Date of Graduation
5-2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Anthropology
Advisor/Mentor
Erickson, Kirstin T.
Committee Member/Reader
Swedenburg, Ted
Committee Member/Second Reader
Fredrick, David
Committee Member/Third Reader
Brown, Art
Abstract
“Holiness is not a luxury of the pure” (Mother Teresa 1987). The quote that forms part of the title for this paper is from an interview with Mother Teresa that appeared in Anne and Jeanette Petrie’s film “Mother Teresa” in 1986. Mother Teresa is referring to the forms of holiness that can appear in unlikely places, such as in the homeless and dying of Calcutta. Just as these forms of holiness are constructed in unexpected and conceivably impure places, so are symbols. Neither holiness, nor symbols are necessarily pure, although their users may want to project them as such.
Keywords
religion; beatification; Catholicism; symbolism
Citation
Rodgers, E. P. (2005). "Holiness is Not a Luxury of the Pure": Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Struggle Over Symbols. Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/anthuht/1
