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Full-Text Articles in Religion
The “A” Is For Archetype: Gilgamesh As The Source For Captain America, Matthew Heider
The “A” Is For Archetype: Gilgamesh As The Source For Captain America, Matthew Heider
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
I investigate the archetypal roots of the modern American superhero who has been so popular of late in film, and find that they are located in Ancient culture, specifically in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In that context, the hero is an individual who must grapple with “an exploration of the inevitable conflict between, on the one hand, the forces represented by the absolute commitment of the powerful and heroic male to energy and battle and…the forces that represent some newly emerging situations and value systems" (Abusch). By employing that frame, I find there are narrative similarities between Captain America and …
The Ninhursag Lament, A Literary Precedent For The Stabat Mater, Clara Brandt
The Ninhursag Lament, A Literary Precedent For The Stabat Mater, Clara Brandt
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
The Stabat Mater Dolorosa of the Christian tradition bears a striking resemblance to the weeping goddess poems of Sumer, and in particular the Ninhursag Lament. The history behind both poems is briefly outlined, and then comparisons are drawn between the two poems' structure, imagery, movements, and use of other literary devices. Using these comparisons and evidence from the Bible, it is proposed that the Ninhursag Lament is a literary precedent for the Stabat Mater Dolorosa.
Religious Individualization, American Catholicism, And Vatican Ii: Issues Of Influence And Interpretation, Laura Ehlen
Religious Individualization, American Catholicism, And Vatican Ii: Issues Of Influence And Interpretation, Laura Ehlen
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
It cannot be denied that, throughout the history of the Christian tradition, religious doctrine has changed over time, yet a debate exists over the degree to which these changes are the effects of historically specific socio-cultural forces, and the degree to which they are the effects of solely theological forces, such as divine revelation or ecumenical councils. While many Christian thinkers want to consider doctrine as existing in isolation from history and culture and thus only altered by divine revelation, Christian history reveals a number of incidents, from the reign of Constantine to the Reformation to the Enlightenment, where culture …
Mary Grace And The Warthog From Hell: Violent Redemption In Flannery O’Connor’S “Revelation”, Halina Hopkins
Mary Grace And The Warthog From Hell: Violent Redemption In Flannery O’Connor’S “Revelation”, Halina Hopkins
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
Scholarship on the works of Flannery O’Connor is divided concerning her depiction of divine grace as a violent force. Some scholars worry that her insistence on the violence of grace makes God a violent God or excuses the pain and brokenness of the world. Despite the arguments of those who oppose O’Connor’s view of violent grace, this paper will argue that O’Connor is right to depict violence in her short stories because, although it might be counterintuitive to think of divine grace wounding before it heals, being torn from an old life of sin is painful. While not excusing violence …
Prayers From Underground: The Psalmic Voice In Dostoevsky’S Notes From Underground, Jacob Just
Prayers From Underground: The Psalmic Voice In Dostoevsky’S Notes From Underground, Jacob Just
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
Criticism concerning Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground has primarily focused on the social and historical context in which the novel was situated. Scholars have traditionally resisted a religious reading and therefore have usually found their grounding in the political, psychological, and philosophical systems of thought in mid-19th century Russian society. Though many of these readings of Dostoevsky's short novel are valid, they have missed the deeply theological concerns of Notes from Underground, and have focused, if at all theologically, on the possibilities of the novel as a forerunner of 20th century existentialism. However, my research demonstrates that Notes from …
Idealism Realized: A Closer Examination Of Leo Tolstoy’S Influence On Jane Addams’ Theory Of Social Reform, Laurie Kenyon
Idealism Realized: A Closer Examination Of Leo Tolstoy’S Influence On Jane Addams’ Theory Of Social Reform, Laurie Kenyon
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
Widely regarded as a champion for social reform, Jane Addams has deeply influenced the progression of American social policy since Chicago’s Hull House opened in 1889. Throughout her life, Addams struggled with how the privileged should interact with and aid those less fortunate. This struggle was fully realized as Addams compared her own response to that of Russian author and activist, Leo Tolstoy. Addams was deeply affected by Tolstoy’s conviction that only those who literally live with the impoverished can claim to have served them. In the time Addams spent at his farm in Russia, she came into disagreement with …
The Grace-Filled Form: The Repentant Transformation Of Character, Reader, And Text In Dante’S Inferno, Jeremy Reed
The Grace-Filled Form: The Repentant Transformation Of Character, Reader, And Text In Dante’S Inferno, Jeremy Reed
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
Dante scholarship has provided many different glimpses into the relationship of form and content in the Inferno. However, few have addressed the theological, and in fact sacramental, understanding of this relationship in any great detail. Like many previous treatments, my analysis depends on Thomistic understandings of grace and nature, but unlike those prior studies it uses Thomistic theology to discuss the process of writing and reading poetry in the Commedia. Dante presents the reality of grace throughout his narrative; he documents its effects on himself as the protagonist and narrator of his own poem. However, Dante does something …
Net Neutrality: Fight For The Survival Of The Free Internet, Andrew Jarratt
Net Neutrality: Fight For The Survival Of The Free Internet, Andrew Jarratt
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
The Internet is often thought of as a tool that allows for the free flow of information. Today, as a vessel of free speech, the Internet threatens to become a vestige of its original self. Increasingly, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) claim the power to regulate content and arbitrarily increase the price for customers to access certain information and have the ability to make customers financially support content that they disagree with. In these ways, ISPs have gained increased control over the flow of Internet information, while the citizen of cyberspace has increasingly lost his freedom to control his choices online. …
Not Afraid Of Lacking: Toward An Asexual Theology, Wendy Mallette
Not Afraid Of Lacking: Toward An Asexual Theology, Wendy Mallette
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
This paper details an asexual theological response to two problems that queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid challenges: dyadic thinking and the systematic desexualization of bodies within theological discourses as these uphold the omnipotency of God the Father. Drawing from Althaus-Reid's discussion of critical bisexuality to address the first problem, this paper discusses how asexuality challenges the oneness logic of heterosexual dyads and demonstrates how asexuality can destabilize the sexual/asexual dichotomy. Using Luce Irigaray's understanding of dyads, this paper responds to Althaus-Reid's critique of the asexualization of poor women in liberation theology. It problematizes the desexualization of certain bodies – the bodies …
What Should Christians Take From The Native American Church Peyote Ceremony?, Brian Rajcok
What Should Christians Take From The Native American Church Peyote Ceremony?, Brian Rajcok
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
Native American religious tradition is a fascinating subject. Yet most Americans know very little about the spiritual practices of indigenous peoples. As a curious student of theology, I explored the modern Native American Church in my senior seminar research paper. I attended a peyote ceremony – a healing ritual using the hallucinogenic cactus peyote – and studied the history, theology, and practice of the Native American Church. Through my research and experience, I have seen similarities between my own Christian tradition and the Native American Church and contend that the sacramental use of peyote can be a powerful spiritual tool …
Examining Eschatologies Of Glory And The Eschatology Of The Cross In A Theology Of Hope And A Fire In My Belly, Wendy Mallette
Examining Eschatologies Of Glory And The Eschatology Of The Cross In A Theology Of Hope And A Fire In My Belly, Wendy Mallette
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
This paper utilizes the theological framework developed in Jūrgen Moltmann's A Theology of Hope to examine David Wojnarowicz's film, A Fire in My Belly. Moltmann's work criticizes eschatologies of glory that can be seen when the church emphasizes heavenly salvation at the expense of earthly life. Instead, Moltmann poses the eschatology of the cross that leads the believer to hope for God's transformation of the earth on which the cross stands and sends the believer back to struggle in the world. Using these theological categories, this paper examines Wojnarowicz's film. The footage from A Fire in My Belly contains …
The Message And The Situation: An Evaluation Of The Preaching Of Paul Tillich, Benjamin Taylor
The Message And The Situation: An Evaluation Of The Preaching Of Paul Tillich, Benjamin Taylor
Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)
In much of Western Christianity, there exists a problem of identity for the Christian individual. The individual considers him or herself a Christian, but feels a matter of disconnect between who he or she is on Saturday night and who he or she is on Sunday morning. The Christian struggles to live a life in both the sacred and the secular. The Christian struggles to establish an authentic identity, an identity that incorporates all of the human experience. How can this struggle be resolved? Paul Tillich had an answer. Tillich developed his method of correlation as a way of uniting …