Doctor Theologiae - DTh / This doctoral thesis comprises a critical comparison of the theme of concursus, the way in which God and humanity interact, in the Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational traditions. The comparison is literature-based; similarities and differences in the theological literature of each tradition are compared in order to determine the extent of compatibilities and incompatibilities. The hypothesis is that similarities in the literature sufficiently leverage differences. The first chapter includes a statement of the problem, namely that the global expansion of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements necessitates interaction with more academically and philosophically oriented theological traditions such as Process- Relational theology. The second chapter comprises an historical survey of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements, including key dogmas and practices. Chapter three comprises an historical survey of Process-Relational theology, including its philosophical, metaphysical, and scientific orientations. Seminal Process- Relational theists such as Whitehead, Hartshorne, and Cobb are surveyed. Chapter four consists of a broad historical survey of the theological theme of concursus, including the notions of causation, free will, and determinism in both philosophy and theology. Further, the fourth chapter includesa broad historical survey of pneumatology, which is framed as the basis for a comparison of concursus. Chapters five and six comprise surveys of concursus in the Pentecostal- Charismatic and Process-Relational traditions respectively. Chapter seven entails an extensive analysis of differences and synthesis of similarities between the Pentecostal-Charismatic and Process-Relational notions of concursus. Four differences and four similarities are identified. Differences and similarities are ranked and compared for compatibility. Ultimately, the research question is answered affirmatively and conditionally: yes, according to the literature of both traditions, similarities sufficiently leverage differences, but socio-linguistic barriers may obstruct meaningful mutual transformation. Chapter eight concludes with a brief exploration of ecclesial and social implications.

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Throughout his career Augustine wrote often about the attainment of the vision of God, in which God would be seen face-to-face without the need of signs and symbols. He understood this vision to be the ultimate goal of Christianity, for in this contemplation of the divine believers attain true happiness through the enjoyment ofGod. Given the centrality ofthe vision of God in Augustine's writings, one would expect the secondary literature to be replete with references to this facet of his thought. However, this is not the case. While minor studies have been produced on the vision of God and Augustine, no major study exists. This thesis is an attempt to address, at least in some measure, this scholarly lacuna. In this thesis I attempt to examine Augustine's conception of the attainment of the vision of God as formulated at different points of his career in order to analyse the evolution of his thought. To accomplish this task I chose three principal writings from his corpus in which the vision of God plays an especially prominent role, each of which provides a window into the mindset of Augustine at a particular period of his life; they are De Quantitate Animae (The Greatness ofthe Soul), written c. 387; Confessiones, completed between 397 and 401; and De Trinitate (On the Trinity), completed c. 420. Through an analysis of Augustine's conception ofthe vision of God in each of these writings, I argue that his understanding ofthe means by which the vision is attained evolves as his career progresses. For example, in De Quantitate Animae Augustine posits that the soul can attain the vision of God in this life through a Plotinian-style interior withdrawal, and while he suggests that the church and the incarnate Son of God play a role in the soul's ascent to God, precisely what role they play is ambiguously formulated. Later writings, however, indicate that Augustine's conception of the vision of God evolved and I argue that the development of Augustine's conception of the attainment of the vision of God is a development which sees him moving steadily away from a positive understanding ofhuman potentiality toward a conception ofthe drastic consequences of human fallenness which is directly related to wrongly-ordered love, and away from an emphasis on interiority as a means of purification and toward an understanding of God as purifier in and through the Holy Spirit, whereby the individual is purified through the collective purification of the community manifesting the love that is the Holy Spirit. A more pronounced and nuanced conception ofthe role of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and ofthe community ofthe church in the attainment ofthe vision of God eschatologically thus characterises the evolution of Augustine's conception of humanity's ascent to the divine. This development also finds Augustine placing progressively less emphasis on the attainment of the vision of God in this life. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Dante Alighieri’s transcendental work the Divine Comedy is masterfully appropriated in this cartoon mini-series titled Over the Garden Wall in order to explore the issue of suicidal ideation and depression while contradicting Dante. Through different textual and conceptual appropriations, the show invokes the imagery of the Divine Comedy while creating an ending that is the complete opposite of its source text, turning Dante on his head and becoming an anti-Divine Comedy. The different characters of the epic poem are reimagined for these purposes, and the result is a work of art that makes the personal into the universal.

Accumulation of Divine Service is a ceramic installation referencing the sublime attribute of service, and how it relates to our temporal existence. Many aspects of the sublime are implemented into the contemporary art world today. The sublime can refer to ideas from terror to joy, and all across the spectrum of human emotions. The unifying element that seems to tie them together is a quality of awe-inspiring greatness, or the metaphysically divine. These attributescan inspire the mind and often lead one to dwell on the existence of a Supreme Being or Deity,what His purposes are, and how we as mortals work with or for that purpose.This installation encompasses some of my thoughts on the divinity that I believe dwells within all mankind. I do this by incorporating into the installation two repeated elements, the finial and the mug. The finial is an architectural element that is implemented at the apex of most religious meetinghouses. It is used for this purpose because it points toward the heavens and lifts the mind upward toward God. The mug, on the other hand, is one of the most humble and universal ceramic service vessels. It is used around the world as a drinking container whose sole purpose is service, or to give life-sustaining nourishment to mankind. The combination of these two visual elements seeks to encompass my personal art practice, my research, and the element of the sublime that we all possess.

<p> Historically, pneumatology has had little influence on the Christian doctrine of God. In particular, although Christians throughout the ages have defended the deity of the Spirit, they have not adequately taken the economic activity of the Spirit into consideration when formulating the doctrine of the divine attributes. In an effort to correct the historical lack of influence that pneumatology has had on the doctrine of the divine attributes, this book advocates and explores the potential of a pneumatological approach to the doctrine of the divine attributes by presenting pneumatological revisions to classical theism. The thesis of this book is that a pneumatological approach to the doctrine of God recovers an emphasis on divine immanence, which has been marginalized by classical theism's imbalance toward divine transcendence. After the introductory chapter, chapter two illustrates how classical theism neglects the doctrine of the Trinity (and pneumatology in particular) in its formulation of the doctrine of the divine attributes and how classical theism privileges divine transcendence. Chapter three provides a review of how process theologians, evangelical theologians, and trinitarian theologians critique and revise classical theism and displays how contemporary theologians have only begun to develop a pneumatological approach to the doctrine of the divine attributes. Chapter four continues by recommending a pneumatological approach to the divine attributes. The remainder of the book illustrates how pneumatology provides a way to revise the classical accounts of divine impassibility, immutability, and omnipotence. In contrast to classical conclusions regarding these doctrines, pneumatological perspectives on the doctrine of the divine attributes portray God as suffering, changing his presence, and exercising his omnipotence kenotically.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The primary speaker of Louise Glück's The Wild Iris is a wanderer in her own garden. She relentlessly searches for God among her foxgloves and daisies, straining to hear God's voice. Two other speakers, God and the collective plants of the garden, offer their perspectives without acknowledgement by the human speaker. Many critics read these two other speakers as, in fact, narcissistic projections of the human speaker, a God and a world made in her own image. In this thesis, I clarify that the kind of narcissistic projection that occurs in The Wild Iris is actually productive for genuine spiritual experience and encounters with the divine, not self-deluded illusions. If these two other speakers are in fact animated by the human speaker, it is through poetry's ability to facilitate encounters with alterity. With Michel de Certeau's concept of metaphorai in mind, I argue that the speaker's eventual communion with God is particularly made possible by her use of metaphor, which allows her to linguistically traverse the distance between her and God.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Davis / Thesis advisor: Ernesto Valiente / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

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