Thesis (M.A.R.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-90).

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) wrote this little phrase one day in a notebook: Writing as a form of prayer. This dissertation will examine his highly personal and Judaic conception of the act of writing in order to demonstrate that it constitutes in fact the cornerstone of Kafka's activity as a writer and that it can be traced in a significant number of his literary works as their regulating instance. / In order to do so, we will first examine the social, political and economic conditions prevailing in Central Europe at the turn of the 20th century, in order to ascertain its tremendous impact on the Jewish communities living in that part of the world, in terms of loss of traditional Jewish identity culminating in many cases in assimilation. Kafka's work will thus firstly be situated in the historical and political context out of which it emerged. / In the course of this work, we have used the concepts of sacre and profane as developed by the historian of religions Mircea Eliade throughout in order to demonstrate that there exists in Kafka's work a constitutive tension articulated between those two poles, not only at the level of the plot, but at the level of language itself. / Since the central element at the root of this tension is expressed in terms of presence and absence, we have also analysed the philosophy of language of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, which are themselves articulated exactly in those terms. / The use of these categories has helped us show that if Kafka's work is indeed at time very close to that of Scholem and Benjamin, especially in its literary rendition of motives underlining the absence of the divine in language, it also distinguishes itself markedly from the work of the two philosophers by the use of other motives which underline the immediate presence of the message of Revelation, made directly accessible within the modern and profane language, which is also that of literature.

Flavius Philostratus was a Greek author working in the early third century CE, attached to a circle of philosophers and thinkers under the patronage of the Roman Empress Julia Domna. It is he who coined the term that we today use to describe this period in literary history-the Second Sophistic. While it was a time of startling literary productivity, it was also a time of increasing moral decline and confusion for the inhabitants of the Roman Empire. The old beliefs and morality of Graeco-Roman polytheism was fast becoming outmoded in the light of new developments coming out of the East and places like Palaestine in particular. Faiths like Christianity that placed the individual believer and his or her desire for salvation at the heart of the system were challenging the older Olympian style of religion, wherein the polis or city-state was all important. Add to this the growing influence of the cult worship of the Roman emperor and upheaval was the only foreseeable outcome, with not even the mas maiorum remaining intact as a moral compass for the average citizen. Flavius Philostratus struck out against this growing tide of moral and religious uncertainty by proposing a solution founded in religious fundamentalist tendencies. He could not do this in an obvious fashion, for fear not only of losing his imperial patroness, but pOSSibly also his life as well for speaking ill of emperor and empire. Instead, Philostratus pretends to submission, while at the very same time suggesting a return to the old ways of Graeco-Roman paganism when the needs of the many outweighed individual desires. He also suggests a way of counteracting the popularity of foreign individualized cults by regenerating the almost forgotten cult of the ancestors, with the hero-cult a particular focus. Indeed, Philostratus' approach addresses every possible concern that may have arisen in his imperial milieu, ranging from philosophy to politics to the rejection of the cult of the emperor. I have posited a theory of ancient religious fundamentalism as gleaned from the writings of Philostratus by envisioning a modified formulation of the twentieth century notion of religious fundamentalism itself. This new form removes fundamentalist dogma from its apparent reliance on a monotheistic faith and reconfigures it into a 'polyvalent' fundamentalism, wherein it is conceivable for an inhabitant of the Graeco-Roman world like Philostratus to have championed a variegated polytheistic belief system in the face of advancing Eastern influences and emperor worship, choosing to see Graeco-.Roman belief as a singular entity under threat. In an effort to conceal his beliefs from those who 111 might take offence at them, Philostratus makes use of a simulacrum for his ideals. This is the first century sage known as A pollonius of Tyana. My own approach to this idea has been twofold, with the first half being devoted to analysing the time and place in which Philostratus was working. I assess the literary tensions of the Second Sophistic itself and investigate how this may have impacted upon Philostratus' presentation of his argument I also look to the figure of Apollonius of Tyana, essential to the whole of the Philostratean fundamentalist 'project', and examine what changes Philostratus may have effected to the existing canon on Apollonius in order to make him useful to his fundamentalist perspective. The second half of my thesis involves the specific analysis of four of the works of Philostratus- the Vita Apollonii, Vitae Sophistarum, Heroikos, and Nero. Each is assessed in detail with respect to its representation of a specific aspect of Philostratus' beliefs. The Vita Apollonii presents Apollonius of Tyana as the paragon and champion of Philostratus' new belief system, teaching a Pythagorean way of life and personally reSisting Roman emperors like Domitian. The Vitae Sophistarum provides a catalogue of past sophists and offers up their behaviour as a guide for all good and wise men to follow, while the Nero presents Musonius Rufus as the archetypal philosopher battling imperial tyranny. Finally the Heroiiws is suggested as Philostratus' attempt at reinvigorating the cult of the ancestors as a means of providing an alternative individualized religious b•adition to ward off the encroaching Eastern mysteries. In all it is my contention that Flavius Philostratus deploys his sophistic talents in a manner reflective of his time, as a means of remedying Of, at the very least, positing a remedy, for the decline of belief and morality in the Roman Empire. He does this through four great literary works and chiefly through the figure of Apollonius of Tyana, his paragon and simulacrum. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

In this thesis I investigate and problematize the historical location of the term 'religion' and examine how this location has affected the analytical reading of postcolonial fiction and poetry. The term 'religion' has been developed in response to a Western Enlightenment and Christian history and its adoption outside of this context should therefore be treated with caution. Within postcolonial literary criticism, there has been either a silencing of the category as a result of this caution or an uncritical and essentialising adoption of the term 'religion'. I argue that a vital aspect of how writers articulate their histories of colonial contact, migration, slavery and the re-forging of identities in the wake of these histories is illuminated by the classificatory term 'religion'. I demonstrate this through the close reading of Guyanese fiction and poetry, as critical themes are seen and discussed that would be otherwise ignored. Aspects of postcolonial theory and Religious Studies theory are combined to provide a new insight into the literature and therefore expand the field of postcolonial literary criticism. The way in which writers 'remember' history through writing is central to the way in which I theorize and articulate 'religion' throughout the thesis; the act of remembrance is persuasively interpreted in terms of 'religion'. The title 'Memory and Myth' therefore refers to both the syncretic mythology of Guyana, and the key themes in a new critical understanding of 'religion'. Chapter One establishes the theoretical framework to be adopted throughout the thesis by engaging with key developments made in the past decade by Religious Studies theorists. Through this dialogue, I establish a working definition of the category religion whilst being aware of its limitations, particularly within a discussion of postcolonial literature. I challenge the reluctance often shown by postcolonial theorists in their adoption of the term 'religion' and offer an explanation for this reluctance. Chapter Two attends to the problems involved in carrying out interdisciplinary research, whilst demonstrating the necessity for such an enquiry. Chapters Three, Four and Five focus on selected Guyanese writers and poets and demonstrate the illuminating effect of a critical reading of the term 'religion' for the analysis of postcolonial fiction and poetry. Chapter Three provides a close reading of Wilson Harris's novel Jonestown alongside theoretical and historical material on the actual Jonestown tragedy. Chapter Four examines the mesmerising effect of the Anancy tales on contemporary writers, particularly poet John Agard. And Chapter Five engages with the work of Indo-Guyanese writer, David Dabydeen and his elusive character Manu.

No description available.

Bibliography: leaves 246-258. / xxxi, 258 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 1996?

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-104).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2007.