This thesis is an attempt to relate the Scriptural revelation of God's nature to the normal Christian life. It analyses the experiential factors that originally gave rise to a triune awareness of God, arguing that a contemporary recovery of those seminal events is requisite for an integration of the trinity into the Christian life. After a theological summation of the biblical revelation, the thesis then explores the nature of the orientation of the trinity within the Christian life. This orientation is brought about by observing the harmonious arrangement of the different Persons within the Godhead. Once this is done we can then ensure that this arrangement finds an echo and corresponding imprint within the Christian life. As the Christian consistently integrates that tripartite relationship into the Christian life, the doctrine of the trinity will be a continual source of sustenance and direction for life and godliness. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th. M. (Systematic Theology)

L’étude s’interroge sur la notion de divinité dans l’Égypte et le Proche-Orient anciens, à l’aide des témoignages archéologiques et textuels qui la révèlent. Partant des premières représentations plausibles de puissances divines individualisées, vers la fin du IVe millénaire avant J.-C., l’enquête croise les données de la documentation iconographique et des sources écrites pour tenter d’identifier les spécificités des conceptions du divin dans chaque ensemble culturel, mais aussi leurs traits communs, au long des IIIe et IIe millénaires. Les religions du Proche-Orient et de l’Égypte se sont en effet, durant cette période, rejointes sur nombre de points, aussi bien dans la traduction formelle du divin que dans son expression conceptuelle. Aussi se pose la question de savoir si de telles similitudes sont le fruit de développements intrinsèques ou si des influences mutuelles en sont responsables. Les interactions dans le domaine de la religion, de plus en plus probables au cours du temps, sont avérées au IIe millénaire, au moins sur le plan de l’iconographie. Les contacts entre le Levant et la Vallée du Nil sont alors multiples, favorisant les imprégnations culturelles. Cependant, celles-ci ne se font pas au hasard : des priorités politiques ou enjeux idéologiques, que l’étude s’emploie à mettre en évidence, président aux emprunts réciproques. Certains décalages tiennent au statut même du corpus religieux au sein des sociétés, en particulier à celui de la littérature mythique. En dernière analyse, la démarche comparative touche aux fondements du polythéisme et aux mécanismes de « traduction », de « syncrétisme » et autres interprétations qu’il rend possibles. / This study aims at questioning the notion of divinity as conveyed by the ancient cultures of Egypt and the Near East, on the basis of archaeological and written evidence. Starting from the first plausible representations of divine powers pictured as individual beings, around the end of the 4th millennium B.C.E., the investigation confronts iconographical and textual data in order to identify, for both cultural areas under discussion, the peculiarities of their conceptions of the divine, as well as their common features, during the 3rd and 2nd millennia. At that time, indeed, the religion of the Near East and that of Egypt concurred in many respects, either in the formal depiction of the divine or in its conceptual expression. Hence the question arises whether such similarities were the outcome of intrinsic developments or resulted from mutual influences. Interactions in the realm of religion grow more and more likely in the course of time, and they can be ascertained for the 2nd millennium, at least as far as iconography is concerned. It is a period of intensive contact between the Levant and the Nile Valley, an incentive to cultural intermingling. However, those exchanges did not happen at random: the reciprocal borrowing depended on political priorities or ideological stakes, as the study seeks to highlight. Some discrepancies stem from the very status religious texts held within their own societies, especially mythical literature. Ultimately, the principles of polytheism and the processes of « translation », of « syncretism », and the other interpretations it allows, are the central issue of this comparative approach.

Réunissant des sources littéraires, épigraphiques, archéologiques, iconographiques et archéozoologiques, cette thèse étudie la question de la symbolique de l’animal dans la relation entre le mortel et la divinité, en s’intéressant particulièrement à Artémis et à Déméter, deux déesses en charge des problèmes des femmes à différents moments de leur vie. Pour répondre à cette interrogation, deux corpus sont mis en place : le premier répertorie 83 sanctuaires de Déméter et Artémis ayant un rapport avec les animaux, et énumère toutes les offrandes qui y ont été retrouvées, ainsi que les mythes et inscriptions associées. Le second corpus se place du côté de l’animal et regroupe les représentations et les textes hors sanctuaires attestant d’un lien entre l’espèce et l’une des deux divinités, mais reprend également les offrandes d’animaux déjà étudiées dans le premier catalogue, en les classant par type iconographique. L’analyse synthétique des données des corpus rassemble les animaux sous trois principales symboliques. Premièrement, la fécondité des femmes est au centre des préoccupations, pour assurer la pérennité de la cité. Ả ce titre, le porc entretient avec Déméter une relation particulière : durant les Thesmophories, il est utilisé pour assurer la fertilité à la fois des semailles et des femmes. Auprès d’Artémis, ce sont les animaux des milieux humides et l’eau qui favorisent la vie. Le bétail d’élevage est également offert aux deux divinités pour assurer la pérennité du troupeau et, par extension, de la cité. Ensuite, la femme avant son mariage est perçue comme un animal sauvage qu’il faut domestiquer. Artémis veille alors sur les jeunes filles et, en tant que déesse des passages, assure cette domestication par le mariage lors de l’arkteia, un rite d’initiation pendant lequel les fillettes font « l’ourse ». Divinité de la nature sauvage, elle a, tout comme la Pόtnia Théron, un pouvoir de vie et de mort sur les animaux mais aussi sur les femmes, qu’elle n’hésite pas à punir pour leur transgression, comme pour Callisto et Atalante. Artémis comme Déméter sont également des divinités kourotrophes qui s’occupent des enfants sans distinction de sexe et reçoivent des offrandes en conséquence. Enfin, si les animaux semblent auprès des deux déesses se rapporter principalement aux femmes, le cheval et le chien évoquent également le statut de citoyen, obtenu après une longue éducation dont Artémis est la garante. Ils sont aussi des animaux chthoniens et, au même titre que le serpent, le cochon et la tortue, permettant le lien entre le monde des vivants et celui des morts. Certaines espèces évoquent avec leur simple présence la divinité : c’est le cas du sanglier de Kalydon, qu’Artémis utilise pour se venger des hommes, et des victimes des sacrifices, qui permettent de communiquer avec les divinités. Malheureusement, certaines occurrences animales restent en marge de ces trois symboliques : elles sont offertes en trop petit nombre ou à d’autres divinités, ne permettant pas de faire un lien précis avec Artémis et Déméter. / This thesis is based on literary, epigraphic, archaeological, iconographic and archaeozoological sources and studies the symbolic of the animals in the relationship between women and divinities. Two goddesses have been chosen for this purpose: Artemis and Demeter. They have in common the fact they take care of women at different moments of their lives. Two main parts compose the survey. First, a catalog lists 83 sanctuaries of Artemis and Demeter who have a link with animals, together with offerings found inside and myths and inscriptions associated with. A second index classifies all the animals connected with Artemis and Demeter: offerings of the sanctuaries from the first corpus, imageries and texts no connected with a shrine but showing a link between an animal species and a goddess.A synthetic analysis of information from the catalogs talks about three main interpretations on the presence of animals beside Artemis and Demeter. At first, fertility of women is very important in ancient Greece because it permits to renewing the civic body. The pig has a special relationship with Demeter about fecundity: during the Thesmophoria, the animal is used to assure the fertility of both women and fields. With Artemis, wetland animals are connected with the water and the life. The cattle are also offered to both goddesses in order to assure the perpetuation of the herd and the city at the same time. Then, the woman before her marriage is like a savage animal and she must be domesticated. Artemis takes care of young girls because she is the goddess of passages and transitions. She allows the domestication of the girls with an initiation called arkteia: during this ritual, the little girls make “the bear”. As divinity of the wild nature, Artemis also is assimilated to the Pόtnia Théron and has the power of life and death on both animals and women. She punishes the girls who transgress the rules: Callisto and Atalante. Artemis and Demeter are kourotrophic goddesses taking care of all gender children. However, if the animals with the divinities are close to the women, there are in connection too with the boys: the dog and the horse evoke the citizenship status of the men and the formation of the young boys, especially with Artemis. Some species are also chthonic characteristics, as the snake, the pig and the tortoise and make a link between the life and the death. Other animals incarnate the divinity: the boar of Kalydon has been send by Artemis because she was angry and a lot of animals are victims of ritual sacrifices and permit a communication with the gods and goddesses. Unfortunately, there are also some species with no real connection with Artemis and Demeter: there are offered in small number in the sanctuaries of both divinities or there contrariwise are given to all the gods.

The Pitted Ware culture on Gotland presents a multitude of material that allow archeologists to re-construct and visit the socio-economic structure of a middle-neolithic settlement in the Baltic sea. I will be analyzing the archaeological material in accordance to the ocean, and to what we can interpret as ritual and cosmological variables at the site through ritual theory, and with a method of comparative analogy and research. How maritime aspects of divinity manifested itself to the PWC, ontology and belief system could perhaps reveal how the cognitive, collective mind of one culture evolved and made connections to otherworldly entities. Often in the form of ancestral worship, which will be one of the main issues that will be analyzed and discussed throughout, in addition to mortuary ritual. / Den Gropkeramiska kulturen på Gotland demonstrerar ett extensivt material som tillåter arkeologer att rekonstruera och besöka den socioekonomiska strukturen hos en mellanneolitisk kultur i Östersjön. Jag kommer att analysera materialet i relation till havet, och försöka utgöra havets rituella och kosmologiska kopplingar till lokalen genom ritualteori och en analogisk, komparativ metod. Sättet som maritima aspekter av gudomlighet manifesterade sig inom den Gropkeramiska kulturen på Gotland, dess ontologi och trossystem kan möjligtvis avslöja hur det kollektiva, kognitiva sinnet hos en kultur utvecklades och skapade kontakter till utomvärldsliga ting. Ofta i form av förfädersdyrkan, som tillsammans med begravningsritualer kommer vara ett centralt ämne genom hela uppsatsen.

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The story of Alcestis is an interesting case of divine agency pervading the narrative and the characters in the play. It intimately concerns the mortal players, who, though largely powerless in the struggle, are central to the story. The play in the ancient times brought with it the associations and expectations of the society and it was written to interact with its audience. This remains true despite the temporal, cultural and religious boundaries that divide ancient Greece from 18th century Europe. Despite offering its own take on the drama, involving small but significant changes to the narrative, the operatic rendition, Alceste of both 1767 and 1778 show cases the resourceful and accurate interpretation of the different aspects surrounding Apollo, such as oracles, prophecy and indeed, his troubled history. The authors of 18th century Alceste pursued the wider world of classical myths to creatively, and independently from the play, enrich the altered narrative with immersive qualities. / Berättelsen om Alkestis är ett intressant fall av hur det gudomliga genomsyrade narrativet och karaktärerna i pjäsen speglar gudomligheten. Den behandlar nära de dödliga som trots sin maktlöshet är centrala för berättelsens handling. Pjäsens uppkomst i antiken förde med sig associationer och förväntningar från samhället och den skrevs med tanken att interagera med sin publik. Detta förblir sant trots de tidsmässiga, kulturella och religiösa gränserna som skiljer det antika Grekland från 1700-talets Europa. Trots att den erbjuder sin egen syn på dramat, med små men betydande förändringar i berättelsen, visar tolkningen av operan Alceste från både1767 och 1778 en fyndig och noggrann tolkning av de olika aspekterna kring Apollo, såsom orakel, spådom, samt hans oroliga bakgrund. Författarna av 1700-talets Alceste eftersträvade den vidare världen av klassiska myter för att kreativt och oberoende av pjäsen berika det förändrade narrativet med uppslukande kvaliteter.

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No description available.

The bull was a potent symbol of power, strength, and, to a lesser degree, fertility to the peoples of the ancient Near East from the twelfth century until 330 BCE. This symbolism was manifested in several iconographic motifs. These motifs reveal the bull as a manifestation of divine characteristics and as an expression of the power of man, and particularly the authority of the king. The use of these iconographic motifs was not consistent across the entire area of the ancient Near East; some differed in appearance and use in the different areas of the region, and many changed over time even in the same area. In all areas and during all periods the basic core symbolism stayed the same, and the bull was always held in a special respect. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / M.A. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)

Edwards Amasa Park (1808-1900) of Andover championed Edwardsean Calvinism in the United States from the Jacksonian era until the very close of the nineteenth century by employing rhetorical strategies that lent his New England theology fresh apologetic usefulness. The thesis demonstrates that Park has been incorrectly identified as a Taylorite but, extending the argument of Joseph Conforti, ought to be viewed as re-casting his inherited Hopkinsian exercise scheme into a fresh historical synthesis influenced by contemporary patterns of thought. Park’s own training at Andover in the irenic divinity of Moses Stuart and Leonard Woods, his application as rhetorician of the work of Hugh Blair and George Campbell and his exposure in Germany to the Vermittlungstheologie of Friedrich Tholuck and Julius Müller gave specific definition to his own theological project. Additionally, the thesis argues that Park ought not to be viewed as a romantic idealist in the line of Horace Bushnell or as a proto-liberal in advance of the Andover liberals who succeeded him. Park retained a life-long commitment to a commingled epistemology and methodology derived from Lockean empiricism, Baconian induction, natural theology and Scottish common sense realism. As a formidable apologist for his revivalist inheritance identified with Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins, Edwards Amasa Park conserved the substance and prolonged the influence of his beloved New England theology by securing for it modes of expression well fitted to his nineteenth-century audience.