This thesis attempts to answer the question of how a framework for a contemporary Australian male spirituality might be formulated. It provides a theoretical base for constructing a spirituality for Australian men that would prove more relevant than the religious patriarchal framework that many men have traditionally experienced. The study makes use of the potentially positive impact on men's spirituality, and that of Australian men in particular, of three of the most significant revolutions affecting contemporary society - the feminist, environmental and embodiment movements. A critical examination is first made of the many strands of the contemporary Men's Movement and the spiritualities associated with them to gain an overall view of the state of men's spirituality today. From this overview, a new philosophical and religious stance is developed, spiritual virism. This may be defined as a sacred worldview by and for men, which, informed by feminist spiritual principles and perspectives, results in a range of redefined personal and collective spiritualities for men in relation to the Sacred. As a result, men are challenged to work actively for the deconstruction of religious patriarchy with a view to the liberation of both men and women. Spiritual virism, in turn, defines the methodology employed throughout the thesis. It is a critical analytical methodology drawn from the disciplines of academic spirituality and feminist theory. It entails the deconstruction of life-denying forms of patriarchal religious attitudes and the construction of more life-giving forms of spirituality. As experience is central in both spiritual and feminist research, personal texts, involving my own spiritual experience expressed in my paintings and in autobiographical commentaries on them, are the prime starting points in this analysis. Discursive discourse, involving more abstract methodology, follows. The deconstruction of the traditional patriarchal understanding of the Sacred in Western Christianity is undertaken first. The construction of more life-giving images of the Sacred, drawn from parallel paradigms in feminist thealogy and earth-based religion, follows. The results are that men may find a positive re-imaging of the Sacred in non-gendered forms such as the Source or the Great Cycle of Life, or in gendered forms such as the god, radically reinterpreted, and especially in the feminine Sacred, the Goddess. Evolving contemporary perceptions of the place of the environment in spirituality, such as ecofeminism, deep ecology, the new science and ecotheology, are employed to help construct more positive spiritual practices for men with respect to nature, the earth and the cosmos. This follows a deconstruction of traditional patriarchal understandings of them within society and Western Christianity. Insights such as the Sacred embodied in the unfolding cosmos, in the living earth and in the web of all life, lead men to a more contemplative, less exploitative attitude to the world around them. Thirdly, having deconstructed the traditional patriarchal attitude of Western Christianity to the male body, the positive impact of contemporary embodiment theory and practice on a spirituality for men is sought. Implications are drawn from feminist understandings of the sacrality of the female body, from Christian embodiment theology and from the practices of body-honouring religions. A more body/earth-centred spirituality, which is non-dualistic and respects the sacredness of the body and sexuality, emerges. A unified spiritual framework draws together and integrates the positive insights of each of these studies. In seeking the application of this generic male spirituality to the Australian context, this framework is brought into dialogue with contemporary approaches to Australian spirituality. The result is a way of formulating an Australian men's spirituality from the perspective of An Australian Man in Search of an Embodied Spirituality, the title of my thesis. This spirituality is rooted in the land of Australia, where the body of the Australian man is seen as sacred and embodied within the sacred body of the Australian land. A sacred Australian mythos is explored to personalise this embodiment. This images the masculine Sacred, the god, as embodied within the man, who both move within the all-encompassing female Sacred, the Goddess, embodied within the land of Australia.

[pt] A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar a espiritualidade, ou espiritualidades, ofertadas dentro do protestantismo brasileiro. Haja vista o crescimento quantitativo significativo deste segmento do campo religioso brasileiro nas últimas décadas, buscou-se observar se tal crescimento vem sendo acompanhado de melhorias nas estruturas sociais do país. Ao se indagar sobre a capacidade da mensagem das igrejas protestantes de promover transformação social, foi apresentada uma proposta de espiritualidade imanente, a partir da análise de conteúdo bibliográfico sobre o assunto, como contribuição ao cenário atual do protestantismo. Nesta pesquisa analítica, para que se pudesse desenvolver o tema, partiu-se da definição da utilização de protestantismo, a partir de tipologias, e se seguiu com a análise do movimento, de maneira geral, desde suas diferentes origens e seus distintos desdobramentos atuais. Assim, chegou-se ao entendimento de que as espiritualidades vigentes no protestantismo propõem a valorização da vida eterna, mas em oposição a vida terrena. Entretanto, em sentido oposto, foi apresentada a espiritualidade encarnada. Destacou-se, então, a polissemia do termo espiritualidade, mas também seu potencial de se comunicar com o tempo hodierno. Percebe-se que ao propor a espiritualidade de seguimento de Jesus Cristo, aqui encarnada, dualismos precisam deixar de existir, o significado de missão deve ser alargado, o eclesiocentrismo descontinuado e a interpretação e mensagens bíblicas devem ser atualizadas. Cada um desses temas foi tratado e observado a sua situação em realidade brasileira. Como consequência, chega-se à proposta contributiva da pesquisa, onde a realidade protestante brasileira é colocada diante da espiritualidade encarnada, e os frutos desse encontro são igualmente apresentados, fragilidades são expostas e caminhos são propostos. / [en] This research seeks to analyze the spirituality, or spiritualities, which are offered within Brazilian Protestantism. Given the significant quantitative growth of this segment of the Brazilian religious field in recent decades, we sought to observe whether such growth has been accompanied by improvements in the country s social structures. When questioning the capacity of the message of Protestant churches to promote social transformation, a proposal of immanent spirituality was presented, based on the analysis of bibliographic content on the subject, as a contribution to the current scenario of Protestantism. In this analytical research, to develop the theme, we started from the definition of the use of Protestantism, based on typologies, and followed with the analysis of the movement, in general, from its different origins and its distinct current developments. Thus, it understood that the spiritualities in force in Protestantism propose the valorization of eternal life, but in opposition to earthly life. However, in the opposite sense, embodied spirituality is presented. Thus, the polysemy of the term was highlighted, but also its potential to communicate with today s time. We understand by proposing the spirituality of following Jesus Christ, embodied here, dualisms need to cease to exist, the meaning of mission must be broadened, ecclesiocentrism discontinued and biblical interpretation and messages must be updated. And each one of the themes was treated and observed its situation in the Brazilian reality. As a result, we arrive at the contribution of the research proposal, where the Brazilian Protestant reality is placed in front of embodied spirituality, the fruits of this meeting are equally presented, weaknesses are exposed, and paths are proposed.

This thesis contends that the image of fire is a multivalent and theologically valuable image for application in British Christian communities. My research offers an original contribution by contextualising the image of fire for Christian practice in Britain, and combining critical observation of several contemporary fire rites with theological analysis. In addition, I conduct original case studies of three Scottish fire rituals: the Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony, the Beltane Fire Festival, and Up-Helly-Aa in Lerwick, Shetland. The potential contribution of fire imagery to Christian practice has been overlooked by modern theological scholarship, social anthropologists, and Christian practitioners. Since the multivalence of the image has not been fully recognised, fire imagery has often been reduced to a binary of ‘positive' and ‘negative' associations. Through my study of non-faith fire rituals and existing Christian fire practices, I explore the interplay between multivalence, multiplicity, and liminality in fire imagery. I demonstrate that deeper theological engagement with the image of fire can enhance participation, transformation, and reflection in transitional ritual experience. I argue that engaging with the multivalence of the image of fire could allow faith communities to move beyond dominant interpretive frameworks and apply the image within their own specific context. First, I orientate the discussion by examining the multivalence of biblical fire imagery and establishing the character of fire within the British social imagination. Second, I use critical observation of community fire practices in non-faith contexts to build a new contextual framework for the analysis of fire imagery. Finally, I apply my findings to a contextual analysis of existing Christian fire practices in Britain. Throughout, I argue that sensory and imaginative interaction with the image of fire provides a way to communicate and interact with theological ideas; experience personal and communal change; and mediate experience of the sacred.