During the premodern era, images corresponded to the doctrines of ”The Word”, but in contemporary society this relationship is open and does not correspond to the divine Word. Because of our perceived, postmodern inability to respond to ancient Christian symbols, there is a need to revision these symbols and Christian spirituality. The result of such a revisioning would include an ”opening up” of ”The Word” and of traditional, worn symbols which have lost vitality in this milieu. Art produced with this in mind needs to make ”The Word” more currently accessible and relevant. Further, this revisioning would add significance and enhance the possibility of resurrecting language dealing with ”The Word”. In the process of revitalising old Christian imagery and language, I aim to show that the primary role of contemporary Christian art is to function metaphorically. Finally, I argue that Christian images can take on significance as contemporary images. / Art History Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

Consecrated life or religious life as it is sometimes called within the Catholic Church is almost as old as Christianity. All baptised persons are consecrated persons by virtue of their baptism, but the consecrated life to which some people feel called, is a special and fruitful deepening of the consecration received in baptism and confirmation.. This dissertation explores Christian spirituality as it is manifested in consecrated life with relation to inculturation and religious life. The scope has been limited to a study of one congregation, the Companions of St Angela as a case study. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Christian Spirituality)

In transmitting the Gospel, Western missionaries passed on their portrayal of Christ as a European. Conversion to Christianity was aimed more at promoting Western cultural, moral and spiritual issues. Western culture has thus been an obstacle or hindrance to effective cross-cultural communication of the Christian message. Batswana believers are challenged to peel the Western cultural layers off Christianity, in order to reclaim Christ. Batswana Christians will have to dress Christianity in the Tswana cultural heritage if it is to be of any lasting significance to them. Christian spirituality is centred on Jesus Christ, in the worldview of all Christians. Jesus joins faith and culture together. If Christianity is truly universal, then every culture should surrender to Jesus Christ and not to any other culture. Jesus’ question “who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8: 29), challenges Batswana Christians to write their own fifth Gospel. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / Thesis (M. Th. (Christian Spirituality))

This dissertation explores the relationship between Christian spirituality and the general wellbeing of the individual. To this end a literature review is conducted, as well as qualitative interviews with eleven individuals in the Cape Town area (South Africa). Snowball sampling was used to gain access to these eleven research participants who fitted the criteria of adults exhibiting a particular Christian lifestyle. The literature review revealed that nurturing, non-punitive religion has been associated with mental and physical health and that active participation in church activities that enhance a person’s social support system is beneficial. The qualitative interviews yielded the finding that those interviewees who had positive experiences with Christian spirituality during their childhood regard it as a significant contributor to meaning, hope and happiness in their lives. / Christian Spirituality Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

In modern day American Protestant churches, both conservative and liberal ministers, pastors, theologians and lay leadership struggle over how to arrange and conduct worship services (liturgy) and how to integrate contemporary or traditional hymns. Many characterize this struggle as ?Worship Wars?. This dissertation concerns the poetic imagination of the Trinity Hymnal (1990), the hymnal of conservative Presbyterian churches that was originally published as a reaction to the liberal stream of Presbyterianism. Thus, the dissertation presents the Anglo-American debate in poetic theology, focusing on the poetic imagination of Presbyterian spirituality and its development to the Czech environment. The first section concerns the concept of Poetic theology focusing on the Protestant poetic theology as defined by W. A. Dyrness. The Presbyterian spirituality is then characterized by McGrath typology. His Theological foundations for spiritualiy are first determined by the teaching of Presbyterianism (especially Calvinism and the Westminster Confession of Faith), and then examined in the poetic imagination of hymns found in the Trinity Hymnal. The poetic imagination of the hymns, which is based primarily on the poetic imagination of Scripture and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, demonstrates the intermingling of the Christian traditions of the songs and suggests the theological value of poetic language. This dissertation presents and analyzes the issue of Presbyterian search for adequate expression of hymns in worship. The method applied here offers a new basis for further exploration of current trends in the American worship tradition of Presbyterianism. In this respect it concerns a unique exploration of the interconnection of the poetic language of Presbyterian hymns with the Anglican liturgy. It also presents the research of poetic imagination of spiritual hymns and linking of the traditions as a topic to enrich ecumenical discussion.

This thesis explores how the Rapture fiction and popular prophecy of modern American premillennial dispensationalism shapes the eschatological beliefs of its readership. This will be accomplished through a text-based critical analysis of the anxiety narratives of the Bible study and exegetical guides of the Tim LaHaye Prophecy Library, and its counterpart, the Left Behind fiction series. This thesis represents the first scholarly analysis of the Tim LaHaye Prophecy Library, and the first situation of Left Behind fiction within its theological context. It will be proposed that these two sets of texts shape the eschatological beliefs of their readers through a discursive ‘streamlining’ that is performed in several ways. Firstly, the historical development of the movement will be examined, exploring the evolution of a specific premillennial dispensationalist hermeneutic and its ‘channelling’ through particular cultural institutions. Secondly, an analysis of the Tim LaHaye Prophecy Library and Left Behind fiction will demonstrate that this premillennial dispensationalist hermeneutic is almost exclusively communicated through anxiety narratives which focus on expressions of horror, isolation, powerlessness and paranoia. It will be argued that these narratives serve to explore ‘abjective’ elements of premillennial dispensationalist belief, re-integrating them into the fabric of the faith. Particular attention will be paid to these abjective elements, which include the role of the eschatological body, the nature of individual salvation, and the perpetual deferment of the Rapture. As such, the popular media of premillennial dispensationalism serves as a further channel for the discursive streamlining of the movement’s prophetic scheme. Finally, this thesis proposes that the ‘deprivation’ theory of millennial appeal does not adequately explain the appeal and success of premillennial dispensationalism. As such, the following analysis will suggest that an alternate critical analysis of the movement, concentrating on its tropes of anxiety, serves to better explain the continued appeal of this ideology.

[pt] Este trabalho quer mostrar que a mulher Teresa de Jesus (1515-1582) ─ escritora, mística, profetisa, fundadora, reformadora, pedagoga, teóloga e doutora da Igreja ─ tem muito a dizer à mulher do século XXI. A experiência mística de Teresa é essencialmente evangélica, feminina e trabalhadora. Oferece à Igreja uma doutrina criativa sobre a oração, esta relação de amor-amizade. Teresa foi aquela que contribuiu para a mudança da maneira do pensar feminino derrubando as convenções culturais da época impostas às mulheres. Ela foi uma mulher feminista, que deslocou as relações de poder entre homens e mulheres para melhor viver o autêntico amor concreto. Para ela, graça e liberdade formam o alicerce que o ser humano encontra para viver o verdadeiro amor na entrega de si e na vivência com o outro. Ela mostra que a oração, este trato de amizade, produz esse despertar, essa autoconsciência de si mesmo. Teresa, como mistagoga, conduz o leitor a experimentar um itinerário de amor e liberdade que ela própria experimentou. / [en] This work is to show the woman Teresa de Jesus (1515-1582) - writer, mystic, prophetess, founder, reformer, pedagogue, theologian and doctor of the Church - has much to say to the woman of the 21st century. Teresa s mystical experience is essentially evangelical, feminine and hardworking. It offers the Church a creative doctrine about prayer, this relationship of love and friendship. Teresa was the one who changed the way of feminine thinking by overturning the cultural conventions of the time imposed on women. She was a feminist woman who shifts the power relations between men and women to better live the authentic concrete love. For her, grace and freedom form the foundation that the human being finds to live the true love in the surrender of self and in the experience with the other. She shows that prayer, this deal of friendship, produces this awakening, this self-awareness of oneself. Teresa, as a mystagogue, leads the reader to experience an itinerary of love and freedom tried by her own self.

Spirituality is a word in frequent use in contemporary society. In a broad sense it refers to the 'raison d'etre' of our existence, the meaning and values to which we ascribe. Everyone embodies a spirituality in this wider sense, whether it be nihilistic, materialistic, humanistic or religious. The present study evaluates the phenomenon of the Toronto Blessing in the light of spirituality in general and Christian spirituality in particular. By means of a broadly-based phenomenological methodology, the manifestations accompanying the Toronto Blessing are evaluated firstly, with respect to the Bible; secondly, with respect to the Hindu experience of 'Kundalini awakening'; and thirdly, in terms of neuroscience and certain psychological processes, such as hypnosis, mass hysteria, and the role of body and mind in creating spiritual experiences. Although Charismatics claim that the Toronto Blessing has a sound biblical foundation, no evidence to support this claim has been found. However, striking similarities are found between the manifestations of the Toronto Blessing and the techniques used in the 'Kundalini awakening' for the transference of energy. Finally, the major findings of this study support the conclusion that the Toronto Blessing is largely the result of psychological techniques. The possibility of Godly intervention is not totally excluded, but caution is urged, so as to be aware of extraneous factors that create similar manifestations. While it is agreed that the Toronto Blessing can be seen as an expression of spirituality in a broad sense, nevertheless it cannot be viewed as an expression of Christian spirituality in the Charismatic Movement. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

The mission of the Church in the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa is understood in its narrow sense of evangelism and church planting. Moreover the institutional and doctrinal conservatism, the maintenance mindset of the Church and its inadaptability to the challenges of a changing world, are some of the characteristics of the lack of mission awareness and mission spirituality. This dissertation is an attempt to impart mission awareness and mission spirituality within the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa. The study of mission Dei and mission spirituality helps in understanding the divine origins of missions, the nature and identity of the Church. In addition, it unveils the Christian lifestyle that stems from the relationship with Christ and from the mission consciousness, and that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Some strategies are proposed with the aim of updating and promoting a holistic, inclusive and integral understanding and practice of mission in the Church. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The subject of this study is Christian education in the church. This practical-theological work starts from the premise of the relevance of a commitment experience for the faith development of the individual and studies the formats and contents of continuing formal faith education of young Christians in evangelical free churches in a postmodern-urban milieu in Frankfurt. Its aim is to find out how well the New Testament discipleship topics of Jesus are integrated into the faith education in the church, and what reception difficulties and chances they experience in regard to the Zeitgeist. Are the New Testament discipleship topics still the basic guidelines with regard to content? The relationship between faith development, faith education and the local church is presented within a religion- and church-pedagogical approach and a connection to education for discipleship is made. The biblical premise is the discipleship commission of Jesus (Mt 28:18-20) and its church-pedagogical reply. / Der Untersuchungsgegenstand ist die christliche Erziehung in der Gemeinde. Diese praktisch-theologische Arbeit geht aus von der Bedeutung einer Commitment-Erfahrung für die Glaubensentwicklung des Einzelnen und untersucht die Formate und Inhalte der weiterführenden formalen Glaubenserziehung junger Christen in evangelikal-freikirchlichen Gemeinden im postmodern-urbanen Umfeld in Frankfurt. Ihr Ziel ist es, herauszufinden, inwiefern heute die neutestamentlichen Nachfolgethemen Jesu in der gemeindlichen Glaubenserziehung behandelt werden und welche Rezeptionsschwierigkeiten und Chancen sie im heutigen Zeitgeist haben. Sind dabei die neutestamentlichen Nachfolgethemen Jesu noch die inhaltlichen Grundrichtlinien? In einem religions- und gemeindepädagogischen Zugang wird die Beziehung von Glaubensentwicklung, Glaubenserziehung und der Ortsgemeinde gezeigt und mit der Erziehung zur Nachfolge verknüpft. Der biblische Ausgangspunkt ist der Jüngerschaftsauftrag Jesu (Mt 28,18-20) und dessen gemeindepädagogische Antwort. / Practical Theology / M. Th.(Practical Theology)