In this thesis I investigate the evolving figure of the holy fool as a critical figure in European cinema. Three national cinemas - Soviet and post-Soviet cinema, French cinema, and Danish cinema – form the primary focus of my analysis. These cinemas correspond broadly to the three main orientations in European Christianity: Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. The cinematic holy fool of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries is interpreted in this thesis as a protean figure through which different European religious and intellectual traditions percolate (chapters one and two). Against this varied cultural background, I investigate the way in which the figure of the holy fool is used by filmmakers as a means of responding to and critiquing aspects of the modern world. To this end I analyse how filmmakers have represented different types, features and uses of the holy fool in interaction with their particular cultural and religious backgrounds. In particular, I examine how the cinematic holy fool is used to critique the religious and social status quo, the contemporary political power structures, and the abuse of reason. An apparently anachronistic figure, I argue that the holy fool has proved a versatile modern device, employed to question established secular and religious worldviews, from the Soviet regimes (chapters three and four) to contemporary Western European democracies (chapters five, six and seven). Through this thesis I identify how the modern holy fool is one without authority; a figure whose critical function has largely outgrown its confessional traditions, even if indebted to them. Nonetheless, in diverse secular and religious settings, I demonstrate how the fool’s critical function remains morally legitimated by selfless suffering.

This thesis is a detailed commentary on Novatian’s chapter 29, where he discusses the Holy Spirit in his work on the Trinity. Chapter 1 of this thesis briefly introduces the reader to the early fathers’ understanding on the Holy Spirit, and chapter 2 introduces the reader to Novatian specifically. Chapter 3 of this thesis is a detailed commentary on chapter 29, which is dedicated specifically to the Holy Spirit. The final chapter of this thesis examines the concepts discussed in chapter 3 with the intention of showing Novatian’s work to be the height of pre-Nicene pneumatology.

Thesis advisor: Richard Lennan / Thesis advisor: Richard Gaillardetz / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Typescript. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University, Graduate School, 1928. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 253-258). Vita.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-70).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-117).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [82]-87).

<p>Includes bibliographic references (leaves 184-195)&quot / In this thesis, I contrast Qutbs approach towards jihad with that which is found in the primary sources of Islam and as espoused by the proponents of the four schools of thought, as well as key Islamic scholars. This study also attempts to explore the conceptual confusion between terrorism, jihad, and legitimate defense and resistance by comparing the legislation on jihad in Islam with that which exists in international law and conventions. I then turn my attention to the focal point of this study, the writings of Sayyid Qutb on jihad...&quot / </p>

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