Thesis (M.Ed.) -- University of the North, 1992 / Refer to the document

A comparison between Ware, Forbes, and Soulsby from The Damnation of Theron Ware provides a glimpse into one aspect of the theological upheaval of the time. A comparison between Ware, Forbes, and Algarcife, from Phases of an Inferior Planet, however, hearkens forward to the alienation and questioning of identity so much a part of the Twentieth Century. By viewing Ware as a foil for Forbes and Soulsby in tandem with Algarcife, a more complete picture of the transition between nineteenth and twentieth-century religion and theology may be found. Understanding the encounter between the traditional and the liberal clergy requires a close examination of the way Ware, Forbes, Soulsby, and Algarcife interact with religions and theologies and adjust their actions in order to maintain the balance between the two, and how each character's interaction with the figure of the aesthete aids in the negotiation. Ware cannot aspire to the erudition of scholars like Forbes and Algarcife, nor is he able to understand the aestheticism, the "art for art," of Madden, from Damnation, and Musin, from Phases. He is unable to maintain a dogmatic theology in the service of religion like Soulsby. He is an anachronism, caught between centuries, caught between two religious, theological, and aesthetic historical moments.

This dissertation focuses on Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar OP (ca. 1489-1572). It seeks to explore two decades of sixteenth century Mexican Church History mainly through the study of documents found in Spanish and Mexican archives. Born outside Granada in Southern Spain, just after the conquest from the Muslims, Alonso de Montúfar assumed teaching and leading positions within the Dominican order. After more than forty years as a friar, Montúfar was elected archbishop of Mexico and resided there from 1554 until his death eighteen years later. From the 1520s onwards, many missionaries went from Spain to Mexico in order to christianise the native inhabitants and to administer the church’s sacraments to them. Many of the missionaries were members of three mendicant orders: the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Augustinians. Alonso de Montúfar’s time as archbishop can be seen as a period of transition and a time that was filled with disputes on how the church in Mexico should be organised in the future. Montúfar wanted to strengthen the role of the bishops in the church organisation. He also wanted to improve the finances of the diocesan church and promote a large number of secular clerics to work in the Indian ministry. All this meant that he became involved in prolonged and very animated disputes with the friars, the members of the cathedral chapter, and the viceroy of Mexico. One chapter of this dissertation is devoted to a detailed study of Archbishop Montúfar’s role in the early cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tepeyac, which today has become of the most important Marian devotions in the world.

Ēriks Ešenvalds is an early twenty-first century composer who has been commissioned to write works for some of the most noteworthy ensembles in the world. Having written over 100 compositions to date, 72 of which are choral pieces, Ešenvalds is quickly becoming one of the most prolific and significant composers of his time. He currently works as a full-time composer out of Riga, Latvia. Ešenvalds’s choral works are primarily unaccompanied, while some include brass band, saxophone quartet, percussion, or orchestral accompaniment. Textures vary from three to twelve voice parts. His oratorio Passion and Resurrection (2005), written for soprano solo, SATB quartet, SATB chorus, SS soli, and strings, is an amalgamation of compositional techniques drawn from all eras of music history. This project identifies characteristics of Roman Catholic and Byzantine chant that are imitated throughout Passion and Resurrection. A succinct history of both styles is presented along with a detailing of Ešenvalds’s compositional technique and an overview of his oratorio. Aspects of form, melody, text, rhythm, harmony, and texture present in each movement are also discussed. This study provides conductors with insight into the chant-like aspects of Ešenvalds’s work and any influences on performance. Listings of notable Passion settings and Ešenvalds’s choral output are also included.

Advances in cybernetic and nanotechnological body modifications currently allow for enhancements to human physical and mental function which exceed human species-based norms. This thesis examines body modification and human enhancement from two perspectives—Roman Catholicism and Transhumanism— in order to contribute to bioethical deliberations regarding enhancement technologies. Roman Catholicism has a longstanding tradition of bioethical discourse, informing the healthcare directives of Roman Catholic institutions. Transhumanism is more recent movement that endorses body modifications and human enhancements as a means of individual betterment and social evolution. The thesis first considers definitions of human enhancement and levels of normalcy in connection to cybernetic and nanotechnological bionic implants, and outlines a series of criteria to assess a technology’s potential bioethical acceptability: implantability, permanency, power, and public interaction. The thesis then describes Roman Catholicism’s response to non-enhancing decorative body modifications (cosmetic surgeries, common decorative modifications such as tattoos and piercings, and uncommon modifications such as scarifications and brandings) in order to establish a basis for possible Roman Catholic responses to enhancing cybernetic and nanotechnological modifications. This is followed by an analysis from a Roman Catholic perspective of the major social issues brought forward by enhancement technologies: commodification, eugenics, vulnerability, and distributive justice. Turning to Transhumanism, the thesis describes the origins and philosophy of the movement, and then discusses the bioethical principles it advances with regard to human enhancement. The thesis concludes by locating points of convergence between Transhumanism and Roman Catholicism that could be the basis of more widely accepted ethical guidelines regarding modification technologies.

Approximately one in two parents across the province of Ontario, regardless of personal religious beliefs, now choose to enrol their children in a public Roman Catholic secondary school over the public secular school counterpart. The Ontario Roman Catholic school system has historically struggled for recognition and independence as an equally legitimate system in the province. Students in modern schools regard religion and spirituality as critical aspects to their individual identities, yet this study investigates the language and knowledge delivered within the systemic marginalization and colonial framework of a Euro-centric school system and the level of inclusivity and acceptance it affords its youth. Using a critical ethnographic methodology within a single revelatory case study, this study presents the voices of youth as the most critical voice to be heard on identity and identity in faith in Ontario Roman Catholic schools. Surveys with students and student families are complemented with in-depth student interviews, triangulated with informal educational staff interviews and the limited literature incorporating youth identity in modern Ontario Roman Catholic schools. Through the approach of an anti-colonial discursive framework, incorporating a theology of liberation that emphasizes freedom from oppression, the voice of Roman Catholic secondary school youth are brought forth as revealing their struggle for identity in a system that intentionally hides identity outside of being Roman Catholic. Broader questions discussed include: (a) What is the link between identity, schooling and knowledge production?; (b) How do the different voices of students of multi-faiths, educators, administrators, and so forth, contradict, converge and diverge from each other?; (c) How are we to understand the role and importance of spirituality in schooling, knowledge production, and claims of Indigenity and resistance to colonizing education?; (d) What does it mean to claim spirituality as a valid way of knowing?; (e) In what way does this study help understand claims that spirituality avoids splitting of the self?; (f) How do we address the fact that our cultures today are threatened by the absence of community?; and (g) What are the pedagogic and instructional relevancies of this work for the classroom teacher?

Thesis (M.A.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1985. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-62).

Thesis (M.A.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1985. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-62).

This thesis tries to historize the phenomenon of teaching religion in the Czech lands, especially in the period 1950-1956. In the first part of the thesis, the subject of interest is the analysis of the relationship between the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCZ) and the Roman Catholic Church in order to create an appropriate framework for the empirical part. The second part of the thesis describes both the CPCZ strategy in the field of religious education and the concrete social practice associated with their implementation. As a result, the study maps a certain imaginary space between the ideological claim and the daily practice that is created in communication between communist elites, church secretaries, local officials, teachers and directors, church representatives, and believers themselves. The thesis concludes that in socialist education there was a certain effort to use religious teaching in the sense of socialist upbringing. However, since the end of the first half of the 1950s, this effort has been gradually reduced and all signs of the normality of teaching religion should have been reduced to a minimum, but the study shows that local practice has not always achieved this claim. It has always been limited by an effort not to go beyond the "legality" framework that could jeopardize...

In the 1930s, Oregon State University received an impressive oversized manuscript, now known as "The Gradual," as part of a large donation of books. Not much was known about this manuscript. It does not have documentation attached from the time of its acquisition, nor had any methodical study been undertaken regarding the manuscript. This thesis examines the OSU Gradual, aiming to provide research tools for the identification of musical manuscripts of unknown or unclear provenance that could be useful to conservators, archivists, and librarians, irrespective of musical training. It is conceived as a "rough guide" for working situations where there is no dedicated manuscript specialist, in particular, a fulltime Latin paleographer or a chant scholar overseeing a massive collection. Instead, its "how-to" nature addresses curators and catalogers managing smaller manuscript collections as generalists, offering an interdisciplinary approach both beneficial and suitable to the aims of this study.