Thesis advisor: Margaret Guider / This thesis is informed by the reality of human suffering as it manifests itself globally throughout the world, regionally in Asia, particularly East Asia, and more specifically in the context of Korea. Globally speaking, the complexities of human suffering as well as the qualitative and quantitative magnitude of human suffering are beyond the understanding and control of individuals, groups and nations. Mindful of this reality, the thesis asserts that there exists an urgent need for interreligious cooperation among adherents of all religions of the world so that together they may find ways of responding to those who suffer. It argues that interreligious cooperation directed toward the alleviation and prevention of human suffering is not an option but an obligation to all adherents of all religions. The thesis takes as its particular focus the interreligious cooperation of Christians and Buddhists. It asserts that while Christians and Buddhists have distinctive and differentiated understandings of the nature and meaning of human suffering, both religions share a common concern for and commitment to those who suffer. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

The thesis takes as its starting point the importance of community in contemporary political societies across the world, most notably, for present purposes, the Third World. Community importantly determines questions of social inclusion, exclusion, identity, belonging and well-being. As is no surprise, the role and significance of community is well recognised in several academic disciplines today. Consider this one example. Recent literature on development has generally drawn attention to the potential benefits of participation in certain aspects of governance. More specifically, proposals for community participation have emerged in response to State failure, or now the pervasiveness of market exclusion. Community participation is motivated by several grievances, the most emphatic of which is the profound gap between the lived experiences of the poor and institutions that affect their lives. This gap between discourse and lived experience is more vividly evident in human rights practice, and this not only reflects the dominance, but also the inadequacies of State and market-based understandings alike. A fundamental aspect of this debate – largely overlooked by human rights discourse – is the role of community. Whilst there remain marginal references to community in certain aspects of human rights discourse, over all it has not sufficiently or comprehensively embraced community. More specifically, the Declaration of Right to Development, Rights-Based Approaches to Development and the World Bank‘s concept of good governance fail to offer an adequate role for community in human rights terms. Drawing from a range of literature in legal theory, political theory, philosophy and sociology, and developing its insights in the context of the supply of the – human right and – public good of electricity in Nigeria, the thesis offers a theory of community, which seeks to enable individuals, particularly, the poor and vulnerable, to organise themselves democratically, to claim ownership of the processes that determine their human rights.

The publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 raised a host of theological issues. Chief amongst them is the question of how a good, loving, and powerful God could create through an evolutionary process that involved so much suffering, pain, and violence. The traditional Christian answers for suffering in the natural world are not plausible in an evolutionary world. We cannot blame natural evil on human sin, since earth history shows that non-human suffering long preceded humans. Nor can we say that God allows suffering because it allows opportunity for moral choice, spiritual closeness with God, and the development of virtue, as none of these apply to the non-human realm. A new approach is needed to address the question of suffering and violence amongst non-human animals. In this dissertation, I address the question of evolutionary suffering with a multi-disciplinary approach of biblical studies, philosophical theology, and systematic theology to build a compound theodicy. After a survey of the various scholarly contributions in this area, I begin with biblical considerations of the God-world relationship. I set aside, based on exegetical examinations of Genesis 1-9, notions of “fallenness” in the natural world. I therefore argue that evolution was God’s intended process of creation, and that we should not attribute it to any kind of corruption. The rest of the dissertation engages in the development of a compound theodicy rooted in a philosophical and theological definition of love. How does a God who loves creatures respond to their suffering? I argue that God’s action in creation is characterised by kenotic restraint, the giving of freedom, co-suffering with creatures, and the work of redemption.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:27:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Angela Maria Teixeira 1.pdf: 482097 bytes, checksum: 96fe6d304f28543f7f9152a4c9aaba6e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-29 / Considering that the acquired deficiency in the adult phase modifies the personal life radically and dramatically, we investigated the existence of two paraplegia bearers, with more than two years of wheel chair. From a clinical-qualitative perspective, we centered the methodological strategies in the use of the "prose" and of "chatting" become pregnant as a slow conversation where the "cases" of the life are told laggingly, in a movement of appropriation of the culture the state of Minas Gerais Brazil. Recording of conversations were heard several time, consenting a subsequent elaboration of the "proses" under the form of narratives that could be analyzed in agreement with Campos Psychoanalytic Theory. We verified that the interviewees suffering pronounces primordialment starting from three fields live that we denominated of maternity, negation of the sexuality and premature retirement, that causes chronic emotional suffering. / Considerando que a defici?ncia adquirida na fase adulta modifica a vida pessoal radical e dramaticamente, investigamos a viv?ncia de dois portadores de paraplegia com mais de dois anos de cadeira de rodas. A partir de uma perspectiva cl?nico-qualitativa, centramos as estrat?gias metodol?gicas no uso da prosa e do prosear , concebidos como uma conversa demorada, na qual os causos da vida s?o relatados vagarosamente, num movimento de apropria??o da cultura mineira. Grava??es de conversas foram ouvidas v?rias vezes, permitindo uma elabora??o posterior das prosas sob a forma de narrativas, que puderam ser analisadas de acordo com a Teoria Psicanal?tica dos Campos. Constatamos que o sofrimento dos entrevistados articula-se primordialmente a partir de tr?s campos vivenciais, que denominamos de maternaliza??o, nega??o da sexualidade e aposentadoria precoce.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Essa dissertação tem por objetivo apresentar, de forma panorâmica, uma revisão histórica sobre o conceito de medicalização, analisando como o entendimento sobre este processo se transformou nas últimas décadas, passando de críticas mais ortodoxas, que julgavam ser este processo fruto de um imperialismo médico sobre a sociedade, às críticas contemporâneas, orientadas por uma compreensão mais nuançada a respeito do tema. Dentre as principais mudanças na leitura da medicalização, está o entendimento desta enquanto um processo interativo e coletivo, composto por inúmeros participantes-chave com interesses e papéis distintos na atualidade. Enquanto os primeiros teóricos da década 70 realçam a crítica ao controle social e malefícios da medicina, numa abordagem mais recente os indivíduos deixam de ser vistos como vítimas para protagonizarem o cenário de negociação pública acerca das fronteiras que legislam sobre os processos de saúde e doença. A noção de medicalização caminhou no sentido de uma complexidade maior, trazendo desafios que não são tão facilmente resolvíveis na conjuntura contemporânea. Ao final, destacamos como um dos desdobramentos centrais desta dissertação a pertinência atual de uma revisão mais apurada sobre o assunto, principalmente no que concerne ao tema do estreitamento da normalidade, onde o conceito de medicalização pode funcionar como uma ferramenta conceitual útil de análise. Aludimos ao exemplo da psiquiatria como um analisador nessa discussão, considerando o papel social historicamente desempenhado por esta na delimitação de fronteiras que, no fundo, ainda versam sobre antigos dilemas sobre normalidade e anormalidade. Para tanto, este estudo traz uma revisão histórica sobre o conceito de medicalização através das contribuições mais relevantes da literatura internacional. / This study aims to present a historical review of the medicalization concept, analyzing how the understanding about of this process has changed in the past decades, moving from a orthodox point of view that considered this to be the result of a medical imperialism process on the society, until a modern-day critics, guided by a more nuanced understanding of the theme. Among the major changes in the reading of the medicalization, is the perception of it as an interactive and collective process, composed of numerous key players, each one with different interests and roles nowadays. While early authors of the 70 emphasized the social control and the damage caused by medicine, in a more recent approach individuals are no longer seen as victims, but as important advocates for medicalization. The individuals have begun to play a more significant role in this process, becoming key actors of a public debate about the ever-shifting boundary that legislate on the processes of health and disease. The notion of medicalization advanced towards a complex approach, bringing challenges that are quite different nowadays. Finally, we highlight a central development of this research presenting a more thorough review on the subject, especially regarding the issue of narrowing the normal, where the concept of medicalization can function as a useful conceptual tool of analysis. The example of psychiatry is mentioned as an analyzer question in this discussion, considering the social role historically played by this in the delimitation of boundaries that still deal with old problems about normality and abnormality. Therefore, this study provides a historical review of the concept of medicalization through the most relevant contributions of the international literature.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Essa dissertação tem por objetivo apresentar, de forma panorâmica, uma revisão histórica sobre o conceito de medicalização, analisando como o entendimento sobre este processo se transformou nas últimas décadas, passando de críticas mais ortodoxas, que julgavam ser este processo fruto de um imperialismo médico sobre a sociedade, às críticas contemporâneas, orientadas por uma compreensão mais nuançada a respeito do tema. Dentre as principais mudanças na leitura da medicalização, está o entendimento desta enquanto um processo interativo e coletivo, composto por inúmeros participantes-chave com interesses e papéis distintos na atualidade. Enquanto os primeiros teóricos da década 70 realçam a crítica ao controle social e malefícios da medicina, numa abordagem mais recente os indivíduos deixam de ser vistos como vítimas para protagonizarem o cenário de negociação pública acerca das fronteiras que legislam sobre os processos de saúde e doença. A noção de medicalização caminhou no sentido de uma complexidade maior, trazendo desafios que não são tão facilmente resolvíveis na conjuntura contemporânea. Ao final, destacamos como um dos desdobramentos centrais desta dissertação a pertinência atual de uma revisão mais apurada sobre o assunto, principalmente no que concerne ao tema do estreitamento da normalidade, onde o conceito de medicalização pode funcionar como uma ferramenta conceitual útil de análise. Aludimos ao exemplo da psiquiatria como um analisador nessa discussão, considerando o papel social historicamente desempenhado por esta na delimitação de fronteiras que, no fundo, ainda versam sobre antigos dilemas sobre normalidade e anormalidade. Para tanto, este estudo traz uma revisão histórica sobre o conceito de medicalização através das contribuições mais relevantes da literatura internacional. / This study aims to present a historical review of the medicalization concept, analyzing how the understanding about of this process has changed in the past decades, moving from a orthodox point of view that considered this to be the result of a medical imperialism process on the society, until a modern-day critics, guided by a more nuanced understanding of the theme. Among the major changes in the reading of the medicalization, is the perception of it as an interactive and collective process, composed of numerous key players, each one with different interests and roles nowadays. While early authors of the 70 emphasized the social control and the damage caused by medicine, in a more recent approach individuals are no longer seen as victims, but as important advocates for medicalization. The individuals have begun to play a more significant role in this process, becoming key actors of a public debate about the ever-shifting boundary that legislate on the processes of health and disease. The notion of medicalization advanced towards a complex approach, bringing challenges that are quite different nowadays. Finally, we highlight a central development of this research presenting a more thorough review on the subject, especially regarding the issue of narrowing the normal, where the concept of medicalization can function as a useful conceptual tool of analysis. The example of psychiatry is mentioned as an analyzer question in this discussion, considering the social role historically played by this in the delimitation of boundaries that still deal with old problems about normality and abnormality. Therefore, this study provides a historical review of the concept of medicalization through the most relevant contributions of the international literature.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:49:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SUELY MARQUES ROSA.pdf: 752746 bytes, checksum: 36ea80faba50ba5bbe324ab1ec63774a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-02-22 / This paper has the objective of showing the relationships between illness / handicap and sin, and between health and cure, trough a research with mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy from a rehabilitation center in this city. This research discusses the imaginary that involves the birth of a son / daughter and the changes that a birth of a child with Cerebral Palsy can cause in the life of those people. These mothers goes to a process of changes in their ethos, search for the meaning of the misfortune that got them using Theodicee and others rationalizations connected with the ways of divine pedagogy that involves the religious imaginary. / Este trabalho tem como objetivo mostrar as relações estabelecidas entre doença / deficiência e pecado, e entre saúde e cura, através de uma pesquisa realizada com mães de crianças com Paralisia Cerebral atendidas em um grande centro de reabilitação da cidade de Goiânia. A pesquisa aborda o imaginário que envolve o nascimento de um/a filho/a e as mudanças que o nascimento de uma criança com Paralisia Cerebral pode desencadear nas vidas dessas pessoas Estas mães, que passam por um processo de modificação em seu ethos, buscam o significado do infortúnio que as acometeu utilizando-se de teodicéias e de outras racionalizações relacionadas às formas de pedagogia divina que envolvem o imaginário religioso.

The thesis explores the subject of purgatory and its relative value for modern people. It summarises: 1. The manner in which biblical texts used to underpin the doctrine; 2. The history of the doctrine within the Roman Catholic Church and the reaction to it during the Reformation and beyond; and 3. Contemporary formulations of purgatory and purgatory-like ideas. The thesis argues, from several perspectives, that a modern formulation of the doctrine is: 1. Reasonable; 2. Biblically consistent; 3. Meets the criteria of an established Tradition at practice within the Church; and 4. Is capable of assisting people in understanding and appreciating the existential questions of death and the after life. The thesis is approached from the angle of a Legal Counsel presenting an argument for acceptance of the thesis. / SYS THEOLOGY & THEOL ETHICS / MTH (SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tonyglei Suave.pdf: 1388240 bytes, checksum: 2cca166039c8bc922a0aaa6d67177d3c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-30 / The objective of this dissertation is to present an exegetic study of a biblical poem: Psalm 42 43. This undertaking is justified in the measure that the search for the original meaning of a text which is inspired by God and is the bearer of a universal message of salvation can favor reflection on one of the problems that most disturbs the human conscience: human suffering and faith in a God who is omnipotent and filled with benevolence. Due to the particular position of this poem [at the start of the section of the Psalter which proportionally speaks most of human suffering] and certain stylistic traces [the striking comparison at the beginning of the poem; the name of God mentioned 22 times; the tetragram in the middle of it to call attention to a particular attitude of the person praying] this research has as a hypothesis that these Psalms throw some light on the subject of God s presence in the lives of people who suffer. In the style of commentary, the research continues following the steps of synchronic analysis with some reference to diachronic analysis when necessary. It analyzing the literary beauty and certain cultural, historical and theological aspects of one of the sacred texts which was chosen as a model of prayer for Israel because it deals with one of the vital problems of the human being in a realistic and beautiful manner. As a result of this work five essential elements were discovered which appear to contribute towards reflection on the presence of God next to the suffering human person: 1) the importance of trust in God; 2) how the presence of God appears to be experienced as absence; 3) worship as a privileged manner of communication and communion with God; 4) the misunderstanding of God as one of the causes of the difficulty to deal with suffering; 5) confining the presence of God to only the Temple in Jerusalem as a theological limitation of this poem / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar um estudo exegético de um poema bíblico: Sl 42 43. Tal empreendimento se justifica na medida em que a busca pelo sentido original de um texto, que foi inspirado por Deus e é portador de uma mensagem universal de salvação, possa favorecer a reflexão sobre um dos problemas que mais perturba a consciência humana: o sofrimento humano e a crença em um Deus cheio de bondade e onipotente. Dada a singular posição deste poema encabeça a parte do Saltério que, proporcionalmente, mais fala de sofrimento humano e certos indícios estilísticos a impactante comparação no início do poema, o nome de Deus citado 22 vezes, o tetragrama no centro do poema para chamar a atenção a uma determinada atitude do orante esta pesquisa tem como hipótese que estes Salmos lançam alguma luz sobre a questão da presença de Deus junto ao ser humano sofredor. No estilo de comentário, a pesquisa avança seguindo os passos de uma análise sincrônica com acenos à diacronia, quando necessário, analisando a beleza literária e certos aspectos culturais, históricos e teológicos de um dos textos sagrados que foi escolhido como modelo de oração para Israel por ele tratar de um dos problemas vitais do ser humano de maneira realista e bela. Como resultado deste trabalho foram encontrados cinco elementos essenciais que parecem contribuir na reflexão sobre a presença de Deus junto ao ser humano que sofre, a saber: 1) a importância da confiança em Deus; 2) o modo da presença de Deus parece ser sua ausência sentida; 3) o culto como uma maneira privilegiada de comunicação e comunhão com Deus; 4) a incompreensão de Deus como uma das causas da dificuldade de se lidar com o sofrimento; 5) o confinamento da presença de Deus apenas ao Templo de Jerusalém como uma limitação teológica deste poema

This study deals with the distinct difference in media attention the earthquake-disaster in Haiti and the flood-disaster in Pakistan got in 2010. There may be many reasons to this divergence, but this study focuses on how news articles can create compassion.    This study, with its critical perspective, examines how two daily papers in Sweden portray the suffering of the victims of the catastrophes in Haiti and Pakistan, and create compassion for them. Furthermore it asks the question who benefits from the newspaper’s description of human suffering in the third world.    The result shows that the manner of which Swedish daily newspapers report from the catastrophe in Haiti creates an emotional involvement, which most likely leads to compassion. Furthermore it shows potential to lead the readers to identify with the suffering people in Haiti.    The Swedish daily newspapers report of the catastrophe in Pakistan on the other hand, does not involve the reader on an emotional level, but gives them the role of a spectator. However the result also indicates that the distance between the victim and the reader is reducing. In that remark the report have potential to create compassion for the victims in Pakistan, although it is more likely that this does not occur.    In conclusion the study shows that the Swedish daily newspapers report of the catastrophes in Haiti and Pakistan is embedded in an ideology, which reproduces a global hierarchy of suffering by reproducing the construction of an Us and Them. In addition this study reveals a social conception of the West as more worthy compassion than the third world, and therefore the Swedish daily newspapers report of the catastrophes reproduces the West’s dominance and power in the society.