This diploma thesis deals with Catholicism in Poland and its permeation through the Polish national identity. The introductory chapter characterizes the concept of identity Polak-Katolik and its individual aspects that co-create this concept, as a rate of religiosity; the interconnection of Catholicism with polish statehood; Christianity as a part of national identity and historical events during which the Polak-Katolik connection was strengthened. Although the Polak- Katolik model was created in the 19th century, the roots of this connection can be observed from the beginnings of the Polish history to the present. The thesis then focuses in more detail on selected historical milestones in Polish history, which shows, how the elements of Catholicism permeated into the identity of Poles. The thesis assumes that the permeation of polish-catholic occurred mainly in critical periods. Therefore, for the purposes of the work, mainly events were selected when the existence of the Polish nation was threatened and faith together with the Roman Catholic Church played significant role in its preservation, such as during the siege of the monastery in Czenstochowa, the period of polish partition and the period of communism. The final chapter deals with the current situation of Catholicism in Poland, the...

Similar to other countries in southern Africa, the relationship between African Spiritual Churches and New Pentecostal Churches in Botswana has been characterized by considerable tension and mutual distrust. Although both movements highlight the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit of God, their followers view the world around them very differently. This study has investigated the relationship between these two types of churches by focusing on their efforts to produce unique ideologies of spiritual power in relation to the two major ideologies in the Botswana context, namely the reified Setswana worldview and the globalizing forces of Western modernity. In order to provide a careful analysis of the relationship between these movements, two churches from each group were chosen as representatives. The Hermon Church and Revelation Blessed Peace Church served as examples for the African Spiritual Churches, while Goodnews Ministries and Bible Life Ministries were the New Pentecostal subjects. Primary research methods included interviews with church leadership, questionnaires for members of each church and participant observation. Church origins, biblical hermeneutics, healing and deliverance rituals, and approaches to cultures and covenants formed the key areas of study. Creating unique “worlds of the Spirit” by means of innovative tactics, both types of churches seek to enable their followers to live well as they produce their contextualized ideologies of power. However, even though both movements lay claim to the Spirit of God as their source of power, the distinctive ideologies emerging from their sermons, technologies, rituals and symbols have brought them into conflict with one another. For African Spiritual Churches, the Spirit of God meets people in the midst of life’s struggles, providing healing and wholeness in all relationships. Their willingness to adopt certain elements of the reified Setswana worldview is a major issue in the conflict with New Pentecostal Churches. For New Pentecostals, the Spirit breaks all covenants made in the past, and empowers “born again” believers to succeed in a modern environment filled with opportunities and challenges. The key missiological concern of this study is to explore the unique efforts of these movements to contextualize the gospel message for Botswana. / Church Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

The thesis "Spirituality in the Drama of Tom Murphy" analyses three of Tom Murphy's plays of his mature period of the late 1970s and early 1980s in which the playwright explores the metaphysical question of the existence of God in contemporary post- lapsarian world. The main aim of the thesis is to elucidate how Murphy dramatically engages with the inherited Christian tradition and to analyse the spiritual quests for transcendence of his characters, stemming from a state of "metaphysical homelessness". Its overall claim is that these quests take place outside the realms of an institutionalized religion and that at its end the divine manifests itself through the human. The works examined are The Sanctuary Lamp, The Gigli Concert and Bailegangaire, all of which demonstrate a profound engagement with faith. Devoting a separate chapter to each, the thesis examines and compares, how Murphy dramatizes the "common human need for belief" of his characters, despite their urge to defy God at the same time. This thesis also analyses how Murphy employs religious imagery and vocabulary in the individual plays, paying special attention to his dual use of the motifs that seem as irreconcilable opposites and which is closely connected to the author's frequent use of the dramatic method of reversal with which he...

This study offers an overdue exploration of the early years of the deaconess community in Neuendettelsau from a gender perspective. Drawing on rich archival material, it focuses on the process of the formation of a distinctive collective identity. Central to this study is the assumption, drawn from the social sciences, that collective identity is a social construction which requires the participation of the whole group through identification and which is consolidated by developing specific rituals, symbols, codes and normative texts, which facilitate integration, and by constructing external boundaries, which separate from the world and wider church. The centrifugal forces which came into play when deaconesses were sent out in isolation were counterbalanced by a communal life which offered forms of participation and identification for the individual members and which consolidated their sense of belonging. The first chapter introduces the methodology. Chapter Two explores the social, cultural and theological context of the foundation of the Deaconess Institute, and offers a brief outline of the institution's historical development. The third chapter offers an in-depth analysis of the initiation ceremony as a rite which both admitted into the community and conferred an ecclesiastical office. Chapter Four analyses formative and normative texts that shed light on the community's norms, values, and expectations. In the fifth chapter, non-literary means of consolidating and affirming the deaconesses' collective identity are explored. This study concludes that the process of the emergence of a specific deaconess culture was pervaded by bourgeois norms, values, patterns of behaviour and notions about gender roles which measured out the women's radius of action and were at times difficult to reconcile with the deaconess profession.

Similar to other countries in southern Africa, the relationship between African Spiritual Churches and New Pentecostal Churches in Botswana has been characterized by considerable tension and mutual distrust. Although both movements highlight the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit of God, their followers view the world around them very differently. This study has investigated the relationship between these two types of churches by focusing on their efforts to produce unique ideologies of spiritual power in relation to the two major ideologies in the Botswana context, namely the reified Setswana worldview and the globalizing forces of Western modernity. In order to provide a careful analysis of the relationship between these movements, two churches from each group were chosen as representatives. The Hermon Church and Revelation Blessed Peace Church served as examples for the African Spiritual Churches, while Goodnews Ministries and Bible Life Ministries were the New Pentecostal subjects. Primary research methods included interviews with church leadership, questionnaires for members of each church and participant observation. Church origins, biblical hermeneutics, healing and deliverance rituals, and approaches to cultures and covenants formed the key areas of study. Creating unique “worlds of the Spirit” by means of innovative tactics, both types of churches seek to enable their followers to live well as they produce their contextualized ideologies of power. However, even though both movements lay claim to the Spirit of God as their source of power, the distinctive ideologies emerging from their sermons, technologies, rituals and symbols have brought them into conflict with one another. For African Spiritual Churches, the Spirit of God meets people in the midst of life’s struggles, providing healing and wholeness in all relationships. Their willingness to adopt certain elements of the reified Setswana worldview is a major issue in the conflict with New Pentecostal Churches. For New Pentecostals, the Spirit breaks all covenants made in the past, and empowers “born again” believers to succeed in a modern environment filled with opportunities and challenges. The key missiological concern of this study is to explore the unique efforts of these movements to contextualize the gospel message for Botswana. / Church Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

À l’ère de la globalisation, il est important de réfléchir sur les réalités qui font que cette globalisation puisse se réaliser. Dans l’étude des faits sociaux, le corps devient un des fondements de socialisation dans des sociétés dites traditionnelles, mais aussi dans des sociétés modernes. Le Mariage Traditionnel Bantu est une des pratiques sociales du corps qui, même aujourd’hui, résiste encore aux modèles imposés de l’intérieur et de l’extérieur de sa culture. Nous nous interrogeons constamment sur les raisons de cette résistance. Pour comprendre, nous avons privilégié l’observation participante de l’ensemble du trajet cérémonial donnant lieu à cette réalité chez les Kongo d’Angola, à travers une incursion dans son histoire et sa culture. Nous avons aussi opté pour des interviews dans un esprit d’ouverture et de découverte. Sans fermer la porte au nouveau monde et en consonance à l’évolution sociale, le Corps résistant du Mariage Traditionnel Kongo se caractérise comme un corps métis. Notre interaction a été menée surtout autour des mots suivants : corps, mariage, résistance, famille, parenté, métissage, société, État, Église, identité. / In the era of globalization, it is important to reflect on the realities that make this globalization possible. In the study of the social facts, the body becomes one of the foundations of socialization in societies referred to as traditional, but also in the modern societies. The traditional wedding of Bantu is one of the social practices of the body that, even today, resists the models imposed inside and outside of this culture. We are asking ourselves constantly about the reasons of this resistance. To understand, we have privileged the participating observation of the all ceremonial path, giving rise to this reality by the Kongo people of Angola, through an incursion in the history and his culture. We have also taken the option of interviews in a spirit of discovering and to have an open mind. Without closing the door to the new world and in consonance to the social evolution, the body resistance of the traditional wedding in Kongo is characterized as a crossbred body. Our interaction has been guided by the following words: body, wedding, resistance, family, society, state, church, identity, relationship and crossbreeding.

Text in German with English and German summaries / The New Testament teaching on the church structure associated with the Systematic Theology is being investigated and discussed under the term ecclesiology. Therefore, this is about the contextualization of the main terms: Ecclesia, the body of Christ, Positions (Acts, teachers,bishop, elders, etc.). In this climactic situation I will write my work and critically analyze the postmodern model of the multi-site and compare it to other post-modern models including their main exponents who are also trying to respond to today's situation. It is through the critical examination of the contextualization of the multi-site - relating to the New Testament understandingof the church – that full attention is given to the context of this world and the Christian identity is preserved by referring back to the Scriptures. The identity of the multisiteneeds to be examined through the pluralization of religious providers and compared toother ecclesiological models in order to gain new insight and understanding. / Die neutestamentliche Lehre über die Gemeindestruktur ist der systematischen Theologie zugeordnet und wird unter dem Terminus Ekklesiologie erforscht und diskutiert. Deswegen geht es um die Kontextualisierung der wesentlichen Begriffe Ekklesia, Leib Christi, Ämter (Apostel, Lehrer, Bischof, Älteste usw.). In dieser Zuspitzung werde ich meine Arbeit schreiben und kritisch das Modell der Multisite im Vergleich zu anderen postmodernen Modellen mitsamt deren Hauptexponenten, die ebenfalls versuchen auf die heutige Situation reagieren, zu analysieren. Denn durch die kritische Betrachtung der Kontextualisierung des Multisite-Modells anhand des neutestamentlichen Kirchenverständnisses wird dem Kontext dieser Welt volle Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt und durch den Rückbezug auf die Heilige Schrift die christliche Identität gewahrt. Diese Identität der Multisite soll in der Pluralisierung religiöser Anbieter im Kern mit anderen ekklesiologischen Modellen kritisch betrachtet werden, um so neue Erkenntnisse zu gewinnen. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)

Summary in German and English / Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich der Frage nach der Korrelation von Kirche und Welt am Beispiel der Evangelisch-Freikirchlichen Gemeinden in Deutschland. Dabei wird in dieser Arbeit intradisziplinär vorgegangen, indem methodisch sowohl biblisch-theologisch als auch sozialwissenschaftlich geforscht wird. Diese intradisziplinäre Vorgehensweise kommt in der vorliegenden komparativen Studie durch zwei Schritte zur Geltung. Im ersten Schritt wird im Rahmen einer biblisch-theologischen Reflexion eine Matrix zur Beurteilung der Korrelation von (Frei-)Kirche und Welt erarbeitet. Diese biblischtheologisch gewonnene Matrix bildet die Grundlage zur Entwicklung einer qualitativen Umfrage. Im zweiten Schritt werden im Rahmen einer empirischen Untersuchung Experten aus dem Kontext der Evangelisch-Freikirchlichen Gemeinden interviewt. Die Daten der Interviews werden mit einer in der Sozialwissenschaft gebräuchlichen Methode analysiert, ausgewertet und zu einer Theorie verdichtet. Abschließend werden die Ergebnisse der empirischen Untersuchung mit den Ergebnissen der biblisch-theologischen Reflexion verglichen und ausgewertet. Ziel der Doktorarbeit (Thesis) ist es, einen sowohl biblisch-theologisch wie auch empirisch begründeten Beitrag zu der Frage zu leisten, wie (Frei-)Kirche ihren Licht- und Salzauftrag in der Beziehung zur Welt tiefgreifender verstehen und wirkungsvoller umsetzen kann / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)