Date of Award
1981
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Early, John D.
Abstract
This thesis examines the evolution of religious symbol systems. It proposes that religion as a cognitive system has evolved through the processes of differentiation and abstraction. Furthermore, it demonstrates that this evolution has occurred not through a cumulative process but through major paradigmatic shifts that rejected the previous traditions. These propositions are applied to the religious history of Western civilization. The study deals with the religions of the ancient Near East, the religion of Israel, classical Christianity, and the Christianity of the modern "radical" theologians. The validity of the theories set forth are tested not in the exotic setting of most ethnological literature but in the familiar and well-documented world of Western religions.
Extent
119 p.
Recommended Citation
LAMBERT, PETER., "EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM IN THE WESTERN WORLD" (1981). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1980 - 1989. 90.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_3/90
Identifier
FADT14079
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1981.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters