The purpose of this paper is to attempt to remove some of the vagueness associated with the ministry of the Disciples and to add some depth to their theory of the ministry through some proposals for renewal and reformation. First, I propose to accomplish this purpose through an historical survey of the development of the ministry among Disciples. Then, some recommendations will be offered in the light of the Biblical ministry, the historical ministry of the Church, and the contemporary situation. It is my opinion that the Church and its ministry must be renewed constantly through continuing reformations. In order to be valid, these reformations must not neglect Biblical, historical, and existential factors. Upon these criteria, I have based my propositions for the doctrine of the ministry among Disciples of Christ.

This research is concerned with the construction and expression of selfidentity in a sample of lay Christians working in a contemporary workplace. It seeks to understand how these believers construct and sustain, in and through autobiographical narrative, a faith-full self-identity at work. It is inspired by my own experience as a Christian believer in a secular workplace. The results of the study contribute to the discipline of practical theology in the specific area of understanding autobiographical construction of Christian self-identity. Although the study takes an overt Christian theological stance, it draws not only from the theory of autobiographical narrative in theology, but also from corresponding theory in philosophy, sociology and psychology. In particular the research draws on the Confessions of St. Augustine (c AD 400), using this patristic text as a benchmark expression of Christian selfidentity. Augustine’s neo-platonic thinking informs the central research question which asks whether fragmentation of self-identity is experienced by Christians in the challenging environment of the present-day workplace. Narrative is both phenomenon under study and research methodology. It is a particularly appropriate means by which to study faith identity. The concept is a fluid one and narrative inquiry is more concerned with establishing meaning and significance than facts and truth. The research resides within a constructivist paradigm and acknowledges that the findings are limited and specific. The findings suggest that fragmentation of self-identity is experienced by the research actors in work/faith tensions. However, these believers move through a process of growing self-awareness and awareness of God’s action in their lives as they construct personal work/life narratives. The research findings explore this process of self-identity construction and offer conclusions about the discovery of a sense of deep self-identity amidst the experience of fragmentation.

This research has identified meanings attached by participants to the YMCA’s Christian basis within the context of volatile environments by engaging with voices in a qualitative, inductive, small-scale research project within the English YMCA. My proposition was that people working in the YMCA were appointed on the understanding that it was Christian-based, that the corporate and collective agreed means of association were located primarily in the Christian basis and that the YMCA attached significant meaning to its Christian basis whilst operating within an inclusive environment. Thematic descriptions of voices in communication were identified using a mixed set of research methods. The data were analysed in a between-method triangulation to produce adialectic towards meaning. Methods included: a literature review, interviews in a pilot study, a comparative historical review, facilitated groups, field visits and website surveys. I engaged various literary sources for interpretative perspectives on voices to differentiate participant’s relationships with the Christian basis in terms of audibility, affinity and attitude. The majority of participants felt that they had been appointed on the understanding that the YMCA is Christian-based, but very few had actually been given an opportunity, or felt it necessary, to make sense of it in their work. The Christian basis did not command a universally accepted meaning amongst participants. Instead, it was often perceived to have limited meaning, but with a degree of historical status attached to it. For the majority of participants, the actual corporate and collective agreed means of motivation was defined as care for young people within an inclusive environment and without any overt reference to the Christian basis and its meaning. However, where the Christian basis did feature locally it elicited communication that was complex, layered and variable in its nature. In these circumstances it produced powerful models of inclusive Christian service. The research identified three implications for further consideration: (a) ineffective communication between member YMCAs resulting in; (b) the creation of disjointed and remote islands of understanding about the Christian basis; and (c) in turn generating informal disassociations as a key factor in diminishing the value of the Christian basis within local member YMCAs.

Abstract PATTERNS IN CHAPLAIN DOCUMENTATION OF ASSESSMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS, A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY by Kevin Eugene Adams, MDiv A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015 Diane Dodd-McCue, D.B.A, Department of Patient Counseling There is increasing emphasis on the importance of evidence-based care provided by all disciplines in healthcare. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is becoming the standard for communicating assessments, plans of care, interventions, and outcomes of patient care. The spiritual care literature demonstrates the importance of assessing religious/spiritual needs and resources and developing plans of care to address the results of such assessment (Anandarajah & Hight, 2001; Borneman, Ferrell, & Puchalski, 2010; Fitchett, 1999; Fitchett & Risk, 2009; H. G. Koenig, 2007). This literature also suggests that addressing religious/spiritual needs of patients and families in the healthcare context can affect healthcare and adherence outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of chaplain assessment and patterns of chaplain provision of services. This descriptive study was an exploratory retrospective analysis of categorical data recorded by clinical staff chaplains in the EHR at a single all pediatric healthcare institution, using contingency tables and frequency tables. The study examined chaplain use of assessment and service descriptors and the patterns of these descriptors when documenting chaplain visits. The results indicate chaplain preference for communicating in the EHR using general themes and concepts. This reveals an opportunity for chaplains to develop and implement a model of professional identity and articulation of care that is broad enough to accommodate the diversity of religion/spirituality chaplains encounter, yet able to articulate the specifics of patient and family religion/spirituality. The results found no consistent patterns among assessments or services provided. Further, the results found no indication of patterns between assessments made and the services provided. This presents an opportunity for chaplains to develop and implement a theory-driven, construct-based model of care that will connect the different facets of spiritual care. The assessments made will lead to plans of care that involve specific interventions resulting in appropriate outcomes related to overall patient and family care.

La déficience intellectuelle pose un vrai défi à la pédagogie catéchétique de l’Eglise. Elle questionne l’anthropologie de toute catéchèse, spécialement la perception de la personne en situation de handicap et déplace le centre de gravité de la catéchèse d’un savoir cognitif à une relation personnelle avec l’autre (l’Autre). Les personnes avec une déficience interrogent l’ensemble de la communauté humaine : « Pourquoi Dieu m’a faite ainsi ? » ou encore : « Pourquoi personne ne veut de nous comme amis ? » Ces questions servent de départ pour une recherche à travers l’histoire, la Bible, des textes ecclésiaux et des parcours de catéchèse afin de voir comment y sont perçues les personnes avec une déficience. La difficulté de se faire des amis toutes capacités confondues est conditionnée par notre perception de la déficience. Partant du principe que cette perception est déterminée par nos conceptions religieuses, notamment par notre compréhension d’une soi-disant « perfection adamique », l’auteure cherche une réponse théologiquement et pastoralement ajustée aux deux questions posées. En mettant en résonnance les intuitions des théologies du handicap avec la catéchèse en France, elle dégage des perspectives nouvelles transformant des représentations anthropologiques relatives à la foi chrétienne, permettant une catéchèse « capacitante » qui ouvre des chemins à des amitiés au-delà des barrières de la déficience. / Intellectual disability poses a real challenge to the catechetical pedagogy of the Church. It questions the anthropology of all catechesis, especially the perception of people with a disability and moves the gravitational center of catechesis from cognitive knowledge to a personal relationship with the other (the Other). People with disabilities question the whole human community: "Why did God make me this way?” or "Why does no one want us as friends?” These questions serve as a starting point for a search throughout history, the Bible, ecclesial texts and catechetical tools to see how people with intellectual disabilities are perceived. The difficulty of making friends of all abilities is conditioned by our perception of disability. Assuming that this perception is determined in part by our religious conceptions, including our understanding of a so-called "adamic perfection," the author seeks a theologically and pastorally adjusted response to the two questions posed. By starting the conversation between disability theologies and catechesis in France, she opens up new perspectives, transforming the anthropological representations relating to the Christian faith, allowing a "capacitating" catechesis that opens a pathway to friendships beyond the barriers of disability.

Because of the drastic changes (political, socio-cultural, and ecclesial) in Latin America since the genesis of Latin American Theology in the 1960s and 70s and the persistent and pernicious presence of poverty and injustice, it is imperative for theology to confront the present socio-cultural and ecclesial context. Through the development of a sociological and historical survey of Argentina during the past half-century, this thesis argues that the present holds little hope for a revitalization of the triumphalist, macro-social historical project of Latin American Liberation Theology, but instead demands an informed theological reflection on the micro-social. It also engages various Latin American theological perspectives (Liberationist, Progressive Evangelical, and Pentecostal/neo-Pentecostal) and argues that community is at the centre of their conceptions of transformation and that, accordingly, the local church is a potential transformative historical project. It examines this transformative potential through ethnographic and theological case studies of two local Baptist churches (Progressive Evangelical and neo-Pentecostal) in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, demonstrating that the present ecclesial context is diverse and contentious, but nevertheless a potential location of transformation. It contends that the local church is a fitting historical project for Latin American Theology as it functions as a bridge between the exilic present and the utopia of the Kingdom of God, between individual and social transformation, and between the hermeneutically-focused historical sciences and the emancipatory-focused critical social sciences. It concludes that the local church is a transformative historical project as a gathering community that seeks to be faithful and effective through non-violent confrontation, reconciling unity, and discernment.

Given the rapidly changing nature of third party reproduction, there is an increasing need for pastoral guidance about the use of these technologies and the relationships that develop from them. This dissertation explores theological bases upon which Episcopalians can ground their practice of third party reproduction, with implications for the wider Church. Beginning with a study of Episcopal clergy and their present practices, this dissertation engages Episcopal, womanist, and feminist theological resources to forge a practical theological response. It highlights layered practices, including the development of relationships between third parties and intended parents, the abuse of third parties, and disclosure to children that call for theological reinterpretations of family, the ministerial vision of Jesus, and the doctrine of God. The thesis of this dissertation is that third party procedures offer an opportunity for Christians to enrich their relationships with one another and with God in unique and--literally--life-giving ways. The argument unfolds with qualitative research findings from Episcopal clergy interviews and it documents how the writings of F.D. Maurice and David H. Smith provide additional context for an Episcopal practical theology. It then turns to the work of Delores Williams for the purpose of arguing that, while contemporary third party reproduction potentially casts third parties as scapegoats, it does not necessarily do so. In response, it develops a six-fold application of William's ministerial vision to prevent abuse. This model in turn provides resources for Episcopal clergy to use in pastoral conversations. The next chapter discusses Sallie McFague's metaphorical theology to argue that American culture upholds the biological family as a model much as Christians have upheld patriarchal language as a model. It advocates for new language to express the God-human relationship that might in turn support the construction of broader metaphors for family relationships. Finally, this dissertation incorporates these findings into practical theological themes and questions that Episcopal priests can utilize in their work. It advocates for applying discernment when navigating loyalty claims, for thinking about reproduction as a calling, for broader constructions of family, for building awareness of how autonomy can facilitate idolatry, for encouraging disclosure and healthy boundaries, and for composing liturgies for those participating in third party procedures.

The Church of the Nazarene has an identity problem. Increasingly, Nazarenes are unfamiliar with their denomination’s holiness theology, and a gap exists between what people say they believe—espoused theology—and what they practice—operant theology. I argue that aesthetic Christian education can play a significant role in decreasing the discrepancies between a person’s beliefs and practices. This kind of teaching and learning incorporates holistic aesthetic elements, which I call engaged aesthetics. Research in the neuroscience of visual perception seems to point to the possibilities that art can offer for transformative reflection. Christian education that features the viewing of art can explore these opportunities to reflect on faith-as-beliefs and faith-actions and to amend discrepancies at a personal and/or communal level. Since the Church of the Nazarene is grounded in John Wesley’s theology, I make the case for an aesthetic educational bridge between espoused and operant theology rooted in the engaged aesthetic of Wesley’s practical theology, and in affinity with Wesley’s experiential and affective epistemology.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has prioritized the ministry of "congregational transformation" for the revitalization of its congregations in decline, subtly framing the aim of this effort as one of becoming "a faithful and growing church." However, research is lacking as to what has actually changed from the past to the present in Disciples congregations purported to have made progress in this priority, particularly in terms of their lived ecclesiologies. The literature on this type of church change also reveals a need for a more robust ecclesiological understanding of congregational transformation. Accordingly, this dissertation follows a practical theological method that foregrounds ecclesiology - both theoretical and as it is practiced in congregations - in order to uncover what can be learned about the intentional ministry of congregational transformation, its definition, motivation and aims, and its faithful practice. The ethnographic research within three congregations revealed a change of ecclesial identity from one of "Church for Us" to "Church for Witness" across the processes of transformation in these congregations. When these findings were put in dialogue with select theological sources within Disciples tradition, the ecclesial identity of witness was found to be compatible with that tradition, and the reality to which the church ought to bear witness articulated as the good news of Jesus Christ - the reign of God happening. The dissertation relies on feminist commitments in reflecting on the reign of God and makes use of the process-relational theology of Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, especially its model of becoming, in order to provide a coherent account of how transformation transpires in relationship to God. The transformation into a faithful witness-bearing church, then, occurs as the congregation practices or "dances" the reign of God, a dance that corporately and continually turns toward the lead of God, following a process that thereby integrates the means of congregational transformation with the desired end of becoming a faithful church.

Jürgen Moltmann suggests that where liberal market welfare policies are introduced people with learning disabilities are disadvantaged, whereas Christian communities provide a more favourable environment. This hypothesis is investigated by assessing the social capital available to two groups of people with a learning disability. The members of one group are being supported to live independent lives as ‘citizen consumers.’ The second group are members of a Roman Catholic parish community supported by their families. The results suggest that both groups have few resources of bridging or linking capital. The second group have larger and richer resources of bonding capital which comes largely through family networks. They also had significant resources of spiritual capital but not religious capital. In the light of the results, a theological critique is undertaken of some aspects of contemporary social policy and consumer culture. A distinction is made between human relationships as transactions and as gifts. Insights from the theology of gift relationships are offered. The question is raised whether it is appropriate to consider gift relationships as a form of capital and Churches as a form of social capital. Liturgy is considered as a form of liberative praxis.