Le protestantisme fut longtemps considéré dans l’historiographie comme le vecteur et le ferment principal des évolutions sociales et culturelles ayant accompagné l’entrée des États-Unis dans la modernité. Dans ce récit, le déisme ne constituait guère qu’un courant éphémère à l’influence mineure, voué à un inéluctable déclin. À rebours du postulat historiographique selon lequel le déisme aurait disparu au tournant des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles aux États-Unis, cette étude se propose de mettre en évidence les manières dont se transforme et se reconfigure la pensée déiste entre 1794 et 1887. À travers l’analyse de trois mouvements que sont le mesmérisme, les communautés utopiques et le spiritualisme, l’enjeu est de revisiter l’historicité du déisme américain et de ce que nous nommons ses avatars afin d’en proposer une nouvelle généalogie et de mieux cerner les sources auxquelles va puiser l’engouement actuel pour les formes de spiritualité non religieuses. Ces mouvements ne sont pas les répliques exactes du déisme mais constituent autant d’espaces propices à la perpétuation de certains principes centraux de la pensée déiste ainsi qu’à leur métabolisation. Outre qu’ils furent accusés de promouvoir l’infidélité et d’encourager l’irréligion, les avatars du déisme considérés ici ont en commun un attachement profond à l’exercice de la raison, une aversion pour les appareils ecclésiastiques et les injonctions normatives en matière politique, sociale, économique ou sexuelle ainsi qu’un scepticisme envers les manifestations surnaturelles et les vérités révélées. Ils portent, ainsi, la promesse d’une régénération du corps biologique comme du corps social et font valoir une spiritualité hors du champ des religions instituées, proche d’une forme de religion naturelle. Au croisement de la science et de la religion, ces mouvements révèlent in fine une évolution du déisme vers une spiritualité composite que nous avons pu qualifier de panenthéiste. / Scholars of American religious history have long argued that the United States channeled and developed the social and cultural forces associated with modernity through the medium of Christianity, and more specifically evangelical Protestantism. In this narrative, deism was considered a fleeting phenomenon, which had naturally disappeared at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. This dissertation invalidates this assertion and examines how deism remained alive while being refashioned between 1794 and 1887. Reappraising mesmerism, utopian communities and spiritualism as avatars of deism allows us to reconsider the genealogy of deist freethought and shed light on the historical influences that contributed to the forging of “spiritual but not religious” systems of belief that are on the rise in the United States nowadays. These movements cannot be considered as exact duplicates of deism ; they provide rather a favorable environment for the continuation and assimilation of central deist tenets. Besides the fact they were accused of promoting infidelity and encouraging unbelief, the avatars of deism share a strong commitment to the concept of reason, a detestation of religious authorities, social, political, economic and sexual prescriptive norms, as well as skepticism towards supernaturalism and revelation. Their members aspire to a regeneration of the social and biological body and defend a non-theological approach to spirituality, akin to a form of natural religion. At the intersection of science and religion, these movements eventually reveal an evolution of deism toward a composite, panentheistic spirituality.

This thesis examines how ethics and various conceptualizations of the divine are explored and expressed in contemporary fiction, and in this particular case, in Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000. It is meant to highlight the philosophical underpinnings within these works, and to discuss how readers and consumers of such fiction and media may be affected in their views regarding religiosity and ethics. This exploration is mainly done through the lens of virtue ethics, specifically Aristotelian and Nietzschean schools of thought, with the primary focus being on the heroes and villains of the respective works. This essay argues that in the case of both Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000, the Aristotelian tendency appears to be more clearly present in both works, while a Nietzschean perspective appears to be driving the villains of Star Wars and to some degree those of Warhammer 40,000 as well. How these ethical frameworks are linked to the transcendent reality described in both works is also discussed, with concepts such as Classical Theism being weighed against that of Pantheism. While fiction such as Star Wars has been the subject of research before, it has not been examined as closely through the lens of ethics. Warhammer 40,000 has only received limited attention, and this essay argues that the similarities between Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 can most likely be established between other works of fiction as well, opening up for further exploration.

The primary focus of this dissertation is to establish the extent to which ta§awwuf, commonly referred to as Islamic Spirituality, impacted on Cape Muslim culture. The study spans the time period between the arrival of the first significant political exiles at the Cape in 1667 to the founding of the Muslim Judicial Council in 1945. To this end a short historical review of ta§awwuf as it unfolded since its inception in the Muslim world is given in order to provide the necessary background against which any study of ta§awwuf at the Cape must be measured. This, in the authorÕs opinion, has not been attempted before in local studies in any systematic way. To further augment this study, a review of the nature and character of ta§awwuf as it emerged in the geographical areas from whence the political exiles and slaves were brought to the Cape is also engaged. As part of the conclusion to this dissertation an ÒafterwordÓ is provided that briefly sketches the post-1945 theological milieu that increasingly witnessed the emergence of new anti-ta§awwuf pressures within the Muslim community. / Religious Studies and Arabic / MA (Arabic)

The primary focus of this dissertation is to establish the extent to which ta§awwuf, commonly referred to as Islamic Spirituality, impacted on Cape Muslim culture. The study spans the time period between the arrival of the first significant political exiles at the Cape in 1667 to the founding of the Muslim Judicial Council in 1945. To this end a short historical review of ta§awwuf as it unfolded since its inception in the Muslim world is given in order to provide the necessary background against which any study of ta§awwuf at the Cape must be measured. This, in the authorÕs opinion, has not been attempted before in local studies in any systematic way. To further augment this study, a review of the nature and character of ta§awwuf as it emerged in the geographical areas from whence the political exiles and slaves were brought to the Cape is also engaged. As part of the conclusion to this dissertation an ÒafterwordÓ is provided that briefly sketches the post-1945 theological milieu that increasingly witnessed the emergence of new anti-ta§awwuf pressures within the Muslim community. / Religious Studies and Arabic / MA (Arabic)

Text in German with German and English summaries / Die Pneumatologie ist ein aktuelles und insbesondere für die ökumenische Theologie entscheidendes Thema geworden. Die „Geistvergessenheit“ tritt immer mehr in den Hintergrund und schafft dadurch freien Raum für den noch nicht abgeschlossenen Prozess der „Wiederentdeckung des Heiligen Geistes“. Für eine missionale und gesellschaftsrelevante Theologie steht dabei immer wieder die Frage einer Verhältnisbestimmung zwischen Gott-Kirche-Gesellschaft im Fokus. Aus der Perspektive der Pneumatologie fehlen aber noch weitgehend Untersuchungen. Diese Arbeit will daher einen Beitrag leisten zur Diskussion, a) wie in der Theologie von Jürgen Moltmann – und im Vergleich dazu in der pfingstlichen Theologie der Gegenwart – Geist-Kirche-Gesellschaft aufeinander bezogen werden und zu welchem Ziel, und b) worin die Stärken und Schwächen des jeweiligen Ansatzes liegen und welche Konsequenzen daraus gezogen werden können. Durch den Vergleich der Modelle dieser zwei führenden Impulsgeber entsteht eine gute Grundlage für die Diskussion, wie das Verhältnis oder allenfalls die Wechselwirkung zwischen Geist, Kirche und Gesellschaft formuliert werden könnte. / Pneumatology became an ongoing and relevant topic, especially for the ecumenical theology. „The oblivion of the Spirit“ recedes to a large extend into the background and thus makes space for the process that has not yet been fully completed, that is to say, the „rediscovery of the Holy Spirit“. For a missional and socially relevant theology, the focus is again and again on the question of defining the relationship between God, Church and Society. From a pneumatological point of view the investigations are greatly lacking. Therefore, this paper intends to contribute to the discussion of a) how in Jürgen Moltmann’s theology – and in comparison to it in the current Pentecostal theology – Spirit, Church and Society relate to each other and to what purpose; and b) what are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and which consequences can be drawn from them. By comparing the models of these two leading initiators, there occurs a solid basis for a discussion of how to define the relationship, or at best, the interplay between Spirit, Church and Society. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)