The field of academic theology is presently maintaining the following about the critical thought of the Scottish thinker John Baillie (1886-1960): (1) Baillie’s so-called "mediating theology" does not have a concept to contribute to contemporary Christian thought; (2) Baillie's concept of "mediated immediacy" is important primarily for Baillie's thought in his Our Knowledge of God (1939); (3) mediated immediacy’s logic about knowledge of God is severely convoluted. Received positions which support the field's marginalization of mediated immediacy's contemporary relevance in particular, they come with a concession: (4) the field's confusion about mediated immediacy's meaning—this, as evidenced in over 75 years' worth of competing interpretations about mediated immediacy’s logic, in particular. This thesis centers primarily on Baillie's concept of mediated immediacy, taking as its primary aim the resolution of research issues (1-4). In doing so, it demonstrates that previous research has underestimated: the staying power of Baillie's mediating theology in general, mediated immediacy’s importance for Baillie’s mediating theology in particular, and mediated immediacy’s potential as a contribution to contemporary Christian thought. Along the way, it resolves several research issues which have been occasioned by perennial confusion about the logic of mediated immediacy's normative epistemology and descriptive epistemology in particular. Research contributions about the logic of mediated immediacy's epistemology per se, these derive from three additional research contributions: a diachronic trace of the development of Baillie's mediating theology (Baillie research has sought a comprehensive and cogent ordering of Baillie's non-systematically articulated critical thought; this thesis provides it, by identifying Baillie's espistemic and apologetic preoccupations across his critical thought's roughly 35-year development); a modeling of mediated immediacy's logic (previously absent in a research corpus whose literature ahs been replete with confusion), that logic's expression in what is found to be, contrary to the thrust of previous research, a concept of mediated immediacy that serves at least four functions for Baillie's mediating theology; and, a comprehensive and rigorous critical evaluation of mediated immediacy’s epistemology (also previously absent in Baillie research literature), a multi-disciplinary evaluation of it's logic (from contemporary philosophical-epistemological, empiricalpsychological and theological-epistemological perspectives), included. An evaluation warranted by the multi-disciplinary scope of Baillie's mediating theology, as well as by Baillie's employment of his rather versatile concept of mediated immediacy, this evaluation considers mediated immediacy's now robustly evaluated logic's consequences for core aspects of Baillie's mediating theology, including Baillie’s ideas of knowledge of God, divine action, divine revelation and religious experience. The definitive work on John Baillie's concept of mediated immediacy, this thesis is essential for those with an interest in John Baillie's critical thought. Amongst other things, the thesis challenges positions widely held by John Baillie research. For example, it demonstrates that a nascent form of mediated immediacy existed in Baillie's thought before the concept's first explicit mention in the mediating theologian's 1939 publication Our Knowledge of God. Here is a novel interpretation in the research. Furthermore, whereas previous research has rightly observed that Baillie’s critical thought gravitates toward the problems of revelation and knowledge of God in general, this thesis demonstrates that Baillie’s mediating theology focuses on one problem in particular— across the roughly 35-year span of its development: the problem of the epistemological relationship between direct knowledge and indirect knowledge for knowledge of God. In addition, this thesis demonstrates that Baillie’s latter mediating theology (post-1939) provides a stronger doctrine of the Holy Spirit than that found in Baillie's earlier critical thought. This thesis may also be of value to persons with broader interests, including the epistemic interplay between aspects of philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, and empirically-based interpretations of the phenomena of religious experience.

A theology of women’s priesthood can be developed through an examination of the symbol and narrative of Christian religion. Metaphors of the body, the bride and the whore form a leitmotif through Christian scripture and tradition, and these have traditionally been interpreted from a phallocentric viewpoint. A feminist approach to scripture and tradition reveals that the woman priest causes a shift in the interpretation of these metaphors that impacts on many areas of Christian worship and life. The Eucharist, the central Anglican rite and nexus between the narrative of faith and the praxis of discipleship, is laden with symbols that, if effective, are also transformative for the worshipper. The priest, instrumental in the liturgy, has a key symbolic function in offering such potential for the Church community. When celebrating the Eucharist, the priest who is a woman recovers ignored or undervalued meanings within the associated symbolism which give rise to new possibilities theologically, liturgically and morally for Christian teaching and discipleship. The multivalent symbolism of priesthood thus acquires a new breadth and richness that addresses our understanding of the nature of the triune God, and of ourselves as beings created in the image of God and members of the Body of Christ. The woman priest causes a ‘collision’ with the received wisdom of traditional teaching and practice, and invites consideration of the genderisation of symbol and narrative, the exclusion of women from sacred rituals and spaces, and the lack of a female religious imaginary. A feminist reading of Paul Ricoeur, together with an engagement with Luce Irigaray and Grace Jantzen, demonstrates that philosophical and psychoanalytical inquiry offers transformative possibilities for the religious imaginary, for the recognition of sexual difference and for the possibility of woman as subject of culture. The woman priest, representative both of the divine and of humankind, has a key role in this process.

This thesis is concerned with the parabolic relationship between evil and salvation. In this thesis I argue that only through recognising evil as inescapably woven into the fabric of our lives, can we construct a theology of hope. I further argue that this identification of evil in the individual is always necessarily something that is achieved through the workings of the apophatic, and can therefore only be realised through the address that reaches exclusively the individual through the unsayable in language. This study centres upon the Parable of the Grand Inquisitor in an inter-textual, literary context and the apophatic tradition. The context in which my discussion of this parabolic relationship operates is the literary environment that allows for the parabolic and the paradoxical. My primary concern is therefore not with the question of theodicy, but with what happens when, through the intellectual struggle, we encounter the boundaries of our understanding in the beginnings of learned ignorance. In the first chapter I have set out to establish the narrative of the thesis, starting with Ivan Karamazov’s articulation of the problem. In this conversation with Alyosha he problematizes the fact that when we accept God’s world, we ought, at the same time to acknowledge the suffering in that world. In this way he exposes the paradox that is inherent in reconciliation itself. However, in the middle of this exchange with Alyosha, Ivan tells the story of the Grand Inquisitor, where the question of reconciliation is addressed in the kiss; suddenly possible in the literary space of the parable. In the chapter that follows I explore our relationship with evil within the space of a literary context. Starting with the fall as the moment at which the human being has put on self-awareness; separating the inner from outer part of the person. With Milton in Paradise Lost, and Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot as my main conversational partners, I offer a reading of the story of the fall in Genesis as a narrative about our alienation from the divine. I argue that this alienation has also become an estrangement from ourselves where the spirit can no longer get to know itself through the body and the body can no longer know itself through the spirit. I argue that this inability to recognise what is other closes off the possibility of a hermeneutical encounter with the Other. The third chapter examines the relationship between the inability to recognise what is Other and responsibility; in conversation with Kafka in The Trial and Kierkegaard’s discussion of Abraham in Fear and Trembling. I argue that Joseph K's inability to engage hermeneutically with the world is the reason why he cannot recognise his own guilt. Abraham is in that respect his opposite; he embodies the parabolic and the asymmetrical, and so becomes a fully responsible individual. In the last chapter I discuss the relationship between the unsayable in language and the coincidentia oppositorum. Here my main conversational partners are Meister Eckhart, Thomas Altizer in The Descent into Hell, and Nicolas of Cusa. I argue that the language of the unsayable is what addresses us in the detached self, as Christ addresses the Grand Inquisitor in his detached self. The kiss, as the climax, is the instant of initiation when the inner and the outer self again become one. At the same time this is the moment of betrayal when all command of our identity seems lost. This disintegration of the self is the descent into hell, and simultaneously the moment of salvation. It is also fundamentally apolitical and through its unsayability can address only the individual.

D.Litt. et Phil. / The aim of the present thesis has been to examine the course of Christianity and civilization in the medieval kingdoms of Nubia, in relation to the developments in the Byzantine Empire during the same period; that is, to look into the direct and indirect influences exerted by Byzantium on Nubia, at both political and cultural level. The study departs from the observation that there is a significantly close parallelism between the Nubian and the Byzantine history. More specifically, following the 7th century Arabic expansion, the Christian statal entities of Nubia and the Byzantium seem to run a parallel course, with rather similar fluctuations. Thus, there is a time when, initially, both Byzantium and Nubia – to a varying degree and in different ways – rally their forces against the Arabic threat. This is followed by a period of prosperity and growth, leading up to the 11th century and, finally, from the 12th century onwards, starts a gradual decadence that reaches its breaking point with the overthrow of both the Byzantine Empire and the remaining Christian statal formations of Nubia by the Ottomans. By way of conclusion then, we will summarise the most important observations and assumptions the present research has led to. Firstly, throughout the course of this study, the main goal has been to examine in juxtaposition and to correlate the developments in Nubia and Byzantium, through their relations with the Islamic world and its activity in the Mediterranean, and to ascertain whether there are substantial and considerable interrelations. At what time, to what extent and in what way did the Byzantine-Islamic relations affect the course of the Medieval Christian Kingdoms of Nubia? While various hypotheses have been formulated regarding the interrelation between Byzantium and Nubia, the issue has not as yet been subjected to a thorough and long-term study. The present dissertation intends to fill in this gap in research, thus contributing to a better understanding of the Nubian history.

When we take a step back from the imposing figure of physical violence, it becomes possible to examine other structurally violent forces that constantly shape our cultural and political landscapes. One of the driving interests in the “turn to Paul” in recent continental philosophy stems from wrestling with questions about the real nature of contemporary violence. Paul is positioned as a thinker whose messianic experience began to cut through the violent masquerade of the existing order. The crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah (a slave and a God co-existing in one body) exposed the empty grounding upon which power resided. The Christ-event signifies a moment of violent interruption in the existing order which Paul enjoins the Gentiles to participate in through a dedication of love for the neighbour. This divine violence aims to reveal and subvert the “powers,” epitomised in the Roman Empire, in order to fulfil the labour of the Messianic now-time which had arrived. The impetus behind this research comes from a typically enigmatic and provocative section of text by the Slovene philosopher, cultural critic, and Christian atheist Slavoj Žižek. He claims that 'the notion of love should be given here all its Paulinian weight: the domain of pure violence… is the domain of love' (2008a, 173). In this move he links Paul’s idea of love to that of Walter Benjamin’s divine violence; the sublime and the cataclysmic come together in this seemingly perverse notion. At stake here is the way in which uncovering violent forces in the “zero-level” of our narrative worldviews aids the diagnosis of contemporary political and ethical issues. It is not enough to imagine Paul’s encounter with the Christ-event as non-violent. This Jewish apocalyptic movement was engaged in a violent struggle within an existing order that God’s wrath will soon dismantle. Paul’s weak violence, inspired by his fidelity to the Christ-event, places all responsibility over creation in the role of the individual within the collective body. The centre piece of this re-imagined construction of the Pauline narrative comes in Romans 13: the violent dedication to love understood in the radical nature of the now-time. 3 This research examines the role that narratives play in the creation and diagnosis of these violent forces. In order to construct a new genealogy of violence in Christianity it is crucial to understand the role of the slave of Christ (the revolutionary messianic subject). This turn in the Symbolic is examined through creating a literary structure in which we can approach a radical Nietzschean shift in Pauline thought. The claim here, a claim which is also central to Paul’s letters, is that when the symbolic violence which manipulates our worldviews is undone by a divine violence, if even for a moment, new possibilities are created in the opening for a transvaluation of values. Through this we uncover the nature of original sin: the consequences of the interconnected reality of our actions. The role of literature is vital in the construction of this narrative; starting with Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, and continuing through works such as Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, this thesis draws upon the power of literature in the shaping of our narrative worlds. Typical of the continental philosophy at the heart of this work, a diverse range of illustrations and inspirations from fiction is pulled into its narrative to reflect the symbolic universe that this work was forged through. What this work attempts to do is give this theory a greater grounding in Paul’s letters by demonstrating this radical kenotic power at the heart of the Christ-event. Romans 13 reveals, in a way that has not yet been picked up by Critchley, Žižek, and others, that Paul opposed the biopolitical power of the Roman Empire through the weak violence of love that is the labour of the slaves of Christ on the “now-time” that had arrived.

Magister Theologiae - MTh / Christianity has been diverse from its beginning, with local congregations established in different geographic contexts. Over the centuries it has been, and still is, subject to further fragmentation. The rise of Pentecostalism during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century has led to further fragmentation, also in South Africa. This study will contribute to the sub-discipline of contemporary church history by examining the ecumenical relationships between local churches. It will investigate the ongoing fragmentation of Christianity through the establishment of twelve new Pentecostal churches in the suburb of Belhar since the start of the century (2000-2013). These include: Breakthrough Christian Church, City of Grace (Living Waters) Community Centre, Philia Community Worship Centre, Logos Assembly of God Ministries, Belhar Lighthouse Family Church, Living Word and Faith Temple Church, Open Doors Full Gospel Church, Faith Christian Fellowship Church, New Birth Pentecostal Church, Moria Gemeentes Church, Edon Elohim Pentecostal Ministries and Pentecostal Church of Jesus Christ. The questions that will be posed in this study are why such churches came into being, what attracts members to these newly established churches and how they understand the relationships with other Pentecostal churches and so-called mainline churches in Belhar and further afield. The research problem that will therefore be addressed is: “What are the factors contributing to the continual fragmentation of Christian churches in Belhar from 2000 to 2013?” By documenting the establishment, growth and ecumenical relations of such churches, this study will seek to enhance the understanding of the factors that led to further and rapid fragmentation of Christianity in South Africa.

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This study was conducted to research any increase in empathic discrimination resulting from an empathy training program for paraprofessional Christian counsellors entitled, The Skilled Helper for Christians. There were 13 male and 23 female subjects with a mean age of 38.9 years in the Experimental Group. The two control groups used were similar to the Experimental Group in mean age, gender and Christian faith. The first Control Group, those students enrolled in a course entitled Building Strong Marriages in the Local Church, was made up of 8 male and 8 female students, with a mean age of 38.9 years. The second Control Group consisted of graduate theological students who attended Introduction to Christian Counselling. There were 22 male and 11 female subjects with a mean age of 33.4 years. A pretest-posttest design was used, adapting two instruments based on the Truax Accurate Empathy Scale. The dependent variable was the empathy score attained on each measure. Four null hyotheses were advanced. Both instruments, the Questionnaire in Helpful Responding and the Exercises in Caring and Understanding, were initially analyzed using dependent t-tests. An analysis of covariance and a Tukey multiple comparison were also used. The findings indicated that a significant increase in empathic discrimination resulted from the Skilled Helper for Christians, as measured by the Questionnaire in Helpful Responding. Each Control Group also indicated an increase as measured by the Questionnaire in Helpful Responding, however at a less significant level. The second measure, the Exercises in Caring and Understanding, resulted in no significant increase for any of the groups. Thus, the Skilled Helper for Christians produced a significant gain in empathic discrimination. Other findings suggested that modeling empathy may have had a positive effect on all of the groups. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

A paradigm of transcendence pervades Buell's novels, imaginatively conceived from within a Catholic consciousness of God's grace in effecting redemption. Safeguarding the Real Presence from invidious sacrilege, Elizabeth Lucy in The Pyx achieves heroic sanctity, losing her life to gain glory as a martyr to her faith . The Eucharist also has centrality in the lives of Stan Hagen and Martin Lacey in A Lot To Make Up For as they share in the sacrificial oblation at mass. In Four Days, sacred love suffuses profane love, the sanctity of human love being yet another manifestation of God's presence in the world, only to be tragically subverted by deception and self-interest. Buell's Catholic consciousness is also noticeably present in his thematic development of redemptive suffering. In Playground, the narrative reveals that suffering is itself the path to healing. The novel details Spence Morisons's suffering toward what he trusts will be his deliverance, his redemption taking the form of his conversion to a new self-realization about the nature of his humanity. In The Shrewsdale Exit, on the other hand, the need for conversion becomes apparent when Joe Hagen surrenders to a desire for murderous vengeance. A resolution is effected when Joe forsakes revenge, finding deliverance in the assurance that justice will prevail. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate