Lyons Basement

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The present work seeks to give a systematic and comprehensive account of Jesus’ own faith and faithfulness in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and to relate this teaching to the exemplars of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.  While previous research in Hebrews has devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to explaining the Epistle’s Christology and presentation of faith in general, a thorough, exegetical examination of the faith of Christ has never been produced.  This thesis argues that Jesus is not only presented as an example of faith, but also as the perfect exemplar of faith(fullness) in word and deed that the audience is to consider and imitate.  The author has integrated Jesus’ example of faith throughout the epistle (cf. 2.13, 17; 3.1-6; 4.15; 5.7-8; 10.5-7), with Heb. 12.2 being the climactic illustration of his faith; consequently, the reader is compelled to compare Jesus’ superlative example with the exemplars of faith in Israel’s history. By creating what is ultimately an encomium on Jesus, the famous men and women in Israel’s history are recapitulated for the main purpose of amplifying Jesus’ person and work; that is to say, they are recounted in order to praise and exalt the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” who endured the cross and tasted death on behalf of God’s people. From the total discourse of Hebrews, as well as the encomiastic character of 11.1-12.3 and climax of 12.2, it is also apparent that the author both enabled and expected his audience to discern the (implied) allusions to and analogies with Jesus’ person and work in Hebrews 11, and to regard the praiseworthy ancestors as true, yet imperfect anticipations of Christ who perfectly embodied and expressed the virtue of faith, especially in the crucifixion event.

The study expounds the views of Macmurray, Baillie and Oman on religious belief in the context of their other epistemological, anthropological and theological convictions. It is shown that each of the writers argues that religious belief is a response to a feature of everyday experience (human alienation, moral intuition and the sense of the holy respectively), that each of them takes the view that religious belief functions in order to achieve a valued end (community, willing obedience to divinely ordained duties and the on-going development of moral personality) which is regarded as both the will of God and essential to human flourishing, and that they also hold that religious beliefs may be confirmed in relation to the valued end which they aim to promote. I argue that whilst each is not without their lacunas and inadequacies, the three writers provide insights which may be useful in understanding religious belief in a Christian context. I maintain, for instance, that Macmurray's argument that religion is a derivative response to a critical dimension of ordinary experience is an illuminating perspective. Again, it is argued that there are resources in Baillie's work to help in the articulation of the view that Christian belief is a response to an a priori encounter with the divine presence in experience. Again, Oman's emphasis on the role of feeling in the disclosure of the divine is plausible, and his analysis of the nature of religious belief is particularly rich in illuminating insights. An important argument that runs through the thesis is that it is plausible to think that there are preconceptual experiences that are cognitively important. In this sense, the study aims to help underpin an experiential approach in the face of those critics who deny the conceptual possibility of such primal experiences.

Prof. Thomas Hibbs

with Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, Fordham University / Gasson Hall 100

Thesis advisor: Melissa M. Kelley / Some people seek to become truly religious, but pursuing this goal takes much more than a routine religious practice. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is one way one can commence to live a living faith. In my thesis I am trying to show how the Spiritual Exercises can help people grow in their faith and their relationship with God. The special way that the Exercises can help us to reach this goal is mainly through the transformation of our unhealthy or false images of God and transformation of ourselves into the image of Christ. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

In the Agape Latte series for undergraduates, Dr. Marina McCoy shared her conversion to Catholicism. She noted that the rituals and practices of Catholicism are intriguing to newcomers. "Converts get excited about rituals," she said. She stressed the idea of freedom that comes with the act of conversion. "Conversion is a lifelong experience of God bringing us closer to Him. It is a greater expression of freedom," she said. / with Dr. Marina Mc Coy / Hillside Cafe