Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2022, Theology

This dissertation is about the problem of history in modern theology. It describes early Christian conceptions of history and truth and sketches a genealogy of the impact of modern historical consciousness on Christianity. By focusing on Third Republic France, and then the work of the bible scholar Alfred Loisy, this dissertation seeks to situate the Modernist Crisis, where the conflict between history and theology erupted most violently. In so doing, the way in which conceptions of doctrine are embedded within histories, contexts, and politics is revealed. To flesh out this same point, in its later chapters, this dissertation shifts its attention to Catholic engagement with the right-wing and fascist movements of the twentieth- century. To this end, the career of Jacques Maritain (d. 1973) proves particularly important. His move from reactionary politics in his youth toward the articulation of a “New Christendom” reveals the extent to which theology and politics co-constitute each other. More than that, this dissertation looks at Maritain's role in the religious freedom debates of the Second Vatican Council. The final thesis of the dissertation is that the thinking Maritain utilizes in articulating his New Christendom - what he calls “prise de conscience” or “awareness” - offers a contribution to the ongoing conversations about continuity and discontinuity that mark Catholic reflection on the problems of history and doctrine.

Committee: William Portier (Advisor); Jana Bennett (Committee Member); Thomas Guarino (Committee Member); Vincent Miller (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Philosophy; Political Science; Religion; Religious History; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2021, Theology

I argue that Catholic social activism needs a theological reflection that centers on the use of symbols to promote social action. Using social movement theory, we can examine the role that ecclesiology, theological developments, and sacramental practice have played in guiding Catholic social action. Contrary to the common interpretation that social movements enact Catholic social teaching, I argue that by analyzing the use of religious symbols within social movements, we can see how movements adapt, develop, and enrich established doctrines and theologies. Ultimately, we will better understand the aims, purposes, and challenges of Catholic social activists. Moreover, we can re-narrate the broader theological history of U.S. Catholic social activism through the lens of these activists.

Committee: Vincent Miller (Advisor); Neomi DeAnda (Committee Member); Kevin Ahern (Committee Member); Sandra Yocum (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle (Committee Member) Subjects: Theology

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2021, Theological Studies

This thesis argues that the Western sacramental and christological ecclesiology of Otto Semmelroth, SJ, is complementary with the Eastern pneumatological-trinitarian theology of liturgy of Jean Corbon, OP. Their little studied theologies are taken as key for interpreting and receiving the Second Vatican Council. Where Semmelroth had a distinct and influential impact on Vatican II's sacramental ecclesiology, particularly in Lumen Gentium, Corbon had a similar impact on the theology of liturgy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. A particular point of significance of Vatican II is its personalist paradigm shift of recentering the faith of the church on God's revelation of self as Trinity of persons. Semmelroth and Corbon not only started with and maintained the primacy of divine initiative but they also made their faith-filled awareness of the mystery of God, revealed through Christ in the Spirit, the lynchpin of their theological endeavors. Their strikingly similar fundamental, methodological move of perceiving reality as determined by the mystery of the person of God enabled both Semmelroth and Corbon to achieve advances in sacramental theology and theology of liturgy, respectively. Building on these insights, this thesis synthesizes Semmelroth's and Corbon's theologies in proposing sacrament and liturgy as co-principles of the church as the form of trinitarian communion. This thesis proceeds by first characterizing the basic points of philosophical and theological twentieth century personalist thought, which takes persons as central and determinative in understanding reality. Ormond Rush's theological hermeneutical principles of Vatican II are then described. The geographical orientations of the theologies of Semmelroth, Corbon, and Vatican II are explored next and a conciliar hermeneutical principle of complementarity with distinction between Eastern and Western theologies is proposed. From there, Dei Verbum's theology of divine revelation is analyzed. Foll (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dennis Doyle Ph.D. (Advisor); Elizabeth Groppe Ph.D. (Committee Member); William Johnston Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Religion; Theology

Master of Arts in Theology, Mount St. Mary's Seminary & School of Theology, 2020, School of Theology

This thesis will show that the Second Vatican Council set in motion new directions that enabled subsequent ecclesiology to regard the family as a Domestic Church. The Introduction provides normative definitions of key terms and an overview of the thesis. Chapter One briefly examines the history and theology of the Domestic Church before the Second Vatican Council from evidence in the New Testament, by patristic writings about marriage, and in magisterial teachings through the ages up to Vatican II. Chapter Two has three sections covering the development of the theology of the Domestic Church during and since the Second Vatican Council: two significant developments during Vatican II that had profound implications for family life as the Domestic Church, the ecclesiological insights that emerged out of the Council, and subsequent papal ecclesiological development. Chapter Three addresses the new ecclesiological directions for the Domestic Church in three sections: the status of the expression “Domestic Church,” the sacramentality of the Domestic Church, and the implications for parish and family ministry. The Conclusion highlights the most notable of these new directions and implications. The teachings of “Theology of the Body” are not covered in this thesis.

Committee: Robert Hater Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Theology

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2019, Theological Studies

This thesis is a narrative of how nuptial imagery has been used in monastic and religious life by men and women as an expression of their unique love relationship with God. It begins with a close look at how the Song of Songs was used by St. Bernard of Clairvaux and other mystics as symbolic of their mystical marriage with Christ and their eschatological longing for heaven. The focus then turns towards examining shifts in the twelfth century regarding the practice of celibacy and the understanding of gender, shifts that contributed to the “bride of Christ” being solely identified—in a concrete and literal way —with the nun. This thesis shows how the nun as the bride of Christ was enacted in ritual, particularly habit and profession ceremonies, before this imagery was abandoned by many women religious in the United States after Vatican II. Finally, the author examines whether nuptial allegory can be re-appropriated by men and women religious in a non-patriarchal way as a helpful expression of the eschatological nature of religious life.

Committee: Sandra Yocum PhD (Advisor); Meghan Henning PhD (Committee Member); William Johnston PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theology

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2019, Theological Studies

The purpose and content of my thesis is to investigate and assess how St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary contributes to a renewal of Marian devotion in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. My thesis focuses on a close reading of the primary texts of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort (True Devotion to Mary), the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church), and St. John Paul II (Redemptoris Mater). As part of my theological method, I renewed my Marian consecration and interviewed four other people who currently practice Marian devotion. The character and limitations of my interview methodology did not allow me the resources or time to interview a large group of people on a sociological scale. Although diverse in age and gender, the persons I interviewed were small in number (4) and were selected by me rather than by a random sampling. The interviews gave an impression of how Marian devotion is understood and practiced by some in the Catholic Church today. I interviewed the participants with the approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and in conformity to their guidelines. My interviewees were all North Americans. Based on the interviews and my study of primary and secondary textual sources, I determined St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary is consistent with the type of Mariology articulated in chapter eight of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and Saint John Paul II's Redemptoris Mater. All three sources emphasize the same theological criteria for true Marian devotion. According to the three sources, true Marian devotion should be ecclesial, soteriological, eschatological, Christological, and Trinitarian. True Devotion to Mary meets all of these criteria.

Committee: Elizabeth Groppe Dr. (Advisor); Dennis Doyle Dr. (Committee Member); Naomi DeAnda Dr. (Committee Member); Daniel Thompson Dr. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Religion; Religious History; Spirituality; Theology

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2015, Theological Studies

This study analyzes the work of the American Mariologist Fr. Juniper B. Carol O.F.M. (1911-1990) in light of his historical and theological context. Carol's work focused primarily on the Coredemption, which he studied before Vatican II, and the primacy of Christ, which he studied after the Council. Carol's work significantly influenced international Mariology and provides an example of how one Mariologist responded to the theological developments that occurred after Vatican II. Carol's work demonstrates the influence of his Franciscan heritage, in both his pre-Conciliar discussion of Mary's mediation and Coredemption and his post-Conciliar discussion of the debitum peccati, the preservative redemption, and the predestination and primacy of Christ. In his pre-Conciliar work, Carol argued that Mary immediately participated in the objective Redemption by co-meriting with Christ. His main argument in support of this position was based on the Patristic principle of recirculation-association and Mary's role as the New Eve. After the Second Vatican Council, Carol began to study topics related to the predestination of Christ and Mary. Carol held the Franciscan position regarding Christ's primacy in the order of predestination; however, he also maintained that the Redemption was predestined prior to the Fall. In addition, he favored the idea that the Passion was primarily an act of perfect worship rendered to the Father, making the Redemption a secondary reason for the Incarnation. Our study investigates why Carol maintained this surprising variation on the traditional Franciscan thesis and argues that his position is an implicit attempt to defend his pre-Conciliar work on the Coredemption using themes present in Lumen Gentium. Our study begins by considering the ultramontanism and anti-modernism of the early twentieth century and discusses Carol's pre-Conciliar work on the Coredemption in light of this context and the debates within the Marian movement. Next, it consi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: William Portier (Committee Chair); Dennis Doyle (Committee Member); Sandra Yocum (Committee Member) Subjects: Religion; Religious History; Theology

Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.), University of Dayton, 1995, International Marian Research Institute

.

Committee: Bertrand Buby S.M. (Advisor) Subjects: Biblical Studies; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2014, Theology

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, visionary priest, paleontologist, and writer, is an important landmark figure in twentieth-century French Catholicism. Especially from 1950 onward, Teilhard also significantly impacted the Catholicism of the United States. The period of 1959–1972 was the crucial age during which Teilhard's writing and thought were first available in North America; over five hundred primary and secondary works concerning him were published in the US during these years. This period was also the decade of the counterculture, the Second Vatican Council, and the dissolution of the immigrant subculture of the church in the United States. A full-scale study of the U.S. reception of Teilhard de Chardin in this early period contributes not only to an awareness of the thought of this important figure and the impact of his work, but also further develops an understanding of U.S. Catholicism in its religious and cultural dimensions during these years, and provides clues as to how it has further unfolded over the past several decades. The manner in which this reception occurred, including the intensity of this phenomenon, happened as it did at this particular point in the history of both the United States and the Catholic Church because of the confluence of the then developing social milieu, the disintegration of the immigrant Catholic subculture, and the opening of the church to the world through Vatican II. Additionally, as these social and historical events unfolded within U.S. culture during these dozen years, the manner in which Teilhard was read, and the contributions which his thought provided changed. At various points his work became a carrier for an almost Americanist emphasis upon progress, energy and hope; at other times his teleological understanding of the value of suffering moved to center stage. Most importantly, Teilhard wrote concerning humanity's desire for the divine, and strove to place that desire for unity within the context of both (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: William Portier PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Dennis Doyle PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Kathleen Duffy PhD (Committee Member); Anthony Smith PhD (Committee Member); Cecilia Moore PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Religious History; Spirituality; Theology

Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.), University of Dayton, 2009, International Marian Research Institute

No abstract.

Committee: Francois Rossier S.M. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2014, Theology

This dissertation describes and analyzes lay association with vowed religious as an underappreciated model of Christian community and discipleship with layered correlations to the local and universal church. It seeks to identify who lay associates are and what their new way of life means within the life of the church. Reflection on the meaning of associate life, which peaked in the early 1990's, largely falls short of taking into account associates' viewpoint. In response, I draw from original research including oral history interviews and archival studies to investigate two representative samples of this way of life, both Catholic lay associations in the archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa: the Associates of Iowa Cistercians and the Presentation Partners. As a historical-theological portrait develops, I critically analyze each group's common practices and ecclesial perceptions, arguing associates engage the church by means of their unique contribution to, and reception, expression, and propagation of their respective spiritual traditions. I explore their relationship to parish, ministries, other Christian traditions, religious congregations, religious experiences, and perceptions of church and culture. Both the shared interpretive work and the bond with religious distinguish associates from comparable groups and develop in them a nascent ecclesiological self-understanding. This study concludes that it is the inner life of each group—understood as including but transcending the inner life of each individual and expressed in their living out of a vision arising from the teaching of Vatican II and with a sense of their larger interconnections—that best encapsulates who they are and why. By spotlighting associates' experiences in their own words, this study significantly advances reflection on associate life by constructing a practical ecclesiology on the ground. The study: 1) highlights the experiences of a neglected ecclesial movement, 2) proposes an inte (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dennis Doyle Ph.D. (Advisor); William Portier Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sandra Yocum Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kelly Johnson Ph.D. (Committee Member); William Trollinger Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Religious History; Theology

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture (Master of)

Since the Second Vatican Council architects, theologians, and society have been struggling to define what being a Catholic church in a modern world is and how it must manifest itself to the public. Forty years post Vatican II, the Catholic Church needs to look at Vatican II documents to understand that the Council always hoped that the few changes being made would be treated in the context of the organic growth and tradition of the Church. By studying Council documents, the liturgy, tradition, and church precedents, this thesis hopes to find appropriate design considerations and arrangements for Catholic churches in the true spirit of Vatican II and the times.

Committee: Elizabeth Riorden (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2010, English

Since the 1960 publication of his debut novel, The Moviegoer, Walker Percy's work has been widely read and critically evaluated by scholars. Though much has been done with Percy's work, none have examined how shifts in American Catholicism and the changes of the Second Vatican Council impacted the ways in which Percy wrote about religion and approached the problems of the modern world. In the following pages, I will detail the important movements in American Catholicism, the pertinent changes made to the practice of Catholicism through the Second Vatican Council, and the Existentialist philosophies of Kierkegaard, Buber, and Marcel in order to demonstrate the ways in which Percy's characters Binx Bolling of The Moviegoer and Thomas More of Love in the Ruins: The Adventures of a Bad Catholic at a Time Near the End of the World, transcend the “malaise” or “everydayness” that separates them from God and community.

Committee: Albino Carrillo MFA (Advisor); R. Alan Kimbrough PhD (Committee Member); Bro. Thomas Wendorf, S.M. PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; English literature; Philosophy; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious History; Theology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2011, German/History (dual)

The objective of this study is to analyze the controversy surrounding Pope Pius XII by looking specifically at the Reichskonkordat of 1933 and the papal encyclical Mit brennender Sorge of 1937. These documents show Pius XII's tendency toward diplomacy with the German Reich even before he was elected as Pope in 1939. This study evaluates several scholarly works on Pope Pius XII from the time he was still Pope until recent history. Chapter one focuses on these various schools of thought throughout the decades on Pius XII's relationship with the Third Reich, including works from his critics, his defenders, and moderate historians. Chapters two and three are studies on the Reichskonkordat and Mit brennender Sorge; Pius XII, known as Eugenio Pacelli at the time, played a major role in bringing these documents to fruition. Chapter one explains the three schools of thought on Pius XII's relationship with the Nazis, and results in the conclusion that historians should adopt a moderate point of view on Pacelli until more information is available. Pacelli was a tremendously diplomatic pope, who believed that speaking out against the Nazi party would only result in further persecution of the Church, as well as the Jews and others facing the Nazi crimes against humanity. Pacelli believed that the Church would violate the terms of the Reichskonkordat of 1933 if he specifically mentioned Nazi atrocities, thereby breaching the treaty and losing all protections given the Catholic Church therein. He also stated that Mit brennender Sorge, released in 1937, had already clearly stated the Church's criticism of the Third Reich, although it never mentioned the party by name. This study has found that Pacelli's involvement with the Reichskonkordat and Mit brennender Sorge affected his interaction with the Third Reich before and during World War II, and has led to the ensuing controversy which continues today. These documents are not normally thoroughly studied by historians, but they had (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Beth Griech-Polelle PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Theodore Rippey PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Douglas Forsyth PhD (Committee Member); Geoffrey Howes PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; European Studies; History; Modern History; Religious History; World History