This thesis examines Erasmus Darwin's poem The Loves of the Plants (1789) for its boundary crossing expression of ecological theory that takes into consideration the influence of religious cosmology on our understanding of the natural world. Darwin (1731-1802) was the grandfather of naturalist Charles Darwin, whose theories we recognize now as the foundation of an entire field of biological study. But Darwin harboured his own beliefs of evolutionary theory long before his grandson was born, those which asserted a relatedness of all forms of life and pressed against the conceptions of existence that were so deeply rooted in the Euro-Western mind. I intend to demonstrate here the originality and complexity of Darwin's work as an exploration of cosmology, wherein the animation of his vegetal world invites readers to consider both the continuities between states of organic existence and the categories which were established in an attempt to keep them apart. By investigating the origins of these conceptions, from biblical creation to the Aristotelean tradition into the time in which Darwin wrote, I explore the ways in which these ideologies pertaining to the natural order of being have come to be and continue to be. Based on his interpretation of Carl Linnaeus' system of taxonomic classification, a system which remains in use to this day, Darwin's Loves manipulates a structure shaped by European religious and ideological assumptions to unravel the binding understanding of a separate and distant nature, one that has been implemented to discourage ways of perceiving otherwise. Because of its incorporation of Linnaean thought, this early work of Darwin's is often disregarded by scholars in conversations of innovative natural philosophy. Yet, in employing a historicist rhetorical and cultural analysis, this thesis examines Darwin's botanical poem inclusively, engaging with his decentering of the Christian understanding of the hierarchy of species that has been maintained for centuries, to illustrate that in composing a realm of personified flora he is melding the believed to be distinct worlds of the human and nonhuman to unite our species with an all-encompassing naturalism. Though this research is culturally specific, its sentiment may be carried forward to acknowledge the ideological histories and inheritances that influence our conceptions of other biological beings and our understandings of our own species as well. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This project focuses on a reading of Erasmus Darwin's The Loves of the Plants (1789) that emphasizes its purpose as an exploration of cosmology and the influence of ideological histories. Taking inspiration from the metaphors of Carl Linnaeus' system of plant classification, Darwin is able to introduce his readers to the world of botany, all the while pointing to the implications of following approaches to understanding the natural world that rely on religious conceptions. Looking specifically at Darwin's manipulation of the origins of Euro-Western ideas pertaining to our planetary natural order, those which stem from the creation myths of Genesis and were passed on through antiquity into the Age of Reason, I intend for this thesis to demonstrate how Darwin's reimagining of nonhuman beings serves to illustrate the ways in which our cosmologies, even those we believe to be removed from, are able to affect our understandings of the worlds around us and all the beings within them.

A teoria dos temperamentos de David Kersey indica que há diferentes disposições de agir e comportar-se de acordo com tipos psicológicos. Diferentes temperamentos têm diferentes interpretações dos fatos, reagem de modo distinto a essas interpretações, tomam decisões baseados em diferentes critérios e lidam com as situações de modo diverso. A presente tese pretende tornar os tipos (ideais) de Keirsey (ISTP, ESFJ etc.) visíveis e concretos, por meio da análise de personagens de ficção: a família Barone da série televisiva Everybody Loves Raymond, e assim poder oferecer subsídios para a educação, tornando visíveis, em perfis biográficos, temas nos quais o temperamento deve ser levado em conta por educadores para aperfeiçoar sua compreensão dos educandos. São assim analisados em detalhes, dos personagens bem elaborados de Everybody Loves Raymond, pessoas comuns, vivendo seu quotidiano de acordo com seus tipos de temperamento e mostra-se em vida real um ESFP, uma ESTJ, uma ESFJ, um ISTP e um NF/SJ. Eles nos propiciam um melhor reconhecimento, melhor compreensão e discussão de importantes temas pedagógicos (aprendizagem, concepção de escola, lidar com a culpa e o dever etc.), tal como vivenciados por diferentes tipos de temperamento. / The temperament theory of David Kersey indicates that each individual was born with a disposition to act and behave in certain ways according to his type. People with different temperaments have different interpretations of events, will react to these interpretations in different manners, will make choices based on different criteria, and will deal with situations in different manners. Keirseys theory is also important for education: teachers and parents should take temperament into account in order to improve their understanding of the students. This thesis aims to make Keirseys (ideal) types (ISTP, ESFJ etc.) more concrete by fleshing them out into fictional characters: the Barone family of the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond. Throughout the episodes of the sitcom, we can see three-dimensional and believable characters: ordinary people living ordinary lives according to their temperament types. In Everybody Loves Raymond we have in action, like in real life, an ESFP (Raymond), an ESTJ (Debra), an ESFJ (Marie), an ISTP (Frank) and a NF/SJ (Robert). They make easier to recognize, understand and discuss different types of temperament on important educational matters (learning, conception of the school, guilt, duty etc.)

A teoria dos temperamentos de David Kersey indica que há diferentes disposições de agir e comportar-se de acordo com tipos psicológicos. Diferentes temperamentos têm diferentes interpretações dos fatos, reagem de modo distinto a essas interpretações, tomam decisões baseados em diferentes critérios e lidam com as situações de modo diverso. A presente tese pretende tornar os tipos (ideais) de Keirsey (ISTP, ESFJ etc.) visíveis e concretos, por meio da análise de personagens de ficção: a família Barone da série televisiva Everybody Loves Raymond, e assim poder oferecer subsídios para a educação, tornando visíveis, em perfis biográficos, temas nos quais o temperamento deve ser levado em conta por educadores para aperfeiçoar sua compreensão dos educandos. São assim analisados em detalhes, dos personagens bem elaborados de Everybody Loves Raymond, pessoas comuns, vivendo seu quotidiano de acordo com seus tipos de temperamento e mostra-se em vida real um ESFP, uma ESTJ, uma ESFJ, um ISTP e um NF/SJ. Eles nos propiciam um melhor reconhecimento, melhor compreensão e discussão de importantes temas pedagógicos (aprendizagem, concepção de escola, lidar com a culpa e o dever etc.), tal como vivenciados por diferentes tipos de temperamento. / The temperament theory of David Kersey indicates that each individual was born with a disposition to act and behave in certain ways according to his type. People with different temperaments have different interpretations of events, will react to these interpretations in different manners, will make choices based on different criteria, and will deal with situations in different manners. Keirseys theory is also important for education: teachers and parents should take temperament into account in order to improve their understanding of the students. This thesis aims to make Keirseys (ideal) types (ISTP, ESFJ etc.) more concrete by fleshing them out into fictional characters: the Barone family of the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond. Throughout the episodes of the sitcom, we can see three-dimensional and believable characters: ordinary people living ordinary lives according to their temperament types. In Everybody Loves Raymond we have in action, like in real life, an ESFP (Raymond), an ESTJ (Debra), an ESFJ (Marie), an ISTP (Frank) and a NF/SJ (Robert). They make easier to recognize, understand and discuss different types of temperament on important educational matters (learning, conception of the school, guilt, duty etc.)

Maria McCann paints a dark picture of masculinity and its effects in her novel As Meat Loves Salt (2001). The violent Jacob Cullen struggles with his masculinity as he faces the intricacies of religion, sexuality and politics in the midst of the English Civil War where he falls in love with fellow soldier Christopher Ferris. By using R.W. Connell and James Messerschmidt’s framework for the hierarchy of masculinities, I explore masculinities on local, regional and global levels and emphasized femininity in a close reading of McCann’s novel. My aim is not only to analyse the masculinities of the novel but also to use the framework to redefine toxic masculinity in order to make it a useable concept when analysing masculinities in literature. I redefine toxic masculinity because it lacks a clear definition anchored in an established framework used to study masculinity that does not see masculinity as inherently toxic. I believe that anchoring it to Connell and Messerschmidt’s framework will make it a useable concept. Due to the novel’s relationship to the Bible, I will use masculinity studies done on David and Jesus from the Bible to compare and reveal similarities with the masculinities in the novel, how they appear on the local, regional and global levels in the novel and its effects. I draw parallels between the love story in As Meat Loves Salt to the love story of David and Jonathan in the Bible by using queer readings of David and Jonathan in order to explore how masculinity affects the relationships and how the novel uses these two love stories as a study of toxic masculinity and how it relates it to hegemonic masculinity.

Making a successful Christian marriage is a major challenge that faces the Seventh Day Adventist church (SDA Church) of Malawi. The colonial government of Nyasaland (Malawi) created weak marriages, promoting high divorce rates by its own practices during its era, which have remained to this day. The failure of secular marriages endangers the success of SDA Christian marriages. Little has been done by the Church to educate its members concerning successful Christian marriage. This study focuses on educating the church to deal with the problems that cause marriage failure in the SDA Church. The Malawi government is another tool that the church could use to address marriage failure. I have used the Bible, and scientific research methods to suggest workable solutions for Christian marriage. / Practical Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

The thesis titled Neruda's love in novels is dealing with the so- called second life of Jan Neruda and his appearance in the biographical novels. The first part try to describe how (according his letters and poems) probably looked his emotional life and what character had his relations to Anna Holinová, Karolína Světlá, Terezie Marie Macháčková, Anna Tichá a Božena Vlachová. The second part examines how is their concept in the fictional world of four novels (Černý Honzík, Démantová spona, Blonďatá Kerolajn, Lásky Jana Nerudy). They were read and confronted with correspondence and biography of Jan Neruda and it was investigated, where and how authors draw their inspiration. The next question is how they represent main hero and the bond between them. Each novel has been analyzed and mutually they were compared. The author found that all writers in varying degrees familiar with Neruda leaves and leaves are also used in their books as a source of information and words in the dialogues. Parts of them they also publish. Démantová spona and Lásky Jana Nerudy are most based on the letters. Ivo Pelant and Jaromíra Kolárová also come from many other sources. View at the figure of Anna Holinová the most changed - she was unsympathetic in the Černý Honzík and worked best in the Lásky Jana Nerudy. Novels devote most...

This thesis is composed of a collection of twelve short stories, varying in length from 2 to 14 pages. Each story contains its own discrete theme, but fits as well within the overarching theme of the collection as a whole. This overarching theme is what gives the collection its cohesiveness. The main theme of the larger work can be found in the title of the collection, People on the Edges of Dreams. In many of the stories dreams, or dream-states, figure in the lives of the protagonists. In addition to the dream-state theme there is a less obvious theme, which has to do with the extent to which most or all of the main characters in the stories are faced with a kind of inescapable compassion for others. For example, the selfinvolved, self-gratifying protagonist in Matador cannot help but feel compassion first for Pearl, the woman he insults, and second for the "bums" on whom his livelihood depends. The theme of inescapable compassion can, I believe, be found to varying degrees in each of the stories in this collection.

Making a successful Christian marriage is a major challenge that faces the Seventh Day Adventist church (SDA Church) of Malawi. The colonial government of Nyasaland (Malawi) created weak marriages, promoting high divorce rates by its own practices during its era, which have remained to this day. The failure of secular marriages endangers the success of SDA Christian marriages. Little has been done by the Church to educate its members concerning successful Christian marriage. This study focuses on educating the church to deal with the problems that cause marriage failure in the SDA Church. The Malawi government is another tool that the church could use to address marriage failure. I have used the Bible, and scientific research methods to suggest workable solutions for Christian marriage. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)