Traditionally, historians have approached ecumenical activity as being motivated by secularisation theological zeal and missionary cooperation. One vital flaw in this triptych's limited analysis of ecumenical activity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is its failure to account for the influence of foreign policy on the relationships between Churches. This account of the Anglican-Russian Orthodox dialogue between 1888 and 1917 illustrates how the traditional interpretations of such activities fail to explain fully the motivations and actions of the ecumenical dialogue. The Anglican-Russian Orthodox dialogue was influenced greatly by the political aspirations of the British embassy in St Petersburg and its desire to develop a new conduit of communication with the Russian state through Constantine Pobedonostov the chief procurator of the Russian Holy Synod and advisor to Alexander III. As a result, the Church of England's relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church was encouraged and exploited to providea non-political cover for the embassy. Although the initiative was stillborn in terms of diplomacy, it did introduce the subsequently pivotal influence of William Birkbeck into the ecumenical dialogue with the Russians. Birkbeck's approach to reunion differed greatly from his predecessorass he sought to bring about reunion by promoting cultural, social, political and religious understanding instead of purely focusing on the theological differences between the two Churches. Birkbeck attempted to recast Russia and her Church in a positive light to overturn the negative perceptions of Russia amongst the majority of the English public. Birkbeck's efforts resulted in numerous publications that addressed themes previously unimportant in ecumenical writings and in several high-profile trips by leading Anglican clerics, such as Bishop Creighton and Archbishop Maclagan of York. This thesis examines the direct contact with Russian leaders and the importance of the 1888 celebrations at Kiev in changing the direction and impact of Anglican-Russian Orthodox relations and Birkbeck's publications personal trips and efforts with clerical delegations to implement a new type of ecumenical dialogue utilizing cultural and political, asw ell as religious themes to create sufficient mutual understanding to form a platform on which to build Christian unity. Birkbeck and the Anglican-Russian Orthodox dialoguea re an appropriate case study to show that religion, ecumenism and foreign policy in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were intersecting and cross-pollinating.

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the everyday religious lives of conservative evangelical Christians in London. Conservative evangelicalism has attracted increased public attention in recent years as a number of Christian groups have become increasingly visible in arguing that Christians are being marginalized in British society as their lifestyles are threatened by universalizing processes associated with modernization. Seeking to move beyond simplistic stereotypes of evangelicals that arise from polarizing media narratives, I explore how members of a large conservative evangelical congregation experience and fmd ways of negotiating concerns, uncertainties and human frailties that shape social life more broadly. My central argument is that their experience of God as coherent and transcendent, mediated through word-based practices, both responds to and intensifies their consciousness of internal moral fragmentation, binding them more closely in their sense of dependence on God and each other. Situated in debates about subjectivity and modernity in the sociology of religion, the anthropology of Christianity and urban theory, I analyse how conservative evangelicals faith is patterned through their being shaped as modern, urban subj ects according to nonns of interaction internalized outside the church and their development of moral and temporal orientations that rub against these. Their self-identification as 'aliens and strangers in this world thus, I argue, both articulates and constructs a desire to be different within the metropolitan contexts they inhabit, rooted in a consciousness of the extent to which their habituated modes of practice, hopes and longings are simultaneously shaped by their being in the world. I demonstrate how focusing on both their embodied, word-based practices and their experience of the personality of God helps develop understanding of this form of religious intersubjectivity and its social effects, and argue that this approach opens up new avenues for understanding evangelicalism, lived religion and everyday ethical practice.

This study is concerned with the concept of human growth and change: it juxtaposes processes of growth and change in psychoanalytic therapy and those in a religious context. In both situations the relationship between growth and development and the idea of becoming 'good' is considered. Kleinian, Post-Kleinian and particularly Kristevan theory is used to elucidate facilitators of change in psychoanalytic therapy and in the context of Christian faith. The emphases in the theory used here differ from those of more traditional developmental theorists in the study of religion, which rely heavily on ego-psychology and self-psychology, and focus on the autonomous ego and the degree of maturity of forms of religion. By contrast, the emphases here are on the split self, on unconscious drives, phantasies and affects, and on the non-cognitive apprehension of truth. Through an examination of the lives of John and Charles Wesley, the thesis examines the possibility of growth occurring in the context of so-called 'immature’ forms of religion, the means by which this might occur, and the extent to which change is governed by an individual's mental structure and psychological defences. The Kristevan reading allows a less cognitive, 'ego-driven' study of the growth to 'goodness' than does that of the developmental theorists. It thus questions the validity of traditional classifications of forms of religion. It elicits differences between the historical subjects, which demonstrate the importance of personality factors in facilitating or hindering growth. Finally, it enables an exploration of Charles Wesley’s hymns which reveals evidence of erotic and imaginary elements, and the possibility of triadic openness in what some would see as an 'immature' form of belief. This examination also questions Kristeva's own assertion that religious symbolism cannot adequately 'sublimate' the 'abject'.

This project consists of three of my books (plus 2 chapters in another) and a summary statement on the topic entitled above. The books are: Being Saved (London, SCM 1985); Death Be Not Proud (London, Collins Fount 1989); Reason To Believe (London, Sinclair-Stevenson 1995); and the chapters appear in Anderson and Mullen ed; Faking It: The Sentimentalising of Society (London, The St Edmundsbury Press 1998). In Being Saved I made an extended comparison between the doctrines of traditional Christianity and the psychological theory C.G. Jung showing how these systems can cross-reference and cross-fertilise each other; and concluding that authentic spirituality can be enriched by such a comparison, but explicitly not concluding that Christian doctrine can be reduced to Jungian terms. In Death Be Not Proud I attempted a phenomenological study of the idea and experience of death and considered how this may be approached from the point of our awareness of the certainty of our own death and from the point of the bereaved. The book includes a sympathetic reflection on suicide and an argument for the trith of the doctrine of the resurrection to eternal life. Reason To Believe is a book of apologetics for the principal doctrines of Christianity as found in the Apostles' Creed, an argument for traditional texts in religious education and worship and a defence of the institutional church. In Faking It evidenced the widespread sentimentality in much contemporary worship and religious teaching and I identified this as an example of sentimentality which, religiously applied, I identified as inauthentic spirituality. The works show a continuity and development of though supported by a considerable project of reading and reflection which can be traced in the notes and bibliography.

This thesis addresses the manner in which Christian maturity is constructed in modernity. The premise developed through the course of the study is that modern works on the nature of Christian maturity have disregarded, or even been ignorant of, the genealogy of maturity. Thus, their constructions of Christian maturity are significantly influenced by modern ideals that are, at times, at odds with ideals espoused by the biblical texts. Specifically, the Enlightenment directed the goal of human existence towards individual autonomy, and subsequent psycho-social theory has standardised the attainment of this goal according to a series of developmental stages. Whilst there are different trends in modern constructions of Christian maturity, the paradigm of developing individual autonomy is still the underlying principle of each construct. I argue that the ancient world constructed maturity in a fundamentally different manner. Human teleology referenced not only individual persons, but also a divine figure, social group, and the cosmos. Even though Ephesians and Colossians express their theology of Christian maturity in different ways, both letters present a remarkably similar construction that operates within the ancient referential framework. Christian maturity is the eschatological existence of believers, both as individuals and as the corporate community of the Church, in Christ. Moreover, within the mystery of God’s plan, the attainment of Christian maturity is the mechanism that will bring about the redemption of the entire cosmos. Thus, Ephesians and Colossians construct Christian maturity so that the teleology of the individual references the triune God, the Church and the cosmos. This reading that is based on a historical and philological exegesis of Ephesians and Colossians necessitates the hermeneutical task of determining how to re-appropriate this theology of Christian maturity in the modern world. I argue that there are three distinct features of the construction of Christian maturity when compared to other ancient constructions, namely its basis in God’s mystery, in the somatic nature of the Church, and especially in union with Christ. Whilst it is not possible to return to a pre-modern conception of human teleology, it is possible to recover these three distinct features within the modern discourse about maturity. The proposal offered demonstrates how the recovery of these distinct features provides the necessary corrective to the odern construction of Christian maturity.

In this thesis, I demonstrate that a consistent and powerful imagining of spiritual formation shapes Tolkien’s legendarium, such that the world of Arda and its inhabitants are deeply marked by both dysformation and euformation, and this is not accidental. Because I am convinced that Tolkien’s fiction is “capable of elucidating truth,” I have focused on redescribing his world and characters in order to draw Arda’s deep formational dynamics to the surface. I show that his legendarium in general and The Lord of the Rings in particular are compelling tales of formational imagination. I have not focused on drawing out moral implications for the primary world (though I do suggest the shape some implications might take), but have focused instead on Tolkien’s sub-created world and allowed it to encourage our reimagining of formational possibilities. The first part of this thesis examines Arda in light of Tolkien’s theory of sub-creation, demonstrating how Arda’s marring offers a creative reimagining of sin and evil that shape the way he then imagines the potential for redemption. But Arda is more than just background; it has its own formational story in which the stories of characters moving toward euformation or dysformation make sense. In the second part of this thesis, I examine the formational journeys of Saruman, Gollum, and Frodo, demonstrating that each follows a path that shapes the way he interacts with the world. Where Frodo’s euformation makes him more like the Elves, Saruman and Gollum’s dysformation makes them like the orcs and wraiths respectively. Through their stories, Tolkien invites us to see Arda and its inhabitants as marred, yet capable of redemption. In attending to these things, I show that Tolkien’s work of formational imagination can be read as a distinctive contribution to the theological tradition and deserves a place within its conversations.

Spirituality is a universal phenomenon; however, its conceptualization can differ from one culture to another. The meaning of the concept has been changing since the last couple of decades. Even though it has been previously regarded as a religious concept in terms of institutional organized religion, its meaning has altered over time initially towards personal spirituality based on religion, and then, towards spirituality totally untethered from religion in which popular interest is growing. This shift in its meaning attracted the attention of researchers, and therefore, it has become a topic of concern in academia. Nevertheless, the majority of studies have mainly been conducted in western countries with largely Christian populations. On the other hand, the research in other parts of the world is relatively scarce. Turkey is a country that forms a bridge between the West and the East, and historically has a religious culture, with a Muslim majority population. It has begun embracing western values along with the process of secularisation since the beginning of the last century. This westernizing trend has become even more evident in the so-called global era. Therefore, the objective of this investigation is to explore the contemporary perceptions of spirituality in a Turkish context. Moreover, it aims to examine whether the popular perceptions of spirituality that emerged in the western world exist in Turkey. Accordingly, qualitative interviews have been conducted with undergraduate and postgraduate university students from the departments of Psychology and Theology in Turkey. Consequently, it is found that the understandings of the term among the participants are similar to contemporary definitions of spirituality in the West. Correspondingly, it is argued that the western European conceptualisations of the term might be applicable with some qualifications in the Turkish context since there is not a substantial difference between the perceptions of spirituality in the West and Turkey.

The present study examines the picture of Christ as it emerges in John Chrysostom’s exposition of the Gospel of John and the Epistle to the Hebrews and investigates Chrysostom’s view of the intertwined relationship between Christology and the Christian life.  The study begins with the survey of the Alexandrian and Antiochene perspectives on the reading and interpretation of Scripture and analyzes Chrysostom’s exegesis with reference to the two “schools” of interpretation.  It will be shown that both traditions operated within certain exegetical parameters and shared common presuppositions, including the spirituality of the Scriptures and the centrality of Christ.  The focus then shifts to the development of Chrysostom’s Christological thought in his exposition of John’s gospel and Hebrews.  Chrysostom’s picture of Christ is examined employing a threefold analytical structure: ontological considerations, sacramental mediation and practical outworking. Through the investigation of the interwoven relationship between doctrine and praxis in Chrysostom’s exegetical homilies, this study demonstrates that his Christology is not divisive but unitive: a view which equates the single subject, the Logos-Son, with the person of Christ.  The idea of the divine personal presence in Christ colours Chrysostom’s soteriological, sacramental and praxiological perspectives.  The Christological picture which emerges in Chrysostom’s exegesis, in the final analysis, stresses the ontological continuity of the Logos-Son in Christ, his sacramental presence in the Church, and his spiritual operation in the individual Christian.  All these dimensions suggest that John Chrysostom’s Christology is better understood when viewed in the context of his understanding of the Christian life.

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Julian of Eclanum suggested that Augustine's dark and foreboding outlook on sex was, partly, derived from his retrospective guilt over his youthful excesses, described in Confessiones. This work tests this thesis and suggests other significant influences. Chapter 1 examines Augustine's sexual history and finds evidence to support Julian's claim. However, chapter 2 examines the ecclesiastical context Augustine entered after his conversion 'under the fig tree'. The Church's teaching regarding sex, even within marriage, meant that Augustine, with his 'tainted past' found plenty of material with which to galvanise his shame. Unsurprisingly, Augustine's teaching on sex resonates with his predecessors and peers. Chapter 3 examines the influences of Augustine's Manichaean past. Avoiding procreation as a 'Manichaean Hearer' would inevitably have led to him practicing contraception in various forms. Drawing from historic abjurations and other ancient commentators on the sexual norms of the Manichees, I suggest that Augustine's teaching on unnatural sexual acts can be traced to this period of his life rather than his youth. Chapter 4 examines the Jovinian controversy where Augustine offers his 'three goods of marriage' (where sex is for procreation only) as a compromise between the liberal Jovinian and the anti-marital Jerome. Chapter 5 examines Augustine's reaction to the Pelagian suggestion that God intended sexual pleasure within marriage as part of His good creation. Augustine struggles to find pleasure in general, and sex in particular, as a God ordained good. The City of God (chapter 6) speculates on how procreation could have been possible before the Fall without sexual concupiscence or pleasure. Chapter 7 examines his exegeticaf methods and selectivity of scripture to negate the possibility of sexual pleasure being part of God's intention for marriage. Overall, the residual guilt of Augustine's sex life and Church politics have combined to bequeath a dark legacy on all sexuality,