Thesis (D. Miss.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1994. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-194).

The major focus of this dissertation is the ancestor worship that is inferred to have been practiced in the multiethnic Middle Sicán theocratic state (AD 950-1100) that prospered on the northern North Coast of Peru. The major objective is twofold: (1) demonstrating by archaeological means that ancestors were indeed worshipped in the Middle Sicán society and (2) elucidating the nature and role of the inferred ancestor cult and associated rituals and ceremonies. Ancestor (and the veneration of it) is one of the themes that have the deepest roots in the anthropological thoughts; nevertheless, many archaeologists have uncritically invoked ancestor veneration without sufficient theoretical underpinning and empirical support, to the point that James Whitley (2002) decried "too many ancestors." This dissertation thus begins with a review of the earlier anthropological discoveries and theoretical debates on what ancestor is and who becomes an ancestor, including the cases in the Andes. Based on this review of previous studies, it is hypothesized that the select members of deceased Middle Sicán elites were transformed into an ancestor through a series of prescribed processes. This hypothesis is examined in terms of the five possible material correlates of the inferred Sicán ancestors extracted from the regional archaeological database of the study area accumulated by the Sicán Archaeological Project (SAP) for the last three decades. The role of the inferred Middle Sicán ancestor cult is approached from the ideological perspective. It is inferred that the ancestor cult was employed by the ruling group as an ideological and political means to justify the existence and extension of social hierarchies and inequalities and thus targeted at wider populations different in genealogical origins as opposed to family or lineage members. This study focuses attention on the food preparations and consumptions documented by a test excavation at the principle plaza of the Sicán capital, "Great Plaza," adjacent to the inferred ancestral tombs and hypothesizes that the commensality among the living and the dead during feasts there served not only to commemorate the inferred ancestors, but also to bring together people in different social tiers and to consolidate the highly stratified, multiethnic Middle Sicán society. Two excavations at the ceremonial core of the Middle Sicán state capital, one at the Huaca Loro West Cemetery in 2006 and the other at the Great Plaza in 2008, provide varied lines of evidence that support the above two hypotheses. The results suggest that ancestor worship was indeed practiced during the Middle Sicán Period. By maintaining and monopolizing the ritual access to the Sicán Deity through their ancestors, the Sicán elites reproduced their religious and political power and retained the legitimacy of their social status. Concurrently, the Sicán elites consciously employed their ancestor cult for social integration. After the Middle Sicán Period, these ancestors seem to have retained their spiritual viability even after the later Chimú Empire took the control of this region. If not recognized as the Sicán anymore, they were remembered and honored by the living for over four centuries. On the basis of the merits of traditional approach (e.g., the study of architecture, iconography, bioarchaeology, and ethnohistory and ethnography in the Andes), this study gives primacy to the direct focus on the material residues and relational contexts and patterns of ritual activities and studies their change and stability through time in relation to other historical contingencies. The merit of focusing on the trajectories of ritual activities themselves in a long and wide perspective is that it sheds light on the regional peculiarities and contingent nature of the inferred ancestor veneration, which may be overlooked in cross-cultural, ethnological arguments about the nature, role, and capacity of ancestors. It also provides a wealth of information not only to determine what types of activities took place, but also to explore the intangible symbolic significance behind those activities. As a result, this approach provides a practical solution to the justified criticism by Whitley (2002) and demonstrates how we should approach ancestor veneration and what evidence we would need in order to appropriately define it in archaeological record.

Filiality (xiao) has been a significant concept in Chinese culture. Its significance is shown by the fact that its idea was elevated to a system of philosophy by Confucians in the Zhanguo period (475-221 B.C.E.). The purpose of this study is to clarify why filiality was important and what the philosophy of filiality essentially meant. Filiality was not merely a familial ethic. In the Western Zhou period (the 11th c. to 770 B.C.E.), it meant sacrifices to ancestors. Filiality toward fatherhood was essentially obedience to headship of lineage groups, and it was expressed in ancestor worship. When lineage gradually collapsed in the Chunqiu period (770-475 B.C.E.), its significance must have been restricted. In fact, however, filiality was given a new meaning by Zhanguo Confucians. First, Confucius emphasized the mental aspect of filiality, and then Mencius thought of filiality as the basis from which general ethics were generated. The various ideas of filiality were collected in a book: the Book of Filiality. This book, presenting the dichotomy between love and reverence, argued that a father-son relationship had an element shared by a monarch-retainer relationship and that filiality should be shifted into loyalty. The essential achievement of this philosophy was the recognition of the dualistic nature of human beings; any human relationship was a social relation between two social roles as well as an emotional connection between two characters. The former was the basis for culture and society. It was the aspect of culture inherent in human nature that should be developed to bring about social justice. This dualism was derived from the ambiguity of fatherhood in ancestor worship. As ancestor symbolized the social role of lineage headship, the philosophy of filiality symbolically connected fatherhood to the social role of authority in general. Filiality was identified with devotion to the absolute basis for humans and society that was symbolized by fatherhood. This thesis, analyzing ancient Chinese philosophy of filiality, presents a hypothesis concerning the essential structure of ancestor worship, which can be summarized as the symbolism representing higher levels of authority on the basis of parental authority. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

秦漢時代的國家制度和意識形態對後世影響深遠，而祭祀制度是國家制度的重要組成部份，也代表了國家所倡導的思想規範。地方祭祀包括地方政府主導的官方祭祀和民衆自發的信仰活動，是國家禮儀制度和社會風俗信仰的交叉地帶。秦漢的國家祭祀體系隨著統一的深入發生了從覆蓋全國的神祠到集中於南北郊的改革，儒家思想確立為主流意識形態；地方祠祀在此過程中的地位升降和面貌變化成為國家禮制和意識形態變動、確立的一個標誌。 / 以天地日月、社稷五穀、自然現象、物怪神怪等為對象的地方祠祀與山川祭祀、人神祭祀共同構成了地方祭祀的圖景。山川神具有求雨、保護神、個人禱祀等不同面向的作用；地方官員對山川祭祀的參與、利用與反對，則是政治需求與社會實際的影響。人神祭祀的信仰對象包括先王仁人、地方名人、神仙和厲鬼等，人神祭祀的性質多存在轉換，官方祭祀與民間信仰互相吸收和借鑑；地方官員鼓勵地方賢人祭祀，反對妖巫祭祀，作為實施教化的手段。 / 地方政府的祭祀是國家制度的一部分，中央機關也對地方政府的祠祀有監管作用。隨著國家祭祀的成立與變革，地方祭祀在國家祭祀中的地位先升後降，官方祭祀和民間信仰在地方祠祀處交會，東漢時期的地方祭祀有許多呈現官方和民間相結合的特徵。儒家式國家禮制的成立使得祀典與淫祀有了明確的邊界，但是這一界線受到經濟、社會等多種因素的影響，存在著相當的彈性。「禮俗合一」是儒家式的社會理想，士人試圖通過對地方祭祀的管理實施教化，移風易俗；但是祭祀活動的實踐與諸多現實因素有關，還有個人與偶然因素的作用，社會信仰始終包含多重屬性，以「禮俗合一」為理想，卻始終多種社會意識並存，成為中國古代社會的重要特徵。 / As the beginning of a united empire, Qin and Han Dynasties had established the elementary state institution for dynasties hereafter. Qin and Han Dynasties absorbed and reconciled various religious traditions, including religions of all social classes and different regions in their efforts to set up a sacrificial system; and then turned to a Confucian-oriented sacrificial system with the reverence for Confucianism. Local cults, containing popular beliefs and sacrificial practice of local governments, stood in the overlapped place of state sacrificial system and popular beliefs, therefore the shifts of status and sacrificial practice of local cults can be a representative of the settlement of official ritual system. / Miscellaneous Gods were worshiped throughout the empire. The groundwork of this research is to investigate the existence of different kinds of local cults and the sacrificial practices. Worship to mountains and rivers were indispensable in both official religion and popular belief, and all levels of sacrifices had multiple functions in local society. The approval or opposition of sacrificial ceremonies by local officials mostly depended on social reality. Human gods accounted for a large part in local cults, who were worshiped in different motivation and social surroundings. The proportion of respectable officials and moral models increased in Later Han, for they were encouraged for the ethic function to rectify the customs and achieve the indoctrination of Confucianism. / Sacrifices to mountains and rivers and human gods in local society stretched across orthodox ritual and popular belief, but the boundary of the two traditions were in alteration all the time, which was largely affected by economic and political factors; and despite the officials and Confucian scholars tried to revise the sacrificial practices in local society, sacrifices to local cults were always contained multiple characters. "Corresponding custom to ritual" was the ideal social order, which officials struggled to approach but never actually achieved. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 李玥凝. / Parallel title from added title page. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 408-428). / Abstracts also in English. / Li Yuening.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

李志誠. / "2013年8月". / "2013 nian 8 yue". / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-151). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in Chinese and English. / Li Zhicheng.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Refer to document

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2000. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-291).

This study tests the legitimacy of Charles Nyamiti's integration of the traditional Christian doctrines with the African (Bantu) thought-patterns in the construction of an African Christian theology. This study centres on Nyamiti's christology and ecclesiology It in African Christian theology which is constructed on the basis of perceived parallelism which exists between the role and authority of the traditional African (Bantu) ancestors and that of the person of Christ and his role in the Church. The traditional Christian doctrine (classical dogmatics) is the foundational framework of any theology. The traditional Christian doctrine teaches that God was incarnate in the person of Christ. Thus, the traditional Christian doctrine depicts Christ as both human and divine and the two natures are united together and are inseparable. Those who believe and have faith in Christ and his teachings are united together with him. Against this background, the study discusses the Bantu existential world-view which includes the role of ancestors in the community. Here, the concept of interrelatedness of hierarchy of dynamistic powers in the society are also discussed. Nyamiti tries to . bring these two world-views together and suggests that they are compatible. The study ends by offering a theological evaluation and reflection on Nyamiti's construct. The study has argued that Nyamiti picks up some of the elements found in the nature and function of Christ according to the explanation given in the traditional Christian doctrine and then parallels them to that of the role of the traditional Bantu ancestors to formulate his christology and ecclesiology. The study has concluded that although Nyamiti's theological construct aims at illuminating the Christian faith among the peoples of Africa who count on the authority of the traditional ancestors, it founders in a flood of methodological problems which detract from the conclusivity of his construct. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

This investigation aims to ascertain whether or not the Israelites believed in the supernatural beneficent power of the dead. First, a lexicon of selected mortuary practices and beliefs is outlined. In the Israelite context, those rites most likely to reflect this belief are necromancy and those which fall within the purview of the ancestor cult intended to express veneration or worship of the ancestors (ch. 1). Secondly, an evaluation of the relevant texts from Syria-Palestine of the third to first millennia B.C.E. demonstrates that a longstanding West Semitic or Canaanite origin for Israel's belief in the supernatural beneficent power of the dead cannot be established on the basis of these data (chs. 2 and 3). Thirdly, an examination of the Hebrew Bible demonstrates that while a concern to care for or commemorate the dead might be inferred, neither an ancestor cult nor ancestor veneration or worship in particular can be established on the basis of the available literary (or material) evidence. Moreover, while necromancy is occasionally attested, the relevant passages which polemicize against Israel's embrace of this practice originate either in the last days of the Judahite monarchy or, more likely, during the exile itself. The historical reality which gave rise to this polemical tradition was the threat which Mesopotamian religion and magic beginning with the Neo-Assyrian period posed to later (dtr?) Yahwism (ch. 4). Comparative ethnographic data suggests that the longstanding absence of the belief in the beneficent dead in Israel and Syria-Palestine might be partially explained as a reaction to the pervasive fear of the dead. Nevertheless, once this belief was embraced by late Israelite society, owing to contemporary developments in politics (Mesopotamian hegemony), economics (depletion of resources), and religion (popularity of divination), necromancy, not ancestor veneration or worship, presented itself as the preferred ritual expression of this belief (conclusion).