The purpose of is dissertation is to bring together theories of gender, religion and the mass media in an analysis of the representation of American Catholic women religious in popular culture from 1950 till 1971. In so doing, I argue for the development of research frameworks in feminist cultural studies which acknowledge those women who sought alternatives to dominant positions of marriage and motherhood, but who did not reject outright traditional notions of femininity. Furthermore, I suggest that claims to religious virtuosity have been a source of moral and political authority for women in the past. Through such claims, women have gained greater access to educational and professional opportunities during eras of incipient feminism. I link the reform efforts of sisters in the fifties and sixties to two concurrent movements: the rise of the second wave of feminism, and the modernization of the American Catholic church according to the initiatives set forth by the Second Vatican Council (1962--1965). Together, these three areas provide a context for the analysis of the meanings and values mediated by the representation of nuns in films, television, popular literature and music. The wide-spread interest in the religious life for women by all areas of the mass media occurred at a time when American society was undergoing massive shifts not only in gender relations but also in terms of how religion was valorized. Images of nuns seemed to help audiences negotiate the changes in the discourses surrounding gender, religious and national identity. At the same time, American sisters were struggling with their own sense of identity as women and as members of the Catholic church. This conflict between images and identity for women religious highlights a number of issues within feminist cultural studies. Not the least of which is articulating the relationship between history, agency and ideology in theories of women's cultural representation in ways which can take into ac

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Düsseldorf, 2001/2002. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Düsseldorf, 2001/2002. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2016-02-19T12:20:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 4452441 bytes, checksum: b601777eb65567bcf6d32278c788e929 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-19T12:20:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 4452441 bytes, checksum: b601777eb65567bcf6d32278c788e929 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The research in focus presents the dimensions Potiguara’s Indians spirituality and the Discalced Carmelitas of Paraiba, from the study of beliefs and rites in the San Francisco Village, located in the city of Baia da Traição PB and on the people’s testimonies who lived within a monastery. The first experience is of an ethnic group, remnant of people which saves axioms from the ancestors cultivated by the memory of the old trunk, considered sacred within tradition; the second experience, a religious order that search around a statute, a foundation to promote spirituality, in view of asceticism practices, contemplation and solitude of the cloister. Notes, presented in these two worlds, distinct ways to relate with the divinity. For both, we adopted the method of qualitative research, ethnography for the rituals, the rooted, the corners and the devotion of those realities. To justify the search, we use some theorists, such as: Barcellos (2012), Birth (2012), Eliade (2007), Otto (2011), Campbell (1990), Vilhena (2005), Palitot (2002), Vieira (2012), among other additional works here not mentioned. On Carmelita spirituality, we base in Cross (1996), Jesus (2003), Mesters (2001) and Albuquerque (2001). We conducted field research through journaling, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Strategies and instruments of research which allowed us to be present in daily life, in celebrations acts and festivities which involve both of Potiguara Indians as well as the Carmelitas nun, seeking in its essence, understand the ways of spirituality manifestation. The Indians build a line of argument to keep alive their culture. The beliefs in the spirit of the ancestors as well as other entities have spiritual meaning of value within the tradition. Spirituality permeates the trajectory of these worlds, is in common elements of tradition, and is in devotions to the Catholics saints around darkness, promises, offices and the Rosary, as happens in Carmel. It is common to see the Potiguara Indians, same ethnic group, enriched by so many practices and devotions in spirituality. It is also a fact; realize with the Carmelite nuns, a doctrine founded on Christianity that is not surrendered to the standards imposed by modernity, while remaining faithful to a Rule for more than a thousand years. The way in which we conducted the research was ethnographic. For five years we were present in almost all the rituals of the indigenous peoples as well as the monastery. What follows in the work, is the result of such search and the need to be on-the-spot and be able to record the experience that emanates from the being, so vehement in Potiguara Indians and the Discalced Carmelites. / A pesquisa em foco apresenta as dimensões da espiritualidade do indígena Potiguara e das monjas Carmelitas Descalças da Paraíba, a partir do estudo das crenças e dos ritos presentes na Aldeia São Francisco, situada no município de Baía da Traição-PB e nos depoimentos de pessoas que viveram no interior de um mosteiro. A primeira experiência se constitui de uma etnia, remanescente de um povo que guarda ensinamentos dos antepassados cultivados pela memória dos troncos velhos, considerados sagrados no interior da tradição; a segunda experiência, uma ordem religiosa que busca em torno de um estatuto um fundamento para promover a espiritualidade, tendo em vista as práticas de ascese, a contemplação e a solidão do claustro. Observa-se presente nesses dois mundos maneiras distintas de se relacionar com a divindade. Para tanto, adotamos o método de pesquisa qualitativa, etnográfica para conhecer os rituais, as benzeduras, os cantos e a devoção das referidas realidades. Para fundamentar a pesquisa, utilizamos alguns teóricos, como: Barcellos (2012), Nascimento (2012), Eliade (2007), Otto (2011), Campbell (1990), Vilhena (2005), Palitot (2002), Vieira (2012), entre outras obras complementares aqui não citadas. Sobre a espiritualidade Carmelitana, nosapoiamos em Cruz (1996), Jesus (2003), Mesters (2001) e Albuquerque (2001). Realizamos pesquisa de campo através de registro em diário, observação participante e entrevista semiestruturada. Estratégias e instrumentos de investigação que nos permitiu estar presente no convívio diário, nos atos celebrativos e festividades que envolvem tanto o indígena Potiguara quanto a monja Carmelita, buscando em sua essência, compreender as maneiras de manifestação da espiritualidade. Os indígenas constroem uma lógica de argumentação para manter viva a sua cultura. A crença no espírito dos antepassados como também em outras entidades espirituais possuem significado de valor dentro da tradição. A espiritualidade perpassa a trajetória desses mundos, seja em elementos comuns da tradição, seja nas devoções aos santos católicos, em torno de rezas, promessas, ofícios e terços, como acontece no Carmelo. É comum ver o Potiguara, uma mesma etnia, enriquecida de tantas práticas e devoções no plano da espiritualidade. Também é fato perceber nas monjas Carmelitas uma doutrina fundada no cristianismo que não se rendeu aos padrões impostos pela modernidade, permanecendo fiel a uma Regra durante mais de mil anos. A maneira como conduzimos a pesquisa se deu de forma etnográfica. Durante cinco anos estivemos presentes em praticamente todos os rituais dos indígenas como também do monastério. O que segue no trabalho, é resultado dessa busca e da necessidade de estar in locu e poder registrar a experiência que emana do ser, tão veemente nos indígenas Potiguara e nas Carmelitas Descalças.

Summary: The thesis focuses on a piece of work in the form of a monastic rule which considerably influenced the whole Christian world, significantly contributed to the formation of spirituality of monastic communities, shaped the European culture and has much to say even today. The rule derives its name from its author, St. Benedict of Nursia. Given the considerable impact of his work on shaping the subsequent history of monasticism, St. Benedict is rightly called the Father of Western Monasticism. The first part introduces the Rule of Saint Benedict (Regula Benedicti). It refers to the period of its creation when certain common foundations of monastic life existed but lacked any solid anchoring. Despite the existence of other monastic rules, the Rule of Saint Benedict became the leading one thanks to its clarity and brevity. The second part deals with the Rule of the Master (Regula Magistri), an anonymous collection of monastic precepts which played a significant role as a source material for the Rule of Saint Benedict. St. Benedict took a large number of rules from it while he edited some of the original rules and intentionally omitted others. He moderated the strict text of the Rule of the Master since he was aware of human weakness. He infused the precepts with love. The third part, the longest in its...

No comprehensive study of Luther's attitude towards monasticism is available in English. Most of the English works on Luther devote only a few pages or part of a chapter to this aspect of his life. Two reasons account for the cursory treatment. First, concern with the great themes of Luther's theology has led (Protestants at least) to concentrate on the theological aspects of his critique monasticism as a denial of the free grace of God, and as involving a mistaken view of perfection. Pelikan has commented: "Valid though this concentration on the theological aspects of Luther's polemic against monasticism is, it may obscure the bearing of that polemic upon the structures of the church." Moreover, a concern for theology 'pure and simple': (if such is possible) has led to a tendency to arrive at Luther's view of monasticism by a process of deduction from his great theme of justification by grace through faith alone, so that many of the niceties of his position, and especially the gentleness of his approach, have been obscured. Second, the cursory treatment is possible because there is a real sense in which the arguments Luther adduced in his major work on monasticism - though comprehensive and systematic - were by no means original. Yet, The Judgement of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows was the most decisive critique of monasticism ever presented. Summary, p. 2-3.

The dissemination of monastic culture int he Grand Duchy of Lithuania had a profound effect on the country’s cultural life. By the seventeenth century quite a few Christian religious orders had sent their members to settle here. Since the Christianization of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1387 monastics became instrumental in creating, preserving and enhancing the institutions of religious and secular learning and in transmitting Western cultural goods, artefacts, and intellectual skills. When the first Franciscan and Dominican friars settled in the territory of pagan Lithuania in the beginning of the thirteenth century, they sought acceptance within the local society and laid foundation for the arrival of Roman Catholic Church in theselands. The official Christianization of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania led to even more active expansion of monastic networks and activities. The latter extended to various domains of culture and social life, catering to theneedsofdifferentclasses. Living in isolated communities, some of them under a strict rule,monks and mendicant friars were harbingers of Western civilization in many areas of the country’s life (like medicine, agronomy, gastronomy) and social domains, including learning and arts.

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As perennial Christian ideals, virginity and chastity were frequent themes in medieval religious discourse. Male religious were frequently virgins and were expected to cultivate chastity; however, women not men were usually the focus of such discussions. But some monastic writers did draw on those models when considering their own spirituality, and it is worth knowing how they were understood and enlisted in those instances. To this end, I investigate five eleventh- and twelfth-century monks who wrote about monastic virginity or chastity: Anselm of Canterbury, Guibert of Nogent, Rupert of Deutz, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Ælred of Rievaulx. In my analysis, I uncover each author’s perception of virginity/chastity. Thus, I reveal that Anselm’s Deploratio is not about lost physical virginity or even sexual sin per se; it is a spiritual meditation driven by his immense fear that sinners would be forever damned. Guibert’s work exposes what a treatise on virginity could become in the hands of an adolescent struggling with sexual desire and steeped in lessons taught by his monastery. Rupert’s tract on virginity and masturbation portrays male virginity as tangible and potent. In so doing, it erects a barrier defending Rupert’s work as an exegete against detractors. For his part, Bernard teaches that what matters most is chaste humility. He also consistently links virginity with pride and false holiness, a strategy possibly linked with a battle between white and black monks. Finally, Ælred produces a model of monastic perfection that is terrifically masculine, distinctively different from virginity, and perfectly suited for his audience. In addition to uncovering each monk’s unique perception of virginity and chastity, I call attention to similarities and differences in their thought and make conclusions based on those observations. Overall, I have found not only that virginity and chastity did matter to some medieval religious men but also that the way they handle those ideals can be tremendously revealing.