As a spiritual director and Christian, I desire to accompany women on their journey to a deeper personal relationship with God holding in tension the suffering Servant on the cross and the hope in the resurrected Christ. I long to illuminate their understanding of self-sacrifice and denial. Participating in Jesus’ suffering on the cross must not lead to neglect of oneself, denial of one’s human dignity, or the tolerance of any form of abuse – physical, emotional or mental. I comprehend the redemptive power in suffering for the love of God, but I also know Christ invites us to rejoice in God’s love too. There is value in suffering and there is a treasure in joy. We must never forget the hope in the resurrected Christ here and now, not upon our death. It is critical to understand the reason why the women I accompany, and others, have a belief system so ingrained in suffering and subserviency. First, I will identify the root causes that result in the loss of a sense of self in women. Then, I will examine our Catholic teachings and doctrines on the Paschal Mystery, specifically, on how Jesus on the Cross could explain why this faith foundation in women leads to sacrificing oneself and women willingly accepting the diminishment of one’s life. It is essential to understand how the historical interpretation of these theologies have contributed to the current pastoral problem. Finally, I recommend a different hermeneutic of the suffering Jesus on the Cross and redemptive suffering that could deliver us, women, from our stance of passivity and feelings of defenselessness and even hopelessness.

The argument of this dissertation is that a critical reading of the concept of "covenant" in early American writings is instrumental to understanding the paradoxes in the American political concepts of freedom and equality. Following Slavoj Zizek's theoretical approach to theology, I trace the covenant concept in early American literature from the theological expressions and disputes in Puritan Massachusetts through Jonathan Edwards's Freedom of Will and the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, showing how the covenant theology of colonial New England dispersed into more "secular" forms of what may be called an American political theology. The first chapter provides an overview of recent attempts to integrate theology and theory, specifically comparing Jacques Derrida and Zizek to better understand the latter's theology of materialism which relies on as well as informs the Reformed Protestant covenantal dichotomy of grace and works. The second chapter establishes the complicated architecture of the covenant concept within seventeenth-century New England Reformed Protestantism, and uses church membership transcripts along with Ann Hutchinson court trial documents to demonstrate how this inherently unstable theology created unintended slippage between God's grace and mankind's works, resulting in a theological formulation remarkably open to Zizek's analysis of political ideology. The third chapter demonstrates how Jonathan Edwards, through his ingenious counter-argument in Freedom of Will, provides a theoretical foundation for an uneasy but necessary alignment of the covenants of works and grace, releasing the subjunctive potential of grace to operate through history as a predeterminer of meaning and, potentially, freedom. In the last chapter, I argue that Emerson finally converts the covenant from a politically conceptualized theological framework for radical grace into a personal institutionalization of grace itself. Stanley Cavell's exploration of Emerson's "constitution" in light of the covenant motif demonstrates the political (im)possibilities inherent in America's self-conceptions of personal liberty and civic equality. In the end, complexities inherent in the concept of the covenant, especially its creative failure to control the radical nature of "grace," are determinative factors in our contradictory American egalitarian ideals.

The thesis of this paper is twofold. First, there is the general concern to investigate and demonstrate clearly that there are relationships between certain superficially unrelated disciplines, namely philosophy, aesthetics and literary criticism. Second, by way of accomplishing the first aim, there is an attempt made to synthesize and explicate the contributions of a significant twentieth century intellectual. The particular procedure employed to attain these ends is the consideration of an academic field which is continually being reshaped by other separate but related disciplines. For my purposes the figure of Jean Paul Sartre and the field of literary criticism are both, as shall be demonstrated, appropriate for this investigation. The format for analyzing Sartre’s literary criticism shall be as follows. (1) There is an investigation of Sartre’s philosophical claims. (2) There follows a discussion of Sartre’s view of literature, its value, significance, and role in society. (3) The next section relates Sartre’s views of literature to traditional problems in literary criticism. (4) In the final portion there is a brief evaluation of Sartre’s contributions to a contemporary literary criticism.

Fisher of Men tells the story of an ancient and secretive group of supernatural balance keepers. When God goes missing, it is up to them to locate him before the armies of Heaven and Hell lay siege to the earth, but they have their own problems. When knowledge of a secret weapon surfaces, they are tasked to find it and destroy it before it falls into the hands of either side. The secret weapon is Charitie Newman, a young woman from rural Indiana who moved to New Orleans with her sister. Charitie has special abilities that have no limits, and after her sister is brutally murdered, she agrees to join forces with the group in order to find God--and her sister's murderer.

The question of religion has caused much strife among mankind in the past, and even the present is not without its spiritual prejudices. In any phase of life the individual who departs too far from the accepted order is almost certain to be brought up sharply against the criticism and even ridicule of his contemporaries. Alexander Campbell is no exception to this rule. His life was one of strife and conflict in the field of religion. His leadership in the “Reformation Movement” of the early Nineteenth Century has left an indelible impression upon the minds of thousands of men and women.

The objective of most religious teachings and concepts is to change the student's attitude that desirable behavior may follow. The measurement of attitudes and the way people feel about certain religious concepts are, to an extent, determinative of their behavior. This realization has brought about a steady growth within the educational field of attitude and opinion measurement. It has also influenced religious educators to investigate this field in their efforts to get people to attain desirable religious goals.The problem, investigated in the present research, was concerned with whether the youth of seminary age in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have favorable attitudes toward temple marriage and whether these attitudes change significantly during the brief time that the students are in seminary.

In her attempt to find a strictly human origin for certain doctrines contained in the Book of Abraham, and the later teachings of Joseph Smith, Mrs. Fawn M. Brodie relies upon the writings of one Thomas Dick. Dick was a nineteenth century Scottish scientist-theologian who wrote several volumes on religious and scientific subjects. It is known that at least two volumes were known to at least some of the early Latter-day Saints, for passages from them were quoted in the Messenger and Advocate. The purpose of this thesis has been to research the entire ten volumes of Dick's writings in order to determine the entirety of his theology. The paper first relates the life and general philosophy of Thomas Dick, and then investigates specifics of his theology under the general chapter headings of "God," "Man," and "Salvation." The final two chapters of the thesis deal with those specific aspects of Joseph Smith's theology which Mrs. Brodie claims were influenced by Dick's writings. The conclusion reached as a result of this study is: while it cannot be demonstrated that any of the Prophet's theology has any direct foundation in Thomas Dick's, there may have been impetus gained from Dick's writings in the direction Joseph Smith's theology took, but only if it could be demonstrated that Joseph Smith had read them, and this has not been done, by Mrs. Brodie, nor anyone else.

Since the beginning of her teaching career, the writer has cherished the hope that the day would come when opportunity and freedom would be given whereby the classroom teacher might saturate her teaching, and that without fear, with those values that exalt and refine the life of each youth that she endeavors to guide. That day has dawned! During recent years seminars, workshops and conferences have been held and the Kentucky program for Moral and Spiritual Education has been recognized as providing a formula which is acceptable to public schools. It is true that spiritual values have always been taught but from many sources there has come the conviction that the confused and complex scenes about us today call for a rededication to those early values our forefathers of the New World cherished. The challenge is ours. In accord with the foregoing statement it is therefore appropriate and timely that some phase of "Spiritual Values" should be selected as a topic for this particular study. It has been the author's endeavor to offer suggestions and to present fine practices whereby the program may be made more effective. Therefore, it is with pleasure that this paper is presented as a means of further guidance and emphasis on these very important aspects of our educational responsibility.

In Is Spirituality an Intelligence? Motivation, Cognition, and the concern of Psychology of Ultimate Concern, Robert Emmons develops a case for spirituality as a form of intelligence. His thesis claims that spiritual intelligence is a “set of capacities and abilities that enable people to solve problems and attain goals in their everyday lives”: “the capacity for transcendence; the ability to enter into heightened spiritual states of consciousness; the ability to invest everyday activities, events, and relationships with a sense of the sacred; the ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems in living; and the capacity to engage in virtuous behavior. I use spiritual intelligence and these frameworks throughout to address these common themes within the Black community beginning in the Second Great Awakening. I use these five components to illuminate the rise of the revolutionary streams of Spiritual Intelligence within unique works of two Black activists: David Walker and Maria Stewart. I then contextualize these developments in the experiences of my family and my own experiences as a Black activist. I argue for the recognition of religious thinking and illustrate the structural embodiment of this form of spiritual intelligence through multiple generations of Black Activism. I argue that Spiritual Intelligence is one way this particular community fights adversity in greater America society. In valuing religion through understanding these actions of resistance black activism is realized in the larger epistemic landscape. Particularly arguing against the secularization of resistance and activism.

Through his use of "foundation" and "house" metaphors in his "First Sermon Preached to King Charles at St. James, 3 April 1625," John Donne discreetly presents his ideologies and principles before the new king, while simultaneously criticizing his contemporaries' misguided bickering over religio-political factions. This essay seeks to unpack the history surrounding, as well as the casuistical logic found within Donne's first sermon preached during the Caroline period, which both explicitly and implicitly addresses the foremost anxieties of the people of the changing age.