This dissertation presents a departure from the traditional approach to the study of Henry Nelson Wieman in three respects: (1) It focuses upon his post-1945 writing as a theological anthropology understood best when placed in the tradition of the Human Studies (Geisteswissenschaften). (2) It clarifies the way in which Wieman's understanding of the creative transformation of humankind and culture anticipates and harmonizes with the holistic paradigm of postmodernism. (3) It suggests that Wieman's concept of creative interchange as a cultural paradigm provides an enriching ethical dimension to the theoretical framework of evolutionary theology. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2272. / Major Professor: Jackson Lee Ice. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

Throughout the history of the Church, theologians have addressed the subject of the involvement of "God's people" in the problems of state, especially in matters of war and peace. They felt the tension which exists between the Christian love to which they were committed and the reality of living in this world. / This dissertation seeks to address these and other theological and ethical concerns which are related to the Kingdom of God and issues concerning war and peace in the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr and Jurgen Moltmann. Both Niebuhr and Moltmann demonstrate their involvement in issues related to war and peace. While they demonstrate a similar passion for being involved in international ethical concerns, each brings to the discussion of ethical involvement a distinctive view of the problems facing the world and answers to those problems. / The theologians differ on the importance of certain doctrines; however, they share a great deal in common concerning which doctrines are central to their ethical positions. These doctrines include creation, history and eschatology. The doctrines of Niebuhr and Moltmann which are discussed in this dissertation are addressed differently, each according to the interests of the theologian under discussion. / Important to this study is an analysis of selected theological positions of Niebuhr and Moltmann, particularly the Kingdom of God. This dissertation asks how the doctrine of the Kingdom of God and ethics in Niebuhr and Moltmann are related. Selected issues associated with war and peace that are pertinent to the thoughts of Niebuhr and Moltmann are discussed. By comparing and contrasting the theological and methodological aspects of the political theologies of Niebuhr and Moltmann, individuals may better understand the relationship between certain theological stances and political involvement and thereby produce a more open and productive dialogue on the ethics of war and peace. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-01, Section: A, page: 0235. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Insufficient attention has been given to Nietzsche's critique of Christianity as a disease, while too much has been given to the theme of the death of God. Nietzsche's use of the language of health to describe Christianity is not a mere side-effect of his mid-career embrace of the natural sciences; rather, it develops out of his early investigation of the tragic and Socratic responses to nausea, a debilitating condition of the will. Over the course of his career, Nietzsche turns his focus from Socratism to Christianity, coming to believe that the latter response to nausea is a cure that is worse than the condition it is meant to treat. He comes to see Christianity as more relevant than Socratism to the modern European condition, and he distinguishes the two on the basis of their respective attitudes toward death (the topic of suicide) and pity (metaphysical comfort). Nietzsche develops a broadly naturalistic critique of Christianity that describes it as the lowest possible affirmation of life - something akin to a living death. As such, it is a force that disintegrates and decomposes healthy bodies - both individual and social - and produces a new kind of group - the anarchistic "herd" - that promotes the interests of the "priestly" type of human being. By focusing on the physiological, psychological, and social dimensions of Nietzsche's critique rather than its theological claims, we come to see the extent to which this critique is not limited by - and, indeed, challenges - the secular/religious divide, and how it problematizes long-held assumptions about the essence and identity of Christianity in the modern world.

In this dissertation, I investigate five forms of play with reference to freedom and constraint in order first to ascertain what relationship holds between play and liberty and then to see how the activity of play - and the attitude of playfulness - might contribute to a full and flourishing human life. To do so, I turn to an interdisciplinary set of figures, including Erik Erikson, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Blaise Pascal, Plato, and the contemporary scholars of improvisation Gary Peters and Danielle Goldman. It is my contention that the dialectical interrelation of liberty and limitation constitutes the essence of play and that the free engagement of constraints is a proper feature of eudaimonistic ethics. Instead of being regarded as a dispensable disposition, then, playfulness should be upheld alongside traditional virtues as a trait worthy of deliberate cultivation in adulthood. Seeking to enact the claim that boundaries give rise to expansive possibility, I provide a firm structure for this study and organize my analysis according to Søren Kierkegaard's conceptions of the aesthetic, ethical, and religious spheres of existence. Liberty and limitation appear differently under each of these categories. Further, their forms change depending on whether they are viewed in light of children's play, videogames, gambling, puppetry, or improvisation, the iterations of play and playful identity under consideration in this study. Learning about the apprehension, negotiation, and appreciation of boundaries that occurs in play grants us a more nuanced understanding of play as a fundamental component of a good life. At the same time, this project affords the chance to reconsider the nature of freedom and constraint, and to reimagine what it means to be at liberty.

No description available.

<p> This dissertation discusses the roles of oracular priestesses and Goddesses in Krete and Greece. The appointment of oracular priestesses to the service of a particular Goddess such as Gaia or Athena is reviewed. In addition, this study demonstrates the extent to which the worship of Goddesses, led by oracular priestesses, was a pre-eminent aspect of religion in ancient Krete and Greece. Various types of conduits and methods used to receive oracular messages are also considered, including trees, baetyls, the inhalation of gaseous vapors, the chewing of laurel leaves, and the possible use of bees and snakes.</p><p> This dissertation also considers the implications that feminist archaeology brings to the interpretation of evidence regarding oracular priestess and Goddess traditions in Krete at the Temple-Palace of Knossos, and in mainland Greece at the oracular sites of Delphi and Dodona. An interdisciplinary methodology is employed, drawing on archaeology, mythology, archaeomythology, and feminist spiritual hermeneutics in the academic field of women&rsquo;s spirituality. </p><p> To facilitate this study, a set of characteristics is specified for determining which figurines can plausibly be considered oracular priestesses and/or Goddesses. The set of characteristics which distinguish a Goddess from an ordinary woman or girl include (1) ritual or sacred &ldquo;find contexts&rdquo;; (2) the presence of worshippers or adorants; (3) symbolic attributes of divinity, especially those which are representative of the female in local cultural context and perhaps also in cross-cultural contexts; (4) gestures of divinity, in local and/or cross-cultural contexts; and (5) larger relative size. Priestesses are distinguished by (1) typical gestures of adoration or offering of votives; (2) typical attributes in cultural context and/or cross-cultural contexts; (3) the study of epigraphy (where possible); and/or (4) prosopography. The characteristics which distinguish oracular priestesses from other kinds of priestesses include the priestess&rsquo; interactions with trees, baetyls, bees, birds, and snakes, or inhaling gaseous vapors.</p>

This study is an examination of Master Yinshun's hermeneutics. It focuses especially on his interpretation of the Buddhist concept known as the tathagatagarbha, which refers to the idea that all sentient beings intrinsically possess the "womb of the Buddha." In some explanations of this teaching, the tathagatagarbha is symbolic of the practitioner's potential for attaining enlightenment. In others, it functions as a synonym for the Ultimate and becomes the eternalistic substrate for all of existence. It is this latter view to which Yinshun takes exception, seeing it as antithetical to the doctrine of emptiness which espouses the notion that all things, including ideas, material objects, and living beings, lack a permanent and independent nature and thus cannot possess an unchanging, eternalistic form. I focus particularly on Yinshun's text A Study of the Tathagatagarbha , for it serves as a concise statement of his interpretation of the tathagatagarbha and its relationship to emptiness. In this text, Yinshun continually asserts the doctrine of emptiness as the definitive expression of Buddhist truth and relegates the tathagatagarbha to the category of expedient means. He does this by examining the development of the tathagatagarbha emphasizing particularly its evolution within pre-Mahayana and Mahayana textual sources said to have had their genesis in India such as the Agamas , the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and the Ratnagotravibhaga. For Yinshun, to regard the tathagatagarbha as the ultimate truth rather than as an expedient means can only result in misguided practice and confusion about how to attain enlightenment. I conclude by asking a number of general questions about Yinshun's thought and its relationship to the early to mid-twentieth century intellectual milieu in China. I also inquire about how Yinshun's ideas have contributed to the development of contemporary Chinese Buddhist movements flourishing in Taiwan today.

published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Master / Master of Arts

This dissertation examines the ethics of Santideva, an Indian Mahayana Buddhist thinker of the seventh century CE, particularly through his work, the Sikṣadsamuccaya (Compendium of Teaching). This study therefore helps redress a significant imbalance in the scholarship on Buddhist ethics, which has up to now focused primarily on the morality of the Theravada Buddhist tradition. The dissertation incorporates both descriptive and metaethical analyses to answer three questions: What is Santideva's moral theory, and how does it compare with other characterizations of Buddhist ethics? Can one moral theory adequately describe Buddhist moral traditions? / Through textual analysis and translations, this thesis offers a exegetical account of the moral thought in the Sikṣasamuccaya , beginning with a description of Santideva's understanding of how to become a bodhisattva, the Mahayana spiritual ideal. I provide an analysis of Santideva's understanding of key moral concepts, with a particular focus on virtuous conduct (sila), skillfulness (kusalatva), and merit (puṇya). I then test the assumption that Buddhist moral theory is homogeneous by comparing the results of this study with those of existing secondary literature on Buddhist ethics, and in particular, I respond to Damien Keown's position that Buddhist ethics can be considered a form of Aristotelian virtue ethics. I highlight those features of Santideva's thought that fit the framework of a virtue ethic, and then discuss the implications of those aspects of the tradition that are not well captured by it. In particular, I consider the utilitarian elements in Santideva's morality. In my conclusion, I attempt to resolve these apparently conflicting styles of moral reasoning with the idea that there is a shift over the course of a bodhisattva's career from a straightforward virtue ethic to a kind of utilitarian hybrid of virtue ethics. I conclude the thesis with some reflections on the value of comparative ethics and the effort to develop a comprehensive moral theory to describe Buddhist traditions.

A study of the autonomy of theology with reference to the philosophical thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the theological thought of Karl Barth, could be approached in a number of different ways. [...]