Religion Commons^™

A Thomistic Understanding Of Happiness, Christian Stephens

Theses

Imagine that extra-terrestrial researchers land on Earth with the mission of studying humanity. As part of their expedition they wish to sit in on one University Degree, but are unsure of which degree to choose. So they decide to carry out a survey, asking each individual human what it is they want in life. Based on the results, the aliens will then study the appropriate field. After conducting the survey and processing the data, they come to the conclusion that humans highly regard this thing called happiness.1 The Head Researchers unanimously decide that a ‘degree in happiness’ is in order. …

Expressing The Inexpressible: The Work Of Mons John Cyril Hawes, Priest And Architect, Angela Mccarthy

Theology Conference Papers

What is the result of the combination of priest and architect, Anglican and Catholic heritage, English and Roman education in a deeply faith filled man?

The answer can be found in the hot and dry country of Geraldton Diocese Western Australia in the work of priest and architect Monsignor John Cyril Hawes (1876-1956). Hawes expresses the inexpressible through his many churches, hermitages, chapels, residential buildings and the Cathedral in Geraldton as well as other buildings in many other parts of the world. His deep and passionate faith is expressed in the eclectic use of symbols and forms encountered in his …

Jesus The Gardener – A View Of The Garden Scene Through Text And Image, Angela Mccarthy

Theology Conference Papers

Our previous speaker, Jim Cregan, has given us a rich view of the notion of the Royal Gardener, the cosmic gardener, and the understanding that the gardener image is not simply a way of suggesting that Mary Magdalen was very confused, but rather the evangelist of the Fourth Gospel presenting us with a very rich symbol of the Risen Christ. From the garden of Eden, to the garden of Gethsemane and then to the garden of Paradise, the power of the symbol is there. As Jim noted, the allegorical motif of Jesus as the ‘cosmic gardener’ “achieved prominence in the …

Jesus The Gardener: A Revised Perspective Of A Favourite New Testament Scene, James Cregan

Theology Conference Papers

Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Christ in the garden in which he was entombed, described in John 20:14-15, is one of the most poignant in the entire Bible. If we are to accept the interpretation of some commentaries, Mary, when she finds the tomb empty, in her grief induced confusion[1] fails to recognise Jesus when he appears to her, supposing him to be the gardener. Her fear is that the same people who have killed him have removed his body. It is only when Jesus calls to her by name that there ensues what has been described as …

Renewal And Reform In The Liturgy: Fording The Impasse, Russell Hardiman

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

At roughly the same time as the First Fleet was sailing from European climes towards its monumentous first landfall in the Great South Land in 1788, another event was taking place in Europe which would create its own waves and have an effect on the Church in our day. This was the Synod of Pistoia, convened in 1786.

Water As Blessing: Recovering The Symbolism Of The Garden Of Eden Through Ezekiel For Christian Theology – A Theological Investigation, James Cregan

Theses

The Garden of Eden is one of the most pervasive and enduring images in the Abrahamic Tradition. Despite being the inspiration of many profound works of art, including painting, music, literature, architecture, and landscape design, theological meaning has tended to be subsidiary to wider anthropological, archaeological or art-historical concerns. Recent interest in nature imagery in the Bible, including the Garden of Eden, suggests this aspect of religious expression is becoming more visible. However, most attention has tended to focus on the socio-political and ecological implications of these images, and is primarily agrarian in focus. Given the canonical location of the …

Renewability Of Liturgical Spaces, Angela Mccarthy

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

The response of people to particular liturgical spaces, and their understanding of what is suitable, is very diverse. There are particular churches that are under great demand for weddings because they will look good in the photos and look like a ‘real church’. Churches are still being built that do not echo the reforms of the past half century and respond to a particular taste rather than the requirements of the liturgy. Communities still struggle with churches built before the reforming period that are difficult to renovate and difficult to adjust to contemporary liturgical norms so the renewability of liturgical …

Book Review: Presiding Like A Woman, Angela Mccarthy

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Deep divisions lie within the Christian churches about the role of women within worship, and indeed, other aspects of church life. This book is a rich addition to the literature on such divisions and offers an opportunity for many voices to be heard.

Eucharistic Prayers Of Reconciliation: Reflections On Moral Conversion, Thomas Ryan

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

These reflections are prompted by two events. First, there is the recent introduction of the new translation in the Eucharist Liturgy. The second is the recent comment made to me by a fellow priest. His parishioners generally found the Second Eucharistic Prayer for reconciliation the most appealing of all the Eucharistic Prayers.¹ From this comes a question: if we are moved by the Liturgy, does that make us better people? What, then, is the relationship between Liturgy and the moral life?

Moral Conversion, Liturgy And The Preface To Eucharistic Prayer For Reconciliation Ii, Thomas Ryan

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Anecdotal evidence suggests that, amongst the Eucharistic Prayers in the Roman Catholic liturgy, the laity find the Second Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation the most attractive. This article attempts to address the question: what is there about this Prayer that is so appealing and why? The focal point is the first thing people hear in this Eucharistic Prayer, namely, the Preface. There seems to be something special, if not unique, about the Preface to EP RII.

This article will focus mainly on the Preface of EP RII in terms of its theme, tone, tempo and as a template. In preparing to …

Classified Timelines Of Vernacular Liturgy, Russell Hardiman

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Emmanuel Levinas (Seán Hand), Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

How can people ever respond to the horror of genocide? For those who have experienced it first hand and lived, the trauma is incalculable. There have been some who can openly respond in narrative. Readers may certainly be familiar with Elie Wiesel’s Night and Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, or even Zvi Kolitz’s poignant literary work, Yosl Rakover Talks to God. These are compelling stories that evidence how the Shoah bears an infinite amount of meaning. In contrast, the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas portrays a different kind of response to the Shoah as an attempt to draw …

Filial Relationship, Mercy And Limitation In Thérèse Of Lisieux: Towards A Thérèsian Theological Anthropology And Its Implications, Judith Schneider

Theses

Against the nineteenth century neo-scholastic description of grace as an unfelt state, Thérèse of Lisieux, in an emphasis on affect, offers an understanding of grace as a felt experience. In Story of a Soul, her effort (initially from a Jansenist motive) to demonstrate grace as present in her life, in its transparency reveals a self in formation, and a related developing God-perception. Noting the centrality of affect in human development through L. Alan Sroufe’s model of affective development, and applying D. W.Winnicott’s True Self/False Self paradigm to Thérèse’s thought, the research explores Thérèse’s eventual consonance with Pr 9:4 “Whoever …

An Investigation Into The Neural Substrates Of Virtue To Determine The Key Place Of Virtues In Human Moral Development, Andrew P.J Mullins

Theses

Virtues, as described by Aristotle and Aquinas, are understood as dispositions of character to behave in habitual, specific, positive ways; virtue is a critical requirement for human flourishing. From the perspective of Aristotelian-Thomistic anthropology which offers an integrated vision of the material and the rational in the human person, I seek to identify the neural bases for the development and exercise of moral virtue. First I review current neuroscientific knowledge of the capacity of the brain to structure according to experience, to facilitate behaviours, to regulate emotional responses and support goal election. Then, having identified characteristics of moral virtue in …

2nd Sunday Of Advent - 5 December 2021, Gerard Moore

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Integration Of Visual Art For Small Worshipping Communities, Angela M. Mccarthy

Theology Conference Papers

A difficulty for small worshipping communities is having the resources and personnel to provide suitable enervating opportunities for reflection on the Word during worship that enriches and enlivens their community action. Research has shown that interaction with visual imagery assists contemplation and integration of text and will therefore assist those gathered to consider the Scripture of the day.

Visual imagery in art has been neglected as a source of theology and hence the vocabulary needed to ‘read’ the artworks relevant to Scripture will have to be re-learnt. This paper will provide an understanding of how visual arts can augment Scriptural …

Book Review: Practical Theology: An Introduction By Richard R. Osmer And Studying Christian Spirituality By David Perrin, Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

The future of Christianity is a concern at the heart of being and faith. In the passivity of encountering people’s faces, dreams and hopes, we can be exposed to feelings of loneliness, failure, suffering, outrage and brokenness. And it is here, in the face of our neighbour, that we begin to appreciate the depth of the Church. The future of Christianity may remain secret, yet the extent to which we journey into another’s life, offer a welcome and benediction of peace, gives hope to envision a messianic era and a future world of ethics, prayer and love. And it is …

Book Review: A Brief History Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity In The Early Church (Franz Dunzl), Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Franz Dünzl has produced a concise and clear presentation of the Early Church’s struggle for truth. Today, the doctrine of the Trinity is subject to various hermeneutical explanations to make it accessible. Accordingly the struggle for truth and making sense of biblical revelation continues. Nonetheless, a historical gulf exists between the framing and implementation of Neo-Nicene orthodoxy and contemporary attempts for ecumenical conversation and consensus. Dünzl’s short book has succeeded well to bridge this gulf by providing both historical and theological excurses on the early church’s quest to find a rational and orthodox way to develop theology of the Trinity.

Book Review: Frederiek Depoortere, Christ In Postmodern Philosophy, T&T; Clarke, London, 2008., Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

The Leuven scholar Frederiek Depoortere has written a fascinating account of three contemporary postmodern thinkers, Gianni Vattimo, René Girard and Slavoj Žižek, and their attempts to do Christology. Depoortere writes in a very lucid fashion given the difficulty of his studies. The book critically reflects how these three unique philosophical approaches to Christology radically enforce a postmodern, even secular, outlook upon the Incarnation, Paschal Mystery and the Trinity. Immediately, the postmodern turn suggests a priority of cultural studies, politics, ideology, psychology and sociology over theology. For example rather than having a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Žižek seems …

Book Review: The God Who Is Triune: Revisioning The Christian Doctrine Of God (Allan Coppedge), Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

There are a multitude of approaches to Trinitarian Theology. In the Catholic theological tradition, the Bible is the soul of theology, and philosophy, spirituality and ecclesiology form essential foundations. In contrast, the evangelical tradition holds the Bible as both the soul and foundation of the theological imagination. Following in this latter tradition, Coppedge’s book on the Trinity provides a new and systematic approach to developing a biblical theology of the Trinity. The approach is new because of its systematic and comprehensive method of drawing out, integrating and developing Old Testament and New Testament data: images, indicators, analogies, attributes, aspects, differences, …

Children Of A Lesser God: Truth As Bodiliness And Forgiveness, Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

The article aims in two parts to develop a sense of truth as bodiliness and forgiveness. In bodiliness, we suffer by the suffering of the other and in forgiveness there arises an existential journey of sensibility and feelings. Together, bodiliness and forgiveness provide a relational horizon to journey towards truth. Part I of the article sets out to establish a theoretical background for Part II to engage theology with the study of the film, Children of a Lesser God (1986). Given that films today are popular mediums for encountering revelation and the sacred, the application of film to theology provides …

Integration Of Visual Art For Small Worshipping Communities, Angela Mccarthy

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

A difficulty for small worshipping communities is having the resources and personnel to provide suitable enervating opportunities for reflection on the Word during worship that enriches and enlivens their community action. Research has shown that interaction with visual imagery assists contemplation and integration of text and will therefore assist those gathered to consider the Scripture of the day.

Book Review: Into The Dark: Seeing The Sacred In The Top Films Of The 21st Century. By Craig Detweiler., Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

The art of interpretation demands good sense and sensibility before we can arrive at meaning. There are a multitude of choices and methods available. One popular option is to draw together theory and experience. Where we come to the world of theology and ‘top films of the 21^st Century,’ the synthesis of thematisation of ideas and representations of experience is a predictable choice. Following this synthetic approach yet developing it as something that can be recycled anew, the theologian and Hollywood script writer, Craig Detweiler, has produced engaging and often exciting reflections upon many top IMDb ranked films of …

The Role Of The Virtues In Christian Discipleship In James Keenan Sj And William Spohn: A Comparative Investigation, Nicola Jane Borg

Theses

As Christians, the basis for our moral development and consequent actions is rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ. To the extent that we respond to the love of God, open ourselves to ongoing conversion, allow of our consciences to be formed by His truth, recognise and repent of sin in our lives and strive to develop the virtues is the extent to which we will grow as disciples of Jesus. Both James Keenan and William Spohn have used virtues ethics to investigate various aspects of this call and our moral response. Keenan’s principal concern seems to be the nature …

Exploring The Development Of Student Leadership Potential Within A Catholic School: A Qualitative Case Study, Gregory Hine

Theses

The focus of this research was student leadership and student leadership development in a Catholic secondary school. Central to the thesis were the leadership experiences and self-perceptions of elected students aged 15-17 years as they participated in the school’s leadership program. These insights helped the researcher characterise the functioning Program of student leadership at the school, and to discern what kinds of leaders are produced through its efforts.

The review of literature considered five established leadership models: transactional leadership, transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, servant leadership, and distributed leadership. These models were analysed with regards to their strengths, limitations, and potential …

The Preferential Option For The Poor - Liberation Theology, A Call To Action, Megan Levy

Theology Conference Papers

Liberation Theology is a school of action which stems humanity of Christ which makes Him one with us, in suffering, in injustice, in loneliness, in poverty, and precisely because of them He understands and loves us deeply, keeping us company through the deserts of our lives. Although Stephen Pattison declares that the only way God can appear to a starving man is in “a loaf of bread, not in prayers or words of comfort.” He seems to speak from a very “first world – materialistic” view, away from Third World realities. It is then that a developed country pastoral theology …

Australia's Other Anzac Day: April 25 On The Western Front, Russell Hardiman, Peta Wellstead

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

this paper is a response to my opportunity to take part in a pilgrimage to the World War I Western Front Battle sites, and graves, as part of a Military History Tour fro Anzac Day 2009. I took part in this tour in order to fulfil a long term ambition to visit, as others in my family have done, the grave of my grandfather's nephew, Frank O'Callaghan, who is buried in Poperinghe, near Ypres in Belgium.

I am also embarking on the publication of Frank's brother Jack's war diary from 1916. Jack was an Ambulance Driver and his reflections on …

The Season Of Advent: A Timeline Of Its Historical Development, Russell Hardiman

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Beyond the pragmatic benefit of background briefing about the origins and development of the season of Advent, this Timeline is meant to be a pastoral tool to help focus on the deepest meaning of Advent being a unique time for reflection on the many 'comings' of Christ in the past, in the present and in the future.

Recovering The Paschal Mystery: Rediscovery In The Year Of The Priest?, Russell Hardiman

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Any study of the place of the Paschal Mystery in the life of the Church cannot go forward without an explanation of how the preeminence of the Paschal Mystery has been recovered in recent decades on the rediscovery of more ancient texts and re-expressed in the contemporary liturgical books.

Journeying Towards The Heart In The Spirit Of St. Augustine, Glenn J. Morrison

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Theology often takes the form of analysis, proofs and thematisations. St. Augustine’s Confessions remind us that this need not always be so. It teaches us that reflections on our feelings and life are sacred ways to communicate to God. It is strange that theologians at times seem to avoid the personal world of sharing in favour of ontological proofs and judgments. We seem to be too interested in theory rather than the spiritual and biblical journey towards faith, hope and love. In this article I want to try to make theology more accessible, and therefore speak find resonance in the …