Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Western Christianity'
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Motlani, Rishad Raffi. "Islam, euthanasia and Western Christianity : drawing on Western Christian thinking to develop an expanded Western Sunni Muslim perspective on euthanasia." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/3480.
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In this thesis, I will examine various methods of argument used for and against euthanasia by Christian, Islamic and secular ethicists. Overall, this is intended to examine the role of faith-specific or tradition-specific assumptions and sources in shaping the stance on euthanasia that is taken by certain Western Christian thinkers and scholars in Islamic Medical Ethics. Following an initial overview of some of the central concerns of the thesis in the introduction (Chapter I), I will look at a range of select Western Christian perspectives (Chapter II) and certain Western and Eastern Islamic perspectives (Chapter III) on euthanasia. In these chapters, I will investigate how various sources are used by particular Western Christian and Islamic scholars to formulate their perspective for or against euthanasia. In Chapter IV, I will compare the approaches of these Western Christian and Islamic ethicists to determine points of overlap and distinction. Based on this comparison, it may be contended that the Western Christian literature on euthanasia is in some respects more developed than the Islamic literature. Chapter V will take account of some of the types of argument that are found in the Christian literature but for which there is at present no fully developed counterpart in Sunni Islamic literature. For example, the notion of respecting the elderly, as it specifically relates to opposing euthanasia, is discussed in the Western Christian ethics literature reviewed, but is not considered at least in Islamic Medical Ethics sources examined in this thesis. On this basis, Chapter V will offer an expanded Western Sunni Islamic perspective on euthanasia, which engages with strategies of argument drawn from the Western Christian literature, so providing a contribution to the literature in the developing discipline of Islamic medical ethics. The conclusion to the study will identify the possibilities and nature of dialogue on this issue between faiths, and between monotheistic and other ethical perspectives. So a secondary objective is to examine the possibility of convergence of thought among Christians and Muslims not just on medical ethical issues, but on a range of further issues from a Western point-of-view. In this way, the thesis also aims to make a broader contribution to interfaith dialogue as well as the study of method in ethics directed toward a Western audience.
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Ojo, Matthews Akintunde. "The growth of Campus Christianity and Charismatic Movements in western Nigeria." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.327369.
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Costigan, Philip John, and n/a. "An Australian Man in Search of an Embodied Spirituality." Griffith University. School of Theology, 2005. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20070201.115833.
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This thesis attempts to answer the question of how a framework for a contemporary Australian male spirituality might be formulated. It provides a theoretical base for constructing a spirituality for Australian men that would prove more relevant than the religious patriarchal framework that many men have traditionally experienced. The study makes use of the potentially positive impact on men's spirituality, and that of Australian men in particular, of three of the most significant revolutions affecting contemporary society - the feminist, environmental and embodiment movements. A critical examination is first made of the many strands of the contemporary Men's Movement and the spiritualities associated with them to gain an overall view of the state of men's spirituality today. From this overview, a new philosophical and religious stance is developed, spiritual virism. This may be defined as a sacred worldview by and for men, which, informed by feminist spiritual principles and perspectives, results in a range of redefined personal and collective spiritualities for men in relation to the Sacred. As a result, men are challenged to work actively for the deconstruction of religious patriarchy with a view to the liberation of both men and women. Spiritual virism, in turn, defines the methodology employed throughout the thesis. It is a critical analytical methodology drawn from the disciplines of academic spirituality and feminist theory. It entails the deconstruction of life-denying forms of patriarchal religious attitudes and the construction of more life-giving forms of spirituality. As experience is central in both spiritual and feminist research, personal texts, involving my own spiritual experience expressed in my paintings and in autobiographical commentaries on them, are the prime starting points in this analysis. Discursive discourse, involving more abstract methodology, follows. The deconstruction of the traditional patriarchal understanding of the Sacred in Western Christianity is undertaken first. The construction of more life-giving images of the Sacred, drawn from parallel paradigms in feminist thealogy and earth-based religion, follows. The results are that men may find a positive re-imaging of the Sacred in non-gendered forms such as the Source or the Great Cycle of Life, or in gendered forms such as the god, radically reinterpreted, and especially in the feminine Sacred, the Goddess. Evolving contemporary perceptions of the place of the environment in spirituality, such as ecofeminism, deep ecology, the new science and ecotheology, are employed to help construct more positive spiritual practices for men with respect to nature, the earth and the cosmos. This follows a deconstruction of traditional patriarchal understandings of them within society and Western Christianity. Insights such as the Sacred embodied in the unfolding cosmos, in the living earth and in the web of all life, lead men to a more contemplative, less exploitative attitude to the world around them. Thirdly, having deconstructed the traditional patriarchal attitude of Western Christianity to the male body, the positive impact of contemporary embodiment theory and practice on a spirituality for men is sought. Implications are drawn from feminist understandings of the sacrality of the female body, from Christian embodiment theology and from the practices of body-honouring religions. A more body/earth-centred spirituality, which is non-dualistic and respects the sacredness of the body and sexuality, emerges. A unified spiritual framework draws together and integrates the positive insights of each of these studies. In seeking the application of this generic male spirituality to the Australian context, this framework is brought into dialogue with contemporary approaches to Australian spirituality. The result is a way of formulating an Australian men's spirituality from the perspective of An Australian Man in Search of an Embodied Spirituality, the title of my thesis. This spirituality is rooted in the land of Australia, where the body of the Australian man is seen as sacred and embodied within the sacred body of the Australian land. A sacred Australian mythos is explored to personalise this embodiment. This images the masculine Sacred, the god, as embodied within the man, who both move within the all-encompassing female Sacred, the Goddess, embodied within the land of Australia.
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Costigan, Philip John. "An Australian Man in Search of an Embodied Spirituality." Thesis, Griffith University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367529.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis attempts to answer the question of how a framework for a contemporary Australian male spirituality might be formulated. It provides a theoretical base for constructing a spirituality for Australian men that would prove more relevant than the religious patriarchal framework that many men have traditionally experienced. The study makes use of the potentially positive impact on men's spirituality, and that of Australian men in particular, of three of the most significant revolutions affecting contemporary society - the feminist, environmental and embodiment movements. A critical examination is first made of the many strands of the contemporary Men's Movement and the spiritualities associated with them to gain an overall view of the state of men's spirituality today. From this overview, a new philosophical and religious stance is developed, spiritual virism. This may be defined as a sacred worldview by and for men, which, informed by feminist spiritual principles and perspectives, results in a range of redefined personal and collective spiritualities for men in relation to the Sacred. As a result, men are challenged to work actively for the deconstruction of religious patriarchy with a view to the liberation of both men and women. Spiritual virism, in turn, defines the methodology employed throughout the thesis. It is a critical analytical methodology drawn from the disciplines of academic spirituality and feminist theory. It entails the deconstruction of life-denying forms of patriarchal religious attitudes and the construction of more life-giving forms of spirituality. As experience is central in both spiritual and feminist research, personal texts, involving my own spiritual experience expressed in my paintings and in autobiographical commentaries on them, are the prime starting points in this analysis. Discursive discourse, involving more abstract methodology, follows. The deconstruction of the traditional patriarchal understanding of the Sacred in Western Christianity is undertaken first. The construction of more life-giving images of the Sacred, drawn from parallel paradigms in feminist thealogy and earth-based religion, follows. The results are that men may find a positive re-imaging of the Sacred in non-gendered forms such as the Source or the Great Cycle of Life, or in gendered forms such as the god, radically reinterpreted, and especially in the feminine Sacred, the Goddess. Evolving contemporary perceptions of the place of the environment in spirituality, such as ecofeminism, deep ecology, the new science and ecotheology, are employed to help construct more positive spiritual practices for men with respect to nature, the earth and the cosmos. This follows a deconstruction of traditional patriarchal understandings of them within society and Western Christianity. Insights such as the Sacred embodied in the unfolding cosmos, in the living earth and in the web of all life, lead men to a more contemplative, less exploitative attitude to the world around them. Thirdly, having deconstructed the traditional patriarchal attitude of Western Christianity to the male body, the positive impact of contemporary embodiment theory and practice on a spirituality for men is sought. Implications are drawn from feminist understandings of the sacrality of the female body, from Christian embodiment theology and from the practices of body-honouring religions. A more body/earth-centred spirituality, which is non-dualistic and respects the sacredness of the body and sexuality, emerges. A unified spiritual framework draws together and integrates the positive insights of each of these studies. In seeking the application of this generic male spirituality to the Australian context, this framework is brought into dialogue with contemporary approaches to Australian spirituality. The result is a way of formulating an Australian men's spirituality from the perspective of An Australian Man in Search of an Embodied Spirituality, the title of my thesis. This spirituality is rooted in the land of Australia, where the body of the Australian man is seen as sacred and embodied within the sacred body of the Australian land. A sacred Australian mythos is explored to personalise this embodiment. This images the masculine Sacred, the god, as embodied within the man, who both move within the all-encompassing female Sacred, the Goddess, embodied within the land of Australia.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Theology
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Barbee, David. ""That we might be made God" themes of deification in western medieval Catholicism /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2005. http://www.tren.com.
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Dureau, Christine May. "Mixed blessings Christianity and history in women's lives on Simbo, Western Solomon Islands /." Phd thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/71278.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Macquarie University, School of Behavioural Sciences, 1994.Bibliography: leaves 357-378.
Introduction -- MANDEGUSU -- Totoso kame rane - time long ago -- Totoso rodomo - time of darkness -- EDDYSTONE ISLAND -- Tataviti bule - pacification -- Totoso taqalo - time of light/cleanliness -- SIMBO -- Tinoa - lives -- Koburu - child -- Tinana - mother -- Vinarialava - marriage -- Rereko iviva - significant woman -- Qoele, tomate - aged woman, ancestor.
This thesis considers the ethnographic history of Simbo, a small island in the western Solomon Islands. The particular focus is upon the significance of conversion to Christianity and subsequent Christian practice, in shaping social and cultural issues and practices in the 1990s. Women's lives, in particular those aspects concerned with kinship, are the lens through which historical changes are viewed. By juxtaposing the structures suggested by indigenous lifecycle categories and the differentiation inherent in individual biographical material, I try to reflect the regularities and continuities within Simbo society as well as the variability and unpredictability of sociality at any given moment. At the same time, the mutability of structure is reflected in the transformed significance of institutions and ostensibly similar practices. -- The period under scrutiny is that between c. 1900-1990, which covers social practices and events from immediately prior to pacification and the Methodist Mission's establishment in the New Georgia Group in 1902 up until the present. I argue that since pacification, the progressive development of indigenous Christianity has been the major determinant of Simbo responses to the world system. This is not to argue that pacification represented the first intrusion of Europe or the beginning of social transformations. Constructions of indigenous societies as having been static entities before contact with Europe are critiqued. Pacification, after more than a century of contact with Europe, had revolutionary implications because of its significance from local worldviews, as much as for its demonstration of British political "legitimacy". -- Christianity, then, cannot be divorced from the reality of political and economic subordination throughout the twentieth century. Nor, however, can it be simpHstically treated as merely the ideological face of expanding capitalism. Following J. Comaroff and J.L. Comaroff, I treat the non-material aspects of social life as being as significant as the material. From its earliest days, the Methodist Mission both facilitated and hampered the interests of government and traders. But it is not only mission personnel who are important here. Simbo people have consistently shaped and deployed their own Christian frameworks. If they never resisted it, they have certainly transformed what was imposed on them ninety years ago from ideology to lived hegemony.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
xxiii, 378 leaves ill. (some col.), maps
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Duffy, Eric. "God-talk in the media age, John Hick's theology of religions and western christianity." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ37795.pdf.
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Carveley, Kenneth Cyril. "Ecclesiological Docetism : in early and medieval dissent and heresy in eastern and western Christianity." Thesis, University of Leeds, 1990. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/624/.
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In the context of the continuity of Christology into ecclesiology, this thesis investigates the implications of a Docetic Christology and its consequences in the life of the church. Against the background of the development of orthodoxy and heresy in earliest Christianity it indicates a docetic Christological/ecclesiological parallel found in the Gnostic dualist tradition, countered by the catholic one of a growing orthodoxy, and the continuing influences and implications in Alexandrian theology. It notes in this setting the implicit docetic tendency in 'heretical' thought to undermine salvation history (t'eilsgeschichte), as well as the element of timeliness which could separate orthodoxy from heresy. It proceeds by looking at the exegesis of the New Testament and the Fathers of the church which indicates a Christological/ecclesiological continuity. From this context it examines the understanding of Christ as tradition and Christ as corporate which continues into the Middle Ages. It illustrates further, how concepts such as martyrdom and suffering bear an implicit relationship to Christology and ecclesiology. In considering the views of medieval movements in the context of more orthodox understandings of their age, it explores the continuity of themes found in them from early heresy, particularly dualism and its effects. It notes in particular the role of Platonism in theological interpretation, and considers the place of the establishment of the church in the legitimising of a Christological/ ecclesiological view. These themes and concepts combine to demonstrate the implications of dokesis within an alternative understanding of the church, with the rejection of an incarnational theology, and the development of new criteria for Christian life. In this respect it questions how the immediacy of mystical and spiritual experience relates to ecclesiology. Taking into account the appeal to primitivism as a motive for reform which undermined the medieval synthesis and its doctrine of society, it reviews the late medieval concept of the invisible church, which prepared the way for the Reformation. In this setting it examines the recurring themes which appear, and concludes by outlining the implications of ecclesiological docesis for the church of today.
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Storm, Ingrid. "Secular Christianity as national identity : religion, nationality and attitudes to immigration in Western Europe." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2011. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/secular-christianity-as-national-identity-religion-nationality-and-attitudes-to-immigration-in-western-europe(c424a9c7-70aa-404a-8f18-c12dbe8f3213).html.
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In political and popular discourse about immigration and integration, Europe is referred to as both fundamentally secular and fundamentally Christian depending on the context. Even if only a minority of the population in many Western European countries actually practise their religion, many continue to identify with Christianity as cultural tradition, without the beliefs and practice one would normally associate with a religious identity. Few empirical studies have analysed the relationship between religious and national identities in modern Europe. Using a combination of qualitative interviews and quantitative survey research with data from the International Social Survey Programme 2008 in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland, this thesis explores how religious affiliation, belief and practice are associated with anti-immigration attitudes and regarding Christianity as important for nationality. Factor analysis is used to explore different dimensions of national identity and how they relate to religious conceptions of the nation, and multivariate regression models address how experiencing immigration as a threat to national identity is associated with Christian affiliation and practice. The main finding is that Christian identification is positively associated with seeing immigration as a threat to national identity, whereas churchgoing is negatively associated with anti-immigration attitudes. There are two identifiable mechanisms that explain this finding. Firstly, 'Christian' can signify national cultural heritage or white ethnicity rather than faith. Hence those who identify as Christian, however loosely, are on average more likely to be nationalist or xenophobic. Secondly, since churchgoers will be more sympathetic to religion in general they also tend to be less negative towards Muslims and other religious minorities. The findings are contextualised through the use of qualitative interviews and comparative analysis of countries, addressing both the external influences and internal experiences that contribute to specific associations.
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Kuhn, Marko. "Prophetic Christianity in Western Kenya political, cultural and theological aspects of African independent churches." Frankfurt, M. Berlin Bern Bruxelles New York, NY Oxford Wien Lang, 2007. http://d-nb.info/986562130/04.
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Meade, Joan Anne Delsol. "Pastoral care in disaster : a theological reflection." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/2238.
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The research explores three interrelated theological problems – human suffering as encountered during the eruptions of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat, the inadequacy of existing Protestant religious traditions on Montserrat to cope with the crisis situation, and the weaknesses of recommended models of pastoral care inherited from Western Christianity. The latter two concerns became obvious at a time of heightened demand for the churches to offer consolation in the face of natural disaster. At the intersection of the three stated concerns is the researcher who served as a pastor in the context of the disaster. Through critical utilisation of Thomas Groome’s practical theological method of Shared Christian Praxis, she acts as interlocutor between the theological reflections of focus groups and theological statements, including contributions from cultural art forms, originating in the wider community of people resident on Montserrat during the eruptions. Irreconcilable differences between the practice of pastoral care and the theological bases for the ministry of care are exposed. The exploration of the spaces between expounded theory and actual practice of pastoral care in this research yields resources to explain the discrepancies and to help move forward the process for a praxis oriented approach to pastoral care that is both theologically valid and contextually relevant. In identifying sources of traditional wisdom useful for providing care in disaster and for developing culturally appropriate models of care and counselling, the research also suggests Shared Christian Praxis as valuable to Caribbean pastoral theological method. It is also recommended as a way of caring and doing theology in disaster situations.
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Hardman, Arlene A. "Contextualization western missionary teaching methods and materials in a Hispanic context /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1991. http://www.tren.com.
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Lampe, Frederick P. "Right rites, faith and the corporate good Anglican Christianity and social change in Western Kenya /." Related electronic resource: Current Research at SU : database of SU dissertations, recent titles available full text, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU0NWQmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=3739.
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Higgs, Michael John. "The impact of the Western conceptualization of the Christian gospel on its communication in a non-Western environment, with particular reference to the AmaXhosa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/356.
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This thesis examines the extent and nature of the impact of the contextualization of Christianity upon the amaXhosa from the missionary irruption in the nineteenth century to the present day, and proceeds to examine the implications of this impact for the presentation of the Christian gospel in the contemporary Eastern Cape. Chapter One describes the problem, offers definitions of key concepts and outlines the procedural method for the rest of the thesis. Chapter Two deals with the question of the cross-cultural communication of the Christian gospel in theory. Doctrinal questions such as the nature of the gospel are examined. The basic hermeneutical issue of the categorization of doctrinal tenets according to whether they are required or simply permitted is discussed in terms of Osborne's categories: 'cardinal', 'non-cardinal'. Tenets which are found to be 'anti-scriptural' would be rejected. Specific hermeneutical topics such as language and meaning, symbolics, textuality and orality are then discussed. This is followed by a survey of secular influences which affect a conceptualization. This chapter is preparatory to, and definitive for, the discourse which follows. Chapter Three outlines the cultural heritage from which the Western missionary contextualization of Christianity developed. It shows the extent to which this presentation of the gospel was dependent upon the philosophy which Britain and Europe inherited from the classical Greek culture. More modern developments such as the Enlightenment, Empiricism and Historicism bring the discourse up to the point at which the missionaries arrived. Chapter Four deals with the initial encounter between the missionaries and the amaXhosa. A brief account is given of the nature of the religious and spiritual aspects of the Xhosa culture which first encountered Christianity. The doctrinal section of this chapter deals with those doctrines in the missionary message which became issues for the amaXhosa. The hermeneutical section shows how the cultural setting of the West (vii) affected both the contextualization by the missionaries and the conceptualization by the amaXhosa. To a large extent, the missionaries made the double mistake of imposing their culture on the amaXhosa and failing to accord respect, even recognition, to the Xhosa culture. This amounted to imperialism, which, together with the political imperialism of Britain as the colonizing power, evoked responses from the Xhosa community which are outlined in section 4.4, including those of Nxele and Ntsikana. Because the impact of the Western contextualization is an on-going phenomenon, the thesis continues to trace its development up to the present time. Apartheid is briefly mentioned in Chapter Five. The point is made that all white people were perceived by the amaXhosa to be Christians, and the architects and practitioners of apartheid claimed to be Christians. This ideology therefore had a direct effect on the Xhosa conceptualization of the gospel. The architects of apartheid actually believed that they were accepting God's gift and mandate. This chapter includes Black theological reaction to apartheid in terms of the South African version of Liberation theology. Chapter Six returns to Western Theology in order to bring the sphere of discourse from the point at which it left off at the end of Chapter Three up to the present time. The schools of thought in this period are: Secularism and Existentialism, together with their theological extension, Demythologization. The main religious movements are the Charismatic Movement and Neo-Pentecostalism. Postmodernism came as a later philosophical school, to be followed by Globality. Chapter Seven deals with black South African reactive and proactive responses. The predominant theologies are those of Dwane, Buthelezi, Boesak and Mtuze. Although Dwane, Buthelezi and Boesak came on the scene at the same time as the black theologians reviewed in Chapter Five, their work is placed here because it differs significantly from the more radical responses of the latter. Mtuze is post-apartheid, and responds to the developments outlined in Chapter Six. Chapter Eight draws the findings of the thesis together, by considering how the Christian Gospel ought to be presented to the various contemporary sub-cultures of the amaXhosa. (viii) The last Chapter applies the findings of the thesis to the task in hand. The desired outcomes are listed and briefly discussed. The task ahead is enunciated in terms of manpower and other resources for the effective communication of the Christian gospel in the twenty-first century. The past, present and projected programmes of the Bible Institute Eastern Cape [the target institution] are described and assessed. Finally, topics which presented themselves in the course of the preparation of this thesis are suggested for future research.
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Su, Ching. "The printing presses of the London Missionary Society among the Chinese." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1996. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317522/.
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China became subject to various Western influences in the nineteenth century. Conspicuous in the realm of technology was the transformation of printing from xylography to Western typography. The new method was introduced by Protestant missionaries and mainly by those of the London Missionary Society (LMS). The motive behind this transformation was their hope to print the Bible and by an adequate method, but later the impact of this technological change extended widely beyond religion, resulting in the burgeoning and rapid development of modern Chinese publishing enterprises, including newspapers, periodicals and books. Based mainly upon the LMS archives and the Chinese works printed by LMS missionaries, this study is a history of the LMS's printing presses, beginning with their establishment in the very early nineteenth century until their closure in 1873. The two principal themes in this study are: first, the missionaries' application of Western technology to Chinese printing; and secondly, the role and response of the Chinese to this transformation. Whilst trying to demonstrate the interaction between missionaries and natives in the process of change, an attempt is also made, in the context of contemporary China, to interpret how Western printing technology gradually gained influence in native minds. The printing press did not achieve as much as expected in helping to spread Christianity in China. However, the LMS missionaries were able to produce the first fount of Chinese type and raised Chinese awareness of its greater efficiency, compared with their thousand-year-old blocks, as an agent for the introduction of modern knowledge and as a means to transform their old society.
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Scott, John Brian. ""Responding to the social crisis": The Baptist Union of Western Canada and social Christianity, 1908-1922." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/6012.
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Kirchheiner, Ole. "Culture and Christianity negotiated in Hindu society : a case study of a church in Central and Western Nepal." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2016. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/21642/.
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This thesis examines in what ways and to what extent Nepali Christians retain or change their way of living after they become Christians. This is achieved through a case study approach focusing on four selected congregations. These cases examine the life of the Christians from conversion through socio-religious negotiations of boundaries to cross-religious relationships and friendships. These cases are also a lens for identifying whether or not Nepali Christians connect in a logical way with the local culture through an inculturation process. The research methodology draws on primary source data from fieldwork and recorded interviews. The qualitative data are analysed using Grounded Theory Analysis which at the same time serves as a constant comparison data validation in examining internal and interrelated consistency of interviews. Secondary source data encompass literature ranging from the disciplines of anthropology and theology to Nepalese history. The conclusions reveal that, when practising their belief among traditional religious people, Christians demonstrate spiritual insight about traditional religious life. These insights provide opportunities for Christians to play key roles in local Nepalese life. Negotiation of both social and religious boundaries has proved to be challenging to most Christians particularly within their own exclusive domains. Christians have however made attempts to address any potential conflicts across the religious divide. The most significant contributions of this research are: i) to demonstrate how Christians proactively negotiate socio-religious boundaries; ii) in doing so to provide information about Christians’ attitude to traditional Nepalis and to other Christians, and iii) to provide evidence for and about Christian individual sovereignty during decision-making processes. These are new insights about Nepalese Christianity and the process of inculturation.
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Bellis, Stephen. "Catholic chaplains on the Western Front, 1915-1919 : Lancashire's pivotal role." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2015. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2042042/.
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An examination of the spiritual and temporal roles of Catholic chaplains in WW1 in France and Belgium. All the formative influences at home are assessed from religious, political, social, and geographic perspectives. The roles of the bishops in England and Ireland are reviewed and how their post war ambitions were interpreted at the Front are explained. Lancashire's traditional Catholic strength makes it a significant contributor, not least as the fulcrum between Irish and English catholics.
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Tyler, Aaron M. Davis Derek Brackney William H. Nederman Cary J. "Conceiving coexistence : an exposition on the divergent Western and Islamic conceptualizations of tolerance /." Waco, Tex. : Baylor University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2104/4189.
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COSTA, RODRIGO CARDOSO CONDEIXA DA. "FROM DIVORCE TO ROMANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RUPTURE BETWEEN THEOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY IN WESTERN CHRISTIANITY FACING INTEGRATING PARADIGMS." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2009. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=15179@1.
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PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIROCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
A presente pesquisa versa sobre o divórcio entre teologia e espiritualidade no cristianismo ocidental do século XII em diante, que perdurou até o século XX. A partir de então, essa nefasta ruptura passa a ser seriamente questionada, denunciada. As vozes de alguns dos mais importantes teólogos hodiernos se levantam em prol de uma nova unidade. Contudo, a teologia hoje, em pleno século XXI, ainda se vê em busca de paradigmas integradores, de um novo romance. Em um primeiro momento, abordamos essa realidade olhando a epistemologia teológica no Ocidente tal como se configura nos dias atuais. Assim emergem algumas questões: o desafio que a pósmodernidade impõe e como a mesma reclama uma ampliação do conceito de racionalidade; a necessidade de um novo paradigma em teologia, que leve a sério os questionamentos dessa sensibilidade cultural, fortemente marcada pelo contraste com a chamada sensibilidade moderno-racionalista. Sensibilidade que tenta superar. Portanto, veremos duplamente a realidade da relação entre teologia e espiritualidade, a partir de dois olhares. Um vislumbrando o hoje dessa realidade, onde nosso enfoque será mais de caráter epistemológico. Outro, a partir de um olhar histórico-teológico. Por fim, colocaremos o diagnóstico frente a paradigmas de integração. Dois serão esses paradigmas. O primeiro paradigma virá da metodologia teológica do teólogo neo-calvinista (reformado), Karl Barth. O segundo paradigma virá da teologia latinoamericana da libertação.
The present research is about the divorce between theology and spirituality in western Christianity since XIIth century, which lasted till the XXth century. Starting from then, that disastrous rupture is being seriously questioned and denounced. The voices of some of the most important theologians of that century rise in defense of a new unit. However, theology today, even in the middle of the XXIst century, is still in search of integrating paradigms, meaning to say, in search of a new romance. In a first moment, we approached that reality, looking at the western theological epistemology, just as it is configured in current days. Some questions emerge from this: the challenge that post-modernity imposes and the way it claims for an amplification of the rationality concept; the need for a new paradigm in theology, one that takes seriously the questions of that cultural sensibility, which is strongly sealed by the contrast with the so called modern-rationalist sensitivity. A sensitivity that tries to overcome the divorce. Therefore, we will see a two-fold reality of the relationship between theology and spirituality, starting from two glances: one contemplating today´s reality, where our focus will be more of epistemological character, and another, starting from a historical-theological glance about that relationship. Finally, we will place the diagnosis face to face to some integrating paradigms. They will be two. The first one will come from the reformed theologian s Karl Barth. The second will come from Latin-American liberation theology.
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Rolls, Jonathan James. "God and the world : some interpretations of the 'transcendental' analogy of being in Western theology from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries." Thesis, University of London, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.325519.
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Wyneken, JonDavid K. "Driving out the demons : German churches, the Western Allies, and the internationalization of the Nazi past, 1945-1952 /." View abstract, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3282701.
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Kungua, Benoit Awazi Mbambi. "From the God of the Ancestors to the God of Western Christianity: The Political Question of God in Postcolonial Africa." Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology, 2009. http://digital.library.duq.edu/u?/bet,3281.
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Clapton, John A. "Pastoral care for clergy: The need, some program directions and desired outcomes among ministers of Churches of Christ in Western Australia." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1997. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/901.
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The purpose of this study was to consider the pastoral care needs of Churches of Christ ministers working in parishes, propose some directions that a programmed approach to that pastoral care could take, and outline the kinds of desired outcomes to be looked for among them in Western Australia. It was demonstrated that, as with other helping professionals within the Human Services domain, ministers experience stressors which impinge on their well-being and their effectiveness as care-givers. This study examined the different contexts within which ministers must function, examining the complexities of their duties, the hazards they face and the effects these have on their well-being and the performance of their duties within their professional and personal lives. The study looked at how to respond to the needs of this workforce, proposing some directions in which the program of pastoral care could take at each of the three levels identified as significant, the structural level, the professional level and the personal level. These were proposed in the context of an articulation of the desired outcomes that should result from the establishment of those systems of care. Finally, consideration was given to possible evaluators that would demonstrate the extent to which those desired outcomes had been achieved. While these were not the primary focus of the study, consideration of evaluators is a necessary adjunct to any programmatic approach to pastoral care.
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Esau, Christie. "Queering Christianity: Sexual and Spiritual Identity Navigation in LGBTTQIA+ Folks At Trinity Western University and the Implications for Practitioners of Psychotherapy." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/37000.
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This thesis considers the lived experiences of LGBTTQIA+ students who currently attend or have attended Trinity Western University (TWU), a private Christian university that requires all staff, students and faculty to sign a community covenant expressing marriage is between a man and a woman. Importantly, TWU is currently seeking to start a law school, which faces great opposition due to TWU’s historical and current exclusion of queer folks. Subsequently, this thesis draws on data gathered from six qualitative interviews with current or past TWU students who also identify as LGBTTQIA+, women and/or gender non binary with the hope of making space for those folks while also offering criticisms and recommendations for TWU to consider. Additionally, this thesis seeks to provide clinical recommendations for counsellors and psychotherapists as they work to support folks at the intersections of spiritual and sexual identity in an affirmative and supportive manner.
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Foiera, Manuela. "The translation and domestication of an oriental religion into a western Catholic country : the case of Soka Gakkai in Italy." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2007. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/2403/.
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This thesis is premised on the fundamental notion of religious translation as a process of interpretation and adaptation that arises out of a complex iinguistic and cultural interplay. Its aim is to examine the types of interpretative problems one encounters as a society deeply rooted in Biblical and Christian practices struggles to integrate the rituals and formulae of Buddhism. As part of a cultural system, the translation of a religion cannot be explored in a vacuum, but needs to be viewed in the mutual interdependence with other elements of such system. Starting from Giambattista Vico's hypothesis that 'whenever men can form no idea of distant and unknown things, they judge them by what is familiar and at hand' (1744) this thesis aims to look at the interplay of local and foreign traditions in the translation and domestication of a Japanese new religious movement, Soka Gakkai, that has migrated from East to West. Through the notion of 'cultural repertoire', i.e. the aggregate of options utilized by a group of people for the organization of life', this work explores the extent in which Catholicism in Italy has influenced the formation of both religious sense and religious vocabulary. It will be argued that in Italy, the translation of an entire set of Japanese key-concepts pertaining to the sphere of religion has been measured on the yardstick of Christian vocabulary, and thus influenced by the search of 'perfect equivalences'. This operation has, in time, secured the successful dissemination of Soka Gakkai in the territory. At the same time, however, the overlap of Catholic and Buddhists practices has given rise to a peculiar form of hybrid religion that can be defined as 'Catho- Buddhism'.
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Ballard, Catherine Alison. "Can't Be Tamed: A Feminist Analysis of Apocrypha and Other Scripture." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/104.
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This paper is my own unique feminist analysis of certain apocryphal texts. Though the texts I use have common themes, they are divided into what I consider the three most societally important aspects of an ancient woman’s identity: virgin, mother, and whore. The Acts of Thecla and The Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena deal with virginity. II Maccabees, The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, and select chapters of Augustine’s Confessions represent motherhood. Finally, the hagiographies Life of Pelagia and Life of Mary navigate through the mire of sexualities that deviate from norms.
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Bowes, Tanya-Ann. "Discourses around abortion in a low-income community in the Western Cape." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002448.
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Since the introduction of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act in 1996, research concerning abortion has primarily focused on public health issues or on the personal experience of women. The cultural and social context within which women experience a termination of pregnancy and in which services are offered has received less attention. The purpose of this study was to analyse public discourses around abortion in a low-income community in the Western Cape. Focus groups were used to gather data from three women’s and three men’s groups. The findings suggest that the agenda of pro-life discourses in this community is not always to defend the life of the fetus. Rather these discourses serve to protect, preserve and maintain the power of the traditional nuclear family, headed by the husband, over women’s reproduction and sexuality. Religious and moral arguments serve to disguise the gender issues at stake. However, instances also occurred where TOP was supported if the husband participated in the decision-making process. Therefore, his presence normalised abortion. Thus, the prevailing public discourses around abortion in this community either support or negate abortion in order to further the agenda of patriarchy.
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Geho, Benjamin Francis. "Cross-cultural experiences as an integral part of the field work requirements of the Baptist Theological College of Western Brazil." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1995. http://www.tren.com.
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Kirkpatrick, Matthew D. "Kierkegaard and a religionless Christianity : the place of Søren Kierkegaard in the thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3d3d8d6b-0fa4-41f8-89e9-ded63ac8c291.
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The central aim of this thesis is to analyse the influence of Kierkegaard on Bonhoeffer. This relationship has been almost universally recognized. And yet this area has received no comprehensive study, limited within the secondary literature to footnotes, digressions, and the occasional paper. Furthermore, what little literature there is has been plagued by several stereotypes. First, discussion is often limited to Discipleship. Second, Kierkegaard has been identified as an individualist and acosmist who rejected the church, leading many to consider Bonhoeffer the ecumenist and ecclesiologist as selectively agreeing with Kierkegaard, but ultimately rejecting his overall stance. This thesis will argue that neither stereotype is true, and suggest (a), that Kierkegaard’s influence can be found throughout Bonhoeffer’s work, and (b) that although a more stereotypical perspective may be present in SC, by the end of his life Bonhoeffer had gained a far deeper understanding across the breadth of Kierkegaard’s work. The importance of this thesis is not simply to ‘plug the gap’ of scholarship in this area, but also to suggest the importance of analysing Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer together. This will focus on three specific areas. First, alongside the influence of Kierkegaard on Bonhoeffer, it will argue for the importance of using Bonhoeffer as an interpretive tool for understanding Kierkegaard. This thesis will show how Bonhoeffer adopted and adapted Kierkegaard’s work to his own situation, forcing Kierkegaard to answer questions that were not present during his own life. In this way, we are led to compare Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer as individuals, and not simply their static declarations. Secondly, against the tendency to consider Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer’s final attacks on Christendom as unfortunate endings to otherwise profound careers, it will be suggested that these attacks stand as the fulfilment of their earlier thought. It will be argued that despite their different contexts, both Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer were led to the same conclusions concerning Christendom. Thirdly, given Kierkegaard’s submission to indirect communication and his somewhat 'prophetic' proclamations concerning one who will come after him and reform, this thesis will ask whether Bonhoeffer stands as something of a fulfilment to Kierkegaard’s thought in the guise of a Kierkegaardian ‘reformer’.
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Sonju, David N. "(Re-)visions of transcendence : theological responses to the late-modern eclipse of transcendence in the thought of Robert W. Jenson and Alexander Schmemann." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5993.
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This thesis investigates the significance of the Church's experience of transcendence in the theologies of Robert W. Jenson (b. 1930) and Alexander Schmemann (1921-1983). Both theologians emphasize the indispensable role of eschatology for Christian theology, but they offer strikingly different accounts of what that means. Following an introductory chapter, the first half of the thesis (chapters 2-4) clarifies the loss of transcendence by following Jenson's and Schmemann's respective theological diagnoses of the chief problems facing the Church in the late-modern West. Jenson argues that a long hidden error in the ontology of the doctrine of God is the underlying cause of the nihilism pervading Western culture. Schmemann perceives secularism as the pervasive cultural backdrop to Christian faith in the West, identifying the betrayal of the Orthodox Church's liturgical experience of the Kingdom of God as the chief culprit. By placing their critiques in dialog with one another I further trace the mutually diagnosed problem of the Church's debilitated eschatology to underlying problems in received ontologies of transcendence. The second half of the thesis (chapters 5-7) explores Jenson's and Schmemann's theological proposals for rehabilitating eschatology. Jenson revises the ontology of God to more adequately fit the God identified by the gospel. His narratival ontology enables him to conceptualize God's transcendence in terms of triune faithfulness through time rather than in metaphysical immunity to time. Schmemann retrieves a symbolic ontology in order to affirm the sacramentality of the world by which God's transcendence can be mystically experienced in the Church's liturgical worship. I argue that Jenson's theological rejection of timelessness rests upon historicist assumptions which Schmemann's eschatological theory has resources to withstand and that, furthermore, theology should preserve apophatic humility rooted in the aseity of God rather than historicize the doctrine of God as Jenson proposes.
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Holmgren, E. Henry. "Signs and wonders in Africa a biblical perspective in interaction with western missions, African independent churches and African traditional religion, with particular reference to Zambia /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1989. http://www.tren.com.
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Kerr, John R. "The times they are a-changin' how change is affecting three rural churches in western Pennsylvania /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2003. http://www.tren.com.
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Thomas, Corban Dean. "Slavery, a colossal crime a religious and political biographical thesis of Ovid Butler (1801-1881) /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2005. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p062-0265.
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Millsaps, Kevin Teed. "The Development of Apophatic Theology from the Pre-Socratics to the Early Christian Fathers." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2006. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2178.
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It is apparent that what is characterized as Christian Apophatic Theology has been poorly related to its antecedents existing in Greco-Roman philosophy. This study proposed the following research hypothesis: Greco-Roman philosophy exerted a structural and terminological influence upon Christian apophatic theology.
To prove or disprove this hypothesis, apophatic terminology and textual structures in Greco-Roman philosophical texts were compared to classic Christian apophatic texts, primarily from the Apostolic and Cappadocian Fathers. Throughout this process, Michael Sells' clasic definition of apophatic language, consisting of the apearance of the metaphor of emanation, dis-ontological language, and dialectical language of immanence and transcendence, was used as a benchmark for the occurrence of apophatic language in the texts examined.
It was found that Greco-Roman pagan apophatic philosophy exerted significantly less structural than terminological influence. Thus, this research will strengthen claims that Platonic and Neo-Platonic terminology was simply overlaid atop a pre-existing Semitic-Christian apophatic framework.
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Rudbøg, Tim. "H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophy in context : the construction of meaning in modern Western esotericism." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/9926.
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H.P. Blavatsky’s (1831-1891) Theosophy has been defined as central to the history of modern Western spirituality and esotericism, yet to this date no major study has mapped and analysed the major themes of Blavatsky’s writings, how Blavatsky used the concept ‘Theosophy’ or to what extent she was engaged with the intellectual contexts of her time. Thus the purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap. The proposed theoretical framework is based on the centrality of language in the production of intellectual products, such as texts—but contrary to the dominant focus on strategies, rhetoric and power this thesis will focus on the construction of meaning coupled with a set of methodological tools based on contextual analysis, intellectual history and intertextuality. In addition to an overview of Blavatsky research this thesis will map and analyse Blavatsky’s use of the concept ‘Theosophy’ as well as Blavatsky’s primary discourses, identified as: (1) discourse for ancient knowledge, (2) discourse against Christian dogmatism, (3) discourse against the modern natural sciences and materialism, (4) discourse against modern spiritualism, (5) discourse for system and (7) discourse for universal brotherhood. In mapping and analysing Blavatsky’s discourses, it was found that her construction of meaning was significantly interconnected with broader intellectual contexts, such as ‘modern historical consciousness’, ‘critical enlightenment ideas’, studies in religion, studies in mythology, the modern sciences, spiritualism, systemic philosophy, reform movements and practical ethics. It, for example, becomes clear that Blavatsky’s search for an ancient ‘Wisdom Religion’ was actually a part of a common intellectual occupation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that her critique of the Christian dogmas was equally a common intellectual trend. To read Blavatsky’s discourses as the idiosyncratic strategies of an esotericist, isolated from their larger contexts or only engaged with them in order to legitimise minority views would therefore largely fail to account for the result of this thesis: that in historical actuality, they were a part of the larger cultural web of meaning.
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Taouk, Youssef. "The Roman Catholic church in Britain during the First World War a study in political leadership /." View thesis, 2003. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20040701.164232/index.html.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2003."A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, June, 2003." Includes bibliographical references.
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Stucke, Walter Joseph. "The Direct and Indirect Contributions of Western Missionaries to Korean Nationalism during the Late Choson and Early Japanese Annexation Periods 1884-1920." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2011. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1338.
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This thesis sets out to demonstrate the role of Western missionaries and Korean Christians, especially Protestants, on Korean nationalism. The first significant introduction of Protestantism into Korea came in 1884. Within just over thirty years, the Protestant Church in Korea expanded and many of the nationalist leaders took active roles in the Korean nationalist movement against Japanese imperialism. This thesis consults both Western and Korean primary sources including period newspapers. Some of the Korean primary sources were translated from Korean into English and others were originally written in English by Koreans. Also consulted are many valuable secondary sources which help further shed light on the subject at hand and give credence to the thesis. Chapters 2-4 show the direct contributions of Western missionaries to Korean nationalism and Chapters 5-7 show the indirect contributions of Western missionaries by the direct involvement of Korean Christians in their fight for independence against the old Korean order and Japan.
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Vann, Barry Aron. ""Space of time or distance of place" Presbyterian diffusion in south-western Scotland and Ulster, 1603-1690 /." Thesis, Connect to e-thesis, 2006. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/699/.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 2006.Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Faculty of Law, Business and Social Sciences, Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, Faculty of Art, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow, 2006. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.
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Black, William R. "Went off to the Shakers: The First Converts of South Union." TopSCHOLAR®, 2013. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1243.
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In 1807 the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing (Shakers)established a society near the Gasper River in Logan County, Kentucky. The society was soon named South Union, and it lasted until 1922, the longest-lasting Shaker community west of the Appalachians. Most of the first Shaker converts in Logan County had only a few years beforehand participated in a series of evangelical Presbyterian camp meetings known collectively as the Kentucky Revival, the Revival of 1800, or the Great Revival.Though Presbyterian revivalism and Shakerism shared certain characteristics (particularl millennialism and enthusiastic forms of worship), there were many differences between them as well; Shakerism was not necessarily a logical continuation of the Great Revival. So why did so many Scots-Irish Presbyterians in south-central Kentucky convert to Shakerism? How did conversion make sense to them? And how was Shaker conversion understood by those who did not convert? Through a close reading of primary sources, this thesis attempts to answer these questions. Shaker conversion is better understood as an interaction within a community rather than as a transaction between an individual and God. The decade or so preceding the establishment of South Union—the disestablishment of state churches, the mass migration to the trans-Appalachian west, the burgeoning market economy—was, for many Scots-Irish Presbyterians, a period of social disorder. This was especially true in south-central Kentucky, where the local Presbyterian establishment was riven by schism. The Great Revival was a brief but ultimately disappointing creation of an alternate community, a way of escape from the surrounding chaos. Shakerism offered the apotheosis of that alternate community. South Union was a camp meeting that never ended. However, the denizens of south-central Kentucky who did not convert to Shakerism were quite hostile to the new sect. They understood conversion as a form of betrayal, a renunciation of a community which they still identified with. This understanding became especially clear during a divorce case involving William and Sally Boler, in which William Boler’s rights as a man and a citizen became circumspect because of his conversion to Shakerism. Since the mid-nineteenth century, Shaker conversion has become less threatening to the outside world. Indeed, the popular imagination has co-opted South Union as quintessentially American. By reclaiming the Shakers from the margins of society, popular memory has effectively erased conversion from the Shaker story. After all, Shaker conversion was never as much about belief or even practice as it was about a distinct and separate community.
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McLean, Patrica Rose. "Thai Protestant Christianity : a study of cultural and theological interactions between Western missionaries (the American Presbyterian Mission and the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) and indigenous Thai Churches (the Church of Christ in Thailand and the associated churches of Thailand-Central)." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/30494.
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Montrose, Christopher Cleveland. "Christian Missions and Islam: The Reformed Church in America and the Origins of the Moslem World." unrestricted, 2006. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11302006-134821/.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006.Title from title screen. Mohammed Hassen Ali, committee chair; Ian Fletcher, committee member. Electronic text (109 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed July 23, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-109).
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Cuff, Simon L. "Paul's 'new moment' : the reception of Paul in Alain Badiou, Terry Eagleton, Slavoj Zizek." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:aac1f812-2d61-4fa0-ac8d-e107b174e7f2.
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This thesis traces the ‘New Moment’ in Pauline reception in the writings of Alain Badiou, Terry Eagleton and Slavoj Žižek. It explores how the Pauline epistles are read and feature in their thought. An answer to the question, 'why Paul?' prompts reflection on what it is to read and understand the Apostle. An introduction sets out the writers of this ‘New Moment’ [Jacob Taubes, Giorgio Agamben, Stanislas Breton, as well as Badiou, Eagleton and Žižek] before isolating the figures of this study. The reception of this ‘moment’ by mainstream New Testament studies is considered, and with it the charge of ‘appropriation’. The concept of ‘appropriation’ is explored, and a definition arrived at, for the purpose of evaluating the readings we will go on to discover. As part of this notion of ‘appropriation’, the turn to Gadamer in recent New Testament study is surveyed. We suggest another potential hermeneutical approach that derives from Gadamer is possible. Thus, the object of this study is both an instance of, and means by which to critique the understanding of, New Testament Wirkungsgeschichte. Each of our thinkers is then considered in turn. The outline for each chapter is the same. A brief introduction to the figure with bibliographical background salient to his Pauline reading precedes some textual examples indicative of that reading. We then move to analyse the manner of that reading and certain conceptual problems which are revealed in the course of the engagement with Paul. The conclusion analyses the approaches, and reasons for turning, to Paul on the part of these thinkers. Salient differences between each thinker's reading are noted and the charge of appropriation is evaluated afresh. The implications of such readings for conventional biblical criticism are considered, and the success of an approach which explores a Gadamerean-inspired interest in reception in the manner adopted by this thesis is judged.
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Gellrich, Arne L. "...And Reconcile Us With Evil : A Critical Investigation of the Imagery of Good and Evil in Western Religion, Film and Politics." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-311275.
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With an eye on the current social and political situation in Europe, and with regards to the so-termed refugee crisis, this study aims to map the discourse on assumed good and evil shared among Western cultures, as represented by Sweden, Germany and the United States. The thesis takes its point of departure from essayistic reflections of the philosophical tradition and theological and religious analytical positions respectively. These are then followed by two investigative main chapters, designed along the lines of Norman Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA). The first of these chapters studies the narratives of good and evil employed in the mainstream cinema of the past ten years in the mentioned countries. The second analysis is made up of three case studies, in turn looking at similar narratives in the campaigns of the two main competitors in the 2016 presidential race, a German protest movement against free trade agreements, and the everyday political communication of Swedish Facebook users. In a final chapter, findings from all four preceding chapters are brought together in an attempt to sketch an image of the congruences and discrepancies of narratives on good and evil in the overall discursive field. The thesis finds that the discursive field shared by the three investigated societies is largely homogenous, with certain imagery permeating all analysed orders of discourse. Many of the reoccurring images are however likely rooted in the human psyche and therefore less dependent on discourse practice. Furthermore, certain principles are agreed upon in theory while not reproduced in social practice. Themes assigned to either good or evil often seem to take on secondary functions next to assumed fixed identities of in- and out-groups. Being a qualitative study, this thesis aims at giving an overview and delivering a base for further investigations rather than providing definitive answers.
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Bentelid, Dina, and Olle Tellqvist. "Frimurarna och religionen : En religionssociologisk studie av Svenska Frimurare Ordens plats i det samtida religiösa landskapet." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för lärande, humaniora och samhälle, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-39037.
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The aim of this study is to situate the locus of the Swedish branch of freemasonry, Svenska Frimurare Orden, in the contemporary religious landscape. The research questions are as follows: On what grounds can the Swedish branch of freemasonry be considered religious? If the Swedish branch of freemasonry is considered religious, how does it fit into the contemporary society among the plethora of new religious movements? In regard to the first question, a definition of religion is required, thus Bruce Lincoln’s theory with four domains of religion is used to decide to what extent the Swedish branch of freemasonry can be described as a religion or a religious movement. To be able to answer the second research question the four sociological narratives as presented by Meredith B. McGuire are used to analyze the results of our study. The results are reached through examination of the common laws of the Swedish branch of freemasonry and the data found on their official website, combined with hermeneutic interpretation. Our conclusion is that the Swedish branch of freemasonry through its explicit connection to Christianity, in addition to its esoteric and occult practices both fits into a historical continuity regarding religion in Sweden, as well as with contemporary societal currents regarding new religious movements.
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Ridge, Hannah Elizabeth. "Designing a Strategy to Reduce Wedding Conflict for Engaged Christian Couples with Progressive Values." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1588331262095651.
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Babík, Milan. "In pursuit of salvation : Woodrow Wilson and American liberal internationalism as secularized eschatology." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2009. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0ba3fcd9-ecbc-4789-83c9-3fdb1c290aea.
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This work reinterprets the idea of progress at the heart of Woodrow Wilson’s liberal internationalism through the lens of secularization theory, which holds that modern philosophies of progress stand on religious foundations and represent secularized vestiges of biblical eschatology. Previous applications of this insight reveal a selective pattern: Whereas totalitarian and illiberal narratives of progress such as Nazism and Marxism-Leninism have received lavish attention and spawned extensive political religions literature, liberal progressivism has been ignored. This dissertation rectifies this neglect. Initial chapters present the biblical conception of history as the myth of salvation, introduce secularization through the writings of Karl Löwith and Hans Blumenberg, respectively its principal proponent and main critic, and test the limits of the concept to confirm its applicability to liberal progressivism. The main part aims secularization theory at Wilson’s idea of progress in the broader context of American liberal thought. From the 17th-century Puritan vision of a “city upon a hill” to the 19th-century doctrine of “manifest destiny”, biblical eschatology defined the way Americans envisioned history and their role in it, giving rise to a sort of liberal-republican millennialism. Wilson was no exception: Considering faith essential to authentic knowledge, he regarded history as a providential process, the United States as a divinely appointed redeemer nation, and himself as a Christian statesman performing God’s work in a fallen world. His foreign policy was fundamentally a religious mission to transform international relations according to the Bible, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of salvation. The dissertation demonstrates the eschatological foundations of his statecraft through specific examples and draws attention to their illiberal and totalizing implications. Final passages note the enduring relevance of Wilson’s principles and, based on their reinterpretation in this work, reflect critically on their suitability as a guide for future American foreign policy.
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van, der Lugt Mara. "'Pierre, or the ambiguities' : Bayle, Jurieu and the Dictionnaire Historique et Critique." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:02bbbbda-7fa3-4c1c-af05-99842a9217e0.
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This thesis presents a new study of Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (1696), with special reference to Bayle’s polemical engagement with the theologian Pierre Jurieu. While recent years have seen a surge of interest in Bayle, there is as yet no consensus on how to interpret Bayle’s ambiguous stance on reason and religion, and how to make sense of the Dictionnaire: although specific parts of the Dictionnaire have received much scholarly attention, the work has hardly been studied as a whole, and little is known about how the Dictionnaire was influenced by Bayle’s polemic with Jurieu. This thesis aims to establish a new method for reading the Dictionnaire, under a dual premise: first, that the work can only be rightly understood when placed within the immediate context of its production in the 1690s; second, that it is only through an appreciation of the mechanics of the work as a whole, and of the role played by its structural and stylistic particularities, that we can attain an appropriate interpretation of its parts. Special attention is paid to the heated theological-political conflict between Bayle and Jurieu in the 1690s, which had a profound influence on the project of the dictionary and on several of its major themes, such as the tensions in the relationship between the intellectual sphere of the Republic of Letters and the political state, but also the danger of religious fanaticism spurring intolerance and war. The final chapters demonstrate that Bayle’s clash with Jurieu was also one of the driving forces behind Bayle’s reflection on the problem of evil; they expose the fundamentally problematic nature of both Bayle’s theological association with Jurieu, and his self-defence in the second edition of the Dictionnaire. The title of this thesis comes from Herman Melville’s novel: ‘Pierre, or the Ambiguities’.
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Rasmus-Vorrath, Jack Kendrick. "The honesty of thinking : reflections on critical thinking in Nietzsche's middle period and the later Heidegger." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:effe66e1-235d-46a9-a570-b42dceb7e92f.
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This dissertation engages with contemporary interpretations of Nietzsche and Heidegger on the issue of self-knowing with respect to the notions of honesty and authenticity. Accounting for the two philosophers' developing conceptions of these notions allows a response to interpreters who conceive the activity of self-knowing as a primarily personal problem. The alternative accounts proposed take as a point of departure transitional texts that reveal both thinkers to be engaged in processes of revision. The reading of honesty in Chapters 1 and 2 revolves around Nietzsche's groundwork on prejudice in Morgenröthe (1880-81), where he first problematizes the moral-historical forces entailed in actuating the 'will to truth'. The reading of authenticity in Chapters 3 and 4 revolves around Heidegger's lectures on what motivates one's thinking in Was heißt Denken? (1951-52). The lectures call into question his previous formal suppositions on what calls forth one's 'will-to-have-a-conscience', in an interpretation of Parmenides on the issue of thought's linguistic determination, discussed further in the context of Unterwegs zur Sprache (1950-59). Chapter 5 shows how Heidegger's confrontation with Nietzsche contributed to his ongoing revisions to the notion of authenticity, and to the attending conceptions of critique and its authority. Particular attention is given to the specific purposes to which distinct Nietzschean foils are put near the confrontation's beginning--in Heidegger's lectures on Nietzsche's second Unzeitgemässe Betrachtung (1938), and in the monograph entitled Besinnung (1939) which they prepare--and near its end, in the interpretation of Also Sprach Zarathustra (1883-85) presented in the first half of Was heißt Denken? Chapter 6 recapitulates the developments traced from the vantage point of the retrospective texts Die Zollikoner Seminare (1959-72) and the fifth Book of Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1887). Closing remarks are made in relation to recent empirical research on the socio-environmental structures involved in determining self-identity.
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Dyer, Rebekah Mary. "Multivalence, liminality, and the theological imagination : contextualising the image of fire for contemporary Christian practice." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16452.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis contends that the image of fire is a multivalent and theologically valuable image for application in British Christian communities. My research offers an original contribution by contextualising the image of fire for Christian practice in Britain, and combining critical observation of several contemporary fire rites with theological analysis. In addition, I conduct original case studies of three Scottish fire rituals: the Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony, the Beltane Fire Festival, and Up-Helly-Aa in Lerwick, Shetland. The potential contribution of fire imagery to Christian practice has been overlooked by modern theological scholarship, social anthropologists, and Christian practitioners. Since the multivalence of the image has not been fully recognised, fire imagery has often been reduced to a binary of ‘positive' and ‘negative' associations. Through my study of non-faith fire rituals and existing Christian fire practices, I explore the interplay between multivalence, multiplicity, and liminality in fire imagery. I demonstrate that deeper theological engagement with the image of fire can enhance participation, transformation, and reflection in transitional ritual experience. I argue that engaging with the multivalence of the image of fire could allow faith communities to move beyond dominant interpretive frameworks and apply the image within their own specific context. First, I orientate the discussion by examining the multivalence of biblical fire imagery and establishing the character of fire within the British social imagination. Second, I use critical observation of community fire practices in non-faith contexts to build a new contextual framework for the analysis of fire imagery. Finally, I apply my findings to a contextual analysis of existing Christian fire practices in Britain. Throughout, I argue that sensory and imaginative interaction with the image of fire provides a way to communicate and interact with theological ideas; experience personal and communal change; and mediate experience of the sacred.