O presente trabalho constitui-se em uma análise do momento atual do Neoliberalismo à luz do Apocalipse 13. Buscam-se elementos históricos e sociológicos que permitam elucidar a relação entre capitalismo e religião. Apresenta-se uma síntese da consolidação do pensamento liberal, passando pelas ideias de Adam Smith, pelo Estado do Bem-estar Social de Keynes, até as teorias de Hayek e a implantação oficial do Neoliberalismo no denominado Consenso de Washington. Aborda-se a ligação entre religião e o Capitalismo a partir das teorias de Max Weber, Walter Benjamim e Adam Smith. Logo após, estudam-se as raízes históricas e as características da Literatura Apocalíptica. O objetivo é identificar a Apocalíptica como movimento de resistência profética contra o poder opressor e excludente. Assim o livro do Apocalipse deve ser lido como contestação e denúncia do poder tirano do Império Romano que se impõe como um deus. Em seguida, dedica-se à interpretação do capítulo 13 do Apocalipse, no qual são descritas as duas bestas que recebem poder do dragão. Buscam-se chaves de interpretação que ajudem desmascarar a falsa religião do mercado, construída e justificada com as teorias neoliberais. Por último, são apresentadas propostas atuais de reconstrução da esperança com base em experiências concretas de enfrentamento ao neoliberalismo como modelo único. / The present work is an analysis of the present state of Neoliberalism seen in the light of Apocalypse Thirteen. In the first chapter, historical and sociological elements are sought, so that they might elucidate the relationship between capitalism and religion. It includes a summary of the consolidation of liberal thought following the ideas of Adam Smith, the welfare state of Keynes, and the theories of Hayek and Neoliberalisms official implantation in the so called Washington Consensus. The chapter addresses the connection between religion and capitalism according to the theories of Max Weber, Walter Benjamin and Adam Smith. The second chapter studies the historical roots and characteristics of Apocalyptic Literature. The aim is to identify the movement behind this literature; that is, one of prophetic resistance against a power that oppresses and excludes people. Thus, the apocalyptic books must be read as a contestation and denunciation of the tyranny of the Roman Empire which imposed itself as a god. The third chapter is dedicated to the interpretation of chapter thirteen of the Apocalypse, in which the two beasts are described as receiving their power from the dragon. These are understood as keys that help us unmask the false marketing of religion, built and justified upon neoliberal theories. Finally, the chapter concludes with the reconstruction of hope today, based on the real experience of confronting Neoliberalism as the ultimate model.

abstract: La Santa Muerte is a folk saint depicted as a female Grim Reaper in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. The Grim Reaper, as an iconic representation of death, was derived from the Angel of Death found in pseudepigrapha and apocalyptic writings of Jewish and early Christian writers. The Angel of Death arose from images and practices in pre-Christian Europe and throughout the Mediterranean region. Images taken from Revelation were used to console the survivors of the Black Death in Western Europe and produced a material culture that taught the Christian notion of dying well. The combination of the scythe (used in the eschatological harvest), the black cowl (worn by medieval priests and monks officiating at funerals), and the skeleton (as the physical body of the deceased) are a series of apocalyptic Christian referents that form a metonymical composite referred to as the Grim Reaper. In medieval Iberian Dances of Death, the Grim Reaper was depicted as female, an unyielding social leveler, and an important participant in the Last Judgment. Personalized Death became associated with healing, renewal, magic, and binding, as apocalyptic Christianity blended with the Christian cult of the saints and the Virgin Mary during the Reconquista and the colonization of Mesoamerica. Utilizing secondary historical sources, metonymy, and iconology this Master of Arts thesis posits that the La Santa Muerte image resulted from a long historical interaction of Greek, Roman, Jewish, Visogothic, Islamic, and Christian death imagery leading up to the colonization of Mesoamerica. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Religious Studies 2014

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In this study, I analyze the thematic development of William Blake s satanic figure, the character Orc. To this end, I approach the illuminated poems called ―Continental Prophecies‖, which are composed by the books America A Prophecy (1793), Europe A Prophecy (1794) and The Song of Los (1795), that is divided into two parts, ―Africa‖ and ―Asia‖. In these works, Blake articulates themes such as apocalypse, energy, imagination and revolution in a relation to the French and the American Revolution and criticizes the political, religious and artistic thinking of the period. Of the matter of methodology, this work presents four chapters. In the first, I discuss the problems about the Devil s theme, from the Middle Ages to the Romanticism, starting by a mythical-religious approach of this figure, and then investigating the demon as a literary myth. In the second, I present a discussion about the characterization of Orc and his opponent, Urizen. I also analyze the poem America, focused on questions about desire, revolution and liberty. In he third, I discuss about Europe and proceed with the mapping of the satanic theme in Blake s prophecies. I also approach the question of the repression of desire, represented by the character Enitharmon, and discuss the subversions undertaken by Blake on religious dogma. In the fourth, I approach The Song of Los and argue about the blakean mythology, his ideal of Satanism, and also confront critical reading and interpretive perspectives of Blake s work. My discussion is developed in a constant dialogue between three instances: religious, social and artistic. This conception was thought by Peter Schock (2003), treated as a ―Cultural Matrix‖. This study explores how Blake s art dialogues with eighteenth century revolutions, it discuss its religious, political and artistic influences, and offers a conception of Blake s satanic ideal in his prophecies. The character Orc, in these poems, presents an amalgam of his artistic, religious and social thinking, an instance of confrontation through which Blake conceive metaphysical ideals, as the philosophy of contraries or the sensual enjoyment. Through the development of the Devil s theme, the artist tries to signify conflicting thoughts as sin and sensual delight, heaven and hell, body and soul, subverting these issues by a infernal ideal. / Neste estudo, analiso o desenvolvimento temático da figura satânica na obra de William Blake, a personagem Orc. Para tal, trabalho com os poemas iluminados denominados de ―Continental Prophecies‖, compostos pelas obras America A Prophecy (1793), Europe A Prophecy (1794) e The Song of Los (1795), este dividido em duas partes, ―Africa‖ e ―Asia‖. Nessas obras, Blake articula temas como apocalipse, energia, imaginação e revolução em relação à Revolução Francesa e à Americana e tece críticas ao pensamento político, religioso e artístico do período. Este trabalho apresenta quatro capítulos. No primeiro, discuto os problemas acerca do tema do Diabo, desde o medievo até o Romantismo, partindo de uma abordagem mítico-religiosa para então abordar o demônio como mito literário. No segundo, apresento uma discussão sobre a caracterização da personagem Orc e sua relação com seu opositor, Urizen. Construo também uma análise do poema America, centrada em questões sobre desejo, revolução e liberdade. No terceiro, trato de Europe e prossigo com o mapeamento da temática satânica nas profecias de Blake. Abordo também a questão da repressão do desejo, representada pela personagem Enitharmon, e as subversões empreendidas por Blake acerca de dogmas religiosos. No quarto, abordo The Song of Los e discorro sobre a mitologia blakeana, seu ideal de satanismo, além de confrontar vieses críticos de leitura e interpretação da obra de Blake. Minha discussão é desenvolvida em um constante diálogo entre três instâncias: religiosa, social e artística. Tal concepção é abordada por Peter Schock (2003), tratada como ―Matriz Cultural‖. Este estudo explora como a arte de Blake dialoga com as revoluções do século XVIII, discute suas influências religiosas, políticas e artísticas, além de oferecer uma concepção acerca do ideal satânico de Blake em suas profecias. A personagem Orc, nesses poemas, apresenta um amálgama do pensamento artístico, religioso e social do artista, uma instância de confronto através da qual Blake concebeu ideais metafísicos, como a filosofia dos contrários ou o deleite dos sentidos. Através do desenvolvimento do tema do diabo, o artista tenta significar pensamentos conflitantes, como pecado e deleite sensual, céu e inferno, corpo e alma, subvertendo tais questões a partir de um ideal infernal.

This thesis provides a systematic comparison and analysis on violent and non-violent new religious movements. The purpose of using a meta-analysis as the methodological tool for this research project is that it offers a systematic presentation and synthesis of the characteristics and findings from academic studies that exist on each new religious movement. Of importance is that each study, from the fields of sociology, social psychology and religious studies offers differing truths about each of the NRMs as they each only examine certain characteristics. As these disciplines have a high level of theories, this project utilizes a “measure driven” approach, “in which iterative searches and new computerized search techniques are used to increase the range of publications found (and thus the range of possible analyses) and to traverse time and disciplinary boundaries” (Roelfs et al 2013: 75). This analysis pools together all existing facts to provide a larger estimate of the "unknown common truths" about each movement and provide a fuller picture of the movements and their leaders. By combining studies of new religious movements that are prone to violence with studies of new religious movements that remain peaceful, this meta-analysis will increase the sample size and the power to study effects that may lead to the answer: why do some new religious movements become violent. The general consensus among the research literature has distilled three salient aggregates associated with new religious groups that have become violent: a) each group possessed an apocalyptic worldview; b) each group maintained an organizational structure predicated on charismatic leadership and authority whereby a potent connection between the charismatic leader and devotee was forged; and c) each group established firm social boundaries demarcating the separation between the group and the wider social milieu resulting in social isolation. However, though these attributes were present in and common to all the groups that became violent, they continue to remain insufficient and fail to adequately illustrate why certain new religions become violent. The most notable cases of NRMs that have been mobilized to violence that are analyzed include: the Peoples' Temple, The Order of the Solar Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, the Branch Davidians, Rajneeshpuaram, The Church of the Lamb of God, Heaven's Gate and Scientology. These religious movements are compared and analyzed in relation to groups that have not become violent: the early Unification Church, Sikh Dharma/3HO, Chen Tao, Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT), and Concerned Christians. By analyzing fourteen individual movements that demonstrate the three central aggregates found specifically in violent movements, hopefully this meta-analysis has overcome the problem of small sample sizes, in order to better detect internal and external effects that can explain why some NRMs become violent.

The cinematic experience is often an emotional or ‘felt’ experience. In the aftermath of the film, it is challenging to indicate precisely how I was guided to react emotionally to the film. This study presents an investigation of the emotional cinematic experience from a Jungian critical reading. Jungian theory introduces a model of the psyche as consisting of, amongst other constructs, the collective unconscious and the archetypes. These archetypal contents manifest visually as symbols. These symbols guide the reader of the filmic text towards an emotional cinematic experience by activating, in particular, the archetype of the Self. Based on a review of the available scholarship in Jungian theory and film, this dissertation develops a Jungian conceptual framework consisting of notions and concepts that can describe, articulate and examine the psychological dynamics of an emotional cinematic experience. In a demonstration of how a Jungian approach to the text can highlight the dynamics of the emotional cinematic experience, the study presents a critical reading of M. Night Shyamalan’s films The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs. Using the Jungian practice of amplification, the study focuses on notions of the archetypal (contents and manifestations, particularly the archetype of the Self); individuation motifs; notions of the Apocalypse; and alchemical symbolism, all framed within an approach proposed by Jungian dream analysis. The symbolic aspect of film imagery is constructed by archetypal contents and individuation motifs that emphasise the emotional cinematic experience Based on the critical reading of Shyamalan’s film, this dissertation concludes that the emotional cinematic experience can be examined with specific reference to the emotional cinematic experience as ‘guided’ by the filmic images’ symbolic aspect. The Jungian framework developed by this study can be used to effectively investigate and articulate the emotional cinematic experience. / Dissertation (MA (Drama and Film Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Drama / MA / Unrestricted

Prior to attacking a Wal-Mart in El Paso, Texas, Patrick Crusius posted a manifesto on the notorious 8chan website in which he justifies his attack as a self-defensive response to the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” While this manifesto certainly contains the irrationality necessary to justify mass murder, it also repeats and reinforces language and worldviews present in public discourse, especially in discourse from white nationalists. Analyzing the Crusius manifesto in context of this white nationalist public discourse reveals how language used and worldviews perpetuated by white nationalists ultimately construct an apocalyptic meta-narrative that transforms immigrants and refugees into dangerous invaders. By repeatedly telling stories that frame immigrants or refugees as criminals, invaders, and terrorists, white nationalists have constructed a meta-narrative that subsumes localized narratives, which means that any story about an immigrant seeking refuge in the United States becomes a story of an invader and criminal. Crusius repeats and reinforces this meta-narrative in his manifesto, drawing on the foundational white-nationalist French scholar Renaud Camus, whose “Great Replacement” theory claims that non-white populations are systematically replacing white populations, leading to a “white genocide.” Ultimately, the apocalypse in this meta-narrative is not a violent, devastating end to the United States, but rather the end of a structure dominated by whiteness and Western culture. It’s this perceived apocalypse that inspires Crusius’ violent response. Ultimately, this meta-narrative capitalizes on fear to transform genuine love of nation into a volatile xenophobia that can encourage a perceived need for violent self-defense. On the scholarly front, this research may reinforce the suggestion of scholar Dana Cloud, who claims that scholars and rhetors cannot challenge white nationalist irrationality with a rational approach, but rather with localized narratives that ground the experiences of immigrants and refugees in concrete details that foster empathy and understanding.

As medicines continue to evolve, as well as our tendency to misuse and abuse them, viruses become more and more resilient. While the flu is largely an inconvenience which at its worst may result in a missed day of work, it bears the risk of returning to the days of old when it was a terminal disease. With the imminent risk of resistant super viruses emerging,New York Cityhas taken precautions to prepare for the worst case scenario. If deemed necessaryNew Yorkhas plans to completely quarantine and isolate the city from the world. This provides us with the perfect opportunity to ask the questionHollywoodhas become fascinated with…How would a city likeNew Yorkfunction and survive in the Apocalypse? The answer is not as simple as waiting out the storm; with limited resources, no access to the outside world and a crippled infrastructure. What this thesis also aims to experiment with is the notion of not only barely surviving, but the creation of a new way of life; a truly self – sufficient city, perhaps even creating a Utopian society. This can be analyzed with a systems based approach regarding the different scales of life; from the survival of the individual, the function of the physical shells remaining, and finally the development of a Dynamic City composed new communities

The genre of apocalypse has an irresistible draw. The concepts of beginning and end to humankind as well as the cosmos situate themselves in our daily stories, microcosmic narratives that repeat through time, placing the footprint of humankind a little more firmly into the earth, a place we have called our home from beginning and, naturally, to the end. In a world that constantly pushes forward to the next piece of technological equipment, reducing mass pandemics to mere over the counter solutions, and extending its hand into the abyss of the unknown universe, humanity craves the elusive next chapter in the novel of the world. But what is to be attained when we reach the climax? When we are situated in the denouement? And finally, what happens when all is at an end? There is a universal truth of birth, and a universal truth of death (despite our advances to elude it). By that logic there must exist a macrocosmic version, a global scale birth, termed creation by many, and thus a large scale death. But since death of the individual remains a complete mystery, many diverse factions exist. This extends to the global picture then, not only seeking inquiry into what happens after we (as in the individual) but when the entire world ceases to exist. This thesis is an attempt to explore the genre of apocalypse for a deeper understanding of these questions and notions. With various systems in place, such as those put forth by John J. Collins and other apocalypse scholars, there exists a possibility to examine various iterations of apocalypses. By examining paradigm traits and tiers and the complications that arise with systemization, this thesis develops a methodology in which to include the functional take on various case studies of apocalypse. Generally reserved for examinations of sacred text, the expanded methodology presented here will seek to not only look at an example of said text, but also a secular text, two examples of ‘sacred function’, and one ideological example of a secular function. This study is not about changing the makeup of the paradigm, nor is it an effort to disprove criteria, nor tack on additional items. The goal is to use the paradigm to identify a more well-rounded view of the genre, and then see what can be gleaned from those categories and their prototypes. In doing so, the definition of the apocalypse genre will be more comprehensive, and thus beneficial for any avenue of study to which it is applied.

Butiksdöden och Covid-19 har båda ändrat förutsättningarna för hur detaljhandelsföretag behöver tänka kring sina fysiska butiker för att hålla sig konkurrenskraftiga. Det har börjat ske att konsumenter köper allt mer online och med den globala epidemin så innebär det att strategierna som fungerade tidigare möjligen inte längre gör det. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken påverkan som externa händelser har på hur detaljhandelsföretag arbetar med sina försäljningskanaler. Studien gjordes genom att intervjua fem olika butiks/varuhuschefer inom stora detaljhandelsföretag som är verksamma i Sverige. Studien använder sig av en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer användas för att samla in empirin. Teorierna som används inom studien delades in i två spår: teorier kring olika flerkanalsstrategier och konsumentbeteende. Resultatet som genererades av studien var att detaljhandelsföretagen inte har kommit fram med helt nya arbetsmetoder och strategier som åtgärd mot covid-19, utan de har istället förbättrat och utvecklat redan befintliga arbetsmetoder och strategier. Detta skiljer sig från påverkan av butiksdöden där dessa företag behövt öppna nya verksamheter och komma fram med nya strategier i samband med användningen av internet. Det här visar även på att företagen inte kan behålla sina vanliga strategier när det förekommer problem utanför deras kontroll. Resultaten visade också att det var Covid-19 som var den händelse som hade störst påverkan angående hur företagen arbetar. / The retail apocalypse and Covid-19 have both changed the landscape of retail businesses and the way these companies have to think about their physical stores. More and more customers are choosing to buy online and Covid-19 has seemed to increase this behavior even further meaning that the old strategies may no longer work. The purpose of this study was to examine what impact external events have on how retail businesses work on their sales channels. This was achieved by interviewing five different store managers in the retail business active in Sweden. The study used a qualitative method where semi structured interviews were used to collect data. The theories used were divided in two categories: theories regarding multi-channel strategies and theories regarding consumer behavior. The results that the study generated were that the retail businesses did not create new methods and strategies as a measure against Covid-19, they had instead improved and developed the already existing methods and strategies. This is in contrast to the effect of the retail apocalypse where these companies have had to open new operations and had to come up with new strategies in conjunction with the usage of the internet. This also shows that these businesses can not retain their regular strategies when faced with problems outside their own control. The results showed that Covid-19 was the event that had the biggest impact on how the companies operated.

Nuclear Shakespeare: Apocalypse and Annihilation in King Lear and Hamlet Recent scholarship on Shakespeare's plays centres around the question of their relevance for the present day. Feminist, Marxist and post-colonial analyses speak to our globalised political context; post-structuralist methods explore the relationship between language and power; historicist methods look at the construction of modernity in Shakespeare's day; presentism considers the plays from a self-consciously present-focused perspective; and the recent eco-critical approach reads Shakespeare's plays in the light of the so-called "Anthopocene." In this thesis, I use an updated method of Derridean nuclear criticism, combined with materialist feminist critique, to examine the relevance of King Lear and Hamlet to today's heterogeneous threat of annihilation (including nuclear destruction, genocide, and ecological disaster through climate change), focusing on the implications of annihilation for artistic representation - literature, in particular. I also look at King Lear and Hamlet in their context of early modern Christian apocalypticism, taking apocalypticism as a possible precursor to today's discourses of annihilation. I argue that the spectre of annihilation problematises traditional realist mimesis, revealing the complex and...