Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Divine Presence'

Thesis advisor: David S. Vanderhooft
I contend that Ezekiel's portrait of the Glory represents an understanding of Yahweh's earthly presence that is markedly different from how the earthly divine presence is understood in Deuteronomistic Name theology. As formulated in Deuteronomy and maintained in the Deuteronomistic History, "Name theology" understands the divine earthly presence to be restricted to the "one place that Yahweh will choose," which is designated as the Jerusalem Temple. Contrary to traditional scholarly understanding, this does not divorce Yahweh from his Temple and place him in Heaven alone, and does not relegate the Temple to symbolic status only. Rather, Name theology not only affirms the divine presence in the Temple, but views it as the only legitimate location for that presence. From his position of exile, Ezekiel depicts the Glory with no exclusive connection to the Temple or the land; the Glory vacates the Temple to allow for its destruction and appears outside sanctified precincts in Babylonia, where God disputes the Jerusalemites' contention that the exiles are now far from him (Ezek 11:15-16). I maintain that Ezekiel's portrait of the Glory finds its inspiration in the Priestly account of the Exodus wanderings before the Tabernacle's existence; in Priestly tradition, this was the only time the Glory appeared outside sanctified precincts. These appearances occurred outside Israel, amidst dislocation, with no physical sanctuary - a situation homologous to Ezekiel's own
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Theology

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2002
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The presence of God in preaching is one of the most important Reformed homiletical themes. However, contemporary homiletics and preaching ministry do not pay due attention to this theme. More specifically speaking, contemporary Korean preaching also asks for a more comprehensive homiletical foundation for the homiletically appropriate witness of the divine presence in preaching. Based upon Dingeman's practical theological methodology, this study thus aims to describe and examine the practical realities of the witness of the divine presence in contemporary Korean preaching, and to make further some comprehensive normative and strategic suggestions on this homiletical theme. In chapter 1, in order to prepare to analyze and explain the practical reality of the witness of the divine presence in Korean preaching, we constructed an appropriate sermon analysis frame that consists of the following three components: analysis norms (God, the preacher, the Scriptures, and the audience), analysis targets (the five representative Korean preachers and their sermons - Yune-Sun Park, Yong-Gi Cho, Sun-Hee Kwak, Han-Hum Oak, and Dong-Won Lee), and analysis variables (the religio-sociological background of the Korean corporate personality in relation to the four indigenous Korean religions - Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism). Based upon this analytical frame, from chapter two till six, this study analyzed in detail five sermons of representative Korean preachers with the guidance of the analytical questions: Yune-Sun Park (ch. 2), Yong-Gi Cho (ch. 3), Sun-Hee Kwak (ch. 4), Han-Hum Oak (ch. 5), and Dong-Won Lee (ch. 6), and observed several homiletical aspects of the witness of the divine presence in contemporary Korean preaching. Through this detailed analysis of the five representative Korean preachers' sermons, we noted the fact that God-images implemented by the preacher cannot help being confined by the specific pastoral interests or theological emphasis that the preacher has in mind, as raised from the existential experience of the preacher, the theological emphasis, or pastoral context. However, without an appropriate consideration of the four components of preaching, the witness of the divine presence cannot achieve the desirable sermonic results. With this homiletical necessity in mind, we discussed the normative foundation of the witness of the divine presence in relation to the four components of preaching: God (ch. 8), the Scriptures (ch. 9), the preacher (ch. 10), and the audience (ch. 11). After establishing a normative understanding of how each component is to be involved in the witness of the divine presence, we have also made several strategic suggestions in relation to Korean preaching. In chapter 8, based upon the pneumatological dimension of preaching, we confirmed that the witness of the divine presence should be rendered in a linguistic and ecclesial frame, and suggested that God-images should be used based upon Christian narrative that brings about a linguistic and ecclesial collision between the identity narrative of the Christian community and the individual's narrative in preaching. In chapter 9, in connection with the question of how the voice of the Bible can be involved in the witness of the divine presence, we discussed the sacramental character of the Bible to mediate the divine presence to the Christian reader, and suggested that the reading of the Bible should make the transformative encounter with God happen to the reader. In chapter 10, we examined the question of how the voice of the preacher can be harmoniously involved in the witness of the divine presence, and paid attention to the three factors which the preacher is aware of in preaching: God (spirituality), the audience (integrity), and self (subjectivity and conviction). In chapter 11, we tackled the question of how the audience can be involved in the witness of the divine presence. Here we firstly defined the audience in relation to the other three components of preaching: in relation to God (theological, pneumatological, and eschatological being), to the Bible (hermeneutical being), and the preacher (communicative being). In addition to these definitions, we also defined the audience according to the reception axis of the Word: as an individual being (human heart and paradigmatic imagination), ecclesial and communal being (the divine presence through the pastoral ministry), and as one who is engaged in the world (socio-political responsibility to reflect the divine presence to the world). Based upon these definitions, we further suggested an appropriate communicative strategy for the witness of the divine presence, which consists of the image of God who is present in suffering, the communicative frame of the poor in spirit, and the four linguistic dimensions of confessional, evocative, hermeneutic, and imaginative witness. Through these normative and strategic suggestions, we confirmed and suggested that the witness of the divine presence should involve comprehensively all four components of preaching: God, the Scripture, the preacher, and the audience so as to sound like a sermonic symphony in which all four voices harmoniously take part in the witness of the divine presence, while retaining their own homiletical value.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die teenwoordigheid van God in die prediking is 'n belangrike Refonnatoriese tema. Hedendaagse homiletiek skenk egter nie genoeg aandag daaraan nie. Veral eietydse Koreaanse prediking kort 'n meer omvangryke homiletiese basis vir hierdie aangeleentheid. Hierdie studie is gebaseer op Dingeman se praktiese teologiese metodologie en dit beoog om die praktiese realiteite van die prediking van die goddelike teenwoordigheid in Koreaanse prediking te ondersoek en te beskryf en om verdere omvattende nonnatiewe en strategiese voorstelle ten opsigte van hierdie homiletiese tema te maak. In hoofstuk 1 ontwerp ons 'n toepaslike raamwerk vir preekanalise wat bestaan uit die volgende drie komponente: nonne vir analise (God, die prediker, die Skrif en die gehoor); teikens vir analise (vyf verteenwoordigende Koreaanse predikers en hulle preke - Yune-Sun Park, Yong-Gi Cho, Sun-Hee Kwak, Han-Hum Oak en Dong-Won Lee); en die analitiese veranderlikes (die godsdienstig-sosiologiese agtergrond van die Koreaanse samelewing met betrekking tot die vier inheemse Koreaanse godsdienste (Shamanisme, Taoisme, Buddhisme en Neo-Confucianisme). Gebaseer op hierdie analitiese raamwerk, analiseer hierdie studie vanaf Hoofstuk 2 tot 6 in besonderhede vyf preke van verteenwoordigende predikers na gelang van bepaalde analitiese vrae: Yune-Sun Park (Hf. 2), Yong-Gi Cho (Hf. 3), Sun-Hee Kwak (Hf. 4), Han-Hum Oak (Hf. 5) en Dong-Won Lee (Hf. 6), en let ons op sekere homiletiese aspekte van die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid in Koreaanse prediking. Deur middel van hierdie gedetaileerde analise merk ons dat die voorstellings van God soos getuig deur hierdie predikers beinvloed word deur spesifieke pastorale belange en teologiese beklemtoninge van die prediker self of deur die pastorale konteks. In die daaropvolgende hoofstukke bespreek ons die nonnatiewe onderbou vir die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid: God (Hf. 8), die Skrif (Hf. 9), die prediker (Hf. 10), en die gehoor (Hf. 11). Nadat die rol van elkeen van hierdie komponente bespreek is, maak ons strategiese voorstelle i.v.m Koreaanse prediking. In Hf. 8, gebaseer op die pneumatologiese dimensie van prediking, bevestig ons dat die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid plaasvind in 'n linguistiese en ekklesiologiese raamwerk, en suggereer ons dat voorstellings van God voortspruit uit die Christelike narratief. In Hf. 9 bespreek ons hoe die stem van die Bybel betrokke kan wees in die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid, Ons wys veral op die sakramentele karakter van die Bybel as bemiddelaar tussen die goddelike teenwoordigheid en die Christelike leser. In Hf. 10 gaan ons in op die vraag hoe die stem van die prediker betrokke kan wees in die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid en gee ons aandag aan drie aspekte waarvan die prediker bewus moet wees: die relasie tot God (spiritualiteit), die gehoor (integriteit), en die self (subjektiwiteit en oortuiging). In Hf. 11 bespreek ons die vraag hoe die gehoor (gemeente) betrokke kan wees in die getuienis van die goddelike aanwesigheid. Eers beskou ons die gehoor in sy betrokkenheid by die ander drie komponente: sy verhouding tot God (teologiese, pneumatologiese en eskatologiese wese), tot die Bybel (hermeneutiese komponent) en tot die prediker (kommunikatiewe komponent). Ter aanvulling van hierdie beskouinge definieer ons die gehoor as die ontvanger van die Woord, en weI as: 'n individuele wese (mens like hart en paradigmatiese verbeelding), kerklike en gemeentelike wese (die goddelike teenwoordigheid d.m.v. die pastorale bediening), en as mense wat betrokke is by die wereld (wat sosio-politieke verantwoordelikheid het om die goddelike teenwoordigheid in die wereld weer te gee). Gebaseer op hierdie definisies het ons 'n toepaslike kommunikatiewe strategie vir die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid voorgestel, bestaande uit 'n voorstelling van God wat teenwoordig is by lyding, die kommunikatiewe raamwerk van die armes in gees, en die vier linguistiese dimensies van die belydende, evokatiewe, hermeneutiese en verbeeldingryke getuienis. Met hierdie normatiewe en strategiese voorstelle bevestig ons dat die getuienis van die goddelike teenwoordigheid al vier die komponente van prediking behoort in te sluit: God, die Skrif, die prediker en die gehoor, ten einde 'n homiletiese simfonie te orkestreer.

This study articulates a God-concept in the tradition of classical Christian theism, contending with calls to modify significantly or revise classical constructions. Attention falls upon two closely related divine attributes that have, especially in recent decades, come under philosophical and theological attack – God’s timelessness and impassibility (inability to suffer). Is the “classical” Lord truly Immanuel, i.e. with us? This general question motivates the study. The opening three chapters analyze aspects of the God-concepts put forth by Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin. Apparent tensions between a timeless transcendence and an affirming union of the Trinity with creation are countenanced, with an eye to doing justice to both doctrines. Chapter One examines the idea of divine timelessness and corresponding thoughts about temporal reality found in the Confessions, supplementing Augustinian transcendence with the creational and eschatological insights of two other Church Fathers. Chapter Two documents Aquinas’s affirmation of both God’s strong immutability and the non-necessity of creation, while questioning whether he affirms these in a logically consistent way. Chapter Three then follows the contours of Calvin’s Trinitarianism and Christology, reflecting on the Triune Creator’s gracious “wedding” of himself to the whole work of creation. The final three chapters operate within the fields of philosophy and philosophical theology. Chapter Four commends a tenseless (or B) theory of time, highlighting several problems surrounding tensed (or A) theories of time. But this former view implies that there is no “official present,” leaving no apparent room for the presence of the timeless God with times and temporally located agents. Thus Chapter Five seeks to address classical eternalism’s “present problem.” The conclusion is reached that the temporally absent God’s “present problem” can be resolved by embracing a “risk-free” understanding of divine providence, best understood in terms of a “Reformed decree” that strongly actualizes all non-divine entities and events. Chapter Six begins by wrestling with what implications the timelessness doctrine might have for “responsive” divine compassion and ends by proposing that the infinite God “embraces” the finite world not by way of a panentheistic inclusion but in some ways more akin to a husband’s attentive care for his wife.

The quest for the historical Jesus can be advanced by a consideration of disagreement scenarios recorded in the gospels. Such “conflicts” afford the opportunity not only to analyse the positions of the protagonists, but by comparing them, to better appreciate their relative stances. ¶ One area of disagreement that has remained largely unexplored is that between Jesus and the Pharisees over the “kingdom of God”. Indeed, “kingdom of God” formed the very foundation of Jesus’ preaching and thus ought to be the place where fundamental disagreements are to be found. As Luke 17:20-21 represents the only passage in the Gospels where the Pharisees show any interest in the kingdom of God, it forms the central hub of the thesis around which an account of the disparate beliefs of Jesus and the Pharisees on the kingdom of God is constructed. ¶ The main thesis is this. Luke 17:20-21 can best be explained, at the level of the Pharisees and Jesus, as betraying a fundamental disagreement, not in the identity of the kingdom of God, which they both regarded as primarily the Divine Royal Presence, i.e. God himself as king, but in the location of that kingdom. The Pharisees located the kingdom in the here-and-now, Jesus located it in heaven. Conversely, at later stages in the formation of the pericope, the pre-Lukan community identified the kingdom as the Holy Spirit located in individuals with faith in Jesus and the redactor identified the kingdom as Jesus, located both in the Historical Jesus and the Jesus now in heaven. ¶ Chapter 1, after the usual preliminary remarks, presents an analysis of Luke 17:20-21 as a chreia, a literary form ideally suited as the basis on which to compare the beliefs of the Pharisees and Jesus. The work of three scholars vital to the development of the main thesis is then reviewed and evaluated. By way of background, a portrait of the Pharisees is then presented, highlighting in particular, issues that will be of importance in later chapters. Finally, a section on the Aramaic Targums suggests that some targum traditions may be traced back prior to AD 70 and that these reflect the influence and beliefs of first century Palestinian Pharisees. ¶ Chapters 2 and 3 are a consideration of every instance of the explicit mention of God as king (or his kingship) and the Divine Kingdom respectively, in contemporary and earlier Jewish Palestinian literature and in Luke-Acts. A model of the kingdom of God is developed in these chapters that will be applied to Luke 17:20-21 in the next chapter. ¶ Chapter 4 presents a detailed exegesis of Luke 17:20-21, taking into account scholarship on the pericope since the last monograph (an unpublished dissertation of 1962) on the chreia. It offers a composition history of the pericope and measures previous exegesis against the view of the kingdom of God as developed in chapters 2 and 3. ¶ Chapter 5 presents a summary of the work that relates directly to Luke 17:20-21, some implications arising from the findings and, several possible avenues for future research.

This dissertation presents a study of the idea of Divine presence as represented in two of the Dead Sea Scrolls, IQS and IQH. It will attempt to demonstrate that it is a particular and distinctive idea of that presence that provides the Yahad's identity. To show how this might be so, the thesis will examine words and phrases used in IQS/H to describe God's presence in comparison with those same words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible. At times, it will be necessary to adduce collaborating evidence, drawn from other Qumran documents (IQSa, IQM), the LXX, the Vulgate, and Rabbinic literature. The thesis will note how scholarly literature on the Qumran documents studied here display a comparative neglect of the fundamental theme of Divine presence. After setting out the problem, the aim, and the method of this thesis in the introduction, I outline in what way the question of Divine presence influences our understanding of the identity of the Qumran Community by reviewing scholarly literature on this question. The study falls into four parts. In the first part, I analyse how IQS and IQH describe the nature and dwelling place of God. This part forms the basis for the following investigations. In the second part, I ask the question whether or not IQS and IQH describe a way in which the Yahad can experience God. In the third part, I investigate the relationship between God and the Qumran Community as described by IQS/H in two ways. First, I analyse how IQS/H picture God as the one who approaches the Commimity; secondly, I identify the means by which God approaches the Yahad as the principles on which the special relationship between the Community and God - a unique understanding of Divine presence - rests. In the fourth part of this thesis, I investigate how IQS/H picture life in the Community that is based on these principles. I focus on aspects of life in the Yahad that describe the special relationship between God and the Yahad most clearly. Finally, before concluding, I analyse the significance of the 4QS-Fragments asking the question whether the recently published fragments alter the idea of Divine presence as described IQS.

This thesis argues that ancient Greek narratives of encounter between gods and mortals cannot be understood simply in terms of constellations of recurrent descriptive features or in terms of the iterability of type-scene or ritual. Divine epiphanies are moments of disruption or antistructure which provoke strategic, structuring responses, not least in narrative and ritual. But these responses do not subsume the potential that remains at the intersection between gods and mortals. Contestation over power, authority and legitimacy is constitutive of epiphany. In the first section I examine problems caused by scholarly concern for 'authentic experience' in treating epiphany-accounts in general and Homeric epic in particular. I propose an alternative focus on how sense, both as perception and as significance, is actively produced in such contexts: narrativisation and ritualisation offer experiences-in-themselves in which people participate to make sense and significance in the world. The cultural currency of such narratives depends not on their relation to religious experiences or religious belief as such, but on the ways that such narratives engage their audiences in exploring the difference of gods from mortals and the ramifications of this difference for human existence in the world. In the second section I consider a succession of moments in the Iliad and the Odyssey, first to destabilise the notion of divine epiphany as a self-evident category or paradigm, second to explore the vital importance of three questions: what constitutes divine presence and absence, how they are manifested, and how they might or might not be recognised. The expression of divine presence in figurative terms in Homer does not reflect a metaphorisation of divine power, but is constitutive of the problematic play of divine presence and mortal recognition. The consequences of recognising or failing to recognise this play of presence and absence can be profound. Even when contemplating the 'body' of the gods, problems of perception and point-of-view are operative. Viewing divine epiphany as an interplay of presence and perception points to the importance of the specific constituting frames of presence and absence. Contestation and realisation of authority and legitimacy are crucial concomitants. I explore the ends of the Odyssey and Iliad in terms of the authority of gods to end our narratives and the potential for mortals to generate specifically human meanings in and around these ends. In my conclusion I look beyond Homer briefly to consider the ongoing place of narratives of divine epiphany in Greek cultural contexts. How significance is generated in relation to the presence and absence of the gods remains a central question, and the disruptive tropes of epiphany play a crucial role.

The question of Christ's presence in the eucharist was an issue which caused great controversy in the Reformation period, and which continued to evoke dispute during the seventeenth century. Various interpretations of the Caroline divines' teaching on the eucharistic presence have been offered, but often they seem either to indicate the theological position of the writer rather than that of the theologians considered, or to ignore the broader context of eucharistic doctrine. The purpose of this study, therefore, was 1. to investigate the theology of eucharistic presence in the thinking of several seventeenth-century Anglican divines, and 2. to examine their teaching in relation to the sixteenth-century Anglican heritage and the various continental sacramental doctrines, Reformed, Lutheran, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. To accomplish this goal, eight theologians were chosen for examination: Adrianus Saravia, Lancelot Andrewes, John Cosin, Richard Montague, William Forbes, William Laud, Jeremy Taylor and Herbert Thorndike. When available, nineteenth-century editions of their works were used; otherwise, seventeenth-century texts were employed. Similarly, modern editions of Roman, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed writings were utilized when possible. Thy examination of eucharistic teaching included seven major points: 1. the sacrament as mystery, 2. eucharistic change, 3. the relationship between Christ's body and the bread, 4. eucharistic communion, 5. the nature of Christ's body in the sacrament, 6. consecration, and 7. adoration in the eucharist. This study has shown that there was great diversity in the thinking of the Caroline divines (although they did not treat the subject of eucharistic presence with equal detail or depth); no unified understanding of sacramental presence was expressed. Reformed ideas inherited from the previous century remained strong, but new tendencies toward other understandings of the eucharist can be discerned. The period, therefore, can be seen to represent a new stage in the history of Anglican eucharistic doctrine.

With social media’s increasing importance in modern society, this thesis investigates its role in the digital economy and how it shapes the everyday lives of Sheffield’s residents. The significance of social media ties, transactional relationships and concepts about how new media functions in the public sphere are interwoven throughout the literature review. Digital interactivity is conceived as a process, which in turn, influences the perception of status, reputation and recognition. Qualitative interviews were conducted with participants from each of the following three cohorts: computer learners, knowledge workers and global elites. An interactivity spectrum was developed after participant interviews emphasised how social media usage related to employment prospects. This spectrum evaluates the cohort’s online interactivities based on the following categories: technology and data linkages; networking and engagement; representation and identity; information awareness and sociability. This conceptual framework draws on usage patterns and investigates the social ties forged through digital connections. Interactivity serves to amplify voice and visibility; thus, online presence becomes an active form of social capital incorporating both visibility and voice. These cases suggest how digital interactivity and social capital accumulation may be theorized using voice, visibility and presence on the social media sites of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The three groups (learners, knowledge workers and elites) strive separately to achieve both local and national forms of recognition within the public sphere and are clearly marked out by their differences in social media interactivity. This research is important as it delineates a social capital creation pathway that begins with digital engagement and ends with social capital accumulation. The connection between engagement and capital creation also compels a rethink of the digital divide in light of new participatory media practices.

The Discourse of the Divine: Radical Traditions of Black Feminism, Musicking, and Myth within the Black Public Sphere (Civil Rights to the Present) is an exploration of the historical precursors and the contemporary developments of Black feminism in America, via Black female musical production and West and Central African cosmology. Historical continuity and consciousness of African spirituality within the development of Black feminism are analyzed alongside the musical practices of two Black female musicians, Nina Simone and Me’shell Ndegéocello. Simone and Ndegéocello, The High Priestess of Soul and the Mother of Neo-Soul, respectively, distend the commodified confines of Black music and identity by challenging the established norms of music and knowledge production. These artists’ lyrics, politics, and representations substantiate the “Signifyin(g)” elements of West and Central African feminist mythologies and musicmaking traditions.

El presente trabajo estudia la recepción de la Biblia por parte de Jorge Luis Borges a partir del análisis de su obra completa. Se compone de tres partes. En la primera, contextual, después de perfilar la fortuna literaria del imaginario bíblico, cuestión bien estudiada en el ámbito anglosajón desde la década de 1980, se atiende brevemente al modo en que tres autores importantes para Borges Dante, Milton y Blake usaron la Escritura en su obra. En la segunda, a partir de ciertos datos biográficos, declaraciones y escritos de Borges, se trata de precisar la importancia que tuvo para él la literatura bíblica y de qué modo ésta influyó en su propia poética. En la tercera se analiza el uso literario de ciertos personajes de la Escritura por parte de Borges; el análisis revela que esos personajes encarnan de un modo paradigmático algunos de los temas centrales de su obra, como el conocimiento, la muerte, el tiempo o la identidad.
The present work studies the reception of the Bible by Jorge Luis Borges by means of the analysis of his complete work. It consists of three parts. The first one, merely contextual, outlines the literary fortune of the biblical imagery, a question that has occupied to the Anglo-Saxon criticism from the decade of 1980, and concisely attends to the way in which three important authors for Borges Dante, Milton and Blake used the Scriptures in their work. The second one attempts to specify, from the basis of certain biographical information, declarations and writings of Borges, the importance that the Biblical literature had for him and the way it influenced his own poetics. The third one analyzes the literary use of certain characters of the Scriptures by Borges; the analysis reveals that these characters personify in a paradigmatic way some of the central topics of his work, as knowledge, death, time or identity.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-18T18:44:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 Alexandre da Silva Chaves-1_Parte1.pdf: 4098746 bytes, checksum: ce7ef5f6736febf6983a7a8c01663fa7 (MD5) Alexandre da Silva Chaves-1_Parte2.pdf: 4169032 bytes, checksum: f9f58fc742a124f4587c8a219f4077a6 (MD5) Alexandre da Silva Chaves-1_Parte3.pdf: 1170746 bytes, checksum: c9f93a2073ae56ee4b19c6ffe26343c6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-23
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
This paper seeks to understand the Pentecostal religion in its historical-cultural perspective, considering both aspects to the transition of rural-urban municipality of Franco da Rocha. There is the possibility of studying the arrival of Christ Pentecostal Church and the causes of integration and accommodation in this rural region. On can observe that there is a reverse movement carried out over most of the Brazilian Evangelical churches, which would integrate the layers of urban society, however, research studies indicate that this church is trying in a rural context of transition. This paper presents Pentecostalism in Brazilian culture in its diverse forms of expression, based on case study presented in the context of the rural municipality of Franco da Rocha, it is observed how the culture in its broader aspect is politics, economics or history, a Pentecostal religiosity influences the everyday life that is transformed by this community. The survey notes a kind of evangelical Pentecostal which is beyond the routine aspect presented in the arena of urban religions. It is observed that the accommodation of the Pentecostal religion in an atmosphere of tradition and a rural context, culture configures a different kind of Pentecost in its spectrum, a type of Pentecostalism done mixing, which differs from the types of "Pentecostalism" in existing urban centers.
Este trabalho busca compreender a religiosidade pentecostal em sua perspectiva históricocultural privilegiando a temática da transição rural-urbana, por onde se busca perceber esses aspectos, cujos reflexos se tornam evidentes e podem ser experimentados na religião pentecostal do município de Franco da Rocha. A integração às camadas urbanas da sociedade é característica comum ao movimento pentecostal brasileiro, contudo, percebe-se nesse pentecostalismo e nas causas de sua integração e acomodação nesta região rural o inverso do que realizam os pentecostais das mais diferentes matrizes da igreja evangélica brasileira; o movimento de fuga das massas camponesas e agrárias em grandes capitais e cidades do país leva consigo, normalmente, uma religião e o interesse do religioso nas camadas urbanas. O trabalho apresenta o pentecostalismo de curas divinas na cultura brasileira em sua forma mais diversificada de expressão; com base no estudo de caso apresentado nesse contexto rural do município de Franco da Rocha, observa-se o quanto a cultura, em seu aspecto mais amplo, influencia uma religiosidade pentecostal que é transformada pelo cotidiano dessa comunidade ao mesmo tempo em que a transforma. A pesquisa observa um tipo de evangélico pentecostal que foge ao aspecto apresentado na arena das religiões urbanas. Observa-se que na acomodação da religião pentecostal num ambiente de tradição e num contexto rural, a cultura o configura num tipo de pentecostal diferente em seu espectro, um tipo de pentecostalismo feito de mixagem, um hibrido, que difere dos tipos de pentecostalismos existentes nos centros urbanos.

This thesis consists of three self-contained studies regarding the dividend policy of Greek firms. The first study examines the dividend policy of Greek firms (non-financial firms - all constituents of the Athens Stock Exchange) by exploring its determining factors while relating them to the corporate structure and the state's financial institutional framework. Its main contribution is to provide evidence on the relation between corporate structure and dividend policy in an insider financial system where business ownership is concentrated in the hands of few shareholders, who also control the management. In Greece the above relation is detectable due to a unique legal requirement that. mandates a minimum dividend requirement based on earnings and share capital which can be circumvented only if shareholders who control sufficient voting power decide to do so. We show that the ownership type does not significantly affect the decision to waive the minimum payment requirement while the level of insider corporate ownership increases the likelihood of a dividend payment. On the other hand, the pursuit of growth opportunities and high leverage decrease the probability of a firm paying dividends and leverage alone decreases the probability of a firm to pay above the minimum dividend requirement. The second study investigates the signalling content of the dividend policy of Greek firms and the market reaction to dividend announcements. We examine both the signalling content of dividend changes as well as the signalling content of a waiver of the minimum dividend requirement. To test our hypotheses we use univariate, multivariate and event analyses. The study provides evidence supporting the free cash flow hypothesis while signalling hypothesis is not supported. In particular, dividend decreases or waivers of the minimum dividend requirement result in increased investments in the dividend change year and they contribute to higher . future profitability in the long term. The market considers that a waiver when a dividend is not paid contributes to a future increase in firm value. The third study examines the impact of specific fair value adjustments as promoted by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the divided policy of Greek firms from 2006-2008, We consider specific fair value adjustments which are included in the accounting income and arc identified by the Hellenic Commission of Auditing and Accounting Regulation (HCAAR) as non-distributable. We find a positive (negative) relationship between dividend payouts and income deriving from fair value adjustments on investment property (financial securities). Both types of income are persistent. We consider managerial opportunism to be a possible explanation for the negative relationship managerial opportunism (Goncharov and Van Triest (2010). Moreover, we find that fair value adjustments on investment property do not influence the choice of firms to pay dividends while there is a positive relationship between the fair value adjustments on financial securities and the decision of firms to pay dividends.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1986.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH
Vita.
Bibliography: leaves 193-194.
by Elena Christou Christofidou.
M.C.P.

I investigated the past, present and possible futures of Australia’s ocean pools, over a hundred public seawater pools sited on rocky surfcoasts, so that waves wash over their walls. My interdisciplinary analysis informed by actor-­‐network theory explored their contributions to surf, beach, pool and body cultures and recreational coasts. Ocean pools have since the nineteenth century been far more significant in the surf, beach, pool and body cultures of Australia and South Africa, than in those of Britain and the United States. Most of Australia’s ocean pools lie within state of New South Wales, and my work strengthens the case for recognising Australian and NSW ocean pools as having distinct collective identities and affinities with their South African counterparts. Ocean pools are sites of social and environmental learning that challenge efforts to establish human mastery over wild natures and depictions of coastal environments as mere stages for enacting human activities unconstrained by non-­‐human nature. They also challenge the notion that people prefer to swim and bathe at patrolled beaches or in private or public pools far less wild than an ocean pool. They are evidence that supervision by suitably trained and equipped lifeguards or lifesavers is not the only or the most satisfactory way to adequately safeguard bathers and swimmers from the dangers of the sea. Australia’s ocean pools demonstrate that regardless of race, class, gender, age or ability, people can and do make themselves at home in pools shared convivially with wild nature and well-­‐suited for sustained, unsupervised recreation and sport on rocky surfcoast. Ocean pools serve as places of refuge, therapeutic and restorative environments, adventure playgrounds, convivial public spaces, visually appealing cultural landscapes, brands, icons and symbols. Australia’s ocean pools are unified by their sites, their affordances and core actor-­‐ networks linked to their fundamental and enduring identity as ‘wild but safe enough surfside pools’. Rocky shores and coastal waters characterised by surf, sharks and rips are among the most persistent macro-­‐actors in these networks that include bathers, swimmers, tourism and transport networks, news media, local councils and progress associations. Australian ocean pools that gained a further identity as ‘public pools for competition and carnivals’ acquired additional actor-­‐networks strongly linked since the late nineteenth century to amateur swimming clubs and schools, and since the twentieth century to surf lifesaving clubs and winter swimming clubs. Those ocean pools nevertheless, remained predominately recreational facilities. As other types of public pools became more affordable, Australia’s ocean pools remained popular despite gaining new identities as an ‘unusually hazardous type of public pool’ and ‘a type of facility no longer created’. The growing threats to ocean pools and their actor-­‐networks are a further unifying factor. As sport and recreation venues cultivating healthy, convivial relationships with wild nature and possessing unrealised potential as centres for community engagement, learning and research, ocean pools are worth emulating on other rocky shores and in other public places. My work strengthens efforts to sustain and create ocean pools and supports further studies on seawater pools and their actor-­‐networks.

The quest for the historical Jesus can be advanced by a consideration of disagreement scenarios recorded in the gospels. Such “conflicts” afford the opportunity not only to analyse the positions of the protagonists, but by comparing them, to better appreciate their relative stances. One area of disagreement that has remained largely unexplored is that between Jesus and the Pharisees over the “kingdom of God”. Indeed, “kingdom of God” formed the very foundation of Jesus’ preaching and thus ought to be the place where fundamental disagreements are to be found. As Luke 17:20-21 represents the only passage in the Gospels where the Pharisees show any interest in the kingdom of God, it forms the central hub of the thesis around which an account of the disparate beliefs of Jesus and the Pharisees on the kingdom of God is constructed. The main thesis is this. Luke 17:20-21 can best be explained, at the level of the Pharisees and Jesus, as betraying a fundamental disagreement, not in the identity of the kingdom of God, which they both regarded as primarily the Divine Royal Presence, i.e. God himself as king, but in the location of that kingdom. The Pharisees located the kingdom in the here-and-now, Jesus located it in heaven. Conversely, at later stages in the formation of the pericope, the pre-Lukan community identified the kingdom as the Holy Spirit located in individuals with faith in Jesus and the redactor identified the kingdom as Jesus, located both in the Historical Jesus and the Jesus now in heaven. Chapter 1, after the usual preliminary remarks, presents an analysis of Luke 17:20-21 as a chreia, a literary form ideally suited as the basis on which to compare the beliefs of the Pharisees and Jesus. The work of three scholars vital to the development of the main thesis is then reviewed and evaluated. By way of background, a portrait of the Pharisees is then presented, highlighting in particular, issues that will be of importance in later chapters. Finally, a section on the Aramaic Targums suggests that some targum traditions may be traced back prior to AD 70 and that these reflect the influence and beliefs of first century Palestinian Pharisees. Chapters 2 and 3 are a consideration of every instance of the explicit mention of God as king (or his kingship) and the Divine Kingdom respectively, in contemporary and earlier Jewish Palestinian literature and in Luke-Acts. A model of the kingdom of God is developed in these chapters that will be applied to Luke 17:20-21 in the next chapter. Chapter 4 presents a detailed exegesis of Luke 17:20-21, taking into account scholarship on the pericope since the last monograph (an unpublished dissertation of 1962) on the chreia. It offers a composition history of the pericope and measures previous exegesis against the view of the kingdom of God as developed in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 5 presents a summary of the work that relates directly to Luke 17:20-21, some implications arising from the findings and, several possible avenues for future research.

God is ontologically omni-present, yet he is spoken of as being present or even being absent. The presence and the absence of God are relational concepts. His presence generally shows his favor and is for the benefit of his people; and his absence indicates his disfavor. But sometimes his presence was for judgment too. The people of God are his people precisely because he is favorably present with them. God’s presence with his people bestows upon them a special position in relation to him, and a blessed future for them. God is Spirit, and his presence is not limited to visible forms. Many times God’s presence is simply indicated by divine speech. We have seen that God chose at times to reveal himself through theophanies, and these appearances related to humans in different ways. God’s presence in Exodus comes in various ways, and his presence has particular significance. Finally, God revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. For the Christian, Christ dwells with us and within us by his Spirit and through him we have access to the Father (Eph.1:18). The presence of God is redemptive. Israel was redeemed by the present God, Yahweh; and the Christian has been redeemed by the present God, the Lord Jesus Christ. As Evangelicals we believe that they are one and the same person, and the method of redemption is metaphorically equated in the New Testament. The Christian is empowered by the Holy Spirit and a new creation; two inseparable concepts that give us our identity. While Israel was redeemed as a nation, we are a redeemed people who are individually united in the Church of Jesus Christ; and in our local assemblies we are to maintain and reflect our unity by being a community. As Israel was a nation for the nations, so the Church is a community of witnesses to God’s righteousness and rule for the nations. Humans are to relate to God as Creator and as Redeemer, because they are accountable to him according to his creation and redemption (or re-creation) principles. Accountability is meaningful only in an ethical context. Man relates to God by acts of obedience to his creation and redemption principles. The chief duty of the Church is to make known the available person, purpose and power of God. God’s loving expression is his availability for a relationship with man. His self-revelation and gifts are for our benefit. His creation and creative intentions are for our benefit. His redemption and redemptive intentions are for our benefit. More so, we are accountable for the imperative to perpetuate God’s creation and redemption intentions. If they are expressions of love and intended to benefit, then they are ethical in nature. Our response to God and to creation at large must therefore also be ethical in nature. Our concern in this dissertation is to realize the socio-ethical significance of the Presence in redemption for the people of God, and in particular for the Evangelical Church. Having explored the Exodus texts from a synchronic approach, we have used the final canonical Exodus-narrative of Presence through socio-rhetorical exegesis and theological reflection to derive socio-ethical principles for our contemporary application. These principles are applied for specific contemporary contexts and questions in order to posit ethical social proposals, social responsibility, and social action. We are able to see how our Exodus pericopes were employed in the biblical Old and New Testaments. Their use in the Psalms, the Prophets and the New Testament reflected an authoritative theological interpretation of these Exodus texts for Evangelicals, merely because they are in the Bible. These Scriptural theological interpretations were a warrant for us to seek a theological interpretation of the canonical texts as the platform for socio-ethical interaction. Because we are so far removed temporarily, socio-ethical transfer from then to now was by no means cut-and-dried. Only through theological reflection are we able to derive socio-ethical principles for contemporary application, at least within an Evangelical Ecclesiology. Presence is applied theologically under the categories revelation, redemption and relationship. We are able to show how the principles of revelation, redemption and relationship related God and his people in ways that gave them a special identity as a community that must respond in a special and particular way to God and within itself. The people had to be monotheistic. Their response had monotheistic, ethical implications and social implications. Presence is also applied socially under the categories derived naturally from the Exodus narrative:

• Israel’s Self-Consciousness as a Community.
• Yahweh’s Presence and the Community’s Redemption.
• Yahweh’s Agent in the Redemption of the Community.
• Counter Forces to the Creation of the Redeemed Community.
• Covenant and Redemption Undergirds Social Identity.
• The Socio-ethical Response of the Redeemed Community.
• Redemption as Social Dialogue.
• Covenant as Societal Establishment.
• Covenant and Societal Conflict.
• Covenant and Societal Self-conscientiousness.

Each of these categories is discussed under the same sub-categories, namely, revelation, redemption and relationship. We are able to derive socio-ethical principles in this way; principles which could be applied in an Evangelical ecclesiology. Indeed, the Church is the best social context in which these principles are to be applied, and within that context we are able to derive socio-ethical proposals. The Church is posited as a multiplicity of microcosmic communities, all related to God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are able to make social proposals for the kind of social responsibilities and actions required within the church community. These socio-ethical proposals must emanate from the social vision of the Church, which is theological and eschatological in nature. The Church, as an eschatological community, must serve as an example and vision for society at large, recognizing that society at large also has a different and more complex make-up, and that socio-ethical transfer of Christian principles is not simplistically cut-and-dried. We have to find creative ways to translate the biblical imperative in a contemporary social context. This, we will conclude is only possible because we are able to apply it from and in a narratological context. We can however not simply use the same categories of revelation, redemption and relationship in a socio-ethical application. Ethics in general and social ethics in particular needs to be considered according to categories that were naturally conducive to ethical discourse. But these categories are also to be integrated with the theological categories in such a way that does not strain the ethical discourse. Surprisingly, the ethical categories of God (theological), man (social/political) and land (economic) easily lends itself to be discussed with the sub-categories of revelation, redemption and relationship. In fact, while it is fairly easy to do so under the theological and social/political categories, it is not so easy to distinguish the sub-categories for discussion under economy. We are forced to blur the lines between revelation and redemption on the one hand, and between redemption and relationship on the other. We can obviously not make proposals dealing with every socio-ethical issue. This is not our intention. We are, however, able to provide a socio-ethical vision for the Church, and thus, to a limited extent, for society at large. Because of our socio-ethical vision, it has become necessary for us to sketch the Church as an eschatological people which is a blessing to the world by its functioning in particular roles; as example (salt and light), evangelist, prophetic voice, teacher, agent, facilitator, negotiator, and partner. As example the Church is meant to be a pattern for society. The Church, which founds its indicative and imperative values upon the biblical text, can be a blessed pattern to society. As evangelist, the Church alone has the message of redemption, and it needs to share it with society. The best way for society to change is through regeneration. Our first priority is to extend the Kingdom of God in this world through the message of Jesus Christ and then through our godly influence. As prophetic voice, the Church must make known God’s will and ways. It is mainly a voice that speaks to issues of social justice, social responsibility and social reconstruction. Aspects of oppression, exploitation and other injustices must be condemned, and proposals for redress and reconstruction must be made. The Church must entrench democratic values and be the voice that calls for integrity and accountability. As teacher, the Church’s first place of teaching must be on a theological plane. Theological awareness encourages moral and ethical awareness. In short, they can teach on a whole range of issues that encourages good relationship, both vertically and horizontally. The Church can train leaders of integrity. As agent, the Church can act in society on behalf of Government, business and other organizations who have projects that aim at Christian-likeminded outcomes. Conversely, they can also act as agent for the people and community interests. The Church must be the redemptive agent in society. As facilitators, the Church facilitates important co-operations; with Government, business and other organizations. The Church can facilitate socio-ethical debates, forums, workshops, economic pro-active and ecological and environmental projects. As negotiators and partners, the Church can act on behalf of the poor and the marginalized. The rich and the poor are to act according to the tenets of love and justice. The Church can help inculcate these tenets, and to teach tenets of good work-ethic. The Church must be a redeemed people with redemptive aims; all for the glory of their redeeming God.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Old Testament Studies
unrestricted

This dissertation examines a late fifteenth-century conflict between Otto von Sonnenberg, bishop of Constance, and the City Council of Bern over attempts to temporarily reanimate dead infants in order to baptize them. Thousands of people were bringing their dead, unbaptized infants to the chapel of Oberbüren, heating them up over hot coals until they detected signs of life, and then baptizing them before they again died. Once baptized, the tiny corpses were buried in the consecrated ground surrounding the church, and the people celebrated the miracle by which another soul was saved from eternal damnation. But to the bishop, the heating did not work and the bodies did not return to life, which meant the people were baptizing corpses (which was ineffective) and violating consecrated ground by burying people still stained by original sin. While the bishop condemned this set of practices as a “superstition,” the City Council of Bern claimed that the resuscitations were legitimate miracles and should be promoted. Such reanimation practices were not new at this time or at this place, but conflicts over them were unusual. By situating this conflict in a long history of (temporary) infant reanimation across Central Europe and the baptismal imperative of the medieval Christian Church, this dissertation turns to the changing contexts of the natural world, with magic, medicine and witchcraft, to help explain why the reanimation practices would be causing such a stir at this particular juncture. “Alive Enough” shows how different epistemologies—a religious one based in affect, ritual, and faith and a naturalistic one based on human intention, material manipulation, and the test of reason—could be combined (and contested) to produce new understandings of life itself. It also calls into question the secular/ecclesiastical divide in determining religious belief, showing—in the decades before the Reformation—the important role of secular authorities in determining even these very exceptional moments of divine intervention in the world, moments that should be the example par excellence of ecclesiastical prerogative.

Rapidly changing oceans are threatening coastal ecosystems and require effective conservation efforts. On the Andaman coast of Thailand, SCUBA diving tourism is one activity that can aid conservation by providing incentives to conserve, rather than exploit, natural resources such as coral reefs. In 2011, the largest ever recorded coral bleaching event prompted the closure of many of the countries’ most popular dive sites to allow coral to recover. This unprecedented move and the resulting drop in dive tourists demonstrated the vast changes that could confront the dive industry in the face of climate change, altering its role as a vital activity within Thailand as well as its potential as a conservation tool along the coast. Ensuring the sustainability of Thailand’s coral reefs requires that we consider changes to both these components. This thesis tracks changes to the sustainability of diving as a conservation tool and predicts how these trends might vary in a future with continued climate change impacts. This research uses a wildlife tourism model proposed by Duffus and Dearden (1990) as a theoretical framework to examine changes to diving over time. A standardized questionnaire was administered to diving tourists in 2012 and compared against a similar study completed in 2000 to evaluate development and shifting sustainability of diving. Additionally, the ecotourism values and climate change perceptions of divers were measured to explore the present and future conservation potential. This work found that the conservation value of the dive industry has declined and will continue to do so without management interventions. Specifically, the specialization level of divers has declined between the years, yielding a population that has low skill level, generalized motivations, few ecotourism values, is easily satisfied, and spend less money than divers in 2000. Currently, there are many niche companies that all cater to mainstream tourists. However, within this broad industry, this research identified only one diving company that practices all of The International Ecotourism Societies’ principles for ecotourism operators, suggesting that diving on the Andaman coast is not an ecotourism industry. We anticipate that in the face of continuing climate change impacts, there will be a significant loss in clientele, but demand for diving will remain within the generalist divers on the Andaman coast. These findings provide clear evidence for shifting baselines, a phenomenon that will exacerbate declines in the conservation potential of the industry. Despite this, our results show that most divers are concerned about the impacts of climate change and are interested in learning about it, suggesting that there is potential to increase the educational value of the dive industry, and simultaneously boost its conservation contributions. To do so will require the efforts of both protected area managers and dive operators.
Graduate
0366
0814
0768

The thesis deals with the questions, how the Christians in the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom remind themselves the history of salvation and how they make the history of salvation present (i. e. anamnesis of the history of salvation) trough the symbols followed by the word. In the first part the author deals with the Christians symbolic acts in the liturgy as the symbolic acts express their relation to God. In the next part he pays attention to the process of the celebration of the liturgy of Saint John Chrisostom. These themes that describe symbolic acts of celebration are followed by the chapter that deals with the spiritual aspects of the liturgy. For a better orientation in the next text he closes the introductory part with the theological conception of the selected authors of the liturgical commentaries. In the main part of the thesis the author focuses on the history of the liturgy and on the liturgical commentaries of the selected authors of the Orthodox Christianity, who influenced the development of the Byzantine liturgy. Further, he focuses on the analysis of the present text of the liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, where he searches for the ways the anamnesis of the history of salvation is reached. In the final part of the work he presents the results of the analysis and concludes that the Jesus life is really reminded and made present in the particular parts of the Byzantine liturgy.