Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in modern European Roman Catholicism (from 1830)
Apparition phenomena, particularly those that claim Mary as their object, are still very influential in modern Roman Catholicism. The first half of this thesis is concerned with the context of these visions in their European form, and how the Catholic Church promotes some of them into the heart of its devotional life. On the whole, this first part takes a phenomenological view, simply looking at this process in its own right, although there are also some sociological insights and critical remarks. The author, as a Catholic devotee of the marian cult himself, is attempting to write a theological critique of the visions as a member of the pilgrim community, using a broader range of academic tools than is usually employed in such a task. In the second half of the thesis, therefore, a theoretical model is constructed that provides a new understanding of the phenomena. This model has four elements: firstly, the humanistic psychological, in which marian apparitions are compared with other such phenomena and considered from the view of depth psychology. The major factors which distinguish them are the intensity of the experience and the ecclesial context. Secondly, ecclesiological: the visions cannot be considered
Maunder, Christopher John
Philosophy
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in modern European Roman Catholicism (from 1830). Apparition phenomena, particularly those that claim Mary as their object, are still very influential in modern Roman Catholicism. The first half of this thesis is concerned with the context of these visions in their European form, and how the Catholic Church promotes some of them into the heart of its devotional life. On the whole, this first part takes a phenomenological view, simply looking at this process in its own right, although there are also some sociological insights and critical remarks. The author, as a Catholic devotee of the marian cult himself, is attempting to write a theological critique of the visions as a member of the pilgrim community, using a broader range of academic tools than is usually employed in such a task. In the second half of the thesis, therefore, a theoretical model is constructed that provides a new understanding of the phenomena. This model has four elements: firstly, the humanistic psychological, in which marian apparitions are compared with other such phenomena and considered from the view of depth psychology. The major factors which distinguish them are the intensity of the experience and the ecclesial context. Secondly, ecclesiological: the visions cannot be considered
virgin mary modern european roman catholicism phenomenon particularly claim mary object still influential modern roman catholicism concern context vision european form catholic_church promote heart devotional life whole first_part take phenomenological view simply look process right although also sociological insight critical remark author catholic cult attempt write theological critique vision member community use broad_range academic tool usually employ task second_half therefore theoretical_model construct provide_new phenomenon model four_element firstly humanistic psychological compare phenomenon consider view depth psychology major_factor distinguish intensity experience ecclesial context secondly ecclesiological vision consider