Please read the summary on pp378-383 of this document / Thesis (DD (Systematic Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Dogmatics and Christian Ethics / unrestricted

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In On Christian Teaching, Saint Augustine writes, “Just and holy living depends on being a good judge of things.” This brief sentence lucidly articulates the importance that judgment plays in Augustine’s thought. This thesis is the first full-length study of how he understands the distinct role of the Holy Spirit in judgment. I argue that judgment denotes both the discernment of a thing’s nature and evaluation of it; and we become good judges only as we are re-ordered by the love which is, in Augustine’s favourite pneumatological verse, “poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). I analyse this transformative work of the Spirit according to two broad categories: first, the Spirit re-orders our relation to creation principally by uniting us to the Word, the second person of the Trinity, in whom all things are created, and so we are able to discern a thing’s nature and evaluate it according to God’s purposes in creation; and, second, the Spirit re-orders our relation to time, as we patiently endure this troublous life as pilgrims hoping for eternal Sabbath rest; within this eschatological horizon situated in the age between Christ’s first coming and his return, we restrain ourselves from making both unfounded and unnecessary judgments as we defer to God’s final judgement. This thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part, on the “theory” of judgment, I explicate the consistent relation throughout Augustine’s corpus between pneumatology, judgment and ethics (chapter one). I then proceed to trace out his account of how the gift of the Spirit’s love perfects our judgment by re-ordering our relation to creation, and, conversely, how lust distorts it. A right relation to creation turns on taking up our middle place: below God, next to our neighbours, and above nature (chapter two). In the second part, on the “practice” of judgment, I focus first on other-judgment, especially the role of mercy (chapter three), and then in the fourth and final chapter I turn to self-judgment, including a lengthy consideration of the nature and role of conscience (chapter four). For Augustine, then, it is only by the Spirit’s love that we are made good judges, and, simultaneously, it is only when we are good judges that our love conforms to the truth both of God’s good creation and of our in-between age.

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Thesis advisor: Margaret E. Guider / The cosmic mystery of Mary draws attention to what the Roman Catholic Church celebrates as her heavenly reign, an aspect of which is the proliferation of Marian apparitions and manifestations around the world particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. This dissertation underscores that these historical interventions are manifestations of the action of the Holy Spirit in the particular figure of Mary and is attentive to the different ways God’s graces flow to the whole people of God without conflating the person of Mary with the Person of the Spirit. The instrumental nature of Mary’s relation to the Spirit in carrying out Christ’s salvific work is the centerpiece of this study. A key aspect of this work is the mutual recognition of non-Christians in that Mary’s appearances to a number of seers is not contingent on their being or becoming Christian. A number of modern apparitions have assumed political significance because of the social turmoil of the periods when they occurred. Of interest here, is an understanding of the Spirit’s implementation in Mary’s intellect and will, and the reception of her apparition messages in ways that are transformative for ecclesial life and all God’s people. This work includes an exposition of some of the scriptural, ecumenical, interreligious, and ecclesiastical foundations for understanding the Spirit’s action in Mary, and their influence on contemporary mariological discourse since the Second Vatican Council. It reviews some of the key insights from the two-thousand year history of Marian apparitions, the complexity of the phenomenon, and the trends observed during the modern period. Vailankanni (India), Zeitoun (Egypt), and Kibeho (Rwanda) are three case studies included based on the persistence of a Marian cult, pilgrim growth, and contemporary sociopolitical and religious concerns. The rise in Hindu nationalism in India, political tensions and growth of pan-Islamism in North Africa and the Middle East, and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are studied using the historical-critical method and comparative studies of religion within the scope of apparitions, drawing attention to the marginalization of particular demographics based on religious or ethnic origin. Understanding the Spirit’s implementation in Mary enhances the analysis of the implications of these phenomena. The Spirit’s work through Mary’s cosmic mystery has profound, far-reaching significance for the world church and all God’s people. The three cases reveal how Marian apparitions evolve from obscure events in insignificant places to global centers of Christian spirituality. They make known the hidden potential of the gospel to apply Christian revelation to localized, particular challenges in new situations with permanent, prophetic, and eschatological implications. The permanent examines how the repetitive or apocalyptic nature of Mary’s appeals mobilizes the sensus fidelium through the transforming power of pilgrimage, its impact on Marian devotion, and the emergence of new ecclesial movements. The prophetic addresses Christian and interreligious unity through dialogical encounter, equality for all, God’s justice, and the preferential option for the poor. The global reach of Marian apparitions expresses the oneness of Mary operating under the power of the Spirit, accompanying a global humanity-in-pilgrimage towards the eschatological reign of God. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

This thesis discusses the contribution of Richard Hooker to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in his magisterial work, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Hooker’s discussion of the Holy Spirit is unsystematic although his dependence on the Holy Spirit for his theology is extensive. The aim of the thesis is to assess the contribution of the Holy Spirit to Hooker’s theology as under-represented in current research. Hooker’s attitude to reform is explored in relation to contemporary and later Puritan writers, such as William Perkins, William Ames, Richard Baxter, and John Owen, and forms part of the overall evaluation of the importance of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit for his theology. Four areas are investigated concerning the role Hooker assigned to the Holy Spirit in Christian theology. 1. The role of the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of Scripture. 2. The nature and purpose of the sacraments in light of the Holy Spirit. 3. The place of the Holy Spirit in understanding Hooker’s view of the orders of ministry. 4. The centre of Hooker’s theology as the claim to "participation" in the life of God. The thesis concludes that Hooker remained generally consistent with Calvin’s understanding of the Holy Spirit, though he refined Calvin’s scriptural hermeneutic with special reference to the relationship between reason and the Holy Spirit. It is also contends that later Puritans such as Richard Baxter and John Owen, offered a perspective on the relationship between reason and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that was consistent with Calvin but also anticipated by Hooker. This suggests a strong measure of continuity between Hooker and Puritan thought that did not become apparent until after his death in 1600, and which contemporary scholarship has continued to debate. Hooker was an advocate of reform but with a characteristically independent grasp of what that entailed in the convergence of Thomistic and Calvinist thought. Hooker’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit was a consistent theme that was essential to his central motif of the believer’s participation in God. The final chapter shows that Hooker, in defending the Elizabethan Settlement, was able to avoid the entrapment of the Puritan charge of Pelagianism and sympathy towards Rome on the one hand, and the Roman charge of Scriptural insufficiency on the other, by positing a third pole in the debate. This required acceptance of the idea of foundational Christian truth whose goal was theosis, the union of the soul with God, whose agent was the secret operation of the Holy Spirit and instrumentality, the Scriptures and sacraments. As such, Hooker called for mature commitment to theological investigation that stood above partisan rancour. / May 2005

Thesis--Munich. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [86]-100).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, June 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2003. / Thesis directed by Harold W. Attridge and Mary Rose D'Angelo for the Department of Theology. "December 2003." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 284-301).