An Examination of Memory's Tripartite Role in the Christian Life
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Dauphinais, Michael A;VanWart, T Adam
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Ave Maria University
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2020
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
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78
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
M.A.
Body granting the degree
Ave Maria University
Text preceding or following the note
2020
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Plato claimed that the "average person is a 'forgetful soul'."While his observation at his own time was probably accurate, it is sufficient to say that today we live in a forgetful society at large. The antithesis to this forgetfulness lies precisely in the memory--not merely as recollection, but as a spiritual habitus. In the language of Ratzinger, man's nature is marked with the wound of Beauty that causes him to continually seek; humanity alone is beset with the longing to be united to God body, mind, and soul. No matter how far man wanders, or how much he forgets, this wound is still hiding in his memory. The recollection of this beauty, truth, and goodness is not the end of the memory, but our unity with He Who is Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. In light of this, this thesis treats memory in three sections: memory of God, memory of the self (or being or origin), a subset of which will be memory of the natural law; and finally, memory of Heaven, which is examined through the experience of nostalgia. The question will be answered as to how exactly the memory serves as the dwelling place of God, the means by which the natural law is written on the hearts of man by means of the imago, and the source of the nostalgia man experiences for Heaven. It will be concluded that the memory is an integral source of the Christian life, and a necessary means for victory against a society that has forgotten the meaning of man's journey here on earth, or have forgotten that it is a journey at all. The role of the Christian will be concluded to be remembrance, especially the Christian theologian--and from their own remembrance will spring the call to remind.