This thesis examines the ways in which homosexual clergy transcend the hypocrisy identified by the study as inherent within the Church of England's approach to them. It explores ways in which the homosexual respondents employ strategies to negotiate cognitive dissonance caused by the Church's stigmatisation of their lifestyle. It concludes by exploring reasons, hitherto largely unidentified, that explain why homosexual clergy choose to remain within the homonegative Church, presenting the Transcendent Vocation as their overarching motivation. This term, coined by the thesis, represents a conviction of God's calling felt so strongly by the homosexual respondents that they were determined to remain within the institution regardless of its treatment of them. Since the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in 1967 and despite subsequent secular liberalisation,' the Church of England has continued to maintain its traditional homonegative teaching. Successive reports have' . expressed the Church's desire to listen to the experiences of homosexuals. Focussing on the lived experiences of twelve heterogeneous homosexual clergymen, this thesis makes an important contribution to the 'listening process' as it explores how attitudes to homosexuality· shown to have developed during the period 1967-2007 have affected them. It provides evidence that homosexual clergymen are victims of hypocrisy on the part of the Church of England, and identifies reasons why they choose to tolerate this situation." Through analysis of interview data, not only from homosexual clergy but also from ten retired heterosexual clergymen whose ministries spanned the forty-year period, the thesis examines how, as secular attitudes became progressively more liberal and legal reforms outlawed discrimination, the Church made increasing use of hypocrisy in its approach to homosexual clergy. It is shown how the Church hypocritically manages to continue to use the services of practising homosexual clergy while officially forbidding them to exist, and that remarkably such clergy accept this state of affairs because of their Transcendent Vocation.

This thesis reassesses the evidence for the English woman of spirit, Christina of Markyate, as a case-study for transitions in sanctity and spirituality during the twelfth century. It highlights the lack of appropriate vocabulary and models available in the 1130s and 1140s to make sense of the new manifestations of holiness that Christina embodies. By using three distinct but overlapping discourses to structure the study – social networks in religious life, sanctity and spirituality – it reflects on how the stakeholders in Christina’s texts negotiated their positions in relation to these discourses and throws light on a context of rapid discourse shift. The first section, ‘The Lady Christina: Texts and Contexts’, locates Christina, her texts, and her religious foundation at Markyate in their immediate and extended social networks. It shows that she had regional fame during her lifetime but that this was not sustained after her death. Her story is intimately tied up with the Abbey of St Albans, whose interest in their own domestic saints caused its revival in the later middle ages. Although charismatic in her own right, Christina was principally a successful institution builder and prioress, whose main concerns were domestic, rather than carving out a new kind of role for religious women in England. The second section, ‘Saint Christina: Sanctity and Learning’ addresses whether it is possible to consider Christina a saint, and what sanctity might involve when the traditional trappings of cult are missing. Christina fell between older and newer ideas about holiness, which resulted in the disrupted use of models to shape her story. Her saintly credentials were her virginity and visions, and in seeking to have these recorded Christina strategically performed and recast her external behaviour within recognisable modes of holiness. It is also possible to identify ways that Christina moved beyond existing constructions of identity and found a feminine voice in the performances of her ‘sartorial body’. The third section, ‘Ancilla Christi: Visions and Community’ looks in detail at Christina’s spirituality, using her visions to critique the separation of elite and popular modes of numinous encounter by taking her out of her primary social networks and identifying a comparative framework in contemporary trends in Western visionary culture. Visions flourish within particular domestic contexts and disciplines, and Christina enables us to glimpse a sub-culture of visionary experience in twelfth-century England, which rarely shows up in sources and is given little authority in the dominant narratives. The question of what ‘success’ might mean in these three discourses, forms a background theme to the investigation. It is used as a route into what was valued, what was normative, and what was recognisable, in the contemporary fields where Christina enjoyed networks and status, rather than as an objective measurement tool. A variety of sources and theoretical approaches are used to contextualise the fourteenth-century redactions of her vita in order to yield twelfth-century meanings. The main redaction, found in John of Tynemouth’s legendary of British saints, is a disrupted text full of hagiographic elements that can be opened up to multiple readings because of its historical situation and competing agendas. Overall this thesis concludes that Christina and many of the people with whom she came into contact recognised her visions as a mark of divine favour, and that in a climate where the primary category for receiving such distinction was sainthood, Christina was cast, not especially successfully, as a saint.

The parables of Jesus have been interpreted in many ways and by many different methods in the history of the Christian community. Biblical scholars have wrestled with their interpretations throughout the centuries, and in the last five centuries increasing numbers of lay persons have had more direct access to further biblical study. Even more recently, liberation movements throughout the world--and especially in Latin America--have engaged the "common people," (peasants and campesinos), many of whom are illiterate, in biblical study.

The bishops of the 11th-14th centuries were key figures both within the church hierarchy and within state organisation across Europe. In addition to being the primary religious authorities within their dioceses they were also local or national potentates in their own right, judges, feudal lords, warriors and advisers to kings and other rulers. And yet their nature and extent of their local power is often elusive. Moreover the nature of their power changed over time making their role and their authority extremely fluid. One can hardly study the history of the medieval church without understanding how their control was exercised in the diocese, and in the city. This thesis will assess the differences, the shift and the changes in the power of the bishop in the city and the diocese of Lincoln and Cremona from mid 11th century to mid 14th century. Understanding how their power and their role changed in time is important to understand the role of the church and medieval society as a whole. Lincoln, with the biggest medieval diocese in England and with its unique series of bishops such as Hugh of Wells, Hugh of Avalon, Robert Grosseteste and Oliver Sutton, represents a substantial example to study in order to understand why and how the power of the bishop changed. On the other hand Cremona, with its unique political role during the central medieval centuries and with bishops of the calibre of Oberto and Sicardo, epitomizes the struggle for power and authority the bishops had to face in a communal Italian city. The comparison between the bishop’s powers offers us similarities and the differences between the roles and functions of the prelates in the two cities, as indicated by the available evidence and by the questions asked by historians. This study allows me to suggest a broader and more satisfying picture. The thesis uses a series of sources ranging from the bishops’ records, registers, and Episcopal Acta, manuscript and parchment sources, the Latin chronicles of the period, as well as architectural evidence.

Les diagrammes de phases d'ordre supérieur à quatre ne peuvent pas être dessinés dans l'espace à deux dimensions d'une représentation, sans transformation numérique des coordonnées.Le mémoire présente une codification originale de la loi des phases conduisant à une classification biunivoque des domaines de variance et à une nouvelle méthode de représentation (dite "séquentielle") des diagrammes de phases isothermes et isobares. Le principe en est: à un point expérimental dans l'espace de N constituants correspondent ENTIER(N/2) points appelés "séquences" dans la représentation bidimensionnelle.Le cheminement par évaporation isotherme et isobare est également décrit en termes de réactions chimiques et de bilan de matière calculé avec la méthode des moindres carrés, non habituelle pour ce type de problème; et les règles de la géométrie appliquées à l'espace de tous les constituants.La méthode a été appliquée aux saumures marines considérées comme des systèmes thermodynamiques quaternaires.

L'industrie du déroulage est le débouché majeur de la ressource en peuplier constituée de cultivars toujours plus nombreux. Une évaluation de la qualité des bois de ces cultivars est nécessaire pour connaître leur aptitude tant à des emplois conventionnels (emballages légers, contreplaqués) qu'innovants (panneaux LVL - Laminated Veneer Lumber - pour la construction) afin d'orienter les populiculteurs dans leurs choix sylvicoles. Le présent travail participe à cette démarche et porte sur l'aptitude au déroulage de 10 cultivars de peuplier (5 confirmés et 5 en fort développement) issus de 4 types de stations forestières différentes, sur la qualité des placages et les caractéristiques mécaniques des panneaux contreplaqués et LVL. Trois arbres ayant été prélevés par cultivar et par type de station, l'échantillonnage est donc constitué de 120 arbres. Ainsi 40 billons ont été déroulés en conditions de laboratoire en 1.4 mm et 40 en 3 mm. Les 40 billons restants ont été déroulés en industrie pour estimer les rendements qualitatifs et quantitatifs. La qualité des placages a été évaluée en considérant le tuilage, les qualités de surface (rugosité et peluchage), les variations d'épaisseur, la fissuration. Ces placages ont permis de réaliser 320 panneaux contreplaqués et LVL avec 2 types de colles : une PVAC et une MUF. Chaque panneau a été caractérisé par des essais non destructifs et destructifs en flexion et en cisaillement. Il apparait que la qualité du placage ne dépend que de l'épaisseur du déroulage et de la position radiale dans l'arbre. Les performances mécaniques des panneaux sont essentiellement influencées par l'épaisseur du placage et le type de colle. La variabilité inter-cultivar et inter-station reste à tout niveau très faible : il ne convient donc pas d'adapter les conditions de coupe aux différents cultivars mais une réflexion doit être menée sur l'intérêt qu'il pourrait y avoir à augmenter les révolutions du peuplier pour envisager des emplois en construction bois. Des propositions sont amorcées pour atténuer les effets du bois de tension, génératrice de surfaces pelucheuses.

In this thesis, I investigate the centrality of the sacrifice in the interrelationship between eucharistic sacrifice, real presence and sacramental communion in recent Roman Catholic theology. I explore different ways in which the Eucharist is understood in today’s world. First, I analyse texts of the Second Vatican Council and post-conciliar texts. The Second Vatican Council and post-conciliar official texts present new ways of discussing the Eucharist, which has put into relief diverse aspects which contribute to a deeper understanding of it. Then, I examine texts from the theologians Joseph Ratzinger, Edward Schillebeeckx and David Power and evaluate their work in the light of Vatican II and the post-conciliar texts. These theologians were chosen because Ratzinger and Schillebeeckx shared the advantage of being close to the proceedings of the Council, Ratzinger as a peritus and Schillebeeckx as an advisor to Cardinal Archbishop Alfrink from Utrecht, whereas Power did not participate at the Council. All agree on the teachings of Vatican II but each has responded to the unique event of the Council in his own way. I find great variations in their eucharistic theology that are complementary and thus contribute to deeper understanding of the vast complexity of the Eucharist. Ratzinger finds that the heart of the Eucharist lies in the sacrifice. His contributions have an apostolic and hierarchical emphasis. With a communio-ecclesiology and an emphasis on the People of God he relates unity and union, but does this in a way that might be interpreted as exclusive and narrow. Schillebeeckx aimed at rethinking classical Christology in the light of historical criticism of Scripture. Sacraments are perceived as relational events of an encounter with God. Liturgy is the celebration of God’s interruption into ordinary life giving glimpses of his kingdom. The Eucharist is a performance challenged by the juxtaposition between the verbal and the physical. Power’s contribution is the presentation of the eucharistic sacrifice as an “eventing” of God’s grace with a great emphasis on the kenosis of Christ as gift. He develops creative interpretations of the sacrament of the Eucharist which he flexibly uses when discussing the eucharistic sacrifice. In his theology he preserves both the unity of the faith as well as allowing its expression in diversity. Finally, my study confirms that the eucharistic sacrifice is the central act upon which the real presence and communion depend. The Eucharist is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of the cross; and, as such, it expresses the passion, death, resurrection, ascension and the continual presence of Christ in the sacrament, which has its aim in sacramental communion. Although the Eucharist can be expressed in various ways, it embodies the centrality of the sacrificial act.

The distinction between catechesis and religious education in Catholic schools is an important theme in contemporary Catholic educational thought. A firm and nuanced understanding of the nature of this relationship and its historical roots is essential to understanding both fields of study. The nature of this debate has been recognised by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church as crucial to the mission of the Catholic school. While Religious Education is vital to the unique identity of the Catholic school, too close an association with catechesis can lead to a blurring of distinctions. Contemporary Catholic thinking on this matter suggests the following accommodation: religious education is focussed on knowledge of Catholic thinking in theology and related cultural issues; catechesis explicitly focuses on faith development. The theology of communion (communio) assists Catholic educators to harmonise both concepts. Religious Education is thereby understood as a ‘shared project’ between catechesis and Catholic thinking on education.

This thesis examines the writing of Emily Brontë and Christina Rossetti in terms of its expression of religious culture and belief. It is my argument that Brontë and Rossetti experienced religion as intellectuals, questioning and exploring doctrine and dogma neither as sentimental lady Christians nor dismissive, secular critics. I contend that by close reading their poetry, the genre both women privileged as most appropriate for the consideration of religious matters, the reader may trace the sermons and theological works they read. Moreover, their writing, I suggest, evinces their intellectual response to theological, ecclesiological and ecclesiastical developments that took place in the nineteenth century. I thus label Brontë and Rossetti 'religious intellectuals,' a phrase suggestive of their intense understanding of, rather than their mild acquaintance with, religious debate. Many women writing within the nineteenth century found that religion granted them a field within which to freely read and research, but were denied the professional title of 'theologian.' Brontë and Rossetti are thus examples of a wider phenomenon wherein women encountered religion like scholars, one disregarded by current criticism unable as it is to categorize a female activity simultaneously religious and intellectual. I use Brontë and Rossetti as examples of what I call the 'religious intellectual' because they represent different sides of this classification. Where Brontë struggled away from her Methodist background, serving as a cultural commentator on its enthusiastic belief-system, Rossetti forged a scholarly identity as a late member of the High Church Oxford Movement. Both poets, I contend, wrote about religion in order to signal their intellectual ability. I conclude that Brontë's interest in Methodism and Rossetti's fascination with Tractarianism reveals the poets to be both independent of family pressures and false consciousness, and fully engaged with a subject central to their age.

In the last years of the pontificate of Paul II and for the whole of the pontificate of Sixtus IV, nearly six hundred Scottish clerics supplicated to the pope for a variety of reasons, although the majority concerned their holding of benefices. The clerics ranged from those who were unbeneficed to those who were of prelatial rank and also included a small group who were familiars of the pope and of cardinals. Their supplications are contained within the Registra Supplicationum, a Vatican Archive source, which has long been regarded as an important source for the study of the late medieval Scottish Church in light of the paucity of native ecclesiastical source material. In order to analyse almost 1,200 supplications (for the period January 1470 to August 1484) to the best effect, the study has employed the use of a relational database. Methodological issues such as record linkage are therefore discussed in detail, in addition to results of analysis. In essence the research has been conducted as much to determine what issues can, and should be addressed as to provide definitive conclusions. Nevertheless, use of such methodology has imparted greater clarity to results of analysis than has hitherto been possible. The study reveals, for example, that a disproportionate number of supplications were made by, or on behalf of a distinct group of papal or cardinal familiars. Furthermore, in terms of relations to the papacy, a marked variation from diocese to diocese can be noted. The dioceses of St Andrews, Glasgow, and, to a lesser degree, Aberdeen were not only the most popular dioceses in which aspiring clerics sought benefices, but clergy from these dioceses were more likely to seek favour from the pope.