Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sacramental liturgy'

This thesis asks the question: what does it mean to “discern the body” (1 Cor. 11:29)? Answering this begins with the question’s origin in the sacramental context of a particular Christian community’s attempt to observe what became known as the Eucharist. In their physicality, sacraments act as reminders that theological concepts, while they systematise experience and knowledge, can never be simply abstract; theology must never forget the particular, discrete nature of human beings, the separation of creatures, the otherness that allows true plurality and mutuality. My thesis is divided in three parts, to address bodies and their stories in theory, literary art, and sacramental liturgy. The first part of the thesis offers a critical reading of various theologies of body and story, applying to them insights from feminist epistemology concerning situated knowledge. The critique examines the work of Graham Ward, Stanley Hauerwas, Marcella Althaus-Reid, and Paul Ricoeur, looking at the way that even their attempts to take the body into account tend to downplay the concreteness of particular people and their stories. The second part of the thesis explores the way that literature handles the problems of particularity and universality, looking at specific stories in specific novels, and examining the way they treat bodies and the meeting of bodies. I address five novels. In conversation with Anil’s Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje, I discuss the importance of touch in defining meaning. With A Map of Glass, by Jane Urquhart, I look at bodies as tactile maps and geographies of memory. Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels, leads me to a discussion of the place of artistic form in the determination of meaning both for the body and for literature. The Man on a Donkey, by H. F. M. Prescott, leads to reflections upon disjunctions in bodies as various narratives make claims upon them. The discussion of Godric, by Frederick Buechner, centres upon personal identity being constructed physically, artistically and relationally through proximity with others. The third part investigates the nature of sacraments and sacramental theology as a place of attending to both the abstract and the particular, to the person—seeking a geography of love. To do this, I begin with a discussion of the search for a normative liturgical pattern as exemplified by Dom Gregory Dix’s The Shape of the Liturgy, focusing on the consequences for acknowledging the unruliness of the materiality of bodies. I then examine the approach of Gordon W. Lathrop, who uses the image of the map for describing liturgy. But his use of this metaphor construes the liturgical map as a given, turning away from interactive, creative possibilities. As a response, I look to the theologian Charles Winquist, who writes about the particularity of love. Finally, I bring together my reflections from the first two parts of the thesis to make suggestions about the liturgical body: that it is discerned by paying attention to the stories that the body carries, to the relationships in which bodies are implicated and to their locations, and to the vulnerabilities manifested by love and grief, by care.

This paper considers the pastoral challenge of a diminished experience of liturgy and worship during the Covid-19 pandemic. It explores the ubiquity of the digital realm and a pervasive culture of consumerism as factors in addition to the pandemic contributing to the challenge. We then reflect on the challenge through the theological perspective of Scripture, sacramental theology, Vatican II teaching and liturgical theology before proposing a pastoral plan.

Thesis advisor: Frederick G. Lawrence
This dissertation offers a critical response to the fundamental sacramental theology of Louis-Marie Chauvet drawing on the works of Bernard Lonergan. Chauvet has articulated a significant critique of the western theological tradition's use of metaphysics, especially in interpreting doctrines relating to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, liturgical sacrifice, and sacramental causality. Chauvet's criticisms raise questions about what philosophical tools allow theologians to develop a fruitful analogical understanding of the mysteries communicated in the sacraments. This dissertation responds to Chauvet's challenge to theology to adopt a new foundation in the symbolic by turning to the derived, critical metaphysics of Bernard Lonergan. The dissertation argues that Lonergan's critical metaphysics can help theologians to develop fruitful understandings of doctrines relating to Eucharistic presence, liturgical sacrifice, and sacramental causality. In addition Lonergan's categories of meaning offer resources for interpreting sacramental doctrines on the level of the time, while maintaining the genuine achievements of the past. Chapter one presents a survey of some recent Catholic Eucharistic theologies in order to provide a context for our investigation. Here we identify existentialist-phenomenological, postmodern, and neo-traditionalist approaches to Eucharistic doctrines. Chapters two, three, and four present a dialectical comparison of Chauvet and Lonergan on metaphysics as it pertains to Eucharistic theology specifically. Chapter two examines Chauvet's postmodern critique of metaphysical foundations of scholastic Eucharistic theology. Our particular concern will be with Chauvet's methods, especially whether his appropriation of the Heideggerian critique of scholastic theology offers an accurate account of Thomas Aquinas, and whether it offers a fruitful way forward in Eucharistic theology. Chapter three explores Lonergan's foundations for metaphysics in cognitional theory and epistemology. Lonergan's critical groundwork in cognitional theory attends to the problems of bias and the polymorphism of human consciousness that lead to a heuristic metaphysics rather than a tidy conceptual system. Chapter four explicates Lonergan's heuristic metaphysics and articulates the elements of metaphysics that enable an understanding of the general category of causality in critical realist metaphysics. Chapter five explores Lonergan's foundations for theological reflection paying particular attention to the importance of intellectual conversion before going on to survey Lonergan's categories of meaning. Chapter six engages the task of systematic theology and proposes an understanding of Eucharistic doctrines grounded in Lonergan's critical realist philosophy and transposed into categories of meaning
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Theology

In this study, the Eucharist as a liturgical ritual celebrated in the online space is explored. The study begins with an exploration of the terms worship, liturgy and ritual, settling on the term liturgical ritual. The methodology of practical theological interpretation is then considered, with the first step, the descriptive-empirical task being undertaken. The conceptual framework for the study is located within the postmodern discourse of liminality, using the metaphors of language, play, bricolage, embodiment, time and space to explore the intersection of liturgical ritual, network culture and liminality. A literature survey considers the research completed in the area of online ritual, and highlights two major themes, those of embodiment and community, which challenge the Eucharist online becoming a reality.
Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
tm2015
Practical Theology
MPhil
Unrestricted

Thesis advisor: John F. Baldovin
This dissertation argues that the eucharistic theology found in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae is not a Christocentric, static, hierarchical economy of grace production. Rather, it is a deeply Trinitarian, dynamic, communal drama of graced participation. Based on Aquinas's insistence that grace is a participation in the Divine Nature that is signified by the sacraments, I turn to the Secunda Pars in order to explicate the relationship between grace and human action that is presupposed in the sacramentology of the Tertia Pars. Insofar as the res tantum of the Eucharist is the unity of the mystical body of Christ, special attention is given to the relationship between grace, theological virtue, and moral virtue. Through close examination of the process through which charity is said to increase in the subject, the unity of the mystical body is seen, not as a mystical state, but as a graced action that is simultaneously God's action (insofar as grace formally moves us through charity) and the Church's action (insofar as the moral virtues dispose us to receive the presence of God as the extrinsic principle of our actions). The unity of the mystical body of Christ is, then, rightly called the grace of the Eucharist because the spiritual life affected by the Eucharist is the active presence of charity in the Church. The result of the Eucharist is the Church's participation in the Divine Nature. This project aims at providing a grammar that allows for fruitful dialogue in modern sacramental theology. Within Catholic Eucharistic theology, the scholastic language of metaphysics is regularly given place of privilege to such an extent as to view other grammars of the Eucharist with suspicion. This dissertation provides a Thomistic grammar of the Eucharist that largely avoids the traditional scholastic grammars. It is the hope that such retrieval is a catalyst for constructive dialogue between modern grammars (of all denominations) and traditional scholastic grammars
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Theology

By the turn of the seventeenth century, the auto sacramental quickly became the most elaborate dramatic genre in Spain. Shortly after the Council of Trent, professional playwrights replaced clerics who had previously written autos for the Corpus Christi celebrations held each year, but none were more influential than Lope de Vega in refining thematic, literary, and staging elements and techniques. At the middle of the nineteenth century, critics began to study the genre that a royal decree had banned almost a century earlier; however, few have dedicated much time to Lope's autos. As a result, most critics have misunderstood Lope's contributions to the genre. This study addresses some of the issues that scholars have particularly misunderstood or ignored, namely, Lope's treatment of the Eucharistic theme in his autos, the level of dramatic unity displayed in his Corpus Christi plays, and the contribution of spectacle to the overall performance. Using a textual analysis of three of Lope's autos, I conclude that Lope could and did write profound, unified liturgical plays designed to disseminate Catholic dogma in an effective and entertaining manner. Each of the three autos used in this study, Las aventuras del Hombre, El viaje del Alma, and Los dos ingenios y esclavos, presents a protagonist representing mankind, who must learn to disregard evil influences faced in mortality and turn to Christ and the Eucharist for salvation. These elaborate liturgical performances, whose budgets exceeded those of the popular comedias of the day, all took place in city plazas around the country. In order to understand the deserved popularity that Lope's autos clearly enjoyed in their original setting, scholars need to return to the texts themselves and not merely rely on criticism.

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Ulrich Zwingli, who started the Protestant Reformation in the Switzerland, broke with an old conception of sacraments, not considering them as means of grace. The sacraments the Baptism and the Lord Supper, preserved by the Reformer, gain new perspectives, especially the Supper, taken as a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. He also dissociated the Supper and the Lord s Day. John Calvin, Reformer in Geneva and considered the principal theologian of the Reformed Tradition, kept the interpretation of the sacraments as means of grace and defended, whithout any success, the celebration of the Lord s Supper every Sunday. This thesis evidences the dominant presence of Zwinglian conception in Brazilian Presbyterian denominations and its liturgical implications in spite of these churches regard themselves as Calvinists. It also includes a study of the North American mediation in the theology of the sacraments, since that Presbyterianism established definitely in Brazil in the nineteenth century, by missionaries from the United States. These missionaries regard the Brazilian catholic population target of evangelization, rebaptizing the new converted ones, a practice that became usual in Brazilian Presbyterianism. Some liturgical aspects of Brazilian Presbyterianism churches such as the celebration of the Lord s Supper in a colloquial way and sometimes the absence of the Eucharistic Prayer an the words of the institution of the sacraments, the presence or not of classical elements of the cult, like the Apostolical Creed (or Nicene Creed) and the Lord s Prayer are objects of a research in loco. Some attempts to recover elements of liturgical tradition find resistence in Brazil Presbyterianism, either as a consequence of the negative identify , the anticatholicism, or (either) because of the current relativization of values in prejudice of historical marks of Christian identify. This work detects that the Zwinglian theological legacy, which was affected by new factors in its development, is related to the difficulties of adhesion of the principal Brazilian Presbyterian Churches in the Ecumenical Movement of the twentieth century.(AU)
Ulrico Zuínglio, que iniciou a Reforma protestante na Suíça, rompeu com uma concepção antiga dos sacramentos, não os considerando meios de graça. Os sacramentos do batismo e da Ceia do Senhor, mantidos pelo reformador, recebem novos enfoques, em particular a Ceia, ao ser considerada apenas uma recordação do sacrifício de Cristo na cruz. A ruptura deu-se também na dissociação da Ceia do Senhor do Dia do Senhor. João Calvino, reformador de Genebra e considerado o principal teólogo da chamada Tradição Reformada, manteve a interpretação dos sacramentos como meios de graça e defendeu, embora sem sucesso, a celebração dominical da Ceia do Senhor. A tese demonstra a presença dominante da concepção de Zuínglio nas denominações presbiterianas brasileiras e suas implicações litúrgicas, a despeito de essas igrejas considerarem-se calvinistas. Inclui um estudo da mediação norte-americana na teologia dos sacramentos, tendo em vista que o presbiterianismo implantou-se definitivamente no Brasil, no século XIX, através de missionários procedentes dos Estados Unidos. Esses missionários consideraram a população católica brasileira como principal alvo de evangelização, praticando o rebatismo de conversos, prática esta que se tornaria usual no presbiterianismo brasileiro. Aspectos da liturgia de igrejas presbiterianas brasileiras, como a celebração da Ceia do Senhor de modo informal e mesmo, por vezes, com omissão da Oração Eucarística ou das palavras da instituição do sacramento, a presença ou não de elementos clássicos do culto, como o Credo Apostólico ou Niceno e a Oração do Senhor, constituíram-se objeto da presente pesquisa in loco. Algumas tentativas de recuperação de elementos da tradição litúrgica encontram resistências no presbiterianismo brasileiro, seja em razão de uma identidade negativa , o anticatolicismo, seja pelo atual contexto cultural de relativização de valores em detrimento de marcos históricos de identidade cristã. A pesquisa constata que a herança teológica zuingliana, em cujo desenvolvimento intervieram novos fatores, relaciona-se a dificuldades de inserção das principais igrejas presbiterianas brasileiras no movimento ecumênico do século XX.(AU)

A presente pesquisa faz um levantamento das principais concep-ções sobre a Santa Ceia na "teologia oficial" e na "teologia popular" no âmbito da Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil (IELB) e depois de comparar e interpretar os dados levantados tira as conseqüências para a prática litúrgica à luz das origens do culto cristão. No capítulo um faz-se uma explanação sobre a Santa Ceia na "teologia oficial" da IELB, definindo-a como um sacramento, identificando seus benefícios, enumerando suas conseqüências, falando do preparo para a participação e de quem participa dela. No capítulo dois faz-se a explanação do resultado de uma pesquisa social para identificar os principais elementos da "teologia popular" concernente à Santa Ceia no âmbito da IELB. Neste capítulo destacam-se os principais enunciados da "teologia popular": os participantes da Ceia são os que se preparam para participar, os que andam no caminho certo, os que são batizados e confirmados, que são da igreja ou crêem no que a igreja ensina. Faz-se referência a um grupo de entrevistados que não impõe qualquer condição, mas que diz que todos podem participar. Entre os benefícios da participação da Santa Ceia, na "teologia popular" destacam-se: traz perdão dos pecados, recebe-se o corpo e o sangue de Cristo, traz salvação, traz alívio e paz ao coração, fortalece e renova a fé. As conseqüências da participação da Santa Ceia, segundo a "teologia popular", são as que seguem: ajuda na mudança de atitudes, oportuniza a comunhão com Deus e com os irmãos, torna o local da celebração um lugar de bem-estar . Outros aspectos relevantes da pesquisa foram destacados na "teologia popular": é importante consagrar os elementos, lembra-se dos hinos e da liturgia, lembra-se da instrução e da primeira comunhão, lembra-se de pessoas queridas. No capítulo três se faz uma justaposição, comparação e interpretação dos enunciados da "teologia oficial" e da "teologia popular". Neste capítulo colocam-se lado a lado os enunciados da "teologia oficial" e da "teologia popular", buscando identificar semelhanças e diferenças entre ambas e procurando identificar possíveis causas para essas semelhanças e diferenças. No último capítulo, fazendo-se um retorno ao passado, apresentam-se as conseqüências das descobertas da pesquisa para a prática da Santa Ceia à luz das origens do culto cristão. Neste capítulo, ao se tratar da Eucaristia nas origens do culto cristão, fala-se das influências judaicas, apreciam-se aspectos relevantes da última Ceia de Cristo, discorre-se a respeito do "partir do pão" na era apostólica e, por fim, do testemunho da Igreja Antiga acerca da Eucaristia. A partir desses referenciais das origens do culto cristão, procura-se listar possíveis conseqüências para a prática da Santa Ceia no âmbito da IELB.
This research makes a survey about the main conceptions relating to the Holy Supper from the point of view of the "official theology" and from the perspective of "popular theology" in the context of The Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil (IELB). After comparing and interpreting the results, conclusions are made for the liturgical practice in the light of the origins of the Christian worship. In the first chapter there is an explanation about the Holy Supper in the "official theology" of IELB defining it as a sacrament, identifying its benefits, establishing its consequences, discussing the preparation for participation of those involved in it. In chapter two, there is the explanation of the results of a social survey in order to identify the main elements of the "popular theology" concerning Holy Supper in the congregations of IELB. In this chapter the focus is on the main enunciations of the "popular theology": the participants of the Holy Supper are those who prepare themselves for Communion, those who walk in the right path, those who are baptized and confirmed, and those who belong to the church or believe in the churchs teaching. There is reference to a group that was interviewed that does not put any condition and says that any person can participate. Among the benefits of those who participate in the Holy Supper, in the "popular theology", the following can be emphasized: it brings forgiveness of sins, the body and blood of Christ are received, it brings salvation, it brings relieve and peace to the heart, it strengthens and renews the faith. The consequences of the participation in the Holy Supper, according to the "popular theology", are the following: help in the change of behavior, it bestows communion with God and with fellow brothers and sisters, it turns the place of celebration into a pleasant place. Other aspects: it is important to consecrate the elements, the person remembers the hymns and liturgy, the Confirmation instruction and the first Communion, and remembers beloved people. In chapter three, there is a juxtaposition, comparison, and interpretation of the data taken from the "official theology" and of the "popular theology". In this chapter this research parallels the enunciations of the "official theology" and of the "popular theology" where it identifies the similarities and the differences between them trying to identify possible causes for these similarities and differences. In the last chapter, there is a return to the past. This chapter presents the results of the research for the practice of the Holy Supper in the light of the origins of Christian worship. This chapter, when analysing the Eucharist in the origins of the Christian worship, deals with the Jewish influences, important aspects of Christs Last Supper are valued; it discusses the "breaking of the bread" in the Apostolic era and, finally, the chapter discusses the witness of the Ancient Church about the Eucharist. Beginning with these references of the origins of the Christian worship, this research lists possible consequences for the practice of the Holy Supper at IELBs sphere of action.

Thesis advisor: Boyd T. Coolman
The anonymous Speculum de mysteriis ecclesiae from the 12th century abbey of St. Victor has often been associated with the tradition of medieval liturgical commentaries, but this dissertation proposes reading it primarily as a general treatise on the spiritual life. Its unique Victorine emphasis on the combination of intellect and affect suggests a particular theology of the sign: the real ontological status of the sign relying not on Dionysian hierarchy but on ecclesial contemplation. Through the newly developed sacramental understanding of res et sacramentum, the Speculum suggests that signs have enduring value as signs that goes beyond their function as signifiers. The attainment of the signified, in other words, is only part of their gift. Their “sweetness” is found in an appreciation of their mode of signification — a signification that, the Speculum suggests, endures somehow even in heaven as a non-necessary gracious source of delight. That is, external and visible things in the Church have value not merely because they point us to particular invisible things (what the signs “mean”) but because they teach us the Church’s economy of grace. The Church, then, and her sacramental economy, are central not just to the practical life of individual salvation, but to the meaningfulness of all creation
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Theology

One of the most important yet most undermined aspects of the Reformed Churches in the resort of Synod Midlands is its liturgy. Little study has been done on liturgy and few Church Councils make liturgy their concern. Consequently most of the Reformed Churches in Midlands are faced with the problem of syncretism, secularism and modernistic trends in the liturgy. All human beings are religious people. All humans beings are believers yet it depends whom and how people worship and in whom or what they believe. People have different cultures and in some instances, as is the case with the African religion, culture and religion are not easily separated. Liturgy has an indispensable task in transforming culture. This study aims at scrutinising the manner of worship in Reformed Churches in Synod Midlands. It is divided into three sections. The first section focuses on basic-theoretical principles, the second on meta-theoretical guidelines and empirical findings and the third on a critical-hermeneutical interaction between the basis-theoretical principles and the meta-theoretical guidelines. This study indicates that the Reformed Churches in Synod Midlands need a relevant liturgy that is suitable for the African members but also a liturgy that is not easily influenced by culture and by the world. Liturgy has to shape culture and culture has to be accommodated in the shape that liturgy takes. This does not occur at the same level. The gospel preaches to culture and leads it to repentance. The sermon, however, is presented within a certain culture, context and language. This is where culture fits in and contributes to the shaping of the liturgy. A relevant liturgy for the Reformed Churches in Synod Midlands would be a dynamic liturgy that displays an interactive communicative character. There has to be a dialogue between God and His children. The liturgist should not be an individual standing between God and humans, blocking the dialogue-related character of the liturgy. All members have to be participative and should follow the liturgy. This study therefore calls upon a free liturgy because African people are spontaneous. However this liturgy should also be characterized by the necessary order.
Thesis (Ph.D. (Liturgics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The Spirit tradition is a fairly new tradition with its essential focus on experiencing the Holy Spirit. This tradition has made its latest and most influential appearance during the Azusa street revival in Los Angeles at the start of the 1900s. This has started a new wave or move if you want across the earth andhas made inroads into most other existing traditions. It is a tradition fashioned by the needs of believers and the reality of experiencing the Holy Spirit. Worship is a vital part of any Charismatic church service. Upbeat music with talented bands is up front and ready to lead people into passionate and expressive worship. Their worship stretches further than just music. They attempt to fashion their lives as a worship offering to God. Within the Charismatic tradition, the word Liturgy is unheard of, even though it is part of their service. Part of this worship includes the celebration of Communion. Communion is celebrated all over the world in most Christian churches. It has been one of the most sacred sacraments of the church through the centuries. With it came many feuds over doctrine and challenges regarding the form, meaning, presence, elements and so forth. It has been thecenter of many debates. But it still remains central to any believer. The researcher has looked at the history of the Spirit tradition within chapter 2 with its main focus on liturgical rituals of healing, exorcism and speaking in tongues. These rituals are researched and traced all through history. The rituals are present and active in every era the researcher looked at. The Theology of the spirit tradition was also explored. She then went on to look at the history of the Eucharist. The changes and forms were noted. A deeper understanding of the celebration of the Eucharist was realized and the Theology depicted the differences in opinion. No current day practical theological research is complete without Empirical research. This made the researcher more involved. By participatory observation and questionnaires, essential information was gathered regarding how believers in Charismatic churches appropriate their participation during the celebration of Communion. New insights were gained. Based on this research the researcher came to the conclusion that the Meal-and the Spirit worship traditions can come together in a more meaningful way. The true meaning needs to be taught to believers so that a deeper knowledge of the truth of Communion can be gained. Communion cannot remain watered-down and enter as an afterthought during a service. It has the potential to be an incredible experience by any Christian believer. When the Spirit and the Meal can be brought together in a more meaningful way, it has the potential to become the future of Charismatic worship. This conclusion is worked out in some detail in the final chapter.
Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Practical Theology
unrestricted

The aim of the thesis is to investigate theological understandings in conjunction with the baptism of children and to develop such of these understandings as can be seen to be “trovärdiga” (credible or trustworthy) in the contemporary context of Church of Sweden. The theoretical point of departure is taken in a hermeneutical theological method of correlation between interpretation of “Situation” and interpretation of “Tradition”. A trustworthy theology emerges in a critical and/or constructive encounter between the interpretation of Tradition and the interpretation of Situation. Such an encounter can be established within an area of problematics. Three problem areas are identified that are present in the Swedish context of baptizing children in Church of Sweden. A) The first problem area concerns the theological interpretation of the relationship between those baptized and those not in a pluralistic society. B) Theological interpretation of “destruction” and what the theological tradition names original sin. How can a trustworthy baptismal theology be developed that takes suffering, oppression, the ecological crisis, seriously in the present situation and at the same time handle or solve the problems related to the theological tradition of original sin? C) How can a trustworthy baptismal theology solve or handle the problems related to a dichotomous construct of the relationship between God and the world? Four types of material are analyzed: sociological and statistical material, ecumenical theological resources for interpreting baptism, two different orders of baptism at use in Church of Sweden and baptismal liturgies celebrated according to these orders of baptism, and primarily Oriental Orthodox traditions of the Baptism of Jesus. Several understandings are developed and among them three over-arching concepts found fruitful for solving or handling the problems concerned: the baptismal tradition connected to the Baptism of Jesus interpreted in the light of A Trinitarian Theology of Creation that understands baptism as an expression of The Mystery of Creation, The Sacrament of Creation .
Kolla att datum 16 oktober blev rätt!Kolla att de tre kursiveringarna på sista avsnittet i abstarct inte flyter samman till en enda (jfr pdf).Gordon Lathrop är professor emeritus från Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, och Yale Divinity SchoolKirsten Busch Nielsen är professor i systematisk teologi vid Köpenhamns universitet (opponenten)

This thesis studies ritual interactions between saints and the landscape, animals and elements during a three-hundred year period from 410 AD. Such interactions include negotiations about and with birds and other animals, exorcism of the sea, lakes and rivers, and immersion in these natural bodies of water for devotional purposes. Although writers of the period lacked a term such as 'nature' to describe this sphere of activity, it is demonstrated that the natural world was regarded as a dimension of creation distinctively responsive to Christian ritual. Systematic study of the context in which these rituals were performed finds close connection with missionary negotiations aimed at lay people. It further reveals that three British writers borrowed from Sulpicius Severus' accounts of eastern hermits, reworking older narratives to suggest that non-human aspects of creation were not only attracted to saints but were changed by and participated in Christian ritual and worship. Natural bodies of water attracted particularly intense interaction in the form of exorcism and bathing, sufficiently widely documented to indicate a number of discrete families of ritual were developed. In northern Britain, acute anxieties can be detected about the cultural and spiritual associations of open water, requiring missionary intervention to challenge pre-Christian narratives through biblical and liturgical resources, most notably baptism. Such a cosmological stretch appears to have informed a 'Celtic' deviation in baptismal practice that emphasised exorcism and bodily sacrifice. Nature rituals were a systematic response to the challenges of the British intellectual and physical landscapes, revealing the shape of an underlying missionary strategy based on mainstream patristic theology about the marred relationship between humans and the rest of creation. St Ambrose emerges as the most influential theologian at the time when the early church was shaping its British inculturation, most notably led by St Germanus' mission in 429.

A presente Dissertação tem como principal objetivo demonstrar o quanto é importante o contributo das “ações litúrgicas” das primeiras comunidades cristãs para a liturgia contemporânea. Para tal, baseamos nas Obras dos Padres da Igreja dos séculos I e II d. C. para uma leitura comparativa da liturgia hodierna, com a reformulação da liturgia no II Concílio do Vaticano na Constituição Apostólica Sacrosanctum Concilium. Este estudo conduz-nos a uma tarefa tripartida do nosso caminho para alcançarmos o objetivo a que nos propusemos. Começamos por contextualizar a vida quotidiana dos cristãos dos séculos I e II d.C., seguindo-se a um estudo do conteúdo litúrgico nas obras dos Padres da Igreja dos séculos I e II d.C., para finalmente terminarmos com a descrição das semelhanças e diferenças entre a liturgia dos séculos I e II d.C. e a liturgia contemporânea. A chave de leitura desta Dissertação não poderia ser outra que não a ação litúrgica na compreensão da vivência quotidiana das comunidades cristãs dos séculos I e II d.C., à luz das obras dos Padres da Igreja numa análise analógica para a liturgia contemporânea.
The main objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate how important the contribution of the “liturgical actions” of the first Christian communities is to contemporary liturgy. To this end, we rely on the Works of the Church Fathers of the centuries I and II d.C. For a comparative reading of today's liturgy, with the reformulation of the liturgy in the Second Vatican Council in the Apostolic Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. This study leads us to a tripartite task on our way to achieve the objective we set ourselves. We begin by contextualizing the daily life of Christians in the centuries, following a study of the liturgical content in the works of the Church Fathers of the centuries I and II d.C., to finally end with a description of the similarities and differences between the liturgy from the centuries I and II d.C. and the contemporary liturgy. The key to reading this Dissertation could not be other than the liturgical action in understanding the daily life of the Christian communities of the century I and II d.C., in the light of the works of the Fathers of the Church in an analogical analysis for contemporary liturgy.

Thesis (M.Ed) -- Australian Catholic University, 2006.
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education. Bibliography: p. 176-184. Also available in an electronic version via the internet.

The theme of this work is to compare the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession and the Evangelical Methodist Church in Slovakia, the basic issues of faith and liturgical emphases, focusing on the contribution of the ecumenical environment to refer first to the historical and theological background and then the difference in understanding Christian worship and its liturgical expression, in further outline the importance of sacramentology, spirituality, religious dogmatic. We also attempt to compare the emphasis in the understanding of doctrine and traditions of individual churches. Both Churches with its Protestant character bear the common name "Evangelical Church" and that is the reason why to deal and examine the differences and look for the content of unity. We have considered that in spite of historical and liturgical divergences combines both these churches the fundamental reformation principle of "Sola Scriptura", which means that in practice it is possible creating mutual ecumenical cooperation not only at the Ecumenical Council of Churches (ERC) in Slovakia, but also at the level of inter-mission activities of the churches and parishes.

This paper is entitled: A Descriptive Assessment of Sacraments as Language Events in Louis-Marie Chauvet and David Noel Power. What motivates the author to proceed with this topic is that the author feels the need of finding a new and creative approach to the sacraments. The author is determined to discuss this topic using the methodology of library reading. The two theologians whose theologies are being presented in this paper, namely, Louis-Marie Chauvet and David Noel Power, are the main sources. In addition to reading the works of Chauvet and Power, the author also gets into discussions with the supervisor. Since Chauvet and Power live in postmodern world, their theology can be of the good readings for students of theology who are interested in the theology of the sacraments in the midst of this ever-changing world. Chauvet, for example, proposes a new looking into the sacraments as language of the Trinitarian communication with his people. The church is the place where this interaction happens. The interaction itself occurs through the listening of the Scripture, sacraments and ethical commitment. In the same rhythm, David Noel Power suggests a theology where the sacraments are read as the language of God’s giving. They are the language of God’s giving because the church is the bodily present of the Trinity in the church. This present is, in turn, celebrated and relived through the Scripture, the sacraments, liturgy, rite, customs and cultures. Through all these elements, the language of God’s giving in the past is brought to life in the present time through the language of the church. Chauvet and Power recommend a fundamental theology through which the sacraments are no longer viewed as alienated from the daily experience of the church.The paper is written primarily as the author’s personal journey into the reflection on the sacraments. The author, therefore, hopes to achieve nothing more important than the growing of a personal love of the sacraments. In the second place, the author expects to have been able to introduce the fundamental sacraments of Louis-Marie Chauvet and David Noel Power to a larger context.

The laxity and continuous apathy among some members of the Catholic Church of the Masvingo Diocese in Zimbabwe towards the Sacrament of Confession prompted this study. The claim of Zvaiwa (2009) that confession is disappearing while psychology is being used more, as reflected in the title of his article ―Confession out, psychology in‖, motivated this research. The objective of the study was therefore, to explore the practical therapeutic value of the Sacrament of Confession among members of the Catholic Church in Masvingo Diocese in Zimbabwe. A theoretical and qualitative life narrative study was done from within a practical pastoral therapeutic perspective of practical theology. The sample of the empirical study consisted of 30 priests and laypeople in the five deaneries. A lifeline and semistructured interview instrument was used. A key finding of the study was that the Sacrament of Confession was not threatened by psychological counselling or psychotherapy. Another significant finding was that the Catholic Diocese of Masvingo was experiencing a devaluation of the church‘s pastoral confessional practice among its priests and laypeople. The study confirmed that the Sacrament of Confession has therapeutic value and spiritual meaning in the Church. The Sacrament of Confession and psychological counselling or psychotherapy were found to collaborate as therapeutic disciplines in pastoral therapy. A new model of therapeutic counselling that embraces spiritual direction through psychological counselling and reconciliation is proposed. It is rooted in cultural value; spirituality; private confession followed by prayer and absolution; and change in existential life, to enhance the pastoral role of the Sacrament of Confession in the Diocese of Masvingo, Zimbabwe. This model has interdisciplinary elements borrowed from medical, pastoral, psychological and social research fields. If adopted in the Diocese it would decrease the spiritual indifference amongst the parishioners and prevent them from defecting to other denominations.
Practical Theology
D. Th. (Practical Theology with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

The Thesis deals with the historical development of Christian marriage and conversion from the original family ritual to the public ceremony, from secular (state) rituals to the church type of marriage. It describes the beginning of the wedding liturgy at the West and the East. The first part of Thesis deals, except the history of wedding ritual, also with the theology of marriage with selected representatives of the West and the East {--} the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of Byzantine type. The wedding ceremonies of both churches are described in detail in other parts of the Thesis. They are subsequently compared with a reference to the similar elements and defining the specific parts. The comparison shows that the substantial part of the Roman Catholic ceremony is the bride´s and groom´s wedding vow. The priest is the privileged witness representing the church and he only accepts the vow. Whereas at the Orthodox Church of Byzantine type the marriage is concluded by priest´s blessing and coronation. In the final part the author thinks about the possible suggestion of a ceremony that would include the liturgy elements from both selected churches.