In the late 1780s there arose a theological controversy in Ayrshire, centred around the Rev William McGill (1732-1807), the associate minister to William Dalrymple (1723-1814) of the Old Kirk in Ayr. McGill was principally accused of holding ‘Socinian’ views, particularly in his Practical Essay on the Death of Jesus Christ (1786) which were at odds with the accepted standards of his church, a church which still retained a mainly Calvinistic outlook in the period. The Aim of this thesis Within this thesis I will attempt to place McGill firmly within the context of his day. This will be done by offering a picture of the Scottish, English and Irish ecclesiastical scene, with particular reference to Scotland, in which the Ayr minister was working. Further consideration will be given to the impact of the Enlightenment, as well as the American and French Revolutions, in the latter part of the century. The response of the various churches in Britain to these events are of particular importance for McGill’s career as, in his final published work On the fear of God (Ayr, 1795), the theological ‘radical’ emerges as a political conservative. What has perhaps been lacking in previous assessments of McGill is a study of the full range of influences which drove the Ayr minister’s theology. By utilising the evidence offered by the ‘Ayr Library Society’ (which held the works of noted English Socinians) of which McGill, along with Dalrymple, was a founder member in 1762, I will attempt to trace some of the main sources for McGill’s later thought. Of key significance is the holding of works by the Society of several leading English Socinians. Although speculative (as McGill does not directly cite these works), based on the evidence there does appear to be parallels between McGill’s work and that of the English theologians. I will also assess, in addition to considering why McGill’s work proved contentious, the reasons for his ‘apology’, following the case. Additionally it will be important to re-examine the overall effect of the case, in order to fully appreciate the significance of McGill for the wider Scottish churches of his day.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), a refugee scholar from Hitler's Europe, became a significant Jewish theologian and a famous social activist in the United States of America. The thesis begins with a brief biography, which puts his work into context, personally, culturally, and historically. There follows an examination of the style and method of presentation of Heschel's thought, asking why it is that some commentators reject him as a serious thinker. He is then located within the tradition and discipline of theology, with an examination of what he calls "depth-theology". Part II begins with an examination of Heschel's major contribution to modem theology-"the divine pathos"-and its place in the impassibility/passibility controversy. Its influence on other (Christian) theologians is demonstrated, together with a response to major criticism (from Eliezer Berkovits). Heschel's theological anthropology is then shown to be entirely dependent upon the concept of the divine pathos, and to have lasting value. Finally, the thesis explores Heschel's commitment to interfaith dialogue (specifically with Christians) made possible by the universal applicability of his insights into the nature of God, humankind, and the relationship between them.

This thesis studies the nature of grassroots unity during the charismatic renewal of the 1970s and its significance for ecumenism. It argues that the renewal made an important contribution to ecumenism by means of complementarity of institution and charisms, and christology and pneumatology. It is based on the five international conferences of the Fountain Trust in the 1970s and focuses on two grassroots activities: worship in general and the celebration of the eucharist in particular. Worship in this setting nurtured unity through charisms, but the eucharist exposed the inadequacy of this grassroots unity because of doctrinal and ecclesiological differences. The thesis aims to suggest a way forward by searching for the complementarity of institution and charisms, and christology and pneumatology in a charismatic context. It argues that the two emphases of the charismatic renewal, charisms and the Holy Spirit, complement the institutional commitments of the church and ecumenism. The concepts of Christus praesens and Spiriti praesens are considered intrinsic to the charisms, and thus christology and pneumatology should both be considered significant for ecumenism. It finally discusses the complementarity of ecumenical institutions and the charismatic renewal, the convergence of ecumenical streams and continuity in modern ecumenical history.

The primary aim of this thesis is to explore the biographies and theologies of non-normative Christians. Prioritising the importance of sharing life stories as a source for theology, this thesis mobilises self-produced narratives from three individuals. By exploring the lives of the protagonists, we see how biographies and beliefs are revisited and revised throughout individual life courses. Mobilising resistance and rupture as characteristics of queer theory, I engage in a process which breaks free from traditional research paradigms. Thus, the secondary aim of this work became the development of an 'undoing' methodology, which liberates the researcher and allows me to approach and analyse the life stories using intuitive, reflective and creative methods. My critical insights on these participant stories reveal that all theologies are fluid, thereby exposing the temporal nature, but not significance, of all theology. Theologising from the basis of experience is always subject to revision. The process of 'undoing' theology points to a belief system based on experience which can never be rigidly fixed. The thesis reveals how 'undoing' theology is characterised by contingency, temporality, fluidity, becoming and unbecoming as its key indicators.

At the beginning of the twentieth century we find novelists using their medium to express doubt in both the Judeo-Christian narrative as archetype and the possibility of purposive narrative in their own work. Often these writers took well-recognized paradigms of purposive narratives, such as 'the quest', or 'historical narrative' and adapted them to show them failing to reach their purposed denouement. The work of these novelists was paralleled by that of contemporary poets. Although the poets' concerns were less immediately affected by the specific challenges to Judeo-Christian narratives, their concern for the efficacy of language was motivated by a similar sense that language no longer possessed the edenic quality of reaching the thing it aimed at. Furthermore the frameworks of art themselves (perspective, rhyme, formal representation, and so on) were found to be unstable. Literary responses to the failure of language and narrative were varied. In a radically simplified form they may be located on a continuum between two points: at one end a desire to fill the void left by an absent God; at the other a fascination with the possibilities of the void. My thesis situates the work of Conrad in particular, as well as Forster, Eliot, Woolf, Imagism and Dada, on this continuum, during the period of, roughly, 1899-1925. The works of these individuals and groups are considered individually and comparatively through detailed readings of texts and images. Through such consideration it becomes apparent that the fascination of the void, which attracted all these writers to varying extents, also brought them to realize new aesthetic possibilities that seemed to fill the void. In particular, the modernist texts under consideration developed an aesthetic of aperture, that is to say an aesthetic of the momentary, more specifically, the moment prior to comprehension, the moment of experience. In fiction this aesthetic grew out of a deconstruction of purposive narrative in favour of imagistic presentation; in poetry and the visual arts the poem or picture abstracted its object from reality and yet equivalenced reality by presenting an inherent internal logic. That logic apparent in the poem or picture was often placed beyond the grasp of the reader or viewers' understanding, representing the sense that the logical operations of the world or the divine machinations of God, were either beyond comprehension,if not non-existent altogether. This aesthetic of aperture is once again illustrated through detailed examination of particular texts and images. In the works considered this reinstatement of the possibility of purposive narrative and language through an aesthetic of aperture is figured mystically, presented in negative-theological terms of absence, silence and the unknowable. The mysticism identified appears at odds with the predominantly practical theological debates in Europe at the time and yet finds philosophical parallels in Wittgenstein's Tractatus. The thesis concludes that the return, in modernist works, of attempts to fill the void is the result not only of aesthetic, but also of social and personal (in particular the repercussions of world war), desires for at least the possibility of purposive narrative and language.

it is the aim of this thesis to demonstrate that the concept of the covenant, as a traditional theological idea, has practical utility in public discourse in the UK. This is done with reference to the secular humanist outlook of John Rawls. It is concluded that such an outlook that sees no role for Christianity in the public realm of political and social policy, does not of itself contain sufficient conceptual resources to furnish the world as fully as an approach that is inclusive of a religious dimension. That such a non-sectarian approach is possible is indicated by the use of New Natural Law, associated with Germain Grisez. The Military Covenant is used as the vehicle to enable this project. The end of the Cold war led to a re-examination of the relationship between the people of the United Kingdom and the British army. After a lengthy and difficult process the connection was summarised by the Military Covenant. This bound together the nation, the state and the army in a solemn manner. However what is a covenant? In an increasingly secular society such concepts that have a theological root are little understood. This is to the impoverishment of national life. The rise of secular liberalism is examined through John Rawls’ Theory of Justice. This is presented as a significant text in understanding this change. Rawls’ misplaced reliance on the rationality of human nature means that secular liberalism is inadequate as a comprehensive model for public policy. In the light of the emergence of the covenant-idea as a robust example of Christian theology, a means of its accommodation is found in New Natural Law. Grisez and his colleagues propose a scheme of thought is based upon the general aspiration people have to live purposeful lives. The Military Covenant is found to find its home in this approach. The legitimate place of Christianity in British society is affirmed as a means to promoting the common good.

This doctoral thesis examines the Arabic translation of Gregory Nazianzen’s Oration on Baptism (Oration 40) by a tenth-eleventh century Melkite translator and writer, Ibrāhīm ibn Yūḥannā al-Anṭākī. In particular, it focuses on the way al-Anṭākī presented Gregory’s theosis theology and investigates the extent to which he engaged with Islamic thought, primarily his borrowing of concepts and structures from Islamic debates such as the unity and the divine attributes of God and the perfection of the soul. This study asks to what extent this theology, which combines both the social and the spiritual aspects of human perfection, or the reception of Gregory helped the Antiochene Melkites develop a strong identity at a time when they were ruled by the Byzantine Empire but attached to the Islamicate culture they shared with their Muslim neighbours. The key conclusion of this thesis is that the Arabic translation of Oration 40 can be said to present a version of Gregory’s theosis theology which is enriched by the concepts and terms used by Christian and Muslim writers of the period. Although it cannot be said to represent a development in this theology but should be viewed as a creative retelling of it, al-Anṭākī’s erudition in the discussions of Christian Arabic theology and Islamic thought, as well as his references to these discussions in the words he used, makes this text particularly interesting. Theosis seems to have captured what he saw as essential for the good of his community: attachment to the Church or tradition, living the life that Christ lived in this world but with an emphasis on the public expression of the faith, perfection of the soul and the union with God here on earth and in the world to come.

This work seeks to examine traditional Christian doctrines regarding life after death, from a pastoral perspective. The study explores new ways of interpreting the meaning in human identity, dis-innocence and forgiven-ness specifically as relating to the continuing evolution of Humankind, and offers a description of humankind as Homo sanctus. The thesis is built around three individual selected case examples of death and dying together with a constructed narrative of ‘problem dying’, and a group of five persons in a Fellowship of the Dying; it describes the development and praxis of new approaches to ministry in these areas. A number of new terms are introduced to better convey the substance of meanings. The study itself may be considered as offering significant new insight in two respects: 1. It engages with the idea that bio-death has teleological meaning within the evolution of Personhood in resurrection. 2. It offers the experiences of Christian pastoral ministry pro-actively engaging with dying as a pilgrimage into and through bio-death, in which every member of the immediate community of faith is pro-active in pilgrimage with the dying Person. The study draws on extensive cross-cultural and multi-faith experience in Britain and Africa.

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.

This thesis is concerned with the role played by the Christian scholar ‘Ammār al-Baṣrī in theologizing in the Islamic milieu of the ‘Abbasids in the 9th century. His Kitāb al-Burhān, one of his only two surviving works, will therefore be thoroughly studied from two perspectives: the Islamic perspective as it is found in contemporary anti-Christian polemical texts; and the Christian perspective, through a comparison of ‘Ammār’s treatise with the works of Arab Christian theologians of his day. The present study aims at demonstrating the level of translatability of Christian theology into the Islamic intellectual milieu, as ‘Ammār al-Baṣrī saw it. It is therefore natural that we should examine Kitāb al-Burhān as an example of “contextualized” theology in Dār al-Islām. ‘Ammār’s Burhān stands a witness to the numerous attempts made by Arab Christians to reconcile their heritage (the world of Islam) with their inheritance (Christian theology). Such a reconciliation is essential for the future existence of Arab Christians, particularly in the Arab World.