Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Religion, Science, And The Conscious Self: Bio-Psychological Explanation And The Debate Between Dualism And Naturalism, Paul J. Voelker

Dissertations

This dissertation approaches metaphysical and metaethical questions concerning the nature of the human person, the existence and nature of God, and the nature of moral judgment through contemporary neuroscience, cognitive science, scientific moral psychology, and analytic philosophy of mind. Contrary to proposals that seek a harmonious integration of "religion and science" this dissertation argues that contemporary bio-psychological sciences give one ample reason to be skeptical of many of the metaphysical and metaethical claims embedded in religious traditions like Christianity and Buddhism. The first three chapters of the dissertation focus on the metaphysical issue of mind-body dualism while the fourth chapter …

Images Of God, Imago Dei And God's Relationship With Humanity Through The Image Of Mary's Breast Milk: A Focus Upon Sor María Anna Águeda De San Ignacio (1695-1756), Neomi Dolores Deanda

Dissertations

This dissertation presents an original contribution to the academic field of Theology, specifically Constructive Theology, because it begins the retrieval work of a woman's voice from seventeenth and eighteenth century Mexico, an entire area of historical and theological thought which has been globally under-explored. Analysis of María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio's eighteenth century original publications give a glimpse into this woman's official authority during her time, which also presents a historical woman's voice who has held ecclesial authority.

This project engages María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio's work to draw theological insights and further expand understandings about notions of …

Filiación-Fraternidad: The Hope Of Human Existence In Light Of Global Disparity. Exploring The Theological Anthropologies Of Karl Rahner And José Ignacio González Faus., Scott M. Myslinski

Dissertations

This dissertation argues that there is a need for Christian theology to critically re-examine human existence through social and structural categories in response to the current direction of globalization which threatens the humanization of human existence. Specifically, there exists a need for a contemporary Christian theological anthropology that is in dialogue with the social sciences and that attempts to develop an understanding of human sin, grace, and redemption in structural and social categories in order to offer an alternative vision of what it means to be human in light of the prevailing anthropology that is at the heart of the …

So That Love May Be Safeguarded: The Nature, Form, And Function Of Obedience As A Heuristic Device For The Theology Of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Daniel Paul Burns

Dissertations

Hans Urs von Balthasar's literary body of work is enormous. His style is erudite and often abstruse. As a result, it is often difficult to systematize and arrange his work into coherent and consistent categories. This dissertation offers the singular category of obedience as a heuristic device to help render the entire von Balthasarian corpus more understandable. For von Balthasar, the word "obedience" is multivalent and rich in meaning. It cuts across all aspects of human relationships, of human relationships with God, and even God's relationship with Himself. This dissertation claims that the meaning of the word "obedience" is central …

Trilectic Of Testimony: A Phenomenological Construal Of The Eucharist As Manifestation-Proclamation-Attestation, Donald Lee Wallenfang

Dissertations

This thesis seeks to revolutionize thinking the sacrament, in particular the Eucharist. Instead of construing the Eucharist in terms of substance or symbol, the Eucharist is construed phenomenologically as manifestation-proclamation-attestation. In this way, the particular emphases of Catholic (manifestation), Jewish and Protestant (proclamation, attestation) thought converge around the question of the phenomenality of the religious phenomenon, specifically the Eucharist-phenomenon. Representative of each of these three faith traditions, the following prominent thinkers are placed in dialectical confrontation: Jean-Luc Marion (Catholic, manifestation), Paul Ricoeur (Protestant, proclamation/attestation) and Emmanuel Levinas (Jewish, proclamation/attestation). Building on the seminal work of Louis-Marie Chauvet, Symbole et sacrement: …

Patriarchy, Christianity, And The African Hiv/Aids Epidemic: Rethinking Christian Marriage In Light Of The Experiences Of Hiv Positive Women In Tanzania, Melissa Danielle Browning

Dissertations

Given that women and girls carry the heaviest burdens of the African HIV/AIDS epidemic, their lived experiences should be the starting point for any pedagogy of prevention. In light of this claim, this dissertation project uses qualitative fieldwork with HIV positive women living in Mwanza, Tanzania to ask why marriage is an HIV/AIDS risk factor. By beginning with women's experience as a hermeneutical lens, this dissertation seeks to establish a creative space where African women can imagine new alternatives to HIV/AIDS prevention that would promote human flourishing and abundant life in African communities. The aim of this dissertation is to …

Rigorous Honesty: A Cultural History Of Alcoholics Anonymous 1935-1960, Kevin Kaufmann

Dissertations

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 and a great deal has been written about the program and its membership, but little has been done on how it reflects the 1930s and Depression Era culture. Using Warren Susman's writings as a starting point, this dissertation investigates how AA reflects 1930s American culture and what the group can tell us about the era as well. The dissertation begins with examining the temperance and prohibition eras and how they impacted the initial design of the program, especially the writing of the text, Alcoholics Anonymous.

With the advent of World War II, AA, like …

The Principle Of Subsidiarity And Catholic Ecclesiology: Implications For The Laity, Kathryn Reyes Hamrlik

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the principle of subsidiarity as articulated within the body of Catholic social thought, and explores its validity within the governance structure of the Catholic church. Special attention is given to the status and role of the laity, and the implications of subsidiarity with regard to lay authority and decision-making in the church. Chapter One outlines some problems with ecclesial governance today, discusses the current status and role of the laity, and proposes an application of subsidiarity in the church. Chapter Two provides an overview of how the laity has been understood throughout church history to the present …

The Relationship Of Canon And Messiah: The Convergence Of Jan Assmann And Walter Benjamin On A Theory Of Monotheistic Canon, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper focuses upon the relationship between the German Egyptologist Jan Assmann and the German-Jewish late modern literary critic Walter Benjamin as regards the movement from canons to messianic forces. It therefore traces the evolution in Assmann’s thought from issues surrounding the processes of canonization to his development of a form of ‘weak thought’ in relation to religious violence before then turning to Benjamin’s portrayal of a ‘weak messianic force’ moving through history which is only conceivable in close proximity to a scriptural legacy and a divine (or ‘pure’) violence, as he saw it. Additionally, this essay draws a line …

Randi L. Rashkover And Martin Kavka, Eds., Tradition The Public Square: A David Novak Reader, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article reviews the book Tradition the Public Square: A David Novak Reader, edited by Randi L. Rashkover and Martin Kavka .

Autonomy And Care In Medicine, Hille Haker

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper argues that the core principle of bioethics, autonomy, is rooted both in the 20th century history of the development of new medical technologies as in political liberalism transferred to medical practices, rendering the medical decision-making of patients a centerpiece of medical interventions. The paper shows how the ambiguity in the interpretation of autonomy reflects the ambivalence of bioethics towards making normative claims on the moral agents insofar as these go beyond the respect for a patient’s autonomy. In the second part, the paper analyzes the alternative approach of care ethics, which intends to emphasize both the vulnerability and …

Being In The Know: Punk, Confrontation, And The Process Of Validating Truth Claims, Christopher Richard Penna

Master's Theses

Since the birth of punk, it has been a harbinger of trends within both youth culture and what cultural theorist Theodor Adorno calls the "culture industry" (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1947; Adorno, 1971). However, punk has never been fully embraced by the culture industry, largely, by design. Punk arose as a response, borne out of the frustration of a stagnant world that values profit over people (Sabin, 1999, p. 3). Present within opposition is confrontation--which is the very nature of punk. This thesis seeks to exemplify how punk uses confrontation as the instrument through which punk comes to know truths. The …

The Highest Good And The Best Activity: Aristotle On The Well-Lived Life, Philip William Bauchan

Master's Theses

The question of how Aristotle characterizes eudaimonia, or living-well, in the Nicomachean Ethics has long been a contentious issue amongst Aristotelian scholars. The secondary literature has been roughly divided between inclusivist readers, who argue that Aristotle designates both theoria, or contemplation, and the practical virtues, and exclusivist readers, who argue that Aristotle singles out theoria alone. This thesis seeks to forge a middle ground between these two perspectives by focusing on the central claim of Book I that the eudaimonia is virtuous activity. Reading Book X in light of Book I's claim then allows one to show that both the …

Introducing The Common Good Index And A Common Good Immigration Ethic, Ana Bedard

Dissertations

The U.S. and Mexican bishops, in their influential pastoral letter Strangers No Longer, frame immigration ethics through the lens of solidarity with the immigrant. This frame leads them to erroneously interpret the preferential option for the poor and ignore potential harm to poor U.S. citizens caused by recent undocumented immigration from Mexico and other countries. A better framework to immigration ethics is a specified common good approach, which is created in this dissertation. This approach uses the definition of the common good found in Catholic social thought and concretizes it through using a theological anthropology based in Martha Nussbaum's human …

Theology As Improvisation: Using The Musical Metaphor Of Attunement To Think Theologically, Nathan Crawford

Dissertations

This project places itself within the tradition of Christian theology which has sought to think about its thinking of God. In so doing, the tradition has seen it necessary to do this thinking in light of one's contemporary situation. Thus, this project carries this line of thought through by thinking the thinking of God within the contemporary context. The thesis of the project is that theology is improvisation. This thesis is advanced through an analysis of the idea of attunement in both theology and improvisation.

The project articulates the nature of theology as improvisation by analyzing the nature of attunement …

A Diachronic Analysis Of The Use Of Scripture In The Variant Versions Of The Apocryphon Of John, David Creech

Dissertations

This dissertation explores at length the Apocryphon of John's ambivalent treatment of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Although Moses is explicitly corrected at five points in the text--four times mentioned by name (NHC II 13,18-21; 22,22-25; 23,3-4; and 29,6-10) and one time by inference (NHC II 21,9-14)--the Genesis account of creation is nonetheless the basis for the Apocryphon's cosmogony and anthropogony. It is argued that the Apocryphon's uneven treatment of the Bible is the result of a development of the text in the midst of a dispute with other early catholics.

Mario L. Aguilar, Contemplating God, Changing The World, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article reviews the book Contemplating God, Changing the World, by Mario L. Aguilar.

Universal Identities And Local Realities: Young Poland's (Mis)Readings Of Synge, John A. Merchant

Modern Languages and Literatures: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The problems Young Poland experienced in understanding the work of John Millington Synge were informed by precisely the same kind of behaviors that Daniel Corkery described in his argument for a truly native Irish national literature in the 1930s. Overcome by a strong sense of self, Poles were not fully able to appreciate the complexities and nuances of Synge's work and by extension, the Irish-Ireland movement. In the end, then, Young Poland was incapable of really understanding the Irish, and so the best they could do was to associate with them. As a result, Poles may have been able to …

Charlotte Brontë’S Villette, Mid-Victorian Anti-Catholicism, And The Turn To Secularism, Michael M. Clarke

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Although Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853) is frequently interpreted as anti-Catholic, reconciliation between Catholic and Protestant plays a pivotal role in the novel, as Lucy Snowe’s perspective evolves from narrow sectarianism to a more open stance. Brontë accomplishes this reconciliation by elucidating the differences at their deepest level: at the point where Protestantism challenges and ultimately evolves into a separate set of institutions from Catholicism. Drawing on Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, this paper argues that, in its advocacy of the possibility of deep faith combined with religious pluralism, Villette anticipates modern secularism in the best sense of the word.

A Mini-History Of Computing, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This book was produced by George K. Thiruvathukal for the American Institute of Physics to promote interest in the interdisciplinary publication, Computing in Science and Engineering. It accompanied a limited edition set of playing cards that is no longer available (except in PDF).

This book features a set of 54 significant computers by era/category, including ancient calculating instruments, pre-electronic mechanical calculators and computers, electronic era computers, and modern computing (minicomputers, maniframes, personal computers, devices, and gaming consoles).