The purpose of The Call of Dialogue: Reading the Papacy through the Lens of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission is to examine the implications of ARCIC's consensus on universal primacy for the development of Roman Catholicism's understanding of the Petrine Primacy of the bishop of Rome. I achieve this purpose in three steps, each of which corresponds to the sections I shall discuss below.

In Section I: Papal Primacy at the Councils and Beyond , I examine the teachings of Vatican Councils I and II on the Petrine Primacy of the bishop of Rome in the light of contemporary scholarship. I conclude by identifying three areas in which further development of these teachings is needed, if the renewal begun at Vatican II and desired by ecumenical partners in dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church is to continue. As this conclusion forms the basis for Section III , I shall discuss these areas below.

In Section II: Reading the Papacy through the Lens of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Dialogue , I begin with a chapter introducing the diversity of Anglican attitudes towards the papacy. In the chapters that follow, I examine the consensus achieved by ARCIC on universal primacy as it developed over the course of the dialogue. I conclude by highlighting the questions that ARCIC put to the Roman Catholic Church as a call for further development in its understanding of Papal Primacy.

In the lengthy chapter comprising Section III: Answering the Call of Dialogue , I divide ARCIC's questions into the areas of needed development that I identified earlier in Section I . These areas are: (1) the Petrine roots of the primacy in both Scripture and Tradition; (2) the relationship between primacy and collegiality, as well as between primacy and the Church's faithful, laity and clergy alike; and (3) the manner in which Roman Catholicism's vision of the Church as a "Church of churches" influences its understanding of the primacy. I conclude this section, as well as the dissertation as a whole, by arguing that the only way for us to address these areas and answer ARCIC's call is through effective ecumenical partnership.

This thesis examines how some Latin American and Caribbean liberation theologians rooted their theologies in popular religion. My consideration of these theologians is framed through a liberationist and postcolonial perspective. This thesis will argue that the everyday religious and symbolic language of ordinary people--those rituals, pilgrimages, prayers, fiestas , and processions that have been studied under the term popular religion--has been central to the development of Latin American liberation theologies in the last thirty-five years. Popular religion has been an area of theological inquiry that has opened up new possibilities and trajectories for liberation theologies within the changing context of the region, especially as they relate to issues of religious and cultural pluralism.

In chapter one, I explore what Luis Maldonado called the "unitive" and "conflictive" tensions that surfaced around the term popular religion, especially with respect to the work of the Argentinean Juan Carlos Scannone and in Peril in the mid-1970s. In the second chapter, I examine Diego Irarrzaval's emphasis on fiesta in his theology, which he developed while studying popular religion in Per in the 1980s, especially the everyday practices of Indigenous (Aymaran) peoples. In chapter three, I focus on the work of Cristin Parker, in order to explore the realm of religious syncretism in popular religion. Parker argues for what he calls an " otra lgica " (an/other logic) that is distinct from (but also takes from) modern Eurocentric rationality. In chapter four, I return to the theologies of Irarrzaval and Parker and critically evaluate their unique contributions in light of the current changes happening in Latin America and the Caribbean.

To conclude, I consider Ivone Gebara's notion of "religious biodiversity" (1999), Irarrzaval's recent theological undertaking in the area of the "inter-cultural" (2004a), and other recent liberationist material, as important examples of the way liberationists are framing the religious and cultural pluralism of Latin America and the Caribbean. This thesis will show that liberationist perspectives on popular religion, in conjunction with the "new voices," have helped establish a critique of integrated or essentialist readings of popular religion that continue to be championed by the 'official' Roman Catholic church.

Within the modern religious philosophical tradition in Russia the concept of the Divine Sophia played a significant role during the Silver Age (1870s-1917). In the late 1800s Vladimir Solov'ev expounded this concept, which he inherited from ancient, medieval and early modern theosophy, and literary traditions concerning the eternal feminine as found in German romanticism. This study focuses on Sergei Bulgakov's appropriation of the Sophia both within the context of his own religious and intellectual development and within the context of pre-Soviet Russian religious philosophical debates. Contemporaries of Bulgakov, including Tolstoy, Struve, Shestov and Florenskii offered positions and arguments that led to Bulgakov's unique articulation of the project of Sophiology. Ultimately Bulgakov's concept of Sophia attempts to express how the problem of the cosmological antinomies, as articulated by Immanuel Kant, relates to religious consciousness. Sophiology attempts to accomplish this by seeking to avoid the "onesided rationalism" of Solov'ev and other modern thinkers, while preserving the authority of religious faith, tradition and human reason. While Bulgakov took a keen interest in the thought of Solov'ev, his alternative religious philosophical project called Sophiology expressed Sophia as a duality, an antinomic being, which had both a divine and a creaturely aspect. He believed that while German idealism provided helpful insights into the nature of religious consciousness, it also led modern religious consciousness into the perils of pantheism and "immanentism". Thus Sophiology is Bulgakov's attempt to address religious philosophical problems in a manner that retains insights from the German idealists while transforming, rather than transgressing, the modern Orthodox tradition of religious thought.

This thesis calls for saving Yellowstone's grizzlies at a time when there no longer seems to be a widely recognized need to save them. In fact, given the dramatic rise in human-bear conflicts over the past decade due to the very success of their recovery, it is reasonable to suspect that the real threat to the bear's viability has never really been addressed. For, upon closer scrutiny, this trend is not due to poor management techniques or insufficient research, but rather to our loss of rootedness, which is something that cannot be tended to by science and technology. Arguably, this trend stems from a failure to see the bear as a meaningful presence. If anything, the rise of conflicts beckons the question of how we are to live alongside bears and dwell in Yellowstone in a meaningful way. As such, this inquiry aspires to awaken within us a primordial ethic, which is comprised of both originative thinking and poetic dwelling. Originative thinking strives "to see" things anew and to bring-to-light what is most thought-provoking about the bear. Poetic dwelling aims to preserve what is most thought-provoking by keeping it meaningfully (not physically) close to us. In turn, this thesis will reveal wildness as the phenomenon of hiddenness and power that holds sway over the primordial relation between the mountain and the bear. We shall also argue that, in the final analysis, we cannot save the bear without preserving the hidden depths of these mountains, and the key to restoring our rootedness rests in saving this relation--in saving the bear's revelatory power and the mystique of this landscape--for the two belong -together.

This dissertation examines the available documents of the first twenty-five years of the International Roman Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue (1972-1997), and seeks to determine if and how this ecumenical dialogue might contribute to further studies and developments in pneumatology. It begins with Pope Paul VI's post-Conciliar recommendation for "a new study" of the Holy Spirit. An exposition of the prelude to the Dialogue follows, situating it in an historical and theological context shaped by the discussions and works of Rev. Kilian McDonnell, OSB and Rev. David du Plessis; the spirit and teachings of Vatican II, specifically those found in Lumen gentium [Dogmatic Constitution on the Church] and Unitatis redintegratio [Decree on Ecumenism]; and the rapid growth of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the United States.

The official documents of the Dialogue are then presented, with an identification and analysis of the pneumatology that is expressed in the final reports and the available agreed accounts and position papers. The data of the first two quinquennia reveal the study of many topics, more or less explicitly related to pneumatology as Pentecostals and Catholics became more acquainted with one another's positions. The data of the third and fourth phases show a different type of reflection upon the person and work of the Holy Spirit, indicative of a growth in mutual trust and depth of discussion among the participants. The pneumatology within the later reports points less to agreements and disagreements, and more toward a theology of the Holy Spirit that begins with the koinonia , however imperfect, that exists between both sides.

Finally, the broad strokes and refrains emerging from the above analysis of this ecumenical dialogue are studied, concluding with the identification of several areas for further studies in pneumatology: the individual and ecclesial experience of the Holy Spirit; the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in both the individual and in Church ministry and structures; the relation of christology, trinitarian theology and eschatology to pneumatology; and the Holy Spirit and the work of ecumenism. The documents of the International Roman Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue make a distinctive contribution toward the further study of pneumatology, that Paul VI called "an indispensable complement of the Conciliar teaching."

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary critical study of the way mestizaje was proposed as a theological category by U.S. Latina/o theologians. I trace the subversive and innovative ways in which these theologians appropriated the condition of biological and cultural intermixture ( mestizaje ) and turned it into a powerful framework for articulating the experiences of faith of the Latina/o communities. I illustrate the innovative and revolutionary character of mestizaje in theology by highlighting some of the important contributions these theologians have made in the areas of biblical hermeneutics, popular religion, and the consideration of the central role of culture for theological reflections.

As Latina/o theologians engaged and appropriated the violent history of mestizaje --the result of the Spanish and Portuguese invasions--these theologians and scholars borrowed the category from the Mexican and Mexican-American intellectual tradition and experience. As they appropriated the category of mestizaje they failed to criticize the internal logic of homogenization and assimilation of the discourse of mestizaje . Operating under the utopic assumptions of inclusion in the condition of being mixed- mestiza/o , these scholars reproduce the silencing and marginalization of the indigenous and African descendants that constitute the U.S. Latina/o population. In this section I enter into conversation with prominent Latina/o scholars and theologians who in their work use mestizaje substantially to articulate their views.

The discourse of mestizaje in Latin America has mutated so much that there is no single way of understanding the condition of mestizaje . I briefly introduce how mestizaje is being challenged in Latin America from various fronts in order to provide U.S. Latina/o scholars a critical entry point for U.S. Latinas/os to begin to reconfigure their understanding of mestizaje and its potentialities. Here, I draw from current criticisms of mestizaje as characteristic of the ethnonational and cultural identity of the Latin American countries. These criticisms come from the indigenous, African, and women scholars who indict mestizaje as a social, political, economic, and ideological agenda promoting the homogenization of the population and culture, while privileging the mestizo/a elite, especially those who claim to be of lighter pigmentation.

In light of this, and contrary to popular beliefs, I claim that the discourse of mestizaje does not bring about the inclusion of historically marginalized voices, does not remove the problem of racism among Latina/o communities, and does not remove the privilege ascribed to whiteness.

In identifying the problems and difficulties inherent in the use of mestizaje , I propose that Latina/o theologians must engage the larger context of Latin America to properly address some of the most damning criticism of the use of mestizaje . The discourse of mestizaje must be understood in the plural, and any use of the term must first be qualified and placed within its historical context. Finally, the reality of ethnocultural diversity among the Latina/o communities calls for new ways of understanding and thinking about ethnocultural and religious identity construction. The alternative is to adopt an intercultural theological approach which seems better suited to helping us identify and understand the dynamic interaction between peoples and groups. It also provides a discursive platform for creating revolutionary new spaces for the voices that have historically been silenced.

This dissertation demonstrates that the overlap between the legitimate, proper and ordinary roles of the lay and the ordained faithful, as revealed by a close examination of the conciliar texts of the Second Vatican Council, is so significant and meaningful for ecclesial life within the Roman Catholic Church (especially the Latin Rite) that it yields a substantial theological foundation for the future development of theologies of the laity. Examining at the outset certain dichotomies sometimes used to set the laity and the ordained apart (spiritual/temporal, or sacred/secular, for example), this study shows these to be untenable when actual lay roles become the object of conscious reflection.

Chapter one surveys various possible meanings of the word 'temporal' and related terms, evident in the theological and pastoral literature of the decades preceding the Second Vatican Council, and compares them with the Council's own view of the 'temporal' as a gift of God, autonomous and useful, and sharing a common destiny with humanity. Chapter two demonstrates the laity's exercise of the priestly office of Christ: as sacramental ministers of marriage (Latin Rite Catholics), as artists enhancing communal worship, and as those who consecrate and offer. Chapter three features the laity's share in the prophetic office of Christ: equipped with the sensus fidei and individual charisms, the laity as individuals (parents, godparents, sponsors, catechists and theologians) and as part of the entire Christian community responsible for initiating new members, powerfully proclaim Christ. Chapter four explores the laity's participation in Christ's royal office: their efforts to promote Christian unity, the mutual help and service of spouses, the governance of parents within the domestic Church, and the pursuit of holiness of life. Chapter five develops a theology of the 'overlap', grounding the lay faithful's dignity, status and value in the Church in the call, consecrations, capacities, offices, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and spiritually significant ecclesial roles which they share with the ordained.

Equal in value to those of the ordained, the laity's essential contributions to ecclesial life justify an end to centuries of negative contrast between the two groups. Practical implications of the theology of the 'overlap' and suggestions for further research are made at the conclusion.

Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian exegetes of late antiquity operated within an identifiable interpretive tradition that had its roots in the earliest recorded theological criticisms of the Homeric epic tradition, criticisms which were to have far-reaching and decisive influence within the development of each of these three religious traditions. The Homeric poems depicted divinities in anthropomorphic fashion, engaged in often immoral or even obscene activities. This was incompatible with the philosophical and theological speculations of the earliest Greek philosophers (notably Xenophanes), the most devastating critique finally coming from Plato who rejected Homer as unsuitable for the programme of education necessary for the new republic on the grounds that Homer's representation of the gods was one unsuited, or inappropriate, to divinity and to the fundamental presuppositions of theology. The rise of allegorical exegeses of the Homeric poems is examined as a response to this theological critique, focusing especially on the allegorical defense of Homer offered by Heraclitus.

The need to interpret sacred texts in a fashion fitting to the divine identity and character was perhaps even more pressing among Jews and Christians of late antiquity. Late antique Jews and Christians were at least as troubled by anthropomorphic depictions of the deity as their pagan counterparts, and descriptions of divine wrath and vengeance presented exegetical difficulties. It was necessary to provide a response to these exegetical difficulties that reconciled the sacred texts with the received fundamentals of theology, that is, with appropriate notions of divinity. The need for exegesis worthy of God thus became the fundamental interpretive motivation and criterion of Jews and Christians. The results of exegesis were examined against this fundamental criterion, and rival exegetical claims were staked on this principle, a principle of basic theological convictions regarding the nature, identity, and character of the deity. The manner in which this principle develops in Philo, Clement and Ongen is examined, yielding results which display not only continuity but also considerable diversity, as well as specifically biblical concerns to preserve the specific and nontransferable identity of the God whose character is narrated in scripture.

This dissertation is an historical examination of the Jeunesse tudiante catholique's (J.E.C.) newspaper JEC/Vie tudiante ( VE ) in mid-twentieth century French-speaking Canada. Published from 1935 to 1964 by a Catholic youth movement, JEC/VE espoused a theory and a practice of the Christian life, in other words, a spirituality.

The spirituality that emerges from this study is one that had at its centre a well-formed, active, socially conscious Christian. This spirituality came out of an integral, ultramontane vision of Christianity, tempered by the economic crisis of the 1930s. Initially, students were urged to be both soldiers fighting for Christian civilization and citizens seeking to build anew the Christian city in the world. This dissertation traces the decline of this understanding of Christianity in the newspaper JEC/VE, and the rise of a more disaggregated spiritual vision, which no longer aspired to dominate civilization, but desired to be present in the world, relating to others through encounter and dialogue. Thus, by the end of the newspaper's life, students were being called upon to be prophets. By the same token, the paper no longer offered Catholic students a lens through which all of reality could be viewed. This thesis also shows that, despite repeated calls for a religion that brought faith and life together, what emerged was a Christianity in which various spheres of life, particularly art and culture, were given their own autonomy, and were no longer judged from a Christian perspective. These transformations were wrought not only by changes in Catholic thought, but also by modern developments, particularly the rise of mass consumer culture.

The dissertation is organized chronologically. In each chapter, JEC/VE 's content is analysed by looking at the understanding of the human person found in the pages of the newspaper. This analysis also takes the student environment into its purview. The inquiry then follows JEC/VE 's gaze as it fell on other worlds: those of the Church, culture and public affairs. Thus, though the focus of the study remains the Christian life, what also emerges is a picture of the broader reality in which JEC/VE envisioned students living out their Christian lives.

Irenaeus of Lyons presents many important insights about the Christian faith in his work Adversus haereses . This thesis will examine the idea of Mary as new Eve as presented in Adversus haereses and its dependence upon the idea of the recapitulation of Christ. Secondly it will explore the Eve-Mary typology, and its parallel Adam-Christ typology, as reflective of the historical and cultural challenges of the Church of the second and third centuries. Lastly, this thesis shall explore the insights of Irenaeus of Lyons regarding Mary still relevant today; specifically the recapitulation in Christ, and the typologies Adam-Christ and Eve-Mary, and their significance in constructing the role of Mary in salvation history: her active role for the advocacy of the human race and contemporary gender concerns in soteriological discussions.

This thesis argues that there are some systematic Christologies being developed in African Christianity. Among some of the more significant of these theologies are those of Charles Nyamiti and Bnzet Bujo, both of whom have written extensively on ancestral Christology. This thesis explores the theological bases for the two images of Christ (Brother-Ancestor and Proto-Ancestor), presented by our two authors. The two authors will be put in conversation with each other, in order to show that theological developments in African Christianity are both diverse in their inspiration and multiple in their expressions. There is also an attempt to demonstrate that there are some firm foundations within African Christianity, African Traditional Religion and African socio-cultural condition to present Christ as an ancestor, who is the source of the fullness of life for African Christians, the African churches and African society at large. How Christ offers new life to Africans as ancestor is critically studied in order to explore the possibilities for its greater elaboration beyond the multiple theological articulations of our two authors, and also to point out the limitations and challenges of the use of ancestral categories to articulate appropriate Christological symbols within African Christianity. However, this thesis argues that attempts at evolving new articulations of Christological symbols in Africa are ongoing, and that our two authors' theologies of Christ are significant in the ongoing search by African Christians for theological models to make sense of history.

As a Prefect of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) argued that any renewal of the Church whatsoever ought to begin with a renewal of the liturgy. The heart of the liturgy, for the Cardinal, is sacrifice. In his view, the post-Vatican II Mass has been greatly harmed by a loss of such sacrifice. The consequences of this sacrificial diminution for the life of the Church have been readily apparent.

The thesis of this study is as follows: if it is true, as Cardinal Ratzinger has written, that the reality of sacrifice is at the heart of Catholic worship, then a proper theological understanding of the Christian concept of sacrifice (and its recent dilution) will serve as an interpretative key to what many have identified as a post-conciliar crisis of liturgy and as a meaningful touchstone for an authentic renewal of Catholic liturgy in our time.

To this end, the study herein considers six sacrificial themes in three of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's more important liturgical works. These writings, written over the three decades of Ratzinger's cardinalate, are: The Feast of Faith (1980s), A New Song for the Lord (1990s), and The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000s). Two sacrificial themes in each of these three studies are treated--'Sacrifice as Meal' and 'Sacrifice as Thanksgiving' in The Feast of Faith , 'Sacrifice as Christ' and 'Sacrifice as Praise' in A New Song for the Lord , and 'Sacrifice as Love' and 'Sacrifice as Worship' in The Spirit of the Liturgy . As well as offering a variety of rich interpretations of the Christian concept of sacrifice, these themes correspond to particular ways of understanding the history, content, and form of the liturgy.

The study affirms that liturgy, the heart of which is sacrifice, is, for Joseph Ratzinger, a precious gift. Far from threatening our lives, the call to Christian sacrifice, as inspired by the Sacrament of the Eucharist, is a holy blessing, one that draws us ever closer to our salvation, and, ultimately, to God.

In Chapter One is a lexical analysis of the terms Yisrael, Yehudah and `Am--Haarets in Ezra-Nehemiah. Yisrael nearly always refers to members of the Gl Group (exilic returnees), while Yehudah is an elusive term that sometimes refers to Gl members, and elsewhere is a general term for those living in Judah. Chapter One concludes in the context of Ezra-Nehemiah, `Am--Haarets always refers to non-Israelites, and therefore, non-Gl individuals. This allows for greater specification in Chapter Two, which examines the use of bedel in Ezra-Nehemiah to distinguish between groups of people. Chapter Three synthesizes the findings of Chapters One and Two to conclude that the Gl Group's task of discernment regarding membership in the community encompasses concerns of moral purity, holiness, and orthopraxis. The Gl Group stands in a liminal position in which members continuously straddle the worlds of the sacred and the profane.

Peter Maurin was a French peasant turned Catholic Radical who came to the United States and articulated the great vocation of his life; what he termed the Green Revolution. In 1932, at the age of fifty-five, this vocation finally bore fruit for Maurin as the Catholic Worker movement came to life following his encounter with Dorothy Day. The Green Revolution has commonly been associated exclusively with Maurin's agrarianism, taking 'Green' to be a metaphor for the land. This thesis goes beyond that interpretation to reveal the Green Revolution as: a "technique of action," an "intellectual synthesis," and a "technique of agitation." Green is a metaphor not for the land but the Irish of the early medieval period; a time when, as Maurin said. "the Irish were Irish."

This thesis consists of four chapters and a concluding chapter. It is divided into two sections. The first part examines the relation of the Catholic Church to the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery crisis: 1986-92. The second part aims to determine what aspects of this relationship help furnish insight for a pastoral approach to the current management of the province's ocean resources.

Chapters One and Two provide a case study of the historic controversy. The first chapter chronicles the years leading up to the crisis and actual fishery catastrophe, itself. Chapter Two probes the range and level of responses of the major participants, governments, unions, and the leadership of the Catholic Church and faith community to this ecological, social and economic disaster.

Building on the ecclesiology of Joseph Komonchak and the papal documents on social justice, Chapter Three examines the relation the Catholic Church had or could have had with the fishery, as the crisis unfolded into a catastrophe. Chapter Four searches for alternatives as to how the Church in Newfoundland and Labrador may reconstitute itself as a gift of God's grace by being vigilant to changing ocean resources. Informed by its response to the fishery, and given the prospect of offshore petroleum and other tapped and untapped natural resources stabilizing the economy I claim the Church in Newfoundland and Labrador has another opportunity to renew its pastoral ministry to the people, themselves.

The Conclusion calls for a more mature Church uniting its needs and hopes with the needs and hopes of the maritime constituency it serves.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the space in which the sacrament of Reconciliation is celebrated, based on the liturgical renewal of Vatican II and post-Vatican II documents. This analysis will start by briefly highlighting the crisis around this sacrament, to move then to those principles of reform put forth by the Church in the last forty years, with reference to ecclesiology, liturgy, sacramental theology, and the concept of sacred space.

In this study, I will sketch an outline of the necessary space for Reconciliation according to the new Rite of Penance: first, in the form of the main features of the changing experience of sacred space in the Christian tradition and under the influence of the Vatican II; second, with reference to the documents that seem to be the major influences on the sacrament of Penance since Vatican II; then, elaborating a theological understanding based on these documents of the character of this place; and finally, in terms of the pastoral practice I will present a prototype, which responds at each critical requirement necessary to fulfill phenomenologically and theologically the place for Reconciliation.

This thesis examines how the Church, as expressed in the activity of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, aims to influence the policies of states while maintaining that it is not its role to intervene directly in politics with respect to practical aspects of public policy and application. The Church endeavors to give the international community the moral information and perspective it needs to make just policy.

In this study, the actions and statements of the Holy See at the International Conference of Population and Development in Cairo illustrate how imperative it is that the Holy See communicate a clear message in its role as moral guide. The mandate of the Holy See to act as a moral guide at the ICPD would have been more effectively fulfilled if it had been able to make its message of justice understood in its entirety.

This thesis provides an original interpretation of some of the fragments of Heraclitus of Ephesus that are found in the writings of the Patristic authors Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Hippolytus of Rome. A common pattern of meaning providing interpretive unity among these fragments is reconstructed using a methodology that includes the historical-critical method, philosophical reflection, and some insights from the fundamental anthropology of Ren Girard. For Heraclitus, all order, both human and divine, sacred and profane, is founded and sustained in accordance with the one [Special characters omitted.] , which is an account of how conflicting opposites are held together through violence. The pattern of meaning reconstructed according to that thesis is also compared and contrasted with the Patristic authors' own interpretations of some of these fragments, as they are found in the context of their works.

Ethiopian Orthodoxy has given a special place to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, especially due to her unique role in the economy of salvation. Accordingly, this study succinctly discusses the Mariological tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in light of its longstanding Biblical understanding and liturgical life as well. By so doing, this research systematically argues for the prominent role of St. Mary in the divine plane of salvation by supporting its thesis statement with adequate Biblical and liturgical evidence. Structurally, the thesis has been divided into six main chapters. Accordingly, the first introductory chapter glimpses at the overall overview of Mariology in general and it also briefly introduces the genesis and gradual development as well as challenges of Ethiopian Mariology in particular. The second chapter reflects on the soteriological role of the Holy Virgin Mary, which in turn attempts to show why Ethiopian Mariology legitimately acknowledges our Lady Mary as the means of salvation to humanity. Soteriologically, for Ethiopian Mariology, Mariology and Christology are inseparably intertwined, since one substantiates the other. The third chapter examined extensively the soteriological importance of St. Mary's main title-- Theotokos . Soteriologically, this Marian title is at the heart of Ethiopian Mariology. The fourth chapter is committed to a detailed account of the perpetual virginity of our Lady, which in turn has become the assurance to the divine nature of the Saviour. Thus, this Marian doctrine safeguards the divinity of Christ, the guarantee of our salvation. Having discussed this, the fifth chapter of the thesis goes on to articulate the Marian devotion of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which is mainly based on the aforementioned Marian dogmas of the Church. Lastly, the final chapter briefly summarizes what has been discussed and argued throughout, and then it has also drawn thoroughly some conclusions and findings to substantiate the verification of its thesis.

During his twenty-two year episcopate as the Archbishop of Toronto, from 19121934, Neil McNeil introduced a new paradigm of Catholicism that revolutionized how Canadian Catholics were to understand and live their faith. His vision is best summarized by a single line from his installation address: "[The Catholic Church] calls upon us to enlarge our hearts and to widen our horizon." Archbishop McNeil was the first member of the Canadian Catholic hierarchy to apply the abstract ideals of Catholic social teaching to the practical context of industrial Canada. McNeil accomplished this by successfully implementing a methodical program of education in Catholic social thought for Toronto's clergy and laity. Accompanying the theoretical, McNeil also stressed practical action. He designed, implemented and maintained a sophisticated network of Catholic organizations that effectively served the social welfare needs of his archdiocese's rapidly expanding Catholic population. Furthermore, McNeil was a public advocate for social justice. The Archbishop openly lobbied the government to enact legislative reforms that corrected the capitalist system. Under McNeil's pastoral guidance, individual Catholicism developed into social Catholicism.