Zugl.: Oldenburg, Univ., Diss., 2008

Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-51).

Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss., 2008.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-51).

Thesis (M.A.)--Marquette University, 2009. / Ana Garner, Sumana Chattopadhyay, James Scotton, Advisors.

Zugl.: Bremen, Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.

This dissertation examines the spiritual experiences of the first British Methodist lay people and the language used to describe those experiences. Within the historiography of Methodism, such physical manifestations as shouting, weeping, groaning, visions, and out-of-body experiences have often been relegated to the periphery of scholarship. It would seem, however, that for many laity, they played a significant role in their process of spiritual development. This work aims to explore the perspective of Methodist laity through manuscript accounts of conversions and deathbed moments. It reveals lay people’s first impressions of Methodism, their conflicted feelings throughout the conversion process, their approach toward death and dying, and their mixed attitudes toward the task of writing itself. Relying heavily on firsthand accounts solicited by Charles Wesley in the 1740s, this work features the voices of women and men of varying literate abilities and social status. This study examines firstly the multiple media through which lay people received evangelical messages, expanding the term “media” to include not only traditional printed sources such as sermons and devotional reading, but also such phenomena as divine voices, visions and other direct supernatural encounters. It then turns to the task of expressing spiritual experience, revealing the problematic nature of early Methodist spiritual autobiography and the passive strategies employed by laity to legitimate writing about the self. This dissertation demonstrates the struggle to rely on unreliable “feelings” (both emotions and physical sensations) as an indicator of spiritual progress. Far from peripheral, the body and bodily language played important roles in spiritual transformation, even as they were constantly renegotiated as part of that transformation. For instance, the visualization of the “vile self” signified the activation of the “eye of faith,” which enabled many early writers to transition from a “worldly” conception of self-sufficiency to a new kind of subjectivity based on being subject to a divine authority. This study follows the trajectory of spiritual development into the final moments of life, which often proved a prime opportunity for mutual evangelization between the dying individual and her spectators. Taken together, these experiences offer an intimate perspective on the origins of the evangelical revival.

This research deals with the ways Corporate Social Responsibility is interpreted in a UK Higher Education Institution. It evolved from my initial curiosity about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), especially the way it is taken up in daily practices. Drawing on the pragmatic tradition of John Dewey (1859-1952), Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), which gives primacy to experience, I am paying attention to my daily interactions with others. I explore what is, rather what should be. I also draw on analogies from complexity sciences, as well as on insights from sociology, psychology, anthropology and philosophy, to reflect on how the everyday practice of CSR is evolving in the interactions of interdependent players. Reflecting on the assumptions that underpin my thinking about organisations and about research, and tracing my evolving beliefs and perceptions, I have become aware of my participation in the processes that sustain and at the same time disrupt the 'community engagement' narrative of my organisation. Iterating my reflective narratives reveals how change in practice and in ideas evolves. This research was prompted by my introduction to CSR early in my academic career. The idea of organisations being responsible to their stakeholders fitted with my personal values. The more I read about the topic, the more uncomfortable I became - CSR had usually been presented in vague, general and idealised terms. So, when faced with setting up a Unit that would address the CSR of my organisation, I was left with no manual for getting on with my work. Reflecting on the feeling of helplessness, revealed my assumption that such guidance should exist, and that CSR practitioners must know how to practice the generalised idea of CSR. Exposing this and other emotions, I demonstrate how assumptions and beliefs arise in society and in the individual simultaneously. This research contributes to knowledge in this field by establishing CSR not just as an abstract idea, but as a practice within an organisation. Many authors have called for exploring CSR at the individual level, yet this call seems to remain unanswered. My research addresses this gap in literature and explores CSR from my perspective as a practitioner, thus contributing to the nascent body of literature that focuses on individual and local practice. Exploring interdependence and the emergence of CSR meant understanding that my actions have consequences, and at the same time, neither I nor any one individually can control those 2 consequences. The outcomes of our working together are at times intended and at times unintended. But they are inevitably unpredictable, because they arise in complex webs of interactions. Thinking reflexively about practising CSR has had a significant impact on my practice. I believe that my reflections will resonate with other practitioners, thus contributing to their practice.

Esta tese foi desenvolvida com os objetivos de compreender as especificidades que podem existir para o adolescer no contexto da surdez e analisar os sentidos construídos por adolescentes surdos e ouvintes para a dimensão da sexualidade. Foram realizados três estudos empíricos. No primeiro, foram desenvolvidos quatro grupos focais com jovens surdos e ouvintes para aprimorar o questionário a ser utilizado no estudo seguinte. A análise das interações possibilitou o aprimoramento da estrutura das perguntas e das respostas e a adequação do instrumento ao contexto e cultura dos surdos e dos jovens em geral. No segundo estudo, quarenta e dois estudantes surdos e cinqüenta estudantes ouvintes responderam a um questionário computadorizado auto-administrado sobre conhecimento a respeito de HIV/AIDS e comportamento sexual, com tradução simultânea em vídeo para Língua Brasileira de Sinais. Foram encontradas diferenças significativas quanto ao conhecimento, porém jovens surdos e ouvintes apresentaram mais semelhanças do que diferenças em relação aos comportamentos analisados. No terceiro estudo foram analisadas as respostas a uma questão aberta do estudo anterior, sobre vivências amorosas. Trinta e duas pequenas narrativas autobiográficas foram selecionadas por conveniência. Foi proposta uma metodologia de análise com base na hermenêutica de Paul Ricoeur. As narrativas adaptam e se adaptam ao repertório de significados compartilhados culturalmente e constituem tentativas de significação e ressignificação para os eventos vividos, especialmente para as situações que representam rupturas relativas à infância. As especificidades do contexto da surdez não ofuscam a complexidade e os desafios enfrentados pelo sujeito que vivencia a adolescência. Palavras-chave: Adolescência, surdez, sexualidade, narrativas. / This doctoral dissertation was developed with the objectives of understanding the specificities that may exist to adolescence in the context of deafness, and of analyzing the meanings constructed by deaf and hearing adolescents for the dimension of sexuality. Three empirical studies have been developed. In the first one, four focal groups with deaf and hearing youths were developed to improve the questionnaire to be used in the following study. The analysis of the interactions enabled the improvement of the structure of questions and answers and the adequacy of the instrument to the context and culture of the deaf and of young people in general. In the second study, forty-two deaf students and fifty hearing students answered a computerized self-administered questionnaire on knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS and sexual behavior, with simultaneous video translation for Brazilian Sign Language. Significant differences were found regarding to knowledge, however deaf and hearing youths presented more similarities than differences in relation to the behaviors analyzed. In the third study, the answers to an open-ended question of the previous study about loving experiences were analyzed. Thirty-two short autobiographical narratives were selected by convenience. A methodology of analysis was proposed on the basis of Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics. The narratives adapt and are adapted by the repertoire of culturally shared meanings, and constitute attempts of signifying and resignifying lived events, especially for the situations that represent ruptures relative to childhood. The specificities of the context of deafness do not overshadow the complexity and the challenges faced by the subject that experiences adolescence.