The sanskrit term Kundalini refers in traditional yogic texts to both a mechanism and a transformative energy in the human body which can be activated spontaneously, or through spiritual disciplines and practices. The awakening of Kundalini is described in the esoteric treatises of India such as the Tantras, as the activation of a spiritual or cosmic energy at the base of the spine which moves upward through the chakras to the head where the union of Siva and Sakti takes place. The objective of this study is to find parallels to the Kundalini experience in a Christian mystical context. Unlike most Western Christian mystical traditions, the Kundalini model acknowledges the psycho-physiological phenomena associated with mystical experience. This dissertation argues that if there is a biological basis for the yogi's transformative experience, Teresa of Avila and other Christian mystics may well have undergone a similar psycho-physiological process. Part I is a cross-cultural study of Kundalini-like phenomena, and includes personal accounts of spiritually awakening experiences. Part I also includes the findings of a questionnaire study conducted by the author in Ottawa, Canada, during 1997--98. Fifty questionnaires were distributed and 70 percent were returned. Twenty-four self-reports of mystical and Kundalini-like experiences are presented in Chapter 6 of this thesis. The findings indicate that mystical experiences are often associated with Kundalini-type experiences, and that Kundalini phenomena is relatively common among people who are engaged in spiritual disciplines and practices. These research findings are important as an increasing number of people in Western society are experiencing Kundalini rising, and its associated phenomena. Part II focuses on the mystical experiences of Teresa of Avila (1515--1582), a Spanish mystic and saint of the Roman Catholic Church. The Kundalini model is used to analyze St. Teresa's writings to investigate whether there is evidence that the activation of a Kundalini-like mechanism may have been involved in some of her mystical experiences. Two types of experiences were selected for analysis: "the flight of the spirit," and the "rapture" experience. The primary sources for this analysis were the following four works: Life, Spiritual Relations, Way of Perfection, and the Interior Castle, all found in The Complete Works of St. Teresa of Jesus, translated by E. Allison Peers. This comparative study of mysticism leads to a reinterpretation, according to the Kundalini yoga model, of some of the unusual phenomena experienced by St. Teresa, such as fire and heat, wounding sensations, and sensations and noises in the head, as well as physical and health problems. The Kundalini model links mystical experience with the sublimation of sexual energy, therefore, the role of sexual energy, and the relationship between sexual orgasm and mystical experience is examined. The findings of this study confirm that Kundalini is a mechanism experienced within diverse cultures and spiritual traditions. Furthermore, there is enough textual evidence in the works of Teresa of Avila to conclude that some of her experiences were associated with the awakening of Kundalini. The conclusions of this study suggest that if the Kundalini model can be applied in analyzing this saint's experiences, then it can also be used to analyze the experiences of other Christian saints and mystics.

Lawren Harris, the well-known Canadian painter, was also a prominent member of the International Theosophical Society. Usually his theosophical ties are considered secondary to his occupation as a painter. Most art critics and art historians who have written about him have focused on the role he played with the Group of Seven and the paintings he produced during that period, taking his abstract work as a consequence of his aesthetic evolution and linking it symbolically with his earlier landscapes. Other art historians have acknowledged that Theosophy might have influenced Lawren Harris's painting, and they attempt to read theosophical representations in the images he produced. Looking at Lawren Harris from the perspective of Religious Studies, this thesis first examines the nature of Harris's involvement with Theosophy and the tenets of Theosophy in his time. Then, on the basis of his writings (which constitute a large part of his legacy, since he left behind articles, lectures, letters, a book, exhibit reviews and an unfinished manuscript) as well as his paintings, this thesis proposes that Lawren Harris was a deeply religious man who used painting as a tool in his own quest for the sacred. This quest, informed by theosophical principles as interpreted by Lawren Harris, led him to perceive his paintings not as illustrations, not as symbols, not even as theosophical representations, but as a disciplined experience of the Divine, a spiritual practice.

Abstract Not Available.

The argument of this thesis is that pornography is a subject relevant for religious studies, particularly for the sub-field of women and religion. A review of the etymological derivation and history of the word 'pornography', and of various positions in the current definitional debate, provide the basis for defining the term. Methodologically, the thesis approach is feminist because it engages with feminist theory in religion and proceeds from the premise that pornography is experienced by the majority of women as a "problem" in need of analysis. Only a few religious studies scholars have treated the subject previously; their ideas are outlined and critically assessed. Chapter Two examines the history of modern pornography's self-conscious relation of antithesis with Christianity, beginning with pornographic literature of the late 18th century and including contemporary pornographic books and magazines. A third demonstration of pornography's relevance is presented in Chapter Three by means of analyses of several feminist critiques of pornography, each of which asserts significant correspondences between pornography and the Christian religion. Chapter Four proposes that newly developing theory about gender-based differences in experiences of the sacred is supported by an analysis of women's objections to pornography. Finally, by analyzing the abstract features of pornography's content and form, the argument is presented in Chapter Five that pornography can be seen to be functioning like a religion in contemporary society. Its meaningfulness, contrary to most expectations, can be compared to multivalent religious myths and symbols. The argument concludes by noting that pornography is a relevant subject for religious studies not only because it contributes to these various aspects of theory in the study of religion, especially in the field of women and religion, but also because the discipline of religious studies offers a particularly useful perspective on the problem of pornography. By elucidating more fully the nature of pornography in its contemporary manifestations, including the manner in which it can be seen to be functioning as a replacement for religion in modern society, a religious studies perspective helps to explain why pornography should be recognized as a problem of significant dimensions that merits more serious attention and efforts at resolution. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Abstract Not Available.

This research project sought to obtain information through a mailed questionnaire on various issues and problems encountered by Muslims of Trinidad ancestry in transition as they settle into the Canadian environment. The results indicate there is a core of non-negotiable elements which are held firm. For example: all respondents claim belief in the oneness of God and Muhammed as His prophet (--the testimony of faith that defines the Muslim); the Quran is the revealed word of God to Muhammad; acceptance of the Quran and some or all of the Hadith; there is life after death; angels exist; and that Christianity and Judaism are also acceptable to God. At the same time, several aspects of their religious practices appear negotiable, perhaps for survival or simply getting along in the larger society. The frequency distribution of responses indicates, for example, that the socio-cultural environment in Canada tends to hinder the exercise of some basic injunctions. Political or governmental agencies may find it of interest to note concerns related to finding suitable education for children (including facilities for the imparting of Islamic instruction, Arabic and Urdu or Hindustani languages), obtaining proper burial sites, avoiding religious and racial prejudices. Also problematic are efforts geared at maintaining the extended family with parents and elders held in high respect. There is a disenchantment with the practice of arranged marriages, preferring pre-marital mixing of the sexes, dating and mate selection. The appeal of skimpy clothes, calypso dancing, pre-marital and extra-marital sexual affairs are also noteworthy. Respondents, while regarding themselves as less religious than their parents, see themselves as definitely more religious than their children, an obvious decline over generations. The cross-tabulations indicate that while the immigrants from Trinidad tended over time to modify their religious tradition and practices, their Canadian-born children (i.e., the next generation), caught between two cultures and no doubt experiencing tension between minority-majority cultures as they live in the culture of their parents at home but experience a different one in school, the neighbourhood and through the media, were influenced further by the dominant culture in attitudes to their religion and related issues and practices. Further, among the Trinidad Muslim respondents in Canada, the overall watering down in Islamic traditions and practices seems more prevalent among those respondents who are university educated, are professionals, and have high salaries, as anticipated by the tested hypotheses which are thereby confirmed. It is noteworthy, too, that by the second generation born in Canada, there is a swing-back (reversion) to enhanced involvement in their religion; and while interesting in itself, it seems to suggest a hope of rescuing and developing their ethnic identity and religiosity. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Abstract Not Available.

Abstract Not Available.

In 1968, bishops representing all parts of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America met in their Second General Conference to debate the "transformation of Latin America in the light of the Council". Among the diverse political influences affecting their conclusions, the demands for radical social change, coming mostly from a group of younger theologians and clergy, were significant. Those demands, soon embodied in what became known as "liberation theology", were based on the argument that there was a biblical and theological mandate for revolutionary transformation of society, to be achieved primarily by the elimination of capitalism, in favour of some type of purified socialism. Most leaders of the Church in Latin America, and the Vatican, found the most extreme of the liberation proposals to be unacceptable, both in relation to basic concepts of the role of the Church in social mission and in relation to the partisan political commitment proposed in Latin America. This thesis examines the ensuing conflict over concepts of social mission during the period 1968-1988, a particularly turbulent one for the Church, with a view to assessing the extent to which the liberation case, theologically and politically, can be accommodated within the social teaching of the Church. It concludes that, while the original political thrust of the movement in the 1970's remains unacceptable, the liberation theologians have made an important contribution to processes of democratization and social change, for example in the base communities, in the role of the laity and in the development of a feminist liberation movement in the Church. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The hypothesis of this dissertation suggested that certain teachings of traditional Christianity would make it difficult for a Christian daughter who was sexually assaulted by her father to successfully recover from the trauma. To see if this could be the case, I first looked at the psychological damage done to the daughter who is sexually assaulted by her father from the perspective of the research of authors such as Florence Rush, Judith Herman, E. Sue Blume, Diana Russell, Ellen Bass, Laura Davis, David Finkelhor, Louise Armstrong, Susanne Sgroi and Roland Summit. I then analyzed what little references there are to father-daughter sexual assault and physical and sexual child abuse in the literature that dealt with aspects of Christianity that were relevant to father-daughter sexual assault, in terms of occurrence of father-daughter incest in Christian environments, the impact of Christianity on the abuse and recovery, or the impact of sexual assault on Christian beliefs. Following that, I analyzed the biblical texts for their input into the problem by focusing on the story of Lot and his daughters and the kinship rules of Leviticus 18. In the same chapter, I discussed the story of eleven-year-old Maria Goretti who was canonized for resisting the sexual advances of a young man living in her household, and dying because of that resistance. There was almost nothing in either of these chapters that would suggest that there was anything in Christianity that would cause a special problem for a believing daughter who was sexually assaulted by the father save in the work of Dutch authors, Annie Imbens-Fransen and Ineke Jonkers, and the recent work of James Poling. These authors, who have worked extensively with Christian abusers and victims, indicted the patriarchal power and belief structure of traditional Christianity as a source of extreme pain for sexually assaulted Christians and for Christian abusers. After a critique of the analysis of god as a transitional god, it is suggested that in order to understand the impact of the Christian belief system on victims of father-daughter incest, it would be better to view the anthropomorphic Christian god as a second male parent for the daughter, albeit a super-father. This done, the last chapter looks at what the process of recovery should entail according to the authors mentioned in the second chapter. Aspects of the recovery process are compared to traditional Christian teachings on issues such as suffering, guilt, anger and forgiveness. It was discovered that the Christian teachings are often at odds with the necessities of the recovery process. This would mean that a Christian daughter who was sexually assaulted by her father would have to overcome resistances caused by her belief system as well as the inherent difficulties which victims have in order to become survivors.