Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sabrina Alves.pdf: 3267904 bytes, checksum: f169ffb1a127ee6876d9cb4e64b43371 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The dissertation "She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes: the construction of a new spirituality from the body and the stages of life." is the result of a two-year research. The goal of this work was to understand spirituality and the construction of the divine that is born from the body based on biological sexual phases of women, as well as to understand the processes of resistance, the potential of this knowledge and practices, and how these individuals would be producing new religious readings based on these perceptions. As we listen and analyze the life stories of four characters who use biological passages of their bodies in order to ritualize and give birth to a new spirituality, we realize that they are breaking dichotomies and privileging the integrality of their bodies in search of a redemption from their choices. We also realize that they have been using their experiences to encourage other women to do the same in groups called "circles of women". Finally, in a processual form, these women have established a closer relationship between their body and the earth, being the last one the goddess herself. / A dissertação Ela muda tudo o que toca e tudo o que Ela toca, muda: A construção de uma nova espiritualidade a partir do corpo e das fases da vida é resultado de dois anos de pesquisa. Nosso objetivo foi compreender a espiritualidade e a construção do divino que nasce do corpo tendo como base as fases sexuais biológicas das mulheres, os processos de resistência, as potencialidades desses saberes e práticas e de que modo, estariam a partir dessas percepções, tais sujeitos produzindo novas leituras religiosas. Ao escutarmos e analisarmos as histórias de vida de quatro personagens que utilizam as passagens biológicas de seus corpos para ritualizarem e gestarem uma nova espiritualidade observamos que, estavam quebrando dicotomias e privilegiando a integralidades de seus corpos na busca de uma redenção a partir de suas escolhas. Percebemos que têm usado suas experiências para estimular outras mulheres a fazerem o mesmo em grupos de círculos de mulheres . E que de uma forma processual estabeleciam uma estreita relação do corpo com a Terra e esta sendo a própria deusa

My work on the thealogy of Mary conveys a largely subjective way of thinking, it does not claim to present the view of any group, and it does not profess a theoretical agenda for a cult or a religious movement of Mary. The framework of this work is grounded in symbolic (legends, fairy tales and images), psychological (the structure of the psyche according to Carl Gustav Jung: the Self, the conscious, the unconscious, the Shadow) and imaginative (individual interpretations of narratives and images) spheres that are combined with feminist spirituality theories, religious philosophy and literary analysis. In my thesis, I offer a non-Christian myth of Mary which I form out of the folklore narratives about Mary. In my work, Mary is understood as the female divine archetype on the collective level, and as an expression of the Self on the individual level. Following Jung’s theory, the archetypes are forms and not contents, that is, an archetype can be comparable to an empty shell, which we fill with our own experience or with narratives that are meaningful to us. I take the image of Mary out of the Roman Catholic context and give it a new mythological narrative. This means to me a possibility not only to acquire a non-Christian myth of Mary but also to develop an individual relationship with the divine in its female personification. On the collective level, the thealogy of Mary creates a spiritual and psychological sphere in which the female divine has a possibility to outweigh the one-sidedness of the past few thousand years of the male predominance in the religious philosophy in the West.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis analyses six novels by different women writers, each of which rewrites an originally androcentric biblical story from a female perspective. These novels are The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, The Garden by Elsie Aidinoff, Leaving Eden by Ann Chamberlin, The Moon under her Feet by Clysta Kinstler, The Wild Girl by Michelle Roberts and Wisdom’s Daughter by India Edghill. By classifying these novels as feminist revisionist fiction, this study considers how they both subvert and revise the biblical narratives they are based on in order to offer readers new and gynocentric alternatives. With the intention of establishing the significance of such an endeavor, the study therefore employs the findings of feminist critique and theology to expose how the Bible, as a sexist text, has inspired, directly or indirectly, many of the patriarchal values that govern Western society and religion. Having established how biblical narratives have promoted and justified visions of women as marginal, subordinate and outside the realm of the sacred, we move on to explore how feminist rewritings of such narratives might function to challenge and transform androcentric ideology, patriarchal myth and phallocentric theology. The aim is to show that the new and different stories constructed within these revisionist novels re-conceptualise and re-imagine women, their place in society and their relation to the divine. Thus, as the title suggests, this thesis ultimately considers how women writers ‘steal’ the original biblical stories and transform them in ways that prove liberating for women. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis analiseer ses romans deur verskillende vroue skrywers - romans wat die oorspronklik androsentriese bybelse stories herskryf vanuit ’n vroulike perspektief. Die romans sluit in The Red Tent deur Anita Diamant, The Garden deur Elsie Aidinoff, Leaving Eden deur Ann Chamberlin, The Moon under her Feet deur Clysta Kinstler, The Wild Girl deur Michelle Roberts en Wisdom’s Daughter deur India Edghill. Deur hierdie romans te klassifiseer as feministiese revisionistiese fiksie, oorweeg hierdie studie hoe hulle die bybelse verhale waarop hulle gebaseer is, beide ondermyn en hersien om sodoende lesers nuwe en ginosentriese alternatiewe te bied. Met die voorneme om die betekenisvolheid van so ’n poging vas te stel, wend hierdie tesis dus die bevindings van feministiese kritiek en -teologie aan om bloot te lê hoe die Bybel, as ‘n seksistiese teks, baie van die patriargale waardes van die Westerse samelewing en godsdiens, direk of indirek, geïnspireer het. Nadat vasgestel is hoe bybelse verhale sienings van vroue as marginaal, ondergeskik en buite die sfeer van heiligheid bevorder en regverdig, beweeg die tesis aan om te ondersoek hoe feministiese herskrywings van sulke verhale, androsentriese ideologie, patriargale mite en fallosentriese teologie uitdaag en herskep. Die doelwit is om te wys dat die nuwe en anderste stories saamgestel in hierdie revisionistiese romans, vroue, hul plek in die samelewing en hul betrekking tot die goddelike, kan heroorweeg en herdink. Dus, soos die titel voorstel, oorweeg hierdie tesis primêr hoe vroue skrywers die oorspronklike bybelse stories ‘steel’ en herskep op maniere wat bevrydend vir vrouens blyk te wees.