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Who Do You Say That You Are? A Psycho-Theological and Sociological Comparison of the Identities of American Catholic Sisters and Vajrayana Buddhist Monastics.

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Who Do You Say That You Are? A Psycho-Theological and Sociological Comparison of the Identities of American Catholic Sisters and Vajrayana Buddhist Monastics./
Author:	Atienza, Christina M.
Description:	1 online resource (528 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-04, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International85-04A.
Subject:	Comparative religion. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9798380582049

Who Do You Say That You Are? A Psycho-Theological and Sociological Comparison of the Identities of American Catholic Sisters and Vajrayana Buddhist Monastics.
Atienza, Christina M.

Who Do You Say That You Are? A Psycho-Theological and Sociological Comparison of the Identities of American Catholic Sisters and Vajrayana Buddhist Monastics. - 1 online resource (528 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-04, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Graduate Theological Union, 2023.

Includes bibliographical references

Member congregations of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious have embarked on a national initiative, Discerning Our Emerging Future, to collaboratively explore options for continuing their mission given their aging population, sharp decline in membership, and transition from corporate to more individualized apostolates. This study contributes to the identity-related aspect of the sisters' discernment, to who they say that they are and what they say is their purpose, by comparing their approach to the spiritual life to a contemporary religious other, the Vajrayana Buddhist monastic community of Sravasti Abbey in Newport, WA. Comparison makes more visible features of the sisters' group identity that they may take for granted, thereby facilitating a more robust discernment. Sravasti Abbey was selected for maximum difference and similarity with the sisters to provide both challenge and resonance. Using an interdisciplinary methodology, the study explores how the two groups strive toward their prototypical ideal, namely the prophet for the Catholic sisters and the bodhisattva for the Buddhist monastics. Methods include comparative Buddhist-Christian theology, inductive theology, close reading of textual sources, and emic and etic participant observation. The analysis of identity uses several psychological and sociological theoretical frameworks for individual and organizational (group) development. The study demonstrates that at the heart of the sisters' identity crisis is the threat to their self-understanding as a collective prophetic actor in American society and the global Roman Catholic Church. Findings from the comparison suggest that 1) redirecting their spiritual emphasis from action (ministry) to motivation (Christian holiness), 2) integrating theology and praxis at a deeper level, rather than overemphasizing praxis, and 3) employing an approach to the development of individual members that is more holistic and aimed at enhancing mental complexity, rather than focusing on conative strengths and aimed at eudaimonia may enhance the sisters' collective prophetic agency, clarity of purpose, and flexibility and adaptability to ever-changing circumstances. Significantly, although such ideological-level shifts would trigger changes that would ripple throughout their institutes, they would not require the sisters to engage in the same ministries, change their fundamental character, or transgress the canonical boundaries of their institutes.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2024

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9798380582049Subjects--Topical Terms:

1008938
Comparative religion.
Subjects--Index Terms:

Catholic sistersIndex Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

Who Do You Say That You Are? A Psycho-Theological and Sociological Comparison of the Identities of American Catholic Sisters and Vajrayana Buddhist Monastics.
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