Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Praying For The South: Catholics And The Confederacy, Thomas Richardson

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis examines the distinctiveness of Southern Catholic support of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, with a geographic emphasis on Virginian Catholics. During the antebellum decades, the Catholic Church in America thrived despite facing increasing hostility from the largely-Protestant United States. In response to these challenges, Catholics learned to support their state and federal governments whenever and wherever they could as a means to defuse anti-Catholic attacks. This led Catholics to condone (and involve themselves in) American racialized slavery, even after the Church itself condemned the practice. Seen in this light, Catholics who fought for and supported the …

Accommodation And Coping In Medieval Catholic England: A Historical Dramaturgy Casebook For The Chester Mystery Cycle’S Play 14: Christ At The House Of Simon The Leper, Christ And The Moneylenders, And Judas’ Plot, Andrew J. Roberge

Senior Projects Spring 2022

In this historically focused dramaturgy casebook for the medieval Catholic Chester Mystery Cycle's Play 14, Christ at the House of Simon the Leper, Christ and the Moneylenders, and Judas’ Plot, I offer suggestions for Play 14's production as it might have appeared in the cycle's final year of performance, 1575. I contextualize and grapple with the play's antisemitisms, and also offer a brief history of antisemitism in medieval Europe. I also analyze Play 14 and the Chester Mystery Cycle for their rhetorical appeals to the medieval vernacular language, contexts, and events, as well as their anachronistic temporal and geographic …

The Canonization Of The Books Of The Jewish, Catholic, And Protestant Scriptures, Kaleb J. Jung

Classical Conversations

The three Canons of Judaism, Catholic Christianity, and Protestant Christianity all claim more authority or consistency than what they have. Judaism puts too much authority on an unknown group in 200 CE that was not regarded until 400 years later in the Mishnah. Catholicism emphasizes the divinity of scriptures that the early church fathers almost universally disbelieved. Protestantism held that the Canon put forward by Calvin was entirely equal in its truth and that it should not be changed even in the face of changing beliefs or new discoveries. However, just because a Canon has been altered or closed in …

The Dynamic Relationship Between Young Spanish Catholics And The Church, Caroline Cox

CMC Senior Theses

Research Question: How is the commitment of Spaniards to Catholicism changing with younger generations? And why is this relevant given Spain’s deep roots with the religion?

The Catholic Church and Spain have been highly involved with each other for centuries. It is possible that the Church’s controversies and conservative values are distancing young members from pursuing a stronger relationship with their faith. I predicted that more young Spanish Catholics’ commitment to the Church was wavering because of three potential reasons: increased security and education, child sex abuse scandals involving clergymen, and the institution’s outdated attitudes. I conducted a study …

A Global Church In The Local Parish: Fostering Intercultural Competency For Indonesian Catholic Ministry In The United States, Janice Kristanti

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

No abstract provided.

Mercy Vs. Justice - Blood Of The Lamb, Ryan Murphy

Honors Projects

How did Christ's death save us? The Atonement is a Christian doctrine which has been heavily debated in how it should be understood since the beginnings of Christianity. This analysis covers the theological theories of the Atonement, narrates a Catholic layman's personal understanding that is based on scholarly research and is kept within the bounds of Catholic doctrine, and summarizes the thoughts and feelings of surveyed college-age Christians on the subject.

Stepsisters, Patrick Donachie

Capstones

This story details how parishioners in several New York City Catholic parishes responded to news that their churches would be shuttered by the New York Archdiocese. Parishioners appealed to the Vatican to overturn Cardinal Timothy Dolan's decisions, and the story details their struggle with church hierarchy and their own personal challenges.

What's Wrong With The Christian West, Joseph Studemeyer

Senior Theses

Western Christian groups are losing significant numbers of adherents in the area formerly known as Christendom (Western Europe and European-dominated former colonies), a trend which seems to be quickening with time. In addition, the same Western Christian denominations are in the midst of an unprecedented period of fragmentation, with many splitting over questions of doctrine and practice. More controversially, traditionalists both within the Western churches and outside of them have claimed that the Western denominations are also experiencing a qualitative decline, asserting that the Christianity of the West has been doctrinally compromised. This thesis posits an underlying philosophical reason for …

Historic Celtic Practices In Twentieth-Century American Religion, Ryan Clark Hankins

Honors Theses

From its earliest days, the Christian Church has struggled to adapt to the cultures which embrace her. The earliest internal disputes were not doctrinal, but cultural in nature. The contention between Jewish and Gentile widows recorded in Acts 6 and the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15 are but the first of countless cultural clashes. Historically, at least since the rise of Catholic missions, the church has drifted between extremes in its relationships with the cultures she encounters. The church either attempts to abolish the cultural distinctives of evangelized people groups, or unquestionably embraces those distinctives. At best, either extreme …