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Secularisation is at the centre of a vibrant debate in the sociology of religion. In the last two decades, literature has started to challenge old predictions and interpretations of the future of religion, but few studies present a detailed contextual examination of religious change in contemporary societies. Offering a comparative analysis of Scotland and Sweden, two nations in the relatively secularised Northern Europe, this thesis argues that diverse historical and political trajectories shape distinct patterns of religious beliefs and practices. Scotland and Sweden are two secularising nations characterised by historically dominant Protestant churches, but which nonetheless differ largely in their experiences of religious decline. In order to discern and differentiate key aspects of religious change in each nation as well as to explore contextual meanings of religion, a mixed methods approach was adopted, comprised of secondary quantitative data analysis as well as in-depth interviews. Data analysis identified and highlighted broader patterns and individual understandings of religious beliefs as well as three dimensions of religious belonging: church attendance, religious identification and membership, and participation in rituals. Results show that on measures of religious beliefs and church attendance, Sweden appears further secularised than Scotland. Arguably, Sweden has seen rapid and relatively early secularisation, with important social structural and political changes that occurred in the second half of the 19th century. With noticeable generational differences, data on Scotland point towards the mid-20th century as a crucial time of religious decline. Additionally, the remaining functions of the national churches differ considerably in the two nations. A majority of Swedes identify with the Church of Sweden, which serves a largely secular purpose as part of a cultural heritage and as a provider of life cycle ceremonies. By contrast, the Church of Scotland has maintained a stronger commitment to religious doctrine in a nation that is more religiously diverse. The findings ultimately draw attention to the importance of context in the study of diverse and complex processes of religious change. As a result, they reveal limitations to attempts in the contemporary sociology of religion set out to generalise and dichotomise European trends of religious belief and belonging.

Dentro do domínio teórico da Semiótica da Escola de Paris, o crer e o saber são concebidos como modalidades que se articulam em um único e mesmo universo cognitivo e que encontram distinção pelo modo de relacionamento e valorização que estabelecem com o objeto cognitivo. Inicialmente abordadas sob uma perspectiva eminentemente categorial, como a de Greimas (1983), que descreve o ato epistêmico por meio de termos alocados nas categorias previstas no quadrado semiótico e de operações juntivas, elas passam posteriormente por certa reformulação teórica, notadamente a feita por Zilberberg (1988), que privilegia os aspectos tensivos aderidos aos termos. Com base, de forma central, nessas noções, este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar as oscilações tensivas associadas às operações cognitivas do sujeito, o funcionamento, a distinção, a hierarquização e o intercruzamento do saber e do crer no interior do fazer interpretativo humano, a incidência do crer no âmbito da produção de conhecimento e as condições de verdade na ciência enquanto prática discursiva. Para tanto, procuramos fomentar uma discussão teórica acerca desse tema, reunindo, além dos textos paradigmáticos de Greimas e Zilberberg, formulações de outros semioticistas que também se debruçaram sobre a questão do crer e do saber, como Fontanille (1982) e (1987), Pottier (1983), Landowski (1983), Coquet (1983) e Geninasca (1983). A fim de ensejar tais reflexões, empreendemos a análise, munidos dos procedimentos metodológicos e das ferramentas de investigação textual providas pelos autores supracitados, de três objetos que põem em jogo as modalidades crer e saber, exploram-nas tematicamente e extraem alguns efeitos de sentido de sua oposição, sobreposição, exacerbação, atenuação e falta: o conto Funes, o memorioso (1944), de Jorge Luis Borges, o longa-metragem Doubt (2008), de John Patrick Shanley, e um breve poema recitado por Antonio Abujamra no programa televisivo Provocações. Ao realizarmos este estudo, buscamos ainda fazer face à previsão de Greimas e Courtés, encontrada em seu Dicionário de Semiótica (1979), que aponta o crer, por sua centralidade no fenômeno humano de produção discursiva, como tema pertinente para a pesquisa semiótica dos anos a virem. / In the framework of French Semiotics, knowing and believing are conceived as articulated modalities at the same and unique cognitive universe and that can be discriminated by the type of relationship and valuation they establish with the cognitive object. Initially treated by a categorical perspective, as Greimass (1983), who describes the epistemic act by means of the semiotic square terms and junctive operations, they suffer a theoretical reformulation by Zilberberg, who privileges tensive aspects associated to the terms. Based on these notions, this study aims to investigate tensive oscillations linked to subject cognitive operations, understand in each way knowing and believing operate and cross each other in the cognitive dimension, and also how they can be discriminated and placed on hierarchy. We also intend to discuss how believing takes part in sciences and the conditions of truth in science as a discursive practice. Keeping this in mind, we promote a theoretical debate about these modalities, resorting to, besides Greimas and Zilberberg, authors that also thought and wrote about knowing and believing, as Fontanille (1982) e (1987), Pottier (1983), Landowski (1983), Coquet (1983) e Geninasca (1983). In order to give rise to those reflections, and based on the methodological procedures and approach text tolls provided by the aforementioned authors, we undertake the analysis of three objects that thematically explore the modalities knowing and believing and extract some sense effects from their opposition, overlap, exacerbation, attenuation and lack: the short story Funes the memorious (1944), by Jorge Luis Borges, the movie Doubt (2008), by John Patrick Shanley, and a brief poem recited by Antonio Abujamra at a television show named Provocações. By the fulfillment of this study, we also aim to tackle Greimas and Courtés prediction, at their Dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage (1979), that points out the concept of believing, for its centrality at the human phenomenon of discursive production, as a relevant theme for the semiotics research of the years to come.

Este é um estudo sobre a dimensão cognitiva do discurso, como definida pela semiótica de linha francesa, que parte da teoria já produzida no âmbito dessa disciplina sobre o tema e busca articulá-la e atualizá-la para melhor compreender o modo como o conhecimento é construído discursivamente. Inicialmente definida por Greimas (1983) como o espaço em que o sujeito aciona as modalidades crer e saber, agenciando-as com vistas à criação do sentido, essa dimensão é posteriormente reformulada dentro da própria teoria, notadamente por Zilberberg (1988), que a concebe como um espaço fiduciário centrado na noção de valor onde o sujeito exerce uma atividade de reconhecimento de natureza avaliativa. Para além dos limites da própria semiótica enquanto disciplina, o crer, o saber e a atividade de cunho cognitivo recobrem, enquanto tópicos de pesquisa, um amplo e intrincado campo transdisciplinar para a reflexão, que abarca, por exemplo, o milenar debate conduzido pela filosofia sobre os problemas da verdade e da crença. Desse modo, devido à natureza vasta de nosso tema assim delimitado, a fim de poder refletir e debater sobre essa ampla e multifacetada questão com alguma objetividade, adotamos primeiramente um ponto de vista epistemológico discursivo e imanente, que busca identificar, descrever e explicar como os objetos cognitivos têm seu sentido estruturado, e também como se dão alguns problemas a partir do momento em que eles são discursivizados, ou seja, postos em circulação por meio do discurso. Além disso, selecionamos quatro objetos de análise, em relação aos quais defendemos, respectivamente, as quatro hipóteses desta tese: (i) a partir da observação e exame de alguns modelos semióticos que, ao se voltarem à descrição da dimensão cognitiva do discurso, procuraram captar e representar graficamente aí uma dinâmica necessária e conexa, postulamos a existência de um princípio de movimento ligado à atividade cognitiva; (ii) por meio da análise do conto A Cartomante, de Machado de Assis, defendemos a incidência decisiva do querer nas avaliações e escolhas de ordem cognitiva; (iii) valendo-nos do estudo de dois dois erros de interpretação de sujeitos em relação aos seus objetos cognitivos (leitores que enviaram cartas aos autores de romances Umberto Eco e Virginia Woolf para corrigir o conteúdo de textos ficcionais porque eles não condiziam com a realidade e o episódio de disseminação massiva de uma notícia falsa de internet ocorrido em 2015 no Brasil), apontamos o papel fundamental da confiança na construção do conhecimento humano; (iv) e, finalmente, com base em trechos do romance Em busca do tempo perdido, de Marcel Proust, postulamos a ação da memória como uma instância produtora de sentido ela mesma junto ao que a semiótica entende como dimensão cognitiva do discurso. / This is a study about the cognitive dimension of discourse as defined by french semiotics which stems from the theoretical approaches to the theme already produced within the field and intends to articulate and update them in order to better understand how knowledge is built discursively. Initially defined by Greimas (1983) as the space in which the subject triggers the modalities of believing and knowing, actuating them with the purpose of meaning making, this dimension is later reformulated within the theory itself, notably by Zilberberg (1988), who conceives it as the fiduciary space centered in the notion of value where the subject exerts a recognition activity of evaluative nature. Beyond the limits of semiotics as a discipline, believing, knowing and the cognitive activity cover, as research subjects, a broad and intricate transdisciplinary field of inquiry, which encompasses, for instance, the ancient debate in philosophy about truth and belief. Thereby, due to the vast nature of our subject thusly circumscribed, in order to be able to reflect upon and debate this wide and multifaceted issue with some objectivity, we primarily adopted the point of view of a discursive and immanent epistemology, which intends to identify, describe and explain how cognitive objects have their meaning structured and also how some issues arise when they are discursivized, in other words, circulate by means of discourse. Furthermore, weve chosen four study cases, in relation to which we defend the four hypotheses of this dissertation: (i) from the observation and examination of some semiotic models which, when used to describe the cognitive dimension of discourse, intended to capture and represent graphically a necessary and connected dynamics therein, we postulate the existence of a movement principle tied to o the cognitive activity; (ii) from the analysis of the short story A Cartomante, by Machado de Assis, we defend the decisive incidence of wanting in cognitive evaluations and choices; (iii) studying two interpretive mistakes made by subjects in relation to their cognitive objects (readers who sent letters to the novelists Umberto Eco and Virginia Woolf to correct the content of fictional texts since they didnt match reality, and the episode of the massive spreading of fake internet news in 2015 in Brazil), we point to the central role of trust in the process of building human knowledge; (iv) and, finally, from excerpts of the novel In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust, we postulate the activity of memory as an instance that produces meaning in itself, in what semiotics understands as the cognitive dimension of discourse.

Dentro do domínio teórico da Semiótica da Escola de Paris, o crer e o saber são concebidos como modalidades que se articulam em um único e mesmo universo cognitivo e que encontram distinção pelo modo de relacionamento e valorização que estabelecem com o objeto cognitivo. Inicialmente abordadas sob uma perspectiva eminentemente categorial, como a de Greimas (1983), que descreve o ato epistêmico por meio de termos alocados nas categorias previstas no quadrado semiótico e de operações juntivas, elas passam posteriormente por certa reformulação teórica, notadamente a feita por Zilberberg (1988), que privilegia os aspectos tensivos aderidos aos termos. Com base, de forma central, nessas noções, este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar as oscilações tensivas associadas às operações cognitivas do sujeito, o funcionamento, a distinção, a hierarquização e o intercruzamento do saber e do crer no interior do fazer interpretativo humano, a incidência do crer no âmbito da produção de conhecimento e as condições de verdade na ciência enquanto prática discursiva. Para tanto, procuramos fomentar uma discussão teórica acerca desse tema, reunindo, além dos textos paradigmáticos de Greimas e Zilberberg, formulações de outros semioticistas que também se debruçaram sobre a questão do crer e do saber, como Fontanille (1982) e (1987), Pottier (1983), Landowski (1983), Coquet (1983) e Geninasca (1983). A fim de ensejar tais reflexões, empreendemos a análise, munidos dos procedimentos metodológicos e das ferramentas de investigação textual providas pelos autores supracitados, de três objetos que põem em jogo as modalidades crer e saber, exploram-nas tematicamente e extraem alguns efeitos de sentido de sua oposição, sobreposição, exacerbação, atenuação e falta: o conto Funes, o memorioso (1944), de Jorge Luis Borges, o longa-metragem Doubt (2008), de John Patrick Shanley, e um breve poema recitado por Antonio Abujamra no programa televisivo Provocações. Ao realizarmos este estudo, buscamos ainda fazer face à previsão de Greimas e Courtés, encontrada em seu Dicionário de Semiótica (1979), que aponta o crer, por sua centralidade no fenômeno humano de produção discursiva, como tema pertinente para a pesquisa semiótica dos anos a virem. / In the framework of French Semiotics, knowing and believing are conceived as articulated modalities at the same and unique cognitive universe and that can be discriminated by the type of relationship and valuation they establish with the cognitive object. Initially treated by a categorical perspective, as Greimass (1983), who describes the epistemic act by means of the semiotic square terms and junctive operations, they suffer a theoretical reformulation by Zilberberg, who privileges tensive aspects associated to the terms. Based on these notions, this study aims to investigate tensive oscillations linked to subject cognitive operations, understand in each way knowing and believing operate and cross each other in the cognitive dimension, and also how they can be discriminated and placed on hierarchy. We also intend to discuss how believing takes part in sciences and the conditions of truth in science as a discursive practice. Keeping this in mind, we promote a theoretical debate about these modalities, resorting to, besides Greimas and Zilberberg, authors that also thought and wrote about knowing and believing, as Fontanille (1982) e (1987), Pottier (1983), Landowski (1983), Coquet (1983) e Geninasca (1983). In order to give rise to those reflections, and based on the methodological procedures and approach text tolls provided by the aforementioned authors, we undertake the analysis of three objects that thematically explore the modalities knowing and believing and extract some sense effects from their opposition, overlap, exacerbation, attenuation and lack: the short story Funes the memorious (1944), by Jorge Luis Borges, the movie Doubt (2008), by John Patrick Shanley, and a brief poem recited by Antonio Abujamra at a television show named Provocações. By the fulfillment of this study, we also aim to tackle Greimas and Courtés prediction, at their Dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage (1979), that points out the concept of believing, for its centrality at the human phenomenon of discursive production, as a relevant theme for the semiotics research of the years to come.

Este é um estudo sobre a dimensão cognitiva do discurso, como definida pela semiótica de linha francesa, que parte da teoria já produzida no âmbito dessa disciplina sobre o tema e busca articulá-la e atualizá-la para melhor compreender o modo como o conhecimento é construído discursivamente. Inicialmente definida por Greimas (1983) como o espaço em que o sujeito aciona as modalidades crer e saber, agenciando-as com vistas à criação do sentido, essa dimensão é posteriormente reformulada dentro da própria teoria, notadamente por Zilberberg (1988), que a concebe como um espaço fiduciário centrado na noção de valor onde o sujeito exerce uma atividade de reconhecimento de natureza avaliativa. Para além dos limites da própria semiótica enquanto disciplina, o crer, o saber e a atividade de cunho cognitivo recobrem, enquanto tópicos de pesquisa, um amplo e intrincado campo transdisciplinar para a reflexão, que abarca, por exemplo, o milenar debate conduzido pela filosofia sobre os problemas da verdade e da crença. Desse modo, devido à natureza vasta de nosso tema assim delimitado, a fim de poder refletir e debater sobre essa ampla e multifacetada questão com alguma objetividade, adotamos primeiramente um ponto de vista epistemológico discursivo e imanente, que busca identificar, descrever e explicar como os objetos cognitivos têm seu sentido estruturado, e também como se dão alguns problemas a partir do momento em que eles são discursivizados, ou seja, postos em circulação por meio do discurso. Além disso, selecionamos quatro objetos de análise, em relação aos quais defendemos, respectivamente, as quatro hipóteses desta tese: (i) a partir da observação e exame de alguns modelos semióticos que, ao se voltarem à descrição da dimensão cognitiva do discurso, procuraram captar e representar graficamente aí uma dinâmica necessária e conexa, postulamos a existência de um princípio de movimento ligado à atividade cognitiva; (ii) por meio da análise do conto A Cartomante, de Machado de Assis, defendemos a incidência decisiva do querer nas avaliações e escolhas de ordem cognitiva; (iii) valendo-nos do estudo de dois dois erros de interpretação de sujeitos em relação aos seus objetos cognitivos (leitores que enviaram cartas aos autores de romances Umberto Eco e Virginia Woolf para corrigir o conteúdo de textos ficcionais porque eles não condiziam com a realidade e o episódio de disseminação massiva de uma notícia falsa de internet ocorrido em 2015 no Brasil), apontamos o papel fundamental da confiança na construção do conhecimento humano; (iv) e, finalmente, com base em trechos do romance Em busca do tempo perdido, de Marcel Proust, postulamos a ação da memória como uma instância produtora de sentido ela mesma junto ao que a semiótica entende como dimensão cognitiva do discurso. / This is a study about the cognitive dimension of discourse as defined by french semiotics which stems from the theoretical approaches to the theme already produced within the field and intends to articulate and update them in order to better understand how knowledge is built discursively. Initially defined by Greimas (1983) as the space in which the subject triggers the modalities of believing and knowing, actuating them with the purpose of meaning making, this dimension is later reformulated within the theory itself, notably by Zilberberg (1988), who conceives it as the fiduciary space centered in the notion of value where the subject exerts a recognition activity of evaluative nature. Beyond the limits of semiotics as a discipline, believing, knowing and the cognitive activity cover, as research subjects, a broad and intricate transdisciplinary field of inquiry, which encompasses, for instance, the ancient debate in philosophy about truth and belief. Thereby, due to the vast nature of our subject thusly circumscribed, in order to be able to reflect upon and debate this wide and multifaceted issue with some objectivity, we primarily adopted the point of view of a discursive and immanent epistemology, which intends to identify, describe and explain how cognitive objects have their meaning structured and also how some issues arise when they are discursivized, in other words, circulate by means of discourse. Furthermore, weve chosen four study cases, in relation to which we defend the four hypotheses of this dissertation: (i) from the observation and examination of some semiotic models which, when used to describe the cognitive dimension of discourse, intended to capture and represent graphically a necessary and connected dynamics therein, we postulate the existence of a movement principle tied to o the cognitive activity; (ii) from the analysis of the short story A Cartomante, by Machado de Assis, we defend the decisive incidence of wanting in cognitive evaluations and choices; (iii) studying two interpretive mistakes made by subjects in relation to their cognitive objects (readers who sent letters to the novelists Umberto Eco and Virginia Woolf to correct the content of fictional texts since they didnt match reality, and the episode of the massive spreading of fake internet news in 2015 in Brazil), we point to the central role of trust in the process of building human knowledge; (iv) and, finally, from excerpts of the novel In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust, we postulate the activity of memory as an instance that produces meaning in itself, in what semiotics understands as the cognitive dimension of discourse.

Syfte och frågeställningar Det övergripande syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hälsan hos unga religiösa kristna och muslimska kvinnor. Syftet kommer undersökas utifrån följande frågeställningar: Hur ser unga religiösa kristna och muslimska kvinnors hälsa ut kopplad till rekommendation för fysisk aktivitet och definitioner för social och psykisk hälsa? Hur upplever unga religiösa kristna och muslimska kvinnor att religionerna påverkar deras hälsa?  Vilka likheter och skillnader finns det mellan unga religiösa kristna och muslimska kvinnor då det gäller hälsan och den upplevda påverkan av religionerna? Metod Studien är en kvalitativ jämförande studie som är baserad på sex halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna var tre religiösa kristna kvinnor och tre religiösa muslimska kvinnor mellan 22 och 28 år och boende Stockholm. Intervjuerna var djupgående och mellan 30 och 60 minuter långa. De spelades in och transkriberades ordagrant för att sedan noggrant analyseras. Resultat Samtliga respondenter levde upp till definitionerna för social och psykisk hälsa. Dock levde endast en av muslimerna men samtliga kristna upp till rekommendationen för fysisk aktivitet. Båda religionerna upplevdes påverka hälsan övervägande positivt. Den sociala hälsan påverkades av gemenskap, den fysiska hälsan genom uppmuntran till att sköta om sin kropp och den psykiska hälsan genom att respondenterna upplevde meningsfullhet, trygghet samt hjälp och stöd. Endast små skillnader kunde ses i hur religionerna upplevdes påverka hälsan. Slutsats Denna studie visar på att kristendom och islam erbjuder samma positiva påverkan av hälsan. Om man endast såg till sätten religionerna främjade hälsa på skulle det vara svårt att avgöra vilken religion som var vilken. / Aim The overall purpose of this study is to examine the health of religious young Christian and Muslim women. The aim is explicated through the following questions: What is the state of young religious Christian and Muslim women's health linked to recommendation for physical activity and definitions for social and mental health? How do young religious Christian and Muslim women perceive that the religions affect their health? What similarities and differences are there between young religious Christian and Muslim women regarding health and the perceived affects from the religions? Method The study is a qualitative comparative study based on six semi-structured interviews. The group of respondents consisted of three religious Christian women and three religious Muslim women, all between 22 and 28 years and living in Stockholm. The interviews were profound and between 30 and 60 minutes. They were recorded and went through verbatim transcription as well as careful analysis. Results All respondents lived up to the definitions of social and mental health, however, only one of the Muslims but all Christians lived up to the recommendation for physical activity. The perceived influence both religions had on their health were, all in all, positive. The social health was influenced by solidarity, the physical health through encouragement to take care of the body and the mental health by receiving meaningfulness, safety and help and support. Only small differences could be found in how the religions perceived to influence their health. Conclusions This study indicates that Islam and Christianity offer the same positive health effects. If one only were to see the ways the religions promoted health, it would be hard to tell the difference.

We find ourselves, as interpreters and listeners, living, discerning, prioritizing, asking, and answering questions in and through particular communal and theological traditions. As the discerning and prioritizing process is inevitable, we suggest to move the question about prioritizing from the context of ‘privileged access or interpretation' to the context of the ‘preferences' of the believing communities. We imply by this ‘relocation' the interdependent relationships between believing communities and their beliefs and practices. We propose, following Maturana's epistemology, three steps to argue about the dynamic and interdependent relationships among believers, communities, and their beliefs and practices. We affirm, first, that whenever we engage in the discerning process we have before us two paths of explanations. These two paths place the believers in a central place in their task for deciding for one of the options. The recognition about the interpreters' active participation suggests the crucial role of the believers and their preferences. The crucial point in the process of discerning and deciding for one of the paths is the type of believing communities that we would like to promote and conserve. We suggest, second, that the proposal of answers and the acceptation of those answers as explanations imply the active participation of both interpreters and listeners. We propose the interdependence relationships between our existence in particular believing communities and those questions and answers that we prioritize, ignore, and conserve. We claim, third, that in language or in and through our dialogical spaces we distinguish and coordinate the many and possible dimensions of our existence and relationships. As believers, in and through the contexts of our believing communities we discern, prioritize, and conserve the accents of our beliefs and practices. We stress the crucial role of the preferences as the believing communities prioritize and conserve the ‘nature' and ‘course' of their particular communities.

Thesis advisor: Christopher R. Matthews / Thesis advisor: Matthew Monnig / Much previous scholarship approaches Luke’s narrative of God’s salvation in Jesus as either salvation history or practical-apologetic history. Some Lukan scholars, like Robert C. Tannehill, Ernst Haenchen, Ben Witherington III, and Jack T. Sanders, argue that Luke offers an anti-Jewish interpretation of the gospel. They say that the inclusive nature of the gospel of Christ narrated in Luke-Acts implies a discontinuity with the Jewish origins of early Christianity. The problem under view in this study is the neglect in Lukan scholarship of the portrayal of diversity, universality, and inclusion among the Christ-believers in Luke-Acts. The literary approach to studies of Luke-Acts has not given enough attention to Luke’s implied audience as an ethnically diverse and inclusive Christ-believing group. This study asks how one navigates the relationship between ethnicity and inclusivity in the Lukan narrative of early Christian groups in Luke-Acts. This work performs a literary analysis of key pericopes—Luke 1:46-56, 67-79; 2:8-14, 29-32; 4:16-30; 7:1-10; and Acts 2:1-13; 10:1–11:18; 15:20, 29; 28:1-31—to discover Luke’s theological views regarding an ethnically diverse and inclusive Christ-believing group. My dissertation argues, from a literary perspective, with attention to ethnic reasoning and the Greco-Roman context of the late first and early second centuries CE, that Luke’s implied audience offers a good fit with an ethnically diverse and inclusive Christ-believing group that nurtures continuity with the God of Israel’s saving plan for all peoples, Jews and non-Jews alike. Luke’s narrative theology of God’s saving plan for the inclusion of Gentiles into the people of God connects with a/the “Jewish” story that is shown in Luke’s continuing interest in things “Jewish.” In this way, Luke shares a “Jewish” faith in that the God of Israel offers salvation to everyone by giving each a place in Christ as they relate together and fellowship in love. It demonstrates that Luke’s Christ-believing theology is a cosmopolitan Jewish “Christian” theology that is inclusive of Jews and Gentiles. It shows that in Luke-Acts, Jesus and the witnesses to his gospel are employed by Luke to build and consolidate a Gentile-inclusive Hellenistic Jewish Christ-believing theology. The rivalries among particular Jews and their fellow Jewish Christ-believers, and between Jewish Christ-believers and people of other ethnicities within the fold of Christ-believers, are expressions of sibling rivalries that reflect different perspectives of the Jewish way of life and other social, cultural, and ethnic differences. This does not create a structural dichotomy between positive early Christ-believers and negative non-Christian ethnic groups. This is important because, through Luke’s narrative, my work demonstrates the interconnection between ethnic diversity and inclusion among Christ-believers in Luke-Acts. In addition, this kind of separation is dubious because this dissertation does not presume a split between Judaism and Christianity at the time of Luke. My contribution shows that Luke’s indicators of a universalistic theology of ethnic inclusion do not deny interest in “Jewish” practices throughout Luke-Acts. My main point is that, for Luke, early Christ-believers were ethnically diverse and inclusive. Although some were Jews in the diaspora, they were also Greeks or Romans; they spoke like devout Gentiles who interacted with them. There were also Gentile Christ-believers who upheld and practiced the Jewish faith in Christ and recognized Jesus as the Spirit-anointed Messiah. It is precisely in this that Luke establishes his universalistic and inclusive theology of Hellenistic Jewish “Christian” faith in Jesus, the Lord and Messiah. This study concludes that Luke’s universalistic theology is grounded in Jewish ethnicity. Luke portrays in literary terms a form of Jewish Christ-believing ethnicity that constructs access for Gentiles to become part of the “Jewish” people of God. Therefore, Luke’s literary portrait of ethnicity can be viewed as broad, constructed, and ever-changing. The issue of Jewish identity in Luke-Acts can be seen from a constructivist perspective that opens up the Jewish ethnicity to include people of other ethnicities. Thus, Luke constructs his Jewish Christ-believing ethnicity universally and inclusively without ascribing negativity to particular ethnic heritages. An attractive hypothesis is that Luke writes in the context of a group that mirrors the mixed believers of the narrative. Contrary to some scholars, this work insists that Luke’s stories do not portray an anti-Jewish interpretation of the gospel and its spread. It affirms that a mere narrative analysis of Luke’s two books is insufficient to understand Luke’s theological narrative and rhetoric in Luke-Acts. Paying attention to the social context and situation portrayed within the narrative, Luke’s work shows that his Christ-believing way is participating in some form of “Jewishness.” When one considers the social framework of ethnic diversity and inclusion, however, one finds that it is precisely in the inclusion of Gentiles that continuing interest in things “Jewish” is upheld and legitimated. In this way, Luke demonstrates through his narrative a relationship between Christian origins and ethnic diversity. Based on my findings, the idea of a Lukan replacement theology is untenable because Luke’s theological narrative and rhetoric of sharing the gospel with Gentiles shows a continuous participation in Jewish life and practice. Furthermore, the scholarly dichotomy between Christian universality and Jewish particularity should be discarded because it is inattentive to the complex process of social belonging and identity construction. Using subtle rhetoric, Luke’s universalistic and inclusive perspective is expressed in literary and rhetorical terms without communicating that non-ethnic “Christian” universality is better than ethnic “Jewish” particularity. This implies that scholarly investigation into Jews and Jewish things, as well as other particular ethnicities in Luke-Acts, requires considering Luke’s theological narrative, literary and rhetorical interests, and social situation. This study proposes a way of reading Luke-Acts that considers the complexities and social circumstances reflected in the narrative of the two books and their intertextual connection. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Ce mémoire engage une réflexion sur la plénitude dans la pensée de Charles Taylor, et plus particulièrement dans son maître ouvrage L’âge séculier. L’idée de plénitude y est intimement liée à celles de modernité, de croyance et d’incroyance. C’est que, pour Taylor, comprendre la modernité implique de saisir le changement qui nous a permis de passer d’un contexte dans lequel il était impensable de ne pas croire en Dieu à un contexte dans lequel la croyance n’est qu’une option. Ce changement tourne essentiellement autour d’une modification de notre représentation de la plénitude. Qu’est-ce que la plénitude pour notre auteur ? Elle est la condition à laquelle tend tout homme et implique une réponse, tacite ou pas, à la question du sens de la vie. Mon principal objectif sera de saisir la nature de la plénitude telle que la conçoit Taylor. Je montrerai que la double définition de la plénitude dans L’âge séculier génère une certaine tension entre la plénitude conçue comme un événement unique et comme une aspiration constante vers le sens (qui correspond aussi au bien). Je proposerai une résolution de cette tension à travers une compréhension de la plénitude qui vise à en restituer l’unité fondamentale, l’idée étant de saisir la plénitude comme événement unique et comme aspiration constante au sens, non pas séparément, mais dans leur relation. Ce modèle d’interprétation, fourni par l’idée d’éternité, que l’on retrouve aussi dans L’âge séculier, me conduira à établir une coïncidence entre la poursuite de la plénitude et le désir d’éternité. Tous deux ont le même but fondamental : à travers l’inscription de moments qualitativement privilégiés et uniques, constitutifs de la vie, dans la totalité de cette vie, ils visent à en dévoiler le sens et à lui conférer une certaine pérennité. À plus forte raison, ce que j’entends montrer à travers la coïncidence entre plénitude et éternité, c’est que la quête de plénitude n’engage pas nécessairement la perspective religieuse déployée dans L’âge séculier, mais plutôt une forme de transcendance que l’on pourrait qualifier de « temporelle ». / This M.A. thesis unfolds a reflexion upon the concept of fullness as developed by Charles Taylor, especially in his book A Secular Age, in which the idea of fullness is intrinsically connected with modernity, belief and unbelief. For Taylor, the understanding of modernity implies a grasping of the change that allowed the transition from a context where unbelief in God was considered inconceivable to a context where belief remains only an option. That change consists essentially in a modification of our very representation of fullness. What is fullness for Charles Taylor? It is the condition to which any human being tends towards, and which implies an answer, unspoken or not, to the question of the meaning of life. My main goal will be the understanding of the nature of fullness as conceived by Charles Taylor. I shall show that the twofold definition of fullness in A Secular Age generates a tension between fullness conceived as a unique event, and fullness conceived as a constant aspiration towards meaning (which identifies with goodness). I shall suggest a resolution of this tension through an understanding of fullness which aims to restore its fundamental unity – the idea being to grasp the notion of fullness as a unique event and as the constant aspiration to meaning not separately, but in their relationship with one other. This interpretation model, provided by the idea of eternity, which is also present in A Secular Age, will allow me to establish a coincidence between the pursuit of fullness and the desire of eternity. Both of them share the same fundamental aim: through the inscription of qualitatively privileged and unique moments, constituents of life, in the very totality of this life, they aim to reveal its meaning and to bestow permanence to it. Moreover, I will argue from this coincidence between fullness and eternity that the quest for fullness doesn’t necessarily imply a religious perspective as unfolded in A Secular Age, but can lead rather to a form of transcendence that one can qualify as « temporal ».