This study is an attempt to trace the evolution of the medieval phoenix icon and its attendant symbolism (e.g., numbers, meanders, chevrons, olive branches) and meaning (e.g., resurrection, inconquerable spirit, self-regeneration, androgyny). The study follows these attendant sy…
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This dissertation examines the contemporary social function of Malian jelis (‘griots’), arguing that material compensation and caste status are essential to a signifying practice with profound continuing relevance. As Mande society's hereditary “masters of the word,” jelis entra…
The study reported here originated in my therapeutic work with children at risk and my search for a therapeutic approach which would help them develop the inner strength to cope with their difficulties. The concept of ‘meaning in life' as a source of strength has been extensivel…
This study is the first to examine the potential moderating effects of positive and negative religious coping, trait forgiveness, and meaning in military duties on the identified link between combat exposure and subsequent symptoms of generalized psychological distress and postt…
This study examines the relationship between sound and meaning in medieval Arabic linguistic theory, with particular attention given to the work of Ibn Jinni. The historical background of discussions of the relationship between sound and meaning in the Arabic linguistic traditio…
The opening chapters of Islamic legal theory manuals offer extended discussions of the language of the Qur'an, and principles for its interpretation. This discourse takes the form of detailed analyses of specific verbal constructions--for example, when a command has the form "if…
Means of Intelligibility is a study in comparative semiotics based in three groups of Classical Arabic texts. After a consideration of the semiotic paradigms of Aristotle and Augustine and their continuing preponderance in the post-Hellenic West, the dissertation's first chapter…
This dissertation is about the fundamental role of ambiguity in the formation, perception, social reception, and aesthetics of Islamic architecture. My argument stands against mainstream academic views, which stress the primacy of social needs in the interpretation of the ambigu…
Metaphors raise several problems for semantic theory and the philosophy of language. How, for example, is metaphorical language distinguished from literal language? Do metaphors have a linguistic or semantic meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words? Are metaphors either t…
Humans are biased toward teleological explanations of natural phenomena. The promiscuous teleology account posits that this proclivity is rooted in the detection of supernatural agency behind the design of the natural world. This idea is supported by numerous positive correlatio…
Many religious/spiritual (R/S) individuals receive meaning from R/S and utilize R/S to help them cope with stressful life events. However, natural disasters can disrupt the R/S meaning-making process (e.g., positive R/S coping strategies) because natural disasters can elicit cog…
The research outlined in this project addresses happiness. Happiness has long been studied by individuals from a multitude of disciplines. These individuals have included philosophers, scientists, politicians, psychologists, religious leaders, and artists among many others. The …
This research study used hermeneutic phenomenology to explore the lived experience of eighteen participants, who self-identified as having observed an interruptive symbol (image, art piece, song, poem or the like), that impacted the observer in some way. It focused on how the pa…
As more and more millennials disaffiliate from fundamental religions, a sense of confusion and loss, feelings of isolation, and even a lingering sense of betrayal seem to follow. The process of disaffiliation is an under researched area within the psychology of religion. The pre…
Research suggests that deeply held beliefs about the world, self, and others often inform subjective appraisals of stressful or traumatic events and these appraisals, in turn, drive posttraumatic reactions for many individuals. The present study examined how internal working mod…
Psychosis is a central concept in mental health, yet the concept is unclear. Clinicians are challenged with the task to be able to distinguish psychotic phenomena; however, little is known about how clinicians are able to distinguish religious/spiritual phenomena from psychotic …
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of faith-based service projects on undergraduate students. Specifically, this study sought to determine the existence of common themes such as the development of an individual’s sense of meaning and purpose through participatio…
Statements about God are often highlighted as a unique philosophical problem. Religious language typically takes the form of indicative statements of fact but resists the traditional means of verification or falsification. Despite this apparent deficiency, religious statements c…