Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-189).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-189).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 161 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-114).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 112 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-102).

With the figure of fox as the emblematic emissary, Inari—arguably the most popular Shinto deity in Japan—is often deemed polytheistic due to its diverse blessings, whether agricultural, commercial, or industrial, or all of these at once. In the common historical account, Inari worship began as an agricultural ritual and, affected by the soaring monetary economy from the seventeenth century onward, it attained other predicates. Through two main studies on Inari shrines, this dissertation refutes that limited narrative and demonstrates that the agricultural attribute was in turn accentuated with the monetary economy. One study revolves around the Mimeguri Shrine, enshrined in Tokyo at the turn of the eighteenth century by the magnate Mitsui family for their commerce. The other study deciphers the concatenation of the Coal Mountain Tutelary Shrine and Tōka Shrine, originally established in the late eighteenth century by the local feudal administration, Miike-han, for their coal production in the current Fukuoka prefecture. With these shrines, the respective commercial and coal enterprises were rendered agricultural as though contained within the dominant Tokugawa order, which idealized the rice-based economy. Nurturing in effect the profit of the Mitsui family and the extra revenue of Mike-han—constituting a surplus, as this dissertation argues—the Inari worships of the merchant and the regional administration produced labor times. The presence of those shrines in this study serves as the metonymy of a contradictory process whereby even a deity was “alienated” under the command of money as if were fooled by its own emissary, the fox.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1983. / Index of references to illustrations, leaves 643-646. Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, leaves 442-483).

In the matrix of land uses beyond protected areas, people protect nature in a myriad of ways, and have, in some cases, for millennia. With the growth of global databases of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs) and registries of sacred natural sites, opportunities are emerging for conservationists to engage custodians of sacred forests beyond protected areas. As conservation expands beyond protected areas, successful engagement emerges from unities in the perspectives of conservationists and custodians of sacred forests. This thesis aims to identify unities for conservationists' engagement with custodians of sacred forests on a landscape scale. The thesis geolocates sacred forests and assesses the implications for conservation in four diverse landscapes in the Gambia, Ethiopia, Malaysia and Japan. The scale of inquiry varies across the papers, from the sub-district level to a national scale. This research indicates that while sacred forests may be overlooked by conservationists due to their small size and autonomous management, when they are considered in concert on a landscape scale, opportunities for conservation engagement become apparent. This thesis demonstrates that sacred forests can be prevalent in diverse landscapes, persist over time, and provide ecosystem services due to their spatial distribution.