other signs of functions that would not be possible without the brain's functionality. Furthermore as shown with sprouted, the death within death in the game which consisted of becoming overgrown with flowers, showed signs of life rather than bodily death, as flowers have the vital process of photosynthesis. The game also showed mainly ideas of ​ dualism as the characters often was referred as souls. The kind of dualism that occurred most however was compound dualism because the game often implied that characters died when their bodies became destroyed.

This doctoral thesis analyses the evolution of responses to Jane Austen's fiction through continuations of her unfinished novel The Watsons (c.1803-5). Although the first full “appropriation” of an Austen novel ever published was a continuation of The Watsons and a total of eight completions appeared between 1850 and 2008, little research has been done to link the afterlife of The Watsons and changing perceptions of Austen. This thesis argues that the completions of The Watsons significantly illuminate Austen's reception: they expose conflicting readings of Austen's novels through textual negotiations between the completer's and Austen's voice. My study begins by examining how the first continuation, Catherine Hubback's The Younger Sister (1850), implies an alternative image of the Victorian Austen to that propounded by James Edward Austen-Leigh, Austen's first official biographer (Chapter 1). The next two chapters focus on the effects of World War I and II on modes of reading Austen. Through L. Oulton's (1923), Edith Brown's (1928) and John Coates's (1958) completions of The Watsons, this study examines the connection between Austen's fiction and different notions of Englishness, politics and the nation. Chapter Four addresses the contribution of the 1990s completions to the debate over Austen's feminism. Finally, Chapter Five analyses recent trends in Austenalia, which thwart the production of successful completions of The Watsons. My thesis presents the first substantial analysis of this body of work.

The subject of this dissertation is funeral rites in the Murasaki Shikibu's novel, The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari). The analysis of the text seeks to explore the author's depiction of the end of life, the afterlife, communication with spirits or souls of dead and to summarize the notes and descriptions of the proceedings of funeral rituals including 'before burial' and memorial ceremonies. The purpose of this dissertation is to create an overview of funeral rituals and ideas of death described in the text of Genji Monogatari. The Tale of Genji is considered a document which reflects contemporary thinking and can therefore be relied on for a study of funeral and memorial rituals. The main method used to develop the topic is a detailed analysis of theoretical, practical and aesthetic aspects of death described in the Genji Monogatari novel. The ideas of the Heian Court about death and the afterlife were mainly affecting the cult of ancestors, Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism and Shamanism, which also participated in the creation of the funeral cult. Ideas of the afterlife were also very diverse. The world of the living and the world of the dead, in the concept of old Japanese, were not strictly divided and spirits had access to all spheres of life. Communication with spirits of the living and the souls...

The Secret Doctrine is the magnum opus of H.P. Blavatsky and one of the foundation texts of the Theosophical Society. It represents her attempt to appropriate authority in a wide variety of fields, including, science, religion, and philosophy. This study examines H.P. Blavatsky’s engagement with Ancient Egypt in relation to two specific themes, the constitution of the individual and the afterlife, as they are portrayed in this work. It locates Theosophy in its historical context, the late nineteenth century, in relation to various fields of knowledge. It reviews the sources that H.P. Blavatsky drew on in her work and discusses the various interpretive techniques she employed to insert Theosophical content into various world religions. Finally, it contrasts the Theosophical presentation of Ancient Egypt in The Secret Doctrine with that of mainstream modern Egyptology. The fundamental disconnect which is revealed highlights the challenges that the Theosophical perspective faces. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. A. (Religious Studies)

This dissertation is a philosophical examination of the concept of reincarnation from an African point of view. It does so, largely, from the cultural perspective of the Akan people of Ghana. In this work, reincarnation is distinguished from such related concepts as metempsychosis and transmigration with which it is conflated by many authors on the subject. In terms of definition, therefore, the belief that a deceased person can be reborn is advanced in this dissertation as referring to only reincarnation, but not to either metempsychosis or transmigration. Many scholars would agree that reincarnation is a pristine concept, yet it is so present in the beliefs and worldviews of several cultures today (including those of Africa). A good appreciation of the concept, it can be seen, will not be possible without some reference to the past. That is why some attempt is first made at the early stages of the dissertation to show how reincarnation was understood in the religious philosophies of ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese and the Incas. Secondly, some link is then established between the past and present, especially between ancient Egyptian philosophy and those of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. In modern African thought, the doctrine of reincarnation has not been thoroughly researched into. Even so, some of the few who have written on the subject have denied its existence in African thought. The dissertation rejects this denial, and seeks to show nonetheless that reincarnation is generally an irrational concept. In spite of its irrationality, it is acknowledged that the concept, as especially presented in African thought, raises our understanding of the constitution of a person as understood in the African culture. It is also observed that the philosophical problem of personal identity is central to the discussion of reincarnation because that which constitutes a person is presumed to be known whenever a claim of return of a survived person is made. For this reason, the dissertation also pays significant attention to the concept of personal identity in connection, especially, with the African philosophical belief in the return of persons. / Philosophy and Systematic Theology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Philosophy)