Since the mid-1970s, some artists have portrayed Jesus Christ in female form. The depiction of a female Christ crucified is a particularly controversial representation that challenges theological orthodoxies and upsets the gender symbolism ingrained upon the Christian cross. The controversy and ecclesiastical censure that such works often provoke indicates the emotive power of gender subversion. This study provides a detailed account of five images of the female-Christ form in art, considers their function as theological symbols, and assesses their contribution to (...) feminist theology. It will be suggested that the Christa offers a subversive feminist strategy of representation. And—while such representations do not remove the unanswered theological difficulties associated with divine suffering, the problem of evil and the mystery of salvation—the graphic portrayal of female suffering powerfully exposes the reality of the cross as a site of patriarchal violence. (shrink)

'As for teaching---I quite like talking to myself in public. The thing is to look at the blackboard or anyway not at the assembled frogs. They can read what you write on the board though they can't understand what you say. If you write steadily on the board and keep up a spoken patter, never waiting for signs of intelligence or making jokes, the hour gets through all right'. Thus wrote William Empson from Japan in a letter to John Hayward (...) in 1932. Empson's early experience as an English teacher in the Far East helped shape the formation of his ambivalent attitudes towards the varied audiences he felt himself compelled to address as a publicly-minded intellectual who always wrote in fear of the charges of elitism and solipsism. Yet there is a sense in which Empson was not always altogether able, nor perhaps even willing, to resist the trappings of solipsistic eccentricity. Aware of his own idiosyncratic critical vision, Empson struggled with the social and theoretical implications of the ultra-refined rationalising drive that motivated his analytical concentration on 'the words on the page'. And though as a critic with distinct and highly sophisticated philosophical inclinations, he was not averse to engaging in spirited controversy with contemporary academic theorists and philosophers, still he was also keen to foster a sense of common belonging with the 'ordinary tolerably informed reader', to cultivate a sense of pastoral intimacy with a broader, non-specialised community, the 'assembled frogs' in the classroom and beyond. The resulting tension in his work between the democratic, commonsensical impulse of a publicly-minded intellectual speaking for our common 'social experience', translating for the greatest possible number, and the unarticulated, elitist products of an idiosyncratic critical consciousness, is the central topic of this dissertation. Empson scholar-theorists have often dealt elliptically with this sturdy resistance to theory by stressing the man's 'common sense rationalism', the 'reasonableness' of a 'reluctant metacritic' keen to resist the professionalization of Eng. Lit. in its varied 'bother-headed theoretical' forms. Yet both Empson's homespun rationalism and his resistance to theory are shot through with tensions similar to those which structure his difficult attempt to reconcile the conflicting voices of articulate populism and elitist marginality. The recent publication of Haffenden's two-volume biography and of his edition of the Selected Letters, as well as the forthcoming publication of a collection of essays edited by Matthew Bevis entitled Some Versions of Empson, give Empson scholars and enthusiasts an opportunity to reflect on the ambiguities of Empson's theoretical and pedagogical legacy. (shrink)

A history of the Music Association of Ireland from 1948 to the present day, employing the extensive archives of the MAI stored at the National Library of Ireland to address the changing cultural climate over the period, to delineate the debate on musical identity, national policy and music education. The thesis will focus on postcolonial, political and sociological theories and perspectives with particular emphasis on archival studies. Considering the first MAI committee comprised of established composers such as Boydell, Deale, Groocock, (...) Fleischmann and May it is unsurprising from the outset that the standing of the composer and the performance and publication of their works would always figure prominently in the activities of the newly established organisation. One of the driving forces of this Association was Olive Smith and her contribution to musical life in Ireland needs to be acknowledged. This study will particularly focus on her dynamic role in the MAI promoting a Schools’ Recitals Scheme, a series of concerts organised to promote young Irish singers and instrumentalists and her most notable achievement, the establishment of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. Many of the initiatives set up by the MAI, as a voluntary body, now function as separate, professional organisations, for example the Music in Great Irish Houses Festival, Music Network, National Youth Orchestra and Contemporary Music Centre. (shrink)