3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The death of God in the thought of Richard L Rubenstein(2015-06-24) Hellig, Jocelyn LouiseNo contemporary Jewish theology can be meaningful i f i t ignores the two d e c isiv e w atershed events fo r tw entieth century Ju d a ier, namely, the H olocaust and the re-estab lish m en t o f the S ta te of I s r a e l. Richard L. R ubeustein'a theology is rooted in th ese two k a iro i. In addition to th is , h is theology is highly su b jectiv e and the o rig in s of traumas in h is own l i f e are seen to be re fle c te d in those of the l i f e o f h is people For th is reason, d e ta ils of h is l i f e and work are presented in the in tro d u c tio n to t h is th e s is . With th e Holocaust as h is focus and point of d ep artu re, Rubenstein has declared the death o f the God-who—a c ts -in -h is to ry . He was unable to rec o n cile the Nazi attem pt a t Judenvevnichtung with the existence of the tr a d itio n a l God of theism who chose I s r a e l and who a cts purposefully in h is to ry . His m ajor statem ent of the nineteen s ix tie s was se t out in A fte r A ueohvits. D espite the death of the tra d itio n a l God of theism,*he in s is te d on observance of tra d itio n a l Jewish r i t u a l , p a rtic u la rly p r ie s tly r i t u a l , fo r the attainm ent of au th en tic Jewish selfhood. Two c e n tra l m otivations fo r both the re je c tio n of the tra d itio n a l God of theism and fo r the re te n tio n of r i t u a l , were h is in siste n c e on the capacity of the ir r a tio n a l to move men, and the b e lie f in the c e n tra lity of g u i lt fe e lin g s in men. L ife was seen as bracketed between two o b liv io n s. His theology was devoid o f e sch ato lo g ical hope. A God-concept remained in th e form of Holy Nothingness o r the cannibal Earth Mother. Je was deeply influenced by Freud and the E x is te n t ia li s ts . Great s tr e s s was placed on the ir r a tio n a l aspect of the Holocaust, and C h ris tia n ity ’ s mythic stru c tu re which designated the Jew as d e ic id e , was seen as one of the potent causative fa c to rs fo r anti-Sem itism . R ubenstein's c u rre n t thought has moved beyond the confines of the Jewish im plications of the Holocaust to probe i t s wider im plicstiona for the world. He now views the Holocaust in terms of 'c a lc u la tin g r a tio n a lity ' as the culm ination of a ra d ic a l se c u la ris a tio n of consciousness which he secs as having o rig in a te * in the B ible. His concern is w ith a fu n c tio n a lly 'godless* world in which a Holocaust could take p lac e. The Holocaust and other la rg e -sc a le massacres are perceived in terms of b u re a u c ra tic a lly organised population riddance in the face of th e in tra c ta b le problem of global population redundancy. The aim of th is th e s is i s to examin e and r e f le c t the progression of Rubenetein* s thought from the nineteen s ix tie s to the present and to evaluate h is theology as a v iab le way of l i f e fo r modern se c u la risin g Jews. Section One c o n s titu te s an attem pt to present Rubenetein's th eo lo g ical and i n te lle c tu a l development. Chapters I I , IV, V and VI deal with various asp ects o f h is thought such as h is views on s e c u la ris a tio n , on man and r e lig io n , on God, eechatology and h is to ry , and on power. Chapter I deals w ith the ro o ts o f s e c u la ris a tio n and the a th e is tic tren d in modern th e o lo g ic a l thinking as a backdrop to R ubenstain's theology. An excursus in to the psychoanalytic th eo ries of Freud was undertaken in Chapter I I I because of the immense influence of Freud on Rubenetein's e arly thought. Section Two c o n s titu te s a c ritiq u e of R ubenetein's views in re la tio n to o th er th e o lo g ic a l responses to the H olocaust. I t also examines the v ia b ility of h is th e o lo g ica l proposals for a meaningful Jewish lif e a fte r the H olocaust. The conclusion of th is th e s is is th a t although the normative Jewish theology of h is to ry shows the most au th en tic path fo r Jews to follow , R ubenstein's views of the nineteen s ix tie s c o n s titu te a meaningful option fo r Jews who, a f t e r the Holocaust, are unable to re ta in b e lie f in the th e i s t ic God of h is to ry . This was made p o ssib le by R ubenstein's emphasis on the need fo r ongoing Jewish p ra c tic e . His cu rren t theology is too p e ssim istic to o ffe r any r e a l is ti c options fo r continuing Jewish l i f e . I t s main c o n trib u tio n is th a t i t gives us in sig h t in to the possible causes of our w o rld 's m alaise in an attem pt to contain man's d e stru ctiv e n ess.Item Death anxiety and the attitudes of nurses towards dying patients in a private acute care hospital(2006-11-10T12:17:38Z) Govender, MogavaniIn order for caregivers to be better able to work with dying patients, they need to confront their fears about their own mortality and explore their feelings about their personal and professional losses. The importance of death anxiety research rests on the premise that death is an eventuality that everyone faces and how health professionals, specifically, deal with death anxiety is of considerable relevance as to the quality of care given to the terminally ill patient. The purpose of this study was to identify, explore and describe nurses’ personal fear of death (death anxiety) and explore whether an association exists between death anxiety and their attitudes towards dying patients in a private acute care hospital in Johannesburg. A quantitative, descriptive correlational survey was conducted to examine the relationship between death anxiety and nurses’ attitudes toward terminally ill patients in a private acute care hospital in the province of Gauteng in South Africa. Various extraneous variables have been identified and defined. No attempt was made to control or manipulate the situation as it was currently occurring. The study population comprised of all nurses working in this hospital who fulfilled the stipulated selection criteria. Data were obtained from nurses through the use of a self-administered questionnaire. The response rate was 42% of the expected population. A total of 93 responses were received. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data and the significance of the relationships between variables was determined using the Fishers exact test (p-value of 0.05). The findings of this study were consistent to that of similar studies. Findings suggest high levels of death anxiety within the study population with correlating negative death attitudes. This may be associated with the fact that a significant proportion of the study sample was younger and less experienced as opposed to those who demonstrated lower levels of death anxiety and positive death attitudes and were more experienced and older. v A strong association was found between death anxiety and death attitudes. Statistically significant relationships between age and length of nursing experience/exposure were found. No significant relationships between sex, institutional support, death anxiety and death attitudes were found. Of import, the need for ongoing terminal care education was identified in this study.