Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-120).

Literary historian Terryl L. Givens referenced the visions of Moroni as "exhibit A" of Mormonism for nineteenth century believers. The 1823 visions constituted one of the core tenets of the religion as an underlying premise of The Book of Mormon. The significance of the visions, however, has not translated into many studies on the 1823 visions. This thesis seeks to fill portions of this gap by evaluating the visions within post-Revolutionary evangelical and treasure seeking culture. I contend that the visions drew upon various elements of the culture, but ultimately diverged from the culture. The introduction recounts the vision from the perspectives of Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, and Lucy Mack Smith. Chapter one provides a historiographical review of the literature and some methodological considerations. Chapter two describes the evangelical and treasure seeking cultures. The examination emphasizes the cultural belief in visions and dreams that contained angels, guides, guardians, or other preternatural beings. Chapter three examines the significance of the dates of the 1823 visions, September 21-22. Three traditions associated significance with the date, witchcraft, astrology, and Christianity. I show that either the date did not match with the holiday of these traditions or that Smith probably did not know of its significance. Many people called the vision a dream, which led Oliver Cowdery to refute that claim. Chapter four analyzes whether the visions constituted dreams or visions, before proceeding to evaluate the imagery of dreams and visions. Smith's visions lacked much of the imagery of other contemporary visionaries. Chapter five evaluates Moroni's message to Smith. I contend that Smith considered the plates a treasure and they fit the cultural pattern of treasure. Moroni, though, directed Smith's attention from the money seeking elements toward religious purposes. Many elements within the vision follow the cultural beliefs concerning visions and dreams, which make the visions appear as a cultural product. Careful evaluation of the details of the visions, shows however, the 1823 visions diverged from many cultural tenets.

This study explored the nature of Future Session workshops in current Japan by identifying the motivations, conducting analysis from the point of view a deliberative democracy, and examining the potentials for developing future visions of society. Four workshops were targeted that dealt with a wide range of societal problems and commonly challenged existing societal structures. The study found that the workshops were motivated by the doubt over the current direction of the society, a demand for a crosscutting cooperation between different fields, and a need to foster proactive actors through participatory workshop processes. Accordingly, it is argued that “deliberative democracy of workshops” based on dialogue and collaboration rather than confrontational communication and competition constitutes a Japanese deliberative democracy. The study also shows that the created projects and processes of deliberation contained many critical perspectives towards the dominant societal structure and norms. Finally, it is concluded that the process of actualizing the projects should be reflected carefully and the potential of these methods depends on the overreaching objective of its use.

Today, digital technologies (DT) can be said to play an important role in the Swedish school system. The goal of this essay was to describe DT use by school leaders, in relation to their views on schools’ goals and visions, and teachers’ and students’ use of DTs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five school leaders of secondary schools in Umeå municipality, Sweden. The results show that school leaders’ use of DTs center on three key tasks: communication, information and administration. Further, it is shown that school leaders’ views vary in regards to DTs’ role in school goals, and visions, for digital use. In the discussion/analysis it is argued that school leaders’ views on DTs in schools can be explained as functionalistic, and that this view may inhibit new uses for DTs in schools, and also give a dysfunctional view on the technologies that school leaders do not use. In conclusion it is argued that school leaders might need to reflect more about the DT use of schools

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisors: James Dean and Mary Richards, Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Religion)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Inaug.-Diss.--Würzburg.

Proefschrift--Letteren--Nijmegen, 1990.

Thesis (doctoral)--Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, 1975. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-166).

Thesis (M.R.E.)--Brigham Young University, Dept. of Graduate Studies in Religious Instruction. / Electronic thesis. Also available in print ed.