Thesis advisor: Catherine Cornille / While no dogmatic declarations have been made on the definition of the body, creeds, councils, and constitutions have affirmed its resurrection. The present work of comparative theology explores the body and divinization in Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) and Daoist Xiao Yingsou (fl. Song Dynasty 960-1278). Early in his writing, Teilhard loses interest in discovering the theological significance of the human body in favor of addressing the fulfillment of the Cosmic Body of Christ. Accordingly, studies of Teilhard easily overlook the individual's body. This work derives a theory of the body and its role in divinization from Teilhard by introducing an anthropological category not present in traditional theological language. Shen, the experiencing body, is the word Xiao uses to describe the Daoist in the process of divinization. Shen challenges conventional notions of body, physicality, and their importance to Christian spiritual life. The experiencing body is a living community of souls in relationship to an essential soul, who receives bonding power from Christ. On their own, humans cannot maintain the relationships within themselves, but must surrender them to perfection in Christ. Biblically, Christian anthropology departed from a monistic to a tripartite view with Paul. In the early Church, Irenaeus and Augustine defended a unity of body and soul against the gnostics heresies. Later, Thomas Aquinas formulated a theory of the body as largely defined by the soul. The bodies did not give positive contributions to people's life in God. Teilhard inherited this view of the human, but was unsatisfied with it. At the same time, he read contemporary French philosophers who provided the spark he needed to develop his ideas on creation and divinization. Early in his writing, he considers the body in light of Christology and biology. He drops the question in favor of strengthening an argument for the divinization of the entire cosmos in the Cosmic Body of Christ. Nonetheless, in the pursuit of this answer, his writings imply the individual body. Human bodies most clearly appear in his mysticism of action, which he explains in The Divine Milieu. Teilhard cannot articulate the individual body because he lacks a cosmology that does not choose between non-subsistent matter and selfsubsistent spirit. Xiao Yingsou's commentary on Daoism's Scripture of Salvation provides such a cosmology. Xiao utilizes both word and image to describe a divinizing cosmic body using three terms: dong, ti, and shen. The individual's body in a process of perfection is shen. This body is not a static collection of interworking parts, but a movement of transformation that generates salvific energy for the entire cosmos. Shen highlights in Teilhard's work a body understood as a community interacting with other beings to perfect relationships in Christ. Therefore, the body is physical, but with Teilhard's expanded notion which exceeds the limitations of time and space. This view yields a body that is not an obstacle to divinization, but absolutely necessary for it. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This thesis examines atonement theology in the Church of Swedens missal (Kyrkohandbok för Svenska kyrkan) published in 2018. By identifying atonement motifs the thesis identifies and discusses which types of atonement theology that dominates the missal. Four subquestions are used to identify and discuss the atonement theology expressed; Why is atonenment needed? What is atonement? How is atonement acheived? Is there potentially problematic aspects of the atonoment theology that is identified? The atonement theology which is identified is mainly of two sorts. The healing process and the atoning obedience.The thesis then tries to handle one such problematic aspect by discussing how to understand the concept of sacrifice which is central to the atoning obedience and by integrating the atonement theology of divinization, theosis, into the understanding of atonement that is dominant in the missal of the Church of Sweden. The thesis argues that properly understood, sacrifice and divinization offers a way forward in order to understand the theology of atonement in a way both true to the christian tradition and and comprehendible to society in the 21st century.

A Apocolocintose do divino Cláudio é a desconstrução da apoteose atribuída pelo senado romano a Cláudio, princeps morto em 54 d.C. e penúltimo César da dinastia Júlio-Claudiana. Este texto de Sêneca estrutura-se de acordo com o gênero sátira menipéia, em que se mesclam prosa e verso, coloquialismos e formas cultas, além de intensas relações que se estabelecem com outros textos greco-romanos. Para isso, Sêneca insere fatos da vida de Cláudio e relaciona-os com situações inesperadas no céu, na terra e no inferno, em um percurso fictício que o princeps romano realiza nesta dessacralização. O texto de Sêneca é uma reação ao exílio sofrido nas mãos deste mesmo princeps, a quem o filósofo veio a servir em 49 d.C. Também é uma reação aos desmandos e crueldades perpetradas por Cláudio e uma forma de enaltecer a imagem de Nero, alçado ao governo de Roma após a morte de Cláudio. Esta dissertação de Mestrado compreende uma introdução ao gênero sátira menipéia, seguida de tradução e notas da Apocolocintose do divino Cláudio, bem como de um comentário críticoanalítico em que se examinam as intenções de Sêneca nesta invectiva contra Cláudio. / Divine Claudios Apocolocintose is the destruction of the apotheosis given by the Roman senate to Claudio, princeps who died in 54 after Christ, and the penultimate Caesar of the Julian-Claudian dynasty. The text by Seneca is, in its structure, in accordance with the genre menippean satire, in which prose and verse, colloquialism and erudite forms of composition are entwined. Besides, the text has intense links with other Greek-Roman texts. In order to do that, Seneca inserts facts of Claudios life and relates them with unexpected situations in heaven, on earth and in hell, in a fictitious path the Roman princeps carries out in this dissacralization. Senecas text is a reaction due to the exile he had to undergo through the hands of the princeps himself, who the philosopher served in 49 after Christ. Its also a reaction to the whimsy deeds and cruelties done by Claudio, and a way of highlighting Neros image, who took the government after Claudios death. This Masters degree paper comprehends and introduction to the genre menippean satire, translation and notes of Divine Claudios Apocolocintose as well as a critic-analytic comment on which Senecas intentions are examined in the invective against Claudio.

This thesis examines the major thoughts on anthropology and selfhood from Plotinus in the third century and the Cappadocians in the fourth, situating the anthropology of the Cappadocians in the much broader context of their culture and their major works. It argues that: i) The inherent unity of all things, intelligible and material, provides the basis for radically intuitive categories such as synchronity, telepathy, and even love. ii) The ontological essence of expressed particularity in the divine or the human is an ekstatic relationship, i.e., it involves the transcending of the boundaries of self, a self identified as hypostasis or person. iii)Truth consists in apprehending that true being alone possesses existence in its own nature, participated in by all without being lessened and knowable only as and in relationship. Human being is participation in existence by an experience of communion. iv) The most essential activity of historical self is to use one's inherent capacity to form one's own identity in relation to the other -- both external and within -- as incarnational and dialogic beings. The findings of this thesis are that the relational notion of authentic human being grounded in open-ended divinity provides both a useful framework and the distinctive characteristics of human beingness for rethinking what it means to be a human being in the twenty-first century.

This thesis examines the major thoughts on anthropology and selfhood from Plotinus in the third century and the Cappadocians in the fourth, situating the anthropology of the Cappadocians in the much broader context of their culture and their major works. It argues that: i) The inherent unity of all things, intelligible and material, provides the basis for radically intuitive categories such as synchronity, telepathy, and even love. ii) The ontological essence of expressed particularity in the divine or the human is an ekstatic relationship, i.e., it involves the transcending of the boundaries of self, a self identified as hypostasis or person. iii)Truth consists in apprehending that true being alone possesses existence in its own nature, participated in by all without being lessened and knowable only as and in relationship. Human being is participation in existence by an experience of communion. iv) The most essential activity of historical self is to use one's inherent capacity to form one's own identity in relation to the other -- both external and within -- as incarnational and dialogic beings. The findings of this thesis are that the relational notion of authentic human being grounded in open-ended divinity provides both a useful framework and the distinctive characteristics of human beingness for rethinking what it means to be a human being in the twenty-first century.

A Apocolocintose do divino Cláudio é a desconstrução da apoteose atribuída pelo senado romano a Cláudio, princeps morto em 54 d.C. e penúltimo César da dinastia Júlio-Claudiana. Este texto de Sêneca estrutura-se de acordo com o gênero sátira menipéia, em que se mesclam prosa e verso, coloquialismos e formas cultas, além de intensas relações que se estabelecem com outros textos greco-romanos. Para isso, Sêneca insere fatos da vida de Cláudio e relaciona-os com situações inesperadas no céu, na terra e no inferno, em um percurso fictício que o princeps romano realiza nesta dessacralização. O texto de Sêneca é uma reação ao exílio sofrido nas mãos deste mesmo princeps, a quem o filósofo veio a servir em 49 d.C. Também é uma reação aos desmandos e crueldades perpetradas por Cláudio e uma forma de enaltecer a imagem de Nero, alçado ao governo de Roma após a morte de Cláudio. Esta dissertação de Mestrado compreende uma introdução ao gênero sátira menipéia, seguida de tradução e notas da Apocolocintose do divino Cláudio, bem como de um comentário críticoanalítico em que se examinam as intenções de Sêneca nesta invectiva contra Cláudio. / Divine Claudios Apocolocintose is the destruction of the apotheosis given by the Roman senate to Claudio, princeps who died in 54 after Christ, and the penultimate Caesar of the Julian-Claudian dynasty. The text by Seneca is, in its structure, in accordance with the genre menippean satire, in which prose and verse, colloquialism and erudite forms of composition are entwined. Besides, the text has intense links with other Greek-Roman texts. In order to do that, Seneca inserts facts of Claudios life and relates them with unexpected situations in heaven, on earth and in hell, in a fictitious path the Roman princeps carries out in this dissacralization. Senecas text is a reaction due to the exile he had to undergo through the hands of the princeps himself, who the philosopher served in 49 after Christ. Its also a reaction to the whimsy deeds and cruelties done by Claudio, and a way of highlighting Neros image, who took the government after Claudios death. This Masters degree paper comprehends and introduction to the genre menippean satire, translation and notes of Divine Claudios Apocolocintose as well as a critic-analytic comment on which Senecas intentions are examined in the invective against Claudio.

Dans son livre Pour que l’homme devienne Dieu (1983), le théologien français François Brune relève, à partir du mystère trinitaire et du témoignage des mystiques d’Occident, la radicalité de la vocation humaine à l’amour. De même que l’incarnation lie indissociablement le créé et l’Incréé en Jésus Christ, tout le genre humain partage avec lui une commune nature humaine et participe à la divinité, selon la doctrine patristique et orthodoxe de la divinisation et le concile de Chalcédoine (451). La notion de personne établit la nécessité d’une participation libre de chacun-e à la vie rédemptrice du Christ. La compénétration des deux natures humaine et divine du Christ et leur déconnection sélective selon le concept de kénose, rend compte de l’existence réellement humaine de Jésus Christ, à la fois souffrante et glorieuse, qui a supporté d’un amour indéfectible les tentations humaines et les conséquences du mal, mais sans jamais y prendre personnellement part. Suite aux réflexions de Brune sur l’être et le devenir en Dieu et sa critique de la christologie de Teilhard de Chardin, nous établirons dans notre perspective critique une interrelation entre les trois modalités (divinisation, amorisation et rédemption) de l’économie unique de glorification de l’humanité et du monde en tant qu’image du dynamisme interne de la divinité Une et Trine. / In his book Pour que l’homme devienne Dieu (1983), the French theologian François Brune notices, from the trinitarian mystery and the testimony of the Western mystiques, the radical aspect of the human appeal to love. According to the Chalcédoine Council, as the incarnation indissociably connects what is created and non-created in Jesus Christ, the whole human gender shares with him a common human nature and takes part in the divinity, according to the patristic and orthodox divinization doctrine. The notion of person establishes the necessity of the free participation of every human being to the salvatory life of Christ. The compenetration of both human and divine natures of Christ as well as their selective deconnection, according to the kénose concept, reveals a really human existence, both suffering and glorified depending on the circumstances, supporting with a sustaining love the human temptations and the consequences of evil. Following Brune’s reflections on the being and becoming in God and his critic of Theilhard de Chardin’s christology, we will establish within our critical perspective an interrelation between the three modes (divinization, amorisation and salvation) of the unique glorification plan of the humanity and the world as an image of the intern dynamism of the Une and Trine divinity.

O presente trabalho centra-se no estudo da narrativa do romance O Castelo, escrito em 1922, pelo escritor tcheco Franz Kafka. Por meio da análise formal da obra em questão, objetiva-se estabelecer relações entre aspectos presentes na narrativa que possuam associações metafóricas a temas vigentes no cotidiano do autor e, conseqüentemente, do homem moderno, e que possuam conotação negativa, tais como o poder, simbolizado pela burocracia, pela divinização, e pelo espaço. Partindo dessa premissa, propõe-se relacionar esses temas à teoria dos conjuntos da matemática, na qual um conjunto maior contém um conjunto menor, esse atuando por sua vez como um subconjunto daquele. Propõe-se aqui fazer uma analogia do conjunto poder e seu enfoque negativo como poder com o subconjunto burocracia, este intimamente ligado àquele, e que possui intersecção com os subconjuntos divinização e espaço. Por fim, ressaltar-se-á a universalidade da obra de Kafka, que possibilita a efetuação de analogias temáticas das mais diversas, não só as aqui expostas em forma de conjuntos e subconjuntos, pelo fato de seu texto ser multifacetado no tocante a temas. / This monograph focuses on analyzing the narrative of The Castle, a novel written by the Czech author Franz Kafka, in 1922. It aims at establishing a connection between certain aspects within the text which may have a metaphorical association with themes related to not only the authors life experiences, but also any other modern mans. It will be centered on a formal analysis of the novel and on metaphorical aspects within the narrative, which may have a negative connotation linked with power, represented by bureaucracy, divinization and space. Afterwards, we will propose a relation of such themes to the set theory from Mathematics, in which a greater set contains a smaller set, also known as a subset. We aim at drawing an analogy of power as a set and its negative connotation with the bureaucratic subset, which are intimately connected. Bureaucracy intersects the two other subsets called divinization and space. Eventually, we will focus on the universality of Kafkas work, which enables the drawing of many other thematic analogies, not only the ones discussed in this set theory proposed in this monograph, due to the fact that Kafkas work is multifaceted in terms of themes.

O presente trabalho centra-se no estudo da narrativa do romance O Castelo, escrito em 1922, pelo escritor tcheco Franz Kafka. Por meio da análise formal da obra em questão, objetiva-se estabelecer relações entre aspectos presentes na narrativa que possuam associações metafóricas a temas vigentes no cotidiano do autor e, conseqüentemente, do homem moderno, e que possuam conotação negativa, tais como o poder, simbolizado pela burocracia, pela divinização, e pelo espaço. Partindo dessa premissa, propõe-se relacionar esses temas à teoria dos conjuntos da matemática, na qual um conjunto maior contém um conjunto menor, esse atuando por sua vez como um subconjunto daquele. Propõe-se aqui fazer uma analogia do conjunto poder e seu enfoque negativo como poder com o subconjunto burocracia, este intimamente ligado àquele, e que possui intersecção com os subconjuntos divinização e espaço. Por fim, ressaltar-se-á a universalidade da obra de Kafka, que possibilita a efetuação de analogias temáticas das mais diversas, não só as aqui expostas em forma de conjuntos e subconjuntos, pelo fato de seu texto ser multifacetado no tocante a temas. / This monograph focuses on analyzing the narrative of The Castle, a novel written by the Czech author Franz Kafka, in 1922. It aims at establishing a connection between certain aspects within the text which may have a metaphorical association with themes related to not only the authors life experiences, but also any other modern mans. It will be centered on a formal analysis of the novel and on metaphorical aspects within the narrative, which may have a negative connotation linked with power, represented by bureaucracy, divinization and space. Afterwards, we will propose a relation of such themes to the set theory from Mathematics, in which a greater set contains a smaller set, also known as a subset. We aim at drawing an analogy of power as a set and its negative connotation with the bureaucratic subset, which are intimately connected. Bureaucracy intersects the two other subsets called divinization and space. Eventually, we will focus on the universality of Kafkas work, which enables the drawing of many other thematic analogies, not only the ones discussed in this set theory proposed in this monograph, due to the fact that Kafkas work is multifaceted in terms of themes.

This thesis is a comparative analysis of the doctrine of deification in sacramental worship as taught (and practiced) by the Eastern Orthodox and Latter-day Saint (Mormon) churches. The doctrine that man may become like God—known as deification, divinization, or theosis—is a central teaching in the Orthodox and Mormon traditions. Both faiths believe that man may become like God. However, because of doctrinal presuppositions and disagreements regarding the natures of God and man, Orthodox and Mormon teachings of deification do not mean the same thing. This thesis will outline several key distinctions between their respective doctrines. And yet, despite doctrinal disagreements, this thesis will also illustrate how Orthodoxy and Mormonism share several notable similarities regarding the function of sacramental worship in the process of theosis. Mormonism and Orthodoxy both believe that men and women may achieve theosis only as they interact with God. Through the combined initiatives of the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, humankind may receive the attributes of divinity and participate in the process of deification. The means whereby humanity may interact with God are through sacramental participation. This thesis will illustrate how institutional rituals and personal worship practices foster man's divine interaction and ultimate deification. Furthermore, Orthodox and Mormon rituals are deeply rooted in the doctrine of deification—each ritual contributing to man's divine transformation. As such, those rituals reflect numerous thematic variations and emphatic differences of their respective traditions. This should not discourage the reader from comparing Orthodox sacraments with Mormon sacraments; rather, as one studies the similarities and differences in the Orthodox and Mormon sacraments, he or she will begin to see how deification is so intricately woven into the worship practices of these two faiths.