Cette thèse d’histoire du corps porte sur les pratiques corporelles des carmélites déchaussées espagnoles et s’appuie principalement sur une relecture de leur hagiographie imprimée et manuscrite. En utilisant les outils de l’anthropologie et de la sociologique historique, nous y montrons que les regards que les religieuses posent sur leur corps et sur celui des autres sont le moteur d’un travail de la chair qui construit de manière déterminante la réputation de sainteté dont certaines peuvent jouir dans leur communauté. Leurs pratiques corporelles de prières et de mortification y sont décrites non plus seulement dans la dimension verticale de leur rapport à Dieu, mais comme le produit des relations au sein d’une communauté et la conséquence des tensions politiques et des évolutions de la société dans laquelle elle s’inscrit. Ce travail reprend le travail religieux du corps en approfondissant ses enjeux et en creusant ses contradictions et ses difficultés, en décalage avec les représentations du corps et de la sainteté en vigueur. Sont également abordées les logiques extra-religieuses qui expliquent les pratiques. Si, entre les années 1560 et le début du XVIIe siècle, l’exigence de purification personnelle recule, soumise à des contraintes contradictoires et croissantes, elle reste auréolée d’un grand prestige à la mesure des figures héroïques et pénitentes des premiers temps de la réforme de l’ordre. / This thesis mainly deals with corporal mortification as it is carried out in counter-reformation Spain convents. It is based on discalced Carmelites’ manuscript and printed lives, read with the tools of historical anthropology. The punishment of their flesh helps the nuns to comply with a common model of sanctity, both for the edification of their counterparts and for their own desire to become saints. But the vertical relationship they claim to have with God is not the only way to understand their violence. Corporal practices reflect both the interactions inside the community, the political and eschatological tensions outside of it and the evolution of Spanish society in the early modern period. The work underlines the tensions and contradictions the religious body, far more explicit when it comes to practice than when one remains focused on wide models of sanctity. It also enlightens the influence of the secular and mundane world on religious practices. Between the 1560’s and the 1640’s, mortification rises and slow down after the 1590’s, but the bloody model of the penitential body remains crucial to understand the nuns‘spirituality

Peu de textes de Pascal semblent relever de l’expérience ou du discours mystique. Outre le Mémorial, qui garde mémoire d’une expérience de Dieu sur une feuille de papier, outre la Prière pour demander à Dieu le bon usage des maladies, certaines lettres, à Mlle de Roannez, contiennent des conseils pour se rapprocher de Dieu, d’autres lettres spirituelles, comme celle écrite après la mort de leur père, traitent de l’attitude du chrétien face à la mort. Sur la conversion du pêcheur nous livre les difficultés de l’homme à la recherche de Dieu. Cependant, malgré la pauvreté quantitative des textes traitant assez clairement de la mystique, il nous est apparu qu’elle constitue la clé de voûte de l’édifice pascalien, sans laquelle l’œuvre de Pascal ne fait pas sens. A partir de ce point ultime et transcendant, expliqué en partie par le contexte familial et social de Pascal, on peut relire et comprendre sa démarche scientifique, et la relation entretenue avec la Bible. Ainsi nous proposons une relecture de l’intégralité de l’œuvre pascalienne, en la replaçant dans l’histoire la mystique judéo-chrétienne, en mettant notamment en relief la façon dont Pascal s’est approprié l’esprit et la mystique biblique, dans une tradition où l’influence du dualisme platonicien n’est pas étranger. La mystique pascalienne se définit ainsi comme le désir d’une union à Dieu, médiatisée par la figure du Christ, et il en résulte une relation de chaque instant, où l’homme se sent transformé, déifié, dans un sentiment de joie. / Not many texts by Pascal deal with the mystical experience. In addition to the Memorial, relating an experience of God on a sheet of paper, and to the Prière pour le bon usage des maladies,some letters, written to Miss de Roannez, give advice on how to approach God, as well as other spiritual letters, like that written after his father’s death, dealing with the Christian’s attitude facing death. Sur la conversion du pécheur brings out the difficulties of a man in search of God. However, greatly exceding those few explicit texts on the subject, it appears that this topic is the essential keystone to undestand Pascal’s work, bringing to light all its meaning. This ultimate and transcendent viewpoint partly explanable by the Pascal ‘s family and social context makes it possible to go deeper into his scientific approach, and the relation carried on with the Bible. Our aim is thus to put Pascal’s entire work in the perspective of the the Judaeo-Chistian mysticism history, highlighting in particular the way Pascal adapted the spirit and the biblical mysticism, in a tradition connected to the Platonic dualism. Pascal’s mysticism is thus defined as the desire for the union with God, mediated by the figure of Christ, and resulting in a relationship of each moment, where man feels transformed, deified, in a sense of joy.

Démontrer le caractère mystique de l'oeuvre de Beckett et la complexité de ses rapports avec Dieu au-delà de toute idée de religion, de croyance ou de foi et au-delà de savoir si Godot est Dieu.... Il s'agit de montrer la prégnance de Dieu dans l'oeuvre et la pensée de Beckett, une prégnance que tantôt Beckett accepte et assimile, tantôt rejette comme trop pesant. Il faudra s'appuyer sur les propres lectures de Beckett, celles avérées et celles supposées et voir la part des mystiques, la part de la Bible et établir des rapprochements.La personne de Jésus est en outre pour lui fondamentale. Elle fascine tout particulièrement Beckett, car, à travers le Dogme de l'Incarnation, c'est pour lui toute une interrogation et un mystère quant à la présence de Dieu non seulement au monde et dans l'Homme, mais aussi le le mystère d'un Dieu fait homme et d'un homme dieu qui ne se sait peut-être pas Dieu. / This is to show that the works of Beckett holds an undeniable mystical character and relationship to God and the deity is the most complex.

This essay is focusing on Dag Hammarskjöld´s influences from Christian mysticism and modern criticism of metaphysics. Meister Eckhard is a well-known reference in Markings which in this study will be set as an example of mysticism i Hammarskjöld´s thinking. Not so associated to Hammarskjöld is the philosofer Axel Hägerström, though he will be an example of influences of modern thinking in Markings. To achieve a more specific view about how mysticism and modernity is converging and diverging in Markings, three subjects are more deeply discussed. These subjects are Jesus, Man and Metaphysics. In the matter of Jesus Hammarskjöld, Hägerström and Eckhart is sharing a lot of common understandings. When it comes to Man it is more complex diverging views between them all. Considering the metaphysics, Hammarskjöld´s and Eckhart´s view is diverging fundamentally from Hägerström´s. The result of this essay is leading to a discussion about some question this research has indicated and is setting focus on the meaning as an ontological resource, some problems with negative theology and Schweitzer´s ethics.

This thesis identifies Jewish mystical elements in the Dead Sea Scrolls and compares them with analogous elements in the Corinthian Correspondence, to illuminate through differences and similarities how Paul advocates a mystical and communal participation in the spirit. After defining early Jewish mysticism and introducing methodology—heuristic comparison—in chapter 1, Part I identifies and investigates mystical elements in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Chapter 2 explores how the spirit facilitates a liturgica mystica with angels in Hodayota. Chapter 3 shows from 1QS and Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice that the Qumran temple community, in an archetypal relationship, shares in the priestly service of the angels. Chapter 4 argues that Moses-Δόξα traditions in the Scrolls portray Moses as an exalted, angelic-like mediator with supernatural authority—an ideal model for the Qumran priesthood. The ascent texts surveyed in chapter 5 reveal the conceivability of heavenly ascent at Qumran. In light of these studies, the Qumran community’s worship praxis and apperception of divine transcendence can be characterised as a liturgical and communal mysticism. Part II compares these findings with corresponding elements related to participation in the spirit in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Chapter 6 shows how Paul advances an epistemology of the spirit and participation (κοινωνία) in the spirit that is communal. Chapter 7 analyses angelic presence and angelic tongues as extensions of the spirit-enabled temple metaphor. Chapter 8 demonstrates how Paul democratises the spirit-facilitated, mystical encounter with the glory of the Lord and supports an ongoing, christomorphic and theotic transformation of the community. Chapter 9 examines how Paul’s heavenly ascent functions rhetorically to build up and instruct the ekklesia with a cruciform perspective of communal participation. Chapter 10 draws final conclusions showing the fruitfulness and validity of heuristic comparison. Paul appropriates Jewish mystical traditions and reinterprets them to promote the ongoing Christological and mystical transformation of the Corinthian community in and by the spirit. This reveals the predominantly corporate tenor of participation in the spirit for Paul. Overall, this investigation builds upon and contributes to studies of Jewish mysticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Paul and Jewish mysticism, Corinthians, spirit, and notions of communal participation and theosis.

“A Theological Paradigm – Spirituality – as a belief synthesis in a religious, dogmatic, and philosophical context,” pursues an understanding of spirituality from a theological paradigm within a religious, dogmatic, and philosophical context. Contemporary manifestations of practical and relevant day-to-day situations are taken as vantage points in order to unfold the meaning and implications of stories as metaphors for reality. Two basic statements guide the unfolding of the research process, namely firstly that a belief synthesis is shaped by religion as foundation. It entails that the belief synthesis represents a living framework that incorporates the origin, different definitions, worldwide landscapes, religious movements, as well as the epistemic understanding of spiritual and religious experiences. Secondly, that a belief synthesis incorporates spirituality as an experience. It entails that in this experience of spirituality, the following constitutive dimensions and developments can be distinguished: the relation between religion and spirituality, the revival of the academic discipline spirituality, a working definition of spirituality, which includes a general theory of spirituality and methodological aspects of spiritual development. To develop the research focus on the belief synthesis as a theological paradigm, specific theological and philosophical aspects of the palaeontologist-theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) and the German American systematic theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965) are investigated. With regard to Teilhard de Chardin, the emphasis falls on his development of a positive process - a new kind of spirit (Hope) – that humans can experience in their contemporary evolving worlds. With regard to Tillich, the emphasis falls on his method of correlation explaining the contents of the Christian faith through existential questions and theological answers in mutual interdependence. The research focus on mentioned theologians brings about a closer but different clarification of the term spirituality as belief synthesis in religion as well as the influence of Christian spirituality and the impact that it had on our quest to understand the Christian experience in Christian spirituality. The closer, but different clarification of the term spirituality is elaborated on and subsequently justified by a discussion of different definitions of Christian spirituality, as well as a tentative indication of the road to a new kind of Christian spirituality - which entails a transformation of Christian spirituality that includes mysticism. Finally, the terms Spirit and Hope are identified and discussed as integral parts of the belief synthesis as theological paradigm. At the same time, their significance respectively for the belief synthesis are indicated. The importance and crucial role of hermeneutics are subsequently elucidated within the theological paradigm of spirituality. The research conclusion culminates in the open statement that more than one religion, philosophy, or intuitive infinite belief can be accommodated in a person’s religious life and can satisfy humans in their expectations, experiences, hopes, and fears, in their vulnerable existence. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Dogmatics and Christian Ethics / unrestricted

The contemporary photographer, Joel-Peter Witkin, has described his remaking of some of the most iconic paintings in the history of art as a “divine revolt”. However, there are no attempts to unravel the meaning of this project nor to analyse the visual changes that Witkin has made. This thesis argues that Witkin's re-creations serve to subvert the negation or diminishment of ugliness in art history's depictions of the mystical, and to present the experience of ugliness as alternatively inherently Godly. Through engaging in the problems in philosophical aesthetics, it contrasts the notions “aesthetically ugly” (a quality that cannot be objectively identified and studied because it ascribes aesthetic non-worth) with the “ugly aesthetic”, which refers to the “perceptive-felt” experience of an object. By integrating descriptions of this experience of the ugly aesthetic with those of the early development stage of the “psychoanalytic pre-symbolic”, it provides heuristics with which to identify perceptual identifiers ugly objects, ugly worlds and the expression of ugly feelings in mystical invocations of paintings of three chosen art historical periods and Witkin's recreations. In his reconstructing of the heavenly realms given Renaissance paintings of Leda and the Swan (1510-1515) and The Birth of Venus (1485), Witkin makes a “pre-symbolic” space with ugly objects to present a contrary vision of an ugly dwelling place for God. In amending the Catholic Baroque's Little Fur (1638) and the Protestant Baroque's Still Life of Game, Fish, Fruit and Kitchen Utensils (1646), the artist replaces mystical feelings that imbue scenes of ugly objects with an expression of ugly feelings themselves, thereby guiding the viewer into a full immersion into these objects the real site of Godly experience instead. This theoretical formulation and its application to the works at hand, evidence that Witkin's work points to the mystical power of the ugly aesthetic to unleash a personal and collective memory of Godly reality as ontologically formless and mysterious, and thereby makes a case for ugliness' value.

This dissertation explores the different ways medieval authors conceived of anchoritism and solitary life by focusing on three important phases of the movement which are represented by Wulfric of Haselbury, Christina of Markyate, and fourteenth-century mystics. It is grounded in the medieval English anchoritic literature that was produced by religious scholars between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. Initially, lacking a tradition of their own and a language to articulate the anchoritic experience, medieval hagiographers borrowed the desert imagery from the story of the early fathers who lived in the Syrian and Egyptian deserts, which they viewed as a place of solitude and physical suffering and in which they sought perfection and salvation. While acts of penitence and the sacrament of penance would never be removed from the economy of salvation, by the eleventh century, the desert was no longer a viable analogue for salvation. I argue that in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, new ideas of what constituted salvation and how it was fulfilled were elaborated. The cell became the place in which devotion to the sacraments was fulfilled, and it was this sacramental devotion, particularly the Eucharist but also marriage and holy orders, not physical isolation that imbued anchorites with exceptional holiness and led them to salvation. A century later a new understanding of the economy of salvation emerged, which deemphasized the physical body and was grounded in mysticism or the inward migration of the spiritual center. This was the final transformation in medieval English anchoritism and the narratives of the reclusive changed to reflect that turn.

Writer Jorge de Montemayor wrote in the Spanish 16th century. History of literature is mainly interested in his last book Los siete libros de la Diana (The Seven Books of Diana) which is traditionally called the first pastoral romance written in the Iberian Peninsula. Concurrently, most studies explain the book from the same perspective, which works with the big artistic period (Renaissance) and artistic genre (the pastoral romance). If we focus on Jorge de Montemayor's book from a different view - which is connected with period situation (problems of converso, the Inquisition, the heterodoxy's opinions or book censorship) and which takes the author's previous texts in consideration - we are able to reread his work. This thesis seeks to use ideas coming from New Historicism. Using period situation Montemayor's texts set out to explain that Los siete libros de la Diana is closer to the spiritual way of mysticism than to literary form such as the pastoral romance.

Saint Teresa of Jesus, the Spanish mystic of 16th century and the Carmelite order reformer presents the doctrine of internal prayer and all its stages in her works based on own personal experience of life with the God. The intention of this work is to analyze Teresa's mystical path as a process of spiritual life with various stages of transformation. It will deal with what it means to be united with the God for the human life in Teresa's conception. It will also submit how Teresa's doctrine of mystical path has been reflected in the Czech environment since 1900 to the present, respectively by Czech authors and by foreign authors of whose works were translated into the Czech language. The work will be based on the concrete text of Interior Castle, in which Teresa represents the soul with number of dwelling places. The structure will be defined by single dwelling places, which are considered the ascetic and mystical stages of the prayer. The work itself, the Interior Castle, will be introduced together with the first to third ascetic dwelling places which had been the subject of previous bachelor's work. The mystical stages of the prayer, which are represented by fourth to seventh dwelling places, will create the main part of the thesis. The reflections of various authors are considered as the...