/library/oar/handle/123456789/8909 2025-11-16T13:46:30Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/130185 Title: Foot washing in John 13:1-20 intimacy in Jesus' attitude of humility and servitude Abstract: Foot washing episodes figure in both biblical and extra-biblical texts. The foot washing pericope in John 13: 1-20 is, most probably, the climactic example of a foot washing and reflects an attitude of intimacy besides that of humility and servitude. It is an intimacy which is a reflection of God made man and which finds expression primarily in the mystery of the incarnation and in the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The foot washing episode under study is the superlative or other foot washing episodes in the Scriptures and reaches an unprecedented climax as an illustration of the significance of such an act. The foot washing passage in John has been misinterpreted and translated into a mundane interpretation of servility and humility because of the social structures, culture and tradition of the context in which it took place. Intimacy is a more intricate and a much loss straight forward option which, therefore, proves challenging to a given set of norms and mores. Intimacy is, in actual fact, camouflaged in innuendos and euphemisms up to this very day. This contributes towards lending a completely unauthentic and distorted meaning to the intimate episode illustrated in the foot washing account of the Fourth Gospel which is under study in this work. The pericope in question reflects intimacy as a gift of love which in tum results into friendship, fellowship, and discipleship. This foot washing has overtones and characteristics of a sacramental: it is a sacred, and an all-inclusive sign of God the Creator, of the King of Kings who goes down on his knees to wash the weak and dirty feet of sinners as an all-embracing act of love. The washing of the feet, rather than some other part of the body, is a reflection of God's kenosis in His incarnation - an abasement which untangles and unbinds the shackling chains of pride, precedence, and superiority. God's unimaginable abasement is a challenge to an established social order which requires consistency of 'dignity' as pertains to a particular class or status in a given social environment. The foot washing 1s a turning point and propitiously introduces the glorification and exaltation of God who turns himself into a slave as He divests himself of the glory pertaining to His divine being and subjects Himself to a passion and death befitting criminals. This is the revelation of God fully expressed in salvation of humankind. It is a redemption which transforms through love and which makes hospitality in the kingdom of God and a share in divine nature readily available as the prerogative of man. The aim of the study is to provide a deeper insight into the loving and intimate act of the foot washing. The study will tentatively and very cautiously contribute towards a more profound understanding of the real substance of that servile and humble act executed by the abased God with the purpose of loving mankind ‘eis telos’, till the very end, and with the purpose of welcoming man to his destination and original provenance as child of God. The study goes on to show that love and intimacy are the perpetrators of what is seemingly au exclusively humble and servile act. Love withstands misinterpretation, makes way for mistaken attitudes, but gradually and eventually filters through the fissures of insensitivities, finds fertile ground, grows and expands, until it becomes overwhelmingly all embracing. All of this is prudently and latently articulated in the foot washing account. Description: M.A.THEOLOGY 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/129880 Title: The biblical story of Ruth : an inspiration to the Institute Spigolatrici della Chiesa Abstract: The Biblical story of Ruth has inspired the foundress of the Institute Spigolatrici della Chiesa, Pia Tavernelli, in naming the Institute and developing its charism of reparation. A deeper study about this Biblical figure can be of great worth in order to analyse how Ruth can continue to inspire the Spigolatrici to live their specific mission in the Church which is to look for the person who is most in need of love in the various sectors of society. Description: M.A.RELIGIOUS STUD. 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/129770 Title: Presenting Gospel parables to early adolescents Abstract: This study delineates the Parables that embody much of Jesus' fundamental teaching especially with regard to his preaching about the Kingdom of God. They are quite simple, single message, easy to remember stories designed to provoke a moral or religious lesson, often with humble, everyday life imagery. Jesus' parables depended on contextual knowledge, so that the hearer would be able to make sense of the illustration and, with a little work by the listener to decode and eventually apply their message to themselves. When Jesus taught by using parables he assumed that not all would be motivated and that the true meaning of his teaching by means of parables ,would remain hidden for those who were unwilling to search for it. (Green, E. H. 2009. "Speaking in Parables: The Responses of Students to a Bible-Based Ethos in a Christian City Technology College." Cambridge Journal of Education 39 (4): 443). Chapter 1 explains in great detail the meaning of the word parable, which implies a comparison, or a similarity, by which one thing is used to illustrate another. Chapter 2 delves into the dynamics and message contained in the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Chapter 3 deals with the methodology of Action Research in the presentation process of both parables. It delves deeply into the meaning of pedagogy and catechesis as presented to early adolescents and presents the key elements that are needed to develop a biblical-catechetical programme. Chapter 4 goes deeper into the theory of the pedagogy as described in chapter 3. Then a programme was designed. This programme was delivered with a group of early adolescents. Chapter 5 presents the evaluation of the process that was adopted in designing the programme and an evaluation of the delivery and response to the programme. Description: M.A. Rel. St.(Melit.) 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/129727 Title: Paul's application of Abrahamic faith to the Christian life : "The one who is righteous will live by faith" (Rm 1: 17; Hab 2: 4) Abstract: Abrahamic faith is believing what is not seen, acting on the Word even though it is not fully understood, yet it is that hope that does not deceive but justifies. "The one who is righteous will live by faith". (Rm 1, 17; Hab 2, 4) Faith plays a fundamental role in our lives and how we live our religion, that is our 'faith'. This theme is important and relevant because as Christians, we who are the Church, are invited through the Word of God, the Living Word that is Jesus Christ, to discover him, to unravel and open this gift given to us and to Iive this dimension of faith that is foundational to a personal relationship with Him, "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ" - St Jerome. The author of Hebrews tells us in 11, 1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" and again in 11; 6 "without faith it is impossible to please God". Trust in God was a predominant Jewish expression of faith in the Old Testament and the Gospels whereas assent to revealed truth is by and large the principal Christian form of faith in Church history. Protestants, Lutherans tend to emphasise the centrality of faith as trust, whereas Catholicism especially in the Counter Reformation era has tended to emphasise the centrality of faith as taught by Aquinas as assent to the doctrines taught by the Church, "the act of the intellect assenting to a Divine truth owing to the movement of the will, which is itself moved by the grace of God" (St. Thomas, 11-11, Q. iv, a. 2 ). 1 However regarding the question of the Law in the Jewish religion, in the Torah, Paul draws and expounds in his letters the importance of Abrahamic faith that justifies vis-a-vis the Law, using his reinterpretation of Abraham as a paradigm of faith. New doors have since been opened and it is only since Vatican Council II that the Word of God, through Protestant influence, was encouraged to be read and prayed with, followed and lived by Catholics. The appropriation of the hermeneutics of the Word according to the Pontifical Biblical Commission is "The meaning in which the human word and God's word work together in the singularity of historical events and the eternity of the everlasting Word, which is contemporary in every age. The biblical word comes from a real past. It comes not only from the past, however, but at the same time from the eternity of God and it leads us into God's eternity, but again along the way through time, to which the past, the present und the future belong". The intention of this dissertation is to highlight and bring to the fore a truth and dimension of a journey of faith that has not always been of common import in the Church and to show its central importance and relevance in the way we see and live our faith according to the Word of God. It is an act of trust and faithful surrender by which we do not rely on our own strengths or selves but commit ourselves to the power and guiding word of him in whom we have faith. The dissertation is written through research, exegesis, commentary, critical issues underlining the understanding and divergences of the topic in question. This will be done by delving into the Abraham narrative itself and its interpretation in Paul's letters to the Galatians and Romans. This author will also assimilate and delve into the use of Abraham as patriarch and the prototype of Jewish and Christian faith in those canonical books, namely the Gospels, Acts and letters wherein his influence has been pronounced. Description: M.A.THEOLOGY 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z