This thesis presents an extended critical analysis of the methodological thought of the Cambridge historian Herbert Butterfield (1900-1979). It is based on the full range of his published works, as well as unpublished material. It is a contribution to the history of historiography, and to the theory of history. The thesis concentrates on the relationship between Butterfield’s views on historical research and historiographical narration, and his concept of a ‘historical process’ which was the expression of a ‘providential order’. The principal problem in Butterfield’s writings is the contradiction between his advocacy of a ‘technical history’ seen as free and independent of any interpretative presupposition, and his belief in Providence and its utilisation in the course of his historiography. Firstly, the thesis argues that Butterfield employs his own presuppositions even without making explicit references to his belief in Providence. Secondly, it explains why he embraced and advocated two contradictory standpoints. Butterfield’s position is best clarified with reference to the content of his Christian beliefs. It is argued that Butterfield regarded all non-Christian interpretations of history as distorting oversimplifications. They were for him not fully scientific and rigorous, because they selected some phenomenon, or principle, or institution arising within human history and made it the central interpretative principle. He saw his own practice as exempt from this criticism. This thesis argues that Butterfield’s position is nevertheless interpretative. However, it is argued that Butterfield’s critique of ideologically based historiographic distortions and oversimplifications is important in the assessment of rival interpretations of history.

The thesis provides a descriptive survey of the history of interpretation of Revelation 11:1-13. Prior to 1000 AD it aims to be comprehensive, but after this date concentrates on Western interpretation. Ch. 1 - Prior to 1000 AD. Rev 11:1-13 is examined in relation to the wider complex of traditions concerning Antichrist and the return of Enoch and Elijah. The commentary tradition on Revelation is examined, including an extensive reconstruction of Tyconius. The passage is applied in two ways: 1. to two eschatological figures, usually Enoch and Elijah. 2. to the Church from the time of Christ's first advent until his return. Ch. 2 -1000-1516 Exegesis similar to that of chapter 1 is found. There is new exegesis from Joachim of Fiore, who believes that the two witnesses will be two religious orders, and Alexander Minorita, who reads the entirety of the Apocalypse as a sequential narrative of Church history, arriving at the sixth century for 11:1-13. Ch. 3 -1516-1700 Protestants interpret the beast as the papacy/Roman Church, and the two witnesses as proto-Protestants prior to the Reformation, often interpreting their 1260 day ministry as 1260 years. Catholics respond by applying the passage either to the eschatological future or the distant past. Ch. 4 -1701-2004 Protestants continue to see the 1260 days as 1260 years, although this interpretation declines markedly in the nineteenth century. Both Catholics and Protestants apply the passage to the distant past of the early Church. Historical critical exegesis introduces a new exegesis, where John is regarded as having incorrectly predicted the return of two individuals shortly after his time of writing. Applications to the entirety of the time of the time of the Church increase in popularity in the twentieth century.

The present study began as an attempt to discover what mechanisms existed in Wilhelmine Germany to prevent the expression of radical views about politics and society by artists, writers and journalists. As the work progressed, it became clear that, because of the federal structure of the Reich, conditions varied considerably in different parts of the country} and that it would be both more practicable and more interesting to limit the investigation to a single city, Munich, which had a very active avant-garde, and where the strength of political clericalism made the debate about freedom of expression particularly fierce. Contemporary discussion centred mainly on two distinct, though related, topics: freedom of the press and freedom of the stage; and the sources available made it seem desirable, in addition to outlining the general legal background, to construct two detailed case-studies in order to investigate them. The choice of the satirical paper Simplicissimus on the one hand, and Frank Wedekind's plays on the other, soon proved to have been very appropriate. The history of Simplicissimus is interesting for three main reasons. In the first place, it sheds light on nearly all the major legal and practical issues connected with the liberty of the press in this period. Secondly, although Simplicissimus won a European reputation for its skilful satirical treatment of German and international affairs, the men who produced it were closely Identified with a particular community; and they commented acutely on events in Bavaria which had considerable bearing on Munich intellectuals' freedom to express themselves. Finally, a wealth of private and official documents makes it possible to study the relationship between an original and sometimes highly provocative paper and the state in exceptional detail. The case of Frank Wedekind forms an ideal counterpart to that of Simplicissimus. The authorities had much more power to control the theatre - which was regarded by many people ae an important channel of communication. than to control the press, and Wedekind's frequent and very well documented conflicts with the Munich censor reveal the weakness of a playwright's position compared with that of a journalist. Furthermore, Wedekind was for a time one of Simplicissimus' most 'subversive' collaborators; he was one of the acknowledged leaders of the Munich avant-garde. which was subjected to bitter attacks by Bavarian conservatives; and the nature of his plays meant that he became involved in the debate about pornography and low-grade literature which went on throughout the period. [Continued in text ...]

Chapter Five finally argues that Bouyer's construal of the Church's principal actions (liturgical celebration, evangelical witness, and the total life of prayer and Christian discipleship) is consistent with his christological and trinitarian horizon, and that these ecclesial actions respond most appropriately to the divine initiative manifested in the Word and Wisdom.

Innokenty Annensky (1855-1909) was better known to his contemporaries as a classics teacher and translator than as a poet; but, with the exception of two or three obituary articles, nothing has been written on his work as a classicist. His work has often been misconstrued and he has been described as an outstanding scholar. It has not been generally appreciated that his interest in the scholarly world was not really academic; he saw classical texts as models for his own literary works, and as inspiration for the 'Slavonic renaissance' he looked forward to with F.F. Zelinsky. This thesis covers Annensky's classical education, the essays he wrote on classical literature, and his translations of classical texts. Particular attention is given to the essays and translations which were intended to be published in Teatr Evripida, the first complete Russian version of Euripides. Annensky wrote no essay explicitly devoted to the subject of classicism. But from his essays on classical literature and the remarks on classical literature in his essays on modern literature it is possible to extrapolate his views on the nature of the classical tradition and on how he thought classical literature should be imitated. I show that Annensky's attitude to the classics was idiosyncratic and paradoxical. On the one hand, the classical world was viewed elegaically as an ideal of lost perfection; on the other, it was one of many cultural traditions on which he drew in his literary works and which was adapted in accordance with Modernist poetics. The discussion of Annensky's views on classicism is accompanied by information about the system of classical education in Russia 1870-1910, and about the history of classical scholarship and of literary classicism in Russia. Annensky's essays are compared with those of a representative scholar, Zelinsky, and a representative Symbolist, Vyacheslav Ivanov.

This thesis has its starting-point in a recognition that, so far, Maurice Blanchot's work has been considered as posing its critic an impossible problem. In recognising this, however, it does not seek merely to provide advance justification for its own shortcomings. On the contrary, it sets out to demonstrate that the impossibility of accounting for Blanchot's work arises not simply because he is a 'difficult' author, but because his sole ambition has been to call into question the entire categoric framework of possibility in terms of which we seek to approach him. The task it seeks to fulfil is thus to locate the gradually occurring break with traditional categories which is at the heart of Blanchot's work. On the basis of close attention to the variants between his finished works and the original texts which constitute them, it seeks to transform his work from the forbidding, self-sufficient universe it is generally taken to be, and, by replacing Blanchot in his neriod, to show how he brings about a gradually evolving transmutation of the forms and structures within which literature is traditionally contained. The period it examines lies between the appearance of Thomas l'obscure in 1941 and that of L'Espace littéraire in 1955. More precisely, by detailed study of L'Arrêt de mort and of the development of his criticism from La Part du feu to L'Espace littéraire, it seeks to reveal how, in the domain of fiction and in that of criticism, Blanchot sets about subverting the very structure of language, preparing the way for the new literary idiom which is his today, and in which fiction and theory coexist in a single philosophical discourse of great originality.

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The thesis focuses on the shaping of the national history of Albanians during the Albanian national movement. The time frame of the study is epoch between 1854 when Johann Georg von Hahn published Albanian Studies, and 1912 remarking proclamation of Albanian independence. The main goal of the paper is to introduce the structure of Albanian historical narrative in its romantic phase. For this purpose, the content analysis of works of seven main representatives of the national movement was used. Selected authors include: Jeronim de Rada, Pashko Vasa, Thimi Mitko, Spiro Risto Dine, Sami Frashëri, Naim Frashëri, Jani Vreto. The thesis explains the timeline of historical narrative and the perspective on the role of religion and religious communities. The study also covers creating the pantheon of national heroes and perception of neighbouring nations. The construct of the historical narrative is described in the context of beginnings of European scientific research about Albanian history. A reader will also get familiar with elementary ideological development of the Albanian national movement on the background of pivotal historical moments. The attachment of the thesis represents short biographies of selected authors.

M.Litt. et Phil. / Die boek Openbaring word nie net deur helder en dramatiese beelde gekenmerk nie, maar ook deur die verskeidenheid name wat aan Jesus gegee word. Elke naam hou verband met een of meer eienskappe van Jesus en dui op 'n aspek van sy funksie binne God se verlossingsplan. In die simboliek van Openbaring staan die plek en rol van die Lam sentraal in die afloop van die eskatologiese gebeure. Hy wat as Leeu van Juda histories van Dawid afstam, maar as lam "geslag, (tot versoening aan God geoffer) is het die bevoegdheid ontvang om die boekrol met sewe seels in die hand van God oop te maak (hfst.5). Volgens Botha, De Villiers en Engelbrecht (1988:12) bevat Openbaring 'n potpourri van motiewe en idees wat verband hou met ander godsdienste of Bybelse tye byvoorbeeld Persiese, Babiloniese en Gnostiese motiewe. Die invloed van die ou Oosterse mitologie kan duidelik bespeur word in byvoorbeeld die Babiloniese weergawe van die stryd tussen die Skepper en 'n grout seemonster'. Ook die "hemelse tablette" wat tydens die Nuwejaarsfees 'n uiters belangrike rol gespeel het wanneer die god, Marduk, die draak, Tiamat oorwin en die tablette in sy hand geplaas word om sy mag en oorwinning aan te dui. In Openbaring het die Lam alleen die mag om die boek uit die hand van God te neem en die seals daarvan te breek. Die boekrol wat Johannes sien, bevat al die inligting van God se planne met die geskiedenis. Die feit dat die boekrol met sewe seels verseel is, is 'n aanduiding daarvan dat dit volkome geslote en ontoeganklik is. Niemand in die hemel, op die aarde of onder die aarde kon gevind word om God se plan vir die wereldgeskiedenis te laat oopvou nie. Totdat een van die ouderlinge die aandag vestig dat Jesus Christus, die Lam, waardig is om die seels te breek.