Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
Religious Studies
First Advisor's Name
Oren B. Stier
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee chair
Second Advisor's Name
Whitney Bauman
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Third Advisor's Name
Steven M. Vose
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Keywords
Hermeneutics, Religious Literature, Sacred Texts, Scripture, Translation, Literacy Theory, Religious Studies, Textual Criticism, Material Culture
Date of Defense
6-28-2018
Abstract
This thesis examines a specific type of instance that bridges the divide between seeing sacred texts as merely vehicles for content and as objects themselves: self-reference. Doing so yielded a heuristic system of categories of self-reference in sacred texts based on the way the text self-describes: Inlibration, Necessity, and Untranslatability.
I provide examples of these self-referential features as found in various sacred texts: the Vedas, Āgamas, Papyrus of Ani, Torah, Quran, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and the Book of Mormon. I then examine how different theories of sacredness interact with them. What do Durkheim, Otto, Freud, or Levinas say about these? How are their theories changed when confronted with sacred texts as objects as well as containers for content? I conclude by asserting that these self-referential features can be seen as ‘self-sacralizing’ in that they: match understandings of sacredness, speak for themselves, and do not occur in mundane texts.
Identifier
FIDC006911
Recommended Citation
Haase, Donald, "Self-Referential Features in Sacred Texts" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3726.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3726
Included in
Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Other Anthropology Commons, Other Religion Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, Theory and Philosophy Commons, Translation Studies Commons
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