В магистерской диссертации предпринята попытка анализа экспликации категории композиции в текстах молитв Новоапостольской церкви. Анализ осуществляется в опоре на конструктивный принцип религиозного функционального стиля — принцип прототекстуальности. Обнаружено, что молитвы имеют определенную композиционную структуру, несмотря на отсутствие в Новоапостольской церкви установленных правил для создания текстов. / The research work is devoted to the analysis of the category of composition in the prayer texts of the New Apostolic Church. The analysis is carried out in reliance on the principle of prototextuality inherent in the religious functional style. It has been established that prayers have a certain compositional structure, despite the absence of the rules for creating texts in the New Apostolic Church.

We all know the great impact religion has had on the western civilization throughout an exceptional amount of time. It has been prevalent in a lot of fields and the political field is to no exception. Though The United States of America was founded on secular governmental terms, religion has come to have an immense impact on the field. In this dissertation, the two latest presidents of the country, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be studied in the context of their speeches at the annual “National Prayer Breakfast”. The method used is that the transcripts of their speeches have been analyzed through three concepts: reality, utopia, and strategy they have then separately been linked to the domain religion.

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Autoscopy is a poetry collection that constellates together the speaker's ancestral experience of Jewish diaspora and genocide, the ongoing oppression and genocide of Palestinians, and the anti-Black racism that led to the police-murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In all, the speaker is at once close and far from what they witness, both personally impacted and implicated by their witnessing. In documentary, translation, prayer, elegiac, confessional, and experimental modes, these poems locate the possibility and need for a reimagined mode of kinship, using diasporic and queer desire as a means of reparation. / Master of Fine Arts / Autoscopy is a poetry collection.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This dissertation focuses on the return and revitalization of traditional Christian themes in contemporary postmodern novels. It offers an examination of how these themes materialize in novels written by writers who are not explicitly religious, or in novels which do not have an overtly religious focus. Some contemporary novels generate a privileged space in which the return of the religious can take place. The sacred is back, not just as a re-enchantment, but manifests itself in fundamentally new and productive ways (Ward, 2001:xv). The first matter under consideration is the fact that the co-existence of belief and unbelief is apparent in all the novels under discussion. As such, the reader as active participant in the novel is bound to be affected by these mutually inter-dependent and inextricably inter-connected sides of a coin. The themes of providence, sacrifice and the miraculous become evident in John Irving‟s A prayer for Owen Meany while the themes of sin, guilt and redemption feature in Ian McEwan‟s Atonement. Secondly, the study compares two novels that deal with the same supernatural phenomena, namely visions, faith healing and stigmata. Jodi Picoult is a non-believer and is the author of Keeping Faith, while Ron Hansen is a devout Catholic who wrote Mariëtte in ecstasy. These works, on the one hand, create a space for supernatural phenomena even though fiction cannot prove the reality of their existence. Postmodern people seem to have a definite longing for the miraculous and these novels seem to satisfy that yearning. On the other hand, both novels portray disbelief in the miraculous while subtly allowing room for characters or readers in a liminal space between belief and disbelief. The theories of Jean François Lyotard and specifically his notion of “incredulity towards metanarratives” provide a framework to explore this matter. Lyotard proposes “petit recits” or many small stories instead of the grand narratives. He contends that there is no objective knowledge and that narrative and scientific knowledge are subject to legitimization. The Christian story therefore needs no scientific basis as justification, which means that it is being newly considered after the mistrust created during the Enlightenment period. Gianteresio Vattimo‟s ideas on the role of religion in contemporary life and the possible convergences of postmodernity and the Christian faith also come into play. He advocates weak thought as opposed to strong thought and sees caritas (charity or neighbourly love) as essential. This concept of weak thought allows for plurality and tolerance. Vattimo sees Christ‟s kenosis (self-emptying) as essentially linked to a secularization in which humankind needs to retrace the path to the original Biblical message of love. Emphasis is on a non-doctrinal, anti-dogmatic spirituality and this manifests in the novels discussed. This study employs diverse reader-response theories to gauge the reaction of the reader to texts containing Biblical themes and supernatural phenomena. Stanley Fish‟s interpretive communities and Wolfgang Iser‟s implied reader are helpful and Michael Edwards‟s pattern of sin, the fall and redemption is of particular interest to this dissertation. Edwards believes that most novels, whether written by religious or non-religious writers, follow this pattern. Readers find themselves either on the side of the believing or unbelieving camp in the novels discussed. However, many readers may hover in the liminal space between belief and unbelief. Interpretation depends on many factors that constitute the world view of the reader, hence the plurality of interpretations. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This dissertation focuses on the return and revitalization of traditional Christian themes in contemporary postmodern novels. It offers an examination of how these themes materialize in novels written by writers who are not explicitly religious, or in novels which do not have an overtly religious focus. Some contemporary novels generate a privileged space in which the return of the religious can take place. The sacred is back, not just as a re-enchantment, but manifests itself in fundamentally new and productive ways (Ward, 2001:xv). The first matter under consideration is the fact that the co-existence of belief and unbelief is apparent in all the novels under discussion. As such, the reader as active participant in the novel is bound to be affected by these mutually inter-dependent and inextricably inter-connected sides of a coin. The themes of providence, sacrifice and the miraculous become evident in John Irving‟s A prayer for Owen Meany while the themes of sin, guilt and redemption feature in Ian McEwan‟s Atonement. Secondly, the study compares two novels that deal with the same supernatural phenomena, namely visions, faith healing and stigmata. Jodi Picoult is a non-believer and is the author of Keeping Faith, while Ron Hansen is a devout Catholic who wrote Mariëtte in ecstasy. These works, on the one hand, create a space for supernatural phenomena even though fiction cannot prove the reality of their existence. Postmodern people seem to have a definite longing for the miraculous and these novels seem to satisfy that yearning. On the other hand, both novels portray disbelief in the miraculous while subtly allowing room for characters or readers in a liminal space between belief and disbelief. The theories of Jean François Lyotard and specifically his notion of “incredulity towards metanarratives” provide a framework to explore this matter. Lyotard proposes “petit recits” or many small stories instead of the grand narratives. He contends that there is no objective knowledge and that narrative and scientific knowledge are subject to legitimization. The Christian story therefore needs no scientific basis as justification, which means that it is being newly considered after the mistrust created during the Enlightenment period. Gianteresio Vattimo‟s ideas on the role of religion in contemporary life and the possible convergences of postmodernity and the Christian faith also come into play. He advocates weak thought as opposed to strong thought and sees caritas (charity or neighbourly love) as essential. This concept of weak thought allows for plurality and tolerance. Vattimo sees Christ‟s kenosis (self-emptying) as essentially linked to a secularization in which humankind needs to retrace the path to the original Biblical message of love. Emphasis is on a non-doctrinal, anti-dogmatic spirituality and this manifests in the novels discussed. This study employs diverse reader-response theories to gauge the reaction of the reader to texts containing Biblical themes and supernatural phenomena. Stanley Fish‟s interpretive communities and Wolfgang Iser‟s implied reader are helpful and Michael Edwards‟s pattern of sin, the fall and redemption is of particular interest to this dissertation. Edwards believes that most novels, whether written by religious or non-religious writers, follow this pattern. Readers find themselves either on the side of the believing or unbelieving camp in the novels discussed. However, many readers may hover in the liminal space between belief and unbelief. Interpretation depends on many factors that constitute the world view of the reader, hence the plurality of interpretations. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Spirituality is a neglected dimension in psychology, but has recently been growing in importance. Depression is a widespread phenomenon, worldwide, although presenting differently in different cultures, including South Africa. The aim of this study was to give an opportunity to those who have experienced spirituality and depression to voice their experiences in their respective contexts. The ontological framework was postmodernism and the guiding epistemology was social constructionism. Qualitative research was the method of research selected, because it suited the aims of the research. The specific method of analysis was a "categorical content analysis". In depth interviews with eight participants from various faith backgrounds were conducted. The participants' stories were interpreted by the researcher in the form of themes. Recurring and pertinent themes were compared and discussed with other voices in the field, such as the literature and societal and cultural discourses. The study facilitated rich, detailed and complex descriptions of people's experience of spirituality and depression. The researcher hopes the voice of this research will lead to new understandings of these phenomena in a South African context. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This study sets out to determine whether Teresa of Ávila's spirituality, especially her treatise, The Interior Castle, can still provide an appropriate guide for the journey to God in the world of the 21st century. This remarkable book offers a particularly unique contribution to Christian literature. To accomplish this goal, a study of the nature of Christian Spirituality is undertaken, followed by a brief history of Christian spirituality. This provides a backdrop for an examination of the historical setting against which the Interior Castle was written. The study then explores the seven mansions of the Interior Castle to gain an understanding of the journey to God and examines some of the most important and recurring themes in the book. The stages and forms of prayer which are central to the Interior Castle are discussed and the mystical experiences of the 'dark night of the spirit' and union with God are analysed. Lastly, the findings are evaluated to ascertain whether Teresa's writings are still relevant in this contemporary era for those embarking upon the journey towards God. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

The religious significance of Emmet Fox (1886-1951), a pioneer in the New Thought movement, is the focus of this study. The relevance of Fox's religious thought will be determined in reference to and in the context of contemporary theorist Ken Wilber's theoretical framework of integral hermeneutics. On the basis of Fox's primary writings, biographical information, the ideas and philosophy of modern New Thought scholars and Wilber's literature, Fox's religious thought was interpreted and evaluated. Aspects of Fox's belief, such as creative mind, scientific prayer, meditation and healing, concepts such as God, Jesus Christ, death, reincarnation, karma and end times, as well as his method of biblical exegesis are discussed. It becomes apparent that Emmet Fox, preacher and teacher, had never intended to provide a scientific or academic structural doctrine in which to deliver his teaching. His non-conformist, simple, yet well thought-through beliefs, which include esoteric, eastern and universal truths, focused on the fundamental truths that are necessary for humanity's evolutionary development. This approach made Fox's teaching valuable to his audience of the time, a changing American consciousness, as well as appropriate to a transformational South Africa, where it is relevant in bridging the various cultures, languages, and religious beliefs within a continuously changing spiritually minded population, and most of all, beneficial to every person's inner spiritual journey towards ultimate enlightenment. Fox's underlying religious belief is that `the thought is the thing' and this endorses the whole of the New Thought teaching, which states that `whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve' or `be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind'. Probably the most remarkable feature of his religious thinking is his popular allegorical interpretation of the Bible, which he interprets spiritually. It is apparent that there is an affinity between the religious thought of Emmet Fox and that of Wilber. Although the intent of this study is not to compare these scholars, it is interesting and valuable to Fox's interpretation that they advocate a similar underlying belief in the holistic Kosmos and the importance of having an integral vision. / Religious Studies & Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)