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Thesis (doctoral)--Dortmund, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-295).

The aim of this dissertation is to undertake a study of the trinitarian ecclesiology of the North American evangelical theologian Stanley J. Grenz (d.2005), along with his imago Dei theology, revisioned social trinitarianism, narrative theology, incorporation of theosis, and theology of triune participation. This dissertation also utilizes the hermeneutical philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, in conjunction with Grenz’s trinitarian ecclesiology, to propose a missional and hermeneutical ecclesiology. Chapter one begins with an overview of Grenz’s theology and a discussion of the current state of Grenz scholarship. It then introduces Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of the self and theory of narrative identity. The chapter concludes with an overview of chapters two, three, and four. Chapter two traces the manner in which Grenz’s social trinitarianism and imago Dei theology yield a social imago. The first section overviews Grenz’s The Social God and the Relational Self, the social imago, the ecclesial self, his notion of ecclesial eschatological prolepsis, and his theology of triune participation. The second section responds to key criticisms of social trinitarianism, discusses Grenz and Ricoeur on the relational self, and outlines the manner in which Grenz’s theology of theosis and triune participation “in Christ” and through the Spirit yields an ecclesially oriented communal theo-anthropology. The final section takes up Grenz’s social imago and triune participation in relation to female/male mutuality in ecclesial participation and community. Chapter three discusses Grenz’s narrative theology and the development of a narrative imago. The first section overviews Grenz’s The Named God and the Question of Being and his development of the narrative of the divine name as the saga of the triune God, his further use of theosis, and the narrative imago arising within storied participation “in Christ” through the Spirit. The second section examines the continuity of Named God with Social God and argues that Grenz presents a revisioned social trinitarianism. The second section also considers Grenz and Ricoeur on the narrative self and proposes that Grenz’s ecclesial theo-anthropology now becomes a cruciform Christo-anthropology. The third section takes up the narrative imago and female/male mutuality and cruciformity as it arises from the ecclesial relation of storied and communal theotic triune participation. Chapter four treats the development of a Grenzian ecclesial imago and proposes a missional and hermeneutical ecclesiology. The first section presents Grenz’s ecclesiology as it is oriented towards mission and the connection of theosis, triune participation, and ecclesia. This section then proposes a missional grammar for the church as God’s ecclesial hermeneutics of community. The second section discusses potential charges of ecclesiological foundationalism, considers Grenz and Ricoeur on the summoned self, and extends Grenz’s theo-anthropology and Christo-anthropology into a missio-anthropology. The third section considers the mutuality and cruciformity of ecclesial “male and female” relation “in Christ” and through the Spirit, manifest in ecclesial friendship and hospitality, as the coming-to-representation and hermeneutics of community of the triune God. The conclusion offers a summary and possible avenues for further investigation.

Women in the Theological Anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Tradition This dissertation examines women in the theological anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Churches. The study is set out as follows: In Chapter 1, a survey of methodology is presented. The exposition of the question about the theological anthropology is done against a poststructural background. Both structuralism and poststructuralism largely put aside existentialism as an inadequate methodology. Chapter 2 aims to give an overview of the contribution of Michel Foucault. The chapter begins with a discussion of structuralism. This brief overview is then followed by a classification and investigation of the basic aspects of Foucault's approach. The chapter highlights Foucault's rootedness in poststructuralism. Chapter 3 attempts to explain silence of women in the theological anthropology of Dutch Reformed Church. The central aim of Chapter 3 is to demonstrate, against the development of the women ministries and the discourse about the ordination of women, that the Dutch Reformed Church theological anthropology is deeply influenced by the discursive practices developed during 1928-1932. Chapter 4 gives an overview of the developments in the theological anthropology of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church, Dutch Reformed Church of Africa and the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa that took place from 1924 until 2002. Different approaches to the women question developed in the course of time. At the heart of the discourse is the shift in the reading process. The developments in the feminist standpoint theory as such led to this displacement. In Chapter 5 the deconstruction of the theological anthropology are being discussed. Preference is given in this chapter to the concept partnership or transformative relations. In the concluding chapter [Chapter 6], a poststructural feminist discourse is presented. Selected guidelines that the church may wish to take into account in the deconstructing of the theological anthropology are suggested. In the future, the frame of reference to the women question would likely be poststructural. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

This research determines the ground for a Christian theological anthropology that makes provision for a doctrine that supports human self-realization. It is evident from the study that anthropological self-realization is an involved process of becoming truly human, not an isolated course founded solely on the biblical knowledge of being created in the image and likeness of God. All sciences, and in particular anthropological sciences, enjoy the prerogative of unraveling and analyzing the human person. Whether these sciences are neuro-biological, psychological, theological, philosophical, biblical, spiritual or mystical in character, each with its specific method legitimately attempts to explain the complexities of the human person. In the light of this neither philosophy nor theology possess the exclusive claim to authentic human wisdom. In truth most scientific insights have a combined impact on the self-realizing growth and development of humanity. The process of self-realization links theology to real life questions such as evil, suffering, hope, love, justice and freedom, as well as with the immanent, the transcendent, the human and the divine. This thesis holds to the opinion that a theology of self-realization would contribute to the 'humanization' of theology since it brings praxis and theory into close alignment. This study equally expresses the conviction that the doctrine of consecrated vowed life, an ecclesiastical structure in the Roman Catholic Church, is particularly in need of humanization, as the notion of 'self' as a strength has been notably absent from traditional treatises on the practices of religious life. Conventional forms of consecrated vowed life called the woman to suppress and spiritualize at least some of her femininity. This was due to the distorted theological anthropology that sustained consecrated life in which God was presented as an idea to be grasped intellectually, and not an experience to be lived. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th. D. (Systematic Theology)

Revelation is God's Word addressed to the human being and so speaks of God in relation to the person and the world. Revelation can therefore only be fully understood, proclaimed and lived through an encounter with the world and its conceptions. To understand the evolution of human consciousness and the creation of the soul, we look to the sources of revelation (scripture and tradition) in dialogue with secular anthropology. The latter's paradigm of development and growth is not foreign to the former's understanding of conversion and growth in grace . The image of God, which characterises the human person, is shown to be an emergent likeness, which is created and drawn to its fullness by God. This accounts for Pius XII' s insistence that the soul is created immediately by God, who is responsible for the physical dynamics that bring forth consciousness and the personal dynamics that empower the human soul to develop. / Philosophy Practical andSystematic Theology / M.Th (Systematic Theology)

In this paper I will examine the sources for the tradition of the address of the soul to the body or the dialogue between, the two. I will consider the Old and Middle English poetic expressions of the body-and-soul legend in terms of the criticism of the ten poems which specifically belong to that tradition and the elements which constitute that genre. I will also deal with those poems written at the same time which exhibit one or more of those elements, with the body-and-soul tradition in English morality plays, with the Ars Moriendi, and with the Dance of Death. I will demonstrate that a shift occurs in the consideration of death from a concern for the soul to a preoccupation with the grotesque and gruesome aspects of death. The address and dialogue forms fall into disuse as a vehicle for theological argument concerning the responsibility for sin, and the view of death reflected by the popular pictorial representations of the Dance of Death becomes prominent.

[pt] Esta pesquisa busca apresentar um panorama geral da maneira como o corpo está presente e é refletido na teologia da libertação latino-americana. Partimos da antropologia teológica desenvolvida neste continente, com o marco referencial metodológico da opção preferencial pelos pobres a partir da análise de conteúdo bibliográfico pertinente ao assunto. Para desenvolver o panorama deste tema, empreendemos numa jornada de contextualização da gênese desta teologia latino-americana desde a colonização, passando pelo Concílio Vaticano II, e chegando às formulações próprias da TdL, apontando para a presença do corpo e a luta pela justiça e dignidade. Em seguida, embarcamos num mergulho pelas ramificações consequentes desta TdL, demonstrando como o corpo é o fio condutor que diferencia estas teologias periféricas e é também o que justifica suas militâncias políticas e sociais, trazendo um enfoque especial sobre a teologia feminista que, com a presença do corpo da mulher na teologia, traz grandes contribuições para a teologia, a Igreja e a sociedade como um todo. Por último, fazendo uma colheita de toda esta caminhada, demonstramos a intrínseca relação entre corpo e espírito, pela chave de leitura da cristologia e da espiritualidade na TdL. Não esgotamos o assunto daquilo que poderia ser uma teologia do corpo latino-americana, mas esperamos com esta pesquisa apontar para o corpo como a espinha dorsal de nossa TdL que, ao se preocupar com a realidade concreta dos pobres, oprimidos, vulneráveis e injustiçados está, na verdade, se preocupando justamente com seus corpos que sofrem a pobreza, a opressão, a violência e as injustiças. / [en] This research seeks to present an overview of the way the body is present and reflected in Latin American liberation theology. We set from the theological anthropology developed on this continent, with the methodological reference of the preferential option for the poor based on the analysis of the bibliographic content relevant to the subject. To develop the overview of this theme, we have embarked on a journey of contextualization of the genesis of this Latin American theology since colonization, through the Second Vatican Council, and arriving at the formulations specific to Latin-American liberation theology, pointing to the presence of the body and struggle for justice and dignity. Then, we dive into the consequent ramifications of this liberation theology, demonstrating how the body is the guiding thread that differentiates these peripheral theologies and what justifies their political and social activism, bringing a special focus to feminist theology that, with women s body presence in theology, brings great contributions to theology, the Church and society as a whole. Finally, harvesting this entire journey, we demonstrate the intrinsic relationship between body and spirit, through the interpretation of Christology and spirituality in liberation theology. We have not exhausted the subject of what could be a Latin American theology of the body, but we hope to present the body as the backbone of our liberation theology which, when concerned with the concrete reality of the poor, oppressed, vulnerable and wronged people, is in fact worrying precisely about their bodies that suffer poverty, oppression, violence, and injustices.

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[pt] A Teologia feminista e seus giros hermenêuticos: Reinterpretações de Deus, do ser humano e da criação. O propósito desta tese é mostrar que a teologia, se analisada a partir da hermenêutica feminista bíblico-cristã e seus desdobramentos sistemáticos, tem condições de propor uma imagem de Deus compatível com os desafios de nossa época, diante da prevalência de sua identificação masculina sedimentada pelo patriarcado. Além disso, ela realiza uma releitura da antropologia teológica e da teologia da criação a partir das mediações de gênero e do ecofeminismo, capazes de questionar os dualismos hierárquicos entre Deus/mundo, homens/mulheres, seres humanos/demais seres. A insistência em relações de reciprocidade que respeitem as diferenças, bem como na prática eclesial do discipulado de iguais por parte de mulheres e homens, é imprescindível para reavaliar nossa inserção no mundo. Por sua vez, relações harmoniosas entre seres humanos e natureza resultarão em imagens de Deus menos distantes do mundo, e em um mundo menos vazio de Deus. A teologia feminista bíblico-cristã, portanto, apresenta uma contribuição inconteste para o conjunto da teologia, ao imaginar o mundo como corpo de Deus; e Deus, em sua presença no mundo. / [en] Feminist Theology and its hermeneutic turns: Reinterpretations of God, the Human beings and the Creation. The purpose of present thesis is to show that theology, if analyzed from the biblical-Christian feminist hermeneutics and its systematic unfoldings, is able to propose an integrated image of God, given the prevalence of male identification sedimented by patriarchy. In addition, it performs a re-reading of theological anthropology and theology of creation from the mediations of gender and ecofeminism, able to question the hierarchical dualisms between God/world, men/women, human/ others beings. The insistence on reciprocal relationships that respect the differences as well as on Church s practice of discipleship of equals by men and women, it is essential to reassess our place in the world. In turn, harmonious relationships between humans and nature will result in images of God, the less distant from the world, and in a world less empty of God. The biblical-Christian feminist theology, therefore, presents an undeniable contribution to the whole of theology, to imagine the world as the body of God, and God in his presence in the world.