Research has shown that African-Americans are least likely to receive adequate palliative interventions leading to concerns about the quality of health care in general and palliative care in particular for this population. Acknowledging patient preferences are essential in administering quality health care especially when a patient's condition is terminal. But when African-Americans are least likely to complete living wills or durable power of attorneys for health care and more likely to continue to request life sustaining treatments when near death, conflicts between patients and medical professionals can result.<br> Recognizing patient spirituality and addressing their spiritual needs can help the patient, family or surrogate decision-maker come to terms with, if not make sense of, their life-threatening illness and eventual mortality. This may be especially salient for African-Americans because of their history of victimization of racial discrimination and ensuing overwhelming challenges with sometimes tragic consequences. Models and approaches used to assess the spirituality of African-American patients must be culturally appropriate and performed by professionals with interpersonal communications skills and an awareness of how their implicit bias can impede the integrity of the clinician-patient interaction. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Health Care Ethics / PhD; / Dissertation;

<p> This critical analysis of the literature explores the potential of African-centered psychology to address the sequelae of historical trauma in the 21st century persons of African ancestry in the United States. African American face significant health and wellness challenges including socioeconomic disparities, interpersonal violence, substance abuse, psycho-spiritual distress, and physical health issues. The literature questions the validity of mainstream psychological science to effectively conceptualize and treat persons of African ancestry, and calls for the identification of specific, culturally relevant interventions to increase physical and psychological wellness. The concept of historical trauma helps to explain the psycho-spiritual distress experienced by many persons of African ancestry in the United States, including internalized oppression, as the sequelae of unhealed wounds relates to enslavement and colonization, through the destruction of culture, language and religion, and imposition of non-inclusive systems of education, government and law. An African-centered psychology approach may alleviate suffering related to historical trauma. This dissertation further integrates the literature on the historical trauma response with the literature on African-centered psychology. Wellness goals for persons of African ancestry are identified in the literature of scholars, researchers, practitioners, activists, and community members. Concepts and strategies from an African-centered psychology framework are then explored for their potential to help illuminate challenges, address needs, and support goals, in alignment with cultural values and work currently being done in this field. Implications in the areas of epistemology, research, clinical practice, practitioner training, and public acknowledgement are explored in depth, and recommendations for incorporating African centered strategies in therapeutic interventions are made. This dissertation also identifies its own theoretical and methodological limitations, and proposes areas for future investigation. Emerging hypotheses suggest that incorporating African centered practices in therapeutic work with persons of African ancestry and their communities may offer a congruent and compatible pathway to promote psychological well-being in persons and communities of African ancestry.</p>

This thesis explores a long-neglected area of Julian’s work, namely her devotional and pastoral understanding of the nature of sin and the sacrament of penance. Her two texts reveal a deep concern, set within the context of a rise in lay penitential piety, for those devout who continued to experience a sense of shame and dread of sin, even after confession to a priest. By means of a close comparative reading of Julian's short and long texts of A Revelation of Divine Love, and an examination of a wide range of Middle English devotional texts and manuals, as well as a breadth of Julian scholarship to date, I argue that Julian addresses the devotional and ecclesiastical concerns of late fourteenth-century England in the problem of sin and confession for the ordinary believer. By articulating her revelation in the penitential terms of the manuals of the Church, Julian reveals the extent to which the daily devotional life of 'holy moder church' is the means by which the saving love of Christ is realised and made accessible to the penitent. Within her writing Julian seeks to reassure her reader that God has dealt with sin and triumphed over the devil but in order to do this she must alter their understanding of a contrition-centred sacrament. For this reason Julian sets up a crisis of understanding within her long text between the 'common teaching of holy church' and her revelation of love. This conflict is deliberately left unresolved in order that, in scholastic terms, two opposing arguments in opposition may jointly illuminate the necessity of sin and penance in bringing the soul to the proper state of humility and the mercy and grace of the loving Lord in forgiveness. In so doing it is argued that, within Julian’s writing, the pastoral process of penance is integral to those who desire a more intimate relationship with God. The thesis consists of four chapters which first, locates Julian's short and long versions of A Revelation of Divine Love within the climate of the late-fourteenth century; secondly, it charts the rise of the significance of the role of the penitent within the history of penance which led to an increasing lack of confidence within the late fourteenth century in the ability of the confessional encounter to alleviate the sense of sin experienced by some devout souls; thirdly, I analyse the extent to which Julian's short and long version of a Revelation of Divine Love reflect and address this catechetical and penitential climate in her theology of sin and penance; and finally the thesis poses the question of the extent to which Julian's work can be considered as a penitential text which seeks to bring ease and comfort of the assurance of sins forgiven through the everyday practices of the Church. It is concluded that Julian's writing reveals a fascinating and significant contribution to late fourteenth-century thought on penance and brings a fresh reading of Julian's texts.

The question guiding the argument of my thesis is whether it is possible to articulate a political theology in terms of the idea of freedom. This possibility is explored through an analysis and evaluation of the political dimension of the theologies of Wolfhart Pannenberg and Gustavo Gutiérrez. For both these theologians, the idea of freedom emerges from reflection on the process of historical experience, which itself delimits the horizon of political activity. The relevance of theology for politics consists in its competence in interpreting the individual desire for liberty within the context of our created finitude, whose deepest meaning is revealed only in God’s work of salvation. In discerning the concrete possibilities of freedom, theology has therefore to consider the role of the church as the community for learning freedom, a role already identified as part of its mission in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. In a further step, it has to consider more directly the nature of political authority and its conditioning of the actualization of human freedom through concrete practices in the life of societies and states. In this respect it is the task of theology to establish the creaturely and eschatological contexts of political life in such a way as to ground a morality of political justice. This triple structure, because it finds material justification with both theologians, creates the possibility of a fair and balanced comparison between two visions which share theoretical concerns to a surprising extent, enriching the scope of the dialogue, yet differ radically in practical orientation and commitments. This marked divergence will allow some reflection on the role of intra-theological debate in the self-definition of theological tradition against the political with regard to the competence of interpreting human freedom.

HIV is a potentially fatal virus that affects over 1,148,200 people in the United States. Due to the minority status that comes with living with HIV, PLH (people living with HIV) often encounter various aspects of stigma due to HIV, which contributes to suppressed overall psychological quality of life (PQOL).While the relationship between stigma and PQOL in PLH is well documented, little research examines mediators of this relationship. We hypothesized that spirituality (as measured by sense of peace, forgiveness of self and perceived fulfillment of life's goal) mediates the relationship between stigma and PQOL (as measured by depression, mental health and stress). We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design which utilizes two distinct phases of the research process: quantitative (QUANT) analysis followed by qualitative (QUAL) analysis. Results of the QUANT phase suggest spirituality is a partial mediator in the relationship between stigma and PQOL in PLH. In the QUAL phase, we interviewed 15 PLH to elaborate on the relationships between the three constructs. We found PLH endorsed personalized stigma most frequently. Similarly, our results also indicate PLH experience stress, depression and anxiety as a result of their HIV status. Lastly, participant's interviewed most commonly described their spiritual beliefs as relating to religion or God, which is in contrast to how spirituality was conceptualized in the quantitative portion of our study. In all, QUAL results confirmed QUANT findings, with the one main difference between how spirituality was conceptualized between the QUANT and QUAL qualitative portions of our study. Results highlight the importance of clinicians inquiring about PLH's PQOL, experiences of stigma and spiritual beliefs.

<p> This dissertation presents a Whiteheadian interpretation of the notions of mind, immanence and process as they are addressed in the <i> Zohar</i>. According to many scholars, this kabbalistic creation story as portrayed in the <i>Zohar</i> is a reaction to the earlier rabbinic concept of God qua creator, which emphasized divine transcendence over divine immanence. The medieval Jewish philosophers, particularly Maimonides influenced by Aristotle, placed particular emphasis on divine transcendence, seeing a radical separation between Creator and creation. With this in mind, these scholars claim that one of the goals of the <i>Zohar</i>&rsquo;s creation story was to emphasize God&rsquo;s immanence within creation. </p><p> Similar to the <i>Zohar</i>, the process metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead and his followers was reacting to the substance metaphysics that had dominated Western philosophy as far back as ancient Greek thought. Whitehead adopts a very similar narrative to that of the <i>Zohar</i>. First there is mind containing all the eternal objects which serve as potential for the creation (God&rsquo;s primordial nature). Mind becomes immanent in all actual occasions through prehension (God&rsquo;s consequent nature). Finally God becomes &ldquo;the lure&rdquo; (to use Whitehead&rsquo;s phrase) in the ongoing process of nature (God as superject). In this narrative, God is not the static being, the unmoved mover as discussed by Aristotle, but rather, is portrayed as a dynamic becoming, a God of process. </p><p> Due to these significant similarities between Whitehead&rsquo;s process philosophy and the <i>Zohar</i> with regard to the immanence of God and the process of creation, it is worthwhile to attempt a process interpretation of the kabbalistic creation story. The first part of this dissertation is entitled <i>Philosophical Foundations</i>, focusing on the intellectual framework of this study of the <i>Zohar</i>. The second part is entitled <i>Creating a Narrative</i>, looking at the text of the <i> Zohar</i> through the lens of Whitehead&rsquo;s metaphysics. Finally, the conclusion looks at the narrative and discusses whether the goals of the dissertation have been achieved.</p>

<p> The concept of shepherding others goes back thousands of years, yet the shepherding metaphor received limited review in academic circles. A study transpired in order to better understand what shepherding entails. It was not known how self-declared leaders from the ecclesiastic, business, and education fields, perceived, described, and practiced shepherd leadership in the greater New York metropolitan area. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how 30 self-declared leaders from the ecclesiastic, business, and education fields, perceived, described, and practiced shepherd leadership. The researcher conducted a qualitative case study involving 30 experienced leaders from three Abrahamic faiths (Jewish, Christian, Islamic) and three fields (ecclesiastic, business, education). All 30 participants completed the Shepherd Leader Inventory and the Brodie Ranking of Shepherd Leadership Skills. Combining 13 open-ended interviews with the two surveys enabled the researcher to triangulate the data. When participants were asked to describe practices unique to shepherding, the leaders in the study mentioned that the shepherd leader cares about others, behaves in a professional manner, builds up others, thinks through actions, builds relationships, shares authority, develops others, shows flexibility, and provides guidance. The researcher discovered that shepherding consists of similar constructs as several positive leadership models. Shepherding proceeds from Theory Z where the leader maintains authority in times of crisis and shares authority in times of ease. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: Leadership, Shepherd leadership, Shepherding, Servant leadership, Spiritual leadership, Positive leadership, Transformational leadership, Leader-member exchange, Agapao love, Ecclesiastic, Business, Education, Leadership theory, Spirituality</p>

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The demand for study places in Honours courses in Psychology far exceeds the available places in courses at government-funded universities. Private institutions are increasingly offering such courses to address the need for enrolment and to capitalize on a market niche. Students who are unsuccessful at mainstream universities might apply for courses at private institutions, even those offered at faith-based universities regardless of their personal spiritual beliefs and values. There is a clear gap in the literature exploring the experiences of students enrolled at faith-based private institutions. The study attempted to gain insight into the subjective experiences of students enrolled in a Psychology Honours programme at a faith-based institution in the Western Cape. The proposed study incorporated an exploratory research design and employed qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Semi-structured individual interviews were used to collect data from a purposively selected sample and transcripts were subjected to a content analysis. Data collection and analysis occurred in parallel until reaching the threshold number. Ethics clearance and project registration was obtained from the UWC Senate Research committee and all relevant ethics principles were upheld. The findings indicated that faith based institutions are not homogenous and that students enrolled at faith based institutions are respectively not homogenous. Findings further indicate that alignment does exist between the core values of participants and their discipline choice, and not that participants‘ faith beliefs were necessarily aligned with that of the institution.

Thesis advisor: Martin Cohen / HIV is a complex, life-altering infection that often challenges patients to change their attitudes towards health and hope in order to survive. In developed nations, such as the United States, HIV is no longer a terminal illness, but a chronic condition with tremendous social consequences. Because religion and spirituality are so significant to the life attitudes of millions of Americans, I wanted to explore the role that they may have for those infected with HIV. Specifically, the study attempts to examine the connection between spirituality and patient health attitudes, as well as the role of spirituality in successfully fighting the virus. Through a series of open interviews, I collected quantitative data and narratives from several patients. While the sample was overwhelmingly religious, the participants noted that religion has been one of the most significant motivators in their struggles against HIV. While the limited sample size prevents statistical analysis, I am able to present the life stories of many patients infected with the virus. Their experiences provide insight into the powers of spirituality and faith when facing HIV. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: John L. Mahoney / An exploration of the spirituality present in seleceted poems of William Wordsworth. Occasionally reference his personal relationship to and influence of the Anglican Church, but is a study of the way he developed his own spirituality, not an argument for or against his classification as a "Christian poet." / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2005. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English. / Discipline: College Honors Program.