archives@tulane.edu / For the Mexica (Aztec) Empire, religious life was not centered on sacrifice. This practice was part of a complex world vision shared with other -earlier and contemporary- Mesoamerican cultures. At the arrival of the Spaniards, sacrifice caught the attention of chroniclers, whose narratives were used to legitimize the conquest of the natives. During the excavations of the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan human and animal remains with evidence of sacrifice have been recovered. In this dissertation I propose that sacrifice must be understood as an offering of life performed in a ritual setting that implies the destruction of humans, animals, plants, and sometimes objects. For this reason, I analyze the bones of both humans and animals recovered in the West Plaza, at the foot of the Great Temple. My goal is to answer how the Mexica performed sacrifice, treated the bodies and with which purposes, through direct bone analysis and the reconstruction of ritual sequences (chaîne opératoire). Sometimes their bones were reused, changing their original meaning. In addition, fragments resulting from skulls modifications were utilized in consecration and termination rituals. I also analyze the biological profiles of the victims, characterized by their diversity. In the case of humans, these correspond to men, women and children, while the faunal remains belong only to exotic animals. Along with the bioarchaeological perspective, I analyze historical sources, as well as theories on the function of sacrifice among the Mexica. / 1 / Ximena M Chavez Balderas

Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / Thesis advisor: Daniel J. Daly / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

How Jesus understood his death is an important datum for the reconstruction of· the aims of Jesus. Having experienced the rejection of his message of the Kingdom of God, Jesus found himself in a situation of crisis, wherein he was forced to reflect on the theological significance of his failure. He came to the conclusion that it was God's will that his death be an expiation for sin. This is how he incorporated his death into his understanding of his role as the messenger of the Kingdom of God. If the historian does not take Jesus' understanding of his death into consideration, his reconstruction of the aims of Jesus will necessarily be truncated. In particular, Jesus came to understand his approaching death in the light of Jewish paschal theology. He viewed the sacrifice of the Passover lambs in Egypt as typological of his own death. In like manner, his death would be a redemptive event, being both an expiation for sin and the means by which the new covenant, foretold by Jeremiah, would be realized. Appropriately enough, he expressed this to his disciples at his last Passover meal. Jesus' understanding of the significance of his death parallels the Jewish tradition of the Binding of Isaac. In post-biblical Judaism, Isaac's sacrifice or at least his willingness to be sacrificed was interpreted as expiatory and as the ground of the efficacy of the original Passover offerings. Similarly, Jesus saw his own death as expiatory and the typological fulfilment of the original Passover offerings. The words of institution, moreover, represent the establishment by Jesus of a new liturgical practice in continuity with the Passover, reflecting his self-understanding of being the eschatological messenger of God. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis advisor: John F. Baldovin / Thesis advisor: Catherine M. Mooney / An incorporation of a notion of "destruction" into our understanding and theologies of the Eucharist can help us to appreciate more robustly not only late medieval and early modern discussions of Eucharistic sacrifice, but also our late and post-modern experiences of God's absence. This thesis recovers theories of the Eucharist that propose an inherent aspect of destruction as part of the Sacrament. Such theories emerged in the writings of Robert Bellarmine, Juan de Lugo, Francisco Suárez, and others and continued to be influential on Eucharistic thought through the time of Pius XII. I trace these theories and their reception from the sixteenth century to a revival of them in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly in the works of Maurice de la Taille (1872-1933) and Anscar Vonier (1875-1938) as well as in Pius XII's Mediator Dei (1947). I then consider them and their implications for contemporary discussions of Eucharist, notably by Louis-Marie Chauvet and followers of René Girard. A recovery of a notion of destruction might help contemporary Christians to reach both a greater understanding of the Eucharistic presence as well as a greater appreciation of God's apparent or perceived absence. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of London, 1929. / Series title also at head of t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-133).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of London, 1929. / Series title also at head of t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity International University, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-133).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity International University, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-133).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, The Divinity School, August 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.