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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Flannery O’Connor And Transcendence In The Christian Mystery Of Grace, Taran Trinnaman
Flannery O’Connor And Transcendence In The Christian Mystery Of Grace, Taran Trinnaman
Student Works
Within Flannery O’Connor’s works are the repeating themes of grace and salvation. Kathleen G. Ochshorn points one major criticism towards O’Connor’s works however in that her morally flawed characters’ reception of grace and salvation comes through violent or traumatic means, which appears counter to the Roman Catholic faith of Flannery O’Connor. This paper argues against this reading of Flannery O’Connor’s works by examining the Catholic theology surrounding grace alongside the theology of grace as understood through Protestantism. The paper then places three of Flannery O’Connor’s works, “Greenleaf,” “Revelation,” and “The Enduring Chill,” within a Catholic and Protestant reading to explore …
The Shadowland Of Shakespeare: Christianity And The Carnival, Micah E. Cozzens
The Shadowland Of Shakespeare: Christianity And The Carnival, Micah E. Cozzens
Student Works
The moral complexity of Shakespeare’s work is created by balancing carnival elements such as subversion of authority, plays within plays, and ascension of thrones, with Christian elements such as repentance, the supernatural, and forgiveness. Far from being didactic or moralizing, Shakespeare’s plays—specifically King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet—frequently inhabit an ethical shadowland, in which right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. This intricacy renders even the simplest of his plots an interesting exploration of human consciousness. But Shakespeare never exalts Christianity at the expense of the carnival nor the carnival at the expense of Christianity—rather, …
Presence In Absence In Shakespeare's King Lear, Kimberly Austin
Presence In Absence In Shakespeare's King Lear, Kimberly Austin
Student Works
King Lear is imbedded with hidden Christian themes, expressed through characters like Cordelia and the Fool, to show that salvation and redemption can only be obtained in a world with Christ. The audience recognizes the absence of Christian principles in the play and through our desire for Christianity it becomes a present theme.The theory of presence in absence becomes clearer when analyzing Cordelia and the Fool. Their characteristics mimic those of Christ which reminds the audience of his absence in the play. Throughout the play King Lear repeats the theory of “nothing from nothing” and by analyzing this theme through …
Pervasive Parable: Christ And Ligeia, Todd Workman
Pervasive Parable: Christ And Ligeia, Todd Workman
Student Works
No abstract provided.
Beautifully Damned: Imagination, Revelation, And Exile In Coleridge's "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" And Byron's Cain: A Mystery, Matt Slykhuis
Beautifully Damned: Imagination, Revelation, And Exile In Coleridge's "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" And Byron's Cain: A Mystery, Matt Slykhuis
Religion in the Age of Enlightenment
Abrief survey of the eighteenth-century debates regarding the compatibility of reason and religion reveals the development of two powerful-and polarized-theological trends. The first is what I refer to as the "de-supernaturalization" of Christianity. This movement was evinced among rationalists who desired to remain connected to England's religious past and to retain the unifying influence of their society's most vital "myth" (i.e., Christianity) but who also felt a strong impetus to rid the faith of its "irrational" supernatural elements (e.g., belief in miracles, the soul, and the inspiration of Scripture). The second trend, what I call "re-supernaturalization;' occurred later in the …
Cross-Cultural Ecotheology In The Poetry Of Li-Young Lee, Sienna Miquel Palmer Dittmer
Cross-Cultural Ecotheology In The Poetry Of Li-Young Lee, Sienna Miquel Palmer Dittmer
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis explores the cross-cultural ecotheology of contemporary American poet Li-Young Lee by looking at the intersection of the human, the natural, and the sacred in his poetry. Close readings of Lee's poetic encounters with roses, persimmons, trees, wind, and light through the lens of Christianity and Daoism illustrate the way Lee is able to merge the Eastern concepts of interconnection and mutual harmony with Western ideas of sacredness and divinity. This discussion places Lee in direct conversation with modern and contemporary ecopoets who use the creative energy of language to express our moral and ethical responsibility to the world …
Irish Clergy And The Deist Controversy: Two Episodes In The Early British Enlightenment, Scott Breuninger
Irish Clergy And The Deist Controversy: Two Episodes In The Early British Enlightenment, Scott Breuninger
Religion in the Age of Enlightenment
D uring the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, an important question facing Anglican divines was the relationship between reason and religion. Initiated by the publication of John Toland's Christianity Not Mysterious (1696), the controversy concerning deism raged across both sides of the Irish Sea and called into question the sanctity of revealed religion, forcing believers to articulate more "rational" defenses of Christianity. Closely associated with the problematic origins of the "English Enlightenment;' Toland's provocative tract valorized reason in matters of religion and drew heavily upon the ideas of natural philosophy. Although viciously attacked for its heretical tenets, Toland's position …
Fealty And Free Will: Catholicism And The Master/Servant Relationship In The Lord Of The Rings, Emily Bytheway
Fealty And Free Will: Catholicism And The Master/Servant Relationship In The Lord Of The Rings, Emily Bytheway
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis asserts that one aspect of The Lord of the Rings which has been previously overlooked is the hierarchical nature of the master/servant relationship, which mirrors in many ways the hierarchical nature of the Catholic church. Through the various master/servant relationships that Tolkien portrays, he reflects not only the ideal of master and servant working together for good, but also the ways in which this intimate relationship can go horribly wrong. Aragorn represents an ideal master, one who is wise and good, and his servants are either rewarded or punished according to their loyalty to him. In the stories …