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There is dissatisfaction with the Collects when scholastically (classically) understood. An alternative phenomenological understanding is an engaging and artistic philosophical enquiry. Phenomenological philosophical enquiry engages the individual in meaningful interpretation and construction of the life-world founded on a non-dichotomous ontology. Phenomenological enquiry (existential philosophy) interprets the present and relates to the future such as is not possible in scholastic (classical) philosophy. The early twentieth century philosophers, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, conceived a phenomenological method of interpretation which innovatively placed the subject and object in a dialectical union. Understanding the Collects phenomenologically presents new insights susceptible to consensus within a community. At present, the Collects are structured on the principles of classical (dichotomous) ontology. The Collects reflect the collective religious meaning of the life-world and provide a vision upon which a community may build. In phenomenological interpretation an individual and a community, in the presence of that which is divine, participate as co-creators of the life-world. Thus, in contemporary western society phenomenological methodology ~ay be more helpful and therefore more desirable than scholastic methodology for theological interpretation. The hypothesis that phenomenological philosophy is more helpful, thus more desirable, than scholastic philosopl1y began as a hunch on my part. From a theological perspective, I examined data obtained from a particular focus group. Intelligent reflection, phenomenologically not classically understood, is a working principle in this thesis. / Taking into account phenomenological methodology and conceptualising the problem as originally and scientifically as circumstances permit, I offer a resolution to the dissatisfaction with the Collects. I suggest replacing scholastic ontological understanding with the more helpful phenomenological ontological understanding in liturgical interpretation. This replacement-solution hypothesis is evidenced in this study minimally, but sufficiently, to conclude that such replacement is occurring in theological understanding. There are clear existential intimations of a shift from classical understanding to phenomenological understanding. The results of the survey show traditional understanding to be favoured, however. In the concluding remarks, I evaluate my findings and suggest what direction future studies may take. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

This study explores the ways in which objects are used in the organization of daily life, by specifically focusing on the use of prayer beads and their mechanical and digital variations. For this purpose, a framework based on material culture and practice theory is employed to understand how Islam informs and guides the organization and the conduct of daily life around the pervasive prayer practices, the ways objects are used for these purposes and how practices and products co-evolve by influencing each other. Fieldwork with devout Muslims, who are using prayer beads together with mechanical and digital counters for their daily praying practices, is conducted by employing ethnomethodology. Findings on the ways in which objects are used, utilized, appropriated and adopted within the socio-cultural and political dynamics of Islam in Turkey are analysed regarding the social and practical aspects of daily life such as the organization of daily life and daily practices, the core issues shaping these practices, thus objects, how identity discourse reflected on/by the use of objects and the ensemble of products that is orchestrated for a meaningful organization of daily life around prayer practices.

For sixty-five years hardly anyone in the English-speaking world was aware of the anthropological theories of Marcel Jousse, a twentieth century Jesuit scholar. In 1990, Jousse's seminal work, Le style oral rythmique et mnemotechnique chez les verbo-moteurs. (The rhythmic and mnemotechnique oral style of the verbo-motors), was translated into English and given the name The Oral Style. His anthropologie du geste, called in this study the anthropology of geste, presented his discovery of the universal anthropological laws governing human expression: mimism, bilateralism and formulism. Jousse had sought to understand the anthropological roots of oral style, in particular the phenomenal memory of oral style peoples. In this dissertation, Jousse's theories are summarised and his anthropological laws are used to determine whether three eucharistic prayers of the Roman rite contain elements of oral style expression. The Roman Canon, Eucharistic Prayer 1 and Eucharistic Prayer for Children 1 are set out in binary and ternary balancings. An attempt is made to show that written style expression, an inheritance from the Greeks, houses in its extraordinary complexity the very oral style elements it appears to have superseded. The assertion made is that written style, with its predilection for subordination, actually conserves, preserves and perpetuates oral style balancings, not only in the simple sentence (what Jousse calls the propositional geste), but also in clauses, phrases, words, and sound devices. Support is given to T. J. Talley's view that the Jewish nodeh lekah (thanksgiving) and not the berakah (blessing) is the prayer source that influenced the structure of the early Christians' eucharist (thanksgiving in Greek). The expressions of thanksgiving that are a distinguishing feature of anaphoras from the 1st century AD onwards, continue to shape the eucharistic prayers today. This is offered as one reason why, in a reconstruction of Eucharistic Prayer for Children 1 presented at the end of Chapter 5, it is possible to balance one recitative with another, and the recitation of one prayer component with another. The dissertation concludes by recommending that oral studies of the Christian liturgies of East and West be pursued as they have much to contribute to the orality-literacy debate not only in the matter of liturgical language but also in gaining an appreciation of other gestes of worship. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.

There is dissatisfaction with the Collects when scholastically (classically) understood. An alternative phenomenological understanding is an engaging and artistic philosophical enquiry. Phenomenological philosophical enquiry engages the individual in meaningful interpretation and construction of the life-world founded on a non-dichotomous ontology. Phenomenological enquiry (existential philosophy) interprets the present and relates to the future such as is not possible in scholastic (classical) philosophy. The early twentieth century philosophers, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, conceived a phenomenological method of interpretation which innovatively placed the subject and object in a dialectical union. Understanding the Collects phenomenologically presents new insights susceptible to consensus within a community. At present, the Collects are structured on the principles of classical (dichotomous) ontology. The Collects reflect the collective religious meaning of the life-world and provide a vision upon which a community may build. In phenomenological interpretation an individual and a community, in the presence of that which is divine, participate as co-creators of the life-world. Thus, in contemporary western society phenomenological methodology ~ay be more helpful and therefore more desirable than scholastic methodology for theological interpretation. The hypothesis that phenomenological philosophy is more helpful, thus more desirable, than scholastic philosopl1y began as a hunch on my part. From a theological perspective, I examined data obtained from a particular focus group. Intelligent reflection, phenomenologically not classically understood, is a working principle in this thesis. / Taking into account phenomenological methodology and conceptualising the problem as originally and scientifically as circumstances permit, I offer a resolution to the dissatisfaction with the Collects. I suggest replacing scholastic ontological understanding with the more helpful phenomenological ontological understanding in liturgical interpretation. This replacement-solution hypothesis is evidenced in this study minimally, but sufficiently, to conclude that such replacement is occurring in theological understanding. There are clear existential intimations of a shift from classical understanding to phenomenological understanding. The results of the survey show traditional understanding to be favoured, however. In the concluding remarks, I evaluate my findings and suggest what direction future studies may take. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

This work deals with Christian tradition in Ireland and northwest Scotland in period from 5th to 12th century. The work is divided into two parts. The first one is an introduction into historical and cultural context. In the second one I used a religious model of Mr. Ninian Smart who distinguishes religion into seven dimensions. That dimensions are doctrinal, mythological, ritual, social, ethic, emotional and artistic. In each of these dimensions I deal with about four topics which are typical for Celtic {--} Christian tradition and on them I illustrate the uniqueness of that tradition. That uniqueness is in high ability for enculturation of Christianity together with ability for new innovative approaches. Some of these new approaches are introduction of new penitential practice, phenomenon of pilgrimage or interconnectedness of monasticism with apostolate.

Recent years have seen a plethora of research accomplished with respect to OT poetic prayers, predominantly in relation to the Psalter, with a least one ramification being a lack of engagement with the full spectrum of expressions especially within OT prosaic prayers. In addition to this, contemporary pastoral literature continues to exhibit an underdevelopment with respect to the full anthropological spectrum of expressions amidst grief especially within intercultural contexts. Observing both lacunas in scholarship, this dissertation operationalizes a Revisionist Method of Mutual Critical Correlation as its metamethod while incorporating Renewed Form Criticism, Hermeneutical Phenomenology, annd a Liberative Intercultural Praxis as it pursues a twofold objective: 1) an examination of the multivalent expressions (i.e., verbal, physical, and emotional) that leading Israelites pray-ers within the ancient context of OT prosaic prayers communicated to/before God while in the crux of disorientation, and 2) an investigation into the multivalent expressions (i.e., verbal, physical, and emotional) that leading Christian pray-ers wtihin an intercultural context (i.e., among Canadian immigrants from Guyana and Vietnam) communicated to/before God amidst the phenomenon of grief. At the heart of attending to this twofold mission is the configuration of an expressive domain of anthropological expressive modalities of disorientation communicated to/before God, along with their essence or meaning. Sensitized to such an expressive domain with its multivalent significance, contemporary pastoral caregivers would thus be better equipped to foster compassionate, liberative intercultural pastoral care for intercultural Christian communities coping with grief.

While scholarship often focuses on how early modern Italians used images in their devotions, particularly in the post-Tridentine era, little attention has been placed upon how laypeople engaged with devotional text during times of prayer and in their everyday lives. Studies of early modern devotional texts have explored their literary content, investigated their censorship by the Church, or concentrated upon an elite readership. This thesis, instead, investigates how ordinary devotees interacted with holy words in their material form, which I have termed ‘material prayers’. Since this thesis developed under the aegis of the interdisciplinary research project, Domestic Devotions: The Place of Piety in the Italian Renaissance Home, 1400-1600, it focuses primarily on engagement with these material prayers in domestic spaces. Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from material culture studies, literary history, social and cultural history, and art history, it brings together objects, images and archival sources to illuminate how devotees from across the socio-economic and literacy spectrums accessed and employed devotional text in their prayers and daily life. From holy words, Biblical excerpts, and prayers to textual symbols like the Sacred Monogram of the Name of Jesus, this thesis explores how and why these material prayers were employed for spiritual, apotropaic and intercessory purposes. It analyses material prayers not only in traditional textual formats (printed books and manuscripts), but also those that were printed on single-sheets of paper, inscribed on jewellery, or etched into the structure of the home. To convey how devotees engaged with and relied upon these material prayers, it considers a variety of inscribed objects, including those sanctioned by the Church as well as those which might be questioned or deemed ‘superstitious’ by ecclesiastical authorities. Sermons, Inquisition trial records, and other archival documents have been consulted to further illuminate the material evidence. The first part of the thesis, ‘On the Body’, considers the how devotees came into personal contact with texts by wearing prayers on their bodies. It examines a range of objects including prayers with protective properties, known as brevi, that were meant to be sealed in a pouch and worn around the neck, and more luxurious items of physical adornment inscribed with devotional and apotropaic text, such as necklaces and rings. The second part of the thesis enters the home to explore how the spaces people inhabited and the objects that populated their homes were decorated with material prayers. ‘In the Home’ begins with texts inscribed over the entryways of early modern Italian homes, and then considers how devotees decorated their walls with holy words and how the objects of devotion and household life were imbued with religious significance through the addition of pious inscriptions. By analysing these personal objects and the textual domestic sphere, this thesis argues that these material prayers cut across socio-economic classes, genders, and ages to embody quotidian moments of domestic devotion as well as moments of fear, anxiety and change.

The renewal of interest in religious healing methods in the past few decades, in response to various perspectives of illnesses, is ‘blowing’ through the PCC-one of the reformed churches in Africa. There are two underlying assumptions in this project: the first is that sickness constitutes a major threat to good health and the second is that the ministry of healing in the PCC is not contextual in view of respecting and incorporating the cultural, social, religious beliefs and values of its people in the formation of meaningful healing ministry. The healing ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is lacking in efficacy and essence because it does not make much meaning in the lives of the sick and their relatives. This project gives an overview of some of the causes of tensions that exist in the PCC concerning its ministry of healing. It critically analysis, interprets and discusses the empirical results of 26 (20 laity and six clergy) members of the Musang congregation alongside some theological reflections. The project explored and highlighted the importance of the traditional worldview regarding health, illness, healing and defines healing as the work of God and that it is imperative for the Church to focus on a more meaningful healing ministry that includes physical, spiritual, social and psychological aspects, thus healing needs to be holistic. Putting together the results of the literature review, the empirical research and the critical and theological reflections, the project suggests and affirms that there are theological, practical and socio-cultural reasons for the PCC to rethink, reformulate and reshape its healing ministry in the light of Jesus’ healing ministry. The project points out the theological, practical and cultural basis for a more meaningful ministry of healing within the PCC. These results reveal that the PCC has no choice but to embrace this emerging biblical healing ministry if it truly wants to remain faithful and in obedience to Jesus’ three but inseparable ministries of preaching, teaching and healing. Finally, the project proposes an integrated healing service as one of the ways towards a more practical and meaningful ministry of healing in the PCC at home and in the diaspora. Some objective comments and recommendations are also made. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

In this dissertation, the affinities between the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel and the Maronite Prayer of the Faithful especially the use of light metaphor are examined and new hypothetic proposals are suggested: the former has influenced the latter; both of them might have shared the same milieu or have been influenced by an existent Antiochene liturgical hymn. These proposals are discussed according to reflections on the Fourth Gospel, the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, the light metaphor, the work done on the Prologue from a socio-rhetorical perspective and the study conducted on the first English edition of the Maronite Prayer of the Faithful. / New Testament / M.Th. (New Testament)