Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“Personal, Relational, And Extraordinary”: Learning From The Spiritual Language Of Gen Z, Gabrielle Poma

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the crucial role of language in understanding the spiritual lives of young people today, commonly known as “Gen Z.”

Though significant disaffiliation rates among young people often cause alarm within faith communities, this paper argues that listening carefully to the language of young people provides a more nuanced, in-depth picture that statistics on religious affiliation do not capture, which is critical in developing effective pastoral care for young adults.

This paper opens with a sociocultural approach to Gen Z, drawing upon generational analysis and sociological data to demonstrate how different types of research yield varied results in …

Raising The Roar: A Case Study Of Early Adolescent Student Voice On Service-Learning And Catholic Identity, April Beuder

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined early adolescent students’ perceptions of their service-learning program experiences at one Catholic elementary school in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (ADLA). The purpose of the study was: (a) to understand how the powerful tradition of the Church related to doing works of social justice and outreach was experienced by students in one ADLA Catholic elementary school in the form of experiential service learning, and (b) to explore whether associations exist between the students’ perceptions of their Catholic identities and their service-learning experiences. This study gathered research from student voice and work samples and utilized Carver’s …

Praying While White: Preparing The Soil For The Work Of Antiracism, Laura Boysen-Aragon

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Racism, White supremacy, and Whiteness are deeply ingrained in U.S. society and in our U.S. Catholic Church. White U.S. Catholics are infected with these sins, even our prayer can be tainted. We, who continue to benefit from White privilege and who are descendants of those who created White supremacy, are responsible for bringing an end to its reign with God’s help. In order to heal, we must recognize our sin and repent. Repentance is deeply rooted in our tradition and is a necessary spiritual practice for White U.S. Catholics to prepare the soil for individual, communal, and systemic changes to …

Forming The Conscience Of Young Vietnamese, Thien Duc Vu

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Many current theories (e.g., individualism, materialism, relativism, etc.) exalt individual freedom as an absolute. They ignore the voice of universal truth as a principle of conscience and instead place conscience underneath individual choice. The concept of individual freedom in this way is influencing the conscience of many young Vietnam people to make decisions that destroy and jeopardize moral human life (e.g., abortion, transgender, same-sex marriage, murder, etc.). Educating young people to see themselves as God’s children by forming their conscience is an urgent obligation for the Vietnamese Catholic Church. Thus, my PSP is to follow past practices of the Church’s …

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual (Lgbt) U.S. Latinx Catholics And The U.S. Catholic Church: A Critique Of Certain Aspects Of Roman Catholic Moral Teaching In Light Of A Latinx Theological Anthropology, Leonardo Daniel Mendoza

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This Capstone Research Project aims to address the certain aspects of Roman Catholic moral teaching. Throughout this project I argue that when it comes to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Queer (LGBTQ+) Catholics, the moral teaching is essentially corrupt. This paper begins by providing an overview of current Catholic teaching relevant to LGBTQ+ persons. In the second section I focus on the lived experience on the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in the United States to demonstrate several flaws in Catholic moral tradition. I place a special emphasis on the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in Florida as I base my argument on …

The Blanqueamiento Of Ecuador: Liberation In The Black Christ Of Daule, Jessica Leu

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The dominance of the White Christ in Latin America has been used to lend “theological” support for social, racial, and colonial hierarchies of the Spanish in Ecuador. The rhetoric used to justify the blanqueamiento process continues to play an enormous role in Ecuadorian social mobility, and also determines how various ethnicities in Ecuador are governed and treated. The Indigenous and Afroecuadorian populations of Ecuador are subjected to significantly higher rates of violence, poverty, and disease than their Mestizo and White counterparts. Against the tide of this theological distortion, I will argue that the Black Christ of Daule subverts the dominant …

Lamentations For Liberation: A Theological Analysis Of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, Sophia Gilmour

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

While exploring the history of liberation theology themes appearing in Black musician’s work (in Dr. Daniel Smith-Christopher’s class Bible and the Blues), it came to my attention that there are many more contemporary artists whose work also touches on these themes, such as Lauryn Hill. My thesis argues with the help of Black and Womanist scholars that the naming of one’s reality through musical lamentations is a healing act. Further, musical lamentation is an act to carry forth communities and provide them with healing because the act of acknowledging and lamenting the suffering of a marginalized community is liberating in …

Accompaniment In Times Of Suffering: Liberating Images Of God, Carmen Ramos Carmona

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Atonement theologies of salvation are problematic for suffering victims, which calls for a change in how we imagine God and view salvation today. A distorted image of God and God's salvation deprives those in distress of finding consolation, healing, and agency through their faith. I apply a feminist critical hermeneutic of liberation that reveals that the application of CDH can accommodate violence and other forms of evil against the marginalized, women, and the natural world. It is necessary to find metaphors for God that can offer spiritual sustenance to those who suffer and reimagine an alternate idea of God's salvation. …

Hidden Christians And Non-Churches: Indigenized Christian Practices In Japan, Shayne Naoyuki Yano

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Throughout Christianity's tumultuous history in Japan, there have been several traditions which have stood independent from Western missionary churches. Two such traditions are the Kakure Kirishitan (“Hidden Christians”) and Uchimura Kanzo's Non-Church Movement. Both have interpreted Christianity in ways that make sense within their own historical and cultural contexts. Japan's Hidden Christians were forced by strict persecution to practice their faith in secret, where they developed ways to disguise their practices. Meanwhile, at the dawn of a new era of religious freedom in Japan, Uchimura Kanzo formed a new way to practice Christianity that both integrated Japanese traditions such as …

A Bayesian Analysis Of Early Śramaṇic Origin Stories, John Kingsley

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

When it comes to assessing the historicity of religious figures, the methodology used by the academy is severely outdated, disjointed, and unsound. Bayes' Theorem, first used with a historical analysis by Richard Carrier in 2014 in relation to the historicity of Jesus, is a methodologically sound vehicle with which to examine what we have all simply, in the past, accepted. This paper addresses the historicity of the Buddha, and its implication on the early śramanic origin stories, by Bayes' Theorem.

The Sin Of Racism, Ray Almanza

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the history of racism in relation to the Catholic Church. This history amounts to an indictment of the Roman Catholic Church not only as a neutral party in the historical emergence of white supremacy, but a directly linked cause of racism. First, it describes how racism emerged in its modern manifestation in three major dimensions which include the geopolitical, economic, and social. Then, it centers on two general forms of analysis, a cultural analysis, and a philosophical analysis. Drawing on insights from Liberation Theology, various themes are highlighted as they apply to the discussion of race in …

The Ministerial Disengagement By Priests In The Post Modern Era And Its Impact, David Estrada

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception, the Christian ministerial priesthood has occupied a place of esteem and gradually assigned privilege through its various stages of development and eventual establishment. Influenced over time by various major historical events, newer philosophical insights and perspectives, and the post-modern ethos embracing current society, the Catholic ministerial priesthood is today being drawn into more frequent ministerial disengagement.

The Contemplative Gift In The Life Of The Church, Sister Pia (Kimberly) St. Romain

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Church leaders and other members of the Mystical Body of Christ can avail themselves more to the contemplative gift while undergoing the Paschal Mystery as a team and cultivating spaces of encounter and communion with people in the Church and in the world for deepening union with God and further entry in the process of divinization. Members of the Mystical Body can be more sensitive to the presence of God within themselves and others through devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that offers an entryway for Divine Love to take captive the affections of the will as the contemplative …

Women In Diaconate Formation In The Archdiocese Of Los Angeles, Federico Guillermo Rodriguez Hernandez

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the wives of the married applicants, aspirants and candidates to the permanent diaconate are required to accompany their husbands during the process of formation. Currently, the formation program does not engage them fully. Since women cannot be ordained as deacons, they are not perceived as the intended recipients for the formation offered by the program.

This study proposes an alternative vision and theological framework. The study affirms the full dignity of women as human beings created in the image and likeness of God and therefore, perfectly well suited to be icons of God as …

Veritas At Harvard, Alfred John Zucker

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research paper is to analyze a historical, theological subject concerning the rationale for the transition from a Puritanical view of God at Harvard in the early seventeenth century to a Utilitarian perspective in the first part of the nineteenth century. The Puritans had a profound effect on Harvard, bringing with them severe discipline and an authoritarian view of God. As a result, many of the first Harvard students left the college never to return,[1] and the school had significant difficulties in maintaining an enrollment in its early years. Puritanism viewed students as being essentially depraved …

Pastoral Care To The Grievers In Crisis, Andrew Cho

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 is still causing many deaths globally. Thus authorities have implemented strict public measures designed to reduce and limit the interactions between people. Such measures have impacted the pastoral ministry in many ways. There has never been such a great crisis for the pastoral ministry, especially the pastoral cares to the grievers. The grief in the bereaved has challenged the pastoral care in parish in numerous ways with regard to how to deal with them. In this circumstance, the pastoral care to the grievers comes to the surface with a totally different paradigm. Pastoral care to the grievers is …

Communicating The Gospel And The Culture To America’S Younger Generation Vietnamese Who Have Lost A Connection With Their Cultural And Historical Roots, Linh Le

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Communicating the Gospel and Culture to the younger Vietnamese American generations comes with many challenges. There seem to be many Vietnamese parents living in the United States who are concerned with their children losing their distinctive family cultural characteristics while living in another culture. The younger generation themselves find it hard to adapt to the American and Vietnamese cultures where they are living here. How can these young generations adapt to their new culture and not lose some of their distinctive family cultural and Christian religious roots to balance their lives? How can we help to communicate the Gospel and …

Walk Beside Me: A Look At Theology Of Accompaniment With Youth On Retreats, Carla Nunneri

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Understanding Catholic School Attrition: Catholic Elementary School Students’ And Parents’ Perceptions And Matriculation Decisions, Thomas Gasper

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods study shed light on the issue of attrition within Catholic education and points to opportunities for leaders to improve the effectiveness of elementary and secondary schools as well as identify barriers impacting access to poor and vulnerable populations. The purpose was to: describe factors eighth-grade Catholic school students and their parents consider in choosing a high school; determine correlations between degree of satisfaction with Catholic elementary schools and perceptions of programs in Catholic high schools; and understand the extent students’ and parents’ identified attributes corresponded to their high school selection.

Quantitative data was generated from surveys of …

Building An Ignatian Ummah: The Experience Of Muslim International Students At An American Jesuit University, Csilla V. Samay

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, over a million international students enrolled at universities in the United States. A significant percent come from Muslim-majority countries whose governments sponsor their education abroad. As overall international enrollments decrease, recruiting this population remains attractive to U.S. institutions. International students face the challenge of entering higher education in a foreign country and culture, navigating their education during a time of political battles over immigration and issues of diversity. Muslim students face prejudice and exclusion due to Islamophobia in the U.S. Universities have a responsibility to understand and fully support students from whom they benefit financially.

This study examined …

The Diminished Experience Of Liturgy In A Pandemic, Joseph Torti

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This paper considers the pastoral challenge of a diminished experience of liturgy and worship during the Covid-19 pandemic. It explores the ubiquity of the digital realm and a pervasive culture of consumerism as factors in addition to the pandemic contributing to the challenge. We then reflect on the challenge through the theological perspective of Scripture, sacramental theology, Vatican II teaching and liturgical theology before proposing a pastoral plan.

God’S Forgiveness As Expressed In The Gospels, Rod Womer

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the twenty-two passages in the Gospels in which God’s forgiveness of human sin is explicitly addressed. Using modern textual, literary, form, redaction, and historical criticisms as exegetical tools, the examination maps out the development of these biblical vignettes so as to extract from the process an understanding of what the Gospel writers wanted to convey to Jesus’ followers about God’s forgiveness. Four distinct forgiveness modes were discovered: repentance leads to forgiveness (e.g. proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all nations in Lk 24:47), faith acts as a conduit to forgiveness (e.g. sinful woman kissing Jesus’ feet in Lk …

A Preferential Option For God: A Catholic Feminist Argument For Not Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater, Jane A. Terlesky

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I explore what Catholic feminist Ignatian spirituality can contribute to the conversation between faith and culture, conversation that is too often muddied by vague and superficial argument and by an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ attitude driven by extremes to which the majority do not belong. The secular and the religious spring from a common past, though they exist now within the nova effect of spiritualities available today in our modern Western or North Atlantic, “secular 3” world. The 500-year-old Ignatian Exercises can be a coherent voice speaking in the cacophony of the contemporary context especially when a feminist …

The Imago Dei As A Response To Consumerism And Individualism Within The Church, Carine George

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The pastoral problem being addressed has to do with the culture of consumerism and individualism that have influenced the culture of the Church. Within Western society, the “ism” culture, consisting of factors such as: hedonism, consumerism, materialism, secularism, relativism and individualism, has become very prominent. Christians often operate no differently than non-Christians, and this is problematic since Christians are called to be salt for the earth and light for the world (Matthew 5:13-16), a people set apart. In John 15:19, we are told that we were not made to be of this world, so we need to stop being influenced …

A Man-Made Disaster: A Yogic Response To The Environmental Crisis And Its Religious, Political, And Economic Origins, Grace Ludwing

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the religious, political, and economic origins of the environmental crisis and offers tangible solutions by applying various religious and philosophical teachings from Yoga.

Dancing Theology - A Construction Of A Pneumatology Of The Body, Kristin Kissell

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Dance is the language of the soul. Dance, as a theological source, can remind us of who we are in and with the living perichoresis of the Trinity. Dance, as embodied art, can provide us with a new way of viewing and discussing pneumatology and that we too, in our incarnate reality, participate in perichoresis. Within this work I seek to answer the questions of how dance is a source of theology, why a pneumatology of the body is significant, and how dance provides a framework for a pneumatology of the body. The creation of a pneumatology of the body …

Toward An Anti-Racist Theology: American Racism And Catholic Social Thought, Douglas J. Cremer

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In the writings of the Vatican, the United States and Latin American bishops, and various theologians since the 1950s, Catholic social thought has generally failed to understand the pernicious depth of the system of racial classification, discrimination, and violence in the Americas. Catholic social thought still sees racism as based on the pre-existing, valid category of "race," requiring individual conversion and social effort. What is required instead is seeing the very concept of " race" as what must be rejected as the product of a racist ideology of politico-economic oppression and developing an anti-racist theological response that overcomes and eliminates …

Feminist Ecclesiology: A Trinitarian Framework For Transforming The Church's Institutional And Spiritual Life, Stacy Geere

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In light of women’s marginal status in church governance and ministry through most of recorded history, feminist trinitarian ecclesiology is needed to transform the church’s institutional and spiritual life. While Vatican II provided the paradigm shift and promising anthropology essential for an egalitarian church, feminist ecclesiology prompts a radical transformation of its hierarchical and patriarchal structures and practices so that it may truly embody the Trinity. Trinitarian life provides practical and radical consequences for Christian life, and provides a model of church marked by relationships of equality, mutuality, unity and reciprocity. It also provides a strong ecclesiological argument for reform …

Understanding The Devil: A Comparative Examination Of Dead Souls, The Master And Margarita, And Revelation 12-3, Thomas "Tj" Kennedy

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the devil is depcicted and characterized in Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, and Revelation 12-13. By exploring their respective historical situations, I connect how all three depictions are linked to satire; however, I reflect upon the differences between the literary and religious, most notably the grotesque physical portrayals and allusory nature of Revelation. The three texts are given their own sections, each divided into three parts: historical situation, textual analysis, and literary commentary. From this analysis, it is shown that the devil carries with them a history of sins within great …

Anselm On The Atonement In Cur Deus Homo: Salvation As A Gratuitous Grace, Thu Nguyen

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.