This thesis investigates the relationship between Christianity and urban monumental space in the late antique Levant. Through the analysis of both textual and archaeological evidence it seeks to clarify both the motives and the stages of the process of Christian takeover of the urban space of Levantine cities from the 4th to the 7th century AD. In doing so Christians were in essence both projecting their growth as the predominant religion and, at the same time, creating an entirely new monumental landscape. The case studies are presented in three separate groups, selected on the basis of the principal strategy that was chosen in the process of Christianisation of urban space. The first section analyses the cases of Gerasa, Jerusalem, Heliopolis, and Petra to illustrate the first of these strategies: the main method for occupying the symbolic space of the city was the construction of a contrast between the surviving ruins of the earlier, Hellenic, temples and the new Christian churches. The second group of case studies includes Scythopolis, Caesarea Maritima, Gaza, and to a certain extent Heliopolis. This section deals with those cities where the main strategy was the physical demolition of all or at least the most pre-eminent Hellenic buildings and their direct replacement with a new, and often grand, church. The third group, and the last, consists of the cities of Bostra, Gadara, Apamea, where rather than having to engage with a major Hellenic monument the main competitor was the secular state whether local or imperial. This is found to have resulted in a search for integration into the landscape rather than active competition.

Lo studio ricostruisce i sette anni di presidenza di Carlo Maria Martini al Consiglio delle Conferenze episcopali d’Europa (CCEE) dal 1986 al 1993, attraverso la documentazione conservata presso l’archivio Martini, depositato all’Archivio diocesano di Milano, e l’Archivio del CCEE, conservato a San Gallo. La ricerca mette in luce alcuni argomenti: la consistenza del dialogo ecumenico in Europa; il tema della collegialità all’interno della Chiesa cattolica; la discussione sul significato di “nuova evangelizzazione” europea; l’unificazione dell’Europa e la ripresa dei rapporti tra vescovi cattolici occidentali e orientali. La ricerca dunque si focalizza su questi quattro temi nel tentativo di inserirli nell’ampia cornice del dibattito cattolico tra anni Ottanta e Novanta. / The research focuses on the presidency of Carlo Maria Martini of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) from 1986 to 1993. The documents are stored in the diocesan archive of Milan, and in the CCEE’s archive in St. Gallen. The research highlights four topics. The first one is the ecumenical dialogue in Europe in the 80s. The second one is the collegiality in the catholic church during the John Paul II’s pontificate. The Third one is the debate on the significance of “new evangelization” for the Catholic Church. The fourth one is the role of the Catholic Church in the unification process of Europe after the collapse of the soviet system after 1989.

L’historiographie récente du catholicisme québécois a passé pratiquement sous silence la vie et l’épiscopat de Mgr Paul Grégoire, archevêque de Montréal de 1968 à 1990. Pourtant, son épiscopat s’est déployé pendant une période cruciale de l’histoire du Québec et de l’Église catholique. Lorsque Mgr Grégoire devient archevêque de Montréal en avril 1968, le Québec vit encore sa Révolution tranquille, une période qui a vu l’éclosion au Québec de mentalités et moeurs nouvelles à l’enseigne du rejet du passé, sous l’impulsion d’une sécularisation et d’une déchristianisation déferlantes. De son côté, l’Église catholique vit son propre renouveau identitaire, fruit des travaux du Concile Vatican II, terminé depuis décembre 1965. C’est au confluent de ces deux renouveaux identitaires que l’épiscopat de Mgr Grégoire va prendre forme. L’archevêque de Montréal devra faire face à de nombreux défis inédits sur les fronts externes et internes. Ad extra, il devra prendre acte des défis d’une nouvelle donne sociale extrêmement défavorable à son Église, notamment sur le flanc de la confessionnalité du système d’éducation. Ad intra, il devra implanter les réformes conciliaires dans son diocèse, non sans avoir à affronter plusieurs résistances et incompréhensions, dont certaines deviendront des crises remettant en question la qualité de son leadership comme archevêque de Montréal. Au moment de sa retraite en mars 1990, Monsieur le cardinal Grégoire aura vu l’Église catholique perdre la majeure partie de son influence morale et spirituelle sur la société montréalaise et québécoise. Même si sa personnalité ne l’avait pas desservi dans ses efforts pour imprimer à l’Église de Montréal son orientation doctrinale, sa discipline et son style, on voit mal comment il aurait pu contrer significativement une évolution toute-puissante dans sa globalité. C’est ce que révèle le bilan de son épiscopat. / The recent historiography on Catholicism in the Province of Québec has neglected the life and episcopate of Paul Grégoire, archbishop of Montréal from 1968 to 1990. Yet his episcopate covers a crucial period in the history of the Province and the Catholic Church. When he became archbishop of Montréal in April 1968, the Province of Québec was still in the midst of its Quiet Revolution, a period of growing change in mentalities and morals brought on by a rejection of the past and the rising tide of secularization and dechristianization. For its part, the Catholic Church was going through its own renewed identity process as a result of the Second Vatican Council which had ended December 1965. It is at the juncture of these two renewed identities that Archbishop Grégoire’s episcopate took shape. The prelate had to cope with many new challenges both on the external and internal fronts. Ad extra, he had to meet the challenges of a new social order extremely unfavorable towards his Church, particularly concerning the denominational school system. Ad intra, he had to implement the Council reforms throughout his diocese and in so doing encountered a great deal of resistance and much misunderstanding which sometimes led to crises casting doubt on his leadership. At the time of his retirement in March 1990, Cardinal Grégoire had seen the Catholic Church lose the greater part of its moral and spiritual influence on the Montréal and Québec societies. He had set out to mold the Church of Montréal according to his doctrinal orientation, his discipline and his style. Even while taking into consideration that his personality was not best suited for the task, we fail to see how he could have significantly countered the great opposing forces at work. The study of his episcopate clearly reveals this.

L’historiographie récente du catholicisme québécois a passé pratiquement sous silence la vie et l’épiscopat de Mgr Paul Grégoire, archevêque de Montréal de 1968 à 1990. Pourtant, son épiscopat s’est déployé pendant une période cruciale de l’histoire du Québec et de l’Église catholique. Lorsque Mgr Grégoire devient archevêque de Montréal en avril 1968, le Québec vit encore sa Révolution tranquille, une période qui a vu l’éclosion au Québec de mentalités et moeurs nouvelles à l’enseigne du rejet du passé, sous l’impulsion d’une sécularisation et d’une déchristianisation déferlantes. De son côté, l’Église catholique vit son propre renouveau identitaire, fruit des travaux du Concile Vatican II, terminé depuis décembre 1965. C’est au confluent de ces deux renouveaux identitaires que l’épiscopat de Mgr Grégoire va prendre forme. L’archevêque de Montréal devra faire face à de nombreux défis inédits sur les fronts externes et internes. Ad extra, il devra prendre acte des défis d’une nouvelle donne sociale extrêmement défavorable à son Église, notamment sur le flanc de la confessionnalité du système d’éducation. Ad intra, il devra implanter les réformes conciliaires dans son diocèse, non sans avoir à affronter plusieurs résistances et incompréhensions, dont certaines deviendront des crises remettant en question la qualité de son leadership comme archevêque de Montréal. Au moment de sa retraite en mars 1990, Monsieur le cardinal Grégoire aura vu l’Église catholique perdre la majeure partie de son influence morale et spirituelle sur la société montréalaise et québécoise. Même si sa personnalité ne l’avait pas desservi dans ses efforts pour imprimer à l’Église de Montréal son orientation doctrinale, sa discipline et son style, on voit mal comment il aurait pu contrer significativement une évolution toute-puissante dans sa globalité. C’est ce que révèle le bilan de son épiscopat. / The recent historiography on Catholicism in the Province of Québec has neglected the life and episcopate of Paul Grégoire, archbishop of Montréal from 1968 to 1990. Yet his episcopate covers a crucial period in the history of the Province and the Catholic Church. When he became archbishop of Montréal in April 1968, the Province of Québec was still in the midst of its Quiet Revolution, a period of growing change in mentalities and morals brought on by a rejection of the past and the rising tide of secularization and dechristianization. For its part, the Catholic Church was going through its own renewed identity process as a result of the Second Vatican Council which had ended December 1965. It is at the juncture of these two renewed identities that Archbishop Grégoire’s episcopate took shape. The prelate had to cope with many new challenges both on the external and internal fronts. Ad extra, he had to meet the challenges of a new social order extremely unfavorable towards his Church, particularly concerning the denominational school system. Ad intra, he had to implement the Council reforms throughout his diocese and in so doing encountered a great deal of resistance and much misunderstanding which sometimes led to crises casting doubt on his leadership. At the time of his retirement in March 1990, Cardinal Grégoire had seen the Catholic Church lose the greater part of its moral and spiritual influence on the Montréal and Québec societies. He had set out to mold the Church of Montréal according to his doctrinal orientation, his discipline and his style. Even while taking into consideration that his personality was not best suited for the task, we fail to see how he could have significantly countered the great opposing forces at work. The study of his episcopate clearly reveals this.

The subject of this thesis is Jewish conversion to Christianity in medieval England. The majority of the material covered dates between 1066 and c.1290. The overall argument of the thesis contends that converts to Christianity in England remained essentially Jews. Following a discussion of the relevant secondary literature, which examines the existing discussion of converts and conversion, the principal arguments contained in the chapters of the thesis include the assertion that the increasing restrictiveness of the laws and rules regulating the Jewish community in England created a push factor towards conversion, and that converts to Christianity inhabited a legal grey area, neither under the jurisdiction of the Exchequer of the Jews, nor completely outside of it. Numerous questions are asked (and answered) about the variety of convert experience, in order to argue that there was a distinction between leaving Judaism and joining Christianity. Two convert biographies are presented. The first shows how the liminality that was a part of the conversion process affected the post-conversion life of a convert, and the second shows how a convert might successfully integrate into Christian society. The analysis of converts and conversion focusses on answering a number of questions. These relate to, among other things, pre-conversion relationships with royal family members, the reaction to corrody requests for converts, motives for conversion, forced or coerced conversions, the idea that a convert could be neither Christian nor Jew, converts re-joining Judaism, converts who carried the names of royal functionaries, the domus conversorum, convert instruction, and converting minors. The appendix to the thesis contains a complete catalogue of Jewish converts in medieval England. Among other things noted therein are inter-convert relationships, and extant source material. Each convert also has a biography.

A cathedral of the Church of England is the seat of the bishop and a centre of worship and mission. The history of this institution is followed from the English Reformation, which it survived, through to the Commonwealth, which it did not. Restored on the return of the monarchy, it then survived with little further trouble until the nineteenth century, when a lot of its income was diverted to the provision of churches and ministers for the populous urban and industrialised areas, which the Church could not fund in any other way. It was the subject of investigation by two Royal Commissions in the nineteenth century and three church-inspired commissions in the twentieth. These commissions stressed the links that should exist between cathedral, bishop and diocese, which the nineteenth century diocesan revival also encouraged, and suggested changes in instruments of governance to achieve this. Some proposals came to nothing, but others were brought into law. Unlike the Roman Catholic cathedral, the Anglican one never lost its autonomy. The religious situation in Britain today is considered in the light of some contemporary sociology and psychology, and it is recognised that the continued decline in the fortunes of the Church is tied up with the massive subjective turn which characterises contemporary culture. The cathedral has not shared the mistrust which faces the Church, and its various roles are discussed in the light of its continued hold on public affection. The conclusions reached are that, although the cathedral now has strong links with bishop and diocese, it should retain its independence within relationships of interdependence with them, to enable it to harness the popularity which it enjoys to remain a centre of worship, but primarily to concentrate on being a centre of mission. Appropriate ways of achieving that are discussed.

This study is an art history of Santa Maria dei Carmini, Venice, from its foundation in c. 1286 to the present day, with a special focus on the late Renaissance period (c. 1500-1560). It explores a relatively overlooked corner of Renaissance Venice and provides an opportunity to study the Carmelite Order's relationship to art. It seeks to answer outstanding questions of attribution, dating, patronage, architectural arrangements and locations of works of art in the church. Additionally it has attempted to have a diverse approach to problems of interpretation and has examined the visual imagery's relationship to the Carmelite liturgy, religious function and later interpretations of art works. Santa Maria dei Carmini was amongst the largest basilicas in Venice when it was completed and the Carmelites were a major international order with a strong literary tradition. Their church in Venice contained a wealth of art works produced by one of the most restlessly inventive generations in the Western European tradition. Chapter 1 outlines a history of the Carmelites, their hagiography and devotions, which inform much of the discussion in later chapters. The second Chapter discusses the early history of the Carmelite church in Venice, establishing when it was founded, and examining the decorative aspects before 1500. It demonstrates how the tramezzo and choir-stalls compartmentalised the nave and how these different spaces within the church were used. Chapter 3 studies two commissions for the decoration of the tramezzo, that span the central period of this thesis, c. 1500-1560. There it is shown that subjects relevant to the Carmelite Order, and the expected public on different sides of the tramezzo were chosen and reinterpreted over time as devotions changed. Cima da Conegliano's Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1511) is discussed in Chapter 4, where the dedication of the altar is definitively proven and the respective liturgy is expanded upon. The tradition of votive images is shown to have influenced Cima's representation of the donor. In Chapter 5 Cima's altarpiece for the Scuola di Sant'Alberto's altar is shown to have been replaced because of the increasing ambiguity over the identification of the titulus after the introduction of new Carmelite saints at the beginning of the century. Its compositional relationship to the vesperbild tradition is also examined and shown to assist the faithful in important aspects of religious faith. The sixth chapter examines the composition of Lorenzo Lotto's St Nicholas in Glory (1527-29) and how it dramatises the relationship between the devoted, the interceding saints and heaven. It further hypothesises that the inclusion of St Lucy is a corroboration of the roles performed by St Nicholas and related to the confraternity's annual celebrations in December. The authorship, date and iconography of Tintoretto's Presentation of Christ (c. 1545) is analysed in Chapter 7, which also demonstrates how the altarpiece responds to the particular liturgical circumstances on the feast of Candlemas. The final chapter discusses the church as a whole, providing the first narrative of the movement of altars and development of the decorative schemes. The Conclusion highlights the important themes that have developed from this study and provides a verdict on the role of ‘Carmelite art' in the Venice Carmini.

This thesis questions whether it is possible to locate a boundary between gift and bribe that can survive comparison across cultures and history. This question is addressed in a multidisciplinary way, engaging the literature on the current use and the history of the language of bribery, studies of gifting and reciprocity, and the anthropological and philosophical literature on relativism. The approach is non-linear—like a hound on a chase, stopping in medieval England, ancient Athens and various societies in the modern world. It is concluded that if there is a universal gift/bribe boundary, it is likely based on a norm of reciprocity rather than on a foundation of assumptions that incorporate modern capitalism and Weberian bureaucracy. This implies that global anti-bribery initiatives, as presently conceived, are ill founded. An alternative account, founded on reciprocity and conventionalism, is postulated as a more secure foundation for locating a gift/bribe boundary.