My dissertation The Unknown Future examines the notion of Ahnung or Ahndung (in English: premonition) in German literature, philosophy, anthropology, and the sciences around 1800. Focusing on the heated debates among philosophers, writers and intellectuals as to whether humans can attain knowledge about the future, I trace the notion of Ahnung as it traverses various discourses. In doing so, I draw on Stephen Greenblatt’s idea of a new historicism and expand studies written by Stefan Andriopoulos, Joseph Vogl, Eva Horn, Michael Gamper and other scholars, explicitly referring to and expanding the literary theory concerning “poetologies of knowledge.“ Specifically I show how after 1750 religious models of prophecy were no longer easily accepted. At the same time, new statistical and mathematical models of prognosis were rising -- even as doubts remained about their ability to fully grasp the progression of time. Within these conflicts between traditional religious models and the new exact sciences, the concept of ‘premonition’ seemed to offer various thinkers and writers evidence for a prognostic capability of the soul that challenged rational, mathematical and statistical models of probability as the sole means for predicting the future. The hope was that premonitions could provide a supersensory knowledge based on fleeting, opaque glimpses into the progression of time. In chapter 1, I examine how philosophers discussed the phenomenon of premonitions and juxtapose Johann Gottfried Herder’s supportive perspective on premonitions in his essay On Knowing, Sensing, Wishing, Hoping, and Believing (1797) with Immanuel Kant’s dismissive claims in his study Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798). In chapter 2, I discuss major anthropologies and their representation of premonitions, specifically Karl Philipp Moritz’s Journal for the Experience and Knowledge of the Soul (1783-1793). Moritz not only presents interesting case studies of prognostic premonitory experiences, but also discusses them in a poetological context and defends them as valid prophetic narratives. My third chapter turns to a set of critical questions. If literary, poetic, and more generally narrative modes of expression are key instruments for articulating the prophetic power of premonitions – as Herder, Moritz and von Arnim argue – how are premonitions depicted in literature? Attending to three exemplary texts by Ludwig Tieck (The Story of Mr. William Lovell), Heinrich von Kleist (The Earthquake in Chili), and E.T.A. Hoffmann (The Sandman), the final chapter demonstrates how premonitions in literary texts question dominant mathematical and rational perspectives on the world. At the end of my dissertation, I briefly discuss the history of weather-based literary tropes between 1750 and 1850 and show why the limited ability to foresee the weather propelled discourses on supersensory knowledge, namely: premonitions. In the end, my dissertation shows how premonitions became a predominant literary technique for critically exploring the unknown progression of time and for questioning the objectifying impulses of a scientific world-view. This dissertation was advised by Prof. Dr. Stefan Andriopoulos and Prof. Dr. Oliver Simons.

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This thesis is a contribution to the contemporary reassessment of Karl Barth's social philosophy. A close reading of the English translation of the text of a series of posthumously published lectures on ethics which Barth gave in the universities of Münster and Bonn between 1929 and 1933 is the basis of the work. Previous literature includes no discussion of the lectures. The thesis argues that the lectures show the foundation of Barth's thinking both of theology as a science and of ethics as a part of dogmatics, and that his subsequent work developed these ideas. Barth's intellectual debt to Hegel is recognised by showing that he returns to the fundamental theological questions of the relationship between faith and reason, and truth and method in the form in which Hegel discussed them at the end of the nineteenth century. The thesis acknowledges the influence of Barth's helper, Charlotte von Kirschbaum, and contrary to other opinions claims that the impact of Wilhelm Herrmann's thinking on Barth remained until 1933. Although principally about material from the period 1918 to 1933, later work by Barth is included in the study to give evidence for the proposals that his ethical thinking helped shape his dogmatics, and that his later ethics show development, not stages and breaks. A discussion of criticisms of his ethics highlights the problem of choosing a method of enquiry that is appropriate to the object studied. A dialogue with two other ethical projects helps focus attention on his insistence on a proper foundation for Christian social ethics. The thesis argues that Barth's work is a theological ethic, because his social philosophy gives a method for asking appropriate questions and creates a way of considering these questions from a Christian perspective.

This thesis discusses the Church and State relationship in Kenya since 1963. It seeks to establish that the Church in Kenya has acted as a defender of its members and the citizens against the extremism of the State. It pays attention to the following four periods: the missionary era, Kenyatta era, first Nyayo era and the second Nyayo era. The work is divided into ten chapters and the conclusion. The introductory chapter sets the argument, outlines the main themes, describes the chronology of political events and focuses on the metamorphosis of the Church's involvement in politics. Chapter two focuses on the genesis of the Kenyan Christian Church and is intended to explain the nature of the Church and State cooperation at Independence. Chapter three discusses the Church and State relation during the Kenyatta period. The analysis here shows that both the Church and the State had developed a real model of cooperation and the two institutions were in a learning stage of attaining their true African identity. Chapter four assessesth e political reformation of the Kenyatta era by Moi, his successor, with the assistance of the Church through his Nyayo slogan. This period, known as the first Nyayo era, ends with consolidation of power on the presidency, after which the Church is seen reacting against the autocracy it helped to create. Chapters five, six, seven, eight and nine describe and analyse the reaction of the Church to the political upheavals of the second Nyayo era. While the first Nyayo era is seen as the consolidation of power on the presidency, the second Nyayo era is characterised by misuse of power by those in authority. Chapter five thus traces the broken cooperation between Church and State by the former's criticism of electoral amendments and the rigging of the 1988 general elections. Chapter six discusses some of the successes of the Church as a pressure group through the formation of the KANU Review Committee [KRC] to listen to people's political grievances. The Church's political involvement is evidenced by the launching of the programme of Education for Participatory Democracy [EPDP] by the NCCK. Chapter seven discusses the political crises created by the Government in resisting the wind of change on one side, and the Church, mainly the NCCK and other pressure groups, forcing in the change towards multiparty democracy. Chapter eight discusses the contribution of the Roman Catholic Church to political change. This separate discussion is made because the Catholics joined the NCCK churches in addressing political issues much later, but with a new and strong impact. We devote chapter nine to discuss the first multiparty general elections since Independence. The elections symbolised the democracy that the church leaders and other political dissidents had been fighting for, and the end of the Nyayo era. Chapter ten serves as a theological epilogue on the mission of the Church in Kenya. It discusses some of the features that enabled the Church to speak against the State's extremism. The conclusion summarizes the findings of the previous chapters, emphasising the inseparability of religion and politics in African life, centrality of the Christian Church in bringing about political change and in defending the people against political extremism, in particular through its testimony, its emerging theology and growing unity.

This dissertation shows that ideas of science and religion are not transhistorical by presenting a longue durée study of conceptions of science and religion in the Ottoman Empire. I demonstrate that the idea of science(s) was subject to a tectonic change over the course of a few centuries, namely between the early modern and modern period. Even within a specific epoch, conception of science and religion were in no way monolithic, as evidenced by the diversity of approaches to these categories in the early modern period. To point out continuity and change in the ideas of science and religion, I study classifications of sciences in the early modern Ottoman Empire, by comparing two works; one by Yahya Nev‘î and the other by Saçaklızâde Muhammed el-Mar‘aşî. Nev‘î wrote from the context of the court in Istanbul, while Saçaklızâde represented the madrasa environment in an Anatolian province, thus providing a contrast in their orders of knowledge. In addition, the dissertation includes a study of the concept of "jihat al-waḥda" (aspect of unity) of science, as discussed by commentators from the early modern period. After first providing a textual genealogy, I argue that this concept reveals the dominant paradigm of scientific thinking during this period. The last two chapters of the dissertation deal with modern Ottoman history. The third chapter analyzes Ahmed Cevdet Pasha's (d. 1895) translation of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah into the Ottoman Turkish in order to show the shift in the conception of science in the mid-nineteenth century. I demonstrate both continuity and a break between the thought of Ibn Khaldun and Ahmed Cevdet Pasha. In the fourth chapter, I draw upon archival documents, a scientific journal, and a correspondence between two intellectuals namely Fatma Aliye and Ahmed Midhat, to point out that science, religion, and politics were separated as a consequence of state regulations over publications and civil societies together with other institutional reforms and educational policies. The dissertation raises questions about the historiography of science in the modern period, which takes the modern idea of science for granted and projects it back on to the earlier periods. Noting the anachronistic and presentist approach to the early modern period, the dissertation calls for a new kind of historiography that not only goes beyond our modern biases but learns from past experiences by seriously engaging them.

Over the past thirty years, academic dialogue on the relationships between science and religion within historical, theological and philosophical contexts has flourished, with the importance of this dialogue being positively expressed. In particular, at the intersection of psychology and religion there is a triple relationship between these domains and in this thesis, we bring the Hindu tradition of Classical Yoga into this discourse, aiming for a psychological understanding of the Yogasutra of Patañjali as the primary text of this tradition. With a 'psychology in religion' perspective we identify key psychological concepts in the first six sutra of the text, explicate and explore its psychological dimension, through referencing with other key sutra or aphorisms in the Yogasutra. With a robust methodology consisting of a hermeneutic and phenomenological based close reading of the text and rigorous conceptual analysis, we construct a detailed model of the mind contextualised within the principles and practice of Yoga. We discuss the modifications and states of the mind, the underlying subliminal factors; the nature of embodiment, identity and subjective experience, and the affective and volitional aspects of the individual, as explicated from the text. In Section Three of this thesis we take a dialogical and comparative approach at the intersection of psychology and religion. Csikszentmihalyi has asserted that there is a close resemblance between Yoga and Flow, the latter being developed within the domain of Western Positive Psychology. We carry out a detailed comparative analysis of the phenomenology of Flow and Samadhi presented within a proposed methodology and framework of dimensions of subjectivity and consciousness, to investigate this claim. Clarifying the conceptual differences, establishing parallels and demonstrating common topographical and functional areas in the two phenomena, opens the possibility for an empirical investigation, which we propose. Finally, we point out the contributions of this study and suggest future directions for research in this field.

Arthur Peacocke (1924-2006), a physical biochemist turned theologian, is a leading figure deeply engaged in science-religion dialogue. In the course of his career, Peacocke struggles with the question of divine action. He advocates an “Emergentist- Naturalistic-Panenthesitic” (ENP) framework for his divine action project which offers a new paradigm for the divine action discussion. A comprehensive review and critical evaluation of Peacocke’s project will be provided in this thesis. Furthermore, as the impressive work of Peacocke has been reviewed by many scholars, an analytical and critical survey of these responses will be included in this research. / 亞瑟克．皮卡克Arthur Peacocke(1924–2006)是一名物理生物化學家及神學家，是當代宗教與科學對話的主導人物之一。在他的科學生涯中，皮氏已經開始反覆思考有關神聖行動(Divine Action)的問題。其後，皮氏融合有神論自然主義(Theistic Naturalism)、冒現一元論(Emergentist Monism)和萬有在神論(Panentheism)等三個不同的進路來建構他神聖行動理論的神學框架。皮氏這創新的框架為討論整個神聖行動提供了一個新的範式。皮氏的理論得到了其他活躍於宗教與科學對話的學者的注意，更有不少學者曾撰文回應皮氏的理論。本研究的重點有二，分別為：對皮氏的神聖行動理論提供一個全面的闡析和評論，以及回應不同學者對皮氏的批評。 / Kung, Wai Han. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 330-349). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 18, October, 2016). / Kung, Wai Han. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-148).