Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Creation As An Ecumenical Problem: Renewed Belief Through Green Experience, Thomas Hughson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Loss of a sense of creaturehood and of members has occurred across the lines of divided churches in a secular context. The author explores the question whether green experience of nature can be a path toward a renewed sense of creaturehood. Bernard Lonergan’s distinction between faith and belief allows for identifying a primordial faith that interprets the cosmos as numinous. Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises interprets primordial faith with the biblical word of God as Creator. Why not develop local ecumenical experiments in reevangelization that address green experience?

Review Of Restored To Earth: Christianity, Environmental Ethics, And Ecological Restoration By Gretel Van Wieren, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Remembering Those Who Have Gone Before Us, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Africa: Marriage Cannot Be Reduced To A Legal Formula, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Toward A Catholic Malcolm X?, Bryan N. Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Anonymous Theology Of Modern Family, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The popular television show Modern Family follows sitcom conventions and attempts to send a moral message about how relatives can live well together. An examination of the specific content of this message shows that it prioritizes self-giving love for the sake of forgiveness and reconciliation. This creates a recognizable parallel with the Christian conception of agape, and a discussion of this notion in the work of Karl Rahner in conjunction with his idea of the “anonymous Christian” allows for the identification of Modern Family’s moral vision as an anonymous theology of family ripe with theological significance and pedagogical potential.

My Church Loyalties, D. Stephen Long

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Kant's Apophaticism Of Finitude: A Grammar Of Hope For Speaking Humanly Of God, Philip J. Rossi

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Collaborating For A Shared Purpose, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Two Nations Under God, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Cross And The Lynching Tree, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Building Bridges And Crossing Boundaries: Philosophy, Theology, And The Interruptions Of Transcendence, Philip J. Rossi

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Discussions about theological realism within analytic philosophy of religion, and the larger conversation between analytic and continental styles in philosophy of religion have generated relatively little interest among Catholic philosophers and theologians; conversely, the work of major figures in recent Catholic theology seems to evoke little interest from analytic philosophers of religion. Using the 1998 papal encyclical on faith and reason, Fides et ratio, as a major point of reference, this essay offers a preliminary account of the bases for such seeming mutual indifference and offers some suggestions for future dialogue.

Eucharist And Society, Susan Wood

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Warrior Saints: Warfare And Violence In Martin Luther's Readings Of Some Old Testament Texts, Mickey Mattox

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

"Now These Things Happened As Examples For Us" (1 Cor. 10:6):The Biblical-Narrative Depiction Of Human Sinfulness, Stephen Frederick Jenks

Dissertations (1934 -)

For several decades voices from various sectors of Christianity have decried the loss of compelling language for sin. The atrophying of sin language is of no small moment due to the organic connection between theological loci. Sin talk relates to salvation-talk, human-talk, and Christ-talk. Further, the loss of compelling sin language threatens to silence the church's voice in the culture.

Both classic and contemporary theologies of sin, pursuing the essentialist methods of the past, attempt to define sin and derive the fullness of the doctrine of sin from these distillations. However, many of these renderings of sin are insufficiently attentive …

Stabilitas In Congregatione: The Benedictine Evangelization Of America In The Life And Thought Of Martin Marty, O.S.B., Paul Gregory Monson

Dissertations (1934 -)

Historians and theologians commonly overlook how the Benedictine revival of the nineteenth century arose not only in Europe but also in the United States. Monks from Bavaria and Switzerland looked to America as a providential setting for restoring the Benedictine Order to its original glory through missionary activity. As missionaries, their vision manifested a reinterpretation of the Benedictine tradition and its principle of stability. Embodying this vision was the life and thought of Martin Marty (1834-1896), a Swiss-Benedictine monk who became the first abbot of St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana and later a missionary and bishop in Dakota Territory. Despite …

Mary's Fertility As The Model Of The Ascetical Life In Ephrem The Syrian's Hymns Of The Nativity, Michelle Weedman

Dissertations (1934 -)

My thesis is that Ephrem uses Mary's pregnancy in his Hymns on the Nativity both as a model for the ascetical life and as a way of explaining, theologically, what it means to be a Christian ascetic. For Ephrem, Mary is the first to have her body transformed through the union of Christ and humanity, a transformation that prefigures both the resurrected body and the common Christian experience of Christ prior to that. Thus, the fact that Mary was physically pregnant is theologically significant for Ephrem. Mary's personal and free response to God's invitation uniquely illustrates that the transformative experience …

Review Of Deus In Machina: Religion, Technology, And The Things In Between, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Reconciliation, Justice, And Peace: The Second African Synod, Joseph Ogbonnaya

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Has The Silence Been Broken? Catholic Theological Ethics And Racial Justice, Bryan Massingale

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

This survey discusses the emerging contours of a distinctive Catholic ethical approach to race, racism, and racial justice. Among its features are the adoption of a more structural and cultural understanding of human sinfulness, engaged intellectual reflection, concern about malformed white identity, an intentional dialogue with African American scholarship and culture, and the cultivation of spiritual practices and disciplines. The “Note” concludes with a discussion of the global challenges of racialization and the future challenges for Catholic ethical reflection on racism.

Faith, Autonomy, And The Limits Of Agency In A Secular Age, Philip J. Rossi

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Receptive Ecumenism And Justification: Roman Catholic And Reformed Doctrine In Contemporary Context, Sarah Timmer

Dissertations (1934 -)

Receptive Ecumenism is a reassessment of the ecumenical process, in light of the remaining challenges and difficulties faced by ecumenists. It recognizes that ecumenism might need to adjust to the complex diversity of the Christian church today, especially amidst a culture that no longer sees diversity as a negative thing. The goal of traditional ecumenism, visible unity through theological and ecclesiological convergence, is put aside in favor of an ecumenism of mutual enrichment and self-examination. The Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is an example of traditional ecumenism. This dissertation examines some strengths and weaknesses of the Joint …

Review Of Trent: What Happened At The Council By John W. O'Malley, Mickey L. Mattox

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Religious Influences On Justice Theory, Daniel Maguire

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

African Catholicism: Intra-Ecclesial Challenges To Justice, Joseph Ogbonnaya

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Nation Called To Intergenerational Justice--Comments On Nuclear Generated Electricity, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Love For God And Earth: Ecospirituality In The Theologies Of Sallie Mcfague And Leonardo Boff, Rebecca A. Meier-Rao

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines the theologies of North American Ecofeminist Sallie McFague and Latin American liberation theologian Leonardo Boff in order to answer the question - What are the features of a Christian spirituality capable of helping people to clear vision, transformation and hope in this time of socio-ecological crisis? In the sixth chapter I also briefly engage the work of Carmelite contemplative Constance FitzGerald, as she both reinforces and deepens the theologians' answer to the above question.

The dissertation begins with a short explanation of the interlocking ecological and social crises, and offers a basic understanding of Christian spirituality as …

The Word Is An Angel Of The Mind: Angelic And Temple Imagery In The Theology Of John Mansur, The Damascene., Elijah Nicolas Mueller

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation looks at the scriptural images of angel and temple, as they occur in key works by John Damascene: on the Heresies, chapter 100 "On the Ishmaelites;" Three Treatises on the Divine Images, and on the Orthodox Faith. Angelic and temple imagery forms an important core which holds together liturgy, ascesis, and theophany. These types of images constitute a consistent mode for understanding theology and anthropology. As part of revelation, they are important in the early Islamic context. Angel and temple imagery were used by John Damascene to push back against Islamic revelation claims and Islamic challenges to the …

"A Spreading And Abiding Hope": A. J. Conyers And Evangelical Theopolitical Imagination, Jacob Shatzer

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this work I argue that A. J. Conyers provides a promising example for countering various weaknesses in evangelical theopolitical imagination. I make this argument in two ways. First, I provide a critical reading of Conyers's overall scholarly project, seeking to understand it in its own context and in conversation with other scholars. In particular, I draw on the influence of Jürgen Moltmann, Johannes Althusius, Eric Voegelin, the Southern Agrarians, and Richard Weaver on Conyers's thought. I then focus on Conyers's political theology, exploring how he diagnoses the modern world and what he proposes for remedies. I explore Conyers's political …

"Heavenly Theologians": The Place Of Angels In The Theology Of Martin Luther, Christopher J. Samuel

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines a virtually untouched aspect of Martin Luther's theology: his angelology. Specifically, it argues four main points: that Luther does, over his corpus, present an angelology; that his angelology is indebted to and in conversation with the prior theological tradition; that his concern with the angels is evident throughout his career; and that his major angelological concerns are pastoral in nature. Furthermore, it presents Luther's answers to four basic angelological questions: 1) what are the angels?; 2) what is the angels' role in Creation?; 3) what is the nature of their relationship with humanity?; and 4) what is …