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When Religion And Philosophy Meet : A Comparison Of The Theology Of The Unity School Of Christianity With The Classical Aristotelian Worldview, Jeffrey Michael Jackson

Master's Theses

The Unity School of Christianity's theology shares key characteristics with Aristotle's philosophical worldview, which have enabled it to meet the challenges of twentieth century America. Unity was founded in 1889 by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore in Kansas CIty, and has become a thriving religious movement in the United States and worldwide. A comparison of Unity's theology with Aristotle's philosophy finds that both share a pragmatic focus on physical life and its attributes instead of an afterlife; both accept the world as inherently good in nature; and both see underlying order and interconnection in the world. Both also see purpose in …

Anna Letitia Barabauld's Poetic Vision: Community, Imagination, And The Quotidian, Carrie Ann Woods

Master's Theses

With the publication of her Poems in 1773, favorable reviews welcomed Anna Letitia Barbauld into the literary world. However, Barbauld has traditionally been left out of English literature anthologies, condemned to the murky depths of obscurity. Why has this talented British poet of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries been undeservedly marginalized? Perhaps she has never achieved the status of a major literary figure because her impulse towards community places her outside the mainstream Romantic tradition dominated by the "egotistical sublime." In the poetry of William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats, an …

An Interpretation Of Ecstasy As Found In The Poetry Of Emily Dickinson, Thomas B. Mccary

Master's Theses

Emily Dickinson was indeed used to grief, as the record of her life clearly indicates. She was disappointed in love and and disappointed in her efforts to achieve literary fame. Yet there was moments of happiness and even ecstasy in Emily Dickinson's life. The purpose of this thesis is to examine those moments of ecstatic elevation--the "Soul's Superior instants" as Emily called them--in order to achieve a better insight into the mind of the poet and the nature of often curious verse.

An examination of ecstasy requires a study of Emily's religious background her psychological make-up. It also behooves the …

Mrs. Gaskell's Industrial Novels: Mary Barton And North And South, Yvette D. Marambaud

Master's Theses

Since 1910, when Mrs. Gaskell's centenary was celebrated, few articles have been written about her. Except for her Life of Charlotte Bronte, she is not really well known in America. Few people read her tales or her short stories, and her novels are quite neglected. Yet her industrial novels, Mary Barton (1848) and North and South (1855), were very successful when they were first published. Mary Barton was an immediate success - perhaps in part because of the controversies it aroused.

The Effects Of Readership Selectivity On The Reading Of Controversial Material Dealing With The Reader's Personal Prejudices : A Test Of The Theory Of Cognitive Dissonance, John Marshall Tucker

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to test the theory of cognitive dissonance as it relates to a reader's selectivity in reading controversial material involving his personal prejudices or attitudes. Festinger states that forced or accidental exposure to new information which tends to increase dissonance will frequently result in misinterpretation and misperception of the new information by the individual thus exposed in an effort to avoid a dissonance increase. Therefore, cognitive dissonance theory would predict that a person's prejudiced attitude would negatively effect his reading comprehension on material which was disharmonious with his attitude. The dissonance situation examined here is …

Transcendentalism In The Private Journals Of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rachel Sherwood

Master's Theses

This paper is designed to interpret Transcendentalism by showing its origins and influences and to give the reader a view into the private journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The first chapter is devoted to a study of Transcendentalism and the question of its taking root in the Boston area in the 1830's. The second chapter presents a study of Emerson as he debated the forces of his universe and formulated a philosophy to explain the vicissitudes of life. It is necessary to relate Emerson's views with the events of his life. The years covered in the second chapter are 1820-1835.

Milton And Socinianism, Joseph Johnson Collins

Master's Theses

The seventeenth century was a period of enormous scholarship and erudition. In the wake of the Reformation and the Humanist movements great interest was awakened in the field of Biblical scholarship, Many of the scholars, lay­ men, and divines began to devote much of their time and energy to the new Biblical exegesis. The doctrine which was receiving much attention during this period suggested that one might assure that the strongholds of the reformed religion were sufficiently fortified through improved trans­lation and qualified Biblical exegesis.

This was the era which produced John Milton 's method­ ical and learned tractate of …

A Study Of The Holley School For Negroes, Lottsburg, Virginia : "Our Three Acres", Jean Norris Booth

Master's Theses

Beneath the sturdy oaks that have weathered the stormy conflicts ot time, thare stands in Lottsburg District, Northumberland County, Virginia; the remains, now in crumbling deterioration, of a project for Negro education. Women, who prior to the War between the States had been Abolitionists, continued their work for the betterment of the Negroes at the cessation of hostilities.

Religion In The Life And Works Of Longfellow, Morris Edward Cather

Master's Theses

An author's work is generally colored by the presence or the lack of religious convictions. The poetry and prose of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow indicate a deep-seated faith in God. Although this faith is most clearly manifested in the works of the man, its source is found in the life and character of the poet himself. It is the aim of this paper to discover the various contributing factors, to ascertain their effect upon the poet and his writings, and to draw certain conclusions concerning his religious faith.

Religious Education And The Public Schools, John Zornan

Master's Theses

The purpose or this monograph is to survey and evaluate the relationship between religious education and the public schools from the early colonial times to the present. Special attention rill be paid to the widespread agitation that formal religious courses be introduced into the public school curriculum. This necessitates a thorough investigation of the Weekday Church School which is to be the chief' agency of' such courses. The last chapters will be devoted to comments and conclusions based on the fact• as presented.