Nathanael Burwash: A Study In Revivalism And Canadian Culture, 1839--1918

The primary focus of this study is the intellectual formation and thought of an influential but largely unknown Canadian Methodist theologian and educator, Nathanael Burwash (1839-1918), dean of theology and chancellor of Victoria University, Toronto. Historians studying the relationship between organized religion and society during Burwash\u27s lifespan have detected a profound reorientation within Canadian Methodism and Protestantism generally, as educated individuals came to terms with the critical thought and structural changes of the late Victorian period. This dissertation seeks to establish to what extent John Wesley\u27s revivalist theology remained authoritative both for Burwash as the denomination\u27s leading theologian, and in directing the official pronouncements of the Methodist Church in Canada during this period of change.;In order to ascertain this, two questions have been raised. The first is an inquiry into the nature and ideals of Methodist theology as articulated and practiced by Nathanael Burwash, but placed within the wider context of his denomination and of nineteenth-century religious revivalism. Secondly, in order to ascertain to what extent religious faith shaped both thought and institutions, six significant issues affecting Burwash and Canadian Methodism are examined in detail: child nurture, the role of reason and religion in Methodist higher education, increased denominational affluence, ministerial college training and the teaching of the higher criticism, university federation, and church union.;With the exception of university federation (whose religious dimensions have remained unexplored) scholars have interpreted Canadian Methodism\u27s stand on these issues as part of a general pattern of decline in religious belief and practice. This dissertation, however, by demonstrating the authoritative role of Wesley\u27s thought in shaping Methodism\u27s response to new issues emphasizes continuity rather than change. Thus an analysis of Burwash\u27s thought and his influence on Canadian Methodism suggests that the religious developments within late Victorian Canada cannot be understood only in terms of the decline of faith and practice and the growth of unbelief. What must also be recognized are the nature and ideals of religious revivalism

Practising Medicine and Spiritualism in the 1860s: Sacred Encounters of Drs. Moses Colby and Susan Kilborn as “Lived Religion”

Spiritualism was not at all uncommon in the nineteenth century, during a time of social and intellectual turmoil, when old beliefs were being challenged and new orthodoxies had not yet emerged. To its nineteenth-century practitioners, spiritualism was both a religion and a science. As competing theories on the nature of illness and the body pitted orthodox physicians against “irregular” practitioners, the popularity of “medical mediums” made spiritualism a source of destabilization not only in religion, but also in medicine. Examined through the lens of “lived religion,” the unconventional collaboration of Dr. Susan Kilborn with her late mentor, Dr. Moses Colby, through a spiritualist medium reveals how sacred presence could be experienced in mind and body by scientifically trained Protestants. In its strangeness, but also in its ordinariness as lived experience, this case study offers both a problem and an opportunity in the ongoing quest to rethink religious history in Canada. Le spiritisme n’avait rien d’inusité au XIXe siècle, une époque de turbulences sociales intellectuelles où les vieilles croyances étaient contestées et les nouvelles orthodoxies n’avaient pas vu le jour. Pour ses praticiens du XIXe siècle, le spiritisme était à la fois une religion et une science. Tandis que les théories concurrentes sur la nature de la maladie et du corps opposaient les médecins orthodoxes aux praticiens « irréguliers », la popularité des « médiums médicaux » faisait du spiritisme un facteur de déstabilisation non seulement de la religion, mais également de la médecine. Vue par le prisme de la « religion vécue », la collaboration non conventionnelle qu’entretenaient la Dre Susan Kilborn et le Dr Moses Colby, son défunt mentor, par l’entremise d’un médium en spiritisme révèle comment les scientifiques protestants pouvaient ressentir la présence du sacré par l’esprit et le corps. Non seulement par son étrangeté, mais également par son caractère ordinaire d’expérience vécue, cette étude de cas présente à la fois un problème et une occasion d’aller plus loin dans la quête perpétuelle de repenser l’histoire de la religion au Canada

Die vyf en sewentigste verjaarsdag van die Fakulteit Teologie (Afd A), Universiteit van Pretoria 1917-1992

No Abstract

Hotel Die Port van Cleve, Amsterdam, Friday, August 26, 1955

Hotel Die Port van Cleve, Amsterdam. Friday, August 26, 1955. According to hotel website, each beefsteak served in the Brasserie De Poort is certified. The beefsteak certification number for this menu is: 4494747

Effects of Hypericum perforatum with Vitex agnus-catus in the treatment of menopausal symptoms

Background: Interest in alternatives to hormone therapy (HT) for menopausal symptoms increased following its association with serious health risks. In terms of phytotherapeutic interventions, while traditional use supports a range of herbs for treating menopausal symptoms, evidence from rigorous scientific trials is limited, and has largely focused on the phytoestrogenic plants. Because of some safety concerns over long-term use of isoflavones, the present study focused on two non-estrogenic herbs, Hypericum perforatum and Vitex agnus-castus, also employed in this context in the Anglo-American and European traditions. Both herbs have shown effectiveness for the alleviation of symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), which is reported to be more severe during the perimenopause, and may account for many of the so-called 'menopausal symptoms' at this time. Research on menopausal vasomotor symptoms is prone to substantial placebo responses. There has been much interest in increasing our understanding of the placebo response with a view to controlling it in clinical research and harnessing it in clinical practice. Methods & Results: A double-blind, randomised controlled trial (RCT), with a 16-week treatment phase, was conducted on 100 late-perimenopause and early postmenopause women. The herbal combination (Hypericum and Vitex) was not found to be superior to placebo for any of the endpoints - daily weighted flushing scores, overall menopausal symptoms (on the Greene Climacteric Scale) and depression (on the Hamilton Depression Inventory). However, significant improvements across the treatment phase were observed in both arms for all of these outcome measures. No significant change was found for either group on the Utian quality of life scale. The effects of the herbal combination were also examined on PMS-like symptoms in the small sub-population of late-perimenopausal women, and found to be superior to placebo for total PMS-like symptoms and the sub-clusters, PMS-D (depression) and PMS-C (cravings). The active treatment group also showed significant improvements on PMS-A (anxiety) and PMS-H (hydration), although these effects were not superior to placebo. Predictors of the placebo response were investigated and found to include study-entry anxiety for the outcome measures of flushing, depression and overall menopausal symptoms, and improvement during non-treatment run-in for depression and overall symptoms. Because no difference had been found between 'active' and placebo groups in the menopause RCT, it was hypothesised that the same predictors would predict the response to the study treatment. However, low anxiety was significantly associated with improvement in this group. None of the other variables that predicted the placebo response was relevant to the study treatment response. This finding is discussed with reference to the possibility that 'drug' effects and placebo effects are not necessarily additive, and that the same magnitude of effect in both arms might not necessarily imply activity via the same pathways. Conclusions: This research contributes to the growing body of scientific knowledge about evidence-based complementary therapies that informs the community, health-care providers and regulatory authorities. The findings may facilitate identification of potential placebo responders in future research. The need for more research in the area of mechanisms of placebo versus active responses is supported

A “Christian Businessman” in the Eastern Townships: The Convergence of Precept and Practice in Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Gender Construction

In their analysis of the impact of nineteenth-century market forces upon the lives of women, historians have drawn attention to the important evangelical construct of the pious, praying mother with its strong, prescriptive norms for female behaviour. This study examines its largely unexplored counterpart, “the Christian businessman”, through means of a detailed case study of the business and family life of a single individual, Charles C. Colby (1827-1907), a prominent Eastern Townships lawyer, entrepreneur, Methodist layman, and federal politician. Richly documented in a large collection of family and business papers, Colby's life offers a unique opportunity to move beyond the clerically constructed “Christian businessman” to a world where business and religious interests were often in daily competition, and where the much-vaunted tranquility of Victorian domestic life was frequently challenged by the forces of the market-place, even in Colby's case, to the point of bankruptcy. The study tests the extent to which an ideal religious construct both influenced and was in tum influenced by the reality of economic and family concerns even as it sought to maintain moral continuity.Dans leurs analyses de l'impact des forces du marché au XIXe siècle sur la vie des femmes, les historiens ont fait ressortir l’importance du modèle évangélique qui valorisait la mère pieuse et en prière, et qui imposait aux femmes de strictes normes de conduite. Le présent article examine la contrepartie peu étudiée de cette représentation, à savoir « l'homme d'affaires chrétien ». Il s'agit d'une étude de cas sur la situation familiale et professionnelle d'une seule personne, Charles C. Colby (1827-1907), un éminent avocat des Cantons de l'Est, un entrepreneur, un méthodiste laïque et un homme politique fédéral. Richement documentée par une vaste collection de correspondance familiale et d'affaires, la vie de Colby présente une occasion unique d'aller au-delà du sens religieux de l'expression « homme d'affaires chrétien » ; elle révèle un monde où les intérêts commerciaux et religieux se heurtent quotidiennement et où les forces du marché ébranlent fréquemment la sérénité tant vantée de la vie familiale victorienne, des forces qui acculeront même Colby à la faillite. L'étude de Marguerite Van Die permet d'évaluer comment la réalité économique et les préoccupations familiales interagissent avec un idéal religieux soucieux d'assurer une pérennité morale