La presente investigación buscará fundamentar, a partir de un análisis del Menón, la importancia que habrían tenido los elementos religiosos y mitológicos en la concepción que Platón, autor del mencionado diálogo, habría tenido de la filosofía. Para ello, se procederá a presentar brevemente los problemas envueltos en la ubicación del Menón dentro del corpus del filósofo en cuestión. Tras concluir que este, desde distintos ángulos, puede ser considerado como un diálogo de transición, procederemos a echar mano precisamente de esta particularidad para sostener que en él pueden verse reflejados ángulos que van más allá de lo que contemporáneamente denominaríamos “racional”. De esta forma, mostraremos que, aun cuando los aspectos vinculados con la religiosidad y los mitos puedan recibir un sustento lógico a partir de lo expuesto en otros textos platónicos, aquellos no pueden reducirse a este ni ser excluidos sin correr el riesgo de romper el marco filosófico a través del cual Platón habría entendido la actividad filosófica misma.

La presente investigación, aborda el tema de la peregrinación a los principales centros oraculares o santuarios que, en tiempos de los incas, ostentaron un gran protagonismo y una agencia política tal, que les permitieron convertirse en los grandes agentes de información, comunicación y, sobre todo, de negociación. Analizar las funciones de carácter político –ligado a la ideología estatal del imperio incaico–, económico –en lo referente a la gran disposición de recursos materiales y humanos–, social –concerniente al estatus social y la jerarquía de los peregrinantes– y religioso –subyugado a la ritualidad y sacralidad– que se operaron al interior de dichas peregrinaciones, así como su articulación y sistematización, nos ha permitido comprender y entender la esencia de la política religiosa del mundo andino antiguo. Para ello, nos hemos esmerado en presentar el estudio de tres casos emblemáticos a saber: los templos del Sol y de la Luna ubicados en el lago Titicaca, el santuario o centro oracular-ceremonial de Pachacamac y el oráculo de Catequil en la zona de Huamachuco. / This research deals with the topic of pilgrimage to the main oracles or sanctuaries, which, during times of the Inca, had a great role and such a political agency that allowed them to become the great information, communication and, above all, negotiation agents. To analyze the different functions, such as political –linked to the state ideology of the Inca empire–, economic –in relation to the great provision of material and human resources–, social –concerning the social status and the hierarchy of the pilgrims-, and religious ones– subjugated to rituality and sacredness–, that were working within these pilgrimages, as well as their articulation and systematization, have allowed us to understand the essence of the religious politics of the Andean world. To this end, three emblematic cases have been presented: the temples of the Sun and the Moon located in Lake Titicaca, the sanctuary or oracular-ceremonial center of Pachacamac, and the oracle of Catequil in the Huamachuco area.

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med ökad kunskap om hur levd religion förmedlas i två läromedel för samhällsorienterande ämnen för årskurserna 1-3 och två läromedel för religionskunskapsämnet för 4-6. För att analysera hur levd religion framställs i text och bild i läromedlen har en kvantitativ innehållsanalys genomförts. Läromedlens innehåll undersöktes utifrån ett kodningsschema med utgångspunkt i Daniel Enstedts och Katarina Planks (2018) beskrivning av de sju dimensioner som synliggör perspektivet levd religion genom den religiösa individens vardag. Två av Robert Jacksons (2016) tre nivåer, Gruppnivå och Individnivå, används i analysen för att urskilja från vilken nivå information förmedlas. Analysen skildrar att levd religion presenteras utifrån individ och gruppnivån, vilket skiljer sig mot tidigare forskningsresultat. Textanalysen visar på snarlika resultat i de fyra läromedlen, medan bildanalysen förmedlade en större variation i vilken utsträckning levd religion gestaltas. Slutsatsen som dras utifrån studien är att läromedel inkluderar perspektivet levd religion, något som stämmer överens med läroplanen och motsvarar önskemål från elever som framkommit i tidigare studier.

I denna undersökning analyseras tre ämnesläroböcker i religionskunskap. Syftet är att belysa hur relationen mellan religion och natur representeras samt hur innehållet i läroböckerna relaterar till det centrala innehållet för kursen religionskunskap 1. Undersökningens teori utgörs av diskursanalys och metoden är kvalitativ för att i möjligaste mån tydliggöra vad och hur ämnesområdet representeras i de utvalda böckerna. Undersökningen visar att ämnet ej framskrivs varken tydligt eller koncentrerat i de tre läroböckerna, däremot är de religiösa referenserna till naturen påtagliga och återkommande. Resultatet går emot den tidigare forskning som menar att grön religion har tagit den plats som de traditionella religionerna tidigare erhållit. Däremot följer resultatet den forskning som menar att grön religion tagit plats i det utrymme som skapats av sekulariseringen och individualismen.

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This study aims to examin how the production of knowledge is intrinsic to the production of power in the New Materialist Process theology of Catherine Keller. The object of critical examination is the theology of Keller and her essay; ”Tingles of Matter, Tangles of Theology: Bodies of the New(ish) Materialism,” from her book Intercarnations: Exercises in Theological Posibility (2017). Keller’s essay will be analyzed through Linda Alcoffs, Alison Baileys and Sara Ahmeds epistemological critical theory of how power produces knowledge and vice versa.  Keller’s theology will be examined based on the study points of analysis on texts of Alcoff, Bailey and Ahmed: subjectivity, making of knowledge, epistemology, making of ignorance, power and authenticity/purity. The study shows that Keller’s notion of apophatic matter has the effect of producing knowledge practices about the object. When the object is obscured from the subject in Keller’s theology, a theological analysis of power and the subject’s position in producing knowledge through theology, is prohibited. By analyzing Keller's notion of entanglement through Ahmed’s thinking, it is shown that the subject is presupposed as free, white and independent. Entanglement among human beings exists as bodily physicality for Keller. Social and economic factors are, thus, made irrelevant for the existence of knowledge and relations between humans. Life situations that are, for example, violent or in position of dependence are incompatible with the reality constituted in entanglement. The subject’s knowledge as socially situated and possibly part of structural power, is also made irrelevant in entanglement-thinking. Thus, the study shows that through the reading of Alcoff, Bailey and Ahmed, theology has the ability to constitute knowledge making practices, that forms the subject’s production of knowledge and ignorance.

My dissertation investigates how relativity impacts human personhood and freedom in theology. Assumptions about human subjectivity have always affected philosophical and religious discourse about time. Most Abrahamic religious traditions assume what James McTaggart has called an A-theory of time, in which time flows, and the differences among past, present and future are meaningful, in accordance with our subjective impressions. The A-theory complements an assumption that human beings can choose their actions. However, philosophers like Hilary Putnam have employed relativistic physics to contend that time does not flow, and that the future is as fixed as the past—a B-theory in McTaggart’s terminology. D. H. Mellor and others, explicitly assuming an opposition between scientific objectivity and all subjectivity, including the subjective sense of self, have built on B-theoretic arguments to claim human consciousness is illusory. Given Abrahamic religions’ emphasis on the importance of selves, this interpretation rules out any dialogue between science and religion. If Abrahamic theology is to be compatible with modern physics, we must reconcile relativity with the A-theory of time. Two potential models already exist. William Lane Craig and J. R. Lucas draw upon physicist Hendrik Lorentz to posit a universal reference frame, based on the experience of a God who lives in time much as human beings do. Robert John Russell fuses a traditional interpretation of special relativity with Boethius’s metaphysics to propose a pluricentric view of time in which God is present in every observer’s reference frame, making each relativistic construction of events true on its own terms, and eliminating the need to reconcile frames that disagree. I argue that Russell’s model is preferable: neo-Lorentzian relativity is vulnerable to scientific critique, and Craig’s view of God risks falling into occasionalism. Finally, Russell’s system not only establishes the kind of open future that is a prerequisite for free will, but in fact dovetails with personalist ontology and epistemology that place subjectivity at the heart of existence without sacrificing the importance of science. Far from being mutually exclusive, science and subjectivity need one another, and time’s flow is an excellent place for their collaboration to start.

Communicating the Gospel and Culture to the younger Vietnamese American generations comes with many challenges. There seem to be many Vietnamese parents living in the United States who are concerned with their children losing their distinctive family cultural characteristics while living in another culture. The younger generation themselves find it hard to adapt to the American and Vietnamese cultures where they are living here. How can these young generations adapt to their new culture and not lose some of their distinctive family cultural and Christian religious roots to balance their lives? How can we help to communicate the Gospel and the culture to the young generation of Vietnamese Americans who need to discern what can support and enrich their lives in living in both cultures, Vietnamese and America? This thesis holds that it is important to maintain the Vietnamese culture which defines their identity and expresses who they are but also make use of the divine opportunity to learn the values and the beauty of the American culture. Cultural adaptation helps balance the values of both cultures and enrich knowledge about living within a diverse world. The thesis further proposes that using Vietnamese Christianity as their asset, young Vietnamese Americans are capable of this cultural adaptation. The Church have to put a gospel presentation strategy in place, follow a seven step pastoral strategy plan, and establish less costly centers which will be devoted to training Vietnamese men and women as spiritual directors and religious educators to aid the priests in ministering to the young generation. Parents need to understand the dual cultures of these young people and accompany the young generation mindful of their duality and the centrality of the gospel values. The younger generation of Vietnamese Americans have to open themselves not only to the two cultures but above all to the Gospel message of Christ. Their openness to divine guidance and endowments, in addition to the worthy human direction and church guidance coupled with good structures and programs will produce fruitful integration.

This thesis looks into a current trend within the Christian community online, namely Christian YouTube channels. The thesis revolves around the channel Coffee and Bible Time, a channel run by three women, and asks two main researh questions: 1. Which theological arguments or values are expressed in Coffee and Bible Time regarding God, the Bible, and view of women, and how does the channel argue for these? and 2. What criticism can be aimed at the channel from a queer-feminist theological perspective? The theory and perspective used to research these questions is a queer-feminist theology, mainly inspired by theologians Linn Marie Tonstad and Susannah Cornwall. For this thesis, an analysis of ideas is used as the method for discovering the channel's views. Regarding the result, in sum, the channel has a high regard of the Bible as the highest authority in life, which impacts their view of God and of women. God is also the one with power in relation to human beings, while humans are viewed as sinful and weak. Women are usually talked about in relation to men, in future marital relationships.  Coffee and Bible Time is an interesting example of women who have authority online, and who are theologically serious. Their theological background is Evangelical Christianity, which usually has a conservative view regarding same-sex relationships. The queer-feminist theological critique looks at the channel's upholding of gender binaries, how the women talk (or do not talk) about same-sex relationships, alternative interpretations of the Bible, and the (sometimes harmful) power of sexuality.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Prevot / This dissertation seeks to contribute to the discipline of theological anthropology by engaging the histories, writings, and aesthetic contributions of women within the African diaspora. In particular, the dissertation crafts an approach to analyzing the concept of the imago dei in relation to the experiences of flesh, bones, land, and sea that have shaped Black women’s poetics, theory, and praxis in the Caribbean, Canada, and the United States. Womanist approaches to theology often center Black women’s lived experiences and literature as resources for religious inquiry. Decolonial scholarship tends to critique the remnants of colonialism in the present, imagining futures beyond hegemonic categories. As a methodological contribution, this dissertation combines insights from womanist theology and decolonial thought, identifying M. Shawn Copeland and Sylvia Wynter as major interlocutors with each respective discipline. This dissertation questions what it might mean for humanity to image God, especially after the dual crises of colonialism and slavery. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.