Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Salzburg, 2004/2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 270-296).

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It is not the purpose of this dissertation to present a history of Purgatory; rather, it is to show through the history the influence of purgatorial doctrine on the English lay community and the need of that community for this doctrine. Having established the importance this doctrine held for so many in England, with an examination of the chantry institution in England, this study then examines how this doctrine was stripped away from the laity by political and religious reformers during the sixteenth century. Purgatorial belief was adversely affected when chantries were closed in execution of the chantry acts under Henry VIII and Edward VI. These chantries were vital to the laity and not moribund institutions. Purgatorial doctrine greatly influenced the development and concept of the medieval English community. Always seen to be tightly knit, this community had a transgenerational quality, a spiritual and congregational quality, and a quality extending beyond the grave. The Catholic Church was central to this definition of community, distributing apotropaic powers, enhancing the congregational aspects, and brokering the relationship with the dead. The elements of the Roman liturgy were essential to community cohesiveness, as were the material and ritual supports for this liturgy. The need of the community for purgatorial doctrine shaped and popularized this doctrine Next, an analysis of surviving and resurging elements of expiatory rites is explored; ritual, especially that surrounding death, as well as the relationship with the dead, were sorely missed when stripped away through political actions linked to Protestant belief. This deficiency of ritual aspects within the emerging Protestant religion became evident in further years as some of the same customs and rituals that were considered anathema by Protestants slowly crept back into the Protestant liturgy in an attempt to restore the relationship between the living and the dead. Strong evidence of this is provided through sixteenth to nineteenth century death eulogies, surviving rites of expiation, as well as lay essays and popular literature discussing the phenomenon called the Sin-Eater.

This thesis examines the dissemination of visions of the otherworld in the long thirteenth century (c.1150-1321) by analysing the work of one enthusiast for such visions, Helinand of Froidmont, and studying the later transmission of three, contrasting accounts: the vision of the monk of Eynsham (c.1196), the vision of St. Fursa (c.656) and the vision of Gunthelm (s.xiiex). It relies on a close reading and comparison of different versions of these visions as they appear in exempla collections, religious miscellanies, history chronicles and sermons. In considering the process of redaction, it corrects two imbalances in the recent scholarship: a focus on searching for, then discussing ‘authorial’ versions of the narratives and a tendency among students of literature to treat visions of the otherworld as an independent sub-genre, prefiguring Dante’s later masterpiece. Instead, by looking at the different responses of a number of authors and compilers to visions of the otherworld, this thesis shows how they interacted with other elements of religious culture. On one hand it reveals how all medieval editors altered the narratives that they inherited to fit the needs and rules of genre. These rules had an important influence on how visions were spread and received by different audiences. On the other, it explains how individual authors demonstrated personal or communal theological and political motivation for altering visions. In doing so, it notes a divergence in the way that older monastic communities and travelling preachers responded to the stories. By explaining these variations, this study uncovers a range of complex reactions to trends in thirteenth-century eschatology (particularly the development of the doctrine of Purgatory) and how they interacted with wider religious concerns such as pastoral care. Finally, it shows how an examination of the pattern of a vision’s dissemination can lead to a re-consideration of the earlier texts themselves and the religious milieu from which they emerged.

Exegesis (MA--Art and Design)--AUT University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (68leaves : ill. ; 22 x 30 cm. + 1 CD-ROM) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 779.82 GAN)

My study offers a constructive exploration of divine judgment as salvific rather than destructive which I describe aphoristically as iudicandus est salvandus ('to be judged is to be saved'). My provocation to Christian eschatology is that human beings are not saved from judgment, but are saved within it. In chapter 1, I introduce the context of the study and propose the concept of salvific judgment. In chapter 2, I engage in an exploration of the symbols and problems of judgment through a reappraisal of De novissimis ('concerning the last things'), the last section found in traditional works of dogmatics. This is followed, in chapter 3, by a critical engagement with the soteriological optimism posited by four twentieth- and twenty-first century theologians: Sergei Bulgakov, Hans Urs von Balthasar, J.A.T. Robinson, and Marilyn McCord Adams. In chapter 4, I explore four versions of the purpose of judgment: (1) as retributive with a dual outcome, engaging the work of Paul O'Callaghan; (2) as retributive and universalist, in conversation with Sergei Bulgakov; (3) as non-retributive, rectifying, and universalist, exploring the oeuvre of Jürgen Moltmann; and (4) as non-retributive, constitutive of personhood, and quasi-universalist, investigating the eschatological thought of Markus Mühling. In chapter 5, I propose to approach divine judgment as the event of absolute recognition. I posit that it is within the eschatic recognition of God, the self, and the other that transformation and glorification occur in a way that avoids a dual outcome of salvation and damnation. I then explore the problems concerning eternal life ('heaven') in the received tradition and propose that life in the eschatic realm of God is not eternal stasis, but the semper novum. I also explore this understanding of eternal life as it relates to the communion of saints. I conclude by arguing that we may approach divine judgment with faith, hope, and love – not only for ourselves, but for the human race as a whole.

This dissertation explores the utopian and dystopian tones of apocalypticism in medieval secular literature and how literary authors treated the end of time. Beginning with two different representational models of medieval apocalyptic, notably those of St Augustine of Hippo and of Joachim of Fiore, this study examines to what extent selected literary texts adhered to or deviated from those models. Those texts include Marie de France's Espurgatoire seint Patriz, William Langland's Piers Plowman, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale, and Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'arthur. This dissertation reveals that several texts subscribed to an expectation of cosmic and personal annihilation, in the Augustinian representation, or of global transformation in the Joachist version. Nearly all of the texts agree in their bleak outlook regarding the end of time, suggesting a climate of fear predominated in the Middle Ages. While the projected Christian eschatological timeline should have fostered hope for the saved, what it produced was often terrors of eternity and emptiness.

Cette thèse entend reconsidérer la notion de purgatoire telle qu’elle a été établie et utilisée par les historiens de la fin du XXe siècle ; démontrer que le purgatoire ainsi redéfini peut être identifié dans certains écrits du christianisme ancien, qui n’ont toutefois pas tous été reconnus par l’Église majoritaire ; documenter ce purgatoire et le situer dans son contexte historique, littéraire et religieux.Le corpus considéré comprend les sources bibliques à l’origine de l’imaginaire du purgatoire mises en regard d’écrits contemporains, ainsi que des textes rédigés en Afrique du Nord et en Égypte entre les IIe et IVe siècles, en latin, grec ou copte. Les écrits retenus permettent d’apprécier les différences de doctrines entre le christianisme de l’église majoritaire et une religiosité plus marginale, mais cultivant des références communes. / This thesis intends to reconsider the concept of purgatory as it was established and used by the historians of the late twentieth century; show that this redefined purgatory can be identified in some of the writings of Early Christianity, not always recognized by the mainstream Church; document that purgatory and place it in its historical, literary and religious context.The corpus includes the biblical sources considered to ground the representation of purgatory set against contemporary writings and texts from North Africa and Egypt, written between the second and fourth centuries AD, in Latin, Greek and Coptic. The selected writings allow us to appreciate the differences between the Christian doctrine of ecclesiastical authors and a more marginal spirituality, even though both share the same references.

The thesis explores the subject of purgatory and its relative value for modern people. It summarises: 1. The manner in which biblical texts used to underpin the doctrine; 2. The history of the doctrine within the Roman Catholic Church and the reaction to it during the Reformation and beyond; and 3. Contemporary formulations of purgatory and purgatory-like ideas. The thesis argues, from several perspectives, that a modern formulation of the doctrine is: 1. Reasonable; 2. Biblically consistent; 3. Meets the criteria of an established Tradition at practice within the Church; and 4. Is capable of assisting people in understanding and appreciating the existential questions of death and the after life. The thesis is approached from the angle of a Legal Counsel presenting an argument for acceptance of the thesis. / SYS THEOLOGY & THEOL ETHICS / MTH (SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY)

The thesis explores the subject of purgatory and its relative value for modern people. It summarises: 1. The manner in which biblical texts used to underpin the doctrine; 2. The history of the doctrine within the Roman Catholic Church and the reaction to it during the Reformation and beyond; and 3. Contemporary formulations of purgatory and purgatory-like ideas. The thesis argues, from several perspectives, that a modern formulation of the doctrine is: 1. Reasonable; 2. Biblically consistent; 3. Meets the criteria of an established Tradition at practice within the Church; and 4. Is capable of assisting people in understanding and appreciating the existential questions of death and the after life. The thesis is approached from the angle of a Legal Counsel presenting an argument for acceptance of the thesis. / SYS THEOLOGY and THEOL ETHICS / MTH (SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY)