Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Vita. Advisor: Amy G. Remensnyder. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-257).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4341. Adviser: Charles D. Wright. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 251-259) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis advisor: Stephen F. Brown / Pierre d'Ailly and the Development of Late Medieval Trinitarian Theology: (with an edition of <italic>Quaestiones super primum Sententiarum</italic>, qq. 4-8, 10) By: John T. Slotemaker Advisor: Stephen F. Brown The present dissertation analyzes several periods in the development of late medieval trinitarian theology. The work is divided into two volumes. Volume I contains three parts of two chapters each: (1) the first part treats the trinitarian theology of Thomas Aquinas (ch. 1) and John Duns Scotus (ch. 2); (2) the second part treats the trinitarian theology of William of Ockham (ch. 3) and Walter Chatton, Adam Wodeham and Robert Holcot (ch. 4); (3) the third part treats the trinitarian theology of Gregory of Rimini (ch. 5) and Pierre d'Ailly (ch. 6). Volume II contains five appendices, including: a transcription of the tabula quaestionum for Peter d'Ailly's, Peter Gracilis's and James of Eltville's (i.e., the `<italic>Lectura Eberbacensis</italic>') respective commentaries on the Sentences; and an edition of Pierre d'Ailly's <italic>Quaestiones super libros Sententiarum</italic>I, qq. 4-8 and 10. Part I of the dissertation considers Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus, arguing that this period of Parisian trinitarian theology is characterized by the heated debates concerning opposed and disparate relations. Thus, the role and primacy of the divine processions and/or the divine relations in articulating the distinction of persons is considered. As such, the argument developed throughout part I is consistent with the broader treatments of Michael Schmaus and Russell L. Friedman. Part II of the dissertation considers the trinitarian theology of four Oxford theologians: William of Ockham, Walter Chatton, Adam Wodeham and Robert Holcot. The first chapter analyzes the methodological approach of William of Ockham, considering in detail the influence of his analytic and linguistic method of theological analysis on the development of trinitarian theology. It is argued that Ockham is not primarily concerned with the previous debate over opposed or disparate relations, and that a shift in trinitarian theology is introduced with Ockham. Again, following Friedman, it is argued that because of Ockham's epistemological and linguistic approach to theological questions, he inaugurates a "search for simplicity"--to use Friedman's language--that characterizes the Oxford theologians. The second chapter of Part II examines the influence of Ockham on the subsequent developments in Oxford trinitarian theology. It is argued that in thinkers as diverse as Walter Chatton and Adam Wodeham, the influence of Ockham's theological method and approach to trinitarian questions is evident. The Venerable Inceptor, it is argued, shaped the discourse of subsequent Oxford theology. Part III of the dissertation returns to Paris, examining the theology of Gregory of Rimini and Pierre d'Ailly. In the first chapter, it is argued that Rimini follows closely the theological method of Ockham, with a renewed interest in articulating his theological positions in dialogue with Augustine of Hippo. This historical approach, it is argued, is grounded in Rimini's deductive theological method and its reliance on Scripture and the Fathers of the Church. Further, it is argued that Rimini clearly follows the previous Oxford theologians "search for simplicity", in particular the developments found in Walter Chatton and Robert Holcot. Finally, the second chapter of Part III considers the trinitarian thought of Pierre d'Ailly. It is argued that d'Ailly follows closely the theology of Ockham, but with a renewed interest (post Gregory) in articulating Ockham's positions in dialogue with Augustine. D'Ailly borrows methodologically from both Ockham (emphasis on language, etc.) and Rimini (emphasis on a deductive method and Scripture), although he will also return the basic theological arguments of Thomas Aquinas at points. Pierre d'Ailly is a harsh critic of Gregory and any trinitarian minimalism; in that regard he follows more closely the moderate path set by Ockham and Wodeham. Volume II of the dissertation includes an introduction to the manuscripts, incunabula and early printed editions of Pierre d'Ailly's <italic>Quaestiones super libros Sententiarum</italic> (Appendix A). Here the relevant manuscripts are discussed, and the reasons for basing the edition on Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, ms. 934, ff. 1-152 and Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, ms. 935, ff. 1-196 are defended. This is followed by Appendices B-D, treating the <italic>tabula quaestionum </italic>of book I of the commentaries on the <italic>Sentences </italic>by Pierre d'Ailly, Peter Gracilis (Royal, ms. 10A1) and James of Eltville (Clm, ms. 11591; i.e., the `<italic>Lectura Eberbacensis</italic>'). Finally, Appendix E contains a transcription and collation of Pierre d'Ailly's <italic>Quaestiones super libros Sententiarum </italic>I, qq. 4-8 and 10. The edition is based on Mazarine 934 and 935. The tables of questions are presented to allow some comparison of the structure of d'Ailly's commentary with those of his contemporaries. The edition of d'Ailly's texts is the first complete (i.e., presenting an entire <italic>quaestio </italic>or more) transcription of any of the questions in consideration, and is based on the two best manuscripts. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Boyd Taylor Coolman / In the life of Christ—from his humble birth to his horrific death—Francis of Assisi saw nothing less than the full revelation of God. In this dissertation I study how Francis’s impulse toward the historical dimension of the incarnation finds theological expression among Paris’s first generation of Franciscan theologians as represented in their Summa halensis. I argue that the Franciscans’ attention to the historical character of the incarnation facilitates a christology that unites and integrates speculative and practical theological concerns. Speculatively, the Summa halensis prioritizes the full integrity of Christ’s humanity without compromising the existential dependence of that humanity on the Word who assumes it; practically, the Summa halensis grounds the salvific efficacy of Christian penitential practices in the salvific quality of the entire trajectory, and not just the final moments, of Christ’s life. This study, then, offers grounds for a reappraisal of the Summa halensis as a hitherto unrecognized inflection point for the development of scholastic christology, as an early instance of scholastic theology’s tendency to integrate the speculative with the practical. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Boyd Taylor Coolman / Many vaunt the Summa halensis, conceived but not drafted entirely by Alexander of Hales, for its aesthetics. Few, however, read the text’s aesthetics theologically—as a teaching about God. This dissertation argues that Alexander’s aesthetics are deeply and inexorably theological. It takes as its keystone a passage in which Alexander identifies beauty with the “sacred order of the divine persons.” If beauty be a trinitarian structure instead of a divine attribute, then we should find beauty where we find Trinity. This dissertation trawls the massive Summa halensis for trinitarian beauty. And it finds beauty nearly everywhere. The result is a study of Alexander’s aesthetics that appreciates beauty beyond the constricted limits and categories of modern aesthetics. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Abailard expanded Anselm's sola ratione methodology, and in so doing he anticipated Renaissance humanism. His theory of abstraction justified the use of dialectic in theology, and was the basis for his entire theological system. He distinguished faith from mere belief by the application of dialectic, and created a theology which focused on the individual. The Renaissance humanists emphasized individual moral edification, which was evident in their interest in rhetoric. Abailard anticipated these rhetorical concerns, focusing on the individual's moral life rather than on metaphysical arguments. His logical treatises developed a theory of language as a mediator between reality and the conceptual order, and this argument was further developed in Sic et non. Sic et non was more than a collection of contradictions; it was a comprehensive theory of language as an inexact picture of reality, which forced the individual to reach his own understanding of scripture. Abailard's development of the power of reason anticipated developments in the Renaissance.

A written thesis to accompany the M.F.A. Exhibition I Speak as One in Doubt. Blending epistolary format and visionary narrative, the artist addresses her complex relationship to her Catholic upbringing.

This thesis studies, for the first time, Bede’s use of the image of the Jewish temple across all his writings. Not only analysing how Bede developed earlier Christian interpretations of the temple, it also uses the temple-image to shine light on under-explored aspects of his theological thought. Throughout, I argue that the communal understanding of the temple-image in Bede’s monastery helped shape his exegesis; we should think of Bede, not as an individual scholar, but as a monk engaged in an active discourse concerning the Bible. <strong>Chapter 1</strong> introduces the thesis, providing the historiographical and historical context. Bede’s exegesis existed within a long tradition of Christian interpretation of the temple, as <strong>Chapter 2</strong> shows; one image could be interpreted in diverse ways by Bede and therefore this thesis follows a thematic approach. <strong>Chapter 3</strong> studies Bede’s engagement with the cosmic interpretation of the temple, in particular his use of the image to emphasise the Anglo-Saxons’ participation in the universal Church. Analysing Bede’s interpretation of the Jewish priesthood, <strong>Chapter 4</strong> argues that he championed an élite of ordained clerics in the role of reforming the temple-Church. This Church clashed with the Body of Satan, symbolised by the Tower of Babel, concerning which the contemporary Northumbrian situation shaped Bede’s understanding. For Bede, the temple-image stressed Christ’s humanity and his sacrificial priesthood, as <strong>Chapter 5</strong> shows. Bede urged the faithful to shape themselves as pure temples in imitation of Christ, directing them towards union with God. A diachronic overview of Bede’s writings on the temple in <strong>Chapter 6</strong> highlights the importance of the years immediately prior to 716, the period in which the Codex Amiatinus was created at his monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, in the development of Bede’s interpretation of the temple. We should consider the possibility that Bede’s temple-commentaries drew upon interpretations formed in this communal, monastic, context.

This dissertation is a critical analysis of identity in literature within the historical context of the theopolitical climate in England between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. The narratives under consideration are the Lais of Marie de France, The Canterbury Tales, and The Book of Margery Kempe. A focus on the business of theology and the Church’s political influence on identity will highlight these lay writers’ artistic shaping of theopolitical ideas into literature. Conducting a literary analysis on the application of theopolitical ideas by these lay writers encourages movement beyond the traditional exegetical interpretation of their narratives and furthers our determination of lay intellectual attitudes toward theology and its political purposes in the development of identity and society.

This dissertation explores the development of the concept of synderesis between 1150 and 1450. In medieval moral psychology, synderesis referred to the innate capacity of the mind to know the first principles of natural law, or, alternatively, the will to follow these principles. But it was also interpreted as a mystical power of the soul, capable of uniting it to God. synderesis also appears in Late Medieval vernacular literature, as a character in moralising texts. By approaching synderesis from the point of view of conceptual history I synthesise these fields and explore how synderesis operated beyond the formal treatises of scholastic theology. Chapter two explores how synderesis developed in medieval scholasticism from Peter Lombard up to Thomas Aquinas. Chapters three and four explore how the mystical interpretation of synderesis first proposed by Thomas Gallus of Vercelli was incorporated into the mystical treatise Itinerarium mentis in Deum by Bonaventure of Balneoregio. Here, I analyse when, where and how Bonaventure integrated this mystical interpretation into his pre-existing moral-psychological interpretation of it and how his use of synderesis relates to the historical context in which the Itinerarium was written. I argue that synderesis should be seen as existing on a continuum of interpretations between moral psychology and mysticism. After Bonaventure and Aquinas, the concept undergoes a period of stagnation in academia, which is the subject of Chapter five. However, synderesis also appears in a number of non-academic texts in which the moral-psychological and mystical interpretations of the term coexist. Chapter six explores how Late Medieval vernacular authors drew on previous scholastic discussions of the concept. I focus here in particular on Guillaume de Deguileville's Le pèlerinage de l'âme, where synderesis appears not as the moral guide of the soul, but as the accuser of the soul before the court of heaven.