Thesis advisor: Guerda Nicolas / Thesis advisor: Belle Liang / Recently theory has proposed that Belief in God plays a significant role in Identity development by facilitating identity exploration and the resolution of identity crises (King, 2003). The intersections of Identity development and Belief in God are particularly important to understand in young adults because (1) this is the developmental period when Identity development begins and (2) Belief in God is prevalent among college students. However, researchers have not empirically examined the theorized relationship between Belief in God and Identity. Therefore, this study sought to begin to understand and explain (through empirical research) the relationship between Belief in God and Identity development in young adults. A sample of 306 young adults enrolled in private, four-year post-secondary education institutions in New England completed questionnaires measuring their reasons for Belief in God and their current Identity Status. Findings from the study indicate that: (1) these young adults have average levels of Belief in God across each of the six reasons for Belief in God measured in this study, regardless of age or gender; (2) these young adults tend to function from a transition Diffuse-Foreclosure Identity status; (3) Belief in God has an impact on the Identity of these young adults; (4) Age and gender do not appear to impact the relationship between Belief in God and Identity; and (5) Comprehensive models explaining the relationships between Belief in God and each of the Identity statuses measured in this study, indicated that Belief in God is a significant predictor of both the Moratorium and Achieved Identity statuses. Overall, results from the study provide empirical support for the theoretical link between Belief in God and Identity development, and further suggest that Belief in God impacts Identity Development more by aiding in the resolution of Identity crises than by facilitating the exploration process. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

As pesquisas que tratam do coping religioso-espiritual (CRE) que vem sendo publicadas ainda não abordaram esta temática com relação ao profissional de enfermagem, profissional este submetido a vários fatores de estresse originados não só de sua prática laboral, mas também oriundos do cotidiano existente fora do local de trabalho. O presente estudo foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de verificar se os profissionais de enfermagem (auxiliares, técnicos e enfermeiros) se utilizam do coping religioso-espiritual para lidar com os fatores de estresse vivenciados tanto no trabalho como na vida particular. Trata-se de um estudo transversal, descritivo de abordagem quantitativa de natureza exploratória, no qual foram convidados a participar da pesquisa todos os profissionais de enfermagem da Unidade de Urgência e Emergência do Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto, obtendo-se uma amostra de 126 participantes aos quais foi entregue a cada profissional um envelope contendo o termo de consentimento, o Questionário Geral e a Escala CRE, que foram devidamente preenchidos fora do ambiente de trabalho e devolvidos à pesquisadora posteriormente. Os resultados mostraram que a média de CRE total foi de 3,66, a média de CREP foi de 3,11 e a média de CREN foi de 1,78 e que as mulheres fazem mais uso do coping religioso-espiritual positivo do que os homens. Com relação a situação de estresse referida pelos respondentes, verificou-se que a maioria relatou ter vivenciado uma situação de estresse em ambiente familiar (61,1%), que 25,4% relataram ter vivido uma situação de estresse no ambiente de trabalho, 2,4% referiam ter vivenciado situações de estresse em ambos os ambientes e 10,3% relataram não ter vivenciado nenhuma situação de estresse no período indicado. Apenas 0,8% não respondeu a pergunta. Os resultados obtidos por meio dos índices da escala CRE neste trabalho já eram esperados tendo em vista a religiosidade do povo brasileiro, especialmente a religiosidade da mulher brasileira, no entanto, não foi verificado o impacto do uso do coping religiosoespiritual para a saúde dessa categoria profissional, sendo necessários novos estudos, principalmente com relação ao impacto do uso da dimensão negativa do CRE, que, apesar de ter sido pouco utilizada pelos participantes deste estudo, tratase de informação importante que pode afetar a saúde daqueles que fazem seu uso, cabendo aos futuros pesquisadores na área investigar também possíveis formas trabalhar este aspecto para a realização da promoção da dimensão espiritual dos profissionais de enfermagem. / Researches published in the area of spiritual/religious coping (SRC) still not addressed this issue related to nursing professionals who are submitted to different stress factors arising not only from their work practice, but also from their everyday life outside the workplace. This study aimed to verify if nursing staff (assistants, technicians and nurses) uses the spiritual/religious coping to deal with the stress factors experienced both at work and in private life. It is a cross-sectional, descriptive, and quantitative study in which all nurses of the Emergency Unit of the Hospital das Clínicas of the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto Medical School were invited to participate, obtaining a sample of 126 participants who were given an envelope containing a free consent form, the General Questionnaire, and the Spiritual Religious Coping Scale (SRCOPE Scale), which were completely filled out by the participants out of the workplace and then returned to the researcher. The results showed that the SRC average was 3.66, the positive SRC average was 3.11, the negative SRC average was 1.78, and that women make more use of positive spiritual/religious coping than men. Regarding the situation of stress mentioned by the participants, it was found that the majority reported having experienced a stressful situation in the family setting (61.1%); 25.4% reported having experienced a stressful situation in the workplace; 2.4% reported having experienced stressful situations in both environments; and 10.3% reported not having experienced any stressful situation during the period of the study. Only 0.8% of the participants did not answer the questions. The results obtained through the index of the SRC Scale were expected in view of the religiosity of the Brazilian people, especially the religiosity of Brazilian women, however, it was not seen the impact of the use of spiritual/religious coping for the health of this professional category, which warrants further studies, particularly with respect to the impact of the use of negative dimension of the SRC, which, although it was rarely used by the participants in this study, it is an important information that can affect the health of those who make its use, leaving it to future researchers in this area also investigate possible ways to work to achieve the promotion of the spiritual dimension of nursing professionals.

Thesis advisor: Catherine Cornille / While no dogmatic declarations have been made on the definition of the body, creeds, councils, and constitutions have affirmed its resurrection. The present work of comparative theology explores the body and divinization in Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) and Daoist Xiao Yingsou (fl. Song Dynasty 960-1278). Early in his writing, Teilhard loses interest in discovering the theological significance of the human body in favor of addressing the fulfillment of the Cosmic Body of Christ. Accordingly, studies of Teilhard easily overlook the individual's body. This work derives a theory of the body and its role in divinization from Teilhard by introducing an anthropological category not present in traditional theological language. Shen, the experiencing body, is the word Xiao uses to describe the Daoist in the process of divinization. Shen challenges conventional notions of body, physicality, and their importance to Christian spiritual life. The experiencing body is a living community of souls in relationship to an essential soul, who receives bonding power from Christ. On their own, humans cannot maintain the relationships within themselves, but must surrender them to perfection in Christ. Biblically, Christian anthropology departed from a monistic to a tripartite view with Paul. In the early Church, Irenaeus and Augustine defended a unity of body and soul against the gnostics heresies. Later, Thomas Aquinas formulated a theory of the body as largely defined by the soul. The bodies did not give positive contributions to people's life in God. Teilhard inherited this view of the human, but was unsatisfied with it. At the same time, he read contemporary French philosophers who provided the spark he needed to develop his ideas on creation and divinization. Early in his writing, he considers the body in light of Christology and biology. He drops the question in favor of strengthening an argument for the divinization of the entire cosmos in the Cosmic Body of Christ. Nonetheless, in the pursuit of this answer, his writings imply the individual body. Human bodies most clearly appear in his mysticism of action, which he explains in The Divine Milieu. Teilhard cannot articulate the individual body because he lacks a cosmology that does not choose between non-subsistent matter and selfsubsistent spirit. Xiao Yingsou's commentary on Daoism's Scripture of Salvation provides such a cosmology. Xiao utilizes both word and image to describe a divinizing cosmic body using three terms: dong, ti, and shen. The individual's body in a process of perfection is shen. This body is not a static collection of interworking parts, but a movement of transformation that generates salvific energy for the entire cosmos. Shen highlights in Teilhard's work a body understood as a community interacting with other beings to perfect relationships in Christ. Therefore, the body is physical, but with Teilhard's expanded notion which exceeds the limitations of time and space. This view yields a body that is not an obstacle to divinization, but absolutely necessary for it. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez-Alemán / The purpose of this study of college men of faith was to posit a theory of the intersection of masculinity and faith in college men’s identity. This study was conducted from a social constructivist epistemological paradigm through an intersectionality social justice theoretical lens utilizing a constructivist grounded theory methodology. The following research questions guided this study: (a) how do masculinity and faith identities intersect in college men who actively participate in faith-based communities, and (b) how does this intersection inform college men’s development? Two interviews were conducted with twelve Christian college men from Catholic and Protestant traditions at two large, four-year, highly residential, and high research activity universities in the Northeast with parallel offerings for faith-based communities. The theory that emerged from this study was grounded in the participants’ experiences at the intersection of masculinity and faith in college men’s identity through constant interaction with cultural expectations of them as men of faith. In order to meet these expectations at the intersection of masculinity and faith, participants described a meaning-making process of accountability and affirmation, where they negotiated masculinity and faith identities and were more likely to receive accountability and affirmation from their faith communities than a hypersexualized and very individualistic masculine culture, which resulted in a greater conformance to faith and religious principles. Through this process, participants were able to create a more harmonious identity at the intersection of masculinity and faith. The theory of accountability and affirmation is present in three major themes of this study: (a) family and relationships; (b) career, calling, and vocation; and (c) sex and sexuality. The theory of the intersection of masculinity and faith in college men’s identity has implications relevant to theory development, student affairs and campus ministry practice, and future research. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Thomas H. Groome / There has been spirited debate regarding the identity of Catholic colleges and universities in America in the fifty years following the Second Vatican Council. The tension of continuity and change was a crucial theme informing the Council, and it echoed throughout Catholic higher education. The development of Catholic higher education in the twentieth century exhibited a dialectic of cultural assimilation to American society, including the prevalent values and practices of its prized educational institutions, and retention of an identity reflecting commitments distinct from its host culture. Moreover, in recent years there has been a sharp decline in the number of priests and nuns on Catholic campuses; their presence once served as an easily identifiable and external marker of Catholic identity. These factors, among others, have contributed to the ongoing conversation regarding the role of the Catholic university in the world today. This conversation unfolds within the larger milieu of the American academy, which is characterized by the hyper-specialization of academic disciplines, the so-called fact/value dichotomy, and the commodification of education. Concerns that animated Blessed John Henry Newman’s The Idea of a University during the nineteenth century persist in our day. Today the lively discussion includes many questions. What is the purpose of Catholic higher education and how is it distinct from secular higher education? What is the relation of Catholic theology to modern/post-modern thought and culture? What is the relation of theology to other academic disciplines at a Catholic university? What is the relevance of Catholic spirituality and its lived practices for the academic mission of Catholic higher education? How should the Catholic university relate to the magisterium? What is the role of doctrinal or ethical dissent in Catholic higher education? Do Catholic universities hold the same understanding of academic freedom as secular American universities? In sum, what does the adjective “Catholic” mean when applied to American higher education today, and what are the implications for the various facets of university life? This dissertation wades into these choppy waters by proposing an organizing vision of Catholic higher education rooted in Trinitarian friendship. Bernard Lonergan, S.J., provides a remarkable account of the synthesis of faith and reason – the logos of Athens with the heart of Jerusalem. His integral hermeneutics is fertile ground in the Catholic university’s quest for self-understanding. Lonergan transposed Thomas Aquinas by integrating theology with modern science and historical studies so that it can mount to the level of our times. He thus realized Pope Leo XIII’s program of augmenting and perfecting the old in light of the new. This dissertation plunges the riches of Lonergan’s Trinitarian theology and hermeneutics in order to propose a vision of Catholic higher education permeated by friendship. The thesis is that Lonergan’s integral hermeneutics – the mutual mediation of the ways “below upwards” and “above downwards” – provides a promising heuristic for the Catholic university’s self-understanding as a participation in the coordinated missions of the Son and the Spirit and therefore sharing in the life of the triune God – by exercising friendship. Lonergan’s Trinitarian theology developed the distinct and cumulative Augustinian-Thomistic tradition with deepened understanding of the psychological analogy and bestows upon the processions an ethical-existential import and heightens the role of divine intersubjectivity. Lonergan’s Trinitarian theology culminates in an analogy of the divine persons as a community of friends: three distinct eternal subjects in perfect friendship. In perfect friendship, they are completely bound together as “another self.” As the analogy of intelligible emanation elucidates, the divine persons are distinct in how they are in relation to one another. The immanent constitution of life in God is integrally related to God’s engagement in history because the divine missions are constituted by the processions of divine persons as bringing about consequent created terms (the hypostatic union and sanctifying grace) that enable human beings to share in the relationships among those divine persons in a new way. The divine missions, the sending of the Word and the Spirit into history, establish new interpersonal relations – friendships – with creation. Lonergan understands the mission of the Word in terms of friendship, specifically how friendship is perfectly expressed in the redemption achieved through Christ’s enacting of the gracious “Law of the Cross.” “For no love is greater than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Lonergan’s account of existential interiority progressed a theological understanding of the “invisible” mission of the Spirit as distinct and coordinated with the “visible” mission of the Word. Through friendship with God, a gift of the Holy Spirit, we are related to God as God is related to God. The missions of the Word and the Spirit enable our assimilation to the divine relations of friendship. Lonergan thus sheds light on Jesus’ extraordinary claim: “ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). Lonergan’s integral hermeneutics is comprised by the mutual mediation of the vectors “below upwards” and “above downwards” in human development. In development “below upwards,” wonder drives the human subject from experiencing through understanding and onwards to judgment of values and loving commitment. Development “above downwards” originates in the dynamic state of being-in-love and cascades from judgment of values to understanding that colors experiencing. That Lonergan identified the extroverted, visible mission of the Word with development “below upwards” and the introverted, invisible mission of the Spirit with development “above downwards” is the basis for identifying his hermeneutics in terms of friendship. Thomas Groome’s renowned shared Christian praxis approach to religious education provides a pedagogical enactment of Lonergan’s integral hermeneutics. Groome has traced the correspondence between the five movements of shared Christian praxis and Lonergan’s philosophy of cognitional interiority. Shared Christian praxis may also be understood as a pedagogy of friendship because it invites friendship with oneself, the Christian Story/Vision, and the other participants throughout its five movements. Shared Christian praxis is a way of education that enables a community of learners to exercise their friendship with God. A pedagogy of friendship is epitomized in Christ’s journeying with the two on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Shared Christian praxis may be summarized as a life to faith to (new) life in faith approach. This dissertation is organized accordingly. Friendship has universal practical meaning in people’s lives and is profoundly significant in the process of education. Conversation, the option for the poor, and worship are three practices whereby a Catholic university may exercise its friendship with God. In each case, friendship’s benevolentia heals wonder “above downwards” from its contraction and atrophy by supplanting concupiscence with love. God has offered us divine friendship in the outer Word made flesh in Christ Jesus and the inner word of love poured out in our hearts by the Spirit who has been given to us by the Father and the Son. Our friendships with one another and with God is wonder therapy and therefore completely integral to the intellectual formation at a Catholic university in our time. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Over the last fifty years Western Christianity has been criticized as a cause and enabler of Earth's ecological crisis. This criticism is based on the conclusion that Christianity promotes a spiritual-material dualism and that the material side of life has little sacred value. It is also based on the observed hesitancy of many Christians to embrace modern scientific understandings of creation, especially evolution. Some Christian writers have responded by accepting modern cosmology and evolution, and advocating for a sacramental creation spirituality, oftentimes supported by fresh readings of earlier Christian writings. This dissertation looks at Maximus the Confessor (c.580-662 CE), Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464 CE), and Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955 CE). Teilhard attests to an experience of natural sacrament in perceiving an increasingly transfigured creation, meaning the glory of God is ever more perceptible as a timely conscious insight into creation and as an emergent aspect of cosmogenesis and evolution moving toward Christ-Omega, the end and fulfillment of all creation. The teachings of Maximus readily support this sacramental view of creation by affirming a universal, ontological, and "real" presence of the Logos of God. A theological insight of Nicholas's doctrine of learned ignorance is that the Christian God always incarnates, transfigures, fulfills, and exceeds the entire cosmos. Together the teachings of Maximus and Nicholas support Teilhard's call for a theology of a Creator God robust enough to encompass the most expansive and complicated propositions about creation made by science, while remaining as close as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The integrated teachings of these three figures suggest an ontological consecration of creation. This consecration inspires sacramental experiences of God in and through creation that complement the sacramental experience of Christ in the Eucharist. Over the evolutional time frame, these sacraments converge as one and the same sacrament at Christ-Omega. The complementary and ultimately convergent relationship between these sacramental experiences supports the ethical conclusion that just as one receives and responds to Christ present in the elements of the communion table, so one ought to receive and respond to oneself, one's neighbors, and all creation as the universal consecrated neighborhood.

This dissertation consists of two parts, an essay and a four-part cycle of choral works, including four full scores of A Time for Everything (meditation on Ecclesiastes 3), Come Away, My Beloved (meditation on Song of Songs), Intercession (meditation on Romans 8), and Faith, Hope, and Love (meditation on 1 Corinthians 13). The essay includes an introduction presenting an overview of A Time for Everything for chorus, a description of my creative process, and my ideas of music and spirituality that inform the composition. It also includes an in-depth analysis of each of the four choral works. A Time for Everything for chorus was conceived as a series of musical meditations, and composed for the vocal ensemble Ekmeles. The four pieces were premiered at Roulette Intermedium, and Issue Project Room in New York, and at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey between 2012-2013. Scores and recordings of these works make up the second part of the dissertation.

This project proceeds from a narrow question: What, if anything, is a brain wave? Beguiling in its simplicity, this question prompts a cultural-historical investigation that spans over 150 years of science, technology, and society. Proposed in 1869, the original theory of brain waves cites etheric undulations to explain reports of apparent thought transference. Though most modern thinkers no longer believe in outright telepathy, I argue that dreams of thought transmission and other mental miracles subtly persist—not in obscure and occult circles, but at the forefront of technoscience. A hybrid of science and fiction, brain waves represent an ideal subject through which to explore the ways in which technical language shrouds spiritual dreams. Today, the phrase “brain waves” often function as shorthand for electrical changes in the brain, particularly in the context of technologies that purport to “read” some aspect of mental function, or to transmit neural data to a digital device. While such technologies appear uniquely modern, the history of brain waves reveals that they are merely the millennial incarnation of a much older hope—a hope for transmission and transcendence via the brain’s emanations.

This dissertation examined the relationship of attachment to three related but separate constructs: religiosity, spirituality, and mindfulness. The sample consisted of 2020 adults living in Israel. Each participant completed a series of self-report measures online, including the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, Religious Commitment Inventory, Daily Spiritual Experiences, Spirituality Scale (including the sub-scales of Spiritual Self-Discovery, Spiritual Eco-Awareness, and Spiritual Relationships), Langer Mindfulness Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Correlation and regression analyses were employed to assess for significant relationships between attachment and the outcome variables. Correlational findings indicated that Spiritual Self-Discovery and the Religious Commitment Inventory were both significantly correlated with attachment, whereas mindfulness was not found to be significantly correlated with attachment. Results of the regression analysis showed that none of the outcome variables produced significant quadratic or interaction models. Overall, this study indicates that the constructs of religiosity, spirituality, and mindfulness each have distinct relationships with adult attachment. The findings provide modest support for the previous literature on the compensation model, that religiosity can serve as a compensatory strategy for insecure attachment; the findings expand on the model by indicating that at least one aspect of spirituality (Spiritual Self-Discovery) may also serve as a compensatory mechanism. Findings also provide modest support for bolstering secure attachment through increased religious and spiritual belief. However, the significant findings were sparse and modest, bringing into question the extent to which religiosity, spirituality, and mindfulness really are related to attachment in any clinically significant way.

This thesis focuses primarily on Lakota concerns about the appropriation of their spirituality. The religious authority of the Lakota has been recognised by Native Americans and non- Natives alike through the books of Nicholas Black Elk, who witnessed the establishment of reservations in the Plains, the aftermath of the Wounded Knee massacre and the conversion of his people to Christianity, and through the teachings of his nephew Frank Fools Crow who kept the prohibited Lakota Sun Dance alive and other ceremonial practices until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) was passed by Congress in 1978. Not long after, elders from Lakota and other Plains Indian Nations became increasingly concerned about what they perceived to be the misuse of their ceremonies. In 1993, five hundred representatives of the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota peoples endorsed the ‘Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality’, which primarily attacks the commodification of Lakota ceremonies by ‘pseudo-Indian charlatans’ and ‘new age wannabes’. Ten years later, a group of Lakota and neighbouring Plains Indian spiritual leaders supported the ‘Arvol Looking Horse Proclamation’ prohibiting all non-Native participation in Plains Indian ceremonies. Meanwhile, in academic institutions, several Native American scholars accused their non-Native colleagues of exploiting Native American communities, raising methodological questions connected to insider/outsider debates and research ethics in the study of Native American religious traditions. The thesis first examines the historical roots of the religious ‘war’ between Native Americans and non-Natives and analyses how the expropriation of Lakota ceremonies across tribal boundaries became the basis of a pan-Indian religion. By bringing together diverse indigenous peoples of North America as the ‘colonised’ against non-Native appropriators perceived as the ‘colonisers’, a tension developed between racial interpretations of ‘Native American’ based on blood quantum methods, established by the federal governments, and ‘traditional’ definitions where attitude and behaviour determines membership of the group. The main body of the thesis explores this tension in a variety of contexts: among the Lakota themselves, non-Native Americans accused of appropriating Lakota ceremonies, contemporary Mi’kmaq in eastern Canada who have employed Lakota and other Plains Indian ceremonial practices, and in the academy where ethnicity and ethics in the study of Native American religions are currently debated. The matter is further complicated by evidence illustrating that the Lakota have no centralised authority where traditional religious matters are concerned; however, Native Americans consistently refer to ‘protocols’ that define the way ceremonies are performed and the rules of participation, largely based on the Lakota model again, in particular where pan-Indian religion is present, such as at Mi’kmaq powwows, and in ceremonies where the pipe is smoked, such as the sweat lodge ceremony and vision quest, which have been appropriated extensively, often without the protocols, by non-Native Americans, including practitioners in Britain where some have altered the ceremonies to create a reconstituted British indigenous tradition. The attempt to restrict participation in Native American ceremonies according to ethnicity has not only created conflict between Native and non-Native peoples, but within Native communities as well. Nevertheless, the call for exclusivity has come after previous warnings about the misuse of ceremonies had been ignored. Therefore, the thesis examines Native American discourses about the breaking of ‘protocols’ as being at the heart of objections to the appropriation of Native American spirituality.