This thesis explores the cult and mythos of the goddess Kali both in her Eastern and Western contexts, comparing and contrasting them in order to gain a better understanding of the Western appropriations of Kali within feminist goddess spirituality. Utilizing a variety of methods, including ethnographic research conducted at Kali temples in California, this research is aimed at providing an entry into the lived contemporary tradition of the Western Kali within goddess spirituality circles, focusing on embodied experience, devotion, ritual, and syncretic practices. Kali, a fierce Indian goddess, is often seen in the Hindu context as a central manifestation of the all encompassing Mother Goddess (Mahadevi, Devi, Shakti, etc), and therefore is a particularly engaging example of contemporary Western appropriation of religious and cultural symbols and narratives. This thesis contributes to understanding Kali in her new North American domain, as well as serving as a case study of the shifting religious landscape in the West.

This M.A. thesis consists of a close-textual reading of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s four sets of villancicos dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1676, 1679, 1685 and 1690), with a special focus on Sor Juana’s marianism and a contrast with Juan Correa’s painting, La Asunción de la Virgen (1689). This thesis will cover Sor Juana’s innovation in her representation of Mary as a model of femininity, Mary’s creative abilities, the crowning of Mary, Mary as a dwelling for God, Sor Juana’s feminization of the divine, Mary’s Assumption itself, masculine aspects and professions attributed to Mary, and Sor Juana’s identification with the Virgen.

This dissertation examines the spiritual poetry of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) in light of three distinct but related contexts: Italian Evangelism of the Catholic Reformation, the Italian lauda tradition, and Renaissance Augustinianism. After reviewing the reception and critical history of Michelangelo’s poetry, chapter one presents the anthropological approach of the present study as an effective means of illuminating the poet’s spiritual verses by considering what they may have meant – collectively and individually – to the poet himself. Chapter two analyzes Michelangelo’s lyrics inspired by Vittoria Colonna with respect to the Spirituali of the Ecclesia viterbiensis in general and to the Beneficio di Cristo and personal letters of Vittoria Colonna in particular. It shows that the portrayal of Vittoria Colonna in this poetry as an instrument of grace effecting Michelangelo’s spiritual refashioning, rebirth, and renewal reflects a theology of the Holy Spirit that was dear to the Italian Evangelical community and central to their self-perception. The third chapter presents the Italian lauda tradition and its mystical verses addressing Christ and the Holy Spirit as an inspiration for Michelangelo who, in a later spiritual sonnet, borrowed directly from one of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s laude. This chapter shows how Michelangelo’s verse is informed by a long, popular Christian tradition in the vernacular. The discussion in chapter four centres on Dante’s Commedia and on the Augustinian allegoreses that permeate Landino’s Comento to the grand epic. These two works, it is argued, constitute sources as important as Petrarch’s Canzoniere for Michelangelo’s Augustinian vision of a mystico-moral ascent through conversion. This dissertation concludes that for Michelangelo poetry became an instrument of spiritual devotion. His mystical verses reveal a Catholic intellectual versant in Italian rhetoric of the Catholic Reformation and a poet inspired by Paul, Augustine, and the Italian lauda tradition.

This dissertation examines the spiritual poetry of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) in light of three distinct but related contexts: Italian Evangelism of the Catholic Reformation, the Italian lauda tradition, and Renaissance Augustinianism. After reviewing the reception and critical history of Michelangelo’s poetry, chapter one presents the anthropological approach of the present study as an effective means of illuminating the poet’s spiritual verses by considering what they may have meant – collectively and individually – to the poet himself. Chapter two analyzes Michelangelo’s lyrics inspired by Vittoria Colonna with respect to the Spirituali of the Ecclesia viterbiensis in general and to the Beneficio di Cristo and personal letters of Vittoria Colonna in particular. It shows that the portrayal of Vittoria Colonna in this poetry as an instrument of grace effecting Michelangelo’s spiritual refashioning, rebirth, and renewal reflects a theology of the Holy Spirit that was dear to the Italian Evangelical community and central to their self-perception. The third chapter presents the Italian lauda tradition and its mystical verses addressing Christ and the Holy Spirit as an inspiration for Michelangelo who, in a later spiritual sonnet, borrowed directly from one of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s laude. This chapter shows how Michelangelo’s verse is informed by a long, popular Christian tradition in the vernacular. The discussion in chapter four centres on Dante’s Commedia and on the Augustinian allegoreses that permeate Landino’s Comento to the grand epic. These two works, it is argued, constitute sources as important as Petrarch’s Canzoniere for Michelangelo’s Augustinian vision of a mystico-moral ascent through conversion. This dissertation concludes that for Michelangelo poetry became an instrument of spiritual devotion. His mystical verses reveal a Catholic intellectual versant in Italian rhetoric of the Catholic Reformation and a poet inspired by Paul, Augustine, and the Italian lauda tradition.

The concern of this investigation is with the meaning of becoming as well as being a member of one of four specific small and structured religious communities. Three of these religious groups - the Jesus People, the Hare Krishna Devotees and the Maharaj Ji Premies - are considered to be nonconformist in terms of the life-style, value-system and theology each adopts within the mainstream social and theological ethos, while the fourth group - a sample of Catholic Seminarians - like the other groups is a small community with a structured life-style, but its life-style and value-system is not necessarily non-conformist. These groups are all to be found, amongst other places, in Johannesburg, apart from the Catholic Priests, all of whom were living in a seminary in Pretoria. All the members of these religious communities - both men and women - who were interviewed were Caucasian, their educational standard ranged from pre-matric through to university graduate status, and the overall average age of the 9rouP members was 24 years - the youngest subject was aged 17 while the oldest was 31 years of age. Rather than a meas~rement orientated procedure, a phenomenologically inspired methodological procedure was used to explicitate the data. It is argued that a descriptive phenomenological perspective is more appropriate for the elucidation of meaning-structures, especially with reference to the present inquiry, than would be a quantitative, measurement and mathematical treatment of the subject matter with which this thesis is concerned. The results are best summarized by stating that, although the explication revealed that the four groups are distinctly different in certain aspects of the meaning-structures of the individuals' becoming and being members of a group, there are nonetheless marked similarities between the groups in other aspects of the explicitated data.

This dissertation introduces the run of the Vlachovo Březí parish, which was participated not only by the parson and his parishioners, but also with other religious and secular authorities. It is based on accessible sources. The attention is devoted not only to each parson, but also their responsibility, from the care for his parishioners to the securing of the material state of church and parsonage. Introductory section summarizes the literature and sources on the topic. After this section are chapters devoted to the ecclesiastical administration after the Battle of White Mountain to the 19th century, the reorganization of the ecclesiastical administration after the Battle of White Mountain and spiritual development in the Prácheň region. The core of this thesis consists of five chapters, in which is the evolution of the parish by the first half of the 17th century to the second half of the 19th century given. First, the parish is described on its size and number of souls living in it. Next chapter is dedicated to the establishment and history of the parish, local priests and visitations. The following chapter is about duties of the priest and parishioners participate in the spiritual life of the parish, which are divided into daily duties (divine service), almost daily (Christian practice), sporadic (sacrament of Confirmation and procession) and ending with scholastic questions. The last two chapters deal with the management and administration of parish property, sacral objects in the parish and its equipment. The overall summary is given at the end.

The dissertation is a study of the origins, development and contemporary manifestations of Christian retreats. It traces origins from the Biblical record until current retreats. Christian retreat is a period of withdrawal from usual activities to experience encounter with God through Christian prayer. Jesus' pattern of engagement in ministry and withdrawal is a vital basis for retreat. Other Biblical descriptions of retreat are studied. There is an examination of retreat experiences in Church history with a particular focus on monasticism, as a major expression of retreat life, and Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the modern retreat movement. Varieties of subsequent retreat types in the spiritualities of different traditions from the Protestant Reformation onwards are considered. The spectrum of study includes Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Pentecostal spiritualities. The study culminates in focusing on current Ignatian and other retreats in their many forms. This includes private devotions to lengthy periods of retreat. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Christian Spirituality)

No description available.

Les auteurs des Flugschriften mènent un combat pour la paix, chacun à sa manière. Luther veut sauvegarder la paix ; l’assemblée commune des autorités et des sujets de l’Ortenau veut rétablir la paix ; Melanchthon veut consolider la paix. De quelle paix s’agit-il ? Tout d’abord, le renoncement à la violence. Il s’agit essentiellement de sauvegarder la paix civile. Les Réformateurs, surtout Melanchthon, associent volontiers cette paix toute « extérieure » à la paix « intérieure que procure Dieu dans le cœur de celui qui place sa confiance en Lui. ». La paix ne peut pas être fondée sur un usage abusif de l’Ecriture. Luther dénonce le Droit divin qui, à ses yeux, relève d’un mésusage de l’Ecriture, et prône le « droit chrétien » : souffrir, et invoquer Dieu. L’assemblée commune des autorités et des sujets à Renchen ignore totalement ce Droit divin. Melanchthon condamne le recours à ce Droit divin. Aux arguments bibliques avancés par les paysans pour justifier leurs griefs et leur programme, Melanchthon en oppose d’autres pour récuser les XII articles. Luther le rappelle aux princes et aux seigneurs : ils doivent s’attacher à la Parole de Dieu ; qu’ils tiennent compte des articles des paysans qui sont souvent « justes et équitables » ; qu’ils engagent des négociations en vue d’une conciliation. Aux princes et aux seigneurs Melanchthon adresse ses suppliques pour assurer la paix future. Luther demande aux paysans de renoncer au Droit divin ; qu’ils adoptent le droit chrétien et qu’ils se gardent des faux prophètes ! Melanchthon déclare : le maintien de la paix implique pour le chrétien quelques renoncements et obligations. L’Ecriture condamne le recours à la violence illégitime. / The authors of the Flugschriften lead a combat for peace, each one in his own way. Luther wants to preserve the peace; the common assembly of the authorities and the subjects of the Ortenau want to re-establish the peace; Melanchthon wants to consolidate the peace. But what peace is involved here? First of all, it is a combat against violence. This is essentially about preserving civil peace. The Reformers, especially Melanchthon, happily associate this “outer peace with the “inner” peace that God brings to the heart of the one who places his confidence in Him”. Peace cannot be founded on an abusive use of Scripture. Luther denounces Divine right that, in his eyes, is a misuse of Scripture, and rather extols “Christian law”: to suffer, and to invoke God. The common assembly of the authorities and subjects in Renchen totally ignores Divine right. Melanchthon condemns any recourse to this Divine right. To the biblical arguments advanced by the peasants for justifying their grievances and their programme, Melanchthon opposes other arguments to challenge the XII articles. Luther does not forget to remind the princes and lords that they must focus on the Word of God; that they should take into account the articles of the peasantry which are often “just and equitable”. They should engage negotiations with a view to conciliation. Luther asks the peasants to renounce Divine right, that they adopt Christian law and keep themselves from false prophets! To the princes and the lords Melanchthon addresses his petitions in order to assure future peace. Melanchthon declares: Keeping the peace for the Christian involves certain renouncement and obligations.

This thesis charts divine assembly scenes in ancient Mesopotamian narrative poetry and the early Greek hexameter corpus, and aims to contribute to a cross-cultural comparison in terms of literary systems. The recurrent scene of the divine gathering is shown to underpin the construction of small- and large-scale compositions in both the Sumero-Akkadian and early Greek traditions. Parts 1 and 2 treat each corpus in turn, reflecting a methodological concern to assess the comparanda within their own context first. Part 1 (Chapters 1-4) examines Sumerian narrative poems, and the Akkadian narratives Atra-hsīs, Anzû, Enûma eliš, Erra and Išum and the Epic of Gilgameš. Part 2 (Chapters 5-8) considers Homer's Iliad, the Odyssey, the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod's Theogony. The comparative approaches in Part 3 are developed in two chapters (9-10). Chapter 9 offers a detailed comparison of this typical scene's poetic morphology and compositional purpose. Relevant techniques and effects, a function of the aural reception of literature, are shown to overlap to a considerable degree. Although the Greeks are unlikely to have taken over the feature from the Near East, it is suggested that the Greek divine assembly is not to be detached form a Near Eastern context. Because the shared elements are profoundly embedded in the Greek orally-derived poetic tradition, it is possible to envisage a long-term process of oral contact and communication fostered by common structures. Chapter 10 turns to a comparison of the literary pantheon: a focus on the organisation of divine prerogatives and the chief god figures illuminates culture-specific differences which can be related to historical socio-political conditions. Thus, this thesis seeks to enhance our understanding of the representation of the gods in Mesopotamian poetry and early Greek epic, and develops a systemic approach to questions of transmission and cultural appreciation.