The question of who is participating in today’s debate around theologies of other religions is important. Religious difference and the many ways of dealing with it are issues in political, social and theological initiatives. The reality of religious plurality in daily life leaves some Christians wondering about the best way to relate to non-Christian neighbors. In light of this, a series of questions emerges about who is shaping conversations with people of other faiths and what priorities they reflect. A Lutheran voice is lacking in this debate. Despite this, there has been a wide response from other Christian traditions. In some cases denominations have raised questions of religious pluralism as a theological issue, while elsewhere individual theologians have contributed to the debate. The project that follows will examine such contributions from three ecclesial traditions (Roman Catholic, Evangelical and Protestant) and individual theologians in order to chart some common concerns in the theology of religions debate. In an effort to highlight a tradition-constituted approach to the other, connections will also be made between individuals’ positions and their ecclesial traditions. This thesis will also propose a distinctively Lutheran theology of religions first by using the works of Martin Luther to introduce the Lutheran history of engagement with non-Christians. Then, Lutheran statements and resources, partnerships and institutions will be examined to discover the ways in which the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America engages non-Christians. Finally, this project will propose crucial elements for a specifically Lutheran theology of religions. These elements will be put in conversation with individual Lutheran theologians who have made contributions to the debate. Ultimately a theology of kinship will emerge. Using distinctively Lutheran themes, this theology recognizes a connection between all people and calls Lutherans to live in kinship with the religious other.

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Korea became a multicultural society through the influx of foreigners: migrant workers, international married couples, foreign students, and naturalized citizens. This social change challenges Korean churches to reflect on their mission styles and theology. The theology of the welcomed stranger is a theological response to the Korean context, requiring a profound understanding of globalization and migration. It focuses mainly on the lives of migrant workers in Korea and suggests a model of settlement for both Koreans and migrant workers for peaceful living while exploring a community of toleration, friendship, and harmony for co-existence and emphasizing social justice for the poor and marginalized. Interfaith dialogue between Korean churches and migrant workers is also an important facet of this theology. The introduction outlines my personal life story in relation to Minjung theology and the theology of the wanderer as preconditions to the theology of the welcomed stranger. Chapter One explains the theological responses to globalization and the context of globalization and migration while researching the role of international economic institutions and international laws for migrant workers and their families. Chapter Two explores the situation of migrant workers in Korea, especially women, while highlighting the work of Korean NGOs working for migrant workers and showing the viewpoints of NGO staff on globalization. Chapter Three reflects on Minjung theology and suggests its new responsibility in the era of globalization. Chapter Four considers the theology of the wanderer, comparing it with Minjung theology. Chapter Five outlines the theology of the welcomed stranger and argues for the virtue of a multicultural society, challenging Korean churches to understand the social reality of migrant workers and accepting them as “welcomed stranger.” Chapter Six emphasizes interfaith dialogue and relations between Korean churches and migrant workers, examining the religious context of Korea and the historical background of the Korean church. This chapter also provides the viewpoints of NGO staff in Korea on interfaith dialogue, supporting Korean churches and migrant workers to work together for the realization of a “basic human community,” which I understand as a response to the idea of the kingdom of God.

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Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-03-02T13:26:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 analuziacaixeiro.pdf: 3299896 bytes, checksum: 3619e3fa331f347bd57b661a0a5d5a70 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-03-03T14:50:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 analuziacaixeiro.pdf: 3299896 bytes, checksum: 3619e3fa331f347bd57b661a0a5d5a70 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-03T14:50:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 analuziacaixeiro.pdf: 3299896 bytes, checksum: 3619e3fa331f347bd57b661a0a5d5a70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-29 / Este trabalho tem como foco o estudo da Fraternidade Cósmica Universal, um grupo sediado na cidade de Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. O grupo realiza encontros entre segmentos religiosos e não religiosos, promovendo o conhecimento, a interação e o diálogo entre as diversas tradições. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi compreender essa dinâmica. Para sua execução foram realizadas visitas ao grupo, observações, participações em suas atividades e entrevistas com seus membros efetivos e visitantes. O resultado encontra-se organizado em três capítulos. No primeiro capítulo serão abordados o diálogo inter-religioso no atual contexto do pluralismo, a questão da identidade, da busca pelo sentido e as novas configurações religiosas. No segundo capítulo serão apresentados a criação e o histórico do grupo, as atividades desenvolvidas pela casa, a dinâmica dos encontros e os espaços físicos onde ocorrem. O terceiro capítulo apresentará os personagens envolvidos nesse processo, suas trajetórias até o grupo e as funções que desempenham na construção de um espaço para o exercício do diálogo inter-religioso e na formação de uma identidade para o grupo. A análise final apresentará os elementos desta dinâmica do diálogo inter-religioso que ocorre na Fraternidade Cósmica Universal. / This research focuses on the study of the Fraternidade Cósmica Universal, a group headquartered in the city of Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The group set up meetings between religious and non-religious segments, promoting knowledge, interaction and dialogue between different traditions. The purpose of this work was to understand this dynamics. For its implementation, visits were done to the group, observations, participation in activities and interviews with its members and visitors. The result of this research is organized into three chapters. In the first chapter will be addressed interfaith dialogue in the current context of pluralism, the question of identity, the search for meaning and new religious settings. In the second chapter will be presented the creation and history of the group, the activities of the home, the dynamics of the meetings and the physical spaces in which they occur. The third chapter introduces the characters involved in this process, their trajectories to the group and the roles they play in the construction of a space for the exercise of interfaith dialogue and the formation of an identity for the group. The final analysis will present the elements of the dynamics of interfaith dialogue that occurs in Fraternidade Cósmica Universal.

The position of the Roman Catholic Church to Islamic extremism Abstract The present thesis deals with the attitude of the Pope, those spiritual state performing the function in individual institutions of the Holy See, theologians and a selected group of people from the Czech general public Roman Catholic Church to religious extremism, focusing on the ultimate form of extremism - terrorism - of individuals or groups espousing to Islam. Since religious extremism often associated with fundamentalism, radicalism and fanaticism, is the first chapter to analyze the basic characteristics of these concepts, with the emphasis on analyzing the meaning and essence of their grasp. A comparison of them found what they have in common and what they are different. Following the above leads to analysis of how extremism reflect the religious and intellectual personalities of islam, with attached description and comparison of the attitudes of these figures, and militant-minded muslims to the jihad by the sword "al-džihád bi̕ s-sajf". In connection with this armed form of jihad work briefly compares the concept of martyrdom in islam and the roman catholic church and the result in the summary analyses. It is also a brief look into the history of religious extremism, as an integral part of the development of Christianity and...

Early Christian missionaries alienated Shona people from their culture and traditional religion. Essential elements of Shona religion were rejected because they were thought to be entertaining paganism, fetishism and idolatry. More than a century of Christianity in Zimbabwe has passed and some Shona still hold on tenaciously to their ancestral religion. The missionaries did not understand Shona language and may have been ignorant of the significance of the Shona religion to the Shona people. However, with the transfer of power from colonial masters to black rule, one would have expected parallel changes concerning creative integration of indigenous cultural values with the Gospel. But today, forty years after independence, not a single Church denomination in Zimbabwe (Mainline Churches, Evangelical Churches and Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches) seems to have made any ‘meaningful adaption’ of the Shona views on death and afterlife, in the light of the Bible, and in particular, the Gospel. Several elements in Shona traditional beliefs on death and afterlife have been proposed for inculturation. In spite of the proposals put forward by various scholars, even the indigenous Church leaders in Zimbabwe seem to have failed to fully adapt the Shona views into the Christian Gospel message, despite the fact that they fully understand and appreciate the Shona culture and values. A literature review will help to extract information from current and past studies underlying this field. The principles followed on comprehending and solving problems, and the methods and methodology employed in the study, will be made explicit. A detailed examination of the Shona views on death and afterlife which the Zimbabwean Church is expected to possibly incorporate into their worship, and the precepts on the eschatological perspective of Christianity on death, resurrection and afterlife, will be conducted. Definition and analysis of the terms ‘dialogue’ and ‘inculturation’, and the progress achieved on dialogue and inculturation, by the Church in Zimbabwe, will follow. The challenges confronting the Church in Zimbabwe, and the Shona Christians, will be investigated, while theological arguments will be employed to identify gaps in knowledge in the previous literature. The study will suggest possible proposals on the way forward. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / PhD. (Systematic Theology)

Evangelical Protestant Christians have been one of the primary groups opposing Mormons since the beginnings of Mormonism in the 1820s. This thesis is an examination of the historical basis for Evangelical opposition to Mormonism and the impact of that opposition on Mormon identity. This study is divided into three chronological chapters representing the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries in America. Evangelical animosity towards Mormonism was grounded in the Christian heretical tradition begun in the second century AD. Because of this tradition, Evangelicals were inherently afraid of heresy for two main reasons: temporal treason and eternal damnation. Due to the heterodox claims of a new prophet and new scripture, Mormonism was quickly labeled as dangerous, not only to Christianity, but to America as a whole. This perceived danger only grew as Mormonism continued to differentiate itself further with the practices of polygamy, communalism, and theocracy. In the nineteenth century, Mormon assimilation of Evangelicalism primarily affected the social structures of marriage, economics, and politics. In the twentieth century, Mormon assimilation of Evangelical identity would focus more on the incorporation of Evangelical ideology and theology. As Fundamentalism and Neo-Evangelicalism protested Mormonism as a cult, Mormonism became more Fundamentalist and Evangelical by nature, especially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognized how such opposition negatively impacted American public perceptions. Such changes included the development of Mormon neo-orthodoxy with its emphasis on the sovereignty of God, the depravity of man, and salvation by grace. In the twenty-first century, a group of Mormon and Evangelical scholars engaged in the practice of interfaith dialogue developed by Liberal Protestants and Catholics. As part of their dialogue, Evangelicals retained the purposes of evangelism and apologetics thereby qualifying the dialogue as a new more subtle form of Evangelical opposition to Mormonism in the twenty first century. As Evangelicals continuously opposed Mormonism as a Christian heresy, such opposition effected changes within Mormonism, changes that have led to some degree of assimilation and even adoption of several elements of Evangelicalism. The most recent part of this assimilation process has been the development of Mormon progressive orthodoxy that emphasizes anti-sectarianism, anti-liberalism, and revised supernaturalism.

This research was a preliminary pilot study meant to encourage further exploration on the intersection of art therapy, art making, spirituality, and dialogue. This study topic is an important area of investigation due to the long-standing challenges of interfaith dialogue, both historically and currently. An abundance of reviewed literature linking interfaith dialogue and dialogue through art making guided the research hypothesis, which states that the act of viewing and being viewed by the spiritual other through art making could deepen one’s own spiritual practice, increase empathy, foster dialogue, and inform clinical work as psychotherapists. To explore this, the researchers held an explorative arts-based workshop, encouraging participants to use the art individually and in pairs to further reflect on their spiritual beliefs and experiences. In addition, the workshop allowed a space for participants and pairs to share and discuss their reflective art and personal spirituality, then create a dyadic art piece together. The qualitative findings revealed similarities for all eleven participants in both the art and written experiences, with universal themes and shared visual elements emerging. The analyzed data connected the universal themes with the participants’ stated spiritual identity and evidenced experiences of connection in dyadic pairs. As future therapists, and art therapists, the researchers intended this preliminary pilot study to be a basis for further research and inspire wider exploration.

Interfaith dialogue is no luxury for Christians living in a pluralistic~ effervescent world of intenningling, multi-religious realities. Many Christians take seriously their responsibility towards interfaith dialogue. However, different Christians understand this responsibility in different ways, which often leads to acrimonious accusations of unchristian dialogical approaches. The question is whether there is any means of ordering and assessing the Christian responsibility towards other religions in a mutually uplifting and increasingly holistic way? Ken Wilber provides an integral, or All-Quadrant, All-Level hermeneutics that may assist us with an answer. All holonswhich means everything in the "Kosmos" - emerge or arise in holarchical fashion. On one level, it is a whole, on the next transcendent level it is a part of the whole. This process is infinite and is only ever released in One Taste/salvation/Nirvana/the Kingdom of God, or simply unqualifiable Suchness. Wilber provides an integrated methodology for understanding the process by which holons find their release in One Taste. The holon of Christian responsibility towards interfaith dialogue also emerges through discreet, recognizable stages. Each stage is integrated into the next higher level. The lower levels are more fundamental since they exist as a part of the higher levels. However, the higher levels are more significant, since they have an increased capacity to explore aspects of dialogue previously hidden. The levels we explore are the mythic rational, the rational and the centauric. 'lbese levels emerge through four interrelated dimensions or Quadrants: the Upper Left or spiritual/faith dimension of the person entering into dialogue, the Upper Right Quadrant or theology of dialogue that emerges, the Lower Left or communal and interpretive realm, and Lower Right which covers the social organizational patterns with which the person in dialogue chooses to associate him or herself. We define responsibility in tenns of these four Quadrants: The response or theology (UR) of the person is dependent upon her response-ability, or interior faith development (UL), which is informed by the worldview (LL) of her faith community to whom she feels responsible, with the sociological patterns of her community (LR), to some extent, offers clues as to her stage of development. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Th.(Religious Studies)