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It is now almost thirty years since puritan apocalyptic thought was first subject to academic analysis, and twenty years have passed since the last flowering of texts on this subject. Since then our understanding of the puritan movement has progressed, and theoretical trends within historiographical and literary thinking now require new approaches to the investigation of puritan ideology. The approach of our own millennium and the recent devolution of barriers between academic disciplines make timely an investigation of the theological, historical and literary developments within puritan apocalyptic thought. Writing at the edge of the promises: negotiating the puritan apocalypse offers a reading of texts and contexts from the Marian exile, in the 1550s, to the Glorious Revolution one hundred and thirty years later. Canonical texts (like the works of John Milton and John Bunyan) are situated alongside titles representing individuals and groups which have achieved less prominence in recent literary-critical narratives (John Foxe, the Geneva Bible, James Ussher, George Gillespie, and John Rogers). This juxtaposition highlights the variety of eschatologies within the 'puritan apocalypse' and illustrates the many uses to which these eschatologies were put. Underpinning the variety of the puritan apocalyptic enterprise, however, is a basic exploration of the Calvinist aesthetic maxim: finitum non est capax infiniti. This unity of aesthetic thought represents a new angle on the 'Calvin and the Calvinists' debate, and argues for a basic continuity in the reformed theologies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Similarly, the interplay of ideas and values across the boundaries of each of the 'three kingdoms' offers hope for discovering the value of Scottish writing in the notoriously silent seventeenth century. Far from dampening artistic exploration, as the received orthodoxy of Scottish studies argues, Calvinistic eschatological thought is presented as the catalyst for some of the most intriguing of post-Renaissance literary strategies.

Este trabalho pretende analisar a obra de Martin Del Rio, Comentarios de las alteraciones de los Estados de Flandes: sucedidas despues de la llegada del Señor Don Iuan de Austria a ellos, hasta su muerte, originalmente escrita em latim. Para fundamentação teórica, é apresentado o contexto da Bélgica no século XVI, e como este foi importante para a escrita do autor. Também são abordadas as questões da guerra, do mal e da heresia como elementos que constituem a base do pensamento de Martin Del Rio. São levados em consideração a escrita da história e os hábitos de leitura de seus contemporâneos. / This study aims to examine Martin Del Rio`s book, Comentarios de las alteraciones de los Estados de Flandes: sucedidas despues de la llegada del Señor Don Iuan de Austria a ellos, hasta su muerte, originally written in Latin. For theoretical reasons, this study presents the context of Belgium in the sixteenth century, and how it was important for the author`s writings. Also, the issues of the war, the evil and the heresy are considered as elements that form the basics of his thoughts. History books and the reading habits of his contemporaries are other subjects of this analysis.

Este trabalho pretende analisar a obra de Martin Del Rio, Comentarios de las alteraciones de los Estados de Flandes: sucedidas despues de la llegada del Señor Don Iuan de Austria a ellos, hasta su muerte, originalmente escrita em latim. Para fundamentação teórica, é apresentado o contexto da Bélgica no século XVI, e como este foi importante para a escrita do autor. Também são abordadas as questões da guerra, do mal e da heresia como elementos que constituem a base do pensamento de Martin Del Rio. São levados em consideração a escrita da história e os hábitos de leitura de seus contemporâneos. / This study aims to examine Martin Del Rio`s book, Comentarios de las alteraciones de los Estados de Flandes: sucedidas despues de la llegada del Señor Don Iuan de Austria a ellos, hasta su muerte, originally written in Latin. For theoretical reasons, this study presents the context of Belgium in the sixteenth century, and how it was important for the author`s writings. Also, the issues of the war, the evil and the heresy are considered as elements that form the basics of his thoughts. History books and the reading habits of his contemporaries are other subjects of this analysis.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / Historically, mystical experiences have been interpreted variously within psychology and theology. This dissertation explores theological and psychological interpretations of these experiences among professionals in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), putting their interpretations in conversation with the theologies of John Calvin, North American Calvinist traditions, and a range of psychological theories. The purpose is to draw theoretical and practical constructs from this research to guide pastors and counselors in responding to persons who report intense religious experiences, such as hearing the voice of God and seeing a vision of Christ. Some psychologists interpret such experiences as pathological, some as psychologically beneficial. Calvinists, focusing on the intellectual dimension of religion, have traditionally been wary of mystical experience. A more thorough reading of Calvin's theology shows his affirmation of mystica unio . In 18th century colonial America, Jonathan Edwards also accepted mystical experiences, but subjected their authenticity and meaning to rational, religious scrutiny. To explore understandings of mystical religious experience in the current Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), twenty structured interviews were conducted with pastors and pastoral counselors in the Boston Presbytery. Results show that sources common to theologically trained professionals can be useful in distinguishing mystical religious experience from psychotic episodes. Using Scripture, Presbyterian beliefs, personal experience, and awareness of cultural religious differences, 70% of participants distinguished experiences such as hearing God's voice and seeing visions of Christ from mental illness, and 90% distinguished experiences such as sensing God's inner presence during prayer from mental illness. Using the same sources, participants identified some experiences with religious language and symbols as symptoms of mental illness rather than mystical religious experience. Presbyterian pastors and counselors concurred that many religious experiences can be interpreted within Reformed theology. The study revealed the need for more thorough education of pastors and counselors in the psychology of religious experience and theological interpretations of such experiences. / 2042-07-17

This thesis examines the changes that occurred in the French identity of Huguenot immigrants to colonial Carolina. In their pursuit of prosperity and religious toleration, the Huguenots' identity evolved from one of French religious refugees to that of white South Carolinians. How and why this evolution occurred is the focus of this study. Upon arriving in the colony in the 1680s and 1690s, the Huguenots' identity was based on several common factors: their French language, their Calvinist religion, and their French heritage. As the immigrant group began to build their new lives in Carolina, these identifying factors began to disappear. The first generation's identity evolved from French immigrants to British subjects when they were challenged on the issues of their political and religious rights and, in response to these challenges, requested to become naturalized subjects. The second generation faced economic challenges that pitted planters against the wealthier merchants in a colony-wide debate over the printing of paper currency. This conflict created divisions within the Huguenot group as well and furthered their identity from British subjects to planters or merchants. Another shift in the Huguenots' identity took place within the third generation when they were faced with a slave uprising in 1739. The Huguenots' involvement in finding a legislative solution to the revolt completes this evolutionary process as the grandchildren of the immigrant generation become white South Carolinians. This thesis expands the historical data available on immigrant groups and their behaviors within colonial settlements.

Between Defence and Resistance: Destinies of Eighteenth-Century Protestant Communities in Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc Abstract Based on archive research and literature the thesis compares the religious life of illegal Protestant communities in the 18th century Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc. From macroanalytical perspective it assesses the strategies of protestant minorities used to resist the disciplining efforts of the absolutist state. The confessional homogeneity, economic background and social stratification of Protestants in Eastern Bohemia and Haut-Languedoc differed. Yet, the contrasting comparison opens up the way to analyse the divergent resistance strategies. Further, the thesis examines the existence and nature of attempts to simplify the religious doctrine and to modify the liturgy undertaken by the lay and ordained priests and the worshippers. The structure combines the thematic and chronological approach, while keeping a broad perspective that encompasses also the economic and cultural context. First tree chapters outline and conceptualize the problem of prohibited Protestantism in both regions during the 17th and most of the 18th centuries. While in Languedoc the Presbyterian-synodic structure was revived (albeit illegally), in Eastern Bohemia and in whole Bohemia and Moravia...