Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract . Description based on microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-132).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1940. / "Selected bibliography": p. 191-197.

Project (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1982. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-161).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-135).

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes abstract and vita. "July 2000." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-150).

Liturgical creativity and reform has been a hallmark of Reconstructionist Judaism since its inception in America in the mid 1930s. All facets of Reconstructionist liturgy are molded to reflect and convey the movement's Jewish ideology. As such, much insight is gained by analyzing the full texts of the Reconstructionist prayerbooks, including translations, editors' notes, interpretive versions, supplementary readings, commentary, rubrics and layout. / The first Reconstructionist liturgies (1941--1963) were edited primarily by the movement's founder, Mordecai M. Kaplan, and were fashioned to mirror his understanding of modern belief, moral sense and aesthetic taste. Kaplan believed that only a text edited with these values in mind would succeed in returning American Jews to synagogue life. Sixty percent of Kaplan's Sabbath Prayer Book was devoted to supplementary readings, which strove to foster a positive view of the world and to motivate the quest for personal and collective salvation. For Kaplan, ethical living and a sense of the world's essential goodness constituted the essence of religious faith and life, and he believed that this was not sufficiently articulated in traditional prayer. / The inauguration of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1968 led to the transference of movement leadership from Kaplan's followers to a younger generation born after World War Two. This generational shift necessitated and facilitated the creation of the new Reconstructionist prayerbook series, Kol Haneshamah (1989--). While Reconstructionist liturgy continues to forward a fundamentally Kaplanian theology, it is less committed than was Kaplan to the position that all creedal formulations whose literal truth is rejected be excised from the text. Kol Haneshamah testifies to the movement's current openness to mystic paths of spiritual awakening and communing with the divine, and to its greater interest in cultivating and exploring the affective realm of human consciousness. Inclusivity, ecological responsibility, lay empowerment, and the creation of non-sexist terminology for addressing God and humanity have become primary Reconstructionist concerns. An examination of Reform, Conservative and Jewish Renewal liturgy indicates that, while many of the developments evident in contemporary Reconstructionist liturgy are mirrored in other branches of American non-Orthodox Judaism, Reconstructionist prayer remains a unique rite.

This thesis is an attempt to understand the efficacy of prayer in Boethius’ 'Consolation of Philosophy.' Prayer is man’s commercium with the divine realm, and so prayer is higher than human thought. The highest stage of prayer in the Consolation is similar to that in Iamblichus’ 'De Mysteriis': man becomes aware of his own deficiency compared to the divine and so turns to prayer. Lower prayers are also effective because they are both immaterial theurgy and spiritual exercises. The circles throughout the work are a crucial instance of these prayers. They constantly purify the Prisoner’s soul of false notions, and restore it to its true state. They lead the Prisoner to discover that his activity of thinking is a form of theurgy. The Consolation reveals that in the life of philosophy there is a mutual interdependence between thought, prayer and theurgy.

Jacques Derrida's lecture entitled "How to Avoid Speaking: Denials", given in Jerusalem in 1986, responds both to those who subsume his project within negative theology and to those that ignore their interrelation. The former fail to see that while negative theology is oriented towards ineffable union with the divine, deconstruction radically denies the possibility of this union. The latter, however, read negative theology solely in the context of this ineffable union, ignoring the possibility of a second apophatic language whose critique of language is itself so radical that it engages in a paradoxcical self-critique that denies, if not union itself, at least the possibility of speaking about union. This second, concurrent language has a distinct family resemblance to Derrida's own deconstructive project, for it embraces the radically negative denials of differance. This study will first present a critique of those who offer either an affirmative or negative answer to the question "Is deconstruction a form of negative theology?", arguing instead that Derrida denies all answers. Its final step will analyze the similarities between negative theology's escape from the silence of pure denial--prayer--and Derrida's own means of escaping the silence summoned when he asks: "How to avoid speaking?"

There are many challenges that are facing the world today. One of those challenges is HIV and AIDS. Thousands of people are infected as well as affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the world. In spite of many efforts that have been done to combat the disease, HIV and AIDS is still claiming lives and leave many without their loved ones. The study of the role and place of prayer for HIV and Aids sick patients in the Vaal Triangle churches is a very important research topic, since the results will not only benefit people in the Vaal Triangle only but all people who are affected as well as infected by the disease in other areas. Churches have been given a command from the Bible to pray for the sick. However there are many misconceptions about praying for the sick especially the HIV and AIDS patients. Some of these misconceptions arise because HIV and AIDS is medically declared as an incurable disease. The effectiveness of prayer on HIV and AIDS to others is therefore questionable. Unfortunately these questions and doubts make many some people doubt the power of prayer and its effectiveness for HIV and AIDS patients. People who pray for HIV and AIDS sick persons are faced with many questions. Some of them sometimes wonder if God will answer their prayers or whether the person being prayed for will be healed or not. Others think that HIV and AIDS disease is a punishment from God and praying for the infected will be a waste of time. Some even question God’s ability to cure this disease. It is because of such questions that many avoid praying for HIV and AIDS patients. Others simply avoid praying for HIV and AIDS patients because it might reflect on them by others as lack of faith. Jesus prayed for the sick and also told the church to pray and to ask of the Father. He prayed for the sick regardless of their kind of sicknesses and as well as the causes of those sickness. He accepted those who were outcasts of society and prayed for those whose sicknesses were considered a shame in public. The church has to pray for HIV and AIDS infected people. They are not to be controlled to pray by the results of prayer or the kind and the cause of the sickness. And, issues such as whether HIV and AIDS is a punishment from God or not. Just like Jesus, the church should pray for HIV and AIDS sick people without ceasing. / MA, Biblical Studies, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010

Various problems which occur during the translation of a literary text are often linked to the linguistic and extra-linguistic particularities of the original text. This thesis, which focuses on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and its French translation, Une priere pour Owen by Michel Lebrun, deals with several of these problems. The analysis is based on two axes of reflection. The first, theoretical, is discussed in chapter one and bears on three fundamental elements of the act of translation: the notion of the ethics of translation (which concerns, among other things, the question of accuracy, or "faithfulness"); the actual process of translation, that is the operation during which certain characteristics of the source text are necessarily modified; and, finally, the polysystem theory. This approach allows the consideration of "external" elements, for example, the target culture and reader. / The second axis of reflection is in fact inspired in large part by the polysystem theory because of this consideration. As both the original and its translation refer to a specific linguistic context, literary intertext and socio-cultural milieu, chapter two deals with John Irving's and Michel Lebrun's bio-bibliography as well as certain characteristics of the American and French polysystems and of the best-seller markets in the two countries. We felt it would be useful to study these factors in order to better evaluate the translated text and to better understand the translator's choices. / In the third and final chapter the translation itself was analysed. The study of the solutions chosen by Michel Lebrun to solve the problems posed by the source text leads us to believe that the translator produced a text responding to the expectations of the average reader, fond of best-sellers.