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This thesis will demonstrate that the Mystic Hexachord popularized by AlexanderScriabin functions as a key structural element in three Parables by Vincent Persichetti.The Mystic Hexachord provides the harmonic basis for each piece on many differentstructural levels. Chapter 1 explores Persichetti’s compositional process and philosophybehind his Parables, illuminating the key aspects that interconnect them. Chapter 2explores the structural properties of the Mystic Hexachord and its potential for generatingcompositional structures. The final chapters contain analyses of three of Persichetti’sParables for brass instruments examined through the analytical lens crafted in Chapter 2.The compositions analyzed in Chapters 3–5 are: 1. Parable VIII for Solo Horn, Op. 120 (analyzed in Chapter 3) 2. Parable XIV for Solo Trumpet, Op. 127 (analyzed in Chapter 4) 3. Parable XVIII for Solo Trombone, Op. 133 (analyzed in Chapter 5)

The plays Shakespeare produced in the second half of his career, from Hamlet (1600) through The Tempest (1611), offer a way to see the world through the poetics and action on stage so as to effect an essential apprehension of God. That is, 1) how the divine inhabits the elements of the natural world which draw sustaining life from their creator, 2) how divine providence controls—shapes, orders, corrects—the actions of men and political institutions, and 3) how peace and human fellowship lie in the answered call to the Gospel’s shared way of life. The playwright reinvigorates a traditional vision of the immanent sacrality of the material world with such compelling topos as the Ghost in Hamlet, the power of faith in Lear, the conjured infestation of evil in Macbeth, and Prospero’s adumbration of divine omnipotence and sacrificial humility in The Tempest. The selected plays, as they represent the body of Shakespeare’s later works emblematically respond to a desacralizing English Christian culture that variously embraces or endures the combined impact of both the Italian Renaissance and the English Reformation. The plays alert their audiences to the advent and effects of the secular world’s irradicable encroachment on England’s venerable religious heritage, the climactic phase of which ripened during Shakespeare’s 20-year career on the London stage. Seen in light of the sacramental poetics I analyze herein, the plays reveal memorial testaments that speak to not only the erosion of inherited traditional English faith culture but to the erosion of religious engagement altogether. Shakespeare stands, in context, as a distinctive, powerful, and admonitory witness to those in his traditional Christian audience “with ears to hear.”

Problem The parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, in terms of its complexity and construction, is one of the most difficult decipherable parables that Jesus uttered during His time among men. With much tact, we will try to answer a question that has profound implications: Does the narrative in Luke 16: 19-31 support the existence of life after death? Purpose We carefully examine the Christ’s discourse in Luke 16: 19-31 in order to identify those suggestive parallels between this account of Jesus and the culture of the time, which would help us to decode more clearly both the reason and the message of this story. -- Method. The preamble of our démarche proposes the stylistic analysis of this biblical passage where we will examine if the narrative is indeed or not a parable. Moreover, in order to decode precisely the Christ's message, we will take into account the issues that precede the prologue of this narrative; in contrast with the descriptions of the rich and the poor before passing out of existence, but especially after death. The subject of analysis in the middle section of the research will have to analyze the claim of the afterlife. Once arrived at the apparently hot topic of the research (hell) will be analyzed in detail the four biblical terms that are shaping the geography of hell besieged by the Judeo-Pagan cultural converge. Beyond the timeliness of this fundamentally recurring theme, the epilogue depicts, in what way the sublimity of Christ's discourse, through intrinsic biblical truth itself, unanimously discloses the aspects that decisively influence the individual [and the neighbor] both in this life but especially in the afterlife. Conclusion The parable with the rich man and poor Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) is not intended to portray the afterlife. This parable instead of building a positive teaching about the conditions of the afterlife is set out precisely to deconstruct popular views on the afterlife, and functions as a parody on popular tales about communication with the dead. Therefore, this parable cannot be used as a definitive statement about the afterlife, since parables were told to illustrate a point, not to give a systematic account of any doctrine. The more the Greek philosophy grew in influence, the more the unbiblical conception of the immortality of the soul had to be (re)adapted. However, by separating the soul from the body, new pretensions of interpreting hell appeared. Due to that fact, Jesus, instead of telling the reality about the afterlife directly, uses these complex figurative images precisely to meet people in their field. Jesus was the Son of God, a brilliant thinker and also the greatest communicator. Therefore He chooses to illustrate with a caricature: what would later be called hell. Observing the errors of interpretation of this recurring theme, Jesus analyzes the claim of the afterlife! In order to save the core of this great theme, given the socioreligious context of that time, Jesus will untie it! To accomplish this difficult task, Jesus masterfully chooses to introduce it into the concepts of Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy that were deeply rooted in the minds of His listeners. Looking at the last instance to the four terms that refer to the afterlife, we conclude that despite efforts to harmonize this doctrine satisfactorily, if we stick to the OT concept of this term we are not put in the situation to force the primary biblical meanings only to be able to adapt it to the motives and pretensions of the Persian and Greek culture that were fashionable in those times; even if they have familiar echoes today. As explicitly stated in the last part of the parable, Jesus leads His listeners to embrace exclusively the teachings of the Old Testament. By accepting (only) the Scripture of that time, Jesus is convinced that hell, with all its attached phraseology, will simply be demystified. Moreover, a faithful Scripture approach not only extinguishes your fear of an eternal fiery hell —the hottest point of the narrative — but with the appeasement of this fear, it practically quenches the very flames of hell.

Abstract: “Here, at the End: Contemporary North American Ecocritical Dystopian Fiction” argues that a distinct speculative subgenre has arisen within current dystopian fiction—one that contains some properties comparable to the “critical dystopia” identified by Tom Moylan and others as having emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, but with considerations unique to the present moment. In a sense, this new subgeneric permutation, which I am calling the “ecocritical dystopia,” is an extension of that earlier form. Yet thanks to its attention to the environmental, it also reminds us that dystopian literature is perhaps always, at its root, concerned with changes to the environment and subsequent changes to society. This last aspect is the process highlighted by ecocritical dystopianism, which articulates its near-future alterations through the use of real-world place known in some way to the reader as different from the completely fictionalized settings common to some other sf work, such as with off-world narratives or even locations with fictive names that do not correspond to the geographical and instead resonate with the issues of the times. With its emphasis on environmentally-changed places, the ecocritical dystopia lessens our sense of cognitive estrangement, which means that the near-future crises of a narrative are brought into focus much more closely as issues that already affect the present. The conclusion is that problems encountered now will be magnified in the future as our sense of places is physically altered through changes to ecology, weather, climate, biomes, etc. Human society, always environmentally entangled to some degree, will also be affected. Ecocritical dystopianism therefore imparts a sense of urgency with its narratives, which bring the abstractions of something like anthropogenic climate change down to the more-focused local or even regional perspective. My study’s intervention through delineating and investigating this contemporary dystopian subgenre insists that, in this time of the Anthropocene, we are actively and aggressively driving changes to our future that will dramatically alter coastlines, living spaces, agricultural processes, and freshwater sources, as well as displace millions of people and further the ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction. But this study also demonstrates that ecocritical dystopianism has been in development nearly since the inception of the critical dystopia, with potential analytical applications prior to both. To examine the recent emergence of this new dystopian movement, this dissertation analyzes the complex generic resonances of Octavia Butler’s Parable books (Parable of the Sower, 1993; Parable of the Talents, 1998), Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam series (Oryx and Crake, 2003; The Year of the Flood, 2009; MaddAddam, 2013), and Thomas King’s novel The Back of the Turtle (2014), with references to other texts emerging in the subgenre as concerns about the dystopian now become increasingly vocal. Through their ecologically-focused, placed-based imaginings, the ecocritical dystopias, though set in the near future, underscore that our present moment is already in crisis, and that we, too, are connected to its narratives.

Donna Haraway has referred to Octavia Butler as a "theorist for cyborgs" and while much work has been done to critically analyze Butler's novels and short stories, there has been very little attention paid to her contributions as a theorist in her own right. Located at the intersection of postcolonial and cyborg theory, this study examines reason across Octavia Butler's oeuvre, which groups historically have been granted access to reason via dominant discourses, and how Butler's novels and short stories rework these discourses, creating an inclusive model of reason. The study examines the historical linkages between Christianity and reason which fueled nineteenth century colonial projects as well as examining the construction of people of color as irrational and Butler's postcolonial counter-discursive strategies in her novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Examining power in patterns of communication and knowledge production, the study also analyzes how the development of the experimental life in Europe in the seventeenth century shut out members of socially marginalized groups of the discursive site of the laboratory. Butler's Xenogenesis and Patternist series, however, provide an example of networked communication that allows all participants to act as knowledge producers, granting women and people of color the ability to speak authoritatively. Finally, the study examines how Butler unites reason and religion in her Parable series to provide a grounded theoretical model to build these inclusive communication networks into the structure of a culture. The theory Butler proposes provides us with a working model that stresses the importance of education, critical thought, and community-building in order to create a more just world.

In the third Gospel of the New Testament, Luke consistently writes about the Pharisees and their piety pronouncing woes and judgments upon them. Representing the religious leaders of that day, they exalted themselves above everyone else and most of all, tax collectors, who are the epitome of sinners. However, the principle of the great reversal is a prominent theme in Luke’s Gospel, in which the exalted are humbled and the humble are exalted. Multiple times Jesus uses this principle to completely transform peoples’ mindset on who is greatest in the world. This thesis will offer an extensive exposition on the well-known parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14, where the principle of the great reversal is most prominent. With the focus on Luke 18:9-14, this thesis will examine the literary structure of the parable as it fits into Luke’s progress in teaching theology throughout the whole Gospel. Having themes of prayer and kingdom of God surrounding this parable, righteousness and justification are the dominant factors that Luke addresses.

This thesis examines Hamlet and Measure for Measure as related “problem plays.” In these plays, Shakespeare uniquely combines the genre of parable and the literary device of irony as a means to involve his audience in the experience of ordeal and deliverance that both reorients the protagonists’ personal, political, and ultimately theological assumptions and prompts spiritual insight in the spectator. As in a parable, a spiritual dimension opens subtly alongside each story to inform the play’s action and engage the spectator in the underlying theological discourse. Irony invites the audience to see the disparity between pretended or mistaken reality and the spiritual truth—between what “seems” and what “is.” As these complex dramatized parables unfold, potent tapestries of multilayered thematic irony coalesce into providential irony that exalts, rather than defeats, the protagonists and ultimately determines the outcome.

This dissertation concerns the following question: why and how does Bede minimize conflict in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum? As this thesis will attempt to demonstrate, the answer to this question lies in what might be described as Bede?s ?rhetoric of reticence?. In the course of the Historia, Bede articulates an overall message of Christian unity, in that he implicitly argues that if the Christian Anglo-Saxons want salvation in the eternal world, then they must be committed to a solid Christian faith and unity with the universal Church in the temporal world. The term ?implicit? denotes the key to Bede?s comprehensive narrative approach?he never expressly states that a commitment to faith and unification are paramount to his Anglo-Saxon audience, yet the signa that reveal this essential argument lie throughout his text. In order to prove that this message and argument exist, I will first explore Bede?s use of parable-like vignettes, which provide one narrative example of how Bede employs discretion throughout his text, and thus how he places the onus of interpretation on his readers. Second, I will consider Bede?s avoidance of ethnic divisiveness through his narrative treatment of non-English ?others?, in particular how this mode of narrative informs his message of Christian unity. Third, I will examine Bede?s discretion in depicting Christian and pagan violence, and the ways in which these depictions underscore his ?rhetoric of reticence? when he describes incidents of conflict. Fourth, I will observe how Bede emphasizes a Christian way of living that promotes unity in the secular world while looking ahead to the eternal one; more specifically, I will compare this Bedan emphasis to Augustine?s concept of the ?tranquility of order?. The dissertation concludes with two appendices, the first of which offers roughly contemporaneous Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse texts as narrative counterpoints to the Historia with regard to depictions of conflict, terminology, and supernatural foes. The second appendix examines some of the Anglo-Saxon kings? law-codes and the ways in which those texts also differ from the Historia in terms of language and narrative emphasis, as well as their articulation, if any, of Christian unity.

In his 1971 novel La mémoire tatouée, Moroccan author Abdelkébir Khatibi examines the role of language and memory in the process of decolonization. The complexity of the relationships between memory, language and culture in Morocco is examined through an analysis of the narrative structure of the novel. Khatibi uses the techniques of parabola and parable as well as spatialization and dialogue in order to re-create the process of decolonization that he underwent. Derridian linguistic theory and performativity are key to understanding this novel and help the reader to locate the author’s own voice or subjectivity in the polyphony of the text. It is in the acts of writing and reading that decolonization is performed.

Game theory studies how people should respond in strategic situations and isnaturally used for predictive purposes. The optimal strategy predictions yielded by gametheoretic reasoning can be surprising when they conflict with preconceived notions ofhow to play, i.e. the "common sense" strategy. Consequently, the game theoreticallyoptimal strategy may be a poor predictor of how individuals actually behave in real-lifestrategic situations. In order to accurately model such situations for predictive purposes itis important to know the limitations of the current game theoretic tools.In the traveler's dilemma, Kaushik Basu presents a parable to illustrate how gametheoretic reasoning and intuition can be at odds. The parable is as follows: Two travelersare returning home from a vacation where they purchased identical souvenirs. Thesesouvenirs are, of course, routinely destroyed by the airline. The souvenirs were purchasedwith cash in an open-air market and as a result the travelers do not have receipts. Theairline official in charge of damage claims wants to compensate the travelers fairly buthas no way of determining the actual purchase price of the souvenirs. In an attempt toavoid spurious claims the official proposes a method to determine the amount awarded.Each traveler must submit a claim that lies between a known minimum and maximum.(The minimum bound can be thought of as that level of claim below which the airlinenever disputes for cost reasons and the maximum bound can be thought of as the most theairline's insurance company would pay absent a special policy). If the claims submittedare equal then both receive the amount claimed. However, if traveler 1 submits a lower claim than traveler 2, traveler 1 is considered "honest" and receives the lower claim plusa reward for honesty (ideally in frequent flyer miles thereby ensuring that the airline willhave an opportunity to destroy those items which it missed on the first pass). Traveler 2also receives the lower claim but in addition a symmetric penalty for "lying" is levied.Travelers report their claims simultaneously i.e., without knowledge of the othertraveler's claim. This ensures that simple, collusive agreements cannot be reachedbecause any such agreement involves a non-credible promise (the rewards are structuredsuch that there it is never in a rational player's best interest to play as he agreed). Game theoretic analysis suggests that two rational players will report theminimum claim. Moreover, this result is a direct consequence of both players attemptingto maximize their individual payoff. Adoption of this strategy does not, on the face of it,appear to be the best strategy because both players can clearly improve their payoffsimply by submitting random large claims.