This thesis offers a development of work on and with L. J. J. Wittgenstein by R. Bambrough (1969 etc.), S. Cavell (1979 etc.), J. C. Edwards (1982), P. Hacker (1986 etc.), F. Kerr (1986), N. Lash (1988), N, Malcolm (1960 etc.), D. Pears (1987 etc.), D. Z. Phillips (1965 etc.), R. White (1982), P. Winch (1972 etc.) and others. It is argued that all Wittgenstein's philosophical work coheres with his inclusive spirituality, Jewish and Christian, in seeking to express the dialectics of the sublime in the pedestrian. The most important chapters (one, seven and eight) cannot be fully understood without the others. Wittgenstein's inclusive concern with transforming philosophy, himself and all friends within reach, expresses his sense of responsibility for the language that we use and have, share and actively are. This intensive and comprehensive responsibility, with eschatological and apocalyptic affinities, shows in his ethics of descriptive grammar. Since languages and concepts are ways and means for procedural knowledge, his ethics of description is also an ethics, aesthetics and theology of perceptive equilibration in understanding, interpretation and family-resemblances. Inclusive spirituality involves Anselmian transcendence. Wittgenstein's inclusive spirituality is maintained to be a revised and radicalised version of Augustine's regulative dialectics of inclusive grammar, free from his exclusive theories of language-development and predestination. Wittgenstein's simplest and potentially most powerful presentation of Augustine's grammar is the third "great difficulty" in his ethics of 1929. This integrates Wittgenstein's work as a vital open system, akin to eastern trinitarianism. His dialectics of the sublime are related to William James, Tolstoy, Emerson, Pascal, Hamann, Kant, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Kraus, Weininger, Dostoevsky, Barth and others. Convergences between Wittgenstein and Barth are considered, particularly with regard to the letter's lecture on ethics, published in 1924 (1928 in English), and the beginning of Church Dogmatics (1932 onwards). Wittgenstein's theological and religious reticence is finally argued to be his way of leaving his gift before the place where sacrifice was once offered, as he works on his remembering of unreconciled others. (Matthew 5:23-24). His "third (greatest) difficulty" is the greatest difficulty.

Humility is an integral virtue within Benedictine spiritual traditions. It is also the subject of a burgeoning body of empirical literature in the field of psychology. This dissertation undertakes an interdisciplinary dialogue between Benedictine spirituality and contemporary psychological science, exploring the potential for both fields to mutually inform as well as critique respective understandings of humility. Scholarship in Benedictine spirituality has not shown substantial engagement with the field of psychology around the topic of humility since the 1980’s. Likewise, no in-depth analysis of the Benedictine spirituality of humility has been conducted within psychology, despite increasing interest in interdisciplinary projects among psychologists of spirituality and religion. In the body of this dissertation, chapter one sets out to locate this project within the disciplines of practical theology, spirituality studies, and the psychology of religion and spirituality. It also describes the methods used in this dissertation, with particular focus on the dynamics of mutually critical correlation, a method that gives room for both fields to inform, critique, and question the other around their positions regarding the theory and practice of humility. Chapter two presents an in-depth exploration of Benedictine humility, focusing in particular on themes in the Rule of St. Benedict as well as different contemporary interpretations of humility that have emerged over the last thirty years. Chapter three then offers an exploration of the contemporary state of the psychology of humility, documenting the growing body of research on this subject over the last two decades. Chapter four moves into the interdisciplinary analysis of this dissertation, inquiring how contemporary psychological research on humility could potentially inform Benedictine spirituality. Chapter five then switches to consider how insights and perspectives on humility from Benedictine traditions can also inform theoretical perspectives on humility within psychology, as well as applications in psychological interventions that integrate spirituality. Finally, a concluding chapter highlights some points of learning regarding interdisciplinary research on humility in spirituality and psychology, along with questions for future research and a final selection of key points for practice in both fields.

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COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States and is the sixth leading cause of death for low-to middle income countries (Downs & Appel, 2006; GOLD, 2011). COPD is a largely preventable disease due to the lifestyle factors that heavily contribute to disease onset and severity. Although traditionally COPD research has focused on health outcomes related to risk factors, compliance, comorbid psychological and physical conditions, and treatment interventions, a growing body of research suggests religious and spiritual factors may play an equally important role in health outcomes for several medical conditions, including pulmonary disease. However, studies of this kind have not specifically examined COPD nor have they examined the role of religious and spiritual beliefs in COPD management among ethnic minority patients. As such, the current study aimed to examine whether spiritual ethnic minority patients with COPD hold religious fatalistic attitudes and less active religious problem solving . A sample of 35 ethnic minority patients from the Louis. B. Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center (LSCVAMC) Outpatient Pulmonary Clinic in Cleveland, OH. were recruited to participate in the study. Due to the acknowledgeable limitations of the present study, results are preliminary but convey associations between religious health fatalistic beliefs and religious problem solving approaches. Implications and areas of future study are discussed.

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This project is a practical theological response to the so-called "rise of fundamentalism" and its extreme inverse—uncritical progressivism—in contemporary Orthodoxy within the United States. The dissertation argues that it is possible, and even traditional, for contemporary Orthodox communities to shape their religious practices in a manner that addresses fundamental needs in the present, without relying or insisting upon contextually inappropriate practices. Drawing on the so-called Christian practices approach to practical theology as found in the writings of Dorothy Bass and Craig Dykstra and the theology, spirituality, and mysticism of the Christian East—as exemplified by the writings of Maximus the Confessor—this project cultivates four critical lenses that contemporary Orthodox Christian communities can employ as they begin to explore the possibility of adapting traditional practices and incorporating innovative practices into their existing way of life. In order to concretize such an endeavor, this project includes a case study of the Communities at New Skete. In their own unique way, they have adapted their monastic life to meet their 20th and 21st century circumstances. Notably, they have engaged in a reform and renewal of the inherited liturgical tradition to meet not only their own needs, but also those of the Orthodox Church here in the United States. Additionally, and more significantly, they have allowed other spontaneously-arising activities to shape their way of life. For this latter point, the project focuses on the way that their dog breeding and training program has functionally become a spiritual practice for the monks and nuns. Their example can help contemporary Orthodox Christian communities consider the ways in which activities, which arise naturally in their own contexts, similarly function as spiritual or religious practices. In doing so, these communities can cultivate a contextually appropriate Orthodoxy, without falling into the trap of fundamentalist thought. This project will contribute to ongoing conversations around Christian practices, and to research at the intersection of practical theology and spirituality studies.

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