Thesis advisor: John R. Sachs / Thesis advisor: Margaret E. Guider / Catholic faith affirms human nature as an intrinsic fundamental unity between body and soul. Nonetheless, because the soul is immortal, Catholic teaching asserts that the soul survives even when it is separated from the body between death and resurrection. This belief in the survival of the separate soul can lead to a misguided understanding of the afterlife. It also has potentially detrimental consequences for the people of God in the present life. If the afterlife is conceived as a pure spiritual reality disconnected from the material world, the faith-filled practices of popular religiosity can lose their embodied character and be reduced to nothing more than pious spiritual devotions that are totally disengaged from the responsibilities and realities of Christian life. Guided by these concerns, this inquiry reflects on the manner in which Church teaching on the human soul is communicated through rites and rituals for the dead, especially in the selection and interpretation of biblical texts and in the choice of liturgical prayers. This study also reviews the historical evolution of Church teaching on the soul as well as the foundations that have contributed to Catholic understandings of theological anthropology and eschatology. Particular attention is given to Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of human nature and the human soul as the substantial form of the body. Further attention is given to the inherent difficulties encountered with regard to the notion of the separated soul after death. Challenged by questions raised in accord with theological reasoning, the separation of body and soul also is contested by contemporary scientific data suggesting that the brain has a central role in the generation of human intellectual functions. As Catholic theology has traditionally attributed these functions to the soul, it becomes evident that theology must be in dialogue with science if Church teaching is to give a more reasonable account of human nature. The problem of the separated soul is further examined in the light of the post-Vatican II theological debate on the notion of intermediate state. Two distinct views on this subject are presented in the works of Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger. While Rahner considers the intermediate state as an intellectual framework for thinking about the afterlife and not a matter of binding faith, Ratzinger considers the intermediate state as an important belief connected to the doctrine of the immortality and the survival of the soul after death. This study argues that Rahner’s view is more appropriate as it leaves the question of the intermediate state open to theological debate while also affirming the symbolic dimension of eschatological language. In conclusion, this dissertation proposes Rahner’s hermeneutical principles for the interpretation of the Church’s eschatological assertions as a means to preserve foundational Catholic beliefs while respecting their metaphorical nature. It also proposes that all eschatological assertions of the Church only can be rightly understood and interpreted in light of the resurrection of the body, the central Christian hope and symbol of the permanent and fundamental body-soul unity of human nature. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Thesis advisor: John R. Sachs / This thesis is concerned with ecotheology and theological anthropology, in general, and in particular, with the interpretation of the imago Dei motif as a source of ecological commitment. More specifically, it is an exploration of the theological idea of kenosis as one meaningful, sound, and timely understanding of imago Dei within the context of the current ecological crisis. Although criticized for its alleged anthropocentric overtones, the notion of imago Dei should not be put aside or silenced, but rather reinterpreted. Understood as kenosis, it is a source and not a hindrance for ecological concern and ethical commitment inasmuch as it elicits a fruitful understanding of humanity. Therefore, this dissertation occurs at the intersection between ecotheology and theological anthropology, or in other words it is a theological exploration within the domain of theological anthropology through an ecological lens. Chapter one traces the appearance of ecotheology within contemporary theological reflection, its assessment of the ecological crisis, and the different models or strategies that theologians have explored in order to link ecological challenges and theology. After defining both “ecology” and “ecological crisis”, and identifying some of the manifestations of the latter, the chapter examines the specific rationale of ecotheology and shows how and why it calls into question three main assumptions of classic theological anthropology, namely, the dignity, uniqueness, and role of humanity within creation. It provides a clear understanding of the status of ecotheology, its particular rationale, and its challenge to standard theological anthropology. Chapter two turns to the interpretation of imago Dei. First, it characterizes and assesses three main historical lines of interpretation: essentialist, functionalist, and relational, which can summarize and group the contributions of those who have offered a theological understanding of imago Dei. Then, the chapter proposes the notion of kenosis as one sound, meaningful and timely interpretation of this theological motif. Defined as both making-room or self-limitation and self-giving or self-emptying love, kenosis is portrayed through its biblical and systematic usage. The chapter argues that kenosis discloses something crucial about God’s agency within creation and about Jesus Christ as revelatory of true humanity. Consequently, it can be considered as an inspiring and significant anthropological notion in the context of the current ecological crisis. Kenosis not only connects the three classic interpretations of imago Dei, but it also serves them as a specifier, inasmuch as it provides concrete content and a precise direction for understanding humanity as created in the image of God. The chapter ends dealing with the main critiques which have been addressed to kenosis as a meaningful notion for theological anthropology. Chapter three is a constructive one. It explores the fruitfulness of kenosis and its ability to shed light upon humanity through the three dimensions of ecology: personal, social, and environmental. It shows the inspiring character of kenosis as an anthropological image which helps to shape people’s imagination, and the way believers portray and make practical sense of the Christian depiction of humanity. First, after highlighting the necessity of ecological conversion and a new ethos, the chapter proposes the notions of limit and asceticism as two important anthropological features that kenosis offers to personal ecology, and that may inspire us in searching and discerning new ways of life. Then, the chapter addresses the issue of the images that may help us in our searching for and voicing new ways of social interaction and life. The concept of “civilization of poverty” coined by philosopher Ignacio Ellacuría is particularly examined. Rooted in the social dimension of ecology, this concept is in tune with the twofold movement of kenosis of self-limitation and self-giving love. Finally, the chapter shows how kenosis offers a corrective to the notion of stewardship and enhances what is better in it. Inasmuch as the former in its double meaning of self-limitation and self-giving love entails clear practical consequences, it complements greatly the latter, which has become a sort of default position for many theologians. It is shown how this alliance between these two images heightens what is good in each of them, in order to inspire us in discerning and embodying an ecologically friendly lifestyle. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Thesis advisor: Mary Ann Hinsdale / This dissertation explicates and evaluates the theological anthropology of David Tracy. Through a reading of the whole of Tracy's published theological corpus, it argues that Tracy's work on theological method, hermeneutics, public theology, and otherness rests on an implicit and evolving understanding of the human person. This anthropology is rooted in four key characteristics or "anthropological constants": finitude, relationality, sin, and grace. The methodological approach of the dissertation is genealogical and hermeneutical. Each of these four constants is taken as an interpretive lens through which the dissertation considers the development of Tracy's thought. This approach will demonstrate first how finitude, relationality, sin, and grace are interwoven in Tracy's work, and second how the development of his core theological loci of method, interpretation, public-ness, pluralism, and otherness are rooted in these four constants. The text concludes with an evaluation of Tracy's theology anthropology in light of his context as a North American, late 20th century, Catholic theologian. Tracy's work provides insight into the interdependence of theological method and anthropology. However, while he attends to the importance of how historical, linguistic, and social context shape human persons, his conceptual approach to context tends to ignore particularity and embodiment. Nevertheless, the four "constants" of Tracy's theological anthropology could fruitfully engage contemporary currents such as ecotheology and disability theology. This dissertation is the most thorough and sustained foray into the question of David Tracy's theological anthropology to date, and as such provides a significant contribution to the field of 20th/21st century North American Catholic theology. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

While many disciplines have formally recognized and explicated the significance of "need" for their areas of study, such focus on this concept has not been undertaken theologically. Given the particular work of analytic philosophers on this concept, this project seeks to rigorously define need in ways informed by both analytic philosophy and biblical studies in order to contribute to theological anthropology. At root then, this project proposes that humans were intended for incompleteness-a need without lack. On this understanding, need is dispositional and inseparable from a creature's ontology. Further, this need was intended to be discovered in a context of abundance, an abundance of what would continually meet this need: God's personal presence. The realization of this incompletion would involve dynamic growth, such that the dispositional need to be in a relation of dependence upon the personal divine presence would require ongoing fulfillment. Thus, this need was not intrinsically an imperfection, but an incompleteness integral to what it means to be human. While being incomplete is typically understood negatively, on this view such need is indicative of what it means to be human. In order to make these claims, the aims of this thesis are thus threefold: first, to highlight the exegetical significance of divine presence for understanding anthropology-providing a sort of minimalism which any anthropology must include; second, to analytically appropriate that significance through the technical concept of fundamental need; and third, to apply this technical concept to the task of constructing a pneumatologically-Christocentric anthropology.

by Keith Ka-fu Chan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-99). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1. --- Karl Barth and Non-Christian Religions --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2. --- "Karl Barth, Christological Anthropology and Confucianism " --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Barth's Christological Approach: A Historical Study --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1. --- Introduction --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2. --- Christology in the Making: From The Epistle to the Romans to Anselm --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3. --- Christological Concentration: Church Dogmatics --- p.26 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Barth's Anthropology: Man and Humanity --- p.31 / Chapter 3.1. --- Introduction --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2. --- Jesus Christ as the Starting Point --- p.32 / Chapter 3.3. --- Real Man: The Ontological Relationship between God and Human --- p.36 / Chapter 3.4. --- Real Humanity: Being-With-the-Other --- p.41 / Chapter 3.5. --- Real Man as Redeemed Man: Human Being in the Doctrine of Reconciliation --- p.46 / Chapter 3.6. --- Conclusion --- p.49 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Barth's Christology: Jesus' Humanity --- p.50 / Chapter 4.1. --- Introduction --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2. --- Jesus Christ as the Electing God and Elected Man: Humanity in the Barth's Doctrine of Election --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2.1. --- Doctrine of Election as the Doctrine of God Himself --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2.2. --- Jesus Christ as the Electing God and Elected Man --- p.53 / Chapter 4.2.3. --- Humanity in the Doctrine of Election --- p.55 / Chapter 4.3. --- Barth's Doctrine of the Humanity of Jesus Christ --- p.60 / Chapter 4.3.1. --- The Antiochene and Alexandrian Christologies --- p.60 / Chapter 4.3.2. --- The Chalcedonian Formula and its Limitation --- p.64 / Chapter 4.3.3. --- Barth's idea of Anhypostatic-Enhypostatic Christology --- p.66 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Karl Barth's Christological Anthropology in Dialogue with Confucianism --- p.73 / Chapter 5.1. --- Introduction --- p.73 / Chapter 5.2. --- The Anthropological and Christological Discourses in Christian-Confucian Dialogue --- p.74 / Chapter 5.3. --- A Critique of Kim's Understanding of Barth's Anthropology --- p.82 / Chapter 5.4. --- Karl Barth's Christological Anthropology and Christian-Confucian Dialogue --- p.85 / Chapter 5.4.1. --- Real Man --- p.85 / Chapter 5.4.2. --- Real Humanity --- p.86 / Chapter 5.4.3. --- God's Election --- p.87 / Chapter 5.4.4. --- The Divinity and Humanity of Jesus Christ --- p.88 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Concluding Reflection --- p.90 / Bibliography --- p.94

李天鈞. / "2004年8月". / 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2004. / 參考文獻 (leaves 83-89). / 附中英文摘要. / "2004 nian 8 yue". / Li Tianjun. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2004. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 83-89). / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / 緒論 --- p.01 / Chapter 第一章 --- 潘寧博的神學人觀的建構背景與發展 --- p.05 / Chapter 1. --- 潘寧博對神學工作的理解 --- p.06 / Chapter 2. --- 潘寧博神學工作的目標並其實踐中所面對的處境及回應 --- p.13 / Chapter 3. --- 潘寧博的神學走向人類學的原因 --- p.21 / Chapter 4. --- 潘寧博神學人觀的建構過程 --- p.29 / Chapter 第二章 --- 潘寧博的神學人觀的内容 --- p.36 / Chapter 1. --- 潘寧博在《系統神學》卷二對神學人觀的理解 --- p.38 / Chapter 2. --- 人類的命運與上帝的形象 --- p.42 / Chapter 3. --- 人類的罪惡與普遍性的罪惡 --- p.48 / Chapter 4. --- 聖靈在人類中的工作 --- p.54 / Chapter 5. --- 耶穌基督與人類的關係 --- p.59 / Chapter 6. --- 對潘寧博的神學人觀的評論 --- p.63 / Chapter 第三章 --- 潘寧博的神學人觀對儒耶對話的意義 --- p.68 / Chapter 1. --- 對話的模式的選擇 --- p.68 / Chapter 2. --- 潘寧博神學人觀在儒耶對話中人觀討論方面的意義 --- p.71 / 總結 --- p.81 / 參考書目 --- p.83-89

No description available.

Thesis (Psy. D.)--George Fox University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 271-315). Also available on the Internet.

Issued also as thesis, Utrecht. / Bibliography: p. [402]-408.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-157).