Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Reclaiming Healing Spaces: A Phenomenological Study On The Transformative Power Of Outdoor Therapy From The Lived Experiences Of Black Clinicians Working With Black Clients, Lynn Murphy

Dissertations

This phenomenological study involved assessing the experiences of Black therapists who engaged Black clients in outdoor therapeutic contexts. The study was founded on the existing literature that shows the quality of the therapeutic relationship is pivotal for client retention and the Western standards that have historically favored treatment within indoor environments. To contextualize this research, a comprehensive literature review was commenced, covering topics such as the decolonization of therapy, the historical and present-day relationship between Blacks and the outdoors in the United States, sedentary lifestyles, the psychological benefits of time spent in nature, various types of outdoor therapy, and the …

Healing Earth In A Time Of Crisis: Curriculum For Integral Ecology, Caleb Steindam

Dissertations

This intrinsic multiple case study examined secondary- and university-level educators’ experiences teaching with Healing Earth, a curriculum developed by the International Jesuit Ecology Project at Loyola University Chicago, which merges scientific, social, spiritual, and ethical analyses of pressing ecological issues. Based on the conceptual framework of integral ecology, Healing Earth is a response to Pope Francis’s (2015a) call for “a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature” (§215).

This study primarily consisted of in-depth interviews with educators who have used Healing Earth in a variety of secondary and post-secondary Catholic educational contexts. A …

Hemingway, Sartre, And Secularization: Finding Religion Without God, Marcos Antonio Norris

Dissertations

This dissertation intervenes in the critical debate over Ernest Hemingway’s religious orientation. One camp of Hemingway scholars argues that he was a practicing Catholic, while the other camp argues that Hemingway was an existential atheist. Rather than side with either camp in this binary debate, my research offers a third option that bridges the gap between these opposing positions. Examining Hemingway’s life and works through the eyes of contemporary political philosopher Giorgio Agamben, I argue that Hemingway is, properly speaking, neither a secularist nor a theist, but a secularized theist, whose “religion” takes the form of masculine volition, or sovereign, …

Secularism, The Oxford Movement, And Religious Aesthetics In John Keble, Christina Rossetti, Adelaide Anne Procter, And Gerard Manley Hopkins, Mary Harmon

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between secularism and the development of Oxford Movement poetry. The members of the movement sought to restore pre-Reformation religious practices in the Anglican Church while maintaining its distinctiveness from the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, which led to the development of unique liturgy, architecture, hymns, and poetry, among other art forms. I argue that secularism simultaneously made the movement more possible while also making it more unstable. Secularism gave the theologians and poets of the movement enough freedom to borrow from older Christian traditions, yet the movement failed to revive the Anglican Church (several members …

Environmental Literacy Of Seventh-Day Adventist Teachers In The Parochial Schools Of The Florida Conference Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Michael Murdoch

Dissertations

Problem. In the United States, there is an environmental literacy problem. Americans possess limited knowledge about the environment and environmental issues, and they display limited positive action regarding the environment in which they live. Moreover, there is a debate whether a Christian’s interpretation of Gen 1:28 leads either to a lower or to a higher environmental literacy. Does the Seventh-day Adventist teaching community reflect these problems? These are the problems which this dissertation seeks to help solve.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to attempt to assess the environmental literacy of a group of teachers in Seventh-day …