<p> In a post Christendom Canada, the church finds itself in a place where it must turn to the biblical witness and discern theologically about the course of the church in an ever changing society. This thesis explores passages that speak about the incarnation such as John 1:14, and the Christ Hymn in Philippians (Phil 2:6-11) and points out that the incarnation is a testimony of the missional nature, and work of God. This thesis also expands upon this point to develop an understanding of how the church today can be described as incarnational. The remainder of the study is devoted to understanding the critical role of leadership in cultivating an incarnational church, and developing the incarnational leadership model needed for it. The model explores what it means for a leader to live incarnationally, and provides a framework for how it shapes their life, ministry and congregations.</p> / Thesis / Master of Divinity (M.Div)

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Le mouvement des Églises émergentes qui s’est manifesté en Occident depuis la fin du XXe siècle cherche à répondre aux nouvelles réalités qu’impose la postchrétienté à l’intelligence de la foi. Par le biais d’un questionnaire en ligne destiné aux membres des Églises émergentes du Grand Montréal, ce mémoire explore les avancées de celles-ci vers l’inculturation de la foi chrétienne afin de percevoir si l’on ne pouvait pas y déceler des pistes ecclésiales et missiologiques qui pourraient éventuellement servir à d’autres Églises du Québec comme ailleurs dans les pays francophones. Par inculturation, j’entends la participation culturelle et citoyenne des membres d’une Église dans la vie, les projets et les débats de société à laquelle ils appartiennent, en cohérence avec leurs convictions religieuses. Comment vivre, interpréter et exprimer la foi chrétienne au sein de la société québécoise postchrétienne actuelle, en particulier dans les sphères culturelles, sociales et politiques, est au coeur de mon interrogation. Pour ce faire, je propose que des Églises n’aient pas d’autre choix que de vivre une forme de kénose qui lui permettra de se défaire de certaines traditions et structures associées à la chrétienté. / The emerging church movement that has arisen in the West since the end of the 20th century seeks to respond to the new realities that postchristendom has imposed towards the Christian faith. Through an online questionnaire designed for members of the Emerging Churches in Greater Montreal, this thesis explores their progress towards the inculturation of Christian faith in order to understand the ecclesial and missiological principles that could be identified and which could eventually be used by other churches in Quebec and elsewhere in the French world. By inculturation, I mean the cultural and civic participation of members of a Church in the projects and debates of the society to which they belong, in coherence with their religious convictions. How to live, interpret and express the Christian faith in today's post- Christian Quebec society, particularly in the cultural, social and political spheres, is at the heart of my interrogation. To do this, I propose that Churches have no choice but to live a form of kenosis by which to leave behind certain traditions and structures associated with Christendom. / Résumé en espagnol

La présente thèse, intitulée «L’incarnation du Verbe de Dieu comme œuvre du salut chez Athanase d’Alexandrie» met en évidence un sujet qui a une connotation très forte pour l’histoire du christianisme et des pensées religieuses en général, à savoir l’action salvatrice du Fils de Dieu en faveur de l’homme, avec toutes les conséquences qui en résultent. Athanase a une conception assez originale sur la nature de l’homme, qu’il conçoit comme un être corruptible, issu du néant, mais destiné pourtant à une vie éternelle par la participation de Dieu, celui qui possède la vraie vie et qui lui communique cette vie si celui-ci reste en communion avec Dieu. Pour qu’il puisse réaliser cette relation très personnelle, Dieu l’a créé selon son image, le Logos-même et l’a doté de l’esprit, l’esprit qui lui permettait d’élever toujours sa pensée vers le monde intelligible et de voir Dieu selon l’image duquel il a été fait. A cause de son insouciance et de la tromperie du démon l’homme n’a pas réussi à garder la pureté de son esprit, pureté qui lui garantissait la contemplation de l’Image, s’est retourné par le péché vers les choses sensibles et a commencé à se contempler lui-même. Ainsi la séparation de Dieu, sa source de vie, renvoie l’homme à sa condition initiale de créature sortie du néant. Mais Dieu, dans son amour infini, n’a pas voulu laisser l’homme dans cet état déplorable et a envoyé dans le monde son propre Verbe pour qu’en sa qualité d’Image de Dieu, il renouvelle l’homme fait selon l’image et qu’en assumant une humanité réelle, il le libère du péché et de la mort par sa mort et sa résurrection. Pourtant l’œuvre salvatrice accomplie par l’incarnation du Verbe ne se limite pas seulement à une restauration de l’homme dans son état initial, mais suppose quelque chose de plus, à savoir une union si étroite de l’humanité et de la divinité dans la personne du Christ, de telle sorte que la nature humaine-même est rendue perméable à la divinité. Cette œuvre réalisée dans la personne du Christ se prolonge dans tous les hommes, grâce à leur parenté et incorporation en Christ. C’est ainsi que l’auteur conclut par sa célèbre phrase: «Dieu s’est fait homme pour que l’homme soit fait dieu», un dieu non par nature, mais par grâce. / This thesis, entitled “The incarnation of the Word of God as work of salvation in Athanasius of Alexandria” emphasizes a topic that has very strong connotations in the history of Christianity and religious thoughts in general, namely the liberating action of the Son of God for man, with all the consequences that will result. Athanasius’ thinking of human nature is, in some degree, original. For him, the human being is a corruptible one, as originated in nothingness, but destined to an eternal life through the participation of God, who possesses the true life and who communicates it to him, if he remains in communion with God. To achieve this personal relationship, God created him after his image, the Logos himself, and endowed him with spirit, which enabled him to raise always his thought to the intelligible world and to see God in whose image he was made. Because of his recklessness and deceit of the devil, man failed to keep the purity of his spirit, purity that ensured his contemplation of the Image, he turned through sin to sensible things and began to contemplate himself. Thus, the separation from God, the source of his life, makes the man returning to his original condition as creature out of nothing. But God in his infinite love would not leave man in this deplorable state and sent into the world his own Word to renew, as Image of God, the man made after this Image and, by assuming a true humanity, deliver him from sin and death by his death and his resurrection. Yet the saving work accomplished by the incarnation of the Word is not limited only to a restoration of man to his original condition, but requires something more, namely a union so close of humanity and divinity in the person of Christ, so that the human nature itself is made permeable to the deity. This work accomplished in the Christ’ person extends to all men, through their similarity and their incorporation into Christ. Thus the author concludes by his famous phrase: “God became man so that man is made god”, a god, not by nature but by grace.

From Preface: This study has a two-fold nature. In one sense the focus of attention is on the Apologists. The chapters on Clement and Athanasius attempt to follow through the basic questions raised by the Apologists. But in the other sense, what I have presented is four independent studies dealing with Justin, the other Apologists, Clement and Athanasius's Contra Gentes. Although much the same questions have been asked in all four sections, there has been no rigid attempt to systematize the answers. This may well be one of the strengths as well as one of the weaknesses of the work.

No description available.

Notre recherche porte sur la théologie mystique chez Grégoire de Nysse et effectue une relecture de la mystique du Nysséen à partir de deux thématiques capitales dans l’œuvre de ce dernier : la thématique gnoséologique et la thématique érotique. Au cours de cette étude, nous montrons la place considérable de la gnôsis dans l’œuvre grégorienne et nous redéfinissons le statut de celle-ci dans l’ascension de l’âme vers Dieu en lien étroit avec l’amour. Cet amour, désigné par l’érôs, constitue le double mouvement de l’expérience mystique et se définit comme l’érôs de Dieu pour l’homme (l’incarnation du Christ) et l’érôs de l’homme vers Dieu (la divinisation de l’homme). Cette conception de l’érôs résulte à la fois d’une continuité et d’une discontinuité par rapport à l’héritage philosophique grec, dans une relation qui nous invite à redéfinir la théologie comme généalogie. À partir de cette aventure érotique entre Dieu et l’homme, Grégoire établit une relation intrinsèque entre foi et raison et pose les fondements d’un dialogue véritable entre théologie et philosophie puisque, selon lui, la véritable ascension mystique ne saurait être détachée de la démarche gnoséologique, elle-même étroitement liée à l’expérience érotique. Ainsi la mystique, fondée sur la gnôsis et l’érôs, redéfinit-elle la théologie comme mystique. / This piece of research into Gregory of Nyssa’s mystical theology provides a rereading of Gregory’s mysticism, based upon two leading themes in his work: gnoseology and eros. The study demonstrates the considerable space Gregory gives to gnôsis in his work, and redefines the role it plays in the soul’s ascent to God, which is closely connected with love. This love, designated as erôs, constitutes the dual movement of mystical experience, and is defined as the erôs of God for human beings (incarnation of Christ) and as the erôs that draws human beings towards God (divinisation of humanity). Such a conception of erôs is both continuous and discontinuous with the Greek philosophical tradition, a relation that invites a redefinition of theology as genealogy. On the basis of this erotic adventure between God and humankind, Gregory establishes an intrinsic relation between faith and reason, and lays the foundations of a genuine dialogue between theology and philosophy. For according to him, authentic mystical ascent cannot be detached from the gnoseological process, which, in turn, is closely linked to erotic experience. In this way, a mysticism founded on gnôsis and erôs leads to a redefinition of theology as mysticism.

O presente trabalho pretende ser uma elucidação dos problemas que estão na origem da transição de uma fenomenologia da percepção à ontologia do ser sensível. Para tanto, concentramo-nos sobre os primeiros livros de Merleau-Ponty, delineando como se forma ali o projeto que irá ocupar a obra inteira, a saber, o de conciliar a inerência da subjetividade ao mundo e a capacidade intencional de fazê-lo aparecer em sua transcendência. Mostramos como a crítica à assimetria transcendental da correlação intencional husserliana conduz Merleau-Ponty a entendê-la não mais como aquela que se estabelece entre a consciência e o objeto, mas sim entre o corpo próprio e o mundo percebido, correlação na qual não mais apenas se anuncia a relatividade do objeto à subjetividade, mas uma dimensão de pertencimento desta última ao mundo sensível. Analisamos a partir de então os instrumentos conceituais, largamente debitários da fenomenologia husserliana da passividade, que entram em cena para dar conta desse projeto: a compreensão do mundo como estrutura de horizonte, a descoberta das sensações como portadoras de uma intencionalidade original, a da temporalidade como instância na qual fenomenalização do ser e enraizamento subjetivo nele devem poder coincidir. Mostramos, todavia, que a realização do projeto se encontra comprometida, nas primeiras obras, pela manutenção do postulado classicamente fenomenológico segundo o qual deve existir uma diferença irredutível entre a consciência e o aparecer como condição para que subsista, do lado objetivo da correlação, a transcendência do aparecente em relação ao aparecer. A dificuldade das primeiras obras para dar conta de uma relação de diferença que é também a de uma identidade entre a consciência e o aparecer se traduz nas aporias da encarnação e do cogito tácito, e implica que não consigam pensar a unidade de inerência e transcendência. A esse respeito, mostramos que a doutrina da temporalidade apenas amaina a dificuldade e não a resolve, na medida em que pressuporá um olho fora do tempo para o qual o tempo se temporaliza. Por fim, evidenciamos como o conceito de reversibilidade na última fase da obra torna- se compreensível como resposta a esse problema evidenciado nos primeiros livros. / This work aims at elucidating the problems underlying Merleau-Pontys transition from a phenomenology of perception to an ontology of sensible being. By means of an analysis of his first books, we try to apprehend the sense of the philosophical task he will pursue throughout his career, namely to reconcile the inherence of subjectivity in the world and its intentional ability to make it appear in its transcendence. We show that Merleau-Pontys critique of Husserls transcendental idealism leads him to interpret intentional correlation not as one established between consciousness and object, but as one established between lived body and perceived world. This correlation no longer sustains exclusively the thesis of the objects dependence on transcendental subjectivity, but also implicates a dimension of subjectivitys belonging to the sensible world and hence to some form of objectivity. We then analyze the conceptual tools, widely taken from Husserl\'s phenomenology of passivity, that come into play to account for this project: the world as horizon structure, the sensations as bearing an original form of intentionality, temporality as the instance in which beings phenomenalisation and subjectivitys rooting in it should be reconciled. However, we try to demonstrate that Merleau-Pontys project is not fully achieved in his first works. This is mainly due to the phenomenological principle according to which there must be some sort of difference between consciousness and appearance in order for the thing that appears to maintain its intentional transcendence in relation to phenomena. In his first books, Merleau-Ponty is incapable of accounting for this difference between consciousness and appearance as being also some sort of identity between them. This renders the notions of lived boy and incarnation conceptually instable, and ultimately implies an antinomy between inherence and transcendence. In that sense, we show that the doctrine of temporality only lessens the difficulty without actually solving it. In conclusion, we sketch how the concept of reversibility in Meleau-Pontys later works only becomes fully understandable as a response to the difficulties revealed in his earlier books.

[pt] O discurso teológico assume relevância e autenticidade na medida em que expressa a tarefa antropológica: é na realidade humana que Deus se revela, e sua autocomunicação acontece em Jesus Cristo. N´Ele, a realidade humana encontra sentido e salvação. Refletimos sobre a antropologia teológica de Juan Alfaro, redescobrindo elementos de sua sistemática que nos permitam compreender a concepção cristã de pessoa humana. Os pressupostos antropológicos de sua teologia - o mundo, as relações interpessoais, a história e a morte - ajudam a explicitar a pergunta pela própria pessoa humana como pergunta por Deus. Essa interpelação nasce na abertura e na esperança que todo homem traz em si para encontrar o sentido Absoluto. Em Cristo, realiza-se a plenitude da Graça, Pessoa do Verbo de Deus, em sua Encarnação, chave hermenêutica do mistério salvífico: a realidade humana é inserida na relação de amor trinitário que personaliza e cristifica o homem e sua existência. Na relação filial de Cristo com o Pai, todos são personalizados para uma nova relação de filial fraternidade que manifesta o sentido da pessoa humana, visível na solidariedade salvífica: personalizados em Cristo para cristificar o mundo e a história. / [en] The theological discourse gains relevance and authenticity as it expresses the anthropological task: it is in the human reality that God reveals Himself, and his selfcomunication happens in Jesus Christ. In Him, human reality finds sense and salvation. We reflect upon the theological anthropology of Juan Alfaro, re-discovering elements of his systematics wich helps us understand the christian conception of human person. The anthropological presumptions of his theology - the world, interpersonal relations, history and death - help explain the question made by the human person themselves as a question made by God. That interpellation comes from the openness and hope that every man carries within to find the Absolute sense. In Christ the fulfillment of grace is achieved Person of the Verb of God, in his incarnation,the hermeneutic key of the saving mistery: human reality is inserted in the relation of trinitary love which personalises and christifies man and his existence. In the filial relation between Christ and the Father, every one is personalized to a new relation of filial fraternity that manifests the sense of the human person, visible in saving solidarity: personalized in Christ to christify the world and history.

Les travaux entrepris dans le cadre de cette thèse de doctorat portent sur l'impact de différentes modalités perceptives et graphiques pouvant affecter l'expérience utilisateur en environnement virtuel immersif. Le positionnement de nos recherches s'inscrit dans un contexte où une majorité d’applications de réalité virtuelle reposent sur une reconduction de la vision à la première personne induisant un transfert naturel de nos mécanismes perceptifs. Cependant, il est fréquent que ces applications recourent à une représentation partielle, voire omettent l'intégration d'entités visuelles figurant la présence de l'utilisateur et limitant dès lors l'induction d'un sentiment d'incarnation au sein de l'environnement virtuel.Dans ce contexte, notre étude contribue à étendre les connaissances concernant l'influence du point de vue et de la fidélité visuelle des avatars sur l'expérience utilisateur. Sur un plan théorique, nos travaux proposent une articulation des notions de présence et d'incarnation au travers d'un méta-modèle reposant sur des intrications identifiées entre ces concepts lors de notre revue de littérature. Sur un plan expérimental, les trois études menées dans le cadre de nos recherches permettent d'identifier plusieurs facteurs impactant les sentiments de présence et d'incarnation, le comportement des utilisateurs ainsi que les performances en ce qui concerne la navigation et les interactions. Notre première expérimentation démontre la possibilité d'avoir recours au point de vue à la troisième personne en réalité virtuelle tout en conservant un sentiment d'incarnation élevé. Nos résultats permettent également d'identifier les potentialités octroyées par les points de vue à la première et à la troisième personne en matière de perception, de navigation et d'interaction. Nous avons conduit par la suite des études portant sur la fidélité visuelle qui démontrent l'impact positif de la similarité entre l'apparence des utilisateurs et celle de leur avatar sur l'évaluation de l'attractivité des modèles et sur le processus de sélection de personnages. Enfin, les résultats de notre troisième expérimentation démontrent l'impact positif de la véracité des avatars sur le sentiment d'incarnation, ainsi que son effet sur l'expérience subjective et le comportement des utilisateurs en environnement virtuel immersif. / The work undertaken in this doctoral thesis focuses on the impact of different perceptual and graphical modalities that can affect user experience in immersive virtual environment. Our research takes position in a context where a majority of virtual reality applications are based on a first-person perspective leading to a natural transfer of our perceptual mechanisms. However, these applications often use partial representation or even omit the integration of visual entities representing the presence of the user and thus limiting the induction of a sense of embodiment within the virtual environment.In this context, our study contributes to expanding the knowledge concerning the influence of perspective and avatar visual fidelity on user experience. On a theoretical level, our work proposes an articulation of the notions of presence and embodiment through a meta-model based on intrications identified between these concepts during our literature review. On an experimental level, the three studies conducted as part of our research make it possible to identify several factors impacting the sense of presence and embodiment, user behavior and performance in terms of navigation and interaction. Our first experiment demonstrates the possibility of using a third-person perspective in virtual reality while maintaining a high sense of embodiment. Our results also make it possible to identify the potentialities enabled by first- and third-person in terms of perception, navigation and interaction. Afterward, we conducted studies on visual fidelity that demonstrate the positive impact of the similarity between users' appearance and that of their avatar on the evaluation of models' attractiveness and on the character selection process. Finally, the results of our third experiment demonstrate the positive impact of avatars' truthfulness on the sense of embodiment, as well as its effect on the subjective experience and behavior of users in immersive virtual environment.