Northern Ireland, America and the Emerging Church Movement: Exploring the Significance of Peter Rollins andthe Ikon Collective

The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is a primarily Western religious phenomenon, identifiable by its critical ‘deconstruction’ of ‘modern’ religion. While most prominent in North America, especially the United States, some of the most significant contributors to the ECM ‘conversation’ have been the Belfast-based Ikon Collective and one of its founders, philosopher Peter Rollins. Their rootedness in the unique religious, political and social landscape of Northern Ireland in part explains their position on the ‘margins’ of the ECM, and provides many of the resources for their contributions. Ikon’s development of ‘transformance art’ and its ‘leaderless’ structure raise questions about the institutional viability of the wider ECM. Rollins’ ‘Pyrotheology’ project, grounded in his reading of post-modern philosophy, introduces more radical ideas to the ECM conversation. Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ and ‘marginal’ location provides the ground from which Rollins and Ikon have been able to expose the boundaries of the ECM and raise questions about just how far the ECM may go in its efforts to transform Western Christianity.

Catholic worker movement: un análisis desde la acción política no violenta y la lógica transnacional de los movimientos sociales

El Catholic Worker Movement se ha caracterizado por enmarcarse en las dinámicas de movilización social y acción política no violenta, que respondían, desde su creación en 1933, a un conjunto de problemáticas sociales y económicas sobre las cuales la sociedad civil se interesó y dio inicio a su actividad en escenarios de la política doméstica de Estados Unidos. Pese a ser un movimiento que surgió en un contexto nacional con fundamentación religiosa, el CWM alcanzó el desarrollo de lógicas transnacionales que contribuyeron a la defensa de su causa y a la reivindicación de valores y principios que motivarían posteriormente a la búsqueda de recursos para reforzar su lucha. Así, el proceso de evolución del movimiento tomó dirección en torno a fenómenos como la difusión, la adquisición de repertorios de acción colectiva correspondientes a la no violencia, y al aprovechamiento de factores exógenos y endógenos representados en distintas formas de oportunidad política y capacidad organizativa.

Eros and Transgression in an Age of Immanence: Georges Bataille’s (Religious) Critique of Kinsey

This paper explores the religious implications of eroticism in Western culture since the Sexual Revolution, a period at once applauded for its open and immanent view of sexuality and denounced for its shamelessness and promiscuity. After discussing the work and effects of Alfred C. Kinsey, the father of the Sexual Revolution, I focus on a critical appraisal of Kinsey written by French theorist Georges Bataille (“Kinsey, the Underworld and Work,” in L’Erotisme, 1957). Bataille situates contemporary Western sexuality within a larger historical movement towards the “desacralization” of all aspects of human life: sex, under the scientific gaze of the Kinsey team, became simply another “object” to be analyzed and classified, and “good” sex defined solely in terms of frequency and explosiveness of orgasm. For many, including Hugh Hefner, this approach to sex occasioned a refreshing awakening from the long dark night of Victorian sexual repression. However, as Bataille’s protégé Foucault has shown, the scientific approach to sexuality often masks a desire to control and delimit sexual behaviour, not “liberate” it. Moreover, Bataille makes the point that the desacralization of sexuality denudes sex of a vital component—eroticism—which is necessary for real pleasure and ecstasy. Beyond the “moral” critiques one often hears leveled against Kinsey and his work, Bataille provides a “religious” critique, one that stands, perhaps surprisingly, on the “near side” of sexuality.

Religious pamphlets

A collection of miscellaneous pamphlets on religion.

The Ecumenical movement and the making of the European Community

The European Community has largely been considered a predominantly secular project, bringing together the economic and political realms, while failing to mobilise the public voice and imagination of churchmen and the faithful. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, this is the first study to assess the political history of religious dialogue in the European Community. It challenges the widespread perception that churches started to engage with European institutions only after the 1979 elections to the European Parliament, by detailing close relations between churchmen and high-ranking officials in European institutions, immediately after the 1950 Schuman Declaration. Lucian N. Leustean demonstrates that Cold War divisions between East and West, and the very nature of the ecumenical movement, had a direct impact on the ways in which churches approached the European Community. He brings to light events and issues which have not previously been examined, such as the response of churches to the Schuman Plan, and the political mobilisation of church representations in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. Leustean argues that the concept of a 'united Europe' has been impeded by competing national differences between religious and political institutions, having a long-standing legacy on the making of a fragmented European Community.

Jane Gardam: religious writer

This thesis examines the work of the award-winning contemporary English short story and novel writer Jane Gardam. It proposes that much of her achievement and craft stems from her engagement with religion. It draws on Gardam’s published works from 1971 to 2014 including children’s books and adult novels. While Gardam has been reviewed widely, there is little serious critical appreciation of her fiction and there are misreadings of the influence of religion in her work. I therefore analyse the religious dimensions of her stories: the language, stylistics and hermeneutic of Gardam’s three religious influences, namely the Anglo-Catholic, Benedictine and Quaker movements and how she sites them within her work. The thesis proposes lectio divina, arguably an ancient form of contemporary reader-response criticism, as a framework to describe the Word’s religious agency when embedded or alluded to in fiction. It also considers and applies critical discussion on the medieval concept of the aevum, a literary religious space. Finally, I suggest that religious writing such as Gardam’s has a place in the as yet unexplored ‘poetic’ strand of Receptive Ecumenism, a new movement that seeks to address reception of the Word between members of different faith communities. Having examined many aspects of Gardam’s writing, its history and potential, I conclude that her achievement owes much to her engagement with particular and divergent forms of religious life and practice.

The Great Escape: A Modern Charismatic Movement within the Presbyterian Church

The present thesis examines the relationship between Youth Conference Ministries (YCM) and the Presbyterian Church. YCM is a charismatic organization that organizes youth retreats for students in middle school and high school, with the goal of charismatically educating the youth of America. The focus of this thesis is on the Great Escape Southwind, a middle school retreat that caters to the southern portion of United States. My thesis first traces the biblical and historical underpinnings of charismatic Christianity. Next it provides an ethnographic case study of the Great Escape, focusing on its ability to foster spiritual growth of students through an enthusiastic response to the Holy Spirit. Finally it examines the relationship between YCM and the Presbyteries that populate its retreats. Overall this thesis shows how YCM provides a charismatic service to the local Presbyterian Churches, allowing for its adolescent parishioners to remain enthusiastically active as they progress towards adulthood.

Meaning in movement : a gestural design game

This paper describes a design game that we called 'Meaning in Movement'. The purpose was to explore notions of professional dental practice with dental practioners in terms of gestures, actions and movements. The game represents a first step towards involving gestures, actions and movements in a design dialog with practioners for the purpose of designing future interactive systems which are more appropriate to the type of skilful actions and richly structured environments of dentists and dental assistants.

Effect of Pedestrian Movement on MIMO-OFDM Channel Capacity in an Indoor Environment

Effects of pedestrian movement on multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) channel capacity have been investigated using experiment and simulation. The experiment was conducted at 5.2 GHz by a MIMO-OFDM packet transmission demonstrator using four transmitters and four receivers built in-house. Geometric optics based ray tracing technique was used to simulate the experimental scenarios. Changes in the channel capacity dynamic range have been analysed for different number of pedestrian (0-3) and antennas (2-4). Measurement and simulation results show that the dynamic range increases with the number of pedestrian and the number of antennas on the transmitter and receiver array.

Variations in MIMO-OFDM channel capacity due to random human movement in an indoor environment

Channel measurements and simulations have been carried out to observe the effects of pedestrian movement on multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) channel capacity. An in-house built MIMO-OFDM packet transmission demonstrator equipped with four transmitters and four receivers has been utilized to perform channel measurements at 5.2 GHz. Variations in the channel capacity dynamic range have been analysed for 1 to 10 pedestrians and different antenna arrays (2 × 2, 3 × 3 and 4 × 4). Results show a predicted 5.5 bits/s/Hz and a measured 1.5 bits/s/Hz increment in the capacity dynamic range with the number of pedestrian and the number of antennas in the transmitter and receiver array.