▼  In his seminal work, The History of Black Catholics in the United States, Dom Cyprian Davis O.S.B. attempted to set a broader framework within which “future historical research” at the local level might occur. This dissertation is one such academic endeavor. Building on the historical work of both Davis and Joseph H. Lackner S.M., this dissertation examines the nature of the “cry for justice” as it was communicated in the American Catholic Tribune, a weekly, nineteenth century, black newspaper printed by Daniel A. Rudd, an influential African American Catholic publisher, educator and civil rights leader. During the years of this newspaper’s publication, 1886-1897, Rudd promoted an ecclesiologically-centered vision of justice which presumed for the Catholic Church an essential role in the establishment of race justice in America. An examination of Rudd’s life and work reveals that though Rudd agitated for full equality for African Americans throughout his life, three distinct approaches can be discerned which roughly correspond to three periods in his life. During the Springfield Period, 1881-1886, Rudd promoted a “Fredrick Douglass-like” political/judicial activist approach. During the Cincinnati/Detroit Period, 1887-1897, he championed an ecclesiologically-centered approach. Finally, throughout the Southern Period, from 1900 onward, the Catholic laymen advocated a “Booker T. Washington-like” economic, self-help approach for achieving full equality for blacks. Advisors/Committee Members: Portier, William.

▼ The contemporary condition of secularity poses a unique environment in which the Church becomes incarnate in the world. The subject of secularity itself has been the focus of serious academic study, and two broad sources of this phenomenon can be drawn from the lifetime work of Charles Taylor: the rise of foundational epistemology and particular changes within the modern social imaginary. These two paradigm shifts have created a latent moral and religious skepticism within contemporary secular society in which it is generally accepted that complex moral and religious issues cannot be arbitrated by reason and must ultimately be decided on the basis of an individual’s personal feeling. In this thesis, the author draws on an integration of studies by Charles Taylor and Bernard Lonergan to establish that intellectual, moral, and religious conversion form the basis for the act of knowing and therefore provide an adequate theological response to the problem of skepticism. Furthermore, the author examines the social imaginary particular to contemporary secular society in order to develop a means by which the Church is able draw on sacramentality, communion, catholicity, the liturgy, and cosmology to embody an incarnational spirituality in a secular age. Advisors/Committee Members: Doyle, Dennis.

▼ The importance of historical inquiry in all disciplines in the humanities has dramatically increased over the past century. From the philosophy of language to sociology and anthropology, the historical constitution of knowledge and human action continues to entrench itself in our ways of thinking. While shared values and beliefs constitute the practice of history, each use of history is structured by how it represents its subject matter. Each historical work presents its subject matter within a framework and/or context that cannot be reduced to mere empirical claims. Though logically dependent on empirical claims, historical representation contains non-empirical content. If history cannot ground itself on solely on empirical claims, the possibility of retrieving ancient Christian figural or allegorical modes of reading Scripture presents itself in a new light and can be understood to be historical itself, despite critics who often think it a/unhistorical. This work explores the relationship of the exegetical and historical works of the Venerable Bede to show how conceptions of the past determine the writing of history. It argues that while Bede undoubtedly had a theological conception of the past, his lack of attention to important issues in philosophy and exegesis resulted in ambiguity and problematic readings of the literal sense of Genesis 1 that someone like Augustine was able to avoid. The contemporary lesson to be learned from Bede is that trenchant philosophical and theological issues matter in the writing of history, since they are part of the inevitable representational structure of history. More specifically, Bede is treated, not as object in the past, but as an historian worthy of a place at the table alongside contemporary historians, despite the issues previously mentioned in his work. In fact, despite his own separation of exegesis and history, it is shown that Bede did, just like his contemporary interpreters, use representation in his historical writings and that figural exegesis and history writing have more in common than usually thought. Advisors/Committee Members: Inglis, John.

▼ This dissertation examines the prevalent ideas of Baptist theological discourse, finding that they have limited utility for offering a coherent account of particular Baptist practices. It argues that Baptists would greatly benefit from deeper engagement with Catholic thought, especially the theology of nature and grace as articulated by Henri de Lubac, S.J. After detailing the obstacles to and potential for such a theological endeavor, de Lubac’s work serves as a lens for viewing and evaluating particular moments in Baptist history. This project contends that the work of E.Y. Mullins and George W. Truett, Baptist luminaries who have exerted considerable influence on the ways that Baptists view the world around them, significantly contributes to the notable incoherence of Baptist discourse. Through de Lubac’s understanding of the relationship of nature and grace, though, Baptists can critically evaluate Mullins and Truett in order to locate and overcome specific problematic aspects of their thought (both in their own contexts and in the contemporary setting). Moreover, Baptists can also recover marginalized or forgotten voices within their tradition (e.g., certain seventeenth-century English Baptists and African-American Baptists) as invaluable resources for renewal of Baptist theological discourse. Finally, such work underscores the importance of situating Baptist life and thought within the conversations of the broader Christian tradition. Advisors/Committee Members: Portier, William L.

▼ The American Baptist denomination is often characterized as an ecclesiological grass-roots organization. The theology of such a denomination is practiced organically by the people and is seldom articulated by the academy. Thus one cannot find a well articulated theological understanding of what ordination means for the individual and the community in the Baptist context. A synthesis of Geertz's thick description, Lindbeck's approach to doctrine, and McClendon's understandings of speech-acts and conviction will offer a methodology through which one can articulate a theology of ordination. In doing so, we will find that the "call" and a relationship with a congregation are essential for ordination to occur. Such a theology will suggest that one is changed through ordination, and this change is relational in nature. The Catholic concept of Sacramental Consciousness offers a way to articulate the community's awareness of the pastor's relational change while at the same time maintaining the egalitarian nature of a Baptist community. Advisors/Committee Members: Doyle, Dennis M.

▼ This thesis shows that the church has both the responsibility and capability to meet the challenges of Alzheimer's disease. Although Alzheimer's disease appears to destroy memory, a communal understanding of memory points to the need for those with Alzheimer's disease to have a community to help them remember. Herbert McCabe's account of human existence shows that such a community exists because of the person of Jesus and his resurrection, cleverly avoiding the confusion involved with discussion about the nature of the human soul. With the institution of the church as the Body of Christ, hierarchies are radically reversed as the weak and forgotten become vital members joined in a new way of living. The story of Basil of Caesarea provides an example of how the Body of Christ can function in this manner. However, liberalism, with its emphasis on the rational, autonomous chooser, is shown to be incommensurable with the Body of Christ. As Christ's body, the church possesses practices of presence that can support those who are overlooked in liberal society, including those with Alzheimer's disease. These practices include prayer, the Eucharist, and funeral rights. Furthermore, a renewed emphasis on the virtues of Christian love, patience, and memory can inspire and support the church as it aims its practices towards those with Alzheimer's disease. Advisors/Committee Members: Kallenberg, Brad.

▼ This dissertation examines the theological work of John Hugo by looking at its roots within the history of Ignatian spirituality, as well as within various nature-grace debates in Christian history. It also attempts to situate Hugo within the historical context of early twentieth-century Catholicism and America, particularly the period surrounding the Second World War. John Hugo (1911-1985) was a priest from Pittsburgh who is perhaps best known as Dorothy Day’s spiritual director and leader of “the retreat” she memorialized in The Long Loneliness. Throughout much of American Catholic scholarship, Hugo’s theology has been depicted as rigorist and even labeled as Jansenist, yet it was embraced by and had a great influence upon Day and many others. Hugo was also significant beyond his association with Day and the Catholic Worker, in that he represented a unique theological impulse within American Catholicism. This inquiry reveals that not only is the Jansenist caricature of Hugo’s theology false, but also that that caricature itself is rooted in the particular theological perspective of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century neo-Thomism. Hugo offered a critique of this once dominant theological perspective, and indeed his theology shared many similarities with the work done by Henri de Lubac, S.J. during the same period. This project ultimately intends to show that Hugo’s theology of nature and grace remains relevant to contemporary American Catholic discourse, as it provides a corrective and an alternative to the somewhat intransigent debates between thinkers who tend toward a “Thomistic” stance and those who take a more “Augustinian” approach. Advisors/Committee Members: Portier, William.

▼ A common feature of the Ecumenical Movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is bi-lateral or multi-lateral dialogues. In these dialogues, two or more Christian churches arrange for meetings between representatives of each side in order to discuss how they can work toward the commonly accepted goal of “full visible unity” between the sides. This dissertation will examine the U.S. Lutheran-Catholic dialogue (hereafter, L/RC) which began in 1964 and is on-going. When churches hold these dialogues they use many sources in their conversations as they strive for ecumenical convergence, consensus, or agreement. One of the sources used in dialogues, and especially in the L/RC, that has not received any significant attention to date is the church fathers. This dissertation will examine how the L/RC used the fathers and in what capacity the fathers were an aid to the L/RC’s ecumenical work and in what capacity they were not. As the goal of the Ecumenical Movement is the church’s “full and visible unity,” it should not be surprising that the vision of the church which has the most theological purchase at the moment is known by a cognate of unity, namely communion ecclesiology. In large part, communion ecclesiology has been based on the church fathers, and this has been the case in many different Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestant churches represented in the World Council of Churches, as well as Lutheranism and Catholicism, all of which are examined as part of this dissertation. This relationship between communion ecclesiology and the fathers is critical for my present work because it is here that the exploration of the church fathers’ place in ecumenical conversations becomes a viable and needed subject of research. Indeed, my main contention is that communion ecclesiology is both based in large part on the fathers and provides a framework for ecumenical conversation in which the fathers can be used to help forge ecumenical rapprochement. In the case of this dissertation, the relationship between communion ecclesiology and the fathers illumines how the L/RC used the fathers. It is the combination of the manner in which the fathers are used along with what the fathers actually said that is a real hope for the ecumenical movement. The L/RC used the fathers in two general ways: as sources for constructing historical background to a dialogue topic and as sources directly in the constructive ecumenical argument of a dialogue round which provided convergence, consensus, or agreement. As the L/RC increased its focus on communion ecclesiology as a vision of the church, the more explicit did it uses the fathers, and to greater effect. Most importantly, the fathers proved most helpful when the L/RC addressed issues of apostolicity, i.e., how the churches retain the mission and identity of the church from the time of the Apostles. Advisors/Committee Members: Doyle, Dennis.