Abdullah Shah (1680-1757) was the birth name of the boy who would later become one of the most eminent Sufi poets of South Asia, and the master of Sufi lyrics in Punjabi—Bulleh Shah. Living during times of strife and major conflict between the Sikhs and the crumbling Mughal Empire, Bulleh Shah wrote poetry with an underlying humanist and tolerant philosophy that challenged the turmoil of his times. Blind to the bounds of religion and caste in an increasingly divided India, Bullah’s spiritual philosophy and his message of equality found voice in his kafis—a genre of poetry indigenous to the Indian subcontinent that can be seen as a form of folk ballad. This project offers translations of 15 kafis from his identifiable corpus, preceded by a substantial introductionFurthermore, the project is accompanied. Each kafi is presented in three translations—literal, functional, and oral. The selected kafis draw on the three dominant themes in his work—Ishq, rebellion, and freedom. Scans of the original kafis in Shahmuki script Punjabi have been provided. Furthermore, the project is accompanied by an interpretive composition of the translated kafi “What Times, What Strange Times,” which was a collaboration between the author of the thesis, Akshaya Tucker, and Jacob Scharfman.

While commenting upon the challenges of studying the history of religious figures and movements, Richard Bushman once said, “Everything we know in this life is seen through someone’s eyes. All a historian has to work with is the way this person saw it...The purpose of history is not to find out what really happened but to collect the ways human observers have described what they think happened. We [as historians] look at the world through other’s eyes.”[1] This thesis seeks not to argue the veracity of any particular religious doctrine, but rather strives to understand the historical development of certain Mormon beliefs by looking through the eyes of those who helped form them. Mormon doctrines are often regarded as impositions made by Joseph Smith onto docile followers. Such an interpretation fails to recognize that lay members were just as influential in the development of Mormon doctrine as was the founder of the religion. Joseph’s revelations did not emerge ex nihilo. Joseph engaged the world and people around him and his environment shaped the doctrines forming in his mind and continued to do so once they were taught to his followers. [2] This study will examine the origins of Mormonism’s dietary code, known as the Word of Wisdom, and the sect’s doctrines concerning the body. Both of these tenets of Mormonism were shaped by the environments in which they emerged. The regional environments which influenced to evolution of the Word of Wisdom are central to this study. In the case of the Word of Wisdom, Joseph first began teaching the doctrine in Kirtland, Ohio, an area of constant reform movements and moral activism. Conflicts within the Mormon Church reflect the tensions of Ohio settler’s reformist culture primarily located in the region known as the Western Reserve. This study will also look at the tensions within the Mormon community itself. These tensions involved leader responses to the Word of Wisdom, conflicts over church power structures, and the fallout from the Kirtland Bank’s failure in the financial panic of 1837. As the main Mormon Church body moved from Ohio, to Missouri, to Illinois, and eventually Utah they adopted attitudes toward the Word of Wisdom that reflected the new environments in which they found themselves. In Missouri the Word of Wisdom emerges in official charges in church disciplinary courts. However, an examination of these courts indicates that the Word of Wisdom was merely one indicator of a more serious power struggle within church leadership structures. Missouri temperance, which was relatively temped, did not influence church affairs nearly as much as struggles within church leadership itself. In Illinois Mormonism’s doctrine of the body also affected the ways in which the Word of Wisdom was implemented as it influenced the ways in which Mormons conceptualized health, godliness, plural marriage (polygamy), procreation, and their identities as a people. Simply put, context is everything and this study tries to show that the study of the teachings of any religious group should not be done piecemeal because each doctrine is shaped by and in turn shapes the other doctrines with which it is associated. [1] Samuel Alonzo Dodge, “The Hermeneutics of Suspicion” (interview with Richard Bushman), in Exploring the First Vision, ed. Samuel Alonzo Dodge and Steven C. Harper (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2012), 277. [2] Contrary to standard scholarly practice, Mormon historical and cultural custom is to refer to many of the early church leaders by their first names rather than surnames. I have decided to follow this custom throughout the thesis.

This thesis discusses the role that the idea of Zion has played in the first three centuries of American religion. Millenarian themes, such as building New Jerusalem, were common religious themes in seventeenth- to nineteenth-century America. Understanding the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding this vital subject will be helpful for historians, scholars, and teachers.When the Puritan colonists came to the New World in the early seventeenth century, they sought not only a land of religious liberty, but also a land of ultimate religious achievement: the establishment of Zion and/or New Jerusalem. Many of them hoped to demonstrate that an ideal theocratic society was possible and would solve the world's governmental dilemmas. They paved the way for a long-standing Zion tradition in America.During the eighteenth century, the dream for Zion faded due to the growing concern for individual salvation. The banner of revolution and independence also superseded the interest in the "ensign for the nations" (see Isaiah 11:10-12). Unfortunately, during this era Zion and New Jerusalem became the watchwords for dissident charismatic truth-seekers with small congregations. Antebellum America presented a completely new environment. As America forged westward, more and more settlers became dissatisfied with mainstream organized religions. Primitivism and restorationism made Zion and New Jerusalem an inevitable desire for many religious enthusiasts, though opinions varied on when, where, how, and by whom the "city of God" (Psalm 46:4; see also Psalm 48) could be established.Within this historical context rose The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members were intent on building the New Jerusalem on the American continent and establishing Zion throughout the earth (see Articles of Faith 1:10). It is my ardent hope that this attempt to put the Latter-day Saint concept of Zion and New Jerusalem in its early American millenarian context will be a useful resource in helping to "put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts" (JS-H 1:1).

The purpose of this study was to describe and explore three phenomenon of the L.D.S. Family Home Evening Program: (1) the nature of religious commitment in an L.D.S. sample, (2) the degree of participation, (3) the relation of certain religious and secular variables.The data for the study were made available to the researcher by A. L. Mauss, as part of a larger study designed to measure the impact of Urbanism upon Mormonism. The instrument, modeled after the Glock and Stark studies, was adapted to a random sample of 958 members of the L.D.S. Church in Utah.The nature of religious commitment was found to be multi-dimensional. Normative participation in the program was low when compared with similar Church programs. None of the variables showed a high correlation with participation.It was concluded that the Church has not yet succeeded in designing the Program to meet the needs of most Church members, and that some weightier factors must account for participation and/or non-participation in the Program than those tested.

A word or word group lifted from its context incurs the grave danger of a misunderstanding ranging from the greatest excess of analytical dismemberment to an overgenerous and all-inclusive synthesis which tends to rob it of any specific identity or meaning. Considered not only from within the body of textual material which may frame a particular word, but from the ground of these physical, mental and cultural needs which give it birth as well as the motivating force or forces which seem to endanger it, it may be possible to develop a better understanding of its varying harmonic nuances of meaning and its possible correlation or differences relative to other concepts or expressions.

This study in philosophical-theology investigates the problems and prospects of theological non-realism, as proposed and developed by the Cambridge philosopher of religion Don Cupitt. After contextualising non-realism within the worldview, epistemology and theology of pre-modernity, modernity and postmodernity, the study appraises the prospects of non-realism as a new philosophical and theologica default position for Christianity and how it relates to what has been referred to as the New Reformation. The study hypothesises and contends that, although radical in orientation and multifarious in prospect, it is a viable and valid basis for Christian reformation. After contextualising, considering some religious and theological content, as well as critique and contrapuntal positions, the study delineates theoretical and practical reformatory options. By and large concurring with Cupitt, the study also deviates from him, particularly with respect to the prospect of ecclesiastical post-Christianity. Although this is not a study in practical theology, this study nevertheless aims to move the debate about the New Reformation forward by proposing non-realism as a basis for a new Church / Biblical and Ancient Studies / Thesis (D. Th. (Religious Studies))

My art distills my relationship to spirituality, digital culture, and the practices and side-effects therein, into a simplified visual language. The work manifests in the form of paintings, drawings, and light sculptures. Meditation and mindfulness training are a large part of my influence and interests. I often wonder how mindfulness practice can be mirrored in my artwork, not only in my process for creating the work, but also with what the resulting imagery does for the viewer. My intention is to provide an art form that invites one to look and experience one’s own capacity to observe, without the need for immediate intellectualization. I wish to offer people an opportunity to focus their attention on the phenomenological sensations that emanate from the art, to take a step back from the conceptual part of the mind, and step into a part that’s more fundamental to our moment to moment reality.

This paper is devoted to a critical analysis of the book I and Thou in the attempt to identify the main points of the dialogical philosophy as presented by Martin Buber. The introductory passages present the background of the book in terms of time (the era after WWI), cultural background (the influence of Hasidism), or the history of philosophy (an opposition to immanentism, monism, idealism, transcendental philosophy etc.). The main goal of the following interpretation is to try to understand man as a person in his complex existential situation, i.e. through his potential relationships or objectifying attitudes to the world. Being is described as a dual structure either of the basic pair of words I-Thou or of the basic pair of words I-It. As opposed to the usual use of the term, dialogue is defined as a specific interaction of man and the remaining world metaphorically expressible by the structure of addressing-responding. By this scheme, the characteristic reciprocity and direct continuity is expressed. The dialogue is also placed in the area "between" I and Thou, which mediates the genuine, immediate and transcendental knowledge constituting the reality. Finally, the dialogical attitude is compared and contrasted to the monological comprehension of the world. Key words: personalism, dialogical...

This essay starts at the proposition that there is not yet a satisfying way to differentiate between different worldviews. Although many attempts have been made, they fail in ways that are difficult to pinpoint. The usual way of researching a worldview is to start from a set of questions that are deemed fundamental to our beliefs, a method the author regards as flawed. In this essay it is instead proposed that we should regard actions and behaviour to determine worldview, because they lead us to the essential part of worldview, the core. To get a worldview with this method, we would categorise different tendencies of actions of individuals, instead of trying to ask them questions and categorising the answers. From this, a model of four different worldviews is established based of four different aims that are sought in actions. These for are: the way of virtue; the way of empowerment or worldly security; the way of pleasure; and the way of spiritual liberation or salvation. The aim of this model is to increase our explanatory power in terms of what people believe, why they act as they do, and what decisions they reach.

The rise of digital technology has transformed nearly every part of our daily lives, including the way we learn and memorize. Such transformations raise interesting questions for one of the most long-standing and demanding memorization tasks in the world: the memorization of the Islamic holy book, The Qur’an. For Muslims, The Qur’an is a timeless, sacred text, cradling within its covers many profound images, stories, and parables. Despite rigorous research in the fields of game design and memorization techniques, very little work has been done in combining these two areas of research to create a game-based memorization experience of The Quran. This thesis synthesizes game design elements with existing memorization techniques to foster a more engaging, enriching, and inspiring Qur’an memorization experience.