'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.' [Rom 12:2] Hans Urs von Balthasar and Eberhard Jungel are profound and imaginative thinkers who unreservedly ground their theologies in revelation as God�s self-disclosure. This thesis asks what resources such revelation-centred authors, from different traditions, may contribute to a theological understanding of the human imagination. Although theology has often been more interested in the constructive capacities of the imagination, it is the responsive quality of the imagination that is of particular interest to this thesis. Can the imagination contribute to a theological understanding which comprehends the action and speech of God as antecedent to human response? This thesis examines the epistemological issues that are related both to the imagination and to revelation as the self-communication and self-interpretation of God. The imagination is conceived of as essential to perception and understanding; it allows for both recognition and re-cognition. Through the imagination we can rethink the patterns or paradigms that shape our lives. The renewing of the mind can be said to involve the imagination. However, spiritual transformation requires more than a notion of the imagination as a spontaneous mental act which determines its own content. Balthasar and Jungel, while thinking in lively and narrative ways, are constrained by divine self-disclosure. God�s self-revelation provides the content of the paradigm or pattern by which the Christian believer is to live. The imagination can be said to act as the context or locus of revelation. This thesis demonstrates that the three days of Easter are central to Balthasar�s and Jungel�s respective understandings of God. For Balthasar and Jungel, the triduum mortis is where the self-revelation of God is most apparent; it is here that God is understood to be self-giving love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While quite distinct in their approaches, both authors work within trinitarian, and therefore relational, frameworks. This thesis traces the motifs that not only express their understandings of the paschal mystery in relational terms but also ground their respective understandings of renewed existence; for Balthasar, the motifs of mission and kenosis, and for Jungel, those of identification and justification. For both Balthasar and Jungel, the events of the triduum mortis can be said to provide the content of, and act as a boundary to, our conception of God. Nonetheless, it is proposed that, within their respective understandings of divine prevenience, Balthasar and Jungel leave room for the exercise of the imagination. God is mystery; God is not a fixed or completed concept.

This thesis seeks to explore two fundamental theological questions: first, what does it mean for the Christian community to conceive of itself as a community defined by the covenant of grace; and second, what are the implications of this distinctiveness for its socio-political mission in an age of globalization. The project is interdisciplinary in its approach, and seeks to integrate biblical and theological inquiry together with the specific opportunities and challenges found in a globalized world. Our way of organizing this thesis is attuned to the demands of argument and method of research employed. Divided into three parts, the thesis derives from a critical examination of a theology of grace and its ramifications for the mission of the church in addressing contemporary issues. Part 1 commences by surveying broadly Reformational theological scholarship from the turn of the twentieth century, and explores how this thesis will make a distinctive contribution to scholarly discussion of the church's socio-political mission through focusing on the central doctrine of grace. Part 2 constitutes a comparative analysis of three leading contemporary theologians evaluating to what extent a theology of grace is evident in their theological political theories. Part 3 is where we seek to apply our theological investigation with the phenomenon of globalization, and engage with international political theory through concentrating on the concepts of power and justice in an interdependent world. The conclusion reached in this thesis is that the doctrine of grace, by virtue of its theocentric and trinitarian emphasis on revelation, reconciliation, election, and creation, directs the Christian community in an age of globalization to be an agent of God's justice in the socio-political arena through demonstrating servant-leadership to contribute in enabling the world's poorest and weakest citizens to share in the benefits brought by a globalized world.

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Nesta dissertação de mestrado, buscou-se estabelecer se a diplomacia japonesa estaria em um processo de mudança no século XXI, abrindo mão dos princípios das doutrinas Yoshida e Fukuda, que regeram a política externa desde o Pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial, e indo em direção à elaboração de uma nova doutrina. Para tanto, utilizando o marco teórico de Putnam (1988), foram analisadas não somente as agendas de política externa dos governos japoneses dos anos 2000, como também os condicionamentos internos e externos presentes em cada um deles, permitindo-se verificar o quanto os partidos políticos e seus gabinetes conseguiram aplicar os seus projetos na área diplomática. No âmbito interno, a mudança no processo de elaboração de política externa, através da quebra do sistema do triângulo de ferro, sendo substituído pela centralização de poder decisório nos partidos políticos e na Dieta, o parlamento japonês indica que o Japão está sob uma alteração de sua Doutrina diplomática. Já quanto aos fatores externos, a Crise Asiática, a crise financeira de 2008 e o militarismo de China e Coreia do Norte tiveram papel fundamental para que o Japão realizasse mudanças nos seus esforços para adotar um papel mais proativo na Ásia, quebrando o histórico de minimalismo diplomático presente na Doutrina Yoshida. Ainda assim o país não conseguiu reestruturar os termos da aliança político-securitária com os Estados Unidos e não foi bem sucedido em angariar apoio público para a realização de mudanças no papel político-militar do país. A dificuldade da diplomacia japonesa em encontrar alternativas ao sistema de segurança norte-americano e de enfrentar situações de instabilidade política interna e regional fez com que a proximidade com os Estados Unidos fosse mantida como pedra angular de política externa. / This master degree's thesis seeks to establish whether the Japanese diplomacy would be in a process of change in the 21st century, by giving up on the principles of the Yoshida and Fukuda doctrines, which have determined Japan's foreign policy since the end of World War II, and heading towards the creation of a new doctrine. In order to answer this question, by using the theoretical contribution of Putnam (1988), not only were the foreign policy agendas of the Japanese governments thorough the 2000's decade analyzed, but also the domestic and external conditionings present in each of them, which helped verifying in which extent political parties and their cabinets were successful in applying their own diplomatic projects. In the domestic level, the change in the process of making foreign policy, through the end of the Iron Triangle system and its substitution by the centralization of decision power in the political parties and the Japanese Diet, indicates that Japan is under an alteration of its diplomatic doctrine. In the external level, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2008 financial crisis and the militarism displayed by North Korea and China had an essential role in so that Japan would make changes in its efforts to adopt a more proactive political position in Asia, breaking the concept of diplomatic minimalism of the Yoshida Doctrine. Nevertheless, the country was unable to restructure the terms of the political and security alliance with the United States, and was also unsuccessful in harnessing public support to change the country's political and military role. The difficulty of finding alternatives to the North American security system and facing regional and domestic stability resulted in the decision of keeping the proximity with the United States as a cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy.

When reading the Bible in an independent way, i.e., not through the lenses of any official Church dogma, one is amazed by the many voices that come through to us. Add to this variety the literaiy finds from Nag Hammadi, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls, then the question now confronting many spiritual pilgrims is how it came about that these obviously diverse theologies, represented in the socalled Old and New Testaments, were moulded into only one "orthodox" result. In what way and to what degree were the many Christian groups different and distinctive from one another, as well as from other Jewish groups? Furthermore, what was the influence of other religions, Judaism, the Mysteries, Gnostics and Philosophers on the development, variety of groups and ultimately 021 the consolidation of "orthodox" soteriology? / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

Nesta dissertação de mestrado, buscou-se estabelecer se a diplomacia japonesa estaria em um processo de mudança no século XXI, abrindo mão dos princípios das doutrinas Yoshida e Fukuda, que regeram a política externa desde o Pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial, e indo em direção à elaboração de uma nova doutrina. Para tanto, utilizando o marco teórico de Putnam (1988), foram analisadas não somente as agendas de política externa dos governos japoneses dos anos 2000, como também os condicionamentos internos e externos presentes em cada um deles, permitindo-se verificar o quanto os partidos políticos e seus gabinetes conseguiram aplicar os seus projetos na área diplomática. No âmbito interno, a mudança no processo de elaboração de política externa, através da quebra do sistema do triângulo de ferro, sendo substituído pela centralização de poder decisório nos partidos políticos e na Dieta, o parlamento japonês indica que o Japão está sob uma alteração de sua Doutrina diplomática. Já quanto aos fatores externos, a Crise Asiática, a crise financeira de 2008 e o militarismo de China e Coreia do Norte tiveram papel fundamental para que o Japão realizasse mudanças nos seus esforços para adotar um papel mais proativo na Ásia, quebrando o histórico de minimalismo diplomático presente na Doutrina Yoshida. Ainda assim o país não conseguiu reestruturar os termos da aliança político-securitária com os Estados Unidos e não foi bem sucedido em angariar apoio público para a realização de mudanças no papel político-militar do país. A dificuldade da diplomacia japonesa em encontrar alternativas ao sistema de segurança norte-americano e de enfrentar situações de instabilidade política interna e regional fez com que a proximidade com os Estados Unidos fosse mantida como pedra angular de política externa. / This master degree's thesis seeks to establish whether the Japanese diplomacy would be in a process of change in the 21st century, by giving up on the principles of the Yoshida and Fukuda doctrines, which have determined Japan's foreign policy since the end of World War II, and heading towards the creation of a new doctrine. In order to answer this question, by using the theoretical contribution of Putnam (1988), not only were the foreign policy agendas of the Japanese governments thorough the 2000's decade analyzed, but also the domestic and external conditionings present in each of them, which helped verifying in which extent political parties and their cabinets were successful in applying their own diplomatic projects. In the domestic level, the change in the process of making foreign policy, through the end of the Iron Triangle system and its substitution by the centralization of decision power in the political parties and the Japanese Diet, indicates that Japan is under an alteration of its diplomatic doctrine. In the external level, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2008 financial crisis and the militarism displayed by North Korea and China had an essential role in so that Japan would make changes in its efforts to adopt a more proactive political position in Asia, breaking the concept of diplomatic minimalism of the Yoshida Doctrine. Nevertheless, the country was unable to restructure the terms of the political and security alliance with the United States, and was also unsuccessful in harnessing public support to change the country's political and military role. The difficulty of finding alternatives to the North American security system and facing regional and domestic stability resulted in the decision of keeping the proximity with the United States as a cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy.

Nesta dissertação de mestrado, buscou-se estabelecer se a diplomacia japonesa estaria em um processo de mudança no século XXI, abrindo mão dos princípios das doutrinas Yoshida e Fukuda, que regeram a política externa desde o Pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial, e indo em direção à elaboração de uma nova doutrina. Para tanto, utilizando o marco teórico de Putnam (1988), foram analisadas não somente as agendas de política externa dos governos japoneses dos anos 2000, como também os condicionamentos internos e externos presentes em cada um deles, permitindo-se verificar o quanto os partidos políticos e seus gabinetes conseguiram aplicar os seus projetos na área diplomática. No âmbito interno, a mudança no processo de elaboração de política externa, através da quebra do sistema do triângulo de ferro, sendo substituído pela centralização de poder decisório nos partidos políticos e na Dieta, o parlamento japonês indica que o Japão está sob uma alteração de sua Doutrina diplomática. Já quanto aos fatores externos, a Crise Asiática, a crise financeira de 2008 e o militarismo de China e Coreia do Norte tiveram papel fundamental para que o Japão realizasse mudanças nos seus esforços para adotar um papel mais proativo na Ásia, quebrando o histórico de minimalismo diplomático presente na Doutrina Yoshida. Ainda assim o país não conseguiu reestruturar os termos da aliança político-securitária com os Estados Unidos e não foi bem sucedido em angariar apoio público para a realização de mudanças no papel político-militar do país. A dificuldade da diplomacia japonesa em encontrar alternativas ao sistema de segurança norte-americano e de enfrentar situações de instabilidade política interna e regional fez com que a proximidade com os Estados Unidos fosse mantida como pedra angular de política externa. / This master degree's thesis seeks to establish whether the Japanese diplomacy would be in a process of change in the 21st century, by giving up on the principles of the Yoshida and Fukuda doctrines, which have determined Japan's foreign policy since the end of World War II, and heading towards the creation of a new doctrine. In order to answer this question, by using the theoretical contribution of Putnam (1988), not only were the foreign policy agendas of the Japanese governments thorough the 2000's decade analyzed, but also the domestic and external conditionings present in each of them, which helped verifying in which extent political parties and their cabinets were successful in applying their own diplomatic projects. In the domestic level, the change in the process of making foreign policy, through the end of the Iron Triangle system and its substitution by the centralization of decision power in the political parties and the Japanese Diet, indicates that Japan is under an alteration of its diplomatic doctrine. In the external level, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2008 financial crisis and the militarism displayed by North Korea and China had an essential role in so that Japan would make changes in its efforts to adopt a more proactive political position in Asia, breaking the concept of diplomatic minimalism of the Yoshida Doctrine. Nevertheless, the country was unable to restructure the terms of the political and security alliance with the United States, and was also unsuccessful in harnessing public support to change the country's political and military role. The difficulty of finding alternatives to the North American security system and facing regional and domestic stability resulted in the decision of keeping the proximity with the United States as a cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy.

The thesis searches for the roots of the Chinese appreciation for the concepts contained in the early Mādhyamika texts in the currents in Chinese philosophy and the political climate in China during the Eastern Chin and Liu Sung periods. We also seek to account for the characteristic emphasis in hsüan-hsüeh thought on descriptions of a hypothetical sage-ruler and of "Non-being" (and in Buddhist thought on the divine saviour and the eternal life of the "spirit") in the social/political situation in China during this period. We examine the many points of correspondence and similarities between Taoist philosophy and concepts originating in the Prajnāpāramitā texts. Selected translations from the Ming-fo-lun (Treatise Illuminating the Buddha) by Tsung Ping (375-443) are used as examples of a Chinese layman's appraisal of the Buddhist "Path" vis-a-vis those of the philosophical Taoists and Confucianists and to give an overall picture of the philosophical climate of the period. The thesis concludes that there is a wealth of similarity between the Buddhist ideas being introduced to Chinese in the Post-Han period, and China's own philosophical output before and during this period. A continuity is identified between the tenets of hsüan-hsüeh and these Buddhist ideas. We further conclude that the Chinese interest in the limitless powers of the Buddha--like the emphasis in hsüan-hsüeh thought on the qualities of the sage-ruler--can be attributed to the social strife in the period and the erosion of faith in mundane political philosophies. The life of the "spirit" and the countenance of the Buddha offered truly lasting stability and reassurance which the more worldly doctrines had been unable to provide. As a final note, the thesis considers the common appreciation for Buddhism among Indians and Chinese as indicative of universal features of religious systems. We conclude that as common components of the Mādhyamika system practiced in India and China, the recognition of an all powerful deity and transcendent realm coupled with the idea of men's potential to interact and identify with these may be acknowledged as two of the fundamental features of a particular religious doctrine shared for a time by these two ancient civilizations. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

According to Walter Stephens, witch-theorists in the fifteenth century developed the witchcraft belief of demon copulation in order to prove the existence of demons and therefore the existence of God. In England, during the mid-seventeenth century, Cartesian and materialist philosophies spread. These new philosophies stated there was nothing in the world but corporeal substances, and these substances had to conform to natural law. This, the philosophers argued, meant witchcraft was impossible. Certain other philosophers believed a denial of any incorporeal substance would lead to atheism, and so used witchcraft as proof of incorporeal spirits to refute what they felt was a growing atheism in the world. By examining this debate we can better understand the decline of witchcraft. This debate between corporeal and incorporeal was part of the larger debate over the existence of witchcraft. It occurred at a time in England when the persecution of witches was declining. Using witchcraft as proof of incorporeal substances was one of the last uses of witchcraft before it disappeared as a valid belief. Therefore, a better understanding of this debate adds to a better understanding of witchcraft during its decline.

Text in German with summaries in German and English / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 350-377) / Die Doktorarbeit hat die Absicht herauszufinden, was Jonathan Edwards unter dem Begriff „Sündenerkenntnis“ verstanden hat und dabei die Frage nach der Bedeutung dieses Verständnisses für die Erweckungsbewegung zu beantworten. Während Jonathan Edwardsʼ Theologie und Philosophie im Allgemeinen gut erforscht ist, wurde dieser Aspekt noch nicht genauer untersucht. Zunächst wird auf der Grundlage einer chronologischen Einordnung seiner Werke Jonathan Edwardsʼ Verständnis von Sündenerkenntnis aus seinen wichtigsten Schriften erarbeitet, wobei eine Entwicklung in seinem Gedankengut deutlich wird (Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse). In einem zweiten Teil wird Jonathan Edwardsʼ Verständnis von Sündenerkenntnis mit der Theologie seiner Vorläufer, Zeitgenossen sowie Nachfolger und Gegner verglichen, wobei sich die Untersuchung auf die Bewegung des Puritanismus, die Epochen des „Great Awakening“ und des „Second Great Awakening“ beschränkt (Diachronischer Vergleich). In einem dritten Teil wird Jonathan Edwardsʼ Verständnis von Sündenerkenntnis systematischtheologisch und theologiegeschichtlich eingeordnet. Mit dieser Studie soll ein weiterer deutscher Beitrag zur internationalen Jonathan Edwards-Forschung geleistet werden. Der Ansatz dieser Forschung ist dabei historisch ausgerichtet, da er den systematisch-theologischen Begriff „Sündenerkenntnis“ auf der Grundlage der Biografie Edwardsʼ und einer chronologischen Einordnung seiner Werke zu ermitteln sucht, um ihn dann in einem diachronischen Vergleich mit Verständnissen aus verschiedenen zeitlichen Epochen zu vergleichen und so den Begriff „Sündenerkenntnis“ in einem theologiegeschichtlichen Kontext einordnet und versteht. / The thesis tries to answer the question, how Jonathan Edwards understood the term “conviction of sin”. The intention is to find out the significance of his understanding of this term for the revivalmovement of his time. While numerous studies have been done on his theology and philosophy, this aspect has not been thoroughly examined yet. Based on a chronological assessment of his works Jonathan Edwardsʼ understanding of conviction of sin is established from his major works (qualitative content analysis). This reveals a development in his thought-system. In a second part Jonathan Edwardsʼ understanding of conviction of sin is compared with the theology of his predecessors, contemporaries and opponents. This examination is limited to the time of the Puritans, the “Great Awakening” and the “Second Great Awakening” (diachronic comparative analysis). In a third part Jonathan Edwardsʼ understanding of conviction of sin is assessed in a systematictheological way and classified historically. The author intends to make another German contribution to international Jonathan Edwards Studies. This research is historically focused, because of the fact, that the term “conviction of sin” is analysed by means of the biography of Edwards and a chronological classification of his works to compare it with meanings of different historical epoches and classify it in its theological historical context by that approach. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Church history)