Conservative religious believers often make use of language that represents the perception that there are clear, fixed differences between their view of the world and the worldview of others, and that their view is unambiguously true and other views are not. This thesis explores the validity of that notion through an analysis of conservative religious language from a cognitive linguistic perspective. It first examines the research relating to what is involved in the process of categorising the environment around us and applies it to how that process can lead to and even encourage the perception of conservative religious believers that reality can be simplified into sets of fixed, binary categories. It then investigates whether there are clear, fixed differences between a 15,225 word collection of Evangelical Times Christian testimonials and a 29,067 word collection of islamfortoday.com Muslim testimonials in terms of their use of movement and proximity metaphors to express their way of believing. This thesis concludes with an analysis of the language of three pairs of conservative Muslims and Christians during a videoed discussion focusing on the differences in their experience as believers. In contrast to the first study`s focus on collections of texts, this analysis focuses on individual differences in their use of proximity and movement metaphors and empathetic language. The results of these studies suggest that, despite the fact that such believers perceive their views of the world as clear and fixed, the expression of their perceived experience of interacting with a divine agent can only be accurately described in terms of varying patterns of emphasis. In addition, not only is it sometimes quite difficult to mark out clear differences between different belief communities in terms of this type of language, it is also possible for individuals within the same communities to exhibit as much divergence as individuals from two different communities.

This study examines why some Muslim women in Syria are turning towards an Islamist faith practice and devoutness in the context of the Syrian da‘wa movement. Based on interviews and participant observation from 2006 – 2011 it demonstrates that the quest for the power to live authentic religious lives as devout Muslims lies at the heart of the phenomenon. It argues that the individual development as illustrated by the in-depth profiles of five women, is facilitated by the new access to religious education for women in mosques and private lessons through female preachers that was advocated by the male religious elite. In previous research the compliance of women with restrictive Islamist practices such as veiling has often been explained as empowering women through aiming at mobility and the participation in public space. This thesis argues that the extent to which the participants went in adapting their lives to the Islamist ideal cannot be sufficiently explained by this hypothesis. Rather, it points at their religious motivations to gain a meaningful, emotionally satisfying and correct religious practice in the hope of divine reward. In addition, this thesis analyses the ambiguity of the question of female empowerment as experienced by women in the social and political sense and as religious leaders on one hand and on the other the participants' own concept of empowerment as divine enablement to submission. Thus it contributes to a fuller understanding of devout Islamist women according to their values and self-perception, and offers insights into the unique Syrian context.

This study set out to take a definitive look at African Caribbean entrepreneurship by delineating the broad spectrum of historical and contemporary theories of ethnic entrepreneurship. It also looked in particular on the phenomenon of African Caribbean entrepreneurship through the lens of Pentecostalism, which is the most popular religious expression of African Caribbean peoples in the UK. The extent to which the socio‐cultural and psycho‐religious underpinnings of the African Caribbean person are amenable to entrepreneurial engagement was also subjected to analysis. This analysis focused on themes and perspectives, which are general to African Caribbean experience – individual, family and community. They were presented as age, gender or sex, education, family structure, motivation, and funding of entrepreneurial ventures. Also in connection with these were a number of factors, which operate at the nexus of African Caribbean Pentecostalism and entrepreneurship. These include historical antecedents, socioeconomic situations up to the 1950s, the ambiguity of Scriptures towards wealth as well as the impact of the psychology of time on the African Caribbean mind. All these provide a framework in which the existential and transcendental interact in the community of faith.

This study seeks to develop a more practical and praxis-driven approach to Dalit Theology and its engagement with grassroots Dalit Christians. Dalit Theology is contextual and liberative. It emerged as a counter to Indian Christian theology, which ignored the caste affected life experience of Dalits, who form the majority in the Indian church. It aims to go beyond the merely spiritual in seeking to empower Dalit people and transform society. However, the well reflected and articulated liberational theological themes of Dalit Theology seem to remain mostly within academia and the ecclesia. They have not adequately engaged with grass roots Dalit Christians who face severe discrimination and constant struggle against caste oppression. Therefore, this study is an attempt to analyse the status and potentials of Dalit Theology among grass roots Dalit Christians as a motivational force and to offer a methodological framework to enlarge Dalit Theology as a Practical theology of liberation. The construction of Dalit Theology as a Practical theology of praxis among the grass roots hopes to facilitate the process of bringing about change in their personal life and the formation of a transformed society for both Dalits and non-Dalits to lead a caste-free life.

This thesis investigates cultural expressions of episcopal power in Anglo-Norman England. Bishops were powerful men who operated within a complex power structure. It addresses three key cultural themes: language, the body and space. Using a variety of source material this study offers a wide-ranging vision of episcopal power. It draws on a number of theoretical positions and confronts some of the most damaging historiographical narratives which have overshadowed the bishop. The central aim of this thesis is to investigate the performance of power. By studying how bishops used documents and rhetoric it is possible to understand episcopal power as a pragmatic force. In particular the symbols or representations of power are in fact acts of power which need to be interpreted within the broader historical context of post-Conquest England. Overall this thesis seeks to reposition bishops back in their cathedrals and in this way provide a comparative study of episcopal power.

Futures Studies, or the study of future, is a post-Enlightenment new field of inquiry in Western history of intellectual tradition. It attempts to study the probable, possible and desirable futures for human. Nevertheless, the study and concern on future is not a unique Western phenomenon. Indeed, every society and civilization has its own version of “futures studies”, as found in astrology, numerology, palm reading and so on and so forth. Islam - as the religion of fitrah (primordial nature) - regards future within an eternal conception of time – the dunyā and the akhīrah. With the influence of Western analysis on future, this research attempts at firstly recognizing the notion of future in both Islam and Western traditions. In so doing, we chose two Muslim scholars, Ziauddin Sardar and Mahdi Elmandjra, who are both prominent in the study of future, and also two Western scholars, Alvin Toffler and Daniel Bell as representatives of Western tradition in studying future. Secondly, this research traces the development of futures thinking in both Western and Islamic context and argues that futures thinking, indeed Futures Studies, has become a significant mode of thinking in Western society within its reception of modernity, and now postmodernity. The development of Futures Studies and futures thinking on their Muslim counterpart shows similar interest, though with much slower pace. Our analysis therefore focuses on the thematical aspects of the scholars’ thoughts and compares the divergences between both Muslim and Western views on future, as well as their resemblances. We then conclude that the significance of futures thinking and Futures Studies should be urgently recognized by the Muslims in order to resolve their present condition in which they become part of the contributing factor. This, as we argue and believe, should be realized through an ijtihādic struggle – to be ready to criticize oneself, and recognize one’s weaknesses and mistakes in understanding and practicing one’s own religion and then to set forward the best resolution to be implemented for a desirable future. Only through this process of self-criticism and self-awareness that we can contemplate a self-renewal process for ourselves, and most importantly, for the Muslim society and its civilization in the future.

This thesis explores the ways in which theatrical performances that take place within cathedrals are indelibly shaped by the space of the cathedral from the very beginning of the production process through to audience reception. Drawing on extensive archival research, the Records of Early English Drama, personal interviews, first hand experience as an audience member, and rehearsal observations, this work seeks to understand how these impacts are made and how best to understand the role of the cathedral in shaping such performances. Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the monument will be presented as a way in which one may look at cathedral performance, helping to explain how and why the space acts upon the production. Lefebvre’s theory also helps to situate the cathedral as a social identifier, showing how such performances can act to bring a community together, thereby further influencing the production. This thesis offers insights into how not only the tangible aspects of space affect performance (architecture, art, et cetera), but also how intangible qualities such as history, social identity, emotions, and spirituality/religion impact productions to the same, or similar, degree. Such performances leave indelible marks on the production including the shaping of texts, designs, staging, and the audience’s reception of the final piece; all of which are discussed in detail, with particular attention to case studies. The research concludes by demonstrating that one must not view the cathedral as a neutral vessel, but one that acts upon all aspects of the production of theatre, and in so doing unavoidably alters the performance in a way not possible in other spaces.

The thesis explores the mysticism of service and moral living of the nāyaṉmār through a comprehensive study of the Tamil literary and devotional masterpiece i.e. the Periya Purāṇam or the ‘Great Epic Narrative’. As a twelfth century poetical hagiography that reflects the lives of the nāyaṉmār or Tamil spiritual leaders, the mysticism of this sacred and canonical text of Tamil Śaivism is neither appreciated, as it deserves to be, nor has it been sufficiently studied in academia. The modest research is intended to fill a vacuum in the literature of Tamil Śaiva mysticism. Besides this primary purpose, the research aims to make an academic contribution by introducing this mysticism of service and moral living of the nāyaṉmār as narrated in the Periya Purāṇam to a wider academic community and to the Tamil Śaiva religious community at large. The claim is that this mysticism that is embedded in the text has been largely overlooked. Through an integral approach of hagiographical and thematic exegesis, it is argued that Cēkkiḻār, the author, by imbuing himself in the mystical quest of the early Tamil literary, moral and devotional traditions, textured around these nāyaṉmār, initiates a way to Śiva that was foreign to the Tamil tradition of his milieu. Cēkkiḻār shapes his mystical theology and ideology in the form of two aims i.e. service and moral living. By his radical theology of Siva, he presents a theology of service and moral living which is ‘Person’ centred and a mystical thirst for Transcendence which is ‘Divine’ oriented. This interplay of cosmic and meta-cosmic levels of mystical experience provided a worldview, an alternative vision for political and social change in Tamil society.

The five texts contained in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 114 (c. 1420-50) are seminal to understanding the centrality of asceticism in medieval English devotional literature. This thesis addresses the ways in which Douce 114 can be comprehended as a ‘whole book’ and as such outlines a transformation from extreme bodily mortification (in its first text) to the mortification of mind (in its last). It suggests that the manuscript was envisioned as a spiritual tool, its contents designed to be read in order, and that the central theme of asceticism is a hermeneutical device which guides the (Carthusian) reader’s spiritual development. The introduction provides a history of Christian asceticism while the first chapter contextualises attitudes to the phenomenon in late-medieval England. Chapters two and three examine the themes of Passion devotion and imitatio Christi in the Life of Elisabeth of Spalbeek, chapter four addresses the nature of embodiment and earthly purgatory in the Life of Christina Mirabilis, and chapter five examines the inherent problem of misguided bodily imitation of spiritual exemplars in reference to the Life of Marie of Oignies. In conclusion, chapter six argues that the Life of Catherine of Siena and Henry Suso’s Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom, which emphasise the transcendence of bodliness, clarify the true inwardly ascetical nature of the preceding texts.

This study considers the development and evolution of Byzantine diplomacy through a crucial and previously overlooked period of the empire’s history. Current scholarship has neglected the analysis of Byzantine diplomacy from 1204, when the capital of Constantinople was seized by the Fourth Crusade, to 1261, when the city was returned to Byzantine control. During these years the institutions of the Byzantine state were preserved at Nicaea, which continued the complex relationship between Greeks and Latins and adapted the tested methods of diplomacy to meet new challenges. Of central concern is the frequency of church-union negotiation, or disputatio, during the period in question. Attempts to heal the schism of the Eastern and Western Churches were a frequently used tool of Byzantine diplomacy even before 1204, but the sources, problems and implications surrounding this aspect of foreign relations, although taken up by those pursuing theological analysis, have been neglected by historians. The emperors in Nicaea repeatedly opened talks with the papacy to end the schism before 1261, most notably in 1234, a meeting which carried profound implications for Byzantine foreign policy. By placing the disputatio in the context of Byzantine-Latin relations after 1204, we gain a more complete understanding of Byzantine diplomacy.