A concept of underworld runs through many cultures. These realms of spirits and the dead generally share several key characteristics, despite their varied and separate traditions. The commonalities among these different mythological places make it possible to generalize certain characteristics as chthonic for descriptive and analytical purposes. The underworld has appeared widely in video games throughout their history. I argue that the remarkable prevalence reflects a formal relationship between the underworld and video games; specific elements in mythic underworlds comprise a chthonic poetics that resonates with video game worlds and affordances. Video games uniquely support the spatial, thematic, and narrative elements that characterize underworlds and the philosophical questions they engage. Embodiment binds these elements together; they are unintelligible without this core perspective. The body sits at the axis of experience in mythic underworlds like the one described by Dante in the Divine Comedy and in game worlds like the one in World of Warcraft. It provides the medium through which we can experience these simulations as worlds rather than mere information structures. Other formal elements give context and direction to that embodied experience, and exploring how these interact with embodiment can expand our understanding of chthonic embodiment and the experience of space in virtual worlds. Three primary forces acting on the agency, subjectivity and control of the body structure that experience, which in turn reflects the ways of being that emerge from chthonic contexts. By incorporating these forces into their gameplay and narrative structure, games provide more direct access to the mythic power associated with the underworld than previous media forms.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Media, Music, and Cultural Studies, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 303-332. / Carnal transcendence and sexual difference -- An amorous exchange -- Angels playing with placentas -- Fluid subjects -- Poetics -- Oneiric spaces -- Conclusion. / Carnal transcendence imagines a world in which the carnal has the weight and value of transcendence, and the divine is as liveable and readily evoked as the carnal. Carnal transcendence offers a means of thinking through difference in the work of Luce Irigaray, who asks: "why and how long ago did God withdraw from carnal love?" (1991a, p 16). This thesis argues that Irigaray enables her readers to explore the relationship between carnality, transcendence and difference, but resists elaborating it in her work. Carnal transcendence as difference risks remaining an exercise in rhetoric, rather than the transformative and creative philosophy that Irigaray imagines. -- Irigaray's resistance to the carnal is evident in her arguments for sexual difference, which offers our "salvation" if we think it through, and heralds "a new age of thought, art, poetry, and language: the creation of a new poetics" (1993a, p 5). Note the language of transcendence used here. When considered in the light of carnal transcendence, sexual difference imagines a differently sexed culture. This thesis argues that Irigaray's writing is contradictory on this point: it articulates the plurality of women's sexuality, but emphatically excludes theories of sex and gender that emphasise multiplicity. This thesis challenges these limitations by exploring the possibilities of the "other" couple in Irigaray's writing-mother and daughter - for thinking through carnal transcendence as difference. -- This thesis not only explicates a theoretical model for carnal transcendence as difference; it also attempts to put into practice a poetics - a playful rewriting of theory. This celebrates the carnality of Irigaray's writing - evident in her complex imagery of the two lips, mucus, the placenta and angels-and enables an exploration of the philosophical space of the "new poetics" that Irigaray is attempting to engender. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 332 p. ill (some col.)

Zugl.: Regensburg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

The religious significance of Emmet Fox (1886-1951), a pioneer in the New Thought movement, is the focus of this study. The relevance of Fox's religious thought will be determined in reference to and in the context of contemporary theorist Ken Wilber's theoretical framework of integral hermeneutics. On the basis of Fox's primary writings, biographical information, the ideas and philosophy of modern New Thought scholars and Wilber's literature, Fox's religious thought was interpreted and evaluated. Aspects of Fox's belief, such as creative mind, scientific prayer, meditation and healing, concepts such as God, Jesus Christ, death, reincarnation, karma and end times, as well as his method of biblical exegesis are discussed. It becomes apparent that Emmet Fox, preacher and teacher, had never intended to provide a scientific or academic structural doctrine in which to deliver his teaching. His non-conformist, simple, yet well thought-through beliefs, which include esoteric, eastern and universal truths, focused on the fundamental truths that are necessary for humanity's evolutionary development. This approach made Fox's teaching valuable to his audience of the time, a changing American consciousness, as well as appropriate to a transformational South Africa, where it is relevant in bridging the various cultures, languages, and religious beliefs within a continuously changing spiritually minded population, and most of all, beneficial to every person's inner spiritual journey towards ultimate enlightenment. Fox's underlying religious belief is that `the thought is the thing' and this endorses the whole of the New Thought teaching, which states that `whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve' or `be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind'. Probably the most remarkable feature of his religious thinking is his popular allegorical interpretation of the Bible, which he interprets spiritually. It is apparent that there is an affinity between the religious thought of Emmet Fox and that of Wilber. Although the intent of this study is not to compare these scholars, it is interesting and valuable to Fox's interpretation that they advocate a similar underlying belief in the holistic Kosmos and the importance of having an integral vision. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

[pt] A revelação divina hoje se caracteriza por um trabalho de pesquisa sobre a concepção da revelação de Deus na história. Enfatiza um repensar contínuo da percepção de Deus como condição para a realização humana, à luz do pensamento de Andrés Torres Queiruga. Circunscreve-se a uma preocupação com a fé diante da sensibilidade do homem hodierno, com atenção à situação cultural, nascida a partir da modernidade. Metodologicamente, buscamos: compreender a concepção tradicional de revelação; discorrer sobre a teologia da revelação de Torres Queiruga, como rica alternativa para estabelecer comunicação com a sociedade hodierna; evidenciar as consequências teológicas da concepção de revelação e sua práxis. A dimensão do sofrimento e da cruz aponta que o silêncio divino é consequência da surdez e resistências humanas no processo de acolhida da revelação. Ele cria para salvar e, ao salvar, revela-se. Os resultados esperados apontam a necessidade de um árduo e dedicado trabalho de retraduzir – com as categorias da linguagem moderna – a fé revelada de modo pleno em Jesus de Nazaré. No afã de mostrar que o embate não é o melhor caminho para a percepção de Deus, sabiamente o autor busca uma zona de contato entre aquilo que existe de melhor tanto na fé quanto na modernidade. A partir dessa percepção pedagógico-metodológica da necessidade de valorizar o melhor com o melhor, isto é, aquilo que é o essencial de cada uma, a sua obra ressalta a concepção de revelação para a realização do homem. / [en] Divine revelation today is characterized by a research work on the conception of the God s revelation in history. It emphasizes a continuous rethinking of God s perception as a condition for human realization in light of Andrés Torres Queiruga s thought. It is circumscribed a preoccupation with the faith faced with the sensibility of the modern human being, taking into consideration the cultural situation which has been born of modernity. Methodologically, we seek: to understand the traditional conception of revelation; to discuss the Torres Queiruga s theology of the revelation as a wealth alternative to establish communication with current society; evidence of the theological consequences of the conception of revelation and its praxis. The suffering and cross dimension points out that divine silence is the consequence of deafness and human resistance in the process of revelation reception. He creates to save and, in saving, reveals himself. Expected results indicate the requirement for an arduous and dedicated work to retranslate - considering modern language demands - faith fully revealed in Jesus of Nazareth throughout the salvation history. In the diligence of identifying that the clash is not the best way for perception of God, author wisely seeks a zone of meeting considering the best in both faith and modernity. From this pedagogical-methodological perception of the need to value the best with the best, namely what is the essential of each one, his work emphasizes the revelation conception for the human being realization.

According to the research, emphatic "Greek text" tells about confidence of Nicodemus in possession of trustworthy criteria, which allow him to judge what might be from God and, hence, what might not be from God. Epistemological premise of Nicodemus is the starting point for the whole conversation in Jn 3:1-21. Analysis of the Jewish literary tradition that used dualistic couples of antonyms to denote "otherness" of the divine sphere 1ms shown that ontological difference (v. 6) makes it impossible for human ("flesh") to know the divine sphere ("spirit"). This results in the fact that manifestations of the divine sphere (effect) are falsely taken by human for the divine sphere itself (cause). In other words, just verification of the divine sphere manifestation without initiative act on behalf of God does not allow human neither to correctly value this sphere, nor to enter it. / New Testament / M. Th. (New Testament)

The problem of universal oppression has caused Gutierrez, Cone and Moltmann to advocate that God is orchestrating an historical programme of liberation from socio-economic, racial and political suffering. They feel that God's liberating actions can be seen in the Abrahamic promise, the exodus and the Christ-event. Moltmann, especially, has emphasized both the trinitarian identification with human pain and the influence of the freedom of the future upon the suffering of the present. According to our theologians, Jesus Christ identified with us, and died the death of a substitutionary victim. Through the resurrection, Jesus Christ overcame the problem of suffering and death, and inaugurated the New Age. The cross and resurrection were the focal point of God's liberating activity. Liberation, or freedom, from sin and suffering is now possible, at least proleptically. We are to understand the atonement as having been liberative rather than forensic or legal, although judgement is not ignored. Both the perpetrators of injustice and their victims are called upon to identify with, and struggle for, freedom, with the help of the liberating Christ. We agree with our theologians that God has historically indicated his desire for justice and freedom. The magnitude of evil and suffering still existing, however, forces us to abandon the idea that God is progressively liberating history. Nevertheless, we affirm the idea that the Trinity has absorbed human suffering into its own story through the incarnate Son. Jesus identified with suffering in a four-fold way, namely: its existence, the judgement of it, the overcoming of it, and the need to oppose it. This comprehensive identification gives Christ the right to demand the doing of justice, because the greatest injustice in history has happened to him. The atonement was forensic, rendering all people accountable to Christ; but it was also liberative, validating the struggle against oppression. Furthermore, at his second coming, Christ will be vindicated in whatever judgement he will exact upon the perpetrators of injustice or oppression. For today the resurrection still gives hope and faith to those who suffer and to those who identify with them / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th.D. (Systematic Theology)

According to Scripture God created human beings "in our image, after our likeness". The likeness used to be conceived in terms of the rational nature human beings possess. Modern thought has come to conceive of the likeness rather in terms of being person, who receives her identity in relationships from others and at the same time mediates the others´ identity to them. The author presents the historical development of the concept of person as well as selected contemporary approaches, which she evaluates in light of the personal life of the Triune God as it is witnessed in Scripture and incessantly communicated in the liturgy of the church. She also presents ways of conceiving of created personhood she has attained in this light. Created persons are created in order to receive divine self-communication and to be able to participate in it, which they can in dependence on the one, who is the true revelator of God, as participation in his revelatory activity. By accepting their dependence, they become capable of acting freely through themselves and fulfill the task entrusted to them by creation.

Verifica e analisa o encadeamento ideológico utilizado por Homero para ordenar as mortes dos principais heróis gregos do ciclo épico; o ideal guerreiro da bela morte e o ideal heróico da glória imperecível; o destino do homem comum e o destino do herói; a vontade de Zeus e o plano de Zeus; a morte dos heróis; os jogos fúnebres, registrados na Ilíada e na Odisséia. Para a coleta dos dados utiliza-se de leitura sistemática, abrangendo textos de autores antigos e de autores contemporâneos, verificando o comportamento dos helenos do período Homérico diante da morte. Aponta como principais resultados: há um encadeamento ideológico que liga as mortes dos principais heróis homéricos, tecido pelo poeta e baseado no ciclo épico; há um plano de Zeus para eliminar os principais heróis porque as mortes destes heróis causam sofrimento nos deuses; as crenças na vida depois da morte e os processos funerários adotados pelos gregos do período Homérico ainda estavam em formação; os antigos gregos não mantinham uma crença sistemática em uma idéia de ressurreição da alma ou em uma idéia de vida pós-morte. Conclui que há uma diretriz ideológica que ordena a trama épica nos poemas homéricos; esta ordenação leva os heróis a cumprirem seus destinos, seguindo um encadeamento que leva em consideração o grau de honra e excelência guerreira; os ritos fúnebres dos gregos do período Homérico estavam se consolidando e Homero colaborou neste processo de consolidação, que já estava concretizado no período Clássico. / It verifies and analyzes the enchainment ideological used for Homer to order the death of Greek heroes principal of the epic cycle; the warrior ideal of the death beauty and the heroic ideal of the imperishable glory; the fate of the common man and the fate of the hero; the will of Zeus and the plain of Zeus; the death of heroes; the funeral games, registered in the Iliad and Odyssey. The data were obtained through: systematical reading of texts produced by ancients authors and by contemporarys authors, verifying the behavior of the Greeks of the Homeric period in the face of death. It points to as main results: there is a enchainment ideological what tie the deaths of the Homeric heroes principal, weaved for the poet and based in the epic cycle; there is a plain of Zeus to eliminate the heroes principal because the death these heroes cause suffering in the gods; the believe in the afterlife and the funerals processes adopted to the Greeks of Homeric period still were in formation; the Greek ancients not keep one systematic belief in one idea of resurrection of the soul or in one idea of life after-death. It finishes that there is a ideological directrix what order the epic plot in the Homeric poems; this ordering carry the heroes to accomplish their fates, following a enchainment what take into account the degree of the honor and warrior excellence; the funerals rites of the Greeks of Homeric period were consolidating and Homer collaborate in this process of the consolidation, what already was materialized in the Classic period.

Dans la présente étude, nous cherchons, par la description du système de formation des modalités énonciatives, délimiter des configurations propres au fonctionnement de la littérature italienne du Trecento et de réfléchir sur la façon dont ils peuvent contribuer à une discussion des orientations du sens dans la discoursivité littéraire. Nous visons, ainsi, la restauration d\'un moyen de configuration, un fonctionnement réglé par un ensemble de conditions historiques, qui, bien qu\'étant quelque chose en dehors, est constitutif de cette production. Cette étude s\'inscrit dans le cadre des analyses historiques proposées par Foucault, qui, selon Machado (1979) pourraient être organisées autour de deux noyaux: celui d une archéologie dont le but était « d\'établir la constitution du savoir privilégiant les interactions discursives et leurs liaison avec les institutions » (p. X) et qui répondait à la question « comment les savoirs apparurent et se transformèrent »; et celui d une généalogie qui, ayant comme question centrale le pourquoi des savoirs, vise à « expliquer l\'émergence de savoirs a partir de conditions de possibilités externes aux savoirs eux-mêmes, ou plutôt, qui immanent à eux-mèmes - car il ne s agit pas de les considérer comme effet ou résultat - les situent comme éléments d\'un dispositif de nature essentiellement stratégique » (p. X). Par ce biais méthodologique, la lecture de la Divine Comédie - notre corpus d\'analyse - a été réalisée à partir d\'un dispositif qui a combiné l\'intersection de trois aspects qui sont entrelacés dans la formation des modalités énonciatives : le status du sujet, les lieux institutionnels d où les discours émergent et les positions de sujet. La description de ces aspects nous a permis de dévoiler les premiers entrecroisé qui composent la tessiture dantesque, la délimitation de petits sites de formulations qui seront à la base de la définition du système de dispersion spécifique constitutif de la matérialité à l\'étude. En ce qui concerne la question des sens, nous avons constaté que la description des énoncés ne nous permet pas d\'établir sans équivoque leur(s) sens, mais en définissant les conditions de l\'existence de ceux-ci nous nous instrumentalisions pour sélectionner certain sens possibles. Ceci offre un éventail de possibilités pour valider certains sens et questionner d autres. Le complexe conceptuel foucaldien nous équipe d\'un niveau d approche qui permet d\'identifier les moyens comment chaque formulation est singularisé dans sa réalisation et par conséquent, les restrictions sur la dérive du sens. Lorsque nous reprenons la trame discursive qui a rendu possible l\'existence de certains énoncés, nous croyons que nous nous sommes approchés à la dénomination donnée par Dreyfus et Rabinow (2010 ) au projet de Foucault: une analytique interprétative. Celle-ci se conduit par l\'hypothèse que « le discours n\'est pas seulement un sens ou une vérité, mais une histoire, et une histoire spécifique qui ne le reconduit pas aux lois d un devenir étrange. » (Foucault, 2000, p. 146). / No presente estudo, buscamos, pela descrição do sistema de formação das modalidades enunciativas, delinear configurações próprias ao funcionamento da literatura no trecento italiano e refletir sobre o modo como podem contribuir para uma abordagem dos sentidos na discursividade literária. Objetivamos, destarte, reconstituir certo modo de configuração, um funcionamento regulado por um conjunto de condições históricas, que, embora sendo algo exterior, é constitutivo dessa produção. Insere-se este estudo no quadro das análises históricas discursivas propostas por Foucault, as quais, segundo Machado (1979), poderiam ser organizadas em torno de dois núcleos: o de uma arqueologia cujo propósito era estabelecer a constituição dos saberes privilegiando as interrelações discursivas e sua articulação com as instituições (p. X) e que respondia à questão de como os saberes apareciam e se transformavam ; e o de uma genealogia, que tendo como questão central o porquê dos saberes, objetiva explicar o aparecimento de saberes a partir de condições de possibilidade externas aos próprios saberes, ou melhor, que imanente a eles pois não se trata de considerá-los como efeito ou resultante os situam como elementos de um dispositivo de natureza essencialmente estratégica. (p. X). Por esse viés teórico-metodológico, a leitura da Divina Comédia nosso corpus para análise - foi realizada a partir de um dispositivo que conjugou a intersecção de três aspectos que se encontram imbricados na formação das modalidades enunciativas: o status do sujeito, os lugares institucionais de onde emergem os discursos e as posições de sujeito. A descrição desses aspectos nos permitiu desvelar os primeiros entrelaçamentos a compor a tessitura dantesca, a delimitação de pequenos sítios de formulações que servirão de base à definição do sistema de dispersão específico constitutivo da materialidade em estudo. No que concerne à questão dos sentidos foi possível constatar que a descrição dos enunciados não nos permite o estabelecimento inequívoco do(s) seu(s) sentido(s), mas ao definir as condições de existência daqueles nos instrumentalizamos para a seleção de alguns sentidos possíveis. O que se oferece é um campo de possibilidades para a validação de certos sentidos e questionamento de outros. O complexo conceitual foucaultiano nos instrumentaliza em um nível de abordagem que permite identificar os modos como cada formulação é singularizada em sua realização e, por conseguinte, as restrições às derivas do sentido. Ao resgatarmos a trama discursiva que tornou possível a existência de certos enunciados cremos ter nos aproximado da denominação atribuída por Dreyfus e Rabinow (2010) ao projeto foucaultiano: uma analítica interpretativa. Ela se conduz pelo pressuposto de que o discurso não tem apenas um sentido ou uma verdade, mas uma história, e uma história específica que não o reconduz às leis de um devir estranho. (FOUCAULT, 2000, p. 146). / Doutor em Estudos Linguísticos