This thesis examines the intellectual environment in which Pope John Paul II's thought operates, especially as it pertains to his writings on the truth. The pontiff's thinking faces open hostility toward Christianity, as exemplified by Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault. The pope's theology pays attention and builds links to modern thought through its positive engagement with phenomenology and personalism, as well as through its opposition to materialism. Despite these connections, this theology fails to fit well with (post)modern thinking, as it takes a wider view of things in two ways: (1) By offering a spiritual sense of things, it goes beyond thought and takes into account supernatural sources of knowledge, sources which are both a one-time event (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ) and part of the ongoing journey of the Christian community; (2) By boldly referring to traditional, outmoded language, as with the words obedience and humility, with the same level of reverence and fullness of their sense as they were used before the secular-feminist era condemned these virtues. The strange and unique qualities of John Paul II's thinking issues from these two practices. It also arises from his bold ability to engage with modern thought without becoming defensive and without hiding behind the Bible or Catholic piety, though he uses both of these generously. John Paul II offers a clear alternative to the chaos and confusion of post-Enlightenment thought, in both his thought's style and substance. The Holy Father's words cause us to reflect more deeply than those of modern or postmodern thinkers, and call us away from the relativism of Richard Rorty, Foucault, and so many others. The pope's thought succeeds in part because he takes a much wider vista of things, in that he digs more deeply into Western and Christian thought and that he enters this heritage as an inheritor rather than as a skeptical scientist-researcher as in Foucault's case. The pope's thought also succeeds because he assigns spiritual meaning to this journey of Christian and world people. In this sense, his thought is also radically inclusive. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

Evangelicals have been characterized as a people committed to the Bible with historical roots to the fundamentalists who were engaged in controversy with liberals in North America at the beginning of the twentieth century. Harold Lindsell's book, The Battle For The Bible (1976), led to a great deal of discussion about inerrancy among evangelicals which resulted in major conferences and the publication of a number of books and articles discussing inerrancy in the subsequent decade. The principal doctrinal statement of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) has been from its inception a statement on inerrancy. The inerrancy debate among evangelicals took a new direction with the publication of R H Gundry's commentary on Matthew (1982). This sparked a debate concerning redaction criticism and the compatibility of using the historical-critical methodology while maintaining a commitment to the doctrine of inerrancy. Just when the debate appeared to be dying down the publication of the results of the Jesus Seminar (1993) led to several responses from evangelicals. The most controversial publication was The Jesus Crisis (1998) which accused evangelicals and some within the ETS of embracing the same methodology as those of the Jesus Seminar, refueling the debate again. Consequently this debate amongst evangelicals, particularly those associated with the ETS has continued for almost two decades. The debate has ranged over a variety of issues related to historical criticism and the study of the Gospels, including presuppositions, the Synoptic Problem, the role of harmonization, and whether the Gospels provide a strict chronology of the life of Jesus. The role of form and tradition criticism and the criteria of authenticity and whether the Gospel writers were faithful historians or creative theologians have also been points of contention in the debate. The languages that Jesus spoke and whether the Gospels preserve the ipsissima verba or vox have highlighted the differing views about the requirements of inerrancy. The redaction criticism debate has proven to have a significant role in exposing differences in methodology, definitions, presuppositions, and boundaries among evangelicals and members of the ETS. / New Testament / D.Th. (New Testament)

HEARING ALL THE DRUMS: TOWARDS A MORE INCLUSIVE CONGREGATION is about increasing the participation of women in positions of both leadership and church ministry praxis within the Seventh Day Adventist church in South Africa. Women have been excluded in the office of elder, and have been generally excluded from preaching during the worship hour. The research process followed a participatory way of doing research, while using theories on social construction and post-modernist epistemological approach. The theologies that inform this work are contextual in nature and include African and Feminist theologies. In the pursuit for change, however, care is maintained to use inclusive practices that attempt to avoid polarising the congregation and their concomitant theologies. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

This dissertation describes efforts to facilitate participation in deconstructing gay discourse in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Gay discourse is challenged through the sharing of gay Christians' stories. While serving on the task team on homosexuality of the General Synod of the DRC a DVD on which gay people share their stories was produced and employed in order to facilitate participation. In reflecting on my research journey I have learnt that participation, prejudice, dogma and context as dimensions of gay discourse lie on a continuum. These dimensions, and the two extreme positions on the continuum: radical exclusion/antagonist and radical inclusion/protagonist, are represented in my model of deconstructing gay discourse. In the process of discourse change, various positions on the continuum become possible. Shifts happened in the task team and General Synod (DRC), resulting in a more gay inclusive decision on the position of gay people in the DRC. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

There is without doubt as much criticism of Liberation Theology as there is understanding regarding the need for a theology which seeks answers to the effectiveness of the Christian witness, against a background of mounting poverty, the oppression of woman and continued discrimination by one race against another, worldwide. Many scholars struggle with the revolutionary and often hostile nature and methodology of Liberation Theology. This paper attempts to enter into a conversation between the theology of John Wesley and Liberation Theology. The theology of John Wesley had a tremendous impact on social, political and economic areas of the Eighteenth century England. It was in many ways a revolutionary theology. This paper takes as a standpoint, the need for praxis with regard to Christian witness and therefore seeks to argue that there may be common ground between Wesleyan Theology and Liberation Theology. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Teology)

Text in German with German and English summaries / Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit erforscht Transformationsprozesse von etablierten Gemeinden, die auf eine missionale Neuausrichtung zielen. Den Kern der Arbeit bildet die empirische Untersuchung des eränderungsprozesses der Freien evangelischen Gemeinde Darmstadt. Es wird untersucht, wie die Mitglieder diesen Prozess erlebt und wahrgenommen haben, um herauszufinden, wodurch dieser Prozess gefördert und gehemmt wurde. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich außerdem mit der von Luhmann entwickelten systemischen Organisationstheorie, die dabei hilft zu verstehen, wie Gemeinde als Organisation funktioniert und was dies für deren Veränderung bedeutet. Es wird versucht die Ergebnisse der empirischen Forschung mithilfe dieser Theorie zu deuten und einzuordnen, um aufzuzeigen, inwiefern diese Theorie bei Veränderungsprozessen helfen kann, den Fokus auf die Aspekte zu lenken, die für eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung relevant sind. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, Hilfestellung für zukünftige Transformationsprozesse zu geben, indem sie fragt, was aus dem Prozess der Freien evangelischen Gemeinde Darmstadt und der systemischen Organisationstheorie gelernt werden kann. / This MTh dissertation explores transformational processes of established churches, that aim towards missional renewal. Core of this thesis is the empirical study of the transformation-process of the Freie evangelische Gemeinde Darmstadt. The study explores the perception of the church members of this process, to find out ways it was supported and blocked. The thesis also deals with the theory of organized social systems by Luhmann, that helps to understand how local church works as an organization and what this means regarding change. The Thesis interprets the results of the empirical study based on this theory to show, how it can help depict those aspects, that are relevant to successfully implement transformational processes. Aim of this thesis is to give assistance to shape future transformational processes by asking what can be learned from the developments of the Freie evangelische Gemeinde Darmstadt and the theory of organized social systems. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, German and English summaries / Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine Forschungsstudie über die Auswirkung einer schriftlich for-mulierten und in die Praxis implementierten Gemeindevision auf das Wachstum ungarischer Baptistengemeinden. Nach einer Einleitung über die Geschichte und Kirchengeschichte Un-garns zum Verständnis der ungarischen Kultur und Gesellschaft, wird der Begriff Vision aus psychologischer, religionswissenschaftlicher und –geschichtlicher Perspektive analysiert. Eine theologische und praktisch-theologische Betrachtung der Vision unter Einbeziehung des evangelikalen Visionsverständnisses und seiner Entwicklung gefolgt von einem Kapitel über Gemeindeaufbau und -wachstum leiten zu der empirisch-qualitativen Teil der For-schungsarbeit über. Der Zusammenhang zwischen einer formulierten, dokumentierten und in die Praxis umgesetzten Vision und dem Gemeindewachstum von Baptistengemeinden wird mit strukturierten Leitfadeninterviews ermittelt, der mittels computerunterstützter Qua-litativer Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet wird. Zentrale Elemente wie das innere, äußere, gesell-schaftliche und zahlenmäßige Wachstum werden systematisch analysiert und Antworten auf die Forschungsthese gesucht. Den Abschluss bildet ein Ausblick auf eine mögliche thema-tische und methodologische Erweiterung dieser Arbeit. / The following work is a research study about the impact of the vision given in written form, implemented into the practical realisation on the growth of Hungarian Baptist Churches. Following an introduction about Hungarian history and church history and an understanding of the Hungarian culture and society, the term “vision” will be analyzed from a psychological, theological and historical perspective. A theological and practical examination of vision, through the comprehension of an evangelical understanding and development of vision, furthermore a theological study about church development and growth will lead to an empirical qualitative part of the research. The relationship between the formulated/documented and the practice of vision and church growth from the Baptist churches will be determined with methods structured from guided interviews and predefined questions and with the methodology of the computer aided qualitative content analysis. Central elements of the internal, external, social and numerical growth will be sought after from systematic analysis and answers into a constructed research thesis. The conclusion of this work will constitute an over-view of the possible topical and methodical extension of the work. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

This study deals with the character of Jesus in the Gospel of John and follows the social-scientific approach and aims to correct the traditional views regarding the personality of Jesus. The aim is not a personality analysis but to situate Jesus as a typical person who was a part of and functioned in the first Mediterranean world. The pivotal values of the ancient world such as honor/shame; collectivistic/dyadic personality; family and group orientation; kinship; the patronage system with the patron/broker/client relationship and the purity system are applied to reach the aim of my thesis. It is found that Jesus was a collectivistic/dyadic personality. He functioned in this family orientated as well as in a group orientated community and socially structured patronage system as a broker, totally the contrary to contemporary personality drawings of Jesus found in modern literature. / In hierdie studie, wat 'n skripsie van beperkte omvang is, word nie gepoog om 'n persoonlikheidsanalise van Jesus te doen nie. Die studie wil die probleem van die toepassings en interpretasies van Jesus in populere literatuur aanspreek. Jesus word deur moderne mense en teoloe in prentjies en idees van 'n moderne mens met moderne kategoriee, denke en perspektiewe, waardes en oordele beskryf, geteken en geinterpreteer, en dit is nie 'n werklike getroue en realistiese weergawe van Jesus as historiese mens nie. Jesus word in populere literatuur as 'n individualis geteken; sy persoon en emosies word alleenlik in moderne denke en kategoriee geinterpreteer en dit word slegs op grond van moderne individuele ervaring gedoen. Hierdie interpretasies is nie tipies van die kollektiwistiese, groep-georienteerde eerste-eeuse mediterreense persoon nie. Afsydigheid en terughoudendheid (4:9, 10; 13:36-38) is kenmerkend van persone in hierdie samelewing waar warmte in verhoudings ontbreek het (2:16; 9:16)'. Emosies soos 'liefde' wat Jesus toon, is nie 'n emosionele konnotasie wat in die moderne samelewing dui op die gevoelslewe van die mens nie. In hierdie antieke samelewing het 'liefde' gedui op lojaliteit, solidariteit en groepgebondenheid en as Jesus die blinde man sy sig teruggee (9:7), herstel hy nie hier die geneesde man se plek as individu in terme van die moderne samelewing nie, maar hy herstel die sieke in sy regmatige, groep-georienteerde sosiale plek in die antieke samelewing waarin hy - weens sy siekte - as 'buitestaander' geetiketteer is en dus geen deel in die groep gehad het nie. In hierdie antieke eerste-eeuse mediterreense samelewing het ander spilpuntwaardes as in ons moderne samelewing gegeld. In hierdie kollektiwistiese en groepgebonde kultuur het persone gedeel in 'n gemeenskap met die spilpuntwaardes, norme en ingestelde sosiale reels van hierdie spesifieke kultuur en aspekte wat vormend op hulle ingewerk het. Jesus se persoon en optrede moet nagevors word in hierdie sosiale sisteem waar mag deur simbole daargestel is, en waar mense, dinge en gebeure elkeen 'n simboliese werklikheid verteenwoordig het. / New Testament / M. A. (Biblical Studies)

This qualitatively oriented Practical Theology research project was based on a narrative inquiry into the spiritualities of six gay women who are related to Northfield Methodist Church, which is situated in Benoni, Gauteng. These conversations occurred within a small group context, and were aimed at co-authoring preferred ways of being both gay and Christian. Toward the end of the research journey, I asked each participant to prepare a written text that would summarise their experience of being simultaneously gay and Christian, so that by hearing their own stories of their journey, they would be able to find a voice. As these women are usually marginalised in the Methodist Church, I invited various groups to audience their stories. This research report records the beginning of my journey into working towards the complete acceptance of gay and lesbian Christians into the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

This study in philosophical-theology investigates the problems and prospects of theological non-realism, as proposed and developed by the Cambridge philosopher of religion Don Cupitt. After contextualising non-realism within the worldview, epistemology and theology of pre-modernity, modernity and postmodernity, the study appraises the prospects of non-realism as a new philosophical and theologica default position for Christianity and how it relates to what has been referred to as the New Reformation. The study hypothesises and contends that, although radical in orientation and multifarious in prospect, it is a viable and valid basis for Christian reformation. After contextualising, considering some religious and theological content, as well as critique and contrapuntal positions, the study delineates theoretical and practical reformatory options. By and large concurring with Cupitt, the study also deviates from him, particularly with respect to the prospect of ecclesiastical post-Christianity. Although this is not a study in practical theology, this study nevertheless aims to move the debate about the New Reformation forward by proposing non-realism as a basis for a new Church / Biblical and Ancient Studies / Thesis (D. Th. (Religious Studies))