Masters Theses

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A Study of the Development of Mortification and Discernment in the Autobiography of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
(2010) Gomulia, Budiarto
This study analyses Ignatius’ practice and understanding of mortification and discernment in his Autobiography. It notes a shift in focus as Ignatius learns to discern - from internal to external, from personal to communal, and from subjectivity to objectivity. It also notes a shift in the focus of his motivation for mortification - from self-hatred to penance to a more discerned and moderate practice of mortification for mission. The study also show the ways in which mortification and discernment became more inter-connected.
Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: an Enigmatic Catholic Freedom Fighter (1861-1907)
(2012-05-03) Firth-Smith, William
This thesis oulines the life and thought of Indian theologian, Brahmabandhab Upadyay (1861-1907), a polymath whose important contributions have been largely overlooked in the western world. The First Part is biographical, consisting of details of Brahmabandhab Upadyay's early life; his Christian witness; his philosophy of teaching; his journalistic dynamism; his attitude to caste; a description of his milieu; his struggles with the church heirarchy; and his political acitivism, sedition trial and death. The Second Part consists of a discussion of topics central to Upadhyay's thought and contribution, including some of his theological explorations; the ashram considered as mode of Christian expression; and nationalism and liberation in an Indian context. It concludes with a critical analysis of his contributions, arguing that Upadhyay's contributions are relevant today and merit greater recognition.
Bread of Heaven: Food and Material Culture in the Churches of Christ in Victoria
(2010) Handasyde, Kerrie
In Churches of Christ in Victoria the liturgical foods of bread and (non-alcoholic) wine are the central focus of each worship service, which is often followed with a cup of tea and a slice. Harvest Thanksgiving festivals have tied working lives to the spiritual. Providing food to the needy or raising money through selling cakes, pies and lamingtons have formed the backbone of women's ministry through social service. Recipe books have been produced for fundraising purposes, evolving out of the shared experience of eating and the food preparation undertaken by women cooking for the annual calendar of church dinners and picnics. It is indeed a food-rich religious world. This thesis explores the material evidence of several arefacts and non-literary print documents for the insight they offer into the life of the worshipping community that produced them. For Churches of Christ in Victoria and Australia, this will be the first study on material culture and the first historical discussion of food in liturgy and the non-sacral calendar of cooking and eating, in the everyday religious life of lay and ordained. In the context of a religious movement suspicious of imagery and artifice, the limits and exceptions to those prohibitions will be considered through close reading of Harvest Thanksgiving photographs and other visual resources. Developments in the pracatice and interpretation of the Lord'd Supper, traditionally undersood as purely memorial, will be explored through the material evidence of artefacts and the movement's theological and liturgical resources. In the light of the scramental theology of remembrance, comparison will be drawn between communion and the ritual and memorial aspects of women's cooking as revealed in the artefacts that remain - cookbooks. Through careful reading of artefacts this paper will explore the central weekly sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the understandings of Harvest Thanksgiving and the tradition of women's church cookery and demonstrate that within this religious movement, which knows itself best in the breading of bread, all food is ritual food.
Buddhist Reactions to Christian Missionary Attitudes during the British Colonial Period in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
(2024-08) 'Kreltszheim, Malcolm.'
My Master of Philosophy thesis examines the relations between the Sinhalese Buddhist people of Ceylon and the Protestant Christian missionaries who arrived in the island between 1812 and 1818 (the Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists and Anglicans). Their stated aim was to destroy Buddhism, which they regarded as a ‘heathen’ and ‘devil-worshiping’ religion and not limit themselves to conversion as had been the practice of the Dutch (1658-1796) and Portuguese (1505-1658). In this thesis, I argue that the negative attitudes displayed towards Buddhism by many of the missionaries caused a breakdown of their relationships with the Buddhist community and led to the great Buddhist revival post 1860. It traces the influence of the key Buddhist leaders in that revival, the five key Buddhist-Christian debates between 1865 and 1873, the significant influence of Westerners, particularly the Theosophists from 1880 and others who popularised Buddhism in the West through their writings, translations of Buddhist texts and lived experience. It traces the involvement of politicians in the continuing Buddhist revival post- independence in 1948, their increasingly radical responses to the demands of the Buddhists for recognition of their unique language and religion in the island that they claim has been endowed to them by the Buddha. The Buddhists of today continue to be reminded of the negative attitude of the missionaries, seventy-six years after the island gained its independence in 1948. It lies at the heart of the continuing hostility of the Buddhists towards Christians, which has led to the latter’s diaspora and marginalisation within Sri Lanka’s community.
Decorative or Devotional: Joseph Willem's Chelsea Pieta and porcelain sculptures employing Counter-reformation imagery in eighteenth-century England
(2012-05-03) Martin, Matthew
A small number of porcelain sculptures on religious subjects are known from eighteenth-century England. These have long puzzled commentators. Why were sculptures employing Counter-reformation imagery being produced in Protestant England? This thesis attempts to answer this question through a detailed examination of the contexts of production and consumption of the Pietà figure group modelled by the Fleming Joseph Willems and manufactured by the Chelsea porcelain factory. Long assumed to have been a Huguenot enterprise, it is shown that the Chelsea factory included artists and craftsmen of various confessional allegiances amongst its personnel. Although the Reformation had seen occasional bursts of iconoclasm in England, by the eighteenth-century English Protestant elites had developed strategies to allow them to engage with Counter-reformation art in the interests of the accrual of cultural prestige. Some images, however, continued to present difficulties, especially when they assumed sculptural form, and as a subject, the Pietà must be numbered amongst this latter group. A close iconographic analysis of Willems‟ Pietà reveals the compositional and symbolic complexity of this work and suggests that this porcelain sculpture was intended to serve as a Catholic devotional image. Despite caricatures of their descent into provincial isolation, many of England‟s Catholic gentry families were fully engaged in the cultural life of eighteenth-century England and many were active as collectors and patrons of art and luxury commodities. It is argued that patronage for these porcelain devotional sculptures is to be sought amongst members of England‟s recusant elite.
Finding His Voice: The Sermons of F.W. Boreham (1888-1916)
(2009-05-08) Enticott, David
This thesis investigates the development of the preaching ministry of F.W. Boreham between 1888-1916. By examining sermon manuscripts, the thesis explores Boreham’s maturation as a preacher, the various influences by which his preaching was affected, and the way in which he finally found his own homiletical voice.
Great Talent for Management: Mother Xavier Maguire c1819-1879
(2018-01) Delaney, Helen
This thesis is a study of Mother Xavier Maguire, an Irish woman, who occupied prominent positions in the Sisters of Mercy there and founded the Convent of Mercy, Geelong. It is an attempt to redress the lack of acknowledgement of the contribution such women religious to the life of the Catholic Church in Australia.
Pater Familias: A Reading of Divine and Human Fatherhood in Selected Writings of Pope John Paul II
(2009-05-08) Noll, Megan
This thesis emphasises the theological significance of fatherhood in the context of Pope John Paul II’s Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. Historical man, original man and eschatological man further provide a theological anthropology for fathers. In general, “man” may be used in reference to all of humanity, including both male and female although references made directly to human fatherhood are intended for the male gender alone. For a woman in her femaleness is never male, or able to be a father in a literal sense of the word; her role is one of motherhood. The literary style of this work uses the masculine form “man” intentionally in order to emphasise the father-figure. This is especially necessary as some words such as “Father” have been neutralised or degendered in various settings. The rejection of human fatherhood tends to correspond to a rejection of divine fatherhood.
Paternal Metaphor in the Rule of Benedict: Its Origins in Biblical, Monastic, Ecclesial and Secular Traditions
(2011-03-04) Bewley, Philip J.
A central figure of the Rule of Benedict (RB) is its abbot who is addressed by a title of Christ, abba, pater. The use of this paternal metaphor to describe RB’s superior is the subject of this thesis. Benedict’s reason and purpose in adopting such a metaphor is explored together with its origin in biblical, monastic/ecclesial and cultural traditions. The theological implications of its use are also explored. It is the premise of this thesis that Benedict drew on all three traditions when formulating the “fatherly” role his superior would undertake within his community. This thesis acts as a counter argument to those scholars of the origins of Christian monasticism who see the abbot as in no way modelled on the Roman paterfamilias of Antiquity or sixth century Italy, or see the abbatial office as solely modelled on the kind of fathering found in the Scriptures.
Shadow of Xavier: East Asian Jesuit Missions in the Sixteenth Century
(2010-05-08) Pipins, Bryan J.
When Francis Xavier died on Shangchuan Island, in 1552, by his extraordinary work he cast a long shadow over Christian missionaries to East Asia for the next five centuries. The period of this thesis covers the fifty or so years, from the death of Xavier to the establishment of a Jesuit community in the imperial capital city of Peking. In this missionary field the newly formed Society of Jesus encountered peoples totally alien to the European experience and in each case the Jesuits in the field were challenged to modify their approach to mission so as to preach the Gospel. The thesis looks at the Spanish and then the Portuguese missions to East Asia – specifically the Philippines, Japan and China. The missions are explored through the issues which the Jesuits identified and then how they approached the perceived problems.
Sobernost: Its Connection with the Church before the Great Schism and its Ability to Inform the Postmodern
(2013-05-02) Kisliakov, Daniel
There is currently no abstract avaiable for this item.
St Cyprian’s Understanding of Synodality as Inclusive of the Laity
(2021) Macharaga, Kenneth
Synodality is an old concept in the Church, but has recently, with the papacy of Pope Francis (2013-), taken center stage. This thesis approaches the dialogue on synodality from a historical point of view. By exploring the letters of St Cyprian of Carthage the thesis highlights and examines the role(s) that Cyprian gave to the laity in matters of Church governance.
The Australian Baptist Heritage Collection: Management of a Geographically Distributed Special Collection
(2007) Burn, Kerrie
This project examined the history, development and current state of Australian Baptist Heritage collections by exploring the contributions of, and relationships between, theological colleges and their libraries, Australian Baptist Historical Societies and Baptist Union Archive collections. An outcome of the project was the compilation of a bibliography of Australian Baptist publications as well as several other valuable resources for collection managers, researchers and historians. A survey was administered to gauge the interest of key individuals and/or institutions in participating in co-operative collection development projects that could advance the purposes of Australian Baptist institutions as a whole. The responses by librarians and archivists responsible for Australian Baptist collections were analysed and possibilities for collaborative collection management of Australian Baptist resources explored. These possibilities include shared collection development policies and preservation strategies, formal sharing of duplicate resources and information about collections, and potentially using digital technology to improve access to collections and to ensure the preservation of nationally significant, and rarely held materials. Australian Baptist library and archive collections are used as a case study with a view to reaching conclusions with implications for the management of similar collections (i.e. geographically distributed special collections). The wider Australian theological community, which includes many other denominational and religious collections, may also be able to participate in some of the proposed co-operative ventures. This research project thereby provides a model for possible emulation by other collections as well as making a contribution to collection management theory and practice.
The Implementation and Impact of the Reformation in Shropshire, 1545-1575.
(2009-05-08) Murray, Elizabeth J.
Most previous studies of the English Reformation have concentrated upon either the north or the south-east. This thesis instead considers the midlands county of Shropshire, and in doing so demonstrates that the normative model of transition from Catholicism to English Reformed worship does not adequately describe the experience in that county.
The relevance of the “death desired” as visualised in fifteenth century Books of Hours to the “good death” of contemporary palliative care
(2014-11) Flynn, Eleanor
An exploration of the representation of the “Death Desired” in Late Medieval Books of Hours with possible connections to the “Good Death” of modern Palliative Care. The illuminations accompanying the text of the Office of the Dead from fifteenth century French and Flemish Books of Hours depict the role of religious rituals in framing the experience of Late Medieval death where Purgatory was an accepted belief. Late Medieval culture was very visual with the users of Books of Hours able to “read” the prompts to pray for the dead and the demonstration of the appropriate performance of rituals. The use of images to underscore the importance of ritual and the concept of liminality for the dying and the bereaved provides potential discussion points for modern Palliative Care practice.
The Singing Heart: An Analysis of the Morning and Evening Songs of Paul Gerhardt as Exercises in Evangelical Piety.
(2014-02-24) Prenzler, Matthias
Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) was a German Lutheran pastor, and writer of spiritual songs. Gerhardt was strongly influenced by a devotional movement, often referred to as the Neue Frömmigkeit, that was evident within German Lutheranism during the first half of the seventeenth century. The influences of this piety movement are clearly evident in Gerhardt’s songs, especially his three morning and two evening songs that are known today. These five songs can be considered sung devotional meditations with meditational devices woven into their texts that naturally lead those who are singing to meditate upon the scriptures. Many of these devices are able to be examined and explored through textual analysis. This study seeks firstly to examine the background to Gerhardt’s morning and evening songs; and secondly, to engage in the analysis of selected song texts in order to investigate how they may indeed be considered exercises in evangelical piety.
The Spirituality for Mission of Saint Columba and Saint Columban: Insights Gained for Developing a Spiriuaility for Mission for the Twenty-First Centuty
(2013-05-02) Nairn, Julie M.
In the sixth century two Irish monks, Columba and Columban, left their homeland to establish monasteries among the peoples of northern Britain and Europe. As monasteries were founded, the monks became an outstanding example of living the way of Christ by contemplation and by reaching out with pastoral care to those around them. The purpose of this thesis is to identify valuable insights from a study of Columba and Columban for developing a spirituality for mission for the twenty-first century. After a brief examination of the history, culture and theological understanding of early Irish Christianity and monasticism, the writer discusses the motives, lifestyle, and spirituality for mission of Columba and Columban, in the light of their tradition and of contemporary events. This leads her to examine some recent developments in mission spirituality which are influencing the way the Gospel is proclaimed today, including the concept of missio Dei; the emphasis on following Jesus by living the Christian life as a sign of hope to others; the importance of the Holy Spirit; and non-aggressive methods of evangelisation such as inter-religious dialogue. These are all found to harmonise with and extend the spirituality for mission of Columba and Columban. There are some insights gained from the sixth century which are yet to be fully explored in contemporary mission spirituality, including the way Columba and Columban lived in imitation of Christ; their peregrination; their appreciation of the importance of the Trinity for mission; their love and respect for nature; and their particular emphasis on penance as spiritual medicine. These insights, together with more recent developments, are integrated and developed for a spirituality for mission which is relevant and meaningful today, as Christians seek to keep proclaiming the Gospel in word, sacrament, witness and service.
The Visual Transmission of Tridentine Eucharistic Theology: Leonard Limosin’s The Triumph of the Eucharist,and Beyond.
(2014-03-31) McCarthy, Kathleen
This thesis begins by surveying two issues of the Reformation era: the role of images in religion and the controversy on the Eucharist. It examines how Tridentine Eucharistic theology was visually transmitted in a variety of artistic media in France and the Spanish Netherlands, where belief in the Real Presence was challenged by the Calvinist profession of Faith, the Limosin enamel, the Triumph of the Eucharist, was possibly the first image in this period to visually identify belief in the Real Presence with the Catholic Church.

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Browsing Masters Theses by Subject "C - Church History"

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