An enquiry into Advent and Lenten Cycles of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Eucharistic Collects

摘要

There is dissatisfaction with the Collects whenscholastically (classically) understood. An alternativephenomenological understanding is an engaging and artisticphilosophical enquiry. Phenomenological philosophicalenquiry engages the individual in meaningful interpretationand construction of the life-world founded on anon-dichotomous ontology. Phenomenological enquiry(existential philosophy) interprets the present and relatesto the future such as is not possible in scholastic(classical) philosophy.The early twentieth century philosophers, Edmund Husserl andMartin Heidegger, conceived a phenomenological method ofinterpretation which innovatively placed the subject andobject in a dialectical union. Understanding the Collectsphenomenologically presents new insights susceptible toconsensus within a community. At present, the Collects arestructured on the principles of classical (dichotomous)ontology. The Collects reflect the collective religiousmeaning of the life-world and provide a vision upon which acommunity may build. In phenomenological interpretation anindividual and a community, in the presence of that which isdivine, participate as co-creators of the life-world. Thus,in contemporary western society phenomenological methodology~ay be more helpful and therefore more desirable thanscholastic methodology for theological interpretation.The hypothesis that phenomenological philosophy is morehelpful, thus more desirable, than scholastic philosopl1ybegan as a hunch on my part. From a theological perspective,I examined data obtained from a particular focus group.Intelligent reflection, phenomenologically not classicallyunderstood, is a working principle in this thesis.