<p>The Virgin Mary reportedly began to appear at Greensides Farm, just outside the village of Marmora, Ontario, Canada, in 1992. She continues to appear to three central visionaries at the pilgrimage shrine. Catholic pilgrims come from around the world to pray, many of them with the hope of seeing Mary or experiencing a miracle. Countless pilgrims claim to have received spiritual, emotional, or physical healing through their miraculous experiences, events which they attribute to the power of the Holy Spirit. I argue that contestation is present at the Marmora pilgrimage shrine and occurs over symbols embedded in the activities of individuals and different Catholic groups. Communitas also exists at Marmora through the shrine's liminality, but it is normative communitas, and not spontaneous communitas, because the pilgrimage is structured by outside social, political, and religious influences. Further to this point, most pilgrims retain their status in everyday life at the shrine, and some pilgrims (namely the visionaries) obtain a heightened status that transfers into their mundane lives. My research indicates that contestation and communitas among both pilgrims and Catholic groups affect each individual's interpretation of their pilgrimage experience at Marmora, just as individuals' interpretations of their own background and knowledge inform their experiences of contestation and communitas. An analysis of pilgrims' miracle and healing narratives demonstrates that it is important to explore individuals' interpretations of their pilgrimage experience, as the journey can have tangible effects on a pilgrim's mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being </p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

According to biblical record, diseases and illness have troubled individuals almost since the beginning of creation (Wilkinson, 1998: 7). To understand and make sense of sickness, mankind turned to religion. In the Old Testament health is seen as a gift of God, but illness is perceived as a punishment for sin (Leon-Dufour, 1962: 543). The preaching of Job argues against this view. The problem of evil still causes difficulties for the Christian today. God permits such challenges and, in responding to them, mankind is spiritually transformed: spiritual growth. God has given mankind a soul, and this soul is not part of an evolutionary process towards perfection: only Christ waslis perfect! However, through the crucifixion, God recognizes our suffering and we can recognize His suffering elsewhere (Fiddes, 1988: 11). The central question of this research is: How may one demonstrate the legitimacy and validity of miraculous healing through the charism of the Holy Spirit within the Catholic tradition? As healing miracles have an important place in Scripture, an examination is needed of the words used to describe miracles, tracing the English translation back to the original Greek or Hebrew words. Miracle stories are also attested to in secular sources such as the Antiquities of the Jews and the Babylonian Talmud. Scripture contains accounts of healing miracles, particularly in relation to the ministry of Jesus whose healing miracles are in accordance with His teaching. Such miracles were not simply stories spread by the disciples; they were signs, evidence of who Jesus is and that He had come in fulfilment of prophecy. These signs contained the quintessence of the Gospel itself, promoting faith, and that faith is a personal response to an act of witness. Healing is not dependent upon sinlessness, but is a gift of God to His creature: it can be mental, spiritual, emotional, involving relationships and the reconciliation of a person with God and his community through the receipt of the sacraments. Scriptural accounts of healing miracles contained a message that the Kingdom of God had arrived. They were a demonstration of God's truth to believers and non-believers alike and they continued to play an important part in the first Christians' experiences and mission. The church's healing ministry has its roots and authority in Scripture and the continuation of that ministry is through the action of the Holy Spirit. Both in the Early Church and the Church of today, restoration to health is implemented through the Mass and in the practice of a ministry that includes physical care through the establishment of hospitals managed by religious orders and latterly, through care homes staffed by lay volunteers. Consideration is given to Pasteur's (1822-1895) research into microorganisms and the consequent shift in focus to the avoidance of infection and to the development of effective cures. Understandably, the medical profession has concerns about the healing ministry: why are some healed and others not and why cannot healings be tested scientifically in the laboratory? In the Roman Catholic Church tradition shrines have always played an important role as places of pilgrimage and healing and, in spite of the existence of medical committees made up of scientists, doctors and priests to test all claims of healing before the Church acknowledges these as genuine, scepticism remains (Theillier, 2000: 3). Historically inseparable, a gap has developed between science and religion; this thesis attempts to demonstrate the reasons for this and to show that, since both are concerned with aspects of human suffering and death, the wall of separation between medicine and religion can be demolished (Larson and Matthews, 1997 (2): 3-6). As well as modern medical, technological advancements, which have provided exciting developments in the treatment of diseases like cancer, universities such as Edinburgh and Lancaster have established programmes that focus on how a person's faith may influence the progress of illness in a beneficial way. By considering the apparently opposing views of Hume and Lewis (1953: 51), questions arise concerning the extent to which the Laws of Nature are indeed fixed and unchanging; and concerning the contention that when God acts He does not suspend the Laws of Nature, but works with and through them. The researcher's views are either partially or fully endorsed by Boswell (1992), Brown (1984) and Wilkinson (1998); however, it is necessary to research the understanding of those whose scientific expertise prevents them from conceiving of the possibility of miraculous healing (Dawkins, 1997; Hume 1980; Williams, 1992; et al). The thesis addresses contemporary issues: the extent of modern research into the healing ministry and the fact that this is not reflected comprehensively in the training programmes of the Catholic Church for those preparing for the priesthood or as monks and nuns (Hocken, 2001: 54); and the current debate on euthanasia, which demonstrates clearly that the Bible continues to influence not only medical ethics but also, our society as it debates and determines its evaluation of human life. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Church and Dogma History))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in cooperation with Greenwich School of Theology, U.K., 2007

Em nossa dissertação de Mestrado analisamos o conjunto de quatro pinturas retabulares encomendadas na década de 40 do século XVII para ornar a capela do hoje extinto Convento dos Capuchinhos da Paciência de Cristo de Madri (1651-1836). Estas pinturas narram a lenda que ficou conhecida como a do Santo Cristo da Paciência ou do Cristo das Injurias, e figuram o ataque de um grupo de pessoas a um crucifixo que, enquanto sofre tal desacato, expressa o seu poder milagroso através da fala e do jorro de sangue. Nosso objetivo foi, por meio da análise dessas pinturas, entender o significado das imagens religiosas para a cristandade espanhola deste período e o quanto os ataques iconoclastas preocupavam os membros da Igreja católica e seus fiéis de modo geral, a ponto de gerar a encomenda de tais obras. Para tal, investigamos este corpus de imagens em dois níveis fundamentais: analisando seus elementos formais e temáticos; e sua relação com o cristianismo a encomenda e o debate sobre as imagens, sobre seus usos e funções nas práticas cultuais do catolicismo na Espanha do século XVII. / In our master dissertation we analyzed the group of four altarpieces commissioned in the 1640s to decorate the chapel of the extinct Capuchin Convent of Patience Christ of Madrid (1651-1836). These paintings ndepict the legend that became known as the Holy Christ of the Patience or Christ of the Injuries, and represent the attack of a group of people to a crucifix which, while suffering such disrespect, expressed his miraculous power through speech and the blood gush. Our aim was, through the analysis of these paintings, to understand the meaning of these religious images for Spanish Christendom in this period and how the iconoclastic attacks were a source of worry for the members of the Catholic Church and the faithful in general so as to generate a commission for such works. For this purpose, we investigated this corpus of images on two fundamental levels: analyzing their formal and thematic elements; and its relation to Christianity - the commission and the debate about images, their uses and functions in cultual practices of Catholicism in seventeenth century Spain.

During Fritz Reiner’s forty-year conducting career in the United States, he championed Béla Bartók’s orchestral music, programming Bartók’s orchestral works on over sixty concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with other major American orchestras. These included performances in which the composer himself appeared as a soloist. Moreover, Reiner continued to conduct Bartók’s music following the composer’s death, and his efforts to promote Bartók’s works contributed to their significance to the American orchestral repertoire. The thesis explores connections between performance markings in Reiner’s personal copies of Bartók scores and the recordings he made of them, the ways in which Reiner’s live performances and recordings of Bartók’s music affected the American reception of Bartók’s works, and how Reiner’s collaboration with Bartók related to the revision of Bartók’s orchestral works in their published forms through case studies of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 1, Concerto for Orchestra, and The Miraculous Mandarin. The first case study considers Bartók’s performances of his Piano Concerto no. 1 with Reiner during his first U.S. concert tour of 1927-1928. Following an overview of Bartók’s activities in America during that time, three first-edition scores of Piano Concerto no. 1 are analyzed in order to show the significance of handwritten additions, corrections, and conducting markings made by Fritz Reiner, a Universal Edition staff member, and Serge Koussevitzky in preparation for performances with Bartók in 1928. It not only provides a window into early performances of the work with the composer at the piano in the absence of a recording, but also offers insight into Bartók’s preferences for performance of the work, some of which are reflected in the first or second editions of the work, and some of which are only preserved in Reiner’s scores. The second case study examines a new source for Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra held at Northwestern University that bears extensive corrections by Bartók, as well as Reiner’s conducting markings. It discusses the circumstances surrounding Reiner’s acquisition of the score and its role in Reiner’s performances and recordings of Concerto for Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The third and final case study details Reiner’s preparation and performance of two concert versions (“Scenes” and “Suite”) of Bartók’s pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin using Reiner’s annotations to four versions of the score held at Northwestern, Bartók’s correspondence with his publisher, and program notes from Reiner’s 1927 world premiere of the “Scenes” to provide a better understanding of Reiner’s preparation and performances of both the “Scenes” and “Suite.” It further analyzes press coverage of his performances of the “Suite” to demonstrate that the press reaction to objectionable elements of the plot mellowed over time, and that critics consistently praised Reiner’s expert preparation and interpretation of the work. The thesis considers the publication and performance history of Bartók’s Piano Concerto no. 1, Concerto for Orchestra, and the concert versions of The Miraculous Mandarin in terms of Reiner’s collaboration with Bartók, his role in the promotion of Bartók’s music in the U.S., and his reputation as an authoritative interpreter of it.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Church and Dogma History))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in cooperation with Greenwich School of Theology, U.K., 2007.

According to biblical record, diseases and illness have troubled individuals almost since the beginning of creation (Wilkinson, 1998: 7). To understand and make sense of sickness, mankind turned to religion. In the Old Testament health is seen as a gift of God, but illness is perceived as a punishment for sin (Leon-Dufour, 1962: 543). The preaching of Job argues against this view. The problem of evil still causes difficulties for the Christian today. God permits such challenges and, in responding to them, mankind is spiritually transformed: spiritual growth. God has given mankind a soul, and this soul is not part of an evolutionary process towards perfection: only Christ waslis perfect! However, through the crucifixion, God recognizes our suffering and we can recognize His suffering elsewhere (Fiddes, 1988: 11). The central question of this research is: How may one demonstrate the legitimacy and validity of miraculous healing through the charism of the Holy Spirit within the Catholic tradition? As healing miracles have an important place in Scripture, an examination is needed of the words used to describe miracles, tracing the English translation back to the original Greek or Hebrew words. Miracle stories are also attested to in secular sources such as the Antiquities of the Jews and the Babylonian Talmud. Scripture contains accounts of healing miracles, particularly in relation to the ministry of Jesus whose healing miracles are in accordance with His teaching. Such miracles were not simply stories spread by the disciples; they were signs, evidence of who Jesus is and that He had come in fulfilment of prophecy. These signs contained the quintessence of the Gospel itself, promoting faith, and that faith is a personal response to an act of witness. Healing is not dependent upon sinlessness, but is a gift of God to His creature: it can be mental, spiritual, emotional, involving relationships and the reconciliation of a person with God and his community through the receipt of the sacraments. Scriptural accounts of healing miracles contained a message that the Kingdom of God had arrived. They were a demonstration of God's truth to believers and non-believers alike and they continued to play an important part in the first Christians' experiences and mission. The church's healing ministry has its roots and authority in Scripture and the continuation of that ministry is through the action of the Holy Spirit. Both in the Early Church and the Church of today, restoration to health is implemented through the Mass and in the practice of a ministry that includes physical care through the establishment of hospitals managed by religious orders and latterly, through care homes staffed by lay volunteers. Consideration is given to Pasteur's (1822-1895) research into microorganisms and the consequent shift in focus to the avoidance of infection and to the development of effective cures. Understandably, the medical profession has concerns about the healing ministry: why are some healed and others not and why cannot healings be tested scientifically in the laboratory? In the Roman Catholic Church tradition shrines have always played an important role as places of pilgrimage and healing and, in spite of the existence of medical committees made up of scientists, doctors and priests to test all claims of healing before the Church acknowledges these as genuine, scepticism remains (Theillier, 2000: 3). Historically inseparable, a gap has developed between science and religion; this thesis attempts to demonstrate the reasons for this and to show that, since both are concerned with aspects of human suffering and death, the wall of separation between medicine and religion can be demolished (Larson and Matthews, 1997 (2): 3-6). As well as modern medical, technological advancements, which have provided exciting developments in the treatment of diseases like cancer, universities such as Edinburgh and Lancaster have established programmes that focus on how a person's faith may influence the progress of illness in a beneficial way. By considering the apparently opposing views of Hume and Lewis (1953: 51), questions arise concerning the extent to which the Laws of Nature are indeed fixed and unchanging; and concerning the contention that when God acts He does not suspend the Laws of Nature, but works with and through them. The researcher's views are either partially or fully endorsed by Boswell (1992), Brown (1984) and Wilkinson (1998); however, it is necessary to research the understanding of those whose scientific expertise prevents them from conceiving of the possibility of miraculous healing (Dawkins, 1997; Hume 1980; Williams, 1992; et al). The thesis addresses contemporary issues: the extent of modern research into the healing ministry and the fact that this is not reflected comprehensively in the training programmes of the Catholic Church for those preparing for the priesthood or as monks and nuns (Hocken, 2001: 54); and the current debate on euthanasia, which demonstrates clearly that the Bible continues to influence not only medical ethics but also, our society as it debates and determines its evaluation of human life. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Church and Dogma History))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in cooperation with Greenwich School of Theology, U.K., 2007

Em nossa dissertação de Mestrado analisamos o conjunto de quatro pinturas retabulares encomendadas na década de 40 do século XVII para ornar a capela do hoje extinto Convento dos Capuchinhos da Paciência de Cristo de Madri (1651-1836). Estas pinturas narram a lenda que ficou conhecida como a do Santo Cristo da Paciência ou do Cristo das Injurias, e figuram o ataque de um grupo de pessoas a um crucifixo que, enquanto sofre tal desacato, expressa o seu poder milagroso através da fala e do jorro de sangue. Nosso objetivo foi, por meio da análise dessas pinturas, entender o significado das imagens religiosas para a cristandade espanhola deste período e o quanto os ataques iconoclastas preocupavam os membros da Igreja católica e seus fiéis de modo geral, a ponto de gerar a encomenda de tais obras. Para tal, investigamos este corpus de imagens em dois níveis fundamentais: analisando seus elementos formais e temáticos; e sua relação com o cristianismo a encomenda e o debate sobre as imagens, sobre seus usos e funções nas práticas cultuais do catolicismo na Espanha do século XVII. / In our master dissertation we analyzed the group of four altarpieces commissioned in the 1640s to decorate the chapel of the extinct Capuchin Convent of Patience Christ of Madrid (1651-1836). These paintings ndepict the legend that became known as the Holy Christ of the Patience or Christ of the Injuries, and represent the attack of a group of people to a crucifix which, while suffering such disrespect, expressed his miraculous power through speech and the blood gush. Our aim was, through the analysis of these paintings, to understand the meaning of these religious images for Spanish Christendom in this period and how the iconoclastic attacks were a source of worry for the members of the Catholic Church and the faithful in general so as to generate a commission for such works. For this purpose, we investigated this corpus of images on two fundamental levels: analyzing their formal and thematic elements; and its relation to Christianity - the commission and the debate about images, their uses and functions in cultual practices of Catholicism in seventeenth century Spain.

Le miraculeux se comprend comme une catégorie événementielle à connotation profane ou religieuse : c’est cette dernière, dans sa perspective chrétienne, que ce travail prend en compte. Mais afin que ce point de vue croyant puisse signifier quelque chose pour l’observateur impartial, le choix a été fait d’examiner les réactions de surprise et d’étonnement éprouvées par les bénéficiaires de ces événements. Celles-ci pourraient-elles nous informer sur ce qui a supposément lieu dans le miraculeux ? La méthodologie phénoménologique mise en place pour pouvoir répondre à cette question prend appui sur deux corpus : l’un consiste en des textes scripturaires, où les réactions de surprise et d’étonnement accompagnant les miracles sont évaluées pour comprendre comment elles opèrent dans le mécanisme de révélation à l’œuvre dans ces textes ; l’autre se compose de récits de « miraculés », interviewés dans le cadre de la méthode microphénoménologique en 1ère personne. Ces récits, une fois analysés, permettent de disposer de ressources expérientielles qui montrent la façon dont le miraculeux est éprouvé dans le vécu, comment il a surpris et bouleversé. La phénoménologie de la surprise ainsi extraite, puis confrontée à celle qui découle des récits bibliques, permet d’abord de mieux comprendre comment opèrent les affects de surprise et d’étonnement lors d’événements irruptifs dits miraculeux, et comment leur matérialité, associée à la foi des sujets-témoins, peut rendre compte de ce vécu si particulier. Le travail contribue aussi à caractériser la surprise et l’étonnement comme des outils phénoménologiques à part entière dans l’entreprise de connaissance de l’humain face à ce qui le dépasse. / The miraculous can be understood as a category of event, either profane or religious. Only the latter, in its Christian perspective, will be dealt with in this present work. But in order for this believer’s point of view to mean anything to the impartial observer, the choice has been made to examine the reactions of surprise and wonder felt by the beneficiaries of these unusual events. Could these reactions inform us about what supposedly takes place in the miraculous? The phenomenological methodology which has been implemented in order to answer this question relies on two corpuses: one consists in a set of New Testament texts, in which the reactions of surprise and wonder which accompany the miracles are evaluated to understand how they operate in the mechanism of revelation at work in those texts; the other is composed of narratives told by beneficiaries of miracles who have been interviewed within the frame of the micro-phenomenological 1st person method. Once they have been transcribed and analyzed for their emotional content, these narratives make available experiential resources which exemplify how the miraculous is lived by the beneficiaries, how it surprised and overwhelmed them. The phenomenology of surprise thus brought forward and confronted to that which can be drawn from Scripture narratives enables, first, to understand better how affects of surprise and wonder operate during so-called miraculous irruptive events, and how their materiality, can account for such an experience. But the work also aims at characterizing surprise and wonder as full-fledged phenomenological tools usable for the understanding of the human reality confronted to what exceeds it.

This study examines the cult of Our Lady of Remedios from an art-historical perspective. Choosing this specific cult statue as a case study is not arbitrary: Remedios is among the oldest Marian images in the New World and was named first patroness of Mexico City in 1574, when the city council became the patron of her shrine and a confraternity was founded to better disseminate the cult. As a result, the statue was carried fifty-seven times through the streets of New Spain's capital in three hundred years (an average of one procession every five years), thus outnumbering any other religious event that was not part of the liturgical calendar. The fame of Our Lady of Remedios was closely linked to her role as Socia Belli of the Spanish army, as she was believed to have protected Hernán Cortés and his allies during the conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlán in 1520-21. Her character as protector in times of war was enhanced in the centuries to come, when she was called to the city on every occasion when the Spanish Crown was involved in military campaigns. Her protection, however, was mainly requested in times of drought and epidemics, a reason for which her fame as protectress of the city grew intensively, and all sectors of society (Spanish, Indians, and Castas) followed her with the same fervent faith. This dissertation is a monographic study of a miraculous image that has hitherto been overlooked in the history of colonial religiosity of New Spain despite its symbolic relevance for the society of its time. It considers the sixteenth-century statue and the ways it was displayed to its devotional audiences as documents that inform us about its social role. By placing this cult image in the ritual context to which it belonged, both spatial and spiritual, this study considers the devotional gaze with which her devotees engaged her showing how devotion, aesthetics and politics were intertwined during colonial Mexico. / History of Art and Architecture

The present work is a new attempt to interpret on the episode in Genesis 18:1-15 by the method of narrative criticism. The general tendency on the narrative had focused on the exemplary act of Abraham’s hospitality interpreting it as his righteousness by the perspective of NT (Heb 13:2) or by the test motive of Greek Myth (the birth of Orion). The retributive theology was considered too much in interpreting the Fellowship narrative (Gn 18:1-15).These interpretations conflict with the narrator’s own theological views: (1) righteousness by faith (Gn 15:6), (2) God’s mercifulness to save Lot (Gn 19:29), and (3) God’s being gracious to make Sarah conceive (Gn 21:1). This study attempts to find out the author’s own interpretative view indicated in the whole Abraham narrative (Gn 11:27-25:11) as well as in the Fellowship Narrative itself (Gn 18:1-15).The present work is an attempt to interpret on the narrative by the method of narrative criticism. This study pays attention to the narrator’s various literary skills: “linking structure with preceding episode” (Gn 18:1a); “Sandwiched structure” of the larger context (Gn 18:1-21:7); Unique Plot Sequence; and Repeated Clue word and phrase (“laugh,” “Sarah,” ”this time next year”). These literary skills are understood to indicate the faithfulness of the Lord who tries to fulfill what he promised. The conclusion of this study overturns the traditional interpretations on the Fellowship Narrative. This work attests that Abraham showed his righteousness not by doing hospitality but by obeying God’s new command of circumcision out of willing heart as he used to obey the Lord’s commands having faith in the promise of the Lord (ch.5.3.2.2). The motive of God’s visit is to have the covenantal fellowship with obedient Abraham (ch. 2.1.6; 2.1.6.1). Abraham’s first moment recognition of deity is attested by interpreting of the technical pair verb, “And he lifted up his eyes and he saw and Lo!” (Gn 18:2a), which depicts prophetic experience of Abraham (ch.3.3). Abraham’s manner for the visitors is relevant to the higher ones (ch.3.3.2.1). The futile human endeavor without having faith is considered as the reason of being delayed of fulfillment of God’s promise (Gn 16). The fulfillment of the promised son was not attained by any human effort, but only by God’s merciful intervention in the Abraham narrative (ch. 4.4.4 and 4.4.5). / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted