School of Graduate Research Student 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.
Challenging history and telling herstory: an interdisciplinary exploration of the intersection of claims for equality and women’s lived experiences of officership in The Salvation Army in Australia.
(2023) Faragher, Christine
The Salvation Army began with a seemingly clear commitment to the equality of women and men in ministry, however, this narrative is contradicted by women’s lived experience of officership. A significant gap exists between the ideal and the real. This thesis explores the contours of the gap, revealing its historical, theological, cultural, and practical origins. Utilising a feminist hermeneutic of suspicion, it challenges the dominant historical narrative regarding Catherine Mumford-Booth and her written defences of women’s preaching and ministry roles. In doing so, it recovers a more grounded and life-giving image of this important historical figure. Its empirical work also allows the voices of contemporary Australian women officers to be heard, revealing the ways in which gendered inequality has been manifested and experienced in their ministry lives. It suggests theological resources for moving towards reimagined gender relations within the movement and the closure of the gap.
Cyprian of Carthage and the Australian Anglican Episcopate.
(2021) Hopkins, Luke
Hopkins' thesis brings the theological weight and pragmatism of third century bishop and martyr Cyprian of Carthage to bear on the problems facing the contemporary Anglican episcopate in Australia. ln doing so, it examines the vision of episcopacy within the Cyprianic corpus and as well as the development of the Anglican episcopate over the last five hundred years. lt is argued that Cyprian's vision of episcopacy provides an adaptive approach to episcopacy that retains certain core episcopal principals. This thesis concludes that a better examination of Cyprian is of value for bishops in the twenty-first century.
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.
Early Christian Readings of Paul on Moral Regeneration
(2022) Rowse, Paul
Since God judges everyone according to their deeds, Paul regards the cultivation of moral conduct as a crucial task. Responding to the scholarly deadlock on whether believers’ ethical capacities are themselves regenerated or simply overlaid with divine power and otherwise unchanged, we engage with Romans 6:1-14 and its direct citations up to the death of Origen, where direct citations are identified by an attribution signal and literality. We ask whether moral regeneration is present in the early readings of Romans 6:1-14. Irenaeus’ three citations argue for the unity of Christ, the salvageability of the flesh, and a distinction between fleshly deeds and the flesh itself. Understanding the Spirit as formative of those whom he indwells, Irenaeus cites Romans 6:4 in order to demonstrate believers’ moral regeneration if they continue in the Spirit. Clement of Alexandria’s four citations are proof-texts against the Basilideans and the Valentinians. Clement’s Apostle signals believers’ exoneration for involuntary misdeeds because he says that they are “under grace”. Tertullian adapts two extended citations to his sympathetic audience in order to argue for the salvageability of the flesh and for the exclusion of recidivist baptized adulterers from the Church. Tertullian’s Apostle expects that all wrongdoing comes to an end with baptism. Origen adopts a voluntarist hermeneutic in his Commentary on Romans against opponents who promoted moral determinism. Thus, we find his strong witness to personal responsibility for moral action. His Commentary also contains his deduction from Romans 6:12 that the desires of the Spirit overlay the desires of sin, which believers still have. Origen’s other works contain proof-texts from our passage which display symbolic readings of “sin” and moral degeneration in recidivists; these too mainly make the case for personal responsibility. Thus, Clement, Tertullian, and Origen witness to perspectival renewal, and Irenaeus and Origen also to moral regeneration.
Eschatology and Individual Responsibility in Old English Literature
(2017-09) Toso, Fotini
This thesis is a study of the eschatological issues that were of fundamental concern to Anglo-Saxon writers. Exploring these issues enabled the writers to not only understand eschatological ideas but also to conceptualise the responsibility of and emphasise the need for every individual to prepare actively for Judgement Day.
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.
Franciscan Liturgy and Identities: The Codex Sancti Paschalis and Networks of Manuscript Production in Umbria, 1280-1350
(2011-05-12) Welch, Anna
This dissertation analyses manuscript production networks operating in late-thirteenth- and early-fourteenth-century Umbria. It focuses on liturgical Franciscan manuscripts decorated by the ateliers of the Maestro di Deruta-Salerno (active c. 1280) and Maestro Venturella di Pietro (active c. 1317), including the Codex Sancti Paschalis (now owned by the Australian Province of the Order of Friars Minor, and kept in the State Library of Victoria). This micro-history of Franciscan liturgical activity reassesses methodologies pertinent to manuscript production networks and aims to stimulate reflection on both the construction of communal identity through ritual activity and historiographic trends regarding this process.
Give Them Churches
(2022) McKinley, Diana
In 1836 Sir Richard Bourke’s Church Act was passed in NSW. It provided for the three major denominations to receive minister’s stipends and building grants for churches and minister’s dwellings on a subsidized basis. Victoria passed similar legislation in 1853, which provided £30,000 to be shared by all Christian denominations. Despite vigorous opposition from voluntarist churches, the grant was later increased to £50,000. This was written into the Victorian Constitution. Bourke’s Act brought equality to Australian churches and enabled magnificent, stately churches to be constructed. Society was changed as colonists formed new communities sharing their faith and socializing together. It also stimulated a desire for the education of their children. The Victorian government paid over £1million pounds sterling to Victorian churches which subsidized the building of over 544 churches in Victoria. The Church Acts enabled Christianity to be established in the new Colony of Victoria. It was repealed in 1970.
Good Priest, Virtuous Woman: Thérèse of Lisieux and Non-Heroic Sanctity in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century French Literature
(2019) Alleaume-Ross, Kathleen
This thesis argues that the person of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) is connected to the way in which non-heroic sanctity is portrayed in the literary tropes of the Good Priest and Virtuous Woman of nineteenth and early twentieth-century French literature.
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.
Holy Land and Holy See
(2017-08) Grainger, Gareth Simon Graham
This thesis explores the policies of the Holy See towards the Holy Land in the Pontificates of Popes Pius X, Benedict XV and Pius XI from 1903 to 1939. It explores the questions of whether the Holy See’s policies were Anti-Semitic or Anti-Zionist. It concludes that whilst the Holy See never opposed the implementation of the 1917 Balfour declaration on a Jewish national home in Palestine it remained absolutely consistent in its twin aims to ensure protection of the Christian Holy Places and the welfare of the Catholic population of the Holy Land.
Hugh Latimer, The King's Reformer, 1530-1539
(2011-05-12) Blandford, Richard
This thesis explores the early career of Hugh Latimer (c. 1485-1555). Against the backdrop of the 1530s in England, it tracks his emergence on the national stage as a controversial preacher and supporter of the King’s Great Matter, his appointment as bishop of Worcester, and his resignation in protest over the Act of Six Articles. The thesis is a response to a research problem presented by the cutting edge of early English Reformation scholarship, namely, the challenges the early evangelical reformers faced in tethering their aspirations to a decidedly ambiguous royal agenda. It is grounded upon the premise that, more than any of his contemporaries, Latimer must be studied in a national context. While many studies have treated Latimer’s career during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, focussing especially on his sermons, preaching skills and martyrdom, his early career, particularly his tenure as bishop of Worcester, has not been adequately explored. The thesis includes the first comprehensive examination of Bishop Latimer’s diocesan activities as revealed in his largely unexploited episcopal register. The thesis demonstrates that from his emergence as a supporter of the royal agenda and champion of reform, until his resignation from the episcopate, Latimer was manifestly the king’s man. Yet he neither expediently nor disingenuously pinned his aspirations to the implementation of the king’s. Until the passing of the Act of Six Articles, royal and reformist causes for Latimer were as indivisible as the royal–divine matrix which underpinned his theology, informed his worldview, and affirmed his vocation as a minister of the word to the realm. In keeping with his nascent understanding of divine kingship and Godly nationhood, the reformation of the body politic entailed the restoration of the church and vice versa. Since reformation fell squarely within the king’s remit, Latimer’s mission as an apostolic and prophetic reformer encompassed the execution of the king’s reformation and the reformation of the king. As the king’s reformer, Latimer’s cure of souls was nothing less than England itself; his parishioners, the king and the king’s subjects. In ministering to his cure, Latimer is presented as a figure who acted on the national stage above all others.
The Leaven in the Council: Joseph Cardijn and the Jocist Network at Vatican II
(2018) Gigacz, Stefan
This thesis studies the contribution of Joseph Cardijn and other bishops and theologians from the YCW (JOC) movement in helping develop the Vatican II vision of lay apostolate, and in the Council’s adoption of the jocist see-judge-act methodology and vision of a Church deeply concerned with the present world.
Literary Crossings: Nonconformists Writing the Australian Landscape
(2018) Handasyde, Kerrie
This thesis draws on previously unexplored fiction and non-fiction to examine spiritual engagement with the Australian landscape and public authoring of a sense of place among the members of the Quakers, Methodists, Congregationalists, Salvation Army and Churches of Christ (1880s-1960s), and provides a compelling alternative methodology for denominational history.
Manning’s Children: Responses to Rerum Novarum in Victoria 1891 to 1966
(2014-06) Mathews, Race
This thesis examines responses by Australian Catholics, predominantly in Victoria, to the social teachings of their Church, culminating with the creation by the bishops in 1938 of the Australian National Secretariat for Catholic Action (ANSCA), and their subsequent adoption and promotion through it of a political and economic philosophy called Distributism. Underlying the main narrative is a fundamental divergence of opinion about the significance of formation of the Catholic conscience through Catholic Action, as on the one hand introduced by the founder of the Young Christian Worker’s Movement (YCW) and future Cardinal Josef Cardijn and enhanced by the philosopher priest Don José María Arizmendiarrieta, and on the other repudiated by Australia’s ‘controversial Catholic layman’, B.A. Santamaria. A key reference point and yardstick throughout is the ‘Evolved Distributism’ of the great complex of worker-owned co-operatives founded by Arizmendiarrieta in the middle nineteen-fifties, at Mondragón in the Basque region of Spain.
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.

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Browsing School of Graduate Research Student Theses by Subject "C - Church History"

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