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Felix Percy Longdon 

Thesis title:

Contextualizing Biblical Text(s) and Concept(s) in Akan (Ghanaian) Language: A Case Study of Contemporary Charismatic / Pentecostal Ministries

Thesis directors: 
Catherine Clifford et Christian Dionne

Description of research project

My thesis focuses on addressing the strengths and weaknesses of biblical interpretation among charismatic and Pentecostal ministries in Ghana, West Africa. I argue that some Ghanaian Charismatic / Pentecostal ministers quote scriptural text(s) out of context to promote their own ideology, such as to exploit congregants of financial and other material resources. Such use of the Bible has a negative impact on Ghanaian society, where such religious leaders become rich by exploiting their members, who are often poor. 

Joshua Zentner-Barrett

Thesis title: 

Remembering and Reconciling: A Decolonizing Framework for Liturgy in the Anglican Church of Canada in Light of the TRC.

Thesis director: 
Prof. Sarah Kathleen Johnson

Description of research project

My thesis examines the impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada on liturgical practice in the Anglican Church of Canada. Using ethnography, I explore how three parishes remember the residential school story and actualize this memory in ritual practices. I suggest that a new way of remembering initiates the process of decolonizing relationships between Indigenous and settler peoples.

Alexandre Farley

Thesis title: 

C. Taylor and C. Van Til in Conversation: The contribution of A Secular Age to Christian Apologetics

Thesis director: 
Martin Bellerose et Karl E. Hefty

Description of research project

My project is set in the context of the difficult and often conflicting relationship between Christian faith and Western and Quebec secular culture, in which secularization is often understood in terms of subtractive narratives. It aims to answer the question: what is the contribution to Christian apologetics of Charles Taylor's polemic against subtractive narratives in A Secular Age? My hypothesis is that this polemic makes a significant contribution to Christian apologetics, without being Christian apologetics proper. To verify this, I will correlate Taylor's polemic with the characteristic features of apologetics, as well as with Cornelius Van Til's apologetic methodology. If Taylor truly contributes to Christian apologetics, it could inspire Christians to develop a new paradigm for the relationship between Christian faith and Western and Quebec secular culture.

Aaron Debusschere

Thesis title: 

Ubi Est Ecclesia? A Comparison and Analysis of Salvation Outside the Catholic Church in the Theology of Augustine of Hippo and the Second Vatican Council

Thesis director:
Catherine E. Clifford

Description of research project 

In the midst of a growing ecumenical movement, the world’s Catholic bishops met in Rome for the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) to discuss the nature of the Church and the relationship of the Catholic Church to other Christian communities. One of the most important outcomes of the Council was the affirmation that there are good and valuable elements of the Church in non-Catholic communities. This decision stands in tension with Pius XII’s previous identification of the one Church of Christ with the Roman Catholic Church. Highly influential in the Council’s declaration was the work of the early Christian writer, Augustine of Hippo (354–430). It is my hypothesis that Augustine’s theology of the Church and baptism is an appropriate lens for interpreting the Second Vatican Council and an effective tool in alleviating the present tension in Catholic theology and can provide a solid foundation for the pursuit of Christian unity in the twenty-first century.

Erik Sorensen, SJ

Thesis title: 

Rituals of Communal Reconciliation: Pathways Towards Decolonization and Healing After the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Thesis director: 
Sarah Kathleen Johnson

Description of research project

My research project will focus on the Catholic Church, as one of the Christian churches addressed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and its relationship to the process of reconciliation represented by the Calls to Action. The project will examine how the Catholic Church’s rituals of communal reconciliation and their associated theology contribute to or hinder the process of healing and reconciliation between Settlers and Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian context. Relying on qualitative methods, this research will bring into dialogue the current Catholic practices of communal reconciliation with Indigenous perspectives on reconciliation. 

Mary Catharine Carroll

Thesis title:

The Theology Expressed in The Middle English Bible

Thesis director: 
Karl E. Hefty 

Description of research project

My research is on The Middle English Bible (MEB), a text from 1470. It is a compilation of stories from the Bible, apocryphal literature and legend. I argue that the MEB’s redactor included specific texts to promote and assert Rome’s hegemony in the ecclesiastical and theological realms in response to the Reform Movement in late-medieval England. 

Jason Lamantia

Thesis Title:

The Theology of Repentance and the Experience of God in the Writings of St Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022)

Thesis director/Directeur de thèse: 
Stoyan Tanev

Description of research project

My research is an exploration of the theology of repentance and how it is related to the experience of God in the writings of St Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022). I am also interested in the wider implications of repentance in Orthodox monastic and ascetic theology, and what it means for us today.

Francisco DCB Brandao

Thesis Title/Titre de la these:

The Spiritual Implications of Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope in the Praxis of the Priesthood of all Believers in Traditional Baptist Communities.

Thesis director/Directeur de these:
Mark Slatter

Description of research project

The research delves into the spiritual implications of Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope in the context of Traditional Baptist Communities facing multifaceted challenges such as domestic violence, social injustice, poverty, religious conflicts, and more. Despite alignment with New Testament principles, the study aims to explore why effective responses to these issues within the framework of the priesthood of all believers have been lacking in 20th and 21st-century Baptist communities.