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This thesis provides an analysis of one of the leading twenty-first century media-evangelists: Joel Osteen. His popularity is worldwide and has only increased over his seventeen years of ministry. His preaching and teachings enjoy sustained popularity resulting in book sales, internet downloads, radio listenership and television viewership in the millions. He has also created arguably the largest interracial congregation in the United States, boasting around 50,000 members, the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Due to his celebrity he is simply known to many of his viewers and listeners as Joel. This is primarily due to his expert use of new and social media, promoting his distinct version of Christianity. For all his success and many followers, Osteen himself remains something of an enigma. Decoding this enigma is at the heart of this thesis. Section 1 (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4) outlines the pertinent literature and methodology used in this dissertation to examine Osteen’s various contexts anchored in the spiritual media marketplace. This is followed by a discussion on the different critiques of Osteen as well as his followers’ emphasis on his expressive theology. Critics vilify Osteen, particular the New Calvinists who chide him for his lack of theological knowledge. By contrast, his followers commonly celebrate his ministry crediting him with life changing insights that have blessed their religiosity and reaped healing, fulfilment and a deepening relationship with God. Section 2 (chapters 5, 6 and 7) places Osteen in both historical and theological contexts that include the dawning of televangelism and Osteen’s theological background. Both shed invaluable light on Osteen. Section 3 (chapters 8, 9, and 10) takes into consideration Osteen’s expressive theology in his preaching, writing and media use, and provides insights into the heretofore-ignored strands of his theology present in both his online and offline communication. This section demonstrates how Osteen’s teaching on self-improvement, faith, and what he terms as ‘God’s favour’ are integrated into his works in relation to his approach to historical Christianity. This thesis therefore takes a more comprehensive and nuanced approach than previous interpretations of Osteen. The conclusions of this research provide rich insight into Osteen’s enigmatic theology and approach, while also interpreting his import in the on-going narrative of media-evangelicalism in American religious culture.

Il lavoro riguarda alcuni aspetti ancora non molto studiati della personalità intellettuale di John Henry Newman, vale a dire la proposta di una cultura cristiana alternativa alla secolarizzazione in ambito educativo e socio-politico, così come si sviluppò durante il corso della sua vita: il giudizio dato da Newman sull'antico regime inglese è il tema del primo capitolo; la riflessione degli ultimi anni oxoniensi e dei primi anni successivi alla conversione (il ruolo del cristianesimo e del cattolicesimo nella cultura inglese) è il tema del secondo successivo; la proposta educativa così come emerge degli scritti sull'Università è il tema del terzo capitolo; alla riflessione sul compito Stato e sui fondamenti della politica è infine dedicato il quarto capitolo. / The work considers some aspects (not so studied yet) of the intellectual personality of John Henry Newman, that is the Christian cultural proposal alternative to the secularization in education, and in the social and political field, as it was developed during his life: the topic of the first chapter is Newman's opinion about the ancien regime; in the second chapter we study the reflection of the last Oxonian years and of the first years after his conversion (the role of Christianity and of Catholicism in English culture); the third chapter regards the educative proposal, as it develops from the writings on University onwards; the fourth chapter is dedicated to the reflections on the role of the State and on the foundations of politics.

abstract: This dissertation is positioned at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and critical theory in order to explore the way early modern literature may be enlisted as a vehicle for a return to an ethically informed humanism, specifically with regard to how Western culture currently understands the contingent categories of "life" and "the human." While a great deal of critical work is currently being marshaled in the field of biopolitics, scholarly focus continues to be placed on the materiality of the physical body, or what I term "biopolitical materialism." What remains underexplored, however, is the reality that "life" and "the human" are deeply relational categories that should not be reduced to such material instances alone. Historically, and especially in the early modern period, "life" and "the human" are understood as interconnected and widely networked. Although such materialism indeed becomes solidified in the seventeenth-century, I seek to recuperate an ethical challenge to contemporary biopolitical materialism through an extended dialogue with early modern thinkers. By turning to works "in the Age of Shakespeare" I return attention to the originary epoch of what has been described as our "modern event horizon." I argue that within the very historical period that gives rise to the practice of biopolitical materialism exists a rich textual archive of resistance to this troubling phenomenon in the form of neighborly concern and the acknowledgement of shared creaturely estate. Chapter One inaugurates my argument by turning to Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, reading as its central theme the tragic effect inherent to dissociating the individual from the community. The remaining three chapters attend to neighborly forms given expression in three of Shakespeare's late plays: Chapter Two considers the potential political orientation of grace in Measure for Measure; Chapter Three positions neighborliness as a series of posthuman encounters in The Winter's Tale; and Chapter Four explores an early modern understanding of hospitality as stewardship at work in Timon of Athens. I conclude by turning to philosophy and political theology in order to suggest a way to think "life" as an ethical relation with, in, and through "the Age of Shakespeare." / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2014

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:21:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Christina Takatsu.pdf: 949085 bytes, checksum: 87fc7668b8ae5c0dd65ccad2238d8db6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The objective of this research is to observe inter-religious marriages. The encounter between two religious cultures can be, and generally is, a source of conflict. The emerging conflicts often occur not because of a different world vision, but basically because the other, by being different, threatens the identity of the individual. Facing this threat, it is necessary to strengthen their own identity. Based on interviews with six couples in inter-religious marriages, and specifically between Christians and Jews, and with children between birth and five years of ages and between thirteen and twenty four years of age, residents of the city of São Paulo, the intention of this research is to analyze how the couples deal with the challenges that arrives when one o the members of the couples belongs to a different religious tradition than the other. One of the principal challenges is how to deal with the religious education and spiritual formation of their children. The primary theoretical reference is Family Systems theory, principally the works of Murray Bowen regarding human behavior within family systems, but the research includes other secondary authorities that deal with the question of inter-cultural marriage. The intention is to discuss the implications of this reality for religious praxis and offer contributions for clinical psychology and the field of religious studies. Psychology needs to rethink its practice, leaving behind its prejudices in relation to religion and including this experience in its studies in order to inform both theory and therapy. This is fundamental in the process of understanding religious values and understanding the religiosity and spirituality of the client. On the other hand, religious institutions need to reflect on their praxis in terms of reaching families that are on the fringes of traditional religion, but still, being inter-religious, need to be recognized and respected as they are. As such, churches need to open themselves, reduce their tendency to look only at themselves and their context, and serve the world around them; even if parts of this world will never be formal members of their community.(AU) / Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo observar o casamento inter-religioso. O encontro de duas culturas religiosas pode e, provavelmente, constituirá fonte de conflito. Os conflitos emergentes podem ocorrer, não por uma visão diferente de mundo, mas essencialmente porque o outro, por ser diferente, ameaça a identidade do indivíduo. Frente à ameaça, é necessário fortalecer a própria identidade. A partir de entrevistas com seis casais em casamentos inter-religiosos, mais especificamente, entre cristãos e judeus, e com filhos com idade entre zero e cinco anos e entre quatorze e vinte e quatro anos de idade, residentes em São Paulo, Capital, pretendi analisar como os casais lidam com os desafios que surgem quando um cônjuge pertence a uma tradição religiosa diferente da do outro. Dentre os desafios, está o de lidar com a educação religiosa ou a formação espiritual de seus filhos. Utilizando-se como referencial a Terapia Sistêmica Familiar, principalmente o trabalho de Paul Watzlawick sobre a comunicação e o de Murray Bowen sobre o funcionamento humano dentro dos sistemas familiares, além de outros referenciais auxiliares para trabalhar a questão intercultural no casamento, pretendi discutir as implicações para a práxis religiosa e oferecer contribuições à clínica psicológica e às ciências da religião. A psicologia necessita repensar sua prática, deixando o preconceito em relação à religião de lado e incluindo essa em seus estudos, de modo a aproximar o discurso e a prática do terapeuta, uma vez que pode tomar consciência de seus próprios valores religiosos quando buscar compreender a religião e a espiritualidade de sua clientela. Por sua vez, as instituições religiosas necessitam refletir sobre sua práxis, de modo a alcançar as famílias que se encontram na periferia das religiões. Famílias que solicitam uma orientação, uma formação religiosa, mas que, sendo inter-religiosas, necessitam ser reconhecidas e respeitadas como tal. Portanto, as igrejas precisam abrir-se, deixar de olhar para dentro de si mesmas e servir ao mundo, mesmo que parte desse mundo nunca venha a se tornar formalmente membro da comunidade.(AU)

[pt] A tese analisa a relação entre as masculinidades, violência e religiosidade a partir do contexto Amazônico. Esta se volta para os significados das masculinidades encarnadas nas representações elaboradas dentro dos contextos interculturais e históricos da religiosidade amazônica. Masculinidades no plural quer expressar a diversidade de expressões que se constrói tanto na vida das pessoas, como nas expressões culturais e religiosas. A pesquisa usa da metodologia das teologias contextuais da libertação, porque se elabora a partir de aspectos da realidade cultural-religiosa de onde deriva compreensões críticas das representações teológicas sobre as masculinidades. As mediações teóricas são elaboradas a partir das perspectivas teológicas de gênero, feminista, pós-colonial e intercultural. O problema central desta pesquisa é a relação entre os vários significados de masculinidades presente nas representações religiosas e teológicas, como causa de violência ou possibilidade de redenção. A hegemonia de uma masculinidade construída a partir de estruturas coloniais violentas, princípios racionais e teológicos patriarcais, ao ser desconstruída, abre a possibilidade de melhor compreender e enriquecer a vivência humana nos seus modos plurais, no contexto Amazônico. Esta reflexão teológica procura oferecer significados teológicos atualizados, para que a vida humana e suas relações, sejam transformadas e manifestem os sinais do Reino de Deus. Masculinidades, são colocadas na esfera da história, da cultura e da religião que os homens habitam, elas são interculturais, hibridas, ou seja, não são estáveis, mas estão em constante processo de reformulação. Essa constatação é um aspecto importante para pensar possibilidades pastorais do cuidado de homens no âmbito eclesial. Uma antropologia pastoral das masculinidades se fundamenta na perspectiva trinitária e kenótica, na releitura de suas representações bíblico-teológicas: êxodo, páscoa, kénosis, morte e ressurreição – da escravidão para a liberdade de filhos e filhas, da morte para a vida em plenitude. Masculinidades redimidas na Amazônia bebe das fontes cristãs, mas também da cultura milenar de seus povos, tornando-se ecológicas. A formação e vivência de novas identidades masculinas necessitam de processos iniciáticos, ou seja, adquirir uma consciência de si mesmo como pessoa – adquirir compreensão da corporeidade espiritual, subjetiva, intersubjetiva e chamada a vivência comunitária. / [en] The thesis aims to analyze the relationship between masculinities, violence and religiosity from the Amazon context. It turns to the meanings of masculinities embodied in the representations elaborated within the intercultural and historical contexts of Amazon religiosity. Masculinities in the plural wants to express the diversity of expressions that is built both in people s lives and in cultural and religious expressions. The research uses a methodology of the contextual liberation theologies, because it is built from aspects of the cultural-religious reality from which critical understandings of theological representations about masculinities derive. The theoretical mediations are elaborated from the theological perspectives of gender, feminist, postcolonial and intercultural. The central problem of this research is the relationship between the various meanings of masculinities present in religious and theological representations, as cause of violence or possibility of redemption. The hegemony of a masculinity built from violent colonial structures, patriarchal rational and theological principles, by being deconstructed opens the possibility of better understanding and enriching human experience in its plural modes, in the Amazon context. This theological reflection seeks to offer up-to-date theological meanings, so that human life and its relationships are transformed and manifest the signs of the Kingdom of God. Masculinities are placed in the sphere of history, culture and religion that men inhabit, they are intercultural, hybrid, it means, they are not stable, but are constantly in the process of reformulation. This observation is an important aspect to think about the pastoral possibilities of caring for men in the ecclesial sphere. A pastoral anthropology of masculinities is based on the trinitarian and kenotic perspective, re-reading its biblical-theological representations: exodus, easter, kenosis, death and resurrection - from slavery to the freedom of sons and daughters, from death to life in fullness. Redeemed masculinities in the Amazon drink from Christian sources, but also from the ancient culture of its peoples, so that it becomes ecological. The formation and experience of new masculine identities need initiatory processes, that is, to acquire an awareness of oneself as a person - to acquire an understanding of the spiritual, subjective, intersubjective bodiliness and called the community experience.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.