In this dissertation I will argue that what I call critical veneration of the American Constitution is necessary to realizing the aspirations we, as American citizens, have set for ourselves in the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. I begin from James Madison’s concept of blind veneration, which he argues in the 14th Federalist is dangerous because it blinds people to the necessity of changing governments to suit new or changed peoples. However, Madison does not support critical veneration either. Rather, he is a proponent of what I call cautious veneration: “‘The people…ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it, as well as obey it.’” I call this cautious veneration because it involves more active and critical thought than blind veneration, but it falls short of the evaluative and normative standards that I associate with critical veneration. Madisonian cautious veneration is tethered more tightly to the existing Constitution than to aspirations set forth in the Constitution: in particular, the promise of continual moral and political improvement achieved over the historical span of the American project, so long as it should last. Critical veneration, on the other hand, must be joined with a theory of aspirational constitutionalism, which requires simultaneous reverence for the Constitution and critique of that Constitution’s inadequacies in order to push the country forward towards realizing its aspirations. / text

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Mortuary remains within an archaeological context can illuminate the social and political aspects not only of the individual(s) buried, but also of the living who interred them. Although this is so, a consensus has not been reached in regard to the following questions: how can we determine the social identity of the living that interred the dead? What are the implications of the living-dead interaction, and how do mortuary practices alter social memory in order to fit political needs? This thesis constitutes an initial attempt to answer these questions while examining pre-internment mortuary practices, and associated ideologies regarding the afterlife based on data collected during the 2015 field season by members of the Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Panquilma (PIAP), under the direction of Dr. Enrique Lopéz-Hurtado, of the Instituto de Estudios de Peruanos Programa de Investigación. This project is centered at the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) to Late Horizon (LH) secondary Ychsma site of Panquilma in the mid-Valley of the Lurín River Valley, Central Coast of Peru. This research aims to determine the time period and significance of a puzzling structure that was excavated at the cemetery’s margin at Panquilma in order to determine the building’s potential role in ancestral veneration practices of the lesser-elites. Upon first glance this structure appeared to have a layout of a household structure but was located near the cemetery, far from the residential center of the site. A wide array and substantial quantities of exotic and/or ritual items such as sheet metal fragments, colorful bird feathers, orpiment, and manuports, as well as Spondylus sp. and Nectandra sp. beads were discovered within this building suggesting non-mundane or non-domestic usages. Was this structure used in the preparation and care of the funerary bundles? Did it house an important figure (e.g., a shaman) in both their life and death? Or did it serve as a workshop for preparing ritual items? In an effort to ascertain the significance of this structure, this thesis examines the aforementioned remains as well as its relative location and the results from portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) analyses of some of the excavated artifacts in order to provide a deeper understanding of mortuary practices at Panquilma and thus the Ychsma’s concept of and interaction with the dead on the Central Coast of Peru. The exact function of this structure cannot be concretely stated, but the diverse lines of evidence present appear to favor the first hypothesis in which this structure functioned as a funerary preparation area, but principally for elite and/or ritually significant bundle(s). This was ascertained due to the numerous exotic and/or ritual artifacts found associated within this Inkaic structure that likely served a ritualistic function in regard to water and agricultural fertility as well as serving as indirect evidence for elite ancestral veneration practices.

Ma thèse porte sur l’étude de l’évolution du culte des reliques de saint Martin de Tours, du haut Moyen Âge jusqu’à aujourd’hui ; travaillant aussi bien sur les reliques corporelles que les reliques de contact de saint Martin. Pour cela, je dois faire l’inventaire de ses reliques qui existent à travers le monde et expliquer leurs séparations, translations et déplacements. Il s’agit aussi pour moi de les replacer dans leur contexte historique, puis d’analyser à travers elles la diffusion et l’étendue du culte de saint Martin dans le monde en confrontant les différentes sources qui évoquent ces reliques et en menant une réflexion plus générale sur la propagation d’une vénération religieuse. Les reliques Martiniennes demeurent le thème essentiel de mon travail, mais la recherche sera étendue à d’autres figures hagiographiques, dans un souci de comparaison notamment. / My PhD deals with the study of the evolution of the relics cult of Saint Martin of Tours, from the Early Middle Ages to today; I work on corporal relics as well as contact relics of Saint Martin. For that, I must make an inventory of his relics that exist around the world and explain their separations, translations and movements. It is also a question for me of replacing them in their historic context, then of analyzing through them the diffusion and the extent of the worship of Saint Martin in the world by confronting the different sources which talk about these relics and by leading a more general reflection about the spread of religious veneration. The Martinian relics remain the main theme of my work, but the research will be extended to other hagiographic figures, for the sake of comparison in particular.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The aim of my research project is to give a theological reflection on the practice of initiation rites within Masasi district, in south-east Tanzania. While initiation remains a very significant tradition among the Yao, Makonde and Makua tribes in Masasi, the ancestral cult and the content of sex related education in these rites have presented challenges to the Christian communities. Some Christians do not feel comfortable with the inclusion of the ancestor cult since this does not immediately seem to agree with Christian doctrine. There is also a general acknowledgment that the rites could be partly responsible for the premature involvement in sexual activity by young people. In the past theological attempts were made to Christianise Masasi initiation rites with the hope of addressing these two issues highlighted above. This approach had its difficulties and limitations since not all communities in Masasi villages are Christian and since religious diversity has to be respected. Furthermore, in areas where Christianisation has been put into effect, not much change has been recorded with regards to the two main problems noted above. Christianisation simply touched on the form but did not influence the content of rites. Other theologies, especially in missionary circles, viewed initiation as an antithesis of Christianity, a view which undoubtedly discouraged constructive Christian dialogue with the practice. African theologians on the other hand seem not to have produced much systematised treatments on the subject of rites which otherwise would have been useful materials to various African Christian communities. As a result of these and other inadequacies we have a problem as far as what should be done to have the Christian faith inform the processes within the rites of passage. What kind of theology will respect the culture and yet uphold teachings of the biblical tradition in addressing cultural initiation? In this project I am proposing a theology of ‘inculturation and transformation’ to address the impasse described above. Inculturation “describes the process of integration of the faith and life of the church in a given culture” (Pobee 1992:35). The aim of inculturation is to express the Christian faith in a culturally relevant manner so as to transform the culture. Initiation rites will be made to engage with the Christian theology in such a way that the precepts of biblical theology will be applied to rites with a view to moulding those aspects of rites that are not consistent with the teachings of the Bible. The good elements already found in these rites will be maintained. The goal of inculturation is not to destroy the rites but to present the rites “in a far more perfect way on an essentially different and infinitely higher level” (Nyamiti 1971:6). Through inculturation the underlying cultural worldview behind rites is taken into account. Inculturationtransformation theology aims at addressing the inner levels of culture. For this to happen the Gospel has to go in-culture and mould it from within.September 2009

From Tempera to Ink to Code traces the remediation of Orthodox icons. It examines icons’ unexplored, other media: cheap print, the book and digital media. Its interdisciplinary, cross-medial approach draws upon the fields of media studies, art history, art practice, religious studies, history and bibliography to establish an alternative way of viewing and understanding the icon beyond its original medium. The study focuses on the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God as one of the most venerable Russian Orthodox icons. It traces the Vladimir icon’s process of remediation from tempera on wooden panel to loose print, to bound codex and to digital form. It brings into focus the icon’s less researched, mass-produced media and applies the methods of art historical and bibliographic research to all media in question with equal scrutiny and attention. The dissertation provides a new way of looking at the storage, handling and display of icons in all their media. It categorizes the icon’s media into two groups: display media (tempera icons and loose prints) and storage/cache media (books and digital images). The display media invite veneration and thereby retain an “aura,” in the terminology of Walter Benjamin and David Morgan. Storage media, on the other hand, discourage veneration and, so, accrue no such aura. The study concludes that the loss of an object’s aura happens in unexpected aspects of remediation—in the binding, coding and, in a word, storing of information. The relationship that the study draws between the codex and hard drive has important implications for both book history and media studies, whereas its discussion of remediation, veneration and aura offer valuable contributions to the fields of iconology and iconography.

The large-scale field-systems, ubiquitous across upland and marginal parts of the Yorkshire Dales, are insecurely dated and poorly understood. Apart from some sporadic academic interest, the archaeology of this region has yet to receive the level of scholarly attention it deserves. The research presented here involved an intensive investigation of an area near Grassington, Upper Wharfedale, UK. Detailed field analysis revealed a section of one of these field-systems to be only a single element in a complex, multi-layered prehistoric landscape, which it is proposed may have roots as far back as the early Neolithic. Contextualisation of the survey area against palynological data, radiocarbon dates and comparative material moves the date of inception of the field-systems back to the middle Bronze Age, some 1000 years earlier than is currently assumed. The combination of empirical data and theoretical ideas has allowed a relative chronology to be determined in the survey area, together with the creation of a testable hypothesis surrounding the development of Upper Wharfedale and the wider Yorkshire Dales through prehistory. A sense of place and the veneration of natural places are key themes within this landscape and it was possible through these to draw out elements of prehistoric society and to show the evolution of ideas such as land tenure and monument significance. This dual empirical-theoretical approach is novel in upland landscape archaeology in the UK and is shown here to have significant merit.

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Walking through time: a window onto the prehistory of the Yorkshire Dales through multi-method, non-standard survey approaches Keywords: Yorkshire Dales, prehistory, veneration, natural places, geophysical survey, walkover survey, field-system, clearance, land tenure The large-scale field-systems, ubiquitous across upland and marginal parts of the Yorkshire Dales, are insecurely dated and poorly understood. Apart from some sporadic academic interest, the archaeology of this region has yet to receive the level of scholarly attention it deserves. The research presented here involved an intensive investigation of an area near Grassington, Upper Wharfedale, UK. Detailed field analysis revealed a section of one of these field-systems to be only a single element in a complex, multi-layered prehistoric landscape, which it is proposed may have roots as far back as the early Neolithic. Contextualisation of the survey area against palynological data, radiocarbon dates and comparative material moves the date of inception of the field-systems back to the middle Bronze Age, some 1000 years earlier than is currently assumed. The combination of empirical data and theoretical ideas has allowed a relative chronology to be determined in the survey area, together with the creation of a testable hypothesis surrounding the development of Upper Wharfedale and the wider Yorkshire Dales through prehistory. A sense of place and the veneration of natural places are key themes within this landscape and it was possible through these to draw out elements of prehistoric society and to show the evolution of ideas such as land tenure and monument significance. This dual empirical-theoretical approach is novel in upland landscape archaeology in the UK and is shown here to have significant merit. / Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) collaborative doctoral award / The data and photo files are not available online.

Text in English / Oruuano is an Independent Church in Namibia founded in 1955 because of members of the Herero community breaking away from the Rhenish Mission Church. Oruuano has the same doctrinal position as the Evangelical Lutheran Churches. In all church services it uses the standard Lutheran liturgical forms and the Otjiherero Lutheran hymnal. Belief in the ancestors is strong among the Herero. It is centred around the holy fire that is found between the main house of the head man and the cattle's kraal. The church does not acknowledge the ancestors, but it allows its members to venerate their ancestors outside the church. The church's approach is that of tacit consent. This dissertation discusses this approach and concludes that Oruuano cannot remain silent on the ancestors any longer. Time has come to deal with it theologically, showing the supremacy of Christ, while integrating Herero traditional practices and spirituality with the worship and practice of Oruuano. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)