Introduction. After spending many years in South America and in the inner city of Chicago, I came to the university with the question: how does an Augustinian community live its spirituality in a situation of violence? I realized too that violence was somehow connected with the inner person, at the level of the heart. As an Augustinian, I wanted to see how harmony appears in the bishop's writings and in those of the Augustinian Order and how it contributes to understanding human relationships. No one has looked at the theme of harmony from this perspective before, and here lies the originality of this study. We know that spiritual traditions are revitalized when their contents are examined in the light of new needs and concerns emerging from the concrete situations in people's lives.
Hypothesis. The hypothesis which launches the research is the following: "the element of harmony in Augustine's own religious experience has the potential to provide a better understanding of the self and of others." After collecting and analyzing an abundant material I raised this question: "to what extent does the spiritual tradition of the Augustinian order reflect the thought of the bishop of Hippo?" Answers to this question paved the way to see better how harmony offers new connections of relating and a clearer understanding of the self, God and others. This is the goal of the thesis.
Conclusion. The conclusion showed the demonstration that I have made: the theme of harmony appears in Augustine's writings and in those in the tradition of the Order of St. Augustine and how this theme contributes to a better understanding of the self and others. There are areas where the congregation in its spirituality has been both faithful and forgetful. We return to my original question: how does an Augustinian community live its spirituality in a situation of violence? The basic attitude is this: where discord breaks the bonds of relatedness, harmony reinforces them. The Augustinian is called to be a "principle of harmony" and to stand up to all the forces that cause fragmentation and alienation. It is a wake-up call to appropriate its core teaching: to be "lovers of spiritual beauty." (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29210 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Dueweke, Robert F |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 318 p. |
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