Thesis advisor: Catherine Cornille / This dissertation offers a comparative theological reflection on Dalit Christian theology--a contextual, liberation theology rooted in the Dalit communities' experiences of caste-based oppression--and Swami Vivekananda--the late 19th c. Neo-Vedantin and founder of the Ramkrishna Math and Mission. It seeks to provide a model of Dalit liberative service that attends to the theology's objectives--identity affirmation and a liberative social vision--works to foster liberative partnerships beyond the Dalit Christian community, and responds to the critical, but constructive assessment of Dalit theology offered by its present generation of theologians. As a work in comparative theology, it does so through a close, reflective reading of Swami Vivekananda, his Practical Vedanta, and his own reworking of seva (devotional service). The intent is not to present Vivekananda as a corrective, but rather to see newly and understand differently the dimensions of liberative service that are made manifest by seeing and understanding how seva performs in Vivekananda's thought and how it there leads to spiritual and social liberation. These dimensions include recovering by uncovering the imago Dei in Dalit theology, re-presenting liberative service as representing the Kingdom of God, and service understood as doubly and mutually liberating. While Chapter Five presents the fruits of this comparative theological reflection on Dalit Christian theology and Swami Vivekananda, the preceding four chapters provide the necessary foundation for this engagement. The first and second chapters address the historical and theological development of Dalit Christian theology presenting its origins in the Modern Maharashtran Dalit Movement and the Indian Christian context, respectively. The third and fourth examine Vivekananda's development of Practical Vedanta and seva. Together they provide the content from which and through which this comparative theological reflection occurs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: John Makransky / The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to Christian theological anthropology by bringing in the "interruption" of another religious tradition, Buddhism, in order to see how key Buddhist doctrines such as emptiness and practices of meditation may inform aspects of the Christian feminist discussions of kenosis in the spiritual life, and the search for a relational self. It also seeks to enhance Buddhist-Christian dialogue by bringing the "interruption" of feminist voices from both the Buddhist and Christian traditions into conversation with each other in order to see what they might offer, not only towards the search for "right relationship," but also towards bringing about the re-integration of doctrine and spiritual practices for more effective action in the world today. In the first part of the dissertation, I lay out the background of these two concepts of kenosis and emptiness within their respective religious traditions including the Buddhist-Christian dialogues around these two concepts. I then look at how Christian feminists (Sarah Coakley and Mary Grey) as well as Buddhist feminists (Anne Klein and Rita Gross) critique the traditional interpretations of these concepts and how they reconstruct such concepts in their articulation of a relational self and in their argument for the importance of practice and its relationship with doctrine. In the second part of this dissertation, I focus on the comparison between these Buddhist and Christian feminists and how they can mutually learn from each other. I argue that Buddhist feminist discussions on emptiness and meditation enhances and deepens the Christian feminist articulations of kenosis and how an empowered self can be found through a kenotic spirituality. I also demonstrate how such a dialogue can bring us back to the rich resources within the Christian tradition, such as the image of Mary and Marian devotions. Furthermore, I show how this feminist comparison contributes back to Buddhist-Christian dialogue by including the voices of women and their concern for suffering and the importance of praxis in our interreligious encounters today. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: James W. Morris / In the capital city of Nairobi, Kenya, African Catholic and Sunni Muslim leaders working in the field of healthcare for those living with HIV and AIDS are faced with a unique challenge. On the one hand, they are called to attend to the spiritual well-being of the infected individual; and on the other hand, they are increasingly charged with serving as the stewards of the physical bodies of those negatively affected by such a physiologically debilitating and social stigmatized disease through certain identifiable inter-religious traditions common to both faiths. I witnessed this development firsthand while conducting fieldwork in Nairobi, interviewing Muslim and Catholic leaders working in three areas—HIV and AIDS prevention, education, and de-stigmatization. As they pertain to the common good of both religious traditions, these recorded observations and accounts help to illustrate that religious officials from within African Catholicism and Sunni Islam attempt to provide the common inter-religious traditions of mercy, hospitality, and justice in a holistic manner for those living with the virus in the city. The dissertation proceeds in the following way. The initial chapter offers an overview of the African Catholic response to the AIDS epidemic in Nairobi, Kenya. Specifically, it identifies that Catholic leaders have historically faced both a crisis and a kairos moment—or an opportunity to make real God’s presence in the lives of those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS—in practically facing the epidemic in Kenya. Chapter two relies heavily on this structure to provide an overview of the Muslim response to the epidemic in a similar way, where chapter three offers an analysis of the theological traditions common to both faiths: in the strategic area of prevention, leaders of both religions are motivated by mercy; in the area of education, they are motivated by hospitality; and in the area of de-stigmatization, they are motivated by justice. Chapter four offers an examination of remaining questions and issues pertaining to the epidemic in Kenya in relation to matters of sexuality, proposing that the religious strategic initiatives still must confront the troubling topics of sexuality in general, gender roles, and condom use as officials from both religions continue to respond to the AIDS epidemic both individually and collectively in Nairobi. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: John F. Baldovin / This dissertation examines the interaction of communal religious memory and eschatological anticipation within Jewish and Christian liturgical performance, and charts the ways that Jewish and Christian liturgical practices inform the experience of time. It proposes that the liturgical conjunction of the historical sense of time, which encompasses notions of the past, present, and future, and the observance of the cyclical passing of hours creates a unique experience of time. This liturgical experience of time arises through ritual meditation on the religiously envisioned past and future, and is marked by a perceived interpenetration of time. Judaism and Christianity each hold distinct temporal visions that inform the way the past, present, and future are understood. In each tradition, the narrative of the past informs the understanding of the present, and indicates a shape for the future. Inversely, the contours of the envisioned eschatological future inform the perception of the present, and influence the way that the past is remembered. This study argues that the liturgical performance of the temporal orientations of each tradition engenders a transformed experience of time. It demonstrates how the ritual engagement of memory and anticipation contribute to a re-shaping of the experience of time, allowing the liturgical community to experience the past and future as operative in the present. Driven by the conviction that a religiously and ritually shaped vision of time is a significant point of convergence in Jewish and Christian religious experience, yet largely overlooked in scholarship to date, this study addresses both Jewish and Christian contexts. In the study of the Christian context, it focuses on the Liturgy of the Hours, the celebration of which engages communal memory and anticipation within the setting of liturgical services that regularly punctuate the hours of day and night. The study of the Jewish context addresses a wider range of liturgies, focusing on the daily services as well as on highly memorial and eschatological holidays such as Passover and Shabbat, with attention to how each contributes to a transformed experience of time. To address the elusive phenomenon of ritual experience, this study explores the perception of time from a phenomenological perspective, employing an interdisciplinary methodology that utilizes ritual and performance theories, aesthetics, and hermeneutics, in conversation with contemporary Jewish and Christian liturgical thought. Motivated by the notion that the experience of time is integral to faith, this project proposes that the concept of a liturgically transformed experience of time sheds light on essential aspects of Jewish and Christian religious experience. The experience of time cannot be extricated from subjectivity, and this quality is precisely what grants its study the capacity to address some of the most interior aspects of faith. This study proposes, furthermore, that the intimacy of the experience of time grants it the particular gift of communicating across the boundaries of religious traditions, subtly transgressing obstacles to interreligious understanding. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Catherine Cornille / The purpose of this dissertation is to retrieve the early Panikkar's christology of religions, especially in "Meditacion sobre Melquisdedec" and Le mystere du culte dans l'hindouisme et le christianisme. As opposed to the later Panikkar's pluralist, cosmotheandric christology, the early Panikkar privileges the primacy of Jesus Christ amidst a wider considersation of the value and significance of the religions. This dissertation will also situate the early Panikkar's christology of religions against the background of Dominus Iesus and recent systemtatic theologians seeking to move beyond pluralist christologies. The early Panikkar's understanding of Incarnation meets their criteria for an inclusivist theology of religions, but also challenges the asymmetricality of their christologies, expanding the possibilities for inter-religious learning and transformation. Specifically, Panikkar's early dialogue with karman and advaita illuminates the meaning of Jesus' sacrificial existence and the Church's eucharistic participation in that existence through comparison, shedding light upon the centrality of liturgical and paschal transformation in the Christian tradition. This christocentric comparative theology will be constrasted with Panikkar's later, syncretistic appropriation of Hinduism, influenced by Abhishiktananda's quest for Hindu-Christian synthesis, and will conclude by calling for a renewal of interest in neglected aspects of Panikkar's vast corpus. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / The topic of covenant is perhaps the most fundamental means for humans to think about their relationship to God within a particular religious tradition. Since the time of the Second Vatican Council, the Church has gradually been reconsidering what covenant means for Catholics worldwide, especially in relation to other traditions, namely Judaism. Therefore, this paper initially aims to identify what covenant means for Jews and Catholics on an individual basis and how each tradition has historically thought about the other. Secondly, being written from a Catholic standpoint, this paper aims to redefine what covenant means for Catholicism in terms of how it addresses Judaism. Ultimately, this paper proposes a Catholic model for thinking about Judaism in a non-supersessionist manner. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: John J. Makransky / The purpose of this work is to differentiate the autonomous `self-compassion' of therapeutic modernist Buddhism from pre-therapeutic Mahâyâna Buddhist practices of refuge, so that refuge itself is not obscured as a fundamental Buddhist orientation that empowers the possibility of compassion for self and other in the first place. The work begins by situating issues of shame and self-aversion sociologically, in order to understand how and why self-aversion became a significant topic of concern during the final quarter of the twentieth century. This discussion allows for a further investigation of shame as it has been addressed first by psychologists, for whom shame is often understood as a form of isolating self-aversion, and then by philosophers such as Bernard Williams and Emmanuel Levinas, for whom shame attunes the person to the moral expectations of a community, and therefore to ethical commands that arise from beyond the individual self. Both psychologists and philosophers are ultimately concerned with problems and possibilities of relationship. These discussions prepare the reader to understand the importance of Buddhist refuge as a form of relationship that structures an integrative rather than destructive self-evaluation. The second chapter of the dissertation closely examines Friedrich Nietzsche's work on shame. In a late note, Nietzsche wrote that "man has lost the faith in his own value when no infinitely valuable whole works through him"; the second chapter argues that Nietzsche's vision of a relatively autonomous will to power cannot fully incorporate this important Nietzschean insight, and helps to drive the kind of self-evaluation typical of modernist `personality culture,' which is likely to become harsh. The third chapter first discusses contemporary therapeutic Buddhist responses to self-aversion, particularly practices of `self-compassion' that claim to be rooted in early Pali canonical and commentarial sources, before developing a commentary on the medieval Tibetan lojong teaching Drive all blames into one. Drive all blames into one, though often discussed in contemporary commentaries as a form of self-blame, should be understood more thoroughly as a simultaneous process of refuge and critique--a process that drives further access to compassion not only for self, but for others as well. Chapter Four discusses mourning and self-reproach in the apophthegmata of the Desert Fathers, showing how `self-hatred' in this context is in a form of irony: the self that is denigrated is not an ultimate reality, and the process of mourning depends upon both an access to love and a clear recognition of our many turns away from that love. In conclusion, I draw attention to the irony of modernist rejections of religious self-critique as supposedly harmful forms of mere shaming, even as the modernist emphasis on autonomy is what enables self-critique to become harsh and damaging. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: James W. Morris / Lawrence Cunningham, a Catholic theologian, appraises the study of the saints as a neglected element in the Christian tradition, even within the Roman Catholic tradition where the veneration of the saints is one of its distinctive features, and there is an elaborate system to canonize saints. Cunningham wrote his critique in 1980, and yet its validity remains true even today. Although the study of the saints is still marginal in Christian theology, there are some notable efforts dedicated to rethinking the theology of saints. This dissertation, which corresponds to those efforts, deals with one question that emerges from today’s multi-faith context: “Is it possible for Christians to acknowledge individuals of non-Christian religious traditions as saints?” To give an affirmative answer to the question, this dissertation project proposes an inclusive theology of saints that includes non-Christian saintly figures. Assuming a confessional stance in the method of comparative theology, the primary purpose of this project is to enrich the Christian systematic theological discourse of saints and sainthood through learning from other traditions in this case Islam. Saints in Islam are called the “friends of God” (awliyā’ Allāh; sing. walī Allāh). The term is based on a Quranic verse, “Verily, the Friends of God have no fear nor sorrow” (10:62). Another textual ground for the saints in Islam is the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pl. ahādīth; sing. hadīth). One famous hadīth related to the saints states that, “When they are seen, God is remembered.” In this dissertation, I compare the notion of sainthood and saints from Christian perspectives with Islam, particularly with Ibn ῾Arabī’s concept of walāya. As a comparative theology work, I will describe first the discourse of saint and sainthood in each religious tradition, i.e., Christianity and Islam, prior to doing the actual comparison. Chapters 1 to 4 serve this endeavor. Chapter 1 and 2 explore the discourse from Catholic and Protestant perspectives. I will focus on several Catholic theologians who developed their theologies of saints during and after the Second Vatican Council, i.e., Karl Rahner, Jean-Luc Marion, and Elizabeth Johnson. Besides, I will also draw insights from two prominent Protestant theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich. Chapter 3 introduces the topic of saints and sainthood in Islam from a phenomenological, textual, and theological perspective. Ibn ῾Arabī’s concept of the walāya occupies the whole chapter 4. It is important to note that the chapter does not describe Ibn ῾Arabī’s thought exhaustively because I have already selected certain materials for the comparison. The comparison yields three theological constructs as features of an inclusive theology of saints: saints as manifestations and revealers of God’s self-communication, the hiddenness of saints, and saints as companions. Each of these theological constructs will be explored in chapters 5 to 7. These theological constructs correspond to the proposed metaphor of the community of friends of God that could enrich the current Christian symbol of the communion of saints. Last, chapter 8 functions as an excursion to underline the practical side of my proposal of an inclusive theology of saints. I will provide two contemporary cases of Muslim-Christian cross veneration of saints to connect the more theoretical aspects of this dissertation with the living reality of people. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: John . Makransky / “The body” has become a major focus of intellectual inquiry across academic disciplines over the last fifty years. The interest in the body has also intensified with recent advances in studies of materiality, affect, technology, and neuro and cognitive sciences. In Christian theology, works on the body have also grown rapidly. My aim in this essay is to make a contribution to contemporary Christian theological discussions on the nature and role of the human body by turning to Edith Stein’s writings on contemplation and engaging a comparative theological study of a particular Tibetan Buddhist meditation tradition called lojong (Tib. blo sbyong). The core issue that I address is the lack of practical traction between theologies of the body and a person’s actual relationship with her body in a life of Christian formation. Christian theology has not provided an adequate model of the body that can concretely inform Christian experience of the body and guide Christian practice. I argue that Stein’s extensive work on the body in both philosophical phenomenology and ascetico-contemplative theology can make a particularly important contribution to addressing this issue. However, Stein’s theory of the body has limitations that point to deeper issues in the ontology and anthropology she inherits from the Western Christian tradition. I argue for a comparative theological study of non-Christian sources that conceive the body in ways that shed new light on her view of the body. The current theological literature shows three broad approaches to constructing a theology of the body: re-appropriating neglected sources within the Christian tradition; appropriating concepts and methods from academic disciplines outside Christian theology; or a combination of the two. Yet, these approaches fall short of elucidating how theoretical work on the body should concretely affect bodily experience and practice. In addition to these approaches, there is a need to study theological sources that employ models where the body is better integrated into the anthropology and contemplative framework. I turn to Tibetan Buddhist lojong to reflect on how the points of convergence and divergence between lojong and Stein can help us develop a model of the body that addresses the lacunae in Christian theology of the body. I examine the underlying ‘subtle body’ model operative in lojong texts and argue for explicitly using a subtle body model in Christian contemplation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / This project attempts to draw the contours of defining the human experience of prayer as an intentional act in which we come before God and reach beyond the moment we pray to a life that embodies a prayerful attitude. It does so by examining the conceptions of prayer Jean-Louis Chrétien’s and Johann Baptist Metz’s writing and by bringing them into a conversation with Jewish liturgical concepts on prayer as found in the Talmudic discussions and Rabbinic interpretations. The dialogue between the three interlocutors provides the basis for defining the human approach to prayer as prayerfulness –the conscious mindset in which a person is aware of their existence before God, embodied in the moment of prayer and as a lifestyle. Jean-Louis Chrétien’s poetic take on prayer as a responsorial act of speech conceptualizes prayer as an intimate experience of one’s relationship with God. We give ourselves to God insofar as we become present with God. Prayer, then, becomes a vulnerable act in which we become aware of God and our limitations and frailties. This exposure of ourselves causes Chrétien to call prayer “wounded speech.” Our exposure is a blessure, a wound, because in it we recognize our inadequateness compared to God. This awareness becomes an unforgettable struggle, an ordeal. Also, we become aware that our speech, our prayer contains nothing that God does not already know. In other words, everything we say and do is preconceived by God. Here, memory becomes a factor in Chrétien’s thought. It seems as though prayer helps us relieve ourselves from this agony in our lives insofar as we are reminded of God’s love and the memory of God’s suffering for us. Johann Baptist Metz adds another layer to the discussion. Metz conceptualizes prayer within his political theology. Like Chrétien’s thought, this account frames prayer within the context of suffering. However, Metz is less interested in the personal suffering caused by one’s own limitations than in the suffering of those who are at the margins of society. Embedded in the context of post-world-war Germany and the shaking events of the Shoah, this concept of prayer calls for a compassionate embodiment of the suffering of the disenfranchised voices that endure physical or emotional pain. Prayer becomes a mode of remembering the other when embodied and experienced to compassionately raise the voices of the other. Here, Metz introduces a spirituality that he calls “Poverty of Spirit” that envisions one’s embodiment of prayer as a lifestyle. Prayer becomes an agent that incentivizes moral action. When brought together into dialogue with one another, the three interlocutors paint the picture of an experience of prayer this project defines as “prayerfulness.” It is the conscious mindset in which a person is aware of their existence before God, embodied in the moment of prayer and in their life. This awareness is multi-faceted and springs out of the connection between memory and prayer. One facet is the awareness of God’s presence. When considering Chrétien’s account, it is not so much the act of communicating one’s thoughts that is the primary purpose of prayer but the presence before God. This exposure itself reflects an unreserved vulnerability before God. In remembering God’s own suffering for us, we also become aware of God’s love for us. Metz, then, shows how prayer is a cry that expresses the wish that God is present, yet in this cry, God is already and always present, even if we do not perceive it. The memories of the Jerusalem Temple and the Patriarchs in Jewish liturgy bolster a perceived awareness of God. For instance, the imagery of the Temple, the focal point of God’s presence in the world, immerses the praying person in its memory. In the face of the reality that the Temple has been destroyed, the discussed texts reveal that the Sages took great care in providing guidelines to orchestrate a Temple memory through postures and liturgical attributes. Prayer, considered as service of the heart, and thus referring to the Temple cult, becomes a vessel for the memory of the same. This palpable notion of God’s presence adds to the perception of our presence before God, enhancing one’s focus. This concept of intentionality or focus, kavvanah, in part facilitated by the memory of the Temple and the Patriarchs, applies to a broader range of issues and speaks to what Metz has been calling for to realize prayer in daily life. It allows for us Christians across the denominational spectrum to reconsider the value of intentionality and prayerful engagement, not just in the moment of prayer but in life. Judaism helps facilitate a pragmatic, practice-oriented view to the often rather concept-oriented Christian thinking. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.