Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Africa, 2002.

The name of Andrew Alexander Bonar probably first brings to mind the book: Memoir or M'Cheyne. Many people remember him also as the beloved pastor and preacher of the Collace Church, and later of the Finnieston Church in Glasgow. It is often overlooked that he was regarded by his contemporaries as a respected writer on various subjects, and as a great moral influence in the Church. This thesis represents an attempt to investigate the life, work, and religious thought of Bonar, and to present the results of that investigation objectively, critically, and constructively.

Never before in the past century has there been such an active interest in evangelism, not only in the English speaking countries but on the Continent and in some sections of the Far East. Over ten of the leading graduate schools of theology in the United States are in the process of establishing or enlarging their departments of evangelism. One item conspicuous by its absence is the lack of material in the field of church history covering the subject of evangelism. These schools are handicapped at the very outset by a lack of research in this field. The following thesis is a study of the life and work of the one man who, above all others, led the way in establishing evangelism as a legitimate and necessary means of propagating the Gospel in Scotland. This work is neither an apology nor a vindication of this phase of church history. It is the product of research - diversified occurrences and facts - presented in narrative form. The delineation of the material requires more than a critical spirit; it is imperative that one possess a sympathetic understanding to see, in its proper perspective, the contribution of James Haldane to the improvement of the religious life of Scotland. The subject was marred by the defects caused by the taints of the times. He was dubbed narrow, purist, fanatic. We, however, would say after over a century has tried his works that he was a man of strong conviction, a Christian idealist, a man upon whom the spiritual destitution of the nation and the world lay heavy.

This paper gives a brief introduction into the fundaments of knot theory: introducing knot diagrams, knot invariants, and two techniques to determine whether or not two knots are ambient isotopic. After discussing the basics of knot theory an algebraic coloring of knots knows as a bikei is introduced. The algebraic structure as well as the various axioms that define a bikei are defined. Furthermore, an extension between the Alexander polynomial of a knot and the Alexander Bikei is made. The remainder of the paper is devoted to reintroducing a modified homology and cohomology theory for involutory biquandles known as bikei, first introduced in [18]. The bikei 2-cocycles can be utilized to enhance the counting invariant for unoriented knots and links as well as unoriented and non-orienteable knotted surfaces in R4.

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to explore parallels between ‘The New Approach to violin playing’, which was developed by the Hungarian violinist Kató Havas, and the Alexander Technique, a method known for promoting kinaesthetic awareness and mind-body coordination. The specific objectives of the study are to identify the parallels between the two methods, and to obtain a deeper understanding of the New Approach, by using the Alexander Technique as a construct through which to examine the method. The study aims to illuminate some of the reasons for the reported efficacy of the New Approach, and to point the way towards achieving unity of mind and body in an expressive violin technique. Although the Alexander Technique is widely used and applied by musicians in order to improve their performance, problems are sometimes encountered in applying the Technique to the finer aspects of instrumental technique. A method of violin tuition that incorporates principles and procedures similar to those found in the Alexander Technique could bridge this gap and prove to be a very powerful tool in coordinating mind and movement in violin playing. It is the purpose of this study to show that ‘The New Approach to violin playing’ is such a method, and as such deserves to be more widely known. The research was conducted within a qualitative paradigm, using a multimethodological approach. An extensive comparative literature study of the two methods was combined with practical experience gained through regular Alexander lessons, and participation in New Approach lessons with Kató Havas and her personal representative, Gloria Bakhshayesh. The New Approach, like the Alexander Technique, is essentially a search for awareness, especially in the relationship between the player and the instrument. The particular value of the New Approach lies in the fact that Havas combines her expert knowledge of violin technique with an intuitive understanding of the conditions necessary for the optimal psychophysical functioning of the violinist. Through organising these principles into a systematised method, Havas makes the acquisition of an expressive technique more accessible to all. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om ooreenkomste te ondersoek tussen ‘The New Approach to violin playing’ van die Hongaarse violiste, Kató Havas, en die Alexander-tegniek, ’n metode bekend daarvoor om kinestetiese bewustheid en geestelik-liggaamlike koordinasie te verhoog. Die spesifieke doel van die studie is om ooreenkomste tussen bogenoemde werkwyses te identifiseer, en om ’n beter begrip van die ‘New Approach’ te vekry, deur die Alexander-tegniek as ’n raamwerk te gebruik waardeur die metode bestudeer word. Die studie poog om sekere motiverings vir die effektiwiteit van die ‘New Approach’ uit te lig, en om die weg te wys na die verwesenliking van geestelik-fisieke eenheid in ’n ekspressiewe viooltegniek. Alhoewel die Alexander-tegniek dikwels deur uitvoerende musici gebruik word om hul spelvermoë te verbeter, word probleme soms ondervind in die toepassing van die tegniek op die fyner aspekte van instrumentale spel. ’n Metode van vioolonderrig wat beginsels en prosesse soortgelyk aan díé van die Alexander-tegniek insluit, sou hierdie probleem kon oorkom en as kragtige middel kon dien vir die koördinasie van denke en ligaamlike beweging in vioolspel. Hierdie studie poog om te illustreer dat die ‘New Approach’ hierdie kwaliteite het, en as sulks meer blootstelling aan vioolonderwysers verdien. In hierdie ondersoek is gebruik gemaak van ’n multi-metodologiese benadering binne ’n kwalitatiewe navorsingsparadigma. ’n Vergelykende literatuurstudie van die Alexander-tegniek en ‘The New Approach to violin playing’ is gekombineer met praktiese ervaring wat vekry is deur middel van gereelde Alexander lesse, asook deelname aan ‘New Approach’ lesse met Kató Havas en haar persoonlike verteenwoordiger, Gloria Bakhshayesh. Die ‘New Approach’ – net soos die Alexander-tegniek – is in wese ’n soeke na bewustheid, veral in die interaksie tussen die violis en die instrument. Die besondere waarde van die ‘New Approach’ is dat Havas haar gesaghebbende kennis van viooltegniek gekombineer het met ’n intuïtiewe begrip vir die optimale psigofisiese funksionering van die violis. Deur hierdie beginsels in ’n sistematiese metode te orden, skep Havas die moontlikheid om ’n ekspressiewe viooltegniek aan almal beskikbaar te stel.

This is a study of the publications and publishing practices of Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808). Dalrymple was cumulatively a private publisher of nautical charts and plans (from 1767), the ''examiner of ships' journals'' and chart publisher for the East India Company (from 1779), and Hydrographer to the Admiralty (from 1795). The core of the study is a catalogue of the known publications of Alexander Dalrymple, defining and establishing his oeuvre. The catalogue is in two parts, Catalogue A for the letterpress publications, numbering 257, and Catalogue B for the engraved charts, plans of ports, views of land, and other Illustrations, numbering 1116. The entries in each part of the catalogue are arranged chronologically by date of publication, with full bibliographical and technical descriptions, and notes of attribution, dating and inter-relationships. The introduction gives a short account of Dalrymple's life, focussing on his publishing activity, and introducing his geographical and political pamphlet publishing. Four phases of activity in his nautical publication are identified: the decision to publish charts and memoirs from his own voyages in the Eastern Archipelago (1769-1772); the private publication of charts and plans with grants or subscriptions from the East India Company (1772-1779); the annual series of charts, plans, views and memoirs issued from 1779 onwards for the East India Company; and the organisation and output of the Admiralty Hydrographic Office which he ran in parallel with his East India Company work after 1795. This is supplemented by a discussion of the continuing use made of Dalrymple's charts after his death in 1808. An investigation of Dalrymple's engraving and publishing practices follows, with a brief survey of his technical leaflets and manuals on nautical surveying and chronometer use, and an account of Oriental Repertory, his chief non-nautical publication. The study emphasises the close personal control Dalrymple exercised over his publications, and the consequent problems in the Admiralty and East India Company in developing arrangements to continue publishing charts after his death.

This thesis is a study in the Christology of Alexander of Hales. I chose Alexander as a subject simply because I wanted to become acquainted with a theology not of my own tradition and there is no better period to choose for this purpose than the thirteenth century, the century of the scholastic giants. Having chosen the period the next question to be asked was "who could I study besides Thomas Aquinas"? The fact that there were good new texts available of Alexander's main works and the fact that he was a man of some stature in his own day together with the fact that most Protestants have never heard of him seemed a good reason to discover the source of his great reputation. There were problems about the text of the Summa in that there were doubts as to its genuineness but I hoped that these problems would be solved as I proceeded. However, this was not to be so. Because of the doubts about the genuineness of the Summa this thesis has become a study in the Christology of Alexander which appears in the Glossa on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Together with this there are discussions of the views of the Quaestiones at the end of each topic in this thesis.

The aim of the present study is to examine how the legacy of Alexander was appropriated, altered and used in arguments in early Christian discourse (c. 200-600). There is an inventory of all the early Christian references to Alexander in Appendix 1. The structure of the thesis is conceived as an unequal triptych: it is divided into three parts with subdivisions into three chapters of varying lengths (Part III contains two chapters and the thesis conclusion). Each part is prefaced with a short description of its contents. Each chapter within those parts have a preliminary remark to introduce the principal subject area with a brief conclusion in the back of it. Part I explores the Alexander traditions of three geographical centres of the Christian world: Alexandria (Ch. 1), Jerusalem (Ch. 2) and Rome (Ch. 3). It shows how the Jewish tales from these cities, such as the Josephan tale about Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem, were used in a variety of diverging, often contradictory, ways. Part II turns to the writings of the apologists in the second and third centuries. It discusses three prevalent themes associated with Alexander: historiography (Ch. 4), divine honours (Ch. 5) and Greek philosophy (Ch. 6). Part III moves on to the central texts and Alexander themes in the fourth to sixth centuries. It focuses on his role in Christian chronicles, church histories and representations of their world (Ch. 7), and also the rhetorical use of the figure in Christian preaching and public speaking (Ch. 8). Taken together, these three parts form the overarching argument that Alexander did not only fill many diverse roles in Christian representations of the remote past, but also featured in contemporary discourse on Christian culture, identities and societies, as well as in arguments made on behalf of the Christian religion itself. Indeed, the Christians frequently juxtapose the figure with distinctively Christian features, such as the life of Jesus, the Apostles, the church, sacred cities and holy spaces. They incorporate him into discourses on peace, mercy, generosity and abstinence. In other words, they repeatedly made Alexander relevant for what they considered important and, thus, created their own distinct discourse on the figure.

Thesis advisor: Dana Sajdi / The British physicians Dr. Alexander Russell M.D., FRS (c.1715 - 1768) and Dr. Patrick Russell M.D., FRS (1726/7 - 1805), both British Levant Company servants, wrote and published two editions in 1756 and 1794, respectively. These brothers resided in Aleppo, Syria, when it was a provincial capital of the Ottoman Empire and recorded their observations and empirical observations in a literary work that would later become the two editions of The Natural History of Aleppo. These editions are vital references for modern scholars concerned with Ottoman Syria, Levantine commercial activity and European presence, and the city of Aleppo. However, these very scholars ignore the significant fact that these two editions were written by two different individuals at two different points in history. Thus, this MA thesis aims to investigate the two editions and illustrate how the variations in these publications were the result of both coexisting and correlated processes that culminated in an eighteenth-century phenomenon of the transformation of British global presence from a commercial power to a modern empire. Various socio-economic, political, and cultural changes related to the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, and the growth of Western, especially British, global hegemony, resulted in a particular attitude towards what became constructed as the "Orient". This thesis examines the ways in which the interrelated processes of the rise of modern scientific disciplines, the quest for order, the emergence of the culture of collecting, and the new emphasis on the value of "useful knowledge" rendered the "Orient" a place to be ordered and studied, hence, to be controlled. The eighteenth century witnessed several decisive events that facilitated this phenomenon; with Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763), particularly at the Battle of Plassey (1757), Britain deviated from its previous position as a commercial power and emerged victorious as an imperial empire. The project attempts to demonstrate how the Russell Brothers' book on Aleppo represents a movement from the fascination with natural history, that is, the topography and botany of Aleppo (Alexander Russell's edition), to an attempt at a comprehensive study of a people, language, and culture (Patrick Russell's edition). The change in focus and tenor found in Patrick's edition represents a shift from natural history to ethnographic, a shift that is essentially Orientalist. Though the book is about the relatively marginal city of Aleppo, the shift between the two editions reflects not only the change of the character of British global dominance, which was, after the 1857 Indian Mutiny, officially colonial, but also the very national identity of Britain. This thesis, then, is a study of how Aleppo was conceived and reconceived through the prism of the change of British relationship to India from a commercial entanglement to imperial domination. The variations between the two editions, then, were a result of changing circumstances and consequent shifting attitudes. I not only attempt to illustrate Britain's transformation from a mercantile and commercial power to a colonial and imperial empire, but also how the variations of the Russell brothers' two editions, from a collection of observations to a scientific contribution to a body of specialized knowledge, were the direct results of the two authors' transformations from the botanist to the orientalist. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

Thesis advisor: Jean-Luc Solère / This dissertation examines the noetics of several early thirteenth-century Latin Augustinian thinkers, who first received Aristotle's noetic from the Arabs, examining in detail the early Latin reception of Aristotelian proposal that human thought is caused by the `agent intellect'. I argue that the early Latin-Augustinian reactions to the Arab noetics reveal an abiding Latin commitment to a concept of selfhood in natural thought. For different reasons, these early 13th century Latin thinkers explicitly locate the principle of natural thought within the individual's soul, thus conceiving the individual as the spontaneous origin of the activity of his or her thinking. I propose that there is a progressively more refined development of this concept within the interpretation of the Peripatetic noetic proposed within the early 13th century Franciscan school. I trace this development through John of La Rochelle to the anonymous author of the Summa Fratris Alexandri Book 2 to Bonaventure's early thought. At the same time, I analyze this Franciscan development relative to William of Auvergne's well-conceived opposition to all interpretations of the Aristotelian noetic. I make the case that William's critique sets the standard for the noetic of the individual to which these Franciscans adhere, even in their adoption of the Aristotelian noetic. I then argue that to adhere to William's standard, these Franciscans drew on Averroes' account of the agent intellect as found in Averroes' Commentarium Magnum in Aristotelis De Anima Libros. Finally, I argue that within the early 13th century's development of the noetic of the individual, there is an important, self-conscious development of the historico-philosophical concept of the Western self. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.