This study examines how English laypeople and clergy of lower ranks were taught the basic principles of Christian doctrine as articulated in the Apostles’ Creed and Articles of Faith. Chapter one addresses the theological and historical background. Over the course of the twelfth century, school-based theologians came to place an increasing emphasis on faith as a cognitive state while at the same time moral theologians sought to make sure that all Christians had a basic participation in the life of the Church. These trends led to an effort by the Church as an institution to make sure that all Christians had at least a basic understanding of the Christian religion. Chapter two examines how the episcopate carried out a drive to ensure this basic level of understanding through the venues of councils, synods, and deanery and archdeaconry meetings. In all three of these venues, the requirements of making sure the laity know the Creed and Articles of Faith were passed on to parochial clergy, and through these clergy to the laity. Chapter three concerns one particular aspect of presenting the basics of doctrine to the laity, viz., preaching. An examination of a sample of three works of religious instruction for clergy and three sets of model sermons shows how parochial clergy, Franciscans, and Dominicans preached the basics of Christian doctrine. The distribution of the manuscripts of these works shows a broad distribution among parochial clergy, Augustinian canons, and Franciscan and Dominican friars. Such a broad distribution suggests that the Augustinian canons may have been carrying out a good deal of pastoral care and catechetical instruction and that the ready access of preaching aids to clergy indicates that those with responsibility of preaching Christian doctrine to laypeople would have had resources available to do so. Chapter four concerns vernacular literature as a means of religious instruction. Most thirteenth-century literature of religious instruction was in Anglo-Norman, a language spoken and read by aristocrats, clergy, and the upwardly mobile. Three Anglo-Norman works, the Château d’amour by Robert Grosseteste, the Mirour de Seinte Eglyse by Edmund of Abingdon, and the Manuel des pechez by William of Waddington all contain the foundational Christian doctrines contained in the Articles of Faith. The manuscript distribution of all three show that they were owned by both clergy and laity, indicating that they served as teaching aids for clergy, and also that they served to provide laypeople who could afford copies of them with unmediated religious instruction. The broad conclusion of this thesis is that the available evidence shows that the basic principles of Christian doctrine were available both to the lower clergy who would preach and teach the Creed and Articles of Faith and also to the laity who would receive this preaching and instruction.

El nuevo palacio del Retiro (1634), El cubo de la Almudena (1651), La devoción de la misa (1658), and El santo rey don Fernando (first and second parts, 1671) are works of a religious literary genre unique to Spain: the auto sacramental. Until recently, such plays have suffered a lack of critical attention, possibly due to their complicated theological focus. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), the master of this genre, is the author of nearly eighty of these one-act works celebrating the Eucharist. Of these, the most studied are those using biblical and mythological characters. Calderón's autos which use Spanish historical figures, such as the above five, have been the object of extremely few studies. Most of these analyses remain at a superficial level, focusing on the works' historical contents, rather than their central spiritual elements. These works illustrate the cosmography of the time and place of their conception. To uncover these autos' full meaning, it is necessary to interpret all other theatrical components in light of these works' primary topic: the Eucharist. Throughout El nuevo palacio del Retiro, El cubo de la Almudena, La devoción de la misa, and both parts of El santo rey don Fernando, the historical elements are framed by the spiritual. In the first, a competition in which the king participates is presented as an image of the transformation of Christ into the Eucharist. In the second, a historical Muslim siege of Madrid is used to assert the victory of Spain against historical and spiritual foes through the Sacrament. The third presents the devotion of a legendary soldier to the Mass as the source of victory in a historical battle. The two autos written on the occasion of the canonization of the medieval King Fernando III combine historical, legendary, and fictitious events to illustrate temporal and eternal victories through the Sacrament. As is evident in a more than superficial study, in these five autos, Calderón modifies history in order to convey an eternal message. / text

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This thesis investigates the construction and reflection of gender identities in the religious sphere, namely the gods, their worshippers, and the rituals which link them. Religiously-interested Greek texts written by Artemidoros, Pausanias, Plutarch and Heliodoros in the second and third centuries A.D. form the basis of four chapter- studies. The introduction explores how deploying gender as a tool for investigating the texts reveals the author's own perceptions of how male and female operate within his discourse, and considers how these perceptions relate to the world beyond the text. Chapter two examines Artemidoros' Interpretation of Dreams: his analytical system of dream interpretation reveals contemporary thought patterns. Artemidoros places striking reliance on gender in his structuring of divine and human power, and employs two differing divine models of gender, which have significant implications for the social construction of human gender. Chapter three emphasizes Pausanias' fascination with the marvellous in his Guide to Greece, and focuses on why he considers female priests more noteworthy than male. The problematic sexuality of female priests is frequently his focus in descriptions of myth and rite. The fourth chapter considers Plutarch's Pythian dialogues and Isis and Osiris. It is the marriage-like nature of their relationship with their gods that makes both human and divine females perfect mediators between worshippers and their male god, the Pythia with Apollo, and Isis with Osiris. Chapter five finds a middle way between opposing views that Heliodoros' An Ethiopian Story is either a religious mystery text or entertainment without religious meaning. It focuses on how the relationship between the two lovers, Theagenes and Charikleia, is patterned by their relationship to their gods, Apollo and Artemis. The concluding chapter draws out the significance of gendered hierarchy amongst the gods, and the importance of gender in the role and function of priests and prophets. It also considers the implications of the thesis' findings and approach for Jewish and Christian texts of the same period.

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- Teachers College, Columbia University, 1991. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Douglas M. Sloan. Dissertation Committee: William B. Kennedy. Includes bibliographical references: (leaf 139-143).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1992. / This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #054-0057. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-103).

A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo demonstrar a finalidade catequética da obra intitulada Laudes e Cantigas Espirituais escrita pelo beneditino André Dias na primeira metade do século XV. Os versos de Mestre André parecem assumir um valor pedagógico à medida que visam a transmitir a mensagem do Evangelho inclusive com o propósito de edificar os cristãos a partir da exemplaridade de Jesus e Maria. Sob esta ótica, o laudário parece enfatizar uma religiosidade mais intimista, mais palpável e acessível à esfera divina sem prescindir, contudo, de seu aspecto devocional. Desta forma, através das análises de três grupos temáticos do laudário de Mestre André (Loas de Natal, Loas e Prantos de Nossa Senhora e Laudas da Paixão), este estudo visa a evidenciar os elementos que assinalam a finalidade doutrinária das composições em questão. À luz da tradição laudística medieval - cujo centro difusor fora a Península Itálica -, procuraremos apontar, ainda, o possível diálogo entre as laudes portuguesas e os escritos dos italianos Feo Belcari e Jacopone da Todi. / This research aims at showing the catechetic function of Laudes e Cantigas Espirituais written by the Benedictine Monk Andre Dias in the first half of the fifteenth century. The verses of Master André seem to assume an educational value as they aim at transmitting the Gospels message in order to edify christians through the exemplarity of Jesus and Mary. Within this scope, the lauds seem to emphasize some kind of more intimist, more palpable sense of religiosity, as well as more accessible to the divine sphere. However, the lauds still do not neglect their devotional aspect. Thus, through the analyses of three thematic groups, Master Andres laudarium (Loas de Natal Christmas Loas - , Loas e Prantos de Nossa Senhora Loas and Sorrows from Our Lady - and Laudas da Paixão Lauds of the Passion), this study seeks to highlight the elements which determine the doctrinary functions of analyzed compositions. Based on the medieval laudistic tradition, which was mainly diffused in the Italian Peninsula, we shall attempt at pointing out a possible relationship between the Portuguese Lauds and the writings by the Italian writers Feo Belcari and Jacopone da Todi.

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My doctoral dissertation examines the relationship between the sacred and literature, explores how the Bible has influenced the literary production of Antonia Pozzi, Cristina Campo, and Margherita Guidacci, and reveals that each author had a distinctive way of dealing with the Sacred Book. In the first chapter I retrace the studies on the topic of Bible and Literature, and I show how literary critics only recently have begun to work intensively on them (in the past the "historical school" founded by De Sanctis and followed by Croce devoted few studies to the subject of the sacred and even so, only to those periods where the influence of the Scriptures was clear and indeed obvious, such as the Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation). In the same chapter I explain my reason for deciding to study Pozzi, Campo, and Guidacci. These three authors share analogous biographical experiences and episodes that deeply influenced their lives (the presence of an authoritarian father, family losses, and sad love experiences). Moreover, their studies (specifically, European writers and philosophers) were of the same nature. I demonstrate that, although contemporary Italian literature is heterogeneous and varied, these three women astonishingly shared the same background that explains their concentration on the sacred. In the following chapter I consider the writers individually, in order to examine the path that led them to a dialogue with the religious and the sacred. In Pozzi, the sacred is something that lies beyond human understanding and, for all her attempts to reach it, she always fails due to her incapacity to fully free helself from human passions. In Campo and in Guidacci on the other hand, the sacred search is always consistent and, notwithstanding some missteps and second thoughts, they are able to basically fulfill their task. After the study of their ideas, in the last chapter I move to the poetical language used by these writers. It has been very interesting to see what is essentially the same vocabulary appearing again and again in our poets. As it is known, the biblical language is based on symbols that evoke a union between the contingent and the Absolute. Pozzi, Campo, and Guidacci were not only able to interpret the biblical symbology but they also used some of those terms in their poems; specifically I focused my attention on the recurrence of five words-symbols: assenza, deserto, nulla, fiore, luce (absence, desert, emptiness, flower, light). It is really significant that the writers in question use the same biblical symbols as poetical words: it is a vocabulary that ties together literary and religious experience. Their connection is also strengthened by the reference and the predilection for same specific books of the Bible, such as Job and The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet for Pozzi, and the Gospels, Psalms, and The Song of Songs for Campo and Guidacci. In my analysis I show that already in the desert we can see the first signs of Pozzi's weakness: In this solitary place, where the soul must deal with herself to reach the emptying of earthly passions, Pozzi got lost and fell into the error of looking backwards, to the beloved she had left. On the other hand, Campo and Guidacci were able to reach the spiritual light, so their journey through biblical symbolism can be finally considered complete. In other words, Pozzi's path towards the Scripture is fulfilled piecemeal and never ends in it, while in Campo and Guidacci the Scripture becomes an integral part of their lives, so they are constantly enlightened by the Word of God, while Pozzi misses this Light and sinks into the darkness of death. Finally, considering the fact that they have been relatively isolated from the literary world until recently, I do not believe they were rejected by a misogynist society, but rather by the fact that those years were demanding an active social participation. The women treated here never made that choice, instead they dedicated themselves to the search for the sacred, an issue not "present" in the years in which they lived. So I think that it was this combination of poetic themes and lifestyle choices that excluded them. In conclusion my work, which could have considered many other poets, confirms the point of view from which I started: the theme of the sacred in the twentieth century literature does not seem to present itself as a school or current, but is characterized by its inevitable uniqueness so that each poetic experience is described for its extraordinary authenticity and uniqueness. If anything, we can talk about similarities and links between these poets based on common readings that provide the basis on which to develop their own religious experiences.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009. / Title from screen (viewed on August 28, 2009). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Eric L. Saak. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 540-548).