Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

The Politics Of The Self: Psychedelic Assemblages, Psilocybin, And Subjectivity In The Anthropocene, Joshua Falcon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how psychedelic substances become drawn into particular sociohistorical and political arrangements, and how psychedelic experiences with psilocybin ‘magic mushrooms’ are used as tools of subjectivation. Guided by literatures in philosophy, critical theory, and the social sciences that focus on subjectivity, assemblage theory, and critical posthumanism, I argue that psychedelics are drawn into variegated assemblages, each of which conceptualizes the nature of psychedelics in highly specific ways that reflect implicit conceptions of the world and the self. In developing the concept of psychedelic assemblages, this research provides a window onto the politics of the self in the Anthropocene. …

Clairvoyance In Jainism: Avadhijñāna In Philosophy, Epistemology And Literature, Kuldeep Ashok Kumar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an analytical study of the place of clairvoyance (avadhijñāna) in Jain epistemology and soteriology. It argues that avadhijñāna occupies an ambivalent position regarding both, since it is not solely attained by means of spiritual progression but may also spontaneously arise regardless of a being’s righteousness (samyaktva). Beginning with a survey of descriptions of avadhijñāna in the canons of each sect, including a translation of Nandisūtra 12-28, it examines how commentaries, philosophy and narrative literature developed and elaborated upon avadhijñāna as part of its epistemological system. Further, it examines the nexus of avadhijñāna and karma theory to understand …

The Bible Against American Slavery: Anglophone Transatlantic Evangelical Abolitionists' Use Of Biblical Arguments, 1776-1865, Richard Rodriguez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that transatlantic abolitionists used the Bible to condemn American slavery as a national sin that would be punished by God. In a chronological series of thematic chapters, it demonstrates how abolitionists developed a sustained critique of American slavery at its various developing stages from the American Revolution to the Civil War. In its analysis of abolitionist anti-slavery arguments, “The Bible Against Slavery” focuses on sources that abolitionists generated. In their books, sermons, and addresses they arraigned the oppressive aspects of American slavery. This study shows how American and British abolitionists applied biblical precepts to define the maltreatment …

The Ethical Import Of Entheogens, Joshua Falcon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term entheogen refers to drugs—including the artificial substances and active principles drawn from them—which are known to produce ecstasy and have been used traditionally in certain religious and shamanic contexts. The entheogenic experiences provoked by entheogens are described by users in myriad ways, including in spiritual, religious, philosophical, and secular contexts. Entheogenic experiences have shown that they can create opportunities for individuals to generate meaning, including novel philosophical insights, which users claim to gain by way of experience. As such, entheogenic experiences exhibit the ability to influence a change in a user’s fundamental philosophical commitments, or live options, including …

From The Fall To The Flood And Beyond: Navigating Identity In Contemporary Noahidism, Patrick J. Villalonga

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates artifacts and concepts present in the Noahide world and how they affect Noahide identity. Five factors are analyzed, namely Noahide law, religious pluralism, ritual, sectarianism, and conversion. I consult the Hebrew Scriptures as well as early, medieval, and modern rabbinic sources to set the conceptual background of the Noahide movement before moving into the primary, contemporary sources written by Orthodox Jews, Orthodox rabbis, and Noahides. To supplement my literary analysis, I have conducted a survey of self-identifying Noahide practitioners. This survey collects data concerning religious background, religious behavior, demographics, and free responses. I aim to show first …

The Opposition To Latin American Liberation Theology And The Transformation Of Christianity, 1960-1990, Sonia M. Scheuren Acevedo

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore the political, social and religious opposition to Liberation Theology in Latin America during the 1960s to 1990s, and the transformation of Christianity. During this period, most Latin American countries underwent social struggles and political repression in which opposition and persecution arose from dictatorial and military governments who labeled those committed to the poor as communists. Liberation Theology emerged as an ecclesial and theological trend committed to the poor, in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in Latin America. This thesis traces the origins, development, expansion and repression of Liberation Theology. This work maintains that under …

Spirited Pioneer: The Life Of Emma Hardinge Britten, Lisa A. Howe

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emma Hardinge Britten’s life encompassed and reflected many of the challenges and opportunities afforded to women in the Victorian world. This dissertation explores the multi-layered Victorian landscape through the life of an individual in order not only to tell her individual story, but also to gain a more nuanced understanding of how nineteenth-century norms of gender, class, religion, science and politics combined to create opportunities and obstacles for women in Britten’s generation. Britten was an actor, a musician, a writer, a theologian, a political activist, a magazine publisher, a spirit medium, a lecturer, and a Spiritualist missionary. Taking into account …

Trans Terrains: Gendered Embodiments And Religious Landscapes In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, David B. Esch

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transgendered Indonesians live in the fourth most populated nation in the world with more Muslims than any other country. This thesis summarizes an ethnography conducted on one religiously oriented male-to-female transgender community known in the city of Yogyakarta as the waria. This study analyzes the waria’s gender and religious identities from an emic and etic perspective, focusing on how individuals comport themselves inside the world’s first transgender mosque-like institution called a pesantren waria. The waria take their name from the Indonesian words wanita (woman) and pria (man). I will chart how this male-to-female population create spaces of spiritual …

Gnosticism, Transformation, And The Role Of The Feminine In The Gnostic Mass Of The Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), Ellen P. Randolph

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) suggests a heterosexual gender binary in which the female Priestess seated on the altar as the sexual and fertile image of the divine feminine is directed by the male Priest’s activity, desire and speech. The apparent contradiction between the empowered individual and the polarized gender role was examined by comparing the ritual symbolism of the feminine with the interpretations of four Priestesses and three Priests (three pairs plus one). Findings suggest that the Priestess’ role in the Gnostic Mass is associated with channeling, receptivity, womb, cup, and fertility, while the Priest’s …

Hegel's Critique Of Contingency In Kant's Principle Of Teleology, Kimberly Zwez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is a historical-exegetical analysis of Hegel’s reformulation of Kant’s regulative principle of teleology into a constitutive principle. Kant ascribes teleology to the faculty of reflective judgment where it is employed as a guide to regulate inquiry, but does not constitute actual knowledge. Hegel argues that if Kant made teleology into a constitutive principle then it would be a much more comprehensive theory capable of overcoming contingency in natural science, and hence, bridging the gap between natural science and theology. In this paper I argue that Hegel’s defense of the transition from natural science to theology is ultimately …

The Enchanter's Spell: J.R.R. Tolkien's Mythopoetic Response To Modernism, Adam D. Gorelick

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

J.R.R. Tolkien was not only an author of fantasy but also a philologist who theorized about myth. Theorists have employed various methods of analyzing myth, and this thesis integrates several analyses, including Tolkien’s. I address the roles of doctrine, ritual, cross-cultural patterns, mythic expressions in literature, the literary effect of myth, evolution of language and consciousness, and individual invention over inheritance and diffusion. Beyond Tolkien’s English and Catholic background, I argue for eclectic influence on Tolkien, including resonance with Buddhism.

Tolkien views mythopoeia, literary mythmaking, in terms of sub-creation, human invention in the image of God as creator. Key mythopoetic …

The Buddhist Coleridge: Creating Space For The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner Within Buddhist Romantic Studies, Katie Pacheco

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The popularization of academic spaces that combine Buddhist philosophy with the literature of the Romantic period – a discipline I refer to as Buddhist Romantic Studies – have exposed the lack of scholarly attention Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner have received within such studies. Validating Coleridge’s right to exist within Buddhist Romantic spheres, my thesis argues that Coleridge was cognizant of Buddhism through historical and textual encounters. To create a space for The Rime within Buddhist Romantic Studies, my thesis provides an interpretation of the poem that centers on the concept of prajna, or wisdom, …

Spiritual Violence: Queer People And The Sacrament Of Communion, Sabrina Diz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses spiritual violence done to queer people in the sacrament of Communion, or Eucharist, in both Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the U.S. Rooted in the sexual dimorphic interpretation of Genesis, theologians engendered Christianity with sexism and patriarchy, both of which have since developed into intricate intersections of oppressions. Religious abuse is founded on the tradition of exclusionary practices and is validated through narrow interpretations of Scripture that work to reassert the authority of the experiences of the dominant culture. The resultant culture of oppression manifests itself in ritualized spiritual violence. Queer people are deemed “unworthy” to …

Blessed Are The Peacemakers: Transnational Alliance, Protective Accompaniment And The Presbyterian Church Of Colombia, Michael C. Brasher

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how Christian networks enable strategies of transnational alliance, whereby groups in different nations strive to strengthen one another’s leverage and credibility in order to resolve conflicts and elaborate new possibilities. This research does so by analyzing the case of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC). The project examines the historical development of the IPC from the initial missionary period of the 1850s until the present. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to consider how the historical struggle to articulate autonomy and equality vis-à-vis the U.S. Presbyterians (PCUSA) and paternalist models of …

The Hindu-Jewish Relationship And The Significance Of Dialogue : Participants' Reflections On The 2007 And 2008 Hindu-Jewish Summits At New Delhi And Jerusalem, Michael Mclean Bender

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not new and significant developments for the Hindu and Jewish faiths, and the relationship that exists between them, can be demonstrated from the results of the Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summits of 2007 and 2008 in Delhi and Jerusalem. I argue that new and significant developments can be observed with this Hindu-Jewish encounter with regards to official rulings of Halacha (Jewish law), proper understandings of sacred symbols of Hinduism, and even improved Islamic-Jewish relations.

After analyzing the approaches, themes, and unique framework found within this encounter, it is clear that the Hindu-Jewish …

Identity Formation And Public Perception In The History Of American Mormonism, Jaquelinne M. Biver

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study inquires into the institutional identity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since its founding in 1830. The study takes a historical stance in discussing the relationship between American public perceptions and the Church's developing internal identity, tracing these changes through three distinct historical stages. Building on the works of historians and sociologists such as Jan Shipps, Armand Mauss, and Terryl Givens, this study hopes to contribute to the understanding of new religious movements and the progression from sect to church.

The study finds that Mormon identity and American perceptions of Mormons have had an inter-influential …

Kingship, Rituals, And Power In Nepal, Nawaraj Chaulagain

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on the ritual theory of “rebounding violence” as developed by Maurice Bloch, the contemporary anthropologist, the thesis examined some kingship rituals periodically observed in Nepal and highlighted their political implications. The study also made an assessment of the concept of “divine kingship” in orthodox “Hindu” tradition and traced connections between religion and politics.

In Nepal, kingship is taken as a symbol of sovereign power and national unity, and the king is often revered in public festivals as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, or as a representative of some other divinities such as Indra, Bhairava and the Buddha. The thesis …