The thesis examines John Wesley's theological doctrine of perfect love and the inclusion and diversity of all human beings, and whether or not Wesley prescribed a theology that was truly egalitarian and inclusive. From a historical perspective, as well as, a theological perspective it seems incongruous to proclaim a doctrine of holiness and perfect love and tacitly accept oppression, poverty, racism and sexism. The premise is that perfect love provides renewal in the full image of God, an image of holy love, and also provides the capacitation to live out this love in an inclusive and diverse community. Chapter one describes the formative influences on the development of Wesley's doctrine of perfect love as inclusive. From the Rectory of Epworth this section traces the impact of Wesley's schooling, his missionary attempt in Georgia, the Religious Societies and the seminal influences on the development of the doctrine of perfect love. Chapter two focuses on the divine order of inclusion and diversity by first, defining multiculturalism, inclusion and diversity as it relates to perfect love, and secondly, on an explication of the divine order of inclusion through the matrix of humanity created in the 'image' and 'likeness' of God. Wesley's intentional dissimilarity of 'image' and 'likeness' is explicated along with a trinitarian and salvific anthropology. Chapter three articulates the loss of the 'image' and 'likeness' of God with the subsequent estrangement from God and other human beings. Original sin and actual sin are explored as deprivation and depravation. Wesley's two-fold definition of sin is investigated. The doctrine of 'theosis'~ participation in the divine nature, demonstrates the implication of renewal for all of humanity. Chapter four conveys the reality of God's grace as love that originated creation and it is love (grace) that restores human beings to God and to each other and culminates in the new creation. The crisis and progressive movement of grace is evaluated with a distinctive interpretation of grace as pneumatological, the presence of the Holy Spirit from prevenient grace to perfecting grace. An integral discovery of Wesley's instantaneous renewal language in bothjustificationlnew birth and in entire sanctification is recognised in this section. Chapter five explicates the doctrine of predestination and election as a theology of exclusion. Racism and slavery have their roots in the theological system of Calvinism and Puritanism. Wesley's rejection of Calvinist predestination with its tenet of unconditional election and perseverance provided the nascent epistemology that eventuated into his polemic on poverty and slavery. Chapter six juxtaposes Methodism with the issues of Poverty, Prison Conditions and Slavery as contradictions ofthe doctrine of perfect love. What Wesley proposed was a theology of inclusion in comparison to a theology that excluded any human being from the unconditional love of God and the liberty and freedom toúa liveable life. Chapter seven concludes that exclusion is contrary to Wesley's hermeneutic of love. Wesley conceptually defined perfect love as 'faith active in love.' Wesley could perceive of no holiness except social holiness. A theology of embrace is expressed and a contemporary, comparative analysis of a theology of embrace is offered in conclusion.

This study seeks to address the fact that dramatic change in the way companies perform their accountability to all their stakeholders cannot be expected to happen suddenly, dramatically or, in any sense, mutationally. Change in corporate affairs does not have that nature. However, stakeholders, including faith communities, make justifiable demands of those who manage corporate affairs that they perform their business in a manner which can be seen to be accountable to those who are affected by it - their neighbours, the global community (especially in the case of transnational corporations), the succeeding generations, their employees and customers, and the environment which we all share. The project's methodology is to use the scientific discoveries of palaeontology to parallel corporate accountability by the evidence of human evolution and to use that model to expose the underlying theological principles which can be said to apply to corporate business and the journey towards appropriate corporate social responsibility. The methodology is described in the first chapter and the existing literature of corporate social responsibility and of the address to evolutionary principles together with the critiques of them and the ideas of scientific and theological analysis are explored in the second chapter. There follow four chapters in which case studies are used to draw out specific issues of corporate social responsibility arising from the concerns of faith communities in various locations. The first (Chapter Three) raises the deep-felt concerns of indigenous communities confronting the extractive industries - mining and forestry - based on researches conducted in face-to-face discussions with Aboriginal people in Australia. Secondly (Chapter Four) there is an exploration of the implications for corporate business of the pandemic of HIV / AIDS especially in Southern Africa based around experience and personal contacts in South Africa and on other researches gathered from journalistic sources in Malawi. The third study (Chapter Five) looks at the corporate outrage which was Enron and its deliberate application of human greed to corporate affairs. The study does not hesitate to define this as being a ramification of 'corporate sin'. The final case study seeks to explore the way in which faith communities can collaborate together on a global basis to work for 'a better way of doing things'. This study uses the activities of one mining company, BHP Billiton, to explore these processes. The final chapter (Chapter Seven) seeks to bring these researches together in a theological analysis of the issues and principles of concern and to discover a way in which faith communities can use these researches in their own analysis of corporate social responsibility as a means by which they can seek appropriate corporate accountability from the corporations in which they are stakeholders. This study is unique in that it brings together the analysis of corporate social responsibility with a tool for its measurement in the form of the study of principles of human evolution. The models of the way that the human species have evolved - achieving bipedalism, making tools, caring devotion for fellows, the development of brain power amongst them - are seen in the study as the guides to understanding the theological principles which must undergird a faith community's search for appropriate corporate performance and this is the contribution this study seeks to make to academic knowledge.

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This thesis aims to test the theory of the evangelical theologian. Michael Vasey, that AIDS would prompt gay Dien to articulate a new cultural voice for death in Britain. Vasey believed that this would involve the expression of a tragic rather than a natural understanding of death and an embrace of the ancient Christian connection between desire and immortality which would be expressed in funerals which gay men themselves , would take control of. Using the model of practical theology devised by Riet Bons-Storm and developed by Melanie Shelton Morrison Vasey's theory is tested against a variety of different bodies of evidence. Chapter two employs liturgical theology to analyse a variety of Christian denominations' teaching on death and the afterlife. It is demonstrated that Vasey was correct in his assertion that contempormy Churches in the UK. teach a natural understanding of death and make no explicit connection between desire and immortality. Chapter three analyses those theologies which claim to speak out of the experience of lesbian and gay people and those living with HIV. By using a historical theological approach it is established that theologians rarely engaged with AIDS as a theological issue which raised questions about death and the afterlife. In chapters four and five nine interviews with gay Christian men living with HIV and twenty-two interviews with those who had in various capacities supported gay men to their deaths with AIDS are analysed. The analysis reveals that lesbian and gay theology did not reflect the experiences of those it claimed to for gay men were deeply concemed about issues around death and immortality though some articulated their concerns in anthropocentric understandings of the afterlife rather than in the theocentric model adopted by Vasey. The interviews provide ample evidence of gay men taking control of their own funerals in which they often articulate a non-natural understanding of death and furthermore often engage in a performance of gay identity which is so extreme as to point to a reality beyond it This evidence is reinforced in chapter six by the liturgical theological analysis of a number of funeral liturgies constructed for AIDS funerals and further substantiated by the theological reading of six, films about AIDS in chapter seven. Using Clive Marsh's theology of negotiation to engage with the films it is demonstrated that some gay filmmakers showed a willingness to face without flinching the tragedy of death, combined with clear articulations of hope for life beyond death which is imaged in both anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric term.s. In the final chapter the conclusion is drawn that Vasey's theory has been proven (although it is argued that gay men articulated a postmodern rather than a new cultural voice for death , ,and that anthropocentric as well as theocentric visions of the afterlife demonstrate a reconnection being made between desire and immortality among that group) but is not reflected in any relevant contemporary theological reflection. Using Radical Orthodoxy to reflect upon the findings of the project, the thesis concludes that gay men living with AIDS have held ancient traditions concerning death and the afterlife alive whilst the Church as a whole as largely lost sight of them.

This thesis explores a hypothesis that shame has historically been, and continues to be, used by the patriarchal Christian Church as a mechanism to control and regulate female sexuality and to displace men's ambivalence about sex. Using historical examples of shame appraised in the light of contemporary feminist theological and theoretical scholarship and supported by insights from sociology, psychology, neuroscience and psychoanalysis, the thesis seeks to understand why the Church as an institution has colluded with the shaming of individuals and why women are overtly shamed on account of, and indeed take the blame for sex. An enquiry into men's sexual ambivalence suggests that the violence that too often accompanies it in masculinist systems is generated by unacknowledged shame and existential anxiety. Shame strikes at the heart of human individuals rupturing relationships, extinguishing joy and enthusiasm for life and, at times, provoking conflict and violence. The thesis examines whether the avoidance of shame is functional in men's efforts to adhere to patriarchal gender norms and religious ideals (is shame avoidance experienced as crucial to men's survival as the dominant gender), and whether women 'carry the can' for this. A study of Ireland's Magdalen laundries is used as a means of elucidating and illustrating the role of shame more specifically in the Irish Catholic Church, and as such the thesis primarily engages with a period that began with the founding of the asylums (as they were then known) in the late 1700s, saw the closure of the last Magdalen laundry in Dublin in 1996, and is presently witnessing calls to redress this shaming and shameful treatment of women. This case study is chosen for the light it sheds on the broader context of the Christian churches as they engage (or not) with current feminist and gender concerns.

Asylum seeking provokes strong responses in political and social discourse. Churches in the UK are supporting those seeking asylum in a variety of ways. There has been little critical theological reflection on these practices to date and this thesis presents fragments to fill this gap. Situated methodologically within the field of Practical Theology, it explores the encounters between churches and people seeking asylum by creating a new interdisciplinary conversation between Forced Migration Studies, Biblical Studies and Theology. Asylum seeking in the UK is set within the context of the global migration-asylum nexus and a pervasive 'ecology of fear' is recognised as a significant underlying reason for the difficulties experienced by asylum seekers. Two distinct strands of biblical response to strangers are then identified. The first, exemplified in Ezra-Nehemiah, represents responses made from within an ecology of fear. The second, exemplified in Ruth and the pericope of the Syro-Phoenician Woman, represents responses made from within an alternative 'ecology of faith'. This thesis argues that understanding the ecology of fear and performing an ecology of faith challenges churches to continue, deepen and alter a range of their current practices.

The catalyst for this empirical thesis was a combination of personal experiences whilst ministering as a parish priest and the publication of two small pieces of British research ('Bias to the Poor' & 'The Lies we tell ourselves') that highlighted negative narratives that were directed at those living in poverty. Reports, found within this thesis, from government, think tanks and charities raise this issue as a serious concern for individuals and society as a whole. As a Christian Priest I believe that the Church has a vocation and a duty to examine, analyse and then respond appropriately to social issues. This thesis uses the Pastoral Cycle of 'See, Judge and Act' framework to achieve this. First this thesis looks at the lived experience of people on the receiving end of negative narratives and patterns of injustice that emerge from both the initial data and personal experience. Alongside this it examines the issues surrounding poverty, what it means to be poor, and the effect of living in poverty on both individuals and society. Second this thesis turns to 'Judge' the national situation and ascertain whether these negatives narratives can be found to be prevalent in a larger national medium. This involves a qualitative analysis of the Daily Mail with an exploration of the power of narrative to influence people's perceptions and attitudes. The epistemic injustice inherent in these media stories unpacks some of the dangers within these negative narratives. There is an impact upon people's perception and attitudes towards others. There are issues of prejudice and discrimination to explore and questions to ask both about these concepts, but also concerning their origins. What is it that causes society to create modern day scapegoats of individuals and groups? The complex phenomenon of scapegoating is explored in opposition to the freedom offered by accepting the offer to imitate God instead. In response to this there follows a theological reflection that examines some of the counter-narratives that can be found throughout the Bible. In the final section, 'Act', the Church is challenged to defend those who are ostracised or ignored by mainstream society. The Church has a continual duty to respond to negative narratives with a healing narrative of hospitality and love. The prophetic calling upon the Church requires a response. It should and must respond.

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This thesis originated from a desire to understand why Christians in the Middle Ages condoned religious violence, and how the use of force became an acceptable tool in the armoury of the Church to further its cause. Political and financial motivations aside, 1 argue that the Old Testament played a key role in the shaping of medieval thought to the point where acts of Christian violence were understood as the will of God. 1 aim to address four primary questions. In what ways did the Old Testament grow in popularity throughout the Early Middle Ages? Was there a uniformity of Old Testament influence across the main Christian kingdoms? How was the Old Testament used by Christian writers to elucidate God’s plan for the world? And lastly, how was Scripture used to add meaning to the lives of those who treasured it? The thesis shows, through a range of texts and examples, that the influence of the Old Testament was partly linked to the growth of monasticism. Early monks displayed a preference for the Hebrew Scriptures, and as monasticism spread across Europe, becoming widely popular and fashionable, so did the Old Testament. This process was encouraged by Church leaders who believed that God desired to establish a universal Christian State, acting through medieval kings and emperors who had embraced the Christian faith. Such powers, whose history and culture were steeped in warfare, identified easily with a Yahwistic view of God, one that promised divine protection in return for faithfulness. The thesis provides a deeper investigation of the connection between monasticism and the promotion of Old Testament values in the Middle Ages, and illustrates how the recurrence of Old Testament themes throughout medieval literature helped to breed a culture of Christian violence that would eventually lead to the Crusades.