Christian religious experience whether it occurs in the second century or in modem Africa is one and the same, and although the experiences may differ it is possible to draw correlations to suggest that such experiences bear witness to a common reality. St. Ignatius of Antioch who lived in the second century and Afua Kuma who hails from Kwahu in the Eastern Region of Ghana, are used to demonstrate this reality. My sources for Ignatius' are the seven letters he wrote, six to churches he visited and one to his friend Polycarp of Smyrna, whilst he was on his way to martyrdom in Rome. As bishop of Antioch he is concerned about the unity of the church and consequently focuses attention on false doctrines and the development of what was becoming "orthodox" tradition. A number of peculiar images referring to Christ emerge in his work, such"as apXEta (archive), 8upa (door), xapaK1"rlp (stamp) and 8t)(:nacr'trlpwv (altar). This picturesque and vivid imagery is traced to his propensity for rhetoric, which, though Asian, bears resemblance to the Greek and Roman folkloric traditions. The Apae or the courthouse praise poetry of the Akan folkloric tradition is the vehicle that Afua Kuma employs to express her faith in Jesus. A crisis in Madam Kuma's life must have led her to fathom the depths of her traditional background and upbringing and this she feeds into her understanding of Jesus. In her poetry Jesus is imaged as Adontehene, Benkumhene, :Jkatakyie, :Jkokodurufo, Okuruakwaban, and Adubasap::m and is made to perform all the functions associated with regal authority. She also shows awareness of modem political and social structures in these images. This thesis shows that it is the fruit of the Christian imagination born in the context of praise and worship, which ought to feed and nourish academic theology so as to keep it in touch with the spiritual vitality experienced in the community of faith. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-73).

Title: The Question of Liberty and Obedience in the Work of Saint Ignatius of Loyola Abstract: The thesis investigates the question of liberty and obedience in the work of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and offers a basic survey of the literary heritage of the great Spanish mystic. Three of his works (Spiritual Exercises, Autobiography and Constitutions) and two letters dealing with obedience have been used as the sources and analyzed. In conclusion, the obedience and liberty in the interpretation of Saint Ignatius of Loyola are in substantial agreement and compatibility in the sense of inner freedom according to the Christian traditions. Saint Ignatius' contribution to the mystic literature was the fact that he emphasized one's own experience as the individual experience of an autonomous personality. Rather than to describe in detail his own ecstatic feeling he aspired to capture a day-to-day mysticism and his intensive pursuit of God's will. Key words: Loyola (St. Ignatius of), obedience, liberty, Spiritual Exercises, Autobiography, Constitutions, mystic literature.

Ignatius av Loyolas konkreta pedagogiska övningar attraherar samtidens kristna från olika samfund och i Svenska kyrkan växer intresset för den ignatianska spiritualiteten. Syftet med denna studie är att genom intervjuer, enkät och teori undersöka den ignatianska spiritualitetens framgång inom Svenska kyrkan i dag. Totalt 29 informanter har genom djupintervjuer och enkäter beskrivit sin ignatianska praktik. Informanterna i studien beskriver att den ignatianska spiritualiteten tar deras individuella erfarenheter i bruk. Detta samtidigt som syftet är att de ska förstå vad som är Guds vilja med livet. Informanterna upplever att den ignatianska spiritualiteten har gett dem möjlighet till en personlig gudsrelation samt gett dem nya pedagogiska metoder för att fördjupa sin tro och kunna se Gud i vardagen. Informanterna menar sig ha sökt en fördjupning av sin tro och att de funnit denna fördjupning genom den ignatianska spiritualiteten. Studiens teoretiska perspektiv utgörs av religionsfilosofen Charles Taylors teori om ”den subjektiva vändningen”, Linda Woodhead och Paul Heelas ”subjektiveringsteori” samt Karin Johannesons pastoralteologiska reflektion om andlig träning i en luthersk kontext. Taylor menar att kulturen i väst genomgått ett stort skifte som innebär att yttre auktoriteter förlorar i betydelse och den enskildes inre istället blir den främsta auktoritetskällan. Woodhead och Heelas subjektiveringsteori menar att människors immanenta gudstro växer i väst medan den transcendenta gudstron avtar och Johannesson presenterar tre viktiga kännetecken för andlig träning i en luthersk kontext. Hon menar att en sådan bör vara anti-individualistisk, ta sig uttryck i vardagen och sätta den fördjupade gudsrelationen i centrum I min studie blir Charles Taylors teori om den subjektiva vändningen synlig. Den ignatianska spiritualiteten talar till det personliga subjektet men förankrar praktiken i den kristna traditionen. Woodhead och Heelas subjektiveringsteori har jag funnit visst stöd för, men något som skiljer sig från teorin är att Gud som auktoritet inte förkastas. Ett intressant resultat som empirin visar är att informanterna uppskattar de auktoritära drag som spiritualiteten bär på. Studiens samlade bild av den ignatianska spiritualitetens funktion är i linje med Johannessons beskrivning av en anti-individualistisk andlighet, som tar sig uttryck i vardagen och som sätter den fördjupade gudsrelationen i centrum. Informanterna upplever att Ignatius pedagogiska metoder kan vara ett sätt att ge svenskkyrkliga handfast ledning i konsten att fördjupa sin tro på ett sätt som är i linje med luthersk teologi. Studien visar att metoderna fungerar väl i senmodernitetens subjektiva vändning utan att Gud som auktoritet överges.

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Michael Servetus (1508 - 1553) and Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 - 1772) are both considered heretics. They share many concepts about the nature of God, especially their rejection of orthodox Nicene and Chalcedonian theology. This thesis explores their respective theologies relating to the Trinity and Christology, with speculation of what sources they may have had in common. While attention is paid to Ignatius, Irenaeus and Tertullian, particular attention is paid to Tertullian, whose work Adversus Praxean lays the foundation of Servetus' ideas and has much in common with Swedenborg's theology. In light of their similarity to Tertullian, the question is asked if Servetus and Swedenborg would have been called heretics prior to Nicaea. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Church History)

The dissertation argues that the development of the British abolition movement was based on the abolitionists' perception that their actions were kairotic; they attempted to shape their own kairos by taking temporal events and reinterpreting them to construct a kairotic process that led to a perceived fulfillment: abolition. Thus, the dissertation examines the rhetorical strategies used by white abolitionists to construct an abolitionist kairos that was designed to produce salvation for white Britons more than it was to help free blacks. The dissertation especially examines the three major texts produced by black persons living in England during the late eighteenth centuryIgnatius Sancho's Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho (1782), Ottobauh Cugoano's Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787), and Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789)to illustrate how black rhetoric was appropriated by whites to fulfill their own kairotic desires. By examining the rhetorical strategies employed in both white and black rhetorics, the dissertation illustrates how the abolitionists thought the movement was shaped by, and how they were shaping the movement through, kairotic time. While the dissertation contends that the abolition movement was rhetorically designed to provide redemption, and thus salvation, it illustrates that the abolitionist's intent was not merely to save the slave, but to redeem blacks first in the eyes of white Christians by opening blacks to an understanding and acceptance of God. Perhaps more importantly, abolitionists would use black salvation to buy back their own souls and the soul of their nation in the eyes of God in order to regain their own salvation lost in the slave trade. But ironically, they had to appear to be saving others to save themselves. So white abolitionists used the black narratives to persuade their overwhelmingly white audience that slavery was as bad for them as it was for the African slave. And in the process, a corpus of black writing was produced that gives current readers two glimpses of one world.

[pt] Esta dissertação roçará pelo ficcional. Teremos um Vieira personagem que, como ator, aparece em cena já idoso, invadido pelo passado, a recordar, a escrever, trazido pela narradora onisciente que lhe decifra gestos, palavras e até pensamentos. Através dele, conheceremos um pouco de sua vida e da vida de Inácio de Loyola, o seu grande mestre. Analisaremos, desde a sua gênese, a Reforma e a Contra-Reforma, a sua influência sobre Vieira e o seu posicionamento diante dos dois movimentos que mudaram a história da Igreja.. Neste contexto, examinaremos o movimento artístico que tanto influenciou Vieira, o Barroco - movimento de transgressão, com suas tendências e características, e o interesse da Igreja em dele apropriar-se para fazê-lo a sua arma de divulgação. Analisar-se-ão, finalmente, alguns sermões, começando pelos que se intitulam As cinco pedras da funda de Davi, e nestes sobretudo a questão do conhecimento de si mesmo, abordada por Vieira através das parábolas e histórias bíblicas por ele privilegiadas.Nos sermões do Rosário, referentes aos negros, atentarse- á para o forte cunho social e político que lhes é imprimido e a dura crítica aos senhores de engenho.Nos sermões do Mandato, tratar-se-á da contraposição do amor divino ao humano, destacando-se a questão do fino amor, proposta por Vieira, demonstrada através do contraponto entre a fineza dos dois amores, o divino e o humano, este sempre duvidoso e inconstante. / [en] This thesis borders on the fictional. Its protagonist is Vieira, already an old man, haunted by the past, reminiscing and writing, a character created by the omniscient narrator who deciphers his gestures, words and even thoughts. Through Vieira we learn something not only about his own life but also about that of Ignatius of Loyola, his great master. An analysis is made of the Reformation and the Counterreformation, from their very beginnings, and of their influence on Vieira, showing the stands he took in relation to the two movements that changed the history of the Church. In this context we will examine the artistic movement that had such influence on Vieira, the baroque - a transgressive movement, with its trends and characteristics, which the Church tried to appropriate for its own propaganda purposes.Finally, we will also analyze a few sermons, beginning with those known under the title The Five Stones in David`s Sling, with the emphasis on the issue of self-knowledge, which Vieira approaches by means of parables and favorite Biblical stories.In the Rosary sermons, which refer to the condition of black people, we underscore their very strong social and political flavor, with their harsh criticism of the powerful owners of sugar plantations.In the Mandate sermons, the theme is the contrast between divine love and human love; in them Vieira discusses the topic of fine love, demonstrating his views through a counterpoint between the fineness of the two loves, the divine and the human, the latter always doubtful and inconstant.

La synodalité paraît être aujourd’hui un thème très actuel, tant pour le dialogue théologique bilatéral entre les Églises catholique et orthodoxe, qu’à l’intérieur de chaque Église. Le pontificat du pape François a mis l’accent sur la synodalité et l’Église orthodoxe vient de réaliser son Grand et Saint Concile (Crète, juin 2016). Le Concile Vatican II en 1964 a promulgué la doctrine de la collégialité épiscopale (les évêques constituent un collège qui succède au collège des Douze Apôtres), doctrine qui devait rapprocher les ecclésiologies catholique et orthodoxe. Cependant, les théologiens orthodoxes ne se sont pas retrouvés dans cette doctrine. Cinquante ans après sa promulgation, on remarque par ailleurs que la mise en œuvre de la collégialité épiscopale dans l’Église catholique est plutôt limitée. Cette étude a tenté de confronter les notions de collégialité épiscopale et de synodalité épiscopale, en vue d’une compréhension commune, entre catholiques et orthodoxes, de la place des évêques au sein de l’Église entière. Partant du constat que la synodalité épiscopale, comme l’entendent les orthodoxes, ne coïncide pas avec la doctrine de la collégialité épiscopale comme elle a été formulée au concile Vatican II, le présent travail s’est penché sur les fondements de cette dernière, afin de rechercher comment la tradition commune originelle des deux Églises conçoit la synodalité épiscopale. Le retour aux sources communes, à savoir bibliques, patristiques et dogmatiques, est proposé comme la base d’une entente sur les questions du ministère épiscopal et de la synodalité des évêques. Une telle entente s’avère indispensable afin d’aborder d’autres questions controversées, notamment celle de la primauté romaine. / Synodality seems to be a very current topic, both for the bilateral theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and for each individual Church. The pontificate of Pope Francis has emphasized synodality and the Orthodox Church has just convened its Great and Holy Council (Crete, June 2016). The Second Vatican Council in 1964 promulgated the doctrine of episcopal collegiality (the bishops are organized in a college which succeeds the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), a doctrine which was to bring closer Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiologies. However, the Orthodox theologians did not appreciate the value of this doctrine. Fifty years after its promulgation, it is also noted that the implementation of episcopal collegiality in the Catholic Church is rather restricted. This research attempts to compare the notions of episcopal collegiality and episcopal synodality, exploring a common understanding between Catholics and Orthodox of the place of the bishops within the whole Church. For Orthodox theologians, episcopal synodality does not coincide with the doctrine of episcopal collegiality, as it was formulated during the Second Vatican Council. This research focused on the common tradition of the two Churches regarding episcopal synodality. The study of common sources, namely biblical, patristic and dogmatic, is proposed as the basis for an agreement on the issue of episcopal ministry and the synodality of bishops. Such an agreement is essential to address other issues, especially that of the Roman primacy.

In his most popular prose work, Mary Magdalens Funeral Teares (1591), English Jesuit Robert Southwell adapts the Mary Magdalene tradition by incorporating the meditative practices of St. Ignatius Loyola coupled with the Petrarchan language of poetry. Thus, he creates a prose work that ministered to Catholic souls, appealed to Protestant audiences, and initiated the literature of tears in England. Southwell readapts the traditional image of Mary Magdalene for a Catholic Early Modern audience by utilizing the techniques of Jesuit meditation, which later flourished in the weeper texts of Richard Crashaw and George Herbert. His vividly imagined scenes also employ the Petrarchan and Ovidian language of longing and absence and coincide with both traditional and mystic early church writers such as Bernard and Augustine. Through this combination, Southwell’s Marie Magdalens Funeral Teares resonated with Catholics deprived of both ministry and the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. These contributions solidify Southwell’s place as a pivotal figure in the religious and literary contexts of Early Modern England.