Étude comparée au niveau des paroisses (unités de base de la vie ecclésiale, choisies pour leur caractère multitudiniste) sur deux périodes dans les mêmes lieux pour mesurer l’évolution des pratiques œcuméniques et le sens de l’unité recherchée. Trois parties mettent en évidence 1) Les résultats par villes, 2) La progression de l’œcuménisme par thèmes : prières communes, groupes de rencontre, foyers mixtes et récemment Cours Alpha, 3) Les questions qui concentrent les difficultés : la forme d’unité recherchée, et l’enjeu des sacrements. L’œcuménisme poursuit son expansion au niveau local. Il est marqué par l’importance de la fraternité des chrétiens de toutes les Églises, dont la réalisation ultime est désirée dans l’hospitalité eucharistique réciproque. Cet œcuménisme manifeste aussi le souci de préserver les identités, vues comme n’étant pas séparatrices, souci qui se traduit par une méfiance envers tout projet d’unité institutionnelle. / A comparative study across parishes (basic levels of ecclesial life, chosen for their multitudinist character) conducted over two periods in the same places to measure the progress of ecumenical practices and the concept of unity being developed. Its three parts discuss : (1) results by city ; (2) the progression of ecumenism by theme, i.e., common prayer, encounter groups, mixed-faith marriages, and the more recent Alpha Courses ; and (3) related complexcity issues : the form of unity being sought, and the implications on sacraments. Ecumenism continues to expend at local levels. It is marked by the strong emphasis placed on the brotherhood of Christians of all churches, whose ultimate realization is sought through reciprocal Eucharistic hospitality. This ecumenism also manifests the need to preserve faith identity, a concern that is interpreted as not separating, yet leads to mistrust any proposal of institutional unity.

“The present work has been approached as a Mission Study. This is a wide enough category, but if I have had a model in mind, it has been E.J. Sharpe's study of the thought of J.N. Farquhar, published in the series, “Studia Missionalia Upsaliensia” ¹⁰ I have tried to take account of J. Kent's appeal, in an essay on “The History of Christian Missions in the Modern Era”, to take secular history more seriously “for its own sake”, than was the case in an earlier generation of mission studies.¹¹ Not that any other study of Andrews would have made much sense, so active and perspicuous a participant was he in that history. I have also suggested that it is helpful to see Andrews within the special context of The Cambridge Mission to Delhi and its distinctive theology of mission, and indeed, my argument that this theology found a new authentication in his work during these years, provides a framework to the thesis. Two omissions ought to be justified, I have not attempted an elaborate review of the 19th century background of “Protestant missionary thought”, desirable as this might have been, because this has been done very thoroughly in the first part of Sharpe's study referred to above. Sharpe's omission, however, of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi and of “the missions of the Catholic tradition” (“with one exception, the Oxford mission to Calcutta”) because they lie to “one side of the dominant Evangelical stream of missionary thought”, provides a convenient space in which to establish the distinctive approach of the Delhi Mission.¹² Another omission is any general survey of the history of the Cambridge Mission, partly because a useful one is already available, by F.J. Western, but partly also because the essential context of Andrews' work was the completely new situation that developed almost immediately after his arrival in India, for which the earlier activities of the Mission provided no precedents. The sources used are exclusively English sources for English was almost exclusively the language in which the matter of Indian nationalism at this stage, and of Hindu reformation and of much of progressive Indian Islam occurred.¹³ For the unpublished sources for this study, I have relied largely on the well-known collections, in particular the archives of the C.M.D. and of S.P.G., the papers of two of the viceroys, Minto and Hardinge, and the correspondence of Tagore, Munshi Ram and Gandhi. The published sources have been in many ways quite as important as the unpublished, for Andrews became, from late 1906, something of a compulsive communicator in the nationalist press, and the evidence for his developing thought is to a considerable extent in print here. Many of these published sources are excessively rare. Thus, for example, there is, in India, only one surviving run of the St. Stephen's College Magazine for these years, and the same is true of the journal, Young Men of India, while there is in Britain only one microfilm copy of the nationalist newspaper, the Tribune, so important for this study. Because of the interest of much of this source material, and a wish to make it more accessible, I have allowed the notes to tend towards the copious. A full account of these sources is given in the Bibliography. Although, as is said above, Andrews' approach to his work, as representing a sort of realization of a distinctive theology of mission, provides a thesis on which this study is constructed, it is perhaps more important simply to claim a profound intrinsic interest in the story of this "gentle, eager and many-sided saint” ¹⁴ and in his perception of the necessities, still far from fulfilled, of a Christian response to the Asian revolution.” – from the Introduction.

Many Church of England parishes with Black-majority congregations have a White parish priest. Clergy undergo mandatory racism awareness training yet do not necessarily understand cultural difference or the ways in which their priestly authority and their Whiteness may collude to have significant implications for ministerial privilege and power. What little study of these issues has taken place, is predominantly from a protestant, American viewpoint. The author’s reflection as a White priest ministering in a Black majority congregation in Manchester focussed on his experiences of pastoral ministry, congregational participation and the expected role of the priest. Three questions arose from this reflection: in what ways are White priests aware of their Whiteness? How do White priests adapt their model of ministry according to their awareness? And in what ways do Black congregation members respond to any adaptation?Using an action-research methodology a conversation was set up between the priest’s experience and a focus group from his congregation. Work on White ministers’ typologies by leading British Black Theologian, Anthony Reddie, was used to present the author’s experiences through three models: pastoral, organisational and radical approaches to ministry. These results formed the basis of a trial training workshop with newly ordained priests to test the assumptions which lay behind my original research questions. Within the three typologies of minister (pastoral, organisational, radical), the author identified ways in which the priest’s power and knowledge influenced practice, and also ways in which congregations assumed clergy to receive training intervention, and from where this knowledge attainment might come. Alongside observations about ministers’ inherent power and the resourcing of ministers from external and internal sources, the research also highlighted frustrations arising from normalising White experience above that of the Black majority. The results confirmed the assumptions behind the questions: White clergy, aware of their own colour, culture and privilege adapt their ministry in different ways and with varying success. The research presents significant contributions to the understanding of how Black congregations perceive White ministers and how such clergy locate themselves within a different culture. Three distinct outcomes were identified: the need for intentional signposting for White clergy to be resourced by their congregations and from external sources, the liberation of Black congregational voices to enable full participation, and the necessity of acknowledging past hurts and the need for reconciliation. These three are brought together in an example surrounding the interventions required for clergy and congregations involved in the appointments process of White clergy to Black majority congregations within the Church of England.

The Roman Catholic Church maintains that women cannot be ordained to the ministerial priesthood because of its unbroken tradition that only men can be priests, based on the example of Jesus, who chose only men to be ‘Apostles’. Vatican documents published during the late twentieth century use the writings of several mediaeval theologians and canonists to support this ruling. The topic is of present-day importance for understanding the origins of the exclusion of women from the priesthood given the current shortage of priests in the Catholic Church. This thesis looks first at the present ruling in the Vatican documents, and then considers the mediaeval writings, canon law and theology, from scholars such as Gratian, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure and Duns Scotus, looking especially at their Commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Subsequent chapters analyse in more detail the arguments from scripture and biology, drawing together strands of thought in the Middle Ages on these subjects, including judgements about women’s intellectual and emotional capacity, and the contemporary anthropological and Christological understanding of the Incarnation. Language and translation are also significant but often neglected factors in the discussion, which the thesis studies by highlighting the recovery of Greek writings in medicine and philosophy, along with choice of terminology and use of metaphor, in the mediaeval period and in modern Church documents. By this approach, a critical survey is made of the most salient aspects of the debate. This thesis seeks to dissect systematically the origins of the prohibition, based on attitudes towards women which, while not always intentionally misogynistic, were nonetheless rooted in a world view that, the thesis argues, is no longer relevant today.

The field study based on a questionnaire, classroom observation and a range of interviews with government officials and teachers confirmed a deeply negative attitude towards the way SiSwati is being taught, resulting in negative attitudes towards the language itself. Other findings pointed to a resistance to the cultural content of the curriculum as dictated by the power elite in Swaziland, the outdated emphasis on linguistics rather than sociolinguistics as an informing discipline and the absence of social and negative literacy skills embedded in subject content. The field study reflects an overall climate of despondency governing the teaching and learning context.

This research has been conducted against the backdrop of the Second Vatican Council's "People of God" motif. The term "ecclesial" in the title embraces both lay faithful and clergy, although the lens through which their views are gauged is that of the deacon. The empirical findings of the research have been derived from fifty-three deacons of Southwark Province who completed narrative questionnaires about their collective six hundred years of experience in ordained ministry. The research methodology was mainly qualitative, using an adapted grounded theory approach to explore the themes which emerged from the respondents' own testimonies. These included discernment of their vocations, their formation programmes, what helped or hindered them in their early days of ministry and how they were received by their parish priests and their communities. As a theological consideration of the permanent diaconate, the project points to : * a richer scriptural interpretation of diakonia than a simplistic reading of Acts 6 * an understanding of the episcopate as the "fullness of order" from which are extended the two "arms" of the bishop's pastoral oversight - diaconate and presbyterate * a praxis which reflects the diaconate as a unique and full order The chief findings of the research are as follows: * Whilst formation for deacons has become theologically more robust over the past decade, there remain gaps in ongoing formation, both theologically and pastorally and an underdeveloped structure for the deacon to be properly supervised in his ministry. * The pastoral role of the deacon's wife remains unclear. Although, in the main, she is an animator of her husband's witness and compensates for his lack of time with the family, there is little evidence that the concept of "diaconal marriage", as a basis for joint ministry, is devloping. * The discipline of celibacy for widower deacons reflects a limited and sacerdotal understanding of what it means to be a sacred minister in Holy Orders. Although dispensations for remarriage are possible, these exceptional concessions may restrict the theological unfolding of the concept of diaconal marriage. * The continued exclusion of women from ordained ministry remains problematical for some. However, Pope Benedict's recent moto proprio "Omnium in Mentem" may signal future opportunities for a more diverse ordained diaconal ministry.

There has been a great deal of research into Victorian religious ideas and organisations carried out in recent years. However, the research tends to focus on areas in which evidence is most manageable - that is, on denominations and sects which have a relatively limited and well-defined membership, or, if the Church of Ireland is concerned, on the activities of the professional full-time representatives of the Church, the clergy. In choosing to study the role of the laity in the Church of England, I have attempted to extend the circle of research a little further from the centre towards which it ordinarily tends to contract. [continued in text ...]

Depuis 'Ecclesia in Africa', le concept de l’Eglise-Famille-de-Dieu est identifié comme le concept africain de l’inculturation de l’ecclésiologie de communion du concile Vatican II et la clé de la nouvelle évangélisation en Afrique. Son adoption suscite des polémiques chez des pasteurs et des théologiens africains, notamment au sujet de sa genèse et de sa pertinence. Plusieurs études bibliques et théologiques ont été effectuées au sujet du concept de l’Eglise- Famille-de-Dieu. Celles-ci ont surtout pour vocation à le valider comme le concept ecclésiologique africain. Or la promotion faite au concept de l’Eglise-Famille-de-Dieu au plan continental, national et diocésain n’est qu’institutionnelle voire même conventionnelle. Pour dépasser le cadre d’une appropriation simplement superficielle de ce concept, il nous paraît nécessaire et urgent d’accorder une place prioritaire aux spécificités historiques, culturelles et communautaires de chaque Église locale à l’instar de l’expérience ecclésiale du Burkina Faso qui apparaît comme le modèle fondateur. La présente contribution, qui se veut une étude monographique, met en évidence la genèse du concept de l’Eglise-Famille-de-Dieu au Burkina Faso et mesure sa pertinence dans un champ ecclésial particulier : celui de l’Église catholique au Togo. En définitive, il s’agit de tenter une refondation de l’Eglise-Famille-de- Dieu en vue d’une réception communautaire de Vatican II et d’'Ecclesia in Africa'. / Since 'Ecclesia in Africa', the concept of the Church as Family of God has been identified as the African concept for the development of the Ecclesiology of communion advised by the second Vatican Council and as the key of the new evangelization in Africa. Its adoption has given rise to polemics among African priests and theologians, in particular concerning its genesis and its significance. Several biblical and theological studies have been carried out about the concept of the Church as Family of God. Their aim is mostly to confirm it as the ecclesiological concept in Africa. However it turns out that the promotion given at the continental, national and diocesan levels to the concept of the Church as Family of God is merely institutional or even conventional. To transcend a purely superficial implementation of the concept it seems necessary and urgent that primary importance be given to each local Church’s specific features, in terms of history, culture and community life, following the example of the experience of the Church in Burkina Faso, which turns out to be the founding model. The present work, which aims to be a monograph, delineates the genesis of the concept of the Church as Family of God in Burkina Faso and assesses its significance in a given field : the Roman Catholic Church in Togo. Eventually it attempts to reform the concept of the Church as Family of God with a view to sustaining a community reception of the second Vatican Council and of 'Ecclesia in Africa' in Togo.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the “strange phenomenon” of the Intentional Christian Community Othona in Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, Great Britain, founded in 1946 by Norman Motley, to cherish differences and diversity through reconciliation among nations that had been at war with each other. An old neglected chapel, St Peter-on-the-Wall, became the spiritual centre of this Community. A phenomenographic, auto-ethnographic and multi-dimensional research approach, designed to investigate and describe the Othona Community and its praxis and the researcher's involvement in it, is used for the empirical part of the thesis. The study seeks to discover a) the Lebenswelten ― or the world created by its life ― of the Othona Community, b) members'/participants' perception of the Community through interviews and Community literature, c) a way of understanding this “strange phenomenon” and its special charism with the help of an “endogenous theology”. This thesis shows that a two-fold encounter lies at the heart of the experience at Othona: encounter between a person and the “Other” (represented by the Stoep) and between a person and the “Wholly Other” (represented by the Chapel). Through examination of these encounters light is shed on the extraordinariness of Othona. The German term Heimat (a deeply spiritual home) is introduced here to encapsulate these “encounteral” experiences which induce a transformation of place and people alike. Theologically, the thesis claims that a combination of a Theology of Encounter and an understanding of Heimat can assist the appreciation of the Othona phenomenon as a Community of temporary withdrawal and restoration, where differences and a Kingdom model are experienced in narrative encounters on the margins by offering Heimat through belonging and significance.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Chinese