Ce mémoire démontre que la pratique littéraire de l’écrivain américain Ralph Waldo Emerson s’inscrit dans le sillage de la tradition des exercices spirituels mise au jour par l’helléniste Pierre Hadot et qu’elle permet de penser une modernité insoupçonnée par ce dernier. La production de textes littéraires devient alors une manière d’établir « une relation originale avec l’univers » (cf. l’introduction de Nature). Le premier chapitre explique la spécificité de la spiritualité traditionnelle, où l’écriture consiste à implanter en soi le texte de la tradition. La pratique littéraire de Marc Aurèle, Sénèque et saint Augustin est étudiée afin de montrer comment ils tâchent de vivre conformément à la conception de la transcendance qui est la leur : personnelle chez les stoïciens, institutionnelle chez les chrétiens. Le deuxième chapitre montre comment Emerson renverse le rapport traditionnel au texte dans la vie de l’esprit en arguant que la révélation du Christ est, à l’origine, une expérience personnelle de la transcendance qui n’est pas institutionnalisable. Il se dégage de cette confrontation romantique avec le christianisme un concept de littérature lié au mysticisme et inséparable d’une compréhension « expressiviste » du langage (Charles Taylor). Le dernier chapitre examine l’ascèse littéraire d’Emerson : sa conception antiscolastique du « scholar » est étudiée puis mise en relief avec sa façon d’arrimer sa pratique de la pensée à une conception fluctuante de l’univers. La dernière section porte sur la façon dont son mode de vie expérimental suppose une conception de la littérature en tant que processus. / This master thesis considers how the literary practice of Ralph Waldo Emerson might help us rethink the modern heritage in the tradition of spiritual exercises. The nineteenth century American writer followed the path of this antique tradition that was uncovered by the philosophy historian Pierre Hadot, allowing us to consider anew this tradition within the framework of modernity. It is thus possible to access an unexpected modernity of spiritual exercises, unknown to Hadot himself, characterized by the production of literary texts that convey what Emerson calls, “an original relation to the universe.” The first chapter explains the specificity of traditional spirituality, where writing serves to incorporate traditional text into oneself. It considers the literary practice of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Saint Augustine, who all attempted to live according to their conception of transcendence: personal under stoicism, institutional within Christianity. Chapter two illustrates how Emerson overturns the traditional way of behaving with a spiritual text. His critique of Christian theology shows that the revelation of Christ is, in its origin, a personal experience of transcendence that cannot be instituted. From this romantic dissension with Christianity emerges a theory of literature related to mysticism and in close ties with an “expressivist” conception of language (Charles Taylor). The final chapter examines Emerson’s literary askesis. First explained is the antischolastic conception of the scholar, subsequently showing how his way of thinking is interrelated to a fluxional conception of the universe. Lastly demonstrated is how his experimental way of life relies on a conception of literature as process.

Reivindicamos desde estas páginas la necesidad de reubicar el Mirouer des simples ames en su contexto medieval para restaurar sus imágenes en lo que a percepción, retórica y recepción se refiere. En este trabajo tomaremos lo textualmente visible como categoría de análisis histórico y lo justificaremos por su carácter didáctico, situándolo en contextos de difusión que no presuponían un auditorio necesariamente clerical ni letrado. Intentaremos reconstruir los aspectos visibles del Mirouer y exponer la poética de los mismos. En primer lugar, decodificaremos las imágenes a través del análisis filológico del texto para, en segundo lugar, establecer la comparación de la obra poreteana con otros documentos de la época (escritos y plásticos), lo que nos permitirá entender el posicionamiento de la obra ante su tradición expresivo-doctrinal. Propondremos una hermenéutica de lo meramente escrito a través de los mecanismos verbales que crean la visibilidad de la imagen en la obra poreteana. / In this thesis we claim the recontextualization of the Mirouer des simples ames in its medieval context so that its images can be restored as far as perception, rhetoric and reception are concerned. By this work we place the text in contexts where the audience was no necessarily clerical or educated: we justify the textual visibility because of the didactic character of the device, and we take it as a category of historical analysis. We therefore reconstruct the visible aspects of the Mirouer and explain its poetics. In the first place, we decode the images through the philological analysis of the text and, in the second place, we compare the poretean work with other documents from that period (written and, mostly, visual ones). In short, we propose a hermeneutic of the mere written word through the verbal mechanisms that create the visualization of the image in the poretean work.

This thesis reveals the considerable influence of contemplation (sometimes referred to as mysticism) on Anglo-Saxon literature, manifested through the arrangement of narratives according to the theological concepts of apophasis and kenosis. This is demonstrated through a lengthy contextual discussion of the place of contemplation in Anglo-Saxon spirituality, and close analysis of four poems and a prose text. Although English mysticism is commonly thought to start in the High Middle Ages, this thesis will suggest that this terminus post quem should instead be resituated to the Anglo-Saxon period. The first chapter seeks to reveal the centrality of contemplation to Anglo-Saxon spirituality through analysing a range of diverse material, to evidence the monastic reader borne from this culture capable of reading and composing the texts that make up the rest of the thesis in the manner suggested. The thesis places chronologically diverse Anglo-Saxon texts in a contemplative context, with close reference to theology, phenomenology, and narrative structure, to suggest that our interpretation of them should be revised to apprehend the contemplative scheme that they advocate: to cleanse the reader of sin through inspiring penitence and kenosis (humility and emptying of one's will) and direct the mind intellectually beyond the words, images and knowledge of the terrestrial sphere (apophasis), so as to prepare them for the potential coming of God's grace in the form of a vision. This reading is supported by the close taxonomical resemblance of each text's narrative structure. The thesis thus suggests that contemplation was central to Anglo-Saxon spirituality, producing an elite contemplative audience for whom certain texts were designed as preparative apparatus.

Ce travail s'applique à éclairer les rapports qu'entretiennent la mort et la succession monarchique dans le théâtre tragique français du XVIIe siècle. Telle qu'elle est présentée par les textes théoriques et juridiques de l'époque moderne, la succession monarchique ne semble guère se prêter à la scène tragique. Dès lors, pourquoi et comment les dramaturges la représentent-ils ? C'est ce paradoxe que nous éclairons en adoptant une démarche pluridisciplinaire. Dans un premier temps, nous montrons que les dramaturges tragiques rejettent la mystique que la théorie politique contemporaine présente comme acquise, en particulier la fiction mystique des deux corps du roi. Cela ouvre la porte à toutes sortes de crises, ce qui ne signifie pas pour autant que la mort se produise toujours dans notre corpus. Selon les circonstances, un même motif (ambition, amour, liens du sang) peut mener à des issues strictement contraires. Aussi les dramaturges créent-ils des tragiques divers, qui vont du spectacle pathétique de la ruine des uns à la générosité sublime des autres. Il font donc preuve d'une grande liberté dans le traitement de la succession monarchique, ce qui pose problème. À une époque où le pouvoir royal s'absolutise, il peut sembler périlleux de présenter de tels désordres sur scène. C'est pourquoi nous nous attachons, dans un dernier temps, à prendre la mesure du potentiel subversif de notre corpus et à expliquer comment les dramaturges ont pu traiter un sujet aussi délicat de façon aussi variée. / This PhD dissertation focuses on the links between death and monarchic succession in Seventeenth Century French tragedies, tragi-comedies and heroic comedies. Since political philosophers and legal scholars of the Early Modern Era always present the monarch's death as natural and serene, succession did not seem to be of particular interest for tragic playwrights. One can therefore wonder why and how they staged succession crises. This is the question this dissertation answers in an interdisciplinary perspective. First, this dissertation shows that their plays did not present the mystical doctrine of the King's two bodies as valid. That is why playwrights could elaborate on all sorts of succession crises. This does not mean howewer that death always occurs in Seventeenth Century French Tragic Drama, even though it is often the case. Depending on the situations, similar patterns (ambition, love, blood ties) can lead to completely opposite endings. That is why playwrights sometimes aroused pity, horror, but also admiration in the spectator, which means they had great liberty when they staged succession. That can appear odd, as it is well-known that the Seventeenth Century saw the rising of absolutism in France. Why would the authorities allow such a fundamental issue to be questioned publicly? This is why this dissertation finally studies to what extent the French Tragic Drama of this period was subversive, and how playwrights could manage to stage such a delicate question as monarchic succession.

[pt] O reconhecimento da realidade religiosa, ricamente plural em que nos encontramos, nos convida a buscar formas para que seja possibilitado o convívio harmonioso em nossa sociedade. Para o Cristianismo, em especial, lhe é proporcionado a busca por uma intensa experiência nas mais profundas raízes de sua origem religiosa e a compreensão do significado dessa pluralidade religiosa no projeto salvífico de Deus e sua relação com o mistério de Jesus Cristo. Por isso, acreditamos que, para o diálogo fecundo e acolhedor com as demais religiões, é de extrema importância a contribuição de um caminho espiritual enraizado na experiência de união com Deus, como possibilidade para que não se viva uma religiosidade muito epidérmica, recuperando a dimensão da experiência íntima do mistério de Deus e da experiência da unidade com ela. As experiências vividas por Thomas Merton e Raimon Panikkar, radicadas no cristianismo, de profunda intimidade com Deus, nos apresentam um caminho para um diálogo inter-religioso realizado a partir de uma madura experiência religiosa. A experiência de Thomas Merton é profundamente inseparável do amor a Deus e à humanidade, em um seguimento aos ensinamentos de Jesus Cristo na dedicação ao seu ministério de sacerdote, monge e eremita, ricamente fortalecida pelo amor aos humanos. Em Raimon Panikkar, encontramos uma pessoa marcada por quatro identidades religiosas, sem que lhe fosse negada sua primeira origem, o cristianismo, caracterizada por uma profunda experiência de encontro com Deus. Para Raimon Panikkar este é o kairós do milênio que recém se abriu para todas as religiões e continuar com pequenas reformas não tem sentido. É necessária uma grande transformação, porém profunda, uma metanóia! Segundo Thomas Merton e Raimon Panikkar o diálogo entre as experiências religiosas não se resume a uma conversão vazia, mas que os interlocutores tenham de fato, penetrado com a máxima seriedade em sua própria tradição, assumindo a dimensão espiritual como o nível mais fecundo para a abertura e compreensão no diálogo inter-religioso. A partir destas experiências, sugerimos que o diálogo inter-religioso ultrapasse as fronteiras que separam as religiões em uma sincera e fecunda acolhida das mais diversas tradições, a partir de uma madura experiência religiosa. Através das contribuições de Juan Martin Velasco e de Andrés Torres Queiruga, confirma-se a importância que têm a dimensão espiritual e a experiência interior que possuem todas as religiões diante da autêntica necessidade do diálogo inter-religioso. Em todas as religiões existe a experiência mística unicamente graças ao convite de Deus, que deseja tornar-se conhecido e, acolhendo esta Presença, o ser humano tem a possibilidade de atingir sua autêntica realização. Sem fazer oposição à singularidade cristã na interpretação positiva das outras religiões e do pluralismo religioso, acreditamos que a maturidade da experiência religiosa do cristão contribui para aproximá-lo da realidade de ser imagem de Deus, que se dá na experiência mais profunda do ser religioso a partir de uma íntima relação com Deus. / [en] The recognition of religious reality, richly plural, invites us to seek ways to make possible the harmonious coexistence in our society. For Christianity, in particular, it is provided to search for an intense experience in the deepest roots of their religious background and understanding of the significance of religious plurality in the salvific plan of God and their relationship with the mystery of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we believe that for the fruitful and friendly dialogue with other religions, it is extremely important the contribution of a spiritual path rooted in the bonding experience with God, as a possibility for not living a very epidermic religiosity, recovering the dimension of an intimate experience of God s mystery and the unit experience with it. The experiences of Thomas Merton and Raimon Panikkar, rooted in Christianity, of deeper intimacy with God, show us the way to interreligious dialogue held from a mature religious experience. Thomas Merton s experience is deeply inseparable from the love for God and humanity, followed up to Jesus Christ s teachings in the dedication to his ministry as a priest, monk and hermit, richly strengthened by the love for human. In Raimon Panikkar, we find a person marked by four religious identities, without deny his first origin, Christianity, characterized by a deep experience of encountering God. For Raimon Panikkar this is the kairós of the millennium that has just opened to all religions and continue with small reforms is meaningless. It is required a great transformation, but a deep one, a metanoia! According to Thomas Merton and Raimon Panikkar the dialogue between religious experiences is not limited to an empty conversion, but the interlocutors have indeed penetrated with the utmost seriousness in your own tradition, assuming the spiritual dimension as the most fruitful level for an opening and understanding in the interreligious dialogue. Based on these experiences, we suggest that interreligious dialogue beyond the boundaries that separate religions in a sincere and fruitful reception of the most diverse traditions, from a mature religious experience. Through the contributions of Juan Martin Velasco and Andres Torres Queiruga, confirms the importance of the spiritual dimension and the inner experience that all religions have for the authentic necessity interreligious dialogue. In all religions there is a mystical experience exclusively thanks to God s call, who wants to become known and, by welcoming the Presence, the human being is able to reach an authentic realization. Without making opposition to Christian uniqueness in positive interpretation of other religions and religious pluralism, we believe that the maturity of the religious experience of the Christian contributes to alignment with the reality of being in God s image, which gives the deepest experience of being religious from an intimate relationship with God.

[pt] A teologia tem diante de si o desafio de falar de Jesus Cristo no mundo contemporâneo e a obra de Adélia Prado se apresenta como um raro momento da literatura brasileira em que vislumbramos uma expressão da experiência cristã. Os versos de Adélia Prado nos revelam uma experiência cristológica visceral, afetiva que traduz o ápice da mística cristã: a figura do amor esponsal e erótico, personificado nos amantes ou nos noivos. A mística é o fio condutor que costura literatura e teologia na obra de Adélia Prado. A poética adeliana expressa uma mística centrada no Mistério da Encarnação que valoriza as dimensões que afetam o corpo e o cotidiano, os desejos e sentimentos humanos. A teopoeta nos conduz a olhar a Deus pela beleza e pela glória, pela forma, pelo paradoxo, pelo mistério, pela palavra e pelo silêncio, pelo verso e pelo avesso. Seus textos poético-místicos comunicam uma experiência real e têm força de kerigma. Encontramos na obra adeliana uma cristologia teopoética que também se relaciona com a antropologia, com a estética e com a pneumatologia. Na dimensão antropológica, a teopoética articula uma concepção dinâmica do ser humano em uma perspectiva de crescimento e amadurecimento. Em relação à estética, a perspectiva de Adélia tem o foco direcionado à experiência cristã: Jesus é Poesia de Deus. A cristologia teopoética é construída no afeto pelo Espírito, advém de uma experiência poética – cristopatia – e de um seguimento – cristonomia. É a fala da experiência, uma comunicação da experiência. A poesia me salvará, pois ela guarda o paradoxo do mistério cristão – a beleza do crucificado. Silêncio e palavra, medo e desejo, luz e sombra. Poesia-oração que é discurso dirigido a Deus, processo, metanóia, liberdade e regeneração humanas. A obra poética adeliana é um canto, soprado e inspirado pelo Espírito Santo. / [en] Theology has got the challenge of speaking about Jesus Christ in the contemporary world. Adélia Prado s work presents itself as a rare moment in Brazilian literature in which we can glimpse an expression of the Christian experience. Prado s verses reveal to us a visceral and affective Christological experience that translates the peak of Christian mystique: the figure of engaged and erotic love, personified in lovers or the betrothed. Mystique is the guideline that knits together literature and theology in Adélia Prado s work. Adelian poetics expresses a mystique centered in the Mystery of Incarnation which values the dimensions of love, everyday life, human wishes and feelings. The theopoet leads us to looking to God through beauty, glory, figure, paradox and mystery, through words and silence, on the reverse and inside out. Her poetic-mystic texts communicate a real experience and have the power of a kerigma. We find in Adélia s work a theopoetic Christology, which also relates to anthropology, aesthetics and pneumatology. In the anthropologic dimension, the theopoetics articulates a dynamic conception of the human being from a growing and ripening perspective. As to the aesthetics, Adélia s perspective goes in the direction of the Christian experience: Jesus is God s poetry. Theopoetic Christology is built on the affection by the Spirit. It comes from a poetic experience – Christopathy – as well as from a following – Christonomy. It is the allocution of experience, a communication of experience. Poetry will save me, for it keeps the paradox of the Christian mystery: the beauty of the Crucified. Silence and words, fear and desire, light and shadow. Poetry-action that is a discourse guided by God, a process, a metanoia, human liberty and regeneration. Adélia s poetic work is a chant, blown and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Cette thèse cherche à connaître le bonheur tel que Bobin conçoit et projette dans son œuvre. Pour ce but, l’approche bachelardienne nous a servi à définir dans l’œuvre de Bobin un élément symbolique pour le bonheur : la flamme. Pour traiter la question du temps et sa complexité, très liée à notre question principale, les réflexions de Bachelard, de Bergson et de la physique moderne sur le temps sont prises en référence ainsi que la « logique du contradictoire » (de Lupasco). Les images plus attachées à l’intellect sont analysées suivant les travaux d’Henry Corbin et définies comme « images-corps-réalités ». Elles témoignent d’un regard mystique chez Bobin. Une tendance vers la géopoétique pour acquérir l’Unité du monde s’ajoute aussi à ce regard. Et une langue d’« anima/animus » et un processus de la production du sens, « hélice du sens », interviennent pour traduire l’intransmissible en fragments. Cela rend l’écriture de Bobin « fragmentaire », ce que nous avons désigné comme un nouveau genre : « poésie-prose » mystique. / This thesis looks at happiness as perceived and shown in Christian Bobin's works. For this purpose, we used the approach of Bachelard to define Bobin’s symbolic element of happiness: the flame. To deal with the problem of time and its complexity, involved in our main problem, we applied theories of Bachelard, Bergson and those of modern physics, as well as the “logic of the contradictory” (of Lupasco). The images associated with intellect are analyzed based on Henry Corbin's works and are defined as “image- body-reality”. They testify of a mysticism which tends to “geopoetic” and the Unity of the universe. A language of “anima / animus” and a process of production of meaning, “the helix of sense” intervene to translate the Intransmissible in fragments. It makes the writing of Bobin fragmentary which we underlined as a new genre: mystic “poetry-prose”.

The diploma thesis deals with the medieval controversy over the stigmata of Francis of Assisi. The religious phenomenon of the stigmata is viewed from the point of view of the general development of the spirituality in the High Middle Ages. The work tries to respect the chronological development of the polemics and, accordingly, also focuses on the progress of the Franciscan reflection of the stigmata. One of the chapters is dedicated to the analysis of the origins of the Franciscan tradition of the founder's stigmata. Subsequently, the work describes the resistance against the cult of the stigmatized saint from the point of view of the Franciscan sources and papal bulls, defending the authenticity of the stigmata. The penultimate chapter is dedicated to the development of the Franciscan theology of the stigmata, which resulted in the exaltation of the founder and his order. On the grounds of this development, the stigmata became the subject of rivalry between the Franciscans and the Dominicans, as discussed in the last chapter.

This diploma thesis, titled "Niggunim in the Hasidic Tradition" deals with the musical tradition of the Hasidic Jews and its role in their daily lives and religious praxis. In this first part the reader is introduced to the topic, such as a general definition of a niggun. Included in the introductory chapters is a new typology of Hasidic niggunim, based on contemporary theories and arranged according to their usage in Hasidic practice. The basic modes in Jewish music are also explored (alongside known major and minor scales), and examples of each type are given. The next four chapters explore four dynasties whose musical activity is significant for the Hasidic tradition (HaBaD, Modzhits, Karlin, and Bratslav). This pivotal section includes a theoretical and musical analysis of the niggunim in each individual tradition according to dynasty. This thesis offers a definition of niggunim that encompasses the entire Hasidic tradition: a communicative medium and tool for expressing emotions in the context of the mystical practices of devekut and tikun olam. The unique perception of music by each of the four dynasties is also explored. The text of this thesis includes appendix A, which contains notational examples to accompany the text, and appendix B, which contains audio recordings in mp3 format.

George MacDonald (1824-1905) is one of the most complex and significant Scottish writers of the nineteenth century, especially as a writer of children's fiction and literary fairy tales. His works, however, have seldom been studied as Scottish literature. This dissertation is the first full-length analysis of his writings for children in their Scottish context, focusing particularly on his use of Scottish folklore in his literary fairy tales. MacDonald wrote in the Scottish Romantic tradition of Robert Burns, Walter Scott, and James Hogg; by close reading his works alongside similar texts by his compatriots, such as Andrew Lang, MacDonald's own idiosyncratic contribution to that tradition becomes more apparent. His profound knowledge of and appreciation for Christian mysticism is in evidence throughout his work; his use of folklore was directly informed by his exploration of mystical ideas. Hogg is recast as a second Dante, and ‘bogey tales' become catalysts for spiritual awakening. MacDonald's fairy tales deal sensitively and profoundly with the theme of child death, a tragedy that held personal significance for him, and can thus be read as his attempt to come to terms with the reality of bereavement by using Scottish folklore to explain it in mystical terms. Traditional figures such as Thomas Rhymer, visionary poets, and doubles appear in his fairy tales as guides and pilgrims out of the material world toward mystical union with the Divine.