In Chapter One we discuss the evidence for Mycenaean trade and colonisation in the Orient, and for oriental trade and colonisation in the Aegean and Greece. We begin with such subjects as archaeological artefacts, artistic motifs and styles of architecture, then consider the linguistic evidence, such as toponyms, personal names and the LA tablets. The evidence for contact is overwhelming. In Chapter Two we consider the evidence for Semitic motifs in the iconography, mythology and names of Greek goddesses connected with nature. Thus Semitic influence is clear in the case of Artemis and Rhea as lion-goddesses, Britomartis as a `Mistress of the Beasts', Leto as a goddess of the sacred palm, and Demeter as a mare-goddess. Reha seems to be partly Anatolian. Chapter Three is concerned with the goddess Athena and other avian daemons. We begin (Section A) by discussing the oriental origins of Athena's owl, snake, aegis and Gorgon, relying mainly upon the evidence of iconography. Then (Section B) we consider three epithets of Athena which seem very Semitic. Finally (Section C) we discuss the sirens, which are avian demonesses somewhat reminiscent of Athena's chthonian character. In Chapter Four we first analyse (Section A) as much of the character of the goddess Hekate as possible, in both iconography and literature. It is clear that Hekate is a very demonic goddess. Then (Section B) we discuss various theories concerning the origin of Hekate. The Anatolian theories in particular are unconvincing. The Semitic origin of Hekate is tested (Section C) with reference to the character and motifs of both E-S and W-S demons and demonesses. It is concluded that Hekate is an evolute of Lamashtu. Finally (Section D) other Greek chthonian daemons (e.g. Mormo, Empousa, Gello) are compared with both Hekate and Lamashtu. Some (e.g. Mormo, Empousa) are Greek daemons with Semitic motifs in their characters. We conclude that Lamia is another evolute of Lamashtu, and that Gello is derived from the Mesopotamian Gallu demon.

The aim of this thesis is to define and explore the nature of pollution and purity in pre-Christian Roman religion, focussing particularly on the late Republic and the early Principate. In spite of the established position of these themes in studies of Greek religion, there remains no comprehensive treatment of pollution and purity in Roman religion. The thesis exploits the approaches established by modern anthropology and classical philology to examine several aspects of religious pollution, focussing primarily on the role of the human body within religious activity. Chapter One examines the wide-ranging vocabulary of impurity in the Latin language, and identifies the main linguistic registers in which pollution and purity featured. The second chapter explores the various dangers posed to religious procedures by sexual acts and emissions. Chapter Three continues this theme, considering blood as a polluting and purifying agent in the context of Roman law, sacrifice and warfare. Chapter Four focuses on death pollution, in particular the removal of the corpse, the status of those who worked constantly around death, and the annual rites of propitiation and the subsequent purification of the city. These various strands are drawn together in the fifth chapter, which explores their use within the oratory of Cicero as a weapon to discredit the religious authority of his opponents.

This research project is an investigation into the lives of bisexual men and women who are also Christian. It is a sociological exploration of their identity and the negotiations which they undertake against the backdrop of a religion that sees their sexuality as a choice and fails to fully grasp the complexity of bisexuality, and a society that does not understand their sexuality. Bisexual Christians are an under-researched group, yet researching such a group can speak to sociological understandings of identity, sexuality and religion. This research project has found that identity is a complex negotiation between the private, public but also the situational/the context in which it occurs. Identity is a project of reflexive choice but within these confines and always with regard to the context in which they are being negotiated and done. Such negotiations take place around a ‘core’ identity which helps the respondents to feel grounded throughout. Bisexuality itself is misunderstood both within the secular and religious spheres. The research calls for bisexuality to be understood in terms of ‘dimensions’ of sexuality which carry different weightings for individuals, rather than producing a universal definition. Bisexuality challenges both monosexism and heterosexism that exists within secular and religious society. In terms of their religious lives the research has found that religious individualism and the ‘Turn to Life’ (Heelas and Woodhead 2005, Woodhead 2001) is more heightened within the lives of bisexual Christians because of the points highlighted above. Without any guidance and both a society and a religion which does not understand bisexuality, the respondents are left to creatively understand and give life and meaning to both their religious faith and their sexuality.

There have been very few attempts to understand the nature of children's spirituality which have undertaken a study of children themselves. More often this topic has been examined through the various perspectives provided by religious, moral, educational and generally adult agenda. This thesis offers a study of children's spirituality drawing on perspectives from developmental psychology. Its intention is to make a distinctive theoretical contribution towards an understanding of children's nature. The methodological approach is that of an empirical, qualitative investigation and analysis. The main data presented are interviews conducted with six and ten year old children in which the opportunity to discuss potentially spiritual experiences, feelings, and issues was encouraged. Chapter 1 explores the history of interest in spirituality reflected in education policy documents, as well as a selective review of the scholarly education literature this has increasingly inspired. Chapter 2 explores the nature of a psychological contribution. Although the spiritual has rarely found an established place in psychology's research agenda, I offer a compilation of relevant exceptions to this neglect. These are drawn both from explicit attempts by psychologists to investigate discrete aspects of children's religious lives, as well as from psychological models of development in which the nature of children's spirituality is more implicitly suggested. The development of a provisional conceptual framework specifically for children's spirituality (particularly the empirical study of it) is outlined in chapter 3. A variety of psychological scholarship is used to inform this framework, as is a discussion of the complexities affecting the definition of spirituality in a contemporary context. Since few empirical studies have been conducted in this area, the methodological approach devised for this study is described in detail. Considerable attention is given to the foundational issue of the researcher's perspective, as well as the procedural stages from piloting to data analysis. Chapters 5 and 6 offer my interpretative analyses. I describe how repeated qualitative analysis was essential to uncovering layers of meaning in the data, and how this gradually gave way to an interpretative account of children's spirituality expressed in broadly psychological terms. I propose that much of the nature of children's spirituality may be described in terms of a demonstration of a particular kind of consciousness, referred to here as 'relational consciousness'. This core category is further explored in terms of its contributory dimensions, drawing on a coding paradigm suggested by grounded theory methodologists. The final chapter considers additional psychological parallels which this new description of children's spirituality affords, and the more general implications of this work for children's education. It is suggested that the conduct of the study as a whole in terms of its literature research, method, data and analytical framework, demonstrates the potential of pursuing a psychologically informed approach in this area.

This thesis examines the history and theology of the centralization of worship. Part I examines the theology of the central sanctuary and local sanctuaries, especially from the standpoint of divine presence. Part II carries out an exegesis of the centralizing altar laws of the Pentateuch, together with an examination of their narrative and conceptual relationship to the noncentralizing altar laws of the Pentateuch. Part III examines the history of the centralization of worship from the settlement to the building of Solomon's temple. The study is contextualized by an examination of relevant archaeological and ancient Near Eastern material. Emphasis is placed on the dating of the various biblical materials under investigation, and their overall rhetorical concerns. It is argued that as well as being present in heaven, Yahweh is present on earth continuously at the ark at the central sanctuary and intermittently at local altars. Priestly material argues for the importance of the central sanctuary, but also allows local altars. Deuteronomy envisages centralization under conditions of peace and complete settlement, but otherwise allows local altars. During the earliest days of the settlement, there was no centralization requirement. In the last days of Joshua, Shiloh became the place where Yahweh's name dwelt and centralization was implemented. During the Judges period, centralization was not possible because of the disturbed situation. With the loss of the ark to the Philistines at Aphek, Shiloh was rejected as the chosen place, and there was no place in which Yahweh's na me dwelt until the building of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. The history and theology of the centralization of worship are thus compatible with each other within the period discussed, whatever the date and provenance of the relevant biblical material. However, the history of the central sanctuary and the literary form and rhetorical concerns of the book of Joshua suggest that it and the sources it uses, such as Deuteronomy, may have been written before the disaster of Aphek and the rejection of Shiloh.

This thesis contributes to a small but growing body of academic research that is concerned with the late twentieth and early twenty-first century religion of Goddess feminism and the religio-political discourse of thealogy. Current academic approaches to Goddess feminism have been primarily historical, -- I- phenomenological, psychological and sociological studies that have presented descriptive and/or functional accounts of this religion. Relatively little academic work has emerged from within Goddess feminism. Still less has attempted to delineate the meaning of a female/feminist deity and religious worldview in a philosophical manner. This thesis attends to these areas of academic neglect by combining philosophical concems and methods with a position of thealogical advocacy. By developing a thealogical reading of the principal reality-claims embedded within a number of influential Goddess feminist texts it is, I propose, possible to address philosophical questions that have not, as yet, been confronted by Goddess feminists, and also theorize the contours and coherence of what may be termed a feminist metaphysic. Most Goddess feminists, I contend, presently emphasize the affective, experiential and performative dimensions of their religion, to the detriment or exclusion of the conceptual, philosophical and metaphysical. I argue in this thesis that there are no compelling reasons why Goddess feminists should reject philosophy and metaphysics. There are, rather, good political, practical and religious reasons for feminist thealogians, to produce an alternative metaphysic of deity and the world to those deployed by patriarchy. Throughout this constructive work of thealogy recurrent Goddess feminist models, myths and reality-claims, such as those of the cosmogonic womb, the cycling processes of Birth-Death-Rebirth, and the web of life, are conceptually unpacked, developed and elucidated so as to provide a comprehensive thealogical, and thereby metaphysical, account of the fundamental organization of reality and the human condition. The originality and significance of this thesis lies in its elaboration of a feminist metaphysical account of the Goddess as nature, Goddess/Naturet,h, at has largely been assumedr ather than articulated by most Goddess feminists. I conclude that although it is not, as yet, possible to articulate a complete Goddess feminist metaphysical theory, it is possible to develop a philosophical and systematic thealogy that delineates the primary metaphysical commitments and reality-claims implicit within Goddess feminist discourse in a coherent manner. This thesis is a prolegomena to future works of philosophical thealogy and feminist metaphysical theorizing.

No description available.

Using previously unresearched archives from the British Council of Churches (BCC), a constituent assembly of the World Council of Churches and the established vehicle for communicating official non-Catholic approaches of the nuclear dilemma, this thesis raises two questions: (1) How did Christians in the BCC evaluate the role of the British State and their responsibility as citizens in the Cold War years 1945-59? (2) How did such evaluations affect a Christian policy-making process that aimed to influence Western defence attitudes? Answers are provided by analysing the BCC's role in developing and promoting the limited war nuclear strategy, a just war alternative to the Macmillan Government's formula of massive retaliation. The study contends that the British Churches' stance vis-à-vis the ethics of nuclear deterrence was largely influenced by judgements on the legitimacy of the State and its compatibility with Christian values. These judgements determined the nature of advice offered to Government and favoured the articulation of an 'Augustinian' form of political realism. The thesis makes two substantive claims. On one hand it suggests that the significance of the BCC approach lay, not in its challenge to Government policy, but in its role as a counter to the radical idealism represented by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. On the other hand it argues that the just war should be conceptually located within the realist rather than idealist theoretical frameworks. The study concludes that discussions of just war cannot be separated from qualitative judgements about the character of the State. Christian attitudes to war are grounded in particular assumptions about legitimate social authority, the right of the State to determine policy, personal and collective political responsibility.

This study investigates the ubiquitous presence of angels in Early Modern England c.1480-1700, recognising their importance as an exceptionally promising means of exploring contemporary religious cultures and mentalities. It engages with current debates surrounding the impact and long term repercussions of religious reform during a period of dramatic upheavals as well as striking continuities, and raises questions about the ways in which doctrine and practice evolved following the Reformation. On the understanding that confessional identities were conditioned by conflict within and between different groupings, as well as seeking to uncover the ‘Protestant’ angel it will also examine how those outside of the official church treated the angelic motif. It will seek to utilise angels as a shared theoretical ‘space’ that facilitated and contributed to the processes of religious change, and to illuminate shifting understandings in religious cultures more broadly.

This cross disciplinary research study explores former cult members’ perspectives on what helped them to recover from an abusive-cult experience. Here the term ‘abusive-cult’ pre-supposes a psychologically restrictive, traumatic or abusive experience, which may be challenging to ‘recover’ from. As a psychotherapist and former cult member, the subject is of both professional and personal interest. Former cult members (former-members) are an under researched population, and therapeutic strategies for recovering from harm caused in an abusive-cult are underrepresented in the clinical literature. Little empirical research has been undertaken in the counselling profession in UK and worldwide, and evidence indicates that counsellors feel ill-prepared to work with former-members, and that accessing appropriate help is a challenge. This study examines the impact that abusive cults can have on their followers, in order to ascertain how survivors can be helped, through counselling and more generally, when recovering from cult abuse. The study is limited to individuals from UK and USA who self-identified as former-members of an abusive-cult, and who related to the notion of post-cult recovery. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 participants, 15 in one-to-one interviews and three focus groups. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory methodology was used to facilitate inductive emergence. No pre-conceived theoretical framework or literatures were used before the analysis commenced. Nevertheless, the format of the thesis follows PhD conventions, and literatures are discussed in Chapters 3 and 4. Some findings are reflected in the literature chapters, and some literatures within the findings chapters, where they illuminate one another. A theoretical framework was developed based on 3 key sources: evidence from previous studies, that both ‘normal’ and ‘brainwashing’ psychological processes occur in an abusive-cult; Gestalt psychotherapy theory of self and personality (normal); and Lifton’s (1989) thought-reform theory (brainwashing). The findings indicate that the thought-reform environment-field restricts the individual and inhibits the authentic-self, which transmutes from being in the service of the health of the individual, to being in the service of the cult and the cult leader. ‘Freeing the authentic-self’ emerged as the ‘basic social process’ and objective, in answer to the question, ‘what helps?’ and is achieved through a complex process over time, evidenced to occur over four Phases of Recovery and Growth, identified as: Freeing the authentic self: • Phase One: The need to leave Physically & Psychologically • Phase Two: Cognitive Understanding Aspects of Building a Sense of Self • Phase Three: Emotional Healing Aspects of Building a Sense of Self • Phase Four: The Freed Self & Posttraumatic Growth As all research participants are survivors of an abusive-cult, ethical concerns are particularly significant and addressed throughout the thesis. A word of warning: this thesis contains traumatic, and in some places, graphic description of physical, psychological, emotional and mental abuse.