Thesis (doctoral?)--Upsala universitet, 1903. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [124]-128).

Thèse--Faculté de théologie protestante de Strasbourg. / "Principaux ouvrages lus ou consultés": p. 47-48.

Thèse--Faculté de théologie protestante de Strasbourg. / "Principaux ouvrages lus ou consultés": p. 47-48.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis takes a novel, inter-disciplinary approach to an examination of the Markan evangelist’s portrayal of Jesus’ interface with Gentiles in a central section of his Gospel (Mk 4.35-9.29). As a framework to this section, Mark created a connected account of Jesus’ itinerary that included trips to perform miracles in the Gentile territories of Gerasa, Tyre, Bethsaida, the wider Decapolis and Caesarea Philippi. This thesis examines the role of these pericopae in the narrative as a whole and challenges the view that Mark’s geographical references were largely symbolic, rural and for the most part aimed at Jewish followers. The study scrutinizes Mark’s choice of geographical locations, systematically examines recent research on the religious milieu in these specific locations and brings this research into connection with the Gentile mission portrayed by Mark. The polytheistic and social environment in which Mark’s first century audience functioned has received little attention in recent scholarship and represents a lacuna in New Testament historical-critical research which this study addresses. A detailed exegesis of this section of the narrative concludes that Mark (a) deliberately redacts his text to place miracles in geographical regions where Gentiles predominate; (b) emphasizes obduracy and faithlessness on the part of Jewish officialdom and the Jewish disciples, in contrast to an implied understanding on the part of the Gentiles; (c) orchestrates a prolonged and sustained Jesus mission to the Gentiles as a precursor to his own community’s mission, to respond to their need for support and reassurance and (d) formulates his narrative to engage with his intended first century audience's Graeco-Roman religious and social worldview, inviting them to make comparison between the activities of Jesus and other contemporary miracle-performing men and polytheistic gods.

La thèse traite du débat sur l'origine et la nature du polythéisme qui anima la pensée française au XVIIIe siècle. Depuis le début du siècle, ce débat commence à déborder le périmètre théologique auquel il se limitait auparavant. Le polythéisme cesse d’être une question d’exégèse scripturaire et devient un problème historique, puis philosophique. La thèse a pour objet d'éclaircir les différentes étapes de cette évolution. On montre en particulier que le remplacement progressif du modèle du monothéisme originel par celui du polythéisme primitif provoque un changement du statut de la question : d'enquête principalement antiquaire sur un sujet spécifique, elle devient une réflexion philosophique sur l'origine et la nature de la croyance religieuse tout court. La première des deux parties de la thèse est consacrée aux recherches sur les religions païennes des érudits, des antiquaires et des historiens : on y examine les principales théories sur l'origine du paganisme nées dans ce contexte (évhémérisme, allégorisme, théories de l'origine de l'idolâtrie des arts visuels et des signes de l'écriture) afin de montrer qu'elles préparèrent la réflexion des philosophes, en proposant un nouveau regard historique sur le polythéisme. La deuxième partie porte sur les aspects plus proprement philosophiques du débat ; l'attention est concentrée sur les deux figures-clés de Pierre Bayle et de David Hume et sur deux axes théoriques principaux : un axe logique ou gnoséologique, touchant à ce que signifie penser la divinité en tant que plurielle ; et un axe anthropologique ou psychologique sur l'origine de la croyance en plusieurs dieux. / The subject of this thesis is the debate on the origin and nature of polytheism, which took place in France in the Eighteenth century. From the beginning of the century, this debate started to unfold outside of the theological frame within which it had been confined earlier. Polytheism stopped being an issue of biblical exegesis to become a question of historical and then philosophical nature. This thesis aims to shed light on the steps of this change. In particular, it is shown that the gradual substitution of the orthodox model of original pure monotheism with that one of primitive polytheism changed the nature of the issue: from a specific question mainly of antiquarians' interest, it became a philosophical inquiry on the origin and nature of religious belief in general. The first part of the thesis is about the researches on pagan religions conducted by antiquarians and historians: the main theories on the origin of paganism which arose in this context are examined (Euhemerism, allegorism, theories of the origin of idolatry from visual arts and writing signs), aiming to show that these theories paved the way to the reflection of philosophers, proposing a new historical approach to polytheism. The second part of the thesis deals with more strictly philosophical aspects of the debate, focusing on two key figures ‒ Pierre Bayle and David Hume ‒ and on two fundamental theoretical lines: a logical or gnoseological one, about what it means to conceive divinity as multiple; and an anthropological or psychological one, on the origin of the belief in several divinities.

La présente thèse a pour objectif d’apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les conceptions que les anciens Athéniens se faisaient de leurs dieux, et notamment de Zeus. On tentera ainsi de dresser un tableau des qualités, fonctions et caractères attribués à ce dieu à travers l'étude exhaustive et systématique de ses, dans une perspective tant qualitative que quantitative. Ce tableau sera envisagé dans sa plasticité : on s’efforcera de prendre en compte ses évolutions à travers les époques (de l’archaïsme à l’époque impériale) et selon les contextes sociaux, dans une approche multi-scalaire (du domestique au politique). On replacera ensuite Zeus au sein du panthéon athénien, en déterminant ses positionnements, associations et distinctions par rapport aux autres divinités recevant un culte en Attique. On espère ainsi pouvoir contribuer à une meilleure compréhension du fonctionnement du polythéisme hellénique / This work aims to give a new enlightenment of the divine conceptions of the ancient Athenians, in particular through the case of Zeus. We shall attempt to draw a picture of the qualities, functions and characters attributed to this god by making acomprehensive and systematic survey of his epikleseis, in a quantitative and qualitative prospect. This picture will beconsidered in its plasticity : we shall try to take into account its evolutions through time (from the archaic to the imperialperiod) and according to the social contexts, in a multi-scalar approach (from the domestic to the civic scale). We shallthen replace Zeus within the Athenian pantheon, by determining its positionings, associations and distinctions towards theother divinities worshiped in Attica. We hope we can so contribute to a better understanding of the Greek polytheism

Le livre de Ruth conte un récit qu’il situe dès son premier verset à l’époque des Juges. Sa place dans le canon biblique hébraïque, qui le positionne dans le sous-groupe des Écrits (Ketuvim), ainsi que certains traits de la langue utilisée, ont pu faire penser à une rédaction postexilique tardive. L’objectif de ce travail de recherche est d’étudier la formation et l’évolution du rouleau de Ruth et ainsi, ses messages à caractère politique et les mœurs qu’il a su décrire. Le modèle qui se dégage de cette étude montre une formation et une évolution complexes, en plusieurs strates de rédactions, et avec plusieurs auteurs. Par sa taille assez courte, le livre de Ruth permet de faire cette analyse dans des conditions de laboratoire. On peut y observer des styles de langue distants entre eux de plusieurs siècles, avec des tournures caractéristiques d’une langue paléo-hébraïque jouxtant des expressions influencées par l’araméen, des incohérences logiques dans le texte, et enfin des réminiscences d’un culte polythéiste. De cette façon, ce travail nous fait faire un voyage à travers le temps qui débute par une histoire populaire, celle d’une moabite en terre de Judée, datant vraisemblablement du début de la royauté vers l’an -1000 avant notre ère. Ce voyage fait ensuite une halte vers les septième ou sixième siècles avec une première mise par écrit. Il se conclut finalement au cinquième ou quatrième siècle, après le retour de l’exil de Babylone, période où la version du livre de Ruth que nous possédons actuellement avec le texte massorétique est probablement rédigée. / According to the initial verse of the Book of Ruth, the story takes place during the period of the Judges. However, its place in the Hebrew Bible canon, where it is revealed in Writings (Ketuvim), as well as linguistic aspects of the text, has led scholars to believe that the book was composed during a late post-exilic period. The purpose of this study is to learn the development of the Book of Ruth and in particular, the political messages and customs of that precise period. Thanks to the conciseness of the story, an analysis in a laboratory-like environment is possible. The model that results from this study displays a very complex textual construction of several layers of writings and multiple authors. In turn, it enables one to observe various language styles scattered over a period of several centuries. Some of the language expressions are characteristic of Paleo-Hebrew and some are influenced by Talmudic Aramaic. There also appear to be logical inconsistencies within the narrative and reminders of a polytheistic cult. This research takes us on a journey through time that begins as a folktale of a Moabite woman in the land of Judea, probably from the turn of Royalty around the year 1000 BC. The journey halts unexpectedly during the seventh or sixth century BC, as its first writings appear during this period. It finally concludes during the fifth or fourth century BC, with the return to Zion from exile in Babylon, a period in which the Masoretic version of the Book of Ruth was likely written.

xi, 266 p. / This dissertation employs recent developments in the cognitive sciences to explicate competing social and religious undercurrents in Beowulf. An enduring scholarly debate has attributed the poem's origins to, variously, Christian or polytheistic worldviews. Rather than approaching the subject with inherited terms which originated in Judeo-Christian assumptions of religious identity, we may distinguish two incongruous ways of conceiving of agency, both human and divine, underlying the conventional designations of pagan and Christian. One of these, the poly-agent schema, requires a complex understanding of the motivations and limitations of all sentient individuals as causal agents with their own internal mental complexities. The other, the omni-agent schema, centralizes original agency in the figure of an omnipotent and omnipresent God and simplifies explanations of social interactions. In this concept, any individual's potential for intentional agency is limited to subordination or resistance to the will of God. The omni-agent schema relies on social categorization to understand behavior of others, whereas the poly-agent schema tracks individual minds, their intentions, and potential actions. Whereas medieval Christian narratives, such as Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert and Augustine's Confessions, depend on the omni-agent schema, Beowulf relies more heavily on the poly-agent schema, which it shares with Classical and Norse myths, epics, and sagas. While this does not prove that the poem originated before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, it suggests that the poem was able to preserve an older social schema which would have been discouraged in post-conversion cultures were it not for a number of passages in the poem which affirmed conventional Christian theology. These theological asides describe an omni-agent schema in abstract terms, though they accord poorly with the representations of character thought and action within the poem. This minimal affirmation of a newer model of social interaction may have enabled the poem's preservation on parchment in an age characterized by the condemnation, and often violent suppression, of non-Christian beliefs. These affirmations do not, however, tell the whole story. / Committee in charge: James W. Earl, Chairperson; Louise Westling, Member; Lisa Freinkel, Member; Mark Johnson, Outside Member