Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages – Poetry'

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1999.
Vita. Includes description of journey of group of American Franciscan Third Order sisters to Bavaria, Germany, June, 1998, celebrating the jubilee of their foundation. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [100]-105).

This thesis spotlights a social group pilgrimage site staff heretofore neglected in anthropological research. The main subjects are the Resident Group ('ressies') working at the lona Community's guest centres. Based on an accumulative 16-month fieldwork, the ethnographic evidence challenges the assumptions that pilgrims' 'sacred' encounters are unmediated, that site staff passively acquiesce with the dominant ideology, and that the production of pilgrimage experience is unproblematic. Building on existing paradigms of pilgrimage as 'contested', 'movement'-oriented, and a form of'practice', the Turners' classic view of pilgrimage as rite de passage is deployed to show that 'place' and 'landscape' are key themes in people's understanding of and engagement with this ancient pilgrimage isle today. Part I lays the theoretical and methodological groundwork and introduces the research locale, locating it within recent Celtic revivalisms. It also addresses how the lona Community (ressies' employers) situate their religio-political vision within the wider sociological and theological contexts of contemporary British Christianity. Part II recounts the historical and contemporary formulations of lona pilgrimage and tourism. A Heideggerian perspective of 'dwelling' illuminates how devotees appropriate lona's 'sacred' geography as a resource for personal revelation and self- transformation. Ethnographic accounts of visitors' 'Iona experience' are provided as a comparative foil to the site staff who enable this distinctive pilgrimage encounter. Part III explores ressies' motivations, discourses, and experiences at lona as a locus of 'holistic' work (and worship). It elucidates their complex relationship with the lona Community and how ressies contest their idealised corporate identity. Van Gennep's concept of 'liminality' and Ardener's 'paradox of remote places' emerge as central themes in analysing ressies' 'betwixt and between' 'selves'. An investigation of the social and ideological structures of the Resident Group setup as a 'total institution' further reveals the impact of the 'leaving lona' rhetoric and reality upon ressies' post-Iona lives.

The present dissertation has as object of study the pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Divina Pastora, which happens in the city with name similar to the Saint, located in the state of Sergipe. Had as goal analyze, through ethnographic study, the ritualistic and symbolic dimensions of this religious event, observing it as a ritual process, highlighting certain aspects of the system of representations, beliefs, values and ideas expressed not only through words but mainly through ritual actions performed by pilgrims. During the fieldwork, the achievement of direct observation and interviews allowed to reach an insertion densest at the practices and representations experienced by pilgrims. Thus, was possible to understand the motivations that prompted the devotees to leave in walk to meet their patron saint and the meanings attributed to their devotional act. For analysis of the rituals was used as reference the studies of Victor Turner.
A presente dissertação tem por objeto de estudo a peregrinação ao Santuário de Divina Pastora, que acontece no município de nome homólogo ao da Santa, localizado no Estado de Sergipe. Teve como objetivo analisar, por meio de estudo etnográfico, as dimensões simbólicas e ritualísticas do referido evento religioso, observando-o como um processo ritual, destacando certos aspectos do sistema de representações, crenças, valores e ideias expressos não somente através de discursos, mas, principalmente, através de ações rituais realizadas pelos peregrinos. No trabalho de campo a realização de observação direta e entrevistas permitiram alcançar uma inserção mais densa nas práticas e representações vivenciadas pelos peregrinos. Assim, foi possível compreender as motivações que instigaram os devotos a partir em caminhada ao encontro de seu santo protetor e os sentidos atribuídos ao seu ato devocional. Para análise dos rituais tomou-se como referência os estudos de Victor Turner.

This thesis addresses Constantine's developments of the Roman province of Palaestina. It analyzes two important Christian bishops, Eusebius of Caesarea and Cyril of Jerusalem, and one nameless Christian traveler, the Bordeaux pilgrim, to illuminate how fourth-century Christians understood these developments. This study examines the surviving writings of these Christian authors: the Bordeaux Itinerary, Cyril's Catechetical Lectures, and Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, Onomasticon, Preparation of the Gospel, Proof of the Gospel, and the Life of Constantine, and the archaeological remains of several Constantinian basilicas to interpret their views of the imperial attentions that were being poured into the land. Together these accounts provide views of fourth-century Palaestina and Jerusalem that when combined more fully illuminate how Christians understood Constantine's Holy Land policy. This study focuses on Constantine's developments of the city of Jerusalem, primarily the so-called Triad of Churches (The church of the Nativity, the Eleona, and the Holy Sepulchre) built in and around the city. It likewise considers the countryside of Palaestina outside of Jerusalem. While some Christians were resistant to the developments of Jerusalem, our sources reveal how many Christians supported, or at least desired to experience, the newly developing Christian Holy Land. This thesis argues that most of the discrepancies over the city of Jerusalem between our sources, especially Eusebius and Cyril, developed from long-standing political tensions between the cities of Caesarea and Jerusalem. The Bordeaux pilgrim, on the other hand, traveled across the Roman Empire to see and experience the developing sites throughout the land with no interest in local political debates. With this added perspective we can see how Christians, separated from the positions of church fathers, experienced the developing Holy Land.

Depuis le début des années quatre-vingt, la petite localité de Kibeho - un hameau particulièrement difficile d’accès situé aux confins d’une région rurale du sud-ouest du Rwanda, à environ deux cents kilomètres de Kigali - s’est muée en une destination de pèlerinage prisée par de nombreux Catholiques rwandais et, désormais, étrangers. L’origine de ce changement de nature du lieu se confond avec les apparitions de la Vierge (mais aussi du Christ et d’autres personnages du « panthéon » catholique) dont ont été favorisées plusieurs jeunes filles scolarisées au collège catholique local au début des années quatre-vingt, puis un certain nombre d’adolescents des environs. De spontanés et irréguliers qu’ils étaient dans les premières années du phénomène, encore liés aux performances publiques des voyants qui bénéficiaient des apparitions à heures fixes sur un podium surélevé, les déplacements d’individus se sont graduellement organisés. Aujourd’hui, à Kibeho, les apparitions publiques ont pris fin. Les pèlerins, qu’ils appartiennent à l’un ou l’autre mouvement d’Action catholique ou à un groupe de prière et de pèlerinage né des apparitions, se regroupent dans différents centres urbains du pays pour rejoindre le sanctuaire de Notre-Dame des Douleurs, érigé suite à la reconnaissance des apparitions par l’Eglise catholique en 2001 et en perpétuelle expansion depuis lors.

En 2001, la déclaration de reconnaissance mentionne, parmi les signes de crédibilité des apparitions, « la journée du 15 août 1982 qui fut marquée notamment, contre toute attente, par des visions effroyables, qui dans la suite se sont avérées prophétiques au vu des drames humains vécus au Rwanda et dans l’ensemble des pays de notre région des Grands Lacs ». Cette lecture officielle qui confère un horizon de sens aux événements, instituant la prophétie en des termes choisis permettant d’y entrevoir le génocide comme l’hécatombe du choléra dans les camps de réfugiés du Congo, est diversement négociée par les acteurs locaux, même si la conviction de la réalisation d’une prophétie est quasi-unanime. Du point de vue des pèlerins, les apparitions demeurent relativement problématiques. Elles exigent de chacun qu’il négocie sa position en fonction d’une représentation de l’orthodoxie constamment réévaluée dans les limites de ce qui est expérimenté et affirmé comme une identité catholique. Cette difficulté est notamment due à la multiplicité des individus qui ont revendiqué ou revendiquent encore des visions ou apparitions, alors que seules trois jeunes filles ont été reconnues par l’Eglise catholique en 2001.

Après avoir soigneusement défini le cadre socio-historique des apparitions rwandaises, en abordant la question depuis le point de vue de voyants non reconnus - dont l’une expatriée en Belgique - et de ceux qui leur sont proches, la thèse propose une analyse des discours par lesquels ceux-ci se définissent et négocient la légitimité de leur pratique religieuse. Une attention particulière a été portée aux outils stéréotypés de la critique (sexualité, politique, vénalité…), mobilisés dans le cadre des tensions et conflits qui opposent différents acteurs individuels et collectifs. Par ailleurs, les mécanismes qui président aux rhétoriques de la construction de soi ont été mis en lumière, notamment par le biais des récits de guerre qui fondent une identité de survivant liée à la conviction d’une intervention mariale. Ce processus se confond souvent avec ceux qui président à la construction du pouvoir de la Vierge, et donc des voyants. Finalement, au travers de l’analyse des représentations touchant notamment à la prophétie du génocide et de la guerre civile, les nouveaux rapports au national se font jour, les violences des années nonante étant intégrées dans un schéma biblique qui opère un basculement significatif :parce que le Rwanda serait touché de plein fouet par la Mal, il a été choisi par Dieu et par la Vierge comme noyau de la Nouvelle Evangélisation. À travers l’analyse du rapport au divin, à l’autorité, aux représentations de la modernité que les mots des acteurs reflètent, c’est le catholicisme vécu qui s’éclaire à l’ombre du sanctuaire et de son appareil médiatique foisonnant, ce catholicisme empirique dont la richesse se renouvelle à chaque « enculturation » comme au passage des générations successives et dont il importe, pour l’anthropologie comme pour l’histoire du christianisme, d’approcher l’infinie variété.

Doctorat en Philosophie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This dissertation comparatively explores and critically evaluates the historical and traditional notions that are commonly held by Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land; and it does so by examining the archaeological, historical, and literary evidence, with specific reference to the existent material remnants that are closely associated with the burial of Christ Jesus. The research will highlight the impact that biblical archaeological findings and the results thereof have had on these identified pilgrimage sites. Both the strengths and the weaknesses of the evidence will be enumerated; and the implications for the practice and significance of pilgrimages will be set out.
Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
M.A. (Biblical Archaeology)

This dissertation presents an outline, and one interpretation of, the life of its author, The Reverend Doctor Melvyn John Macarthur. It seeks to do this through both its methodology, which is textual and experiential, and through dialogue with the provocateur, Qoheleth, author of the book of Ecclesiastes. The dialogue component (the ‘Conversations’) reflects the author’s passion to engage with people in conversation and also his love of theatre. The ‘Conversations’ in the dissertation take place on the Camino Santiago de Compostella (French Way), a long distance, ancient pilgrim route from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. The dialogue partners are the author of the dissertation and Qoheleth. Qoheleth, the self-proclaimed Royal Philosopher, is a mysterious figure about whom much is conjectured, but little known. Qoheleth has been, and remains, a controversial figure in the Judeo-Christian traditions: considerable numbers of people, whether lay, ordained or scholar, hold that Ecclesiastes should not have been included in the canons. This author holds the view that the work of Qoheleth is among the most thoughtful and unique of the canonical writings. One hope held for this dissertation is that it would be a vehicle whereby I could ‘lean toward’ (Pelias, 2016; 9-11) the person Qoheleth. The motivation for doing this is that his remarkable honesty and depth of thought commends Qoheleth as an ideal provocateur, one who is able to offer a searching critique of the wide and varied life experience of the author, one who it is enticing to lean toward. Ronald Pelias (2016; 12) writes of his use of multiple qualitative methods in the writing of personal narratives. The methodology of this dissertation is, likewise, eclectic, and I would argue, ’necessarily’ so. A human life is complex and mine is no exception. A human life does not readily lend itself, convincingly at least, to understandings from a single discipline. This dissertation draws on material and methods from a variety of disciplines in an endeavour to convey and clarify aspects of the life of the author. The influences in the life of this author are, as mentioned, wide and varied: his professional life in social work, particularly in child protection; his vocational life in ordained ministry and pilgrimage; his more than four decades of participation as a student and researcher in a wide variety of pursuits in the academy; his experience of wilderness for significant periods during his adult lifetime and his last ten years of living with a life threatening cancer (non Hodgkins lymphoma) have all significantly impacted his life. The methodology of the dissertation is built upon these foundations that are termed ‘abiding interests’. For anyone wishing to have more detail of the author’s life prior to the reading of this dissertation, a brief curriculum vitae is attached as Appendix One. An appraisal of the author’s account is presented at the conclusion of the ‘Conversations’ with Qoheleth. The appraisal takes the form of commentaries written from the widely differing theological, philosophical and social perspectives of the Reverend Brand, the central character of Henrik Ibsen’s play Brand and the Grand Inquisitor, a prominent figure in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, The Karamazov Brothers. The author’s personal reflections about the pilgrimage to Santiago follow on from and take a full account of, the appraisals of The Reverend Brand and the Grand Inquisitor, in addition to the conversations with Qoheleth.