Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sufism and love understanding'

The concept “love” can refer to different types of relationships. We use it when talking about our family, friends, romantic partners, pets, god(s), pieces of art, ideas, etc. and refer to love as if it happens to us, like a feeling, or as an action or behavior that we conduct, like an emotion or special deed, or even as a type of relationship that is had between two things. No matter what manifestation that love takes on or how it is described, the phenomenon that occurs is always the same. Of course we express love in different ways with different objects, like romantically with romantic partners and familially with family members, but the process for giving our husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, pets and everything else a special importance is the phenomenon of love. My aim in this thesis is to explain the phenomenon of love. I will argue that love is a way of responding to an object through a process of appraising it for its subjective, intrinsic value and then bestowing the experience of that appraisal back onto the object as an extrinsic quality whereby the object becomes valuable and irreplaceably important. This way of looking at the phenomenon of love, through a value theory, is taken up as a compromise of the two popular value theories, The Appraisal View and The Bestowal View. Irving Singer makes arguments for uniting these actions of appraising and bestowing value into a theory of love however leaves much unexplained and thus comes under fire from his critics. My take on love will aim at explaining how a value theory that is a compromise between Appraisal and Bestowal can avoid the problems that are suggested by Singer’s critics and describe how love occurs.

Aḥmad Ibn ‘Ajība (d. 1224/1809) is one of the prominent Sufi mystics who lived in Morocco during the 13th/ 17th century. His importance in Sufi scholarship is a reflection of the fact that he is one of the original Sufi scholars who contributed immensely to elucidating ambiguous Sufi concepts that were, by their very nature, enigmatic and only accessible through Sufi adepts. He also stood out as an intellectual theoretician in the science of Qur’ānic esoteric hermeneutics because he was one of the few scholars who managed to convey theoretical concepts and esoteric theories of Qur’ānic interpretation in a language that could be accessed by those with an average level of intellect. One of these theories is the concept of divine love. In this thesis, I propose to address the concept of divine love in Aḥmad Ibn ‘Ajība’s famous exegesis of the Qurān al-Baḥr al-madīd fī tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-majīd (Oceanic Exegesis of the Qurān). Over the course of this thesis, I endeavor to show how Ibn ‘Ajība combined what has been extensively written on the subject of divine love by different Sufi saints and mystics with the mystical exegesis of the Qur’ān. Ibn ‘Ajība is one of the early Sufis who connected theoretical works on the concept of divine love and practically applied them to the Qur’ān’s verses on love. This unique combination was an important breakthrough in the Sufi literature which other Sufi scholars then built upon in offering an exegesis of the Qur’ān - Shaykh Aḥmad Ibn Muṣṭafā al-‘Alawī (d.1934) was particularly important in this respect. Explaining the concept of divine love through his mystical interpretation of the love verses in the Qur’ān ultimately aspire to connect the purpose of creation (which was due to the Creator’s love for His creation), to the turning point (the return of the creation to the Creator). This symphony of love that is an essential component of the story of creation is well-defined, clearly stated and deeply analyzed in Ibn ‘Ajība’s work. He also met the challenge of overcoming the elliptical mystical language of exposition that was used by earlier Sufis; accordingly, he successfully simplified the ambiguous style of writing and decoded their enigmatic mystical doctrines. I hope that an analysis of Ibn ‘Ajība’s concept of divine love will stimulate the appetite of academic researchers to investigate the scholarly works of this luminary, and thus highlight his significance in the wider Sufi tradition. Ibn ‘Ajība's works have in general not received sufficient attention and deserve deeper and more sustained analysis.

This essay aims to examine the expressions of love in classical Persian poetry and the European, medieval courtly love. The main focus is to analyze the Persian divine love using a selection of poems from Jalal al-din Rumis Vassflöjtens sång and Fakhr al-din Araqis Gnistornas bok, both translated and commented by Ashk Dahlén. The method used for this study is to analyze the Persian divine love with the perspective of the courtly love using the questions how the love in the poems are expressed and how it relates to the rules of courtly love. The knowledge behind the Persian poetry is mostly provided by Ashk Dahlén, Bo Utas and Simon Sorgenfrei with Kärleken begär att detta tal skall fram. The divine love is in the analysis compared with different expressions of medieval courtly love throughout the century supported by Anders Cullheds chapter about courtly love in Tidens guld: essayer om kanon, liv, poesi and Carin Franzéns Jag gav honom inte min kärlek: Om hövisk kärlek som kvinnlig strategi. I do a comparative analysis between the Persian poetry and different examples from the courtly love highlighting mostly the similarities but also some important differences. It also examines the use of eros and agape with the help of Anders Johanssons Kärleksförklaring: Subjektiveringens dialektik for a more in depth analyze. In conclusion, I found that there are a lot of similarities in the expression of both worldly and divine contexts but that it is built on different foundations. The essay ends by discussing the predominant similarities and why it might be similar but also problematizes and highlights a few differences like the use of eros and agape and the use of motives. The intention of this essay is to open up for further research regarding the subject and examine why it is possible to find such similarities at the same historical time but in two different parts of the world.
Denna uppsats ämnar jämföra kärleksuttrycket i klassisk persisk poesi med den europeiska, medeltida höviska kärleken. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån ett höviskt kärleksperspektiv analysera hur kärleken kommer till uttryck hos två namn inom den klassiska persiska poesin, Jalal al-din Rumi och Fakhr al-din Araqi. Den gudomliga kärleken har analyserats med hjälp av Rumis samling Vassflöjtens sång och Araqis Gnistornas bok, båda översatta och kommenterade av Ashk Dahlén. Metoden för denna uppsats är att analysera den persiska poesin med hjälp av den höviska kärleken som ett verktyg. Detta kommer att göras med hjälp av frågorna hur kärleken i poesin tar sig uttryck och hur den förhåller sig till den höviska kärleksmodellen. Vetskapen om den persiska poesin tillhandahålls av bland annat Ashk Dahlén, Bo Utas och Simon Sorgenfrei med antologin Kärleken begär att detta tal skall fram. Den gudomliga kärleken jämförs i analysen med olika uttryck av höviska kärlek genom århundradet med hjälp av Anders Cullheds kapitel om hövisk kärlek i Tidens guld: essay om kanon, liv, poesi och Carin Franzéns Jag gav honom inte min kärlek: Om hövisk kärlek som kvinnlig strategi. Jag gör en komparativ analys mellan den persiska poesin och diverse exempel från den höviska kärleken och framhäver framförallt dess likheter men också en del större olikheter. Uppsatsen undersöker också användningen av eros och agape med hjälp av Anders Johanssons Kärleksförklaring: Subjektiveringens dialektik för en djupare analys. Sammanfattningsvis visar analysen en rad likheter i uttrycket inom både värdsliga och andliga sammanhang men också att dessa likheter grundar sig på olika utgångspunkter. Uppsatsen avslutas med att diskutera de övervägande likheterna och varför dessa går att finna men problematiserar och framhäver även de olikheter som går att finna som användadet av eros och agape samt användningen av motiv. Intentionen med denna uppsats är att öppna upp för mer forskning inom området och att undersöka varför det är möjligt att finna dessa likheter under samma tidsperiod i olika delar av världen.

The purpose of this existential-phenomenological study was to investigate the meaning of a romantic love experience. Six adult co-researchers discussed their romantic love experience with the researcher. The co-researchers were asked to recall the time before, during, and after the love experience. Two interviews were conducted. The initial in-depth interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed according to the method outlined by Colaizzi (1978). Twenty-two themes were explicated from the transcripts. These were written into an exhaustive description of a romantic love experience. The essential structure of the experience was culled from the exhaustive description. The transcripts, the themes, the exhaustive description and the essential structure were validated by the co-researchers. The description of a romantic love experience is a starting point both for future research and for the development of appropriate counselling techniques to be used with clients who are romantic by disposition or by situation.
Education, Faculty of
Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
Graduate

The main assumption of this thesis is existence of traditional and modern values in the Chinese society. The author of this paper believes that this characteristic differentiates that market from other luxury markets and drives the way luxury is consumed. The study tries also proving that the perception of luxury and conspicuous consumption can be changed in time in the process of bigger internationalization of the country. The research focus is put primarily on psychology of luxury consumer in China and what stands behind their motivation of purchasing high-end products.
Program: Master in Fashion Management with specialisation in Fashion Marketing and Retailing

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 149 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-129).

In what circumstances do individuals sacrifice direct self-interest for the good of their partner or their relationship? The research presented in this thesis used interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) as a theoretical framework for examining willingness to sacrifice in intimate relationship dilemmas. Two person specific variables, commitment and personal relationship needs, were examined alongside three situation specific variables, the cost of sacrificing, partners' relationship needs, and partners' strategy. The research had a varied methodological base consisting of two laboratory-based studies (outcome matrices represented relationship dilemmas), a scenario based paradigm, and a recall paradigm. The situation specific variables revealed tendencies for individuals to strive to maximise personal outcomes rather than joint outcomes. Individuals were consistently found to sacrifice less in dilemmas involving a high level costs and rewards, exhibited less sacrifice with a selfish partner as opposed to a sacrificial partner, and less sacrifice when paired with a partner who was described as being high in relationship needs. However, the person specific variables demonstrated factors within intimate relationships that may restrict this pursuit of self-interest. In line with previous research (e. g. Van Lange, Agnew, Harinck, & Steemers, 1997) a positive relationship was found between commitment and willingness to sacrifice. However the current research demonstrated that this relationship is only found in dilemmas that involve a high level of costs and rewards (e. g. moving home). When the costs and rewards involved are low (e. g. washing up), individuals classified as low in commitment exhibit similar levels, or sometimes even greater sacrifice, than individuals classified as high in commitment. It was demonstrated that individuals who are highly committed to their relationship hold more dyad-focused motives (e. g. concern for partner's well-being and needs) than less committed individuals. It is proposed that this increased focus on the dyad promotes a greater desire to maximise joint outcomes, resulting in the greater sacrificial behaviour exhibited in the high cost dilemmas. It was demonstrated that less committed individuals are more influenced by self-focused motivations for sacrificial behaviour, such as short-term exchange (i. e. getting something in return for their sacrifice) than high committed individuals. It is argued that these self-focused motives generally only justify sacrifice in dilemmas involving a low level of cost. The main conclusion drawn from this research is that both self-focused and dyad-focused motives underlie sacrifice. However, low committed individuals are more influenced by self-focused motives than high committed individuals, and high committed individuals are more influenced by dyad-focused motives than low committed individuals. This discrepancy results in situational differences (in terms of cost) in which low and high committed individuals are willing to sacrifice.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 1993.
Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-158). Includes Glossary of Chinese characters and bibliography of Chinese references.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO
PROGRAMA DE SUPORTE À PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE INSTS. DE ENSINO
A escatologia do amor é o estudo da escatologia de J. Moltmann a partir da sua compreensão de Deus na história do sofrimento do mundo e na história do sofrimento solidário de Deus por este mundo. Amor é o conceito cristão de Deus como Trindade que Se move a partir do Seu futuro em direção à Sua criação. Trata-se do Deus Amor que sofre (como Deus) solidariamente no sofrimento de Sua criação. O Deus cristão não é apático, imóvel, mas amor. Este amor fundamenta a esperança, esta que é característica fundamental da fé cristã. A partir da passagem da escatologia de um discurso informativo para um discurso performativo, esta pesquisa aponta o dado biográfico da teologia de J. Moltmann e a implicação deste dado na compreensão de Deus desde o Evento Pascal de Cristo, que reflete o pathos divino na cruz de Cristo, solidário na situação de abandono e morte do homem, o sim de Deus a este Crucificado pela sua ressurreição e a irrupção em curso de seu futuro por obra do Espírito Santo. Desde esta perspectiva, a existência cristã como informada pela esperança se fundamenta nesse amor revelador de Deus. Esta pesquisa parte da pergunta por Deus e pela esperança em J. Moltmann, segue aprofundando a compreensão moltmanniana de Deus e reflete o enunciado escatológico desta compreensão de Deus como Trindade, cujo amor convidativo liberta, transforma e integra, caracterizando a fé cristã e sua práxis como um dado escatológico.
The eschatology of love is the study of the eschatology of J. Moltmann from his understanding of God in the history of the suffering of the world and in the history of the suffering of God s solidarity for this world. Love is the Christian concept of God as Trinity that moves from His future towards His creation. It is all about the Love God who suffers (as God) in solidarity in the suffering of His creation. The Christian God is not apathetic, immobile, but love. This love bases the hope, which is a fundamental characteristic of the Christian faith. From the passage from the eschatology of an informative discourse to a performative discourse, this research points to the biographical data of J. Moltmann s theology and the implication of this data in the understanding of God since the Paschal Christ Event, which reflects the divine pathos on the cross of Christ, united to the situation of abandonment and death of man, the yes of God to this Crucified One by His resurrection and the rise up of His future by the work of the Holy Spirit. From this perspective, the Christian existence as informed by the hope is based on this revealing God s love. This research starts from the enquiry for God and hope in J. Moltmann, which goes on to deepen Moltmann s understanding of God and reflects the eschatological statement of this understanding of God as Trinity, whose invitative love liberates, transforms and integrates, characterizing the Christian faith and its praxis as an eschatological datum.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 11, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Jamie Arndt. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Compared to the quantitative studies that have looked at the impact of domestic violence on children, few quantitative studies have looked at the continuing impact of domestic violence exposure on adult children and still fewer qualitative studies have explored this topic from the perspective of adult women reflecting on their exposure to domestic violence over time. None to date have taken a systemic, relational perspective to illuminate the complex family dynamics in a domestic violence context. To address this gap, a constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) design, using a systemic lens, was used to illuminate the understanding of adult women’s experiences of childhood domestic violence in the family that they grew up in. In depth interviews were undertaken with a sample of 15 women who were recruited through health and social care professional colleagues. Data collection and data analysis happened concurrently and theoretical sampling, constant comparative method, memo writing guided the research process. The category “Living with contradictions, double binds and dilemmas” was presented as the core category that sought to throw light on the continual contradictions of love and abuse that the women had to struggle with, in making sense of their experiences. The three key categories that made up the core category were: a)“Being triangulated in the parental conflict and parentification, as a related and relational process”; b) “The traumatogenic effect of the violence on the child and adult development” and c) “Turning points/ Developmental processes that foster change and resilience, including reconciliation, reconnection and redemption”. The research participants’ childhood experiences and cultural contexts such as gendered beliefs, beliefs about religion, the limited professional responses and issues of secrecy and shame were presented as the contexts to understand their adult experiences, and these in turn gave meaning to their childhood experiences in an iterative process. The results highlighted a number of implications for practice, research, supervision, policy and service development, such as the need for practitioners to understand and manage intense contradictions and hold complex dilemmas when working with violence. One way that this can be done is by embracing an integrative theoretical framework including using systemic psychotherapy both as a meta-theory and as an intervention, with adult survivors and child witnesses of interpersonal violence.

The concept of “atonement” in the doctrine of salvation is one of the most fascinating and challenging areas of theology. There are so many theories in the historical development of the doctrine of salvation. Those theories are varied with some mutually compatible and others not. They offered many different interpretations on the death of Christ. Besides all these, there raises a question, what is the real purpose of the death of Christ? Undoubtedly, there is a hidden rich theological meaning behind the suffering and death of Jesus. Why did Jesus have to die on the Cross? This is a perennial question for many, specifically for young Catholic people today. What is the significant meaning of his suffering and death? Was Christ’s suffering and crucifixion really God’s plan? How is Christ’s death on the Cross related to the Christian understanding of salvation today? To answer these questions in the context of modern believers, especially young Catholic people, who are preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, this paper comparatively examines the question: Is Jesus’ death on the Cross a satisfaction for the sins of humanity or a demonstration of God’s love? Since this paper has focused on the life and thought of young Catholic people, at various points I do attempt to engage the theological understandings of the doctrine of salvation. In other words, though the focus is on dogmatic theology it also has a contextual focus. While providing a more meaningful interpretation of the death of Jesus for young people, I would like to make a claim that as a “God-Man,” Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to redeem humanity; but at the same time, his death on the Cross was a more powerful affirmation of the love of God for humanity. That is, the atonement of Christ is both the satisfaction of our sins and the demonstration of God’s love. Atonement is a vast subject, implicating the whole field of theology. There are biblical metaphors of atonement and there are theological theories of atonement. This research paper deals with the latter. It is of doing historical theology in a systematic perspective. There are historical theologians who each had something valuable to say in their time. Among those theologians, I would like to examine two theories of atonement, such as Anselm’s satisfactory theory and Peter Abelard’s moral influence theory. I will also discuss a feminine perspective of atonement using the imagery of San Juana de la Cruz and Julian of Norwich. Finally, I address the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where the sinner enjoys the forgiveness of sins and the gift of divine love. Ultimately, I argue that dying to sin and rising to new life in the Sacrament of Reconciliation has its foundation in the atonement of Christ’s suffering and death. This atonement is best understood for young people as “atonement of love,” an Anselmian and Abelardian that is expressed through feminine imagery of God as a mother always caring, loving, embracing, sacrificing and willingly suffering for her children. This research paper is divided into four chapters. The first chapter defines the term “atonement” and discusses the “satisfaction theory” of Anselm. It discusses how to understand the manner in which the forgiveness of human sins is related to the death of Christ on the Cross. The second chapter studies the Cross as a demonstration of God’s love. In the view of Peter Abelard’s “moral influence theory,” this section explains why and how Christ’s death is to be understood as a demonstration of the love of God. The third chapter analyses the “maternal imagery” of Juana de la Cruz and Julian of Norwich’s reflection on the Passion of Christ through a feminist perspective. While critically evaluating these theories, the fourth chapter addresses how the Sacrament of Reconciliation itself can be renewed through the atonement theology, which holds together Anselm, Abelard and feminist theology. To my understanding, Calvary is full of mystery and contradiction, and our minds cannot fully cope with Christ on a Cross, yet there is a central message, and it is the message that Christ has reconciled the sinful humanity with God. Through his forgiving and suffering love, specifically by his divine will of reconciliation, this divine embrace has become proximate to every human life. In this divine reconciliation, can we compartmentalize his suffering and death in a constraint particular view? It may not, and should not. It has diversity of characters in its nature itself. In such a situation, can we conclude – Christ’s suffering and death is only for forgiveness of sins? Or can we say that is it only a demonstration of God’s love? I would rather say that in the Cross both the love of God and forgiveness to humanity go hand in hand. They are inseparable in the suffering and death of Christ. We should take careful notice of the motive and the means of God’s redemption. It is God’s own steadfast love that moves his action to redeem the world and humanity in Christ. It is out of his abundant love for his creation and his creatures. To sum it up, in view of what Jesus did for us on the Cross, love is not an option that we may or may not accept, but a definite debt that we must pay. Hence, I would say that as a “God-Man,” Christ paid the required satisfaction in order to redeem humanity, but at the same time, his death on the Cross was also a more powerful affirmation of the love of God for humanity. Therefore, Jesus’ death on the Cross is the pattern and an example to be followed. Christ’s atonement served many other good purposes – including showing solidarity with humanity in the sufferings which he causes us to endure for good reasons, giving us an example of how to live, revealing to us important truths. Finally, the theological understanding of Jesus’ suffering and death is a concrete foundation of Christian moral living. In light of this, Anselm’s satisfaction theory and Abelard’s moral influence theory both offer a critical resolution to the young people in this modern situation. That is, “love and forgiveness” is the foundation of Christian moral living. This interpretation of “forgiveness” and “love” may help them to find the real meaning in following Christ, who suffered and died on the Cross. The constructive thinking of Christ’s suffering as related to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I believe, may help the young people to form the structure of their new lives in Christ. The brutal suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross, undoubtedly, touches every aspect of the lives of believers. Those who believe, specifically the young people are thereby animated to be a witnessing community in loving engagement with the modern world, through the power of Christ. It is in this sense, I suggest, that Christ’s suffering love and forgiving love might be proclaimed and witnessed in this world. The God who revealed his love in Jesus Christ is the God who shows a particular concern for those in need, and that his children are called to translate love into action on behalf of the needy. I believe true love can only be with actions and in truth.

L'Ethique prétend nous conduire comme par la main vers la béatitude et le salut, Elle nous montre le chemin qui nous permet, en associant le plus possible nos affects à des idées vraies, de parvenir à la connaissance vraie et à l'amour de Dieu. A qui s'adresse l' « Ethique » ? Notre hypothèse est qu'elle s'adresse aux mêmes lecteurs que ceux du « Traité théologico-politique » qui philosopheraient plus librement s'ils n'en étaient empêchés par l'idée que la raison doit être la servante de la théologie. Après avoir montré que l'Ecriture Sainte devait être interprétée avant d'être affirmée Parole de Dieu, que la certitude prophétique n'était qu'une certitude morale, Spinoza propose la certitude mathématique de l'entendement, comme véritable parole de Dieu qui parle directement à notre âme, Dieu qui se fait connaître, non comme un Dieu transcendant, mais comme un Dieu immanent, cause efficiente de toutes choses et donc de nos idées claires et distinctes, qui nous permettront de découvrir un Dieu qui agit librement par nécessité de nature, en totale opposition avec les doctrines scolastique et cartésienne. Cette révélation rationnelle n'annule néanmoins pas la révélation prophétique dont la vérité ne se trouve pas dans la spéculation, mais dans les enseignements moraux, et surtout par le message d'amour du Christ, modèle de vie vraie. Mais si le but ultime de chacune des révélations est de jouir de l'amour de Dieu, quelle est en chacune la nature de cet amour ?
Ethic purports to lead us, as if by the band, towards beatitude and salvation. It shows us the way which allows us, by associating as much as possible our affects to real ideas, to attain true knowledge and the love of God. Whom does “Ethics” address ? Our hypothesis is that it addresses the same readers as the “Theologico-Political Treatise” does, who would philosophize more f eely would they not be prevented from it by the thought that reason should serve theology. After having shown that scripture should be interpreted before being claimed God's word, that prophetic certainty was just moral certainty, Spinoza offers the mathematical certainty of understanding, as the true word of God which speaks directly to our soul ; God who becomes known not as a transcendental God but as an immanent God, efficient cause of all things and thus of our ideas, distinct and clear, which shall allow us to discover a God which acts feely out of necessity of nature, in outright opposition to the scholastic and Cartesian doctrines. This rational revelation nonetheless does not cancel the prophetic revelation, which truth isn't in speculation, but in moral teachings, and especially by in Christ's message of love, model of true life. But if the ultimate goal of each of the revelations is to enjoy the love of God, what is in each of them the nature of this love?

This thesis addresses the problem of how to interpret Islamic writers without imposing generic frameworks of later and partly Western derivation. It questions the overuse of the category “Sufism” which has sometimes been deployed to read anachronistic concerns into Islamic writers. It does so by a detailed study of some of the key works of the 13th century writer Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah (d. 709/1309). In this way it fills a gap in the learned literature in two ways. Firstly, it examines the legitimacy of prevalent conceptualisations of the category “Sufism.” Secondly, it examines the work of one Sufi thinker, and asks in what ways, if any, Western categories may tend to distort its Islamic characteristics. The methodology of the thesis is primarily exegetical, although significant attention is also paid to issues of context. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One sets up the problem of Sufism as an organizational category in the literature. In doing so, this part introduces the works of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, and justifies the selection from his works for the case study in Part Two. Part Two provides a detailed case study of the works of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah. It opens with some of the key issues involved in understanding an Islamic thinker, and gives a brief overview of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah’s life. This is followed by an examination of materials on topics such as metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, eschatology, ethics, and soteriology. In each case it is suggested that these topics may be misleading unless care is taken not to import Western conceptuality where it is not justified by the texts. Emphasis is placed on the soteriological character of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah’s writings, to which the Western terms “theology” and “philosophy” are only partly appropriate. Part Two concludes with a short study of the interaction between Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah and Ibn Taymiyya designed to illustrate how a less Western conceptual approach may modify aspects of the existing reception of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah’s thought. The central point of the thesis is that Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah needs to be reread, taking more account of the Islamic contexts of his work. The thesis does not pretend to settle every issue of interpretation and it only deals with some of Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah’s texts. In arguing for contextual Islamic approaches to Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah as opposed to the more standard generic readings, such as Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah as “Sufi” or “philosopher,” the thesis raises issues relevant not only to Islamic studies, but also to studies in comparative religion generally. While limited by its focus on only one writer, it hopefully may stimulate further research into how Islamic writers may best be studied in ways which respects their religious commitments, while acknowledging the need to relate their work to concepts of Western origin.

Based on four years of ethnographic and archival research, this dissertation examines the pedagogical role of Sufi poetry (ilahi) in a transnational Sufi order, the Qadiri Rifa'i Tariqa (QRT). Extensive interviews in the United States, Mauritius, and South Africa (2008) are augmented by Skype, email, and telephone discussions conducted in Great Britain, France, Bosnia, Mexico, and Canada. Analysis of nearly twenty years of audio taped Sufi discourse and performance reveals how Sufi poetry enacted in ritual gatherings permeates everyday life. The study opens with a close examination of a poetic couplet from Yunus Emre (d. 1320), demonstrating that poetry is not merely a secondary aesthetic aspect of Sufism - as has often been argued - but is a critical component in the embodied transmission of Sufi knowledge. Chapter One presents Fredrik Barth's separation of knowledge into three dynamic faces - ideas and assertions, media representation, and social distribution - as the theoretical basis for analysis of the particular QRT understanding of the role of Sufi poetry. Chapter Two presents the evolution of the QRT from its roots in Turkey into a transnational order. It also takes a closer look at the Shaykh's singing of two ilahis in South Africa triggered by local tensions both in and outside the order. The transnational character of QRT dislocates this poetic repertoire from its Turkish origins, thereby broadening the logocentric scope of previous scholarly analyses. Chapter Three describes the formation of the current QRT poetic corpus, drawing from Mikhail Bakhtin's writings on translation, heteroglossia, internally persuasive and authoritative discourse, and intertextuality. Chapters Four and Five outline the epistemological, ontological, and cosmological assertions of the poetry. They focus on the specific experiential and embodied appropriation and production of spiritual enlightenment (marifet) by revealing how poetry enters the bodies of QRT members as philosophy, sound, and rhythm in conversation and companionship (sohbet) and in ecstatic ritual (zikr). In conclusion, the Shaykh is shown to be a poetic corpus - an expressive and creative body of Sufi knowledge - responding to particular socio-historical contexts. It is this state of knowledge that the murid (disciple), through love, is asked to assimilate (fana').

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Community-based Counselling Psychology.
Intimacy and romantic love are influenced by the social context in which patterns of intimacy and attachment are learned, experienced or expressed. The social context is interlinked with culture, and sexuality. The study of masculinity has a strong link with gender as it unpacks a particular gendered identity. The current study aimed at unpacking the understanding of intimacy and romantic love amongst young gay men. This research examined data collected from three focus group discussions with a total of nine young gay men between the ages of 19 and 29 years. The participants were located through purposive and snowball sampling. The information gathered during the focus group discussions was analysed using thematic content analysis. Using critical masculinity theory, this research explores the different definitions of intimacy, the relation between the social space or the location and the expression of intimacy, and the intersections of homosexuality and intimacy. In addition, the need for alternative representations of homosexuality were identified, namely the need for new depictions of homosexuality in the media. The results of the study indicated two distinct patterns in relation with the expression of intimacy amongst gay men. Firstly, participants attempted to replicate hegemonic masculinity in their intimate and romantic relationships. Secondly, there is a strong desire to break away from hegemonic masculinity and construct new ways of expressing their homosexual identity, their masculinity and, in turn, intimacy. Finally, the research concludes by highlighting that intimacy amongst gay men is directly influenced by developmental patterns of masculinity in society that intersect with socio-economic status, race and culture, and gender.
MC2019

碩士
輔仁大學
餐旅管理學系碩士班
105
The choice of a celebrity endorser for a brand is an important topic in advertising and marketing. Companies spend considerable time and effort resources to find the right celebrity to represent a given organization. The current research proposes a model that postulates how celebrity worship leads to brand love that, in turn, affects brand loyalty. Likert 5-point scales were employed to assess celebrity worship, brand love, and brand loyalty. SPSS18.0 and Amos18.0 were performed for testing the hypotheses. A total of 384 valid questionnares was collected. The findinds showed that celebrity worship had positive effects on brand love and brand love had positive effects on brand loyalty. Managerialand theoretical implications, as well as directions for further research, were also discussed based on the results of the study.

碩士
中國文化大學
新聞學系
103
The 20th century and rise of new technologies had a great impact on today’s forms of branding, advertising and communication strategies. Newly emerged media bears new qualities, and new characteristics such as digitalization, interactivity and openness. New media has introduced new ways of producing, receiving and consuming information. Marketers accordingly, have come up with a variety of innovative brand consumption strategies .Thus, micro movies have emerged. In this regard micro movies could represent a new approach in marketing that relies on entertainment content (along with interactivity) for the purpose of enhancing attitudes toward the brand. According to statistics, the annual global perfume sales revenue exceeds $28.95 billion in 2014. The Global Industry Analysts Inc. released a report on the fragrance and perfume industry, predicting that it would be worth $45.6 billion by 2018.Also, numbers show that above 90% of women wear perfume in order to keep up with the latest fashion and beauty trends, or present themselves as trendsetters. Perfume is like a reflection of a personality. It is associated with pursuit of pleasures love of freedom and other cultural values. In perfume mini movies which are the latest and the most successful trend in perfume industry, the positive connotations of the audiences are based on tactics of “sharing” the mythical meanings by the audiences. These derive from the positive connotations in our culture and prove to be automatic and unsurprising. By creating certain image and referring it to certain codes and signs to certain audiences the advertising proves to be highly persuasive. The purpose of this qualitative empirical study is to explore the perceptions of perfume mini movies and lived experiences of middle-aged foreign residents in Taipei area to determine the degree of influence of perfume ads on their lives. Through the creative analysis it reveals how the audiences perceive one of the most desired and cherished myth of our lives – myth of love. The audience responses to the selected advertisements were analyzed by using the qualitative semiotic approach. The main quality criteria of objectivity, reliability and validity were maintained. The respondents were collected by snowball sampling and in-depth interviews were conducted in two sessions. The results show that consumer’s life themes and personal experiences and also the way they relate to the world are the keys to understanding linkage between advertising consumption and identity.

碩士
東吳大學
日本語文學系
97
Ryunosuke Akutagawa has been deeply appreciated the darker side of human nature since he was disappointed in a love affair in the beginning of the year 1915. At the same time, he was also concerned about Unselfish Love and explored it in his stort stories that treat the theme of Christianity, namely the Kirishitan. Akutagawa was not a Christian, but he was deeply interested in Christianity. While he was a student in the First High School, he had alreadly begun to read "Holy Bible", and until he took his own life at the age of 35, he still tried to find the salvation in "Holy Bible". Even though Akutagawa could'nt believe in God finally, it's clear that his writing has been influenced by Christianity. For instance, all the writings of Akutagawa that have been published are over 166 written pieces, and there are approximately 10% of the writings are relevant to Christianity. Accordingly, what Akutagawa pursued Unselfish Love by Kirishitan Stories is bound up with he was interested in Christianity all the year round. In addition, mention the Unselfish Love in Christianity, a sacred love whith is the symbol of God's and Jesus Christ's love, namely agapē is a typical example. Are there any correlation between agapē and Unselfish Love of whith Akutagawa described in Kirishitan stories? This point is also worth exploring. For this reason, this thesis is analysed the expression of Unselfish Love in six written pieces of Kirishitan stories, including 'Ogata Ryosai Memorandum', 'The Martyr', 'The Story of St. Christopher', 'Juriano-Kichisuke', 'Christ in Nanking', and 'Ogin' to probing Akutagawa's intention in the pursuit of Unselfish Love and his understanding of Christianity.

While a great deal of sociological and psychological research has been done on black-white interracial couples and the challenges they have faced in past eras, the communication between the partners remains largely under-explored and under-theorized. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold. First, this dissertation seeks to understand what challenges interracial couples face today. Second, this dissertation also explores the communication surrounding these challenges, communication both within the couple and communication between the couple and their social networks. To explore these challenges and the resulting communication, 14 black-white interracial couples were interviewed in depth. Results showed that interracial couples often still face messages of disapproval from their families. Black families and white families sometimes disapproved for similar reasons; however, black families and white families had several concerns that were markedly different from each other and were tied to the history of race relations in the US. Further, results showed that partners in interracial relationship underwent identity transformations as they learned to navigate an intimate relationship with a “racial other.” Whites reported learning the most. Because of their privileged position in society, whites life situations had never had necessitated that they learn about the black co-culture. The black partners also reported seeing the white community differently by understanding the nuances of racism at a deeper level because of their “outsider within” position in white families. Finally, results suggested that couples grapple with balancing the dialectic between embracing race in the relationship and rejecting race in the relationship. Couples reject race, arguing that other differences are more important to their relationship. Couples embrace race when they talk about issues of identity such as their individual identities, their identity as a couple, and—when they had children-- their identity as a family. Further analysis demonstrate two different strategies couples use to manage the embracing race-rejecting race dialectic.

Investment into start-up enterprises by friends, family, and fools has often been referred to in academic and popular literature. Frequently assumed to be inefficient and economically irrational, the phenomenon is consistently pushed aside in favour of research regarding more formal investment practices. Yet, the behaviour is widespread and relatively common especially when compared to the total investment behaviour in start-up businesses. This thesis examined the case where financial resources are provided to a close family member for the purpose of starting a business, herein called within-family finance. The literature review confirmed that there was a lack of understanding about this behaviour and an investigative, theory building approach, was established as suitable for the research task to find out what was going on. The principle motivation for this research was to understand why people engage in within-family finance for the purpose of starting a new enterprise. Particularly given that the chance of a: • positive financial outcome is low, and • negative relational outcome is high. A literature review examined current knowledge on finance of new ventures and family finance. This resulted in development of the research question: What are the influences on the motivations and behaviour in a within-family financial relationship that exists for the purpose of financing a new venture? The thesis investigated this question through the philosophical lens of phenomenology. Sixteen people who either provided or received funds within a family relationship for the purpose of starting a business were interviewed. The sample included three pairs of funders-receivers, the balance consisting of receivers or providers of finance . Their stories developed an understanding of the meanings that they attributed to this behaviour. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed through interpretive analysis and thematic development. An initial 345 themes were identified from the data using a combination of descriptive, structural and simultaneous coding techniques. These were subsequently reduced through focused axial coding to six higher order themes and 50 sub-themes. The six high order themes were labelled; choices, consequences, funding, relationship, repaying, and risk. In order to arrive at the meanings of the behaviour, textual statements and a description of the structure of the participants experience were provided, culminating in a deeper understanding of the experience and the meanings attributed by the participants and presented in a textual-structural description. From these rich descriptions, the behaviour was examined through the phenomenological lens to ascertain the essences of the behaviour. The task was to identify the essential things that were key to understanding the phenomenon. The thesis concluded that there were three key ontological aspects underpinning a conceptual framework to understand the phenomenon. First, participants that engage in within-family funding exhibited a level of concern to the world, their family and themselves. Second, they showed a sense of wanting to be more than they currently were and felt angst at the thought of not achieving all that they thought that they could be. Third, they all showed a level of tenacity in pursuing their goals. Finally, from a phenomenological perspective, these three underpinning beliefs drive a need to live an ‘authentic life’; the life where fulfilment and satisfaction is more important than the immediate fear of failure both in a business and personal sense. The thesis proposed that this framework could provide a valuable means of understanding entrepreneurship and recommends that it be used to expand our understanding of the lived experience of entrepreneurs and those who support them.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre (ECIC), 2014

Sexual experiences are an important part of everyday life, yet little research has taken place to understand it’s implication in the leisure realm. As leisure scholars adopt a holistic view of the individual, one’s sexual experiences remain a critical element devoid of empirical research. The current study examined the linkages between leisure and sexual experiences for six couples in the life stage of early adulthood. Findings revealed that relationally, couples conceptualized sexual experiences as a means to express love. At an individual level, it was clear that leisurely dimensions including intrinsic motivation, perceived freedom, involvement, arousal, mastery and spontaneity were present in some sexual experiences. This research provides support that sexual experiences can be plotted on Neulinger’s (1981) Leisure Continuum highlighting the work-like and/or leisurely aspects of relational sexual experiences.

Tem esta tese por objectivo a análise de um dos nossos factores identitários, o fado, ao longo de mais ou menos um século, desde a altura em que surgiu com a forma convencionalmente assumida (voz, guitarra e viola) até meados da passada centúria, numa perspectiva do seu comportamento como canção ligada à sociedade, sobretudo urbana, nos seus momentos bons e maus — e ao indivíduo, como tradução de sentimentos, mensagens de ordem política ou de crítica social, tal como aconteceria em períodos definidos, como a transição da Monarquia para a República e desta para a Ditadura Militar, que desembocaria no Estado Novo. Com letras escritas, primordialmente por poetas populares, capazes de grandes sínteses narrativas, seja do quotidiano ou dalguma eventual pequena tragédia amorosa, esta canção nascida nos bairros mais pobres da capital portuguesa, associada à prostituição e outros comportamentos considerados desviantes pela moral burguesa, levantou as mais apaixonadas contendas, pró e contra a sua sobrevivência, sobretudo durante o longo período ditatorial e até por parte do poder então vigente, por ser alegadamente desvirilizante, ao mesmo tempo que os sectores contrários ao regime, também a atacavam, argumentando que aquele dela se servia como intoxicante emblema nacionalista. Foi nossa tentativa compreender e analisar (desapaixonadamente) a forma como, afinal, algo odiado pelos extremos do espectro político, que assim concordavam em alguma coisa, concentravam as respectivas forças no ataque a uma mera manifestação artística, quando a sociedade se debatia com tantos e tão reais problemas, ao longo da segunda metade do século XIX, durante o agitado período republicano e nas décadas iniciais da ditadura salazarista. Isto ao mesmo tempo que o fado despertava o interesse de cada vez mais poetas eruditos e a sua temática, por vezes irreverente e arguta, servia de inspiração às mais diversas artes, afirmando-se como elemento popular agregador no plano interno e motivo de interesse crescente no estrangeiro.