Subject Area
Religion, Theology/Religious Education, History, Humanities
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the role of the Eucharist in the deification of the Christian. The doctrine of deification, drawn from Scripture passages such as 2 Peter 1:4 and Psalm 82:6, names the process by which human beings come to share by grace in the very life of God. Long acknowledged as the prevailing way of construing salvation in the Christian East, several recent studies have traced the presence of this robust understanding of salvation in the Western Church as well, in the writings of theologians as varied as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and more. Alongside these historical studies have come a number of constructive texts that seek to articulate just what it means for human beings to participate in the divine life according to the Scriptural witness.
In this dissertation, I join this conversation. I draw from the writings of the medieval sister, scholar, and saint Gertrude the Great of Helfta (1256-1302) to argue that participation in the Eucharistic sacrifice lies at the heart of Christian deification, for it is there that the Christian, sharing in Christ’s work as both offerer and offering, is swept into the relations of love and glory in the inner life of God. This Eucharistic process works profound transformation within the participant, for it entails a mutual indwelling of Christ’s heart and the Christian’s that fills her with divine love and life, reorders her toward God alone, and elevates and ennobles all her being and doing. Far from being an isolated process that is worked out solely between the self and God, though, this Eucharistic journey of deification depends on others, occurs for the sake of others, and even deifies others. Through this Eucharistic process, each soul is profoundly transformed, and the whole community is drawn together into the life of the triune God.
Degree Date
Summer 2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Religious Studies
Advisor
Bruce D. Marshall
Second Advisor
James K. H. Lee
Third Advisor
D. Stephen Long
Fourth Advisor
Boyd Taylor Coolman
Number of Pages
246
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Schrampfer, Marie V., "The Eucharistic Shape of Christian Deification: St. Gertrude of Helfta on Participation in the Life of God" (2026). Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations. 49.
https://scholar.smu.edu/religious_studies_etds/49
Included in
Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
