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Catholic writers traditionally approach the laity through the sacraments rather than the Word. Nonetheless, three devotional genres - meditation, hagiography and catechism - recognize that effective written appeals to a reader can be made using rhetoric. This thesis analyses such rhetoric, in recusant devotional texts published by secret presses between 1580 and 1603. Most detailed examinations of Catholic works think of rhetoric as emasculating the virile yet chaste prose of a 'shining band of martyrs'. This thesis proposes that the rules of rhetoric are used to empower the reader of these works by Grafting a new character in him. Meditations act as deliberative orations, swaying the reader's will. They use amplificatio and memoria to produce matter and to dwell on it. Late sixteenth-century translations of continental meditation manuals by Granada, Scupoli, Estella and Loarte provide a theory of meditation for the English works studied: rosary texts by John Bucke, Thomas Worthington and Henry Garnet; several anonymous collections of meditations and prayers; contemplations on Scriptural stories by Robert Southwell, I.C., C.N. and Robert Chambers. In the second section, saints' lives are read as rhetorical examples which support this deliberative discourse, rather than as blazons, innocent of intent on the reader. Hagiographies by Worthington, Robert Persons, William Alien and Thorns Alfield reflect images of what a martyr or saint should do, not what he did. The last chapters show how catechisms recreate these idealized images in the reader by acting as dramatic scripts for him. Repetition through rhetoric dissolves the element of theatre, allowing the reader to absorb these rules for life. Once again, Elizabethan translations of foreign catechisms by Granada, Bellarmine and Canisius are used to illuminate English catechisms by Persons, Southwell and Lawrence Vaux.

Through contemplation, and the practice of actions with religious meaning, faith is taught and reinforced. Beliefs that conflict with the established teaching of a religious group are sometimes ruled by it as heretical. Effective in countering heresy are religious practices that would not be performed by those deemed heretical. The practices indicate those who are orthodox and safeguard them from accusations of heresy. Catharism was an expanding heretical sect in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, enticing adherents away from the Roman Catholic Church, rejecting the Catholic sacraments and holding to a dualistic theology. Through the study of eleven hagiographies (idealized biographies of saints) this thesis identifies and examines sixteen attributes of people who lived in the southern Low Countries, corresponding with contemporary Belgium and northeastern France. We show how these attributes aided the Catholic Church’s struggle against Catharism through the confirmation, dissemination, and distinction of orthodoxy, while serving to nullify heterodox suspicion of the hagiographical subjects.

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Liturgical creativity and reform has been a hallmark of Reconstructionist Judaism since its inception in America in the mid 1930s. All facets of Reconstructionist liturgy are molded to reflect and convey the movement's Jewish ideology. As such, much insight is gained by analyzing the full texts of the Reconstructionist prayerbooks, including translations, editors' notes, interpretive versions, supplementary readings, commentary, rubrics and layout. / The first Reconstructionist liturgies (1941--1963) were edited primarily by the movement's founder, Mordecai M. Kaplan, and were fashioned to mirror his understanding of modern belief, moral sense and aesthetic taste. Kaplan believed that only a text edited with these values in mind would succeed in returning American Jews to synagogue life. Sixty percent of Kaplan's Sabbath Prayer Book was devoted to supplementary readings, which strove to foster a positive view of the world and to motivate the quest for personal and collective salvation. For Kaplan, ethical living and a sense of the world's essential goodness constituted the essence of religious faith and life, and he believed that this was not sufficiently articulated in traditional prayer. / The inauguration of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1968 led to the transference of movement leadership from Kaplan's followers to a younger generation born after World War Two. This generational shift necessitated and facilitated the creation of the new Reconstructionist prayerbook series, Kol Haneshamah (1989--). While Reconstructionist liturgy continues to forward a fundamentally Kaplanian theology, it is less committed than was Kaplan to the position that all creedal formulations whose literal truth is rejected be excised from the text. Kol Haneshamah testifies to the movement's current openness to mystic paths of spiritual awakening and communing with the divine, and to its greater interest in cultivating and exploring the affective realm of human consciousness. Inclusivity, ecological responsibility, lay empowerment, and the creation of non-sexist terminology for addressing God and humanity have become primary Reconstructionist concerns. An examination of Reform, Conservative and Jewish Renewal liturgy indicates that, while many of the developments evident in contemporary Reconstructionist liturgy are mirrored in other branches of American non-Orthodox Judaism, Reconstructionist prayer remains a unique rite.

This dissertation offers for the first time an extensive scholarly translation of an anthology of 106 ginans (sacred hymns) attributed to the Isma'ili saint-composer, Pir Shams. The Ginan tradition is a sacred corpus of devotional poetry belonging to a sub-sect of the Shiah Muslims known as the Satpanth Isma'ili Khojahs. Composed in various North Indian dialects, ginans are part of a broader rich and complex heritage of Indo-Muslim folk literatures in the Indian subcontinent. For centuries, however, the Satpanth Isma'ilis have carefully guarded this sacred tradition for fear of persecution. By thus presenting a major translation of ginans attributed to a pivotal figure in Satpanth Isma'ilism, this dissertation aspires to advance significantly the academic study and knowledge of this scarcely examined sacred literature. / To date, the syncretic nature of Satpanth Isma'ilism has been viewed within a framework of conversion. Thus, generally, the ginan literature has been explained as the creative attempts of Isma'ili pirs (venerated teachers) to effect changes in religious orientation by conveying Nizari Isma'ili teachings through Hindu symbols and themes. However, an examination of the internal evidence in the ginans of Pir Shams--who belonged to the beginnings of Satpanth--in conjunction with events in Sind and the greater Isma'ili world at the time, has brought into focus crucial social and political factors that may also have instigated the formation of Satpanth Isma'ilism.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-25T14:56:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 lidianealmeidaniero.pdf: 1970077 bytes, checksum: 00c9b08192a39a45bb2d226b2c840262 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-25T19:36:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 lidianealmeidaniero.pdf: 1970077 bytes, checksum: 00c9b08192a39a45bb2d226b2c840262 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-25T19:36:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 lidianealmeidaniero.pdf: 1970077 bytes, checksum: 00c9b08192a39a45bb2d226b2c840262 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-10 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta pesquisa inscreve-se em um grupo específico de experiência cultural que é a religiosidade devocional em Minas Gerais, com ênfase nas devoções declaradas em cerca de 234 testamentos registrados na comarca do Rio das Mortes durante o século XVIII. Foram investigados, documentos de testadores que integravam grupos sociais distintos como o dos livres e dos libertos ou como o dos brancos e dos negros levando em consideração as diferenciações internas baseadas no sexo e na fortuna. Assim sendo, o foco desse trabalho é traçar um quadro geral sobre as devoções dos testadores cruzando, principalmente, o conteúdo religioso do documento que revelam as predileções e afeições devocionais desses além de contribuir para que se determine as formas de atuação dos grupos na vida religiosa da sociedade. Dessa forma, pretende-se recuperar ao longo da história da região momentos e eventos nos quais e através dos quais possamos cartografar a presença ativa e marcante das devoções que podem revelar-se útil para pensar as relações entre religião, cultura e sociedade. / This research falls into a specific group of cultural experience which is the devotional religiosity in Minas Gerais with emphasis on devotions declared in about 234 wills recorded in the region of the Rio das Mortes during the eighteenth century. This research is supported in testers’ documents that were investigated and integrated different social groups as the free and freed or like whites and blacks taking into account the internal differentiations based on sex and fortune. Therefore, the focus of this work is to outline a general framework for the devotions of the testers, especially crossing the religious content of the document that reveals their predilections and devotional affections and contributes to determine groups’ forms of action in the religious life of society. Thus, it is intended to recover throughout the history of the region moments and events in which and through which we can map out active and strong presence of devotions that may be useful to think about the relationship between religion, culture and society.

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Created in France during the late fifteenth century, the illuminations, text, and family genealogy (added by one of many owners) found in De Villers Book of Hours make it an excellent example among other French books of hours from this period. In addition to acting as a repository of the style and iconography of French fifteenth-century illumination, the book's rich decorative program and varied textual content provide a remarkable document of contemporary devotional piety. This thesis provides the first detailed description and analysis of the De Villers Book of Hours. Following a description of books of hours in general, the overall makeup of the De Villers Hours is addressed, including the decorative program with a suggested method and example for description, a sample of textual transcription, comments on the provenance, a brief discussion of the family genealogy, and a concluding section with a sample collection register and worksheet for cataloging.

<p>This study examines the experience of visitors to the shrine of Sainte Anne de Beaupré in Québec, Canada. Drawing on ethnographic data, narratives and historical research, this project describes the ways in which Saint Anne is meaningful to people. I focus on the themes of pilgrimage and tourism, devotional expressions, visionary experiences and religious healing.</p> <p>While the earliest visitors to the shrine were primarily motivated by stories of the miraculous, contemporary visitors have many different motivations, blurring the scholarly boundaries constructed between pilgrimage and tourism.</p> <p>Devotional expressions at Sainte Anne de Beaupré, understood as “media of engagement” or “relationships of presence,” encompass a wide range of practices, meanings and functions. Power is invested and diffused through Saint Anne by forming “cogent connections” to her through the media of devotional expressions.</p> <p>This study also considers visionary experiences that are associated with Saint Anne, especially visions that are related to pilgrimage and religious healing at Sainte Anne de Beaupré. Rather than focusing on the “epiphany” of the visionary experience itself, I suggest that agency is key to understanding visions, particularly as they relate to issues of empowerment.</p> <p>Finally, I situate pilgrimage, devotional expressions and visionary encounters in the context of religious healing. The term healing encompasses a broad range of meanings, and I demonstrate that journeys to Sainte Anne de Beaupré involve a quest for therapy, self-transformation, identity and/or personal empowerment.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)