Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar os casos de possessão demoníaca e a prática de exorcismos em Portugal, no âmbito da sua história cultural. Baseia-se principalmente em registros inquisitoriais e episcopais, e tem como principal objetivo demonstrar que, no contexto da disciplina espiritual e social, da propaganda religiosa e dos horizontes hagiográficos, floresceram em Portugal casos de possessão demoníaca. Por outro lado, a prática de exorcismos provou ser um fenômeno cultural muito difundido, agindo no contexto do infortúnio e da doença. / This thesis has the goal of analysing the cases of demonic possession and the practice of exorcisms in Portugal, on the context of their cultural history. It is based mainly on inquisitorial and episcopal records, and its main purpose is to demonstrate that, in the context of spiritual and social discipline, religious propaganda and hagiographic horizons, cases of demonic possession flourished in Portugal. By the other side, the practice of exorcisms has provd to be a very widespread cultural phenomenon, acting on the context of misfortune and malady.

In order to reconcile the absence of sexually deviant witch figures (succubae, demonic women, etc.) within the formation of American national literature in the nineteenth century with the fantastic elements found in European variations on the gothic, my thesis aims to demonstrate transatlantic variants of erotic signifiers attached to witch figures in nineteenth-century gothic fiction and mediums across national traditions. I will begin by tracing the transatlantic and historical impact of Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger’s Malleus Maleficarum—an early modern handbook of sorts used widely in witchcraft inquisitions—on Early American witch trials, specifically where its influence deviates from a sexualized conception of the witch and where a different prosopography of the historical witch emerges. Next, I will assess a short sample of nineteenth-century American pulp fiction to demonstrate the historical impact of America’s erotically decoded witch type on fictionalized versions or caricatures of the witch. In doing so I hope to create a reading that informs a more transatlantically complex representation of The Scarlet Letter. Finally, in order to underscore the significance of these national and historical departures of The Scarlet Letter as a gothic novel, I will contrast Hawthorne’s novel with a selective reading of nineteenth-century gothic texts from England and France that employ the witch or demonic feminine motif in an erotically codified and fantastic setting, namely using Old World magic and history that draws from French and English traditions.To demonstrate the significance of erotically coded witches in the British tradition, I will briefly examine Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Christabel” as a gothic text that relies heavily on the erotic affect encoded in the figure of Geraldine. I will also touch on Prosper Mérimée’s “La Vénus d’Ille” and Théophile Gautier’s “La Morte Amoreuse,” two remarkable short stories that highlight the sublime terror of sexually deviant, occult female figures. Through such a collection of readings of witches and erotic, occult women I hope to amplify a more latent theme underlying The Scarlet Letter and America’s conflicted relationship with the gothic tradition: namely its crucial lack of erotic enchantment as a channel for the experience of gothic affect, the fantastic, and even sublime terror.

[pt] A presente tese investiga o que o filósofo italiano Giorgio Agamben chamou de a semiologia do ponto de vista da Esfinge em seu livro Estâncias: a palavra e o fantasma na cultura ocidental. No capítulo A imagem perversa: a semiologia do ponto de vista da Esfinge, o filósofo propunha um modelo de significação calcado não no significado, mas na barreira resistente à significação que, para ele, seria a marca indelével de uma objeção à imposição do sentido. Para ele, Édipo seria o paradigma da cultura ocidental na qual o que ele chama de metafísica do significado foi forjada, na medida em que o personagem trágico resolve o enigma da Esfinge. Assim, Agamben repensa o estatuto da linguagem enquanto adequação do significante ao significado para construir uma perspectiva calcada na dissonância implicada no signo e na assunção do enigmático enquanto modo de operar da linguagem. Tendo em vista a afirmação de Agamben de que na estética essa formulação do desacordo do signo aparece como exemplar, desenvolvo nesta pesquisa um estudo sobre a semiologia do ponto de vista da Esfinge e sua relação com a arte contemporânea. Para realizar esse objetivo, no primeiro capítulo faço um diagnóstico do modo como o pensamento sobre a linguagem se torna preponderante para a arte do século XX a partir do linguistic turn e do advento da Linguística e da Psicanálise; no segundo capítulo, investigo o conceito de demoníaco, na medida em que Agamben afirma que o signo é formado pela distorção demoníaca do nexo que une cada significante ao próprio significado e, por fim, abordo o tema da infamiliariedade (estranhamento) na relação entre arte e linguagem, tendo como ponto de partida o ensaio Das Unheimliche, publicado por Freud em 1919, uma das referências para Agamben pensar sua noção de semiologia esfíngica. / [en] The present thesis investigates what the italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben called the semiology from the point of view of the Sphinx in his book Stanzas: word and phantasm in western culture. In the chapter The perverse image: the semiology from the Sphyns s point of view , the philosopher was proposing a signification model that was not grounded on the signified, but on the barrier resisting signification that, for him, was the indelible mark of an objection to the imposition of meaning. For him, Oedipus would be the paradigm of the western culture, in which it was forged what Agamben called the metaphysics of the signified, given that the tragic protagonist solves the Sphinx s enigma. Therefore, Agamben rethinks the status of language as the adequacy of the signifier to the signified to build a perspective centered on the dissonance implied in the sign and on the assumption of the enigmatic as a means of language operation. In view of Agamben s affirmation, that in aesthetics this formulation of the sign s discord exemplarily appears, I develop in this research a study on the semiology from the point of view of the Sphinx and its relations with contemporary art. To accomplish this goal, in the first chapter I make a diagnosis on the way that the thinking on language becomes preponderant to twentieth century art since the linguistic turn and the advent of Linguistics and Psychoanalysis; in the second chapter, I investigate the concept of demonic, according to Agamben s affirmation that the sign is formed by the demonic distortion of the bond that unites each signifier to its own signified and, lastly, I approach the theme of unfamiliarity (uncanny) in the relationship between art and language, with the starting point being the essay Das Umheimliche, published by Freud in 1919, one of the influences to Agamben for thinking on his notion of Sphinx s semiology.

Spiritual mapping is an emerging trend within Evangelicalism which is affecting Christian mission globally. Spiritual mapping maintains that Satan has assigned territorial demons to every geo-political unit in the world. Territorial demons hold the people in their locality in spiritual bondage to sin, false religion or other evils.Spiritual mapping is the practice of identifying these territorial demons in order to loosen the influence of these demons by means of strategic level spiritual warfare (SLSW). SLSW refers to the practice of 'territorial exorcism' through identificational repentance, prayer walks, proclamation and other means. Spiritual mapping can be appreciated for its focus on liberating people and societies from evil. However, spiritual mapping and its underlying theology is defective from a biblical, historical and contextual perspective and is potentially harmful for church and mission in Africa. Further missiological reflection on a spiritual warfare dimension in mission is necessary within the global hermeneutical community. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T11:07:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIELA BENTO COELHO.pdf: 3121484 bytes, checksum: 240304715fa87b6f2886ad0e764b1329 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-15 / The main objectives of this work are the theoretical construction of the demonic esthetic and the identification of this proposal in modern and contemporary art. The research was based mainly on contemporary approaches of Jean Baudrillard (1991), Zygmunt Bauman (2001) and Goerges Bataille (1987). From the phenomenological perspective of Mikel Dufrenne (2008), the demonic esthetic is the aesthetic experience awakened by the horror and the grotesque. The demonic is historically, the rupture with the traditional sense of beauty and the moral. The demoniac would be a transgression of the dominant social order and the esthetic expression that reveals the transgressive and heretical of human nature. The Apollonian and rational reality is unmasked by the revelation of the Dionysian impulse that results in the return of man to himself, to obscurity, to unknown, to infernal and nefarious. In the contact with hell, the man overcomes himself and becomes what it is. The state of for coming and the between place are part of demonic expression as new spaces of contestation and transformation. The demonic esthetics is present in modern and contemporary art. For this are analyzed: the art works of Farnese de Andrade and the artistic discourse in the romance, The Tense Passage of the Bodies, written by Carlos de Brito Mello. / Os objetivos principais desta pesquisa são: a construção teórica da concepção da estética demoníaca e a identificação desta proposta na arte moderna e contemporânea. A pesquisa é fundamentada principalmente, nas abordagens contemporâneas de Jean Baudrillard (1991), Zygmunt Bauman (2001) e Goerges Bataille (1987). Com base na fenomenologia, a estética demoníaca consiste na experiência estética despertada em contato com o horror e o grotesco. O demoníaco se identifica historicamente como a ação de ruptura com o belo e com a moral. O demoníaco consiste em transgredir a ordem social dominante. É a expressão estética que revela a porção maléfica e herética da natureza humana. A realidade apolínea e racional é desmascarada para revelar a pulsão dionisíaca que resulta no retorno do homem a si mesmo, a obscuridade, ao desconhecido, ao infernal e ao nefasto. O estado de devir e o entrelugar são espaços não perspectivos de contestação e transformação, que compõem a expressão demoníaca. A estética demoníaca está presente na arte moderna e contemporânea. Nesta pesquisa, são analisadas: as obras do artista plástico Farnese de Andrade e o discurso artístico no romance A Passagem Tensa dos Corpos, escrito por Carlos de Brito e Mello.

Spiritual mapping is an emerging trend within Evangelicalism which is affecting Christian mission globally. Spiritual mapping maintains that Satan has assigned territorial demons to every geo-political unit in the world. Territorial demons hold the people in their locality in spiritual bondage to sin, false religion or other evils.Spiritual mapping is the practice of identifying these territorial demons in order to loosen the influence of these demons by means of strategic level spiritual warfare (SLSW). SLSW refers to the practice of 'territorial exorcism' through identificational repentance, prayer walks, proclamation and other means. Spiritual mapping can be appreciated for its focus on liberating people and societies from evil. However, spiritual mapping and its underlying theology is defective from a biblical, historical and contextual perspective and is potentially harmful for church and mission in Africa. Further missiological reflection on a spiritual warfare dimension in mission is necessary within the global hermeneutical community. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GUSTAVO SOLDATI REIS.pdf: 1688322 bytes, checksum: 01b788dc73e229e9b95caffb31683def (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-16 / This thesis is a study regarding the problem of religious syncretism, when it is considered in the dialogue between anthropology and theology. For this purpose, the study employs a hermeneutical exercise of conceptual resignification, based upon various theories about syncretism and their anthropological and theological uses, seeking support in the thought of Michel de Certeau and Paul Tillich for that resignification. Thus, the perspective of Certeau regarding a heterological reflection of culture and the notion of demonic in theology and philosophy of meaning of Tillich provide the basis for the perception of syncretism as a theory of mediation between religion and culture. This means that syncretism operates in a dialectical relation with its named pole, in this thesis, of diacretism , considering the cultural and religious dynamic as an inventive space, a position that manifests ambiguous aspects of the creation of positive meanings (experience of syncretistic approximation) and the creation of distorted meanings (experience of diacretistic fragmentation), the essence of the relation with the sacred, lived culturally. The culture, understood as space for the living of the religious, expresses itself in a profound relation between tactics and strategies, denoting the ambiguity previously affirmed, when it recognizes that the social actors in interaction, even when marked by proper places strategically established, as places of power, do not inhibit the formation of tactical actions that inventively subvert these same places, offering the rightful cultural dynamic. The thesis analyses, also, as a case study, the implications of this comprehension of syncretism for the interpretation of the religious experience of the Guarani and Kaiowá native indigenous groups, on the indigenous land of Dourados, MS, on the frontier between tradition and translation performed by the indigenous people, based on the Presbyterian Indigenous Church Project (IIP), resignifying its alternative religiosity in the interface with the multiple Christianities present in the villages, affirming the possibility of a religious teko retã ( a way of being that is plural, multiple ), based on the syncretistic and diacretistic relations that are proposed. / Essa tese é um estudo sobre o problema do sincretismo religioso, quando pensado no diálogo entre a antropologia e a teologia. Para tanto, a pesquisa faz um exercício hermenêutico de ressignificação do conceito, a partir das diversas teorias sobre o sincretismo e seus usos antropológicos e teológicos, buscando subsídios no pensamento de Michel de Certeau e Paul Tillich para tal ressignificação. Assim, a perspectiva certeauniana de uma reflexão heterológica da cultura e a noção de demônico na teologia e filosofia do sentido de Tillich fundamentam a percepção do sincretismo como uma teoria da mediação entre religião e cultura. Isso significa que o sincretismo opera uma relação dialética com o seu pólo denominado, nessa tese, de diacretismo , tornando a dinâmica cultural e religiosa um espaço inventivo, posto que manifesta aspectos ambíguos de criações de sentido positivas (experiência de aproximação sincrética) e criações de sentido distorcidas (experiência de fragmentação diacrética ), essência da relação com o sagrado, vivida culturalmente. A cultura, entendida como espaço para a vivência do religioso, exprime-se em uma profunda relação entre táticas e estratégias, denotando a ambigüidade anteriormente afirmada, quando reconhece que os atores sociais em interação, mesmo que marcados por lugares próprios estrategicamente estabelecidos, enquanto lugares de poder, não inibem a formação de ações táticas que subervertem inventivamente esses mesmos lugares, dando a devida dinâmica cultural. A tese analisa, também, como estudo de caso, as implicações dessa compreensão de sincretismo para a interpretação da experiência religiosa de grupos de indígenas Guarani e Kaiowá, na Terra Indígena de Dourados /MS, na fronteira entre tradição e tradução operada pelos indígenas, a partir do Projeto da Igreja Indígena Presbiteriana (IIP), ressignificando sua alteridade religiosa na interface com os múltiplos cristianismos presentes nas aldeias, afirmando a possibilidade de um teko retã ( jeito de ser plural, múltiplo ) religioso, a partir das relações sincréticas e diacréticas propostas.

(in English) Thesis is focused on issues of cannibalism as an almost universal cultural construct, which we can find across all the world cultures.Particularly it focuses on imaginary man- eating creatures in international folklore and mythology. The work constitutes of four parts. First part is introduction of theoretical-methodological conceptual background, second part forms author's own typological classification of anthropophagi based on materials accessed from universal folklore indexes . Third part is short probing questionnaire research concentrated on a specific type of anthropophagi - boogeyman. The last part, conclusion, summarizes gathered data and provides possibilities of future research. The objective of this work is comprehensive classification of anthropophagus beings according to their type. Based on this classification it is possible to track occurrences of anthropophagi in contemporary folk narratives documented in actual oral transmission and compare it with international parallels.

Strategic level spiritual warfare has been an emerging trend within Evangelical missiology ever since C. Peter Wagner published his Spiritual Power and Church Growth (1986). The distinctive doctrines of Wagner’s SLSW are 1. The doctrine of territorial spirits, which entails the belief that powerful demons control specific geographical territories and its human inhabitants. Through a variety of spiritual warfare techniques such demons can be overcome. 2. The doctrine of territorial defilement. The assumption here is that a territorial spirit can only hold people in a location in bondage if it has obtained the legal right to do so because of sins and evils committed in that locality in the past. Identificational repentance on behalf of the people living in such territories removes the legal right of the territorial spirits. 3. The doctrine of Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare prayer. The underlying assumption is that territorial spirits can only be removed by means of aggressive spiritual warfare in the form of a variety of prayer and exorcism methods for dealing with territorial spirits. (4) The doctrine of territorial commitment. This doctrine justifies the exercise of spiritual power and authority by modern apostles in their communities. Wagner’s missiology has been largely shaped by the church growth movement. In his quest for better techniques to bring about mass conversions Wagner, impressed by the Latin American Pentecostal churches, embraced Pentecostalism and developed SLSW. However, a thorough biblical study demonstrates that SLSW is mostly unbiblical. A study of SLSW in Church history also demonstrates that SLSW was never accepted in orthodox Christianity. From a contextual point of view SLSW turns out to be a North American missiology with nationalist and political biases. Finally, when looking at the potential effects of a SLSW style missiology in the context of Malawi it emerges that Wagner’s SLSW is likely to reinforce rather than diminish the prevalent witchcraft fears in the Malawian society. At the same time SLSW tends to ‘demonize’ other cultures and thus hinders genuine contextualization. In the final analysis SLSW turns out not to be a commendable strategy for Christian Mission in Malawi. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This dissertation lays out some of the current attitudes and understandings in the Reformed Church in America in regards to the ministry of deliverance. The arguments laid out are supported by what is currently happening in deliverance ministry across the United States and in-depth interviews with Reformed Church in America pastors. Differences in how we understand the terminology involved in this ministry were also briefly looked at. Deliverance ministry within the Reformed church is hampered by issues of fear and uncertainty, lack of knowledge or understanding and issues of world view. Many RCA pastors are open to this ministry although very few have actually engaged in deliverance with a person. RCA pastors tend to lean more toward psychological answers than they do spiritual ones. / Thesis (M. Th. (Practical Theology))