This thesis reports on an extensive qualitative study of women ministers in the Church of Scotland. It examines the literature in relation to women clergy in other denominations in the UK and the USA and considers ways in which the Church of Scotland clergy are similar and dissimilar to their counterparts. The research included a quantitative survey, the examination of data from the Church of Scotland Yearbook and thirty one ‘ministry-story’ interviews. The Survey and the Yearbook produced basic demographic data about women ministers in the Kirk showing an increasing age profile and a shortage of younger women ministers. The survey also found that women ministers considered themselves to be different from male ministers most especially in the fields of collaboration and leadership style. The interviews considered factors in the path to ministry, women ministers in the exercise of their ministry, relationships with congregations, colleagues and the institutional Church. Whilst there was considerable progress in terms of the acceptance of women’s ministry by congregations and the wider community, there was also evidence of a lack of acceptance from some male ministers and an unwillingness to confront the issue on the part of the institution. Women ministers consider there to have been some progress towards integration of women’s ministry within the Church of Scotland but are also uncertain about the future and whether a backlash against women will be experienced. Although women have been ordained to ministry of word and sacrament within the Church of Scotland since 1968, this represents the first major study of women ministers within the Kirk and will provide a background for further study and exploration.

Christianity holds a central place in Religious Education (RE) in England. Since the Education Reform Act of 1988, it has been formally named in legislation relating to Religious Education; formerly its presence in the curriculum was assumed, but there was no specific indication of a requirement to teach particular religions - not even in the Education Act of 1944 which was of particular importance in formalising arrangements for Religious Education. Interpretation of ERA (DfES Circular 1/94) suggested that Christianity should 'predominate' in the RE curriculum. This study arises from recognition of the status accorded to Christianity in RE and the recognition that its representation and the shaping of this have not in the main been addressed by research. My study falls into three main parts. Part 1 considers the shaping of Christianity in RE (Chs.1 and 2) drawing on relevant written sources, among which Agreed Syllabuses hold a key place. Chapter 3 focuses particularly on the representation of Christianity in Agreed Syllabuses from the period 2001-2004, providing necessary background to the research which underpins Part 2. Part 2's concern is the teaching - and thus representation - of Christianity in key stage 3 in schools with and without a religious character. Based on a survey undertaken across England, it draws on data gathered from teachers. It includes an analysis of the content teachers select about Christianity (Chapter 5), and analyses the aspirations teachers have for their pupils' learning about and from Christianity. Teachers' own experience of studying the tradition is discussed in Chapter 7. These chapters in particular offer material relating to the representation of Christianity and the factors which shape this which, as far as I am aware, is unavailable elsewhere. Part 3 takes up my contention at the end of Part 2 (Chapter 9), that a new configuration of Christianity is needed in RE. A case is presented for this (Chapter 10), taking into account especially the changing face of the tradition globally, and drawing out possible implications for RE from some recent studies of Christianity. Chapter 11 takes my own recommendation seriously and explores a possible way forward in reconfiguring Christianity so that RE may offer a more adequate representation of the tradition in the present. A final note reflects on the challenge a new configuration presents to RE. The above summary of my concerns points to the argument I advance: that the representation of Christianity in RE has been shaped by factors extrinsic to a considered study of the tradition; this has allowed the emergence of a 'curriculum Christianity' which fails to do justice to its diverse presence and dynamic, locally and globally. Teachers are heirs to this curriculum tradition and in some measure its guardians and interpreters. The relatively few scholarly attempts to give account of Christianity 'as a religion' bears on their encounter with the tradition in their own studies and, it would seem, on its representation in RE. I argue that a re-conceptualisation of what might be understood by 'Christianity' and the development of new paradigms for its study might contribute to a more authentic representation of Christianity in RE.

This is an ethnographic study of a small sample of Catholic secondary schools in England evaluating their role within the Catholic faith tradition and their contribution to community cohesion. The research is firmly based within an ethnographic framework; it explores the perception of Catholic schools by members, in particular the young people, of the Catholic school community. The ethnographic data was collected through semi-structured focus group interviews and observations. The understanding of religion is developed from the work of Hervieu-Léger on religion as a chain of memory. The concept of social capital in the form of bonding and bridging, and both religious and spiritual capital provides a framework to understand the factors within Catholic schools, which are perceived to create a Catholic community and those which are perceived to develop or hinder cohesion in plural society. The students’ understandings of their Catholic identity were diverse and fragmentary, with precarious links to the Catholic Church as an institution. However, there was a valuing of aspects of the Catholic faith tradition which were used to construct their own understanding of Catholicism, leading to a conclusion that the Catholic school is a source of spiritual capital for its members. The participants perceived their schools to have a Catholic nature, a strong ‘sense of community’. The Catholic schools were good generators of bonding capital, although this was focused on the school rather than the wider Catholic community. Perceptions of the boundaries of the school focused on everyday encounters with outsiders such as ‘the school next door’ rather than members of other faith communities. This research has implications: for the faith school debate and issues concerning social cohesion; for the Catholic school’s role in the transmission of the faith tradition and for an understanding of young people’s Catholic identity.

This thesis demonstrates that friendship has particular relevance for postmodern ecclesiology and offers the basis for a relationally, rather than structurally conceived, understanding. It argues that friendship can be foundational for the Church community in contemporary times, as a means of self-understanding and as a basis for its mission. In doing this, it progressively explores friendship by means of an ongoing conversation with a variety of thinkers and theologians who have contributed to the subject. Each reveals, in a variety of disciplines, differing facets of friendship which ultimately contribute to a fresh understanding of ecclesial identity. This understanding shows the Church to be well placed to have friendship as its locus; in hospitality, a commitment to community, and the centrality of the Eucharistic meal. Friendship is shown to have a significant pedigree in philosophical thought, which has in turn influenced Christian theology. The thesis describes the paucity of incisive commentary on friendship in New Testament scholarship, and outlines the ambiguity surrounding friendship in postmodern culture, suggesting friendship's untapped potential as an ecclesial basis. Friendship's philosophical treatment in the classical era, particularly through Plato, Aristotle and Cicero provides a basis for its influence in Christian theology, as revealed by Augustine and Aquinas. The importance of friendship for personhood is explored through considering the nature of the self, specifically in conversation with Descartes and his challengers, particularly Nietzsche and Derrida. Applying this to the nature of the self in community, Bauman, Habermas, Derrida and Lyotard are amongst those who offer insights. This foundation allows a consideration of friendship as a particular instantiation of love, which sharpens the Christian principle of love for all people. From the insights of monasticism and Queer Theology, friendship's potential for a relationally rooted ecclesiology emerge: here the contribution of Aelred, Newman, Rudy and Stuart are significant. The Trinitarian theology of Zizioulas forms the basis for describing a communio ecclesiology, informed by Barth, Bonhoeffer, McFarland and Gunton, amongst others. This allows the Church as a community of friends, characterised by hospitality and centred on the Eucharist to be envisaged. The work of Derrida and Caputo on hospitality and 'the impossible' contribute useful insights into how this community might be resourced as it operates as the 'friends of Christ'.

The question of the effects of the English Reformation is a matter of on-going and lively debate. This thesis hopes to illuminate this question in some small measure, by examining the deanery of Derby, an ecclesiastical unit within the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield. Although the focal point is the deanery, it is set within the wider context of sixteenth century England. Past research on the Reformation in Derbyshire has been brought together, reviewed and expanded through a study of Reformation papers and other ecclesiastical, political and legal records, both state and diocesan. An analysis of about 700 wills has also been undertaken and their use examined in the light of recent doubts cast upon their validity as source material for analysis of religious belief. Chapter One sets out the parameters of the study and its aims. The deanery is then described and set in the context of governing episcopal and lay authorities. Chapter Two examines the state of the pre-Reformation secular church while Chapter Three does the same for the religious orders and finds that both tended to be conservative. The first three chapters provide a base line for a consideration of the effects of religious change. Chapter Four draws on evidence from wills to address the impact of Henrician legislation on religious belief and practice. In Chapter Five the dissolution of the monasteries in Derbyshire is traced. Chapter Six examines the theme of a Mid-Tudor crisis between 1547 and 1558 and parochial reactions to the increasingly reformist policies of Edward VI's reign and subsequent reversal of policy in the reign of Mary I. The conclusion is drawn that, in general, there was a slow response to reformist legislation. Chapter Seven examines the material consequences of religious change as it affected the local gentry and assesses their success in the expanded land market. Chapter Eight argues that, religious changes led to considerable local instability. The question of continuity or revival of catholicism is the main question of Chapter Nine which finds that there was a high degree of catholic continuity and some gentry involvement in conspiracy. Chapter Ten draws the conclusion that the Reformation gave rise to deep divisions which had religion as a root cause.

Post-Tridentine Western Christian theology introduced the notion of natura pura, which holds that one can know created nature in fact without reference to God or divine grace. The orders of grace and nature are thus on different plains. This ontology creates an extrincism between God and the world. Maximus Confessor’s doctrine of grace offers the paradox of nature already presuming grace but awaiting the supernatural grace of deification at the resurrection. Further, divine grace, or energy in Maximus’s theology, are not separate ontological realms between God and the world. Grace does not separate God’s essence from his energies. The Incarnation of the created and uncreated natures in Christ fully manifests the paradox of God’s grace as being fully on the side of creation and on the side of God, without remainder. Finally, Maximus’s theurgic ecclesiology in his Mystagogy reinforces the mediation of grace through created reality. All of these aspects of Maximus the Confessor’s theology of grace provide a Christian rendering of participation that does not result in the extrincism of grace from nature, their conflation together, or a real distinction in the being of God.

In Nigerian Christianity, many theologians and Christians who do not have any formal theological training perceive Jesus Christ primarily as a solution to the problems that confront humanity. As a solution, they expect Jesus Christ to inspire some theological discourses that will deconstruct and overthrow Western theological hegemony, to rekindle the quest to preserve some indigenous traditions, to liberate the oppressed, poor and powerless, to expose the oppressors and all evildoers, to liberate and protect people from the attacks of the malevolent spirits, and to save people from being eternally separated from God. But what these solution-oriented Christologies have overlooked is that the Christ-Event is a paradox for it creates simultaneously a problem and a solution for the Christian community which confesses that God has revealed God’s self in this event. The contextual Christology that I develop in this study probes the theological, christological and anthropological consequences of this claim for interpreting and appropriating Jesus Christ in the Nigerian contexts. To achieve this task, I will converse with and critique some selected ‘constructive Christologies’ of some key theologians and some ‘grassroots Christologies’ that have been informed by social conditions, indigenous worldview, encounter with some versions of Christianity propagated by the West, and some existential issues that confront many Christians. However we choose to interpret and appropriate Jesus the Christ in our contexts, he remains simultaneously a question and an answer to the theological, cultural, religious, anthropological, political and socio-economic issues that challenge us. Viewed from this perspective, I will argue that the Christ-Event upsets, unsettles, critiques, and reshapes the solution-oriented Christologies of Nigerian Christianity. I will explore this claim within the circumference of the overarching thesis of this study; namely, as both a question and an answer, Jesus Christ confronts us as a ‘revealer’ of divinity and humanity. Thus, he mediates and interprets divinity and humanity for the purpose of enacting and sustaining a relationship between God and human beings.

This thesis comprises an attempt to re-evaluate the experience and the survival of the indigenous Christian population of al-Andalus. It is a response to two problematic aspects of the historiography, whose authority has only recently begun to be questioned: first, the inordinate focus upon the polemical and problematic mid-ninth-century Cordoban hagiography and apologetic of Eulogius and Paul Albar, whose prejudiced vision has not only been accepted as a source of social history, but also projected onto all Andalusī Christianity to support the second – the assertion that conversion happened early and en masse, and led to their eradication in the early twelfth century. Eulogius and Albar’s account of a Córdoba oppressed and Christians persecuted (a trope herein dubbed the ecclesia destituta) has dominated thinking about the indigenous Christians of al-Andalus, due to its championing by Catholic historians since the texts’ rediscovery and publication in 1574, and by nineteenth-century Spanish nationalists to whose ideological and patriotic purposes it was amenable. The Cordobans’ account is here re-evaluated as regards its value as a historical artefact and its internal problems are outlined. The discrepancies between the picture created by Eulogius and Albar and that of other contemporary reports, and the problematic hagiography, are then explained to some degree by the literary models Eulogius had at his disposal – of primary interest are the classical pagan poetics of Vergil, Horace and Juvenal and the late antique theology of Augustine. Albar’s famous despair at the Arabisation of the Christian youth has, in conjunction with Eulogius’ ecclesia destituta and the relative scarcity of documentary evidence for the Christians of Andalusī territory, formed the crux of assumptions regarding the speed and extent of Arabisation and conversion. In reassessing Richard Bulliet’s ‘curve of conversion’, which seemed on a faulty reading to prove these assumptions, the second part of the thesis seeks to argue that profound Arabisation did not impact until a century later than is thought and resulted not in assimilative decline but in a late cultural flowering, and show the long, and in many places unbroken, survival of indigenous Christian communities in al-Andalus to the early fifteenth century.

In this thesis, I will examine various methods of argument used for and against euthanasia by Christian, Islamic and secular ethicists. Overall, this is intended to examine the role of faith-specific or tradition-specific assumptions and sources in shaping the stance on euthanasia that is taken by certain Western Christian thinkers and scholars in Islamic Medical Ethics. Following an initial overview of some of the central concerns of the thesis in the introduction (Chapter I), I will look at a range of select Western Christian perspectives (Chapter II) and certain Western and Eastern Islamic perspectives (Chapter III) on euthanasia. In these chapters, I will investigate how various sources are used by particular Western Christian and Islamic scholars to formulate their perspective for or against euthanasia. In Chapter IV, I will compare the approaches of these Western Christian and Islamic ethicists to determine points of overlap and distinction. Based on this comparison, it may be contended that the Western Christian literature on euthanasia is in some respects more developed than the Islamic literature. Chapter V will take account of some of the types of argument that are found in the Christian literature but for which there is at present no fully developed counterpart in Sunni Islamic literature. For example, the notion of respecting the elderly, as it specifically relates to opposing euthanasia, is discussed in the Western Christian ethics literature reviewed, but is not considered at least in Islamic Medical Ethics sources examined in this thesis. On this basis, Chapter V will offer an expanded Western Sunni Islamic perspective on euthanasia, which engages with strategies of argument drawn from the Western Christian literature, so providing a contribution to the literature in the developing discipline of Islamic medical ethics. The conclusion to the study will identify the possibilities and nature of dialogue on this issue between faiths, and between monotheistic and other ethical perspectives. So a secondary objective is to examine the possibility of convergence of thought among Christians and Muslims not just on medical ethical issues, but on a range of further issues from a Western point-of-view. In this way, the thesis also aims to make a broader contribution to interfaith dialogue as well as the study of method in ethics directed toward a Western audience.

This dissertation is the culmination of a three year research project into sacred singing among evangelical Christians living in North-East Scottish and Northern Isles coastal communities.  The exact geographical area in question was the stretch of coastline between Aberdeen and Wick, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands.  The aim of this project has been to record and analyze current practices, placing them historically and contemporaneously within the faith communities and understanding them in their social and cultural contexts.  The pivotal role of sacred music in the community was researched, along with the meaning of the music to the participants, and its role in constructing personal and group identity.  Religious traditions and fishing heritage have been explored with particular reference to the construction of a distinctive ‘soundscape’.  As far as possible, examples of sacred singing outside church worship have been documented including singing in the workplace, in the home, and in the public sphere.