This thesis explores the missional ecclesiology of the Emerging Church Movement and its relationship to Evangelicalism. The rise of post-Christendom, post-modernism and the increasing marginalisation of the church in Western Culture has created a situation where it needs to ask the basic missiological questions of its own identity and structures. In contrast to many within traditional Evangelicalism, the Emerging Church Movement views these changes as a positive development and, in a social context much more akin to that of the early church, an opportunity to rediscover the essential nature of its calling as Church. It is in a narrative reading of Scripture and understanding of Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom of God that the ECM believes the answers are to be found. As a result, the ECM finds itself working through a gradual process of dismantling and reconstructing the faith of their Evangelical heritage as they reflect on the meaning of the gospel as they see it expressed in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and His interpretation of the Old Testament narrative. For the ECM, the gospel is much bigger than merely personal salvation and is best understood as God's great and gracious mission in the world of making new all that has been corrupted by sin and evil. Missional churches realise that they have been invited to participate with God in his redemptive mission and formulate their identity, structures and values accordingly. The ECM engages in intentional , subversive ministry from its new place at the margins of society flowing from the realisation that mission is not an activity to be carried out by members of the church in certain contexts, but rather the essential character and calling of the church community wherever it may exist. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

The indispensability of the Church [in Africa] is the primary motive for the writing of this dissertation. Throughout the centuries, we have seen the Church in various contexts, and in many forms. We have borne witness to the good, bad and the ugly throughout the history of the Church. It is my belief that any constructive growth for the future success of the Church in Africa has to come from the bold recognition that if it is to succeed and fully partake in the Missio Dei, 'everything must change' (McLaren 2007). There is need for continuity and discontinuity; however, change is not negotiable!! The Church is called to be both confessional and Missional; the Church should always be forming (ecclesia simper formanda), and reforming (ecclesia simper reformanda)(van Gelder 2007). Therefore, there is a need to rediscover the essence of Jesus‟ intention for the Church; that is God‟s redeemed people, and their view of God‟s Kingdom with its various implications for an African Missiology. There is a need for Missional Churches in Africa, for dialogue, and for unity in action. In this dissertation, I will endeavour to present architecture for a Missional Ecclesiology in dialogue with Bosch; focusing on the emerging renaissance of African Missiology, and the current Pneumatological importance/ emphasis in many African Churches (otherwise known as African independent Churches- AIC). I have used the word architecture to mean overall framework emphasizing relationships between components, orientation and support as well as the innovative response to functional necessity. The focus/ niche of this dissertation will be faith communities in Botswana, because that is my current context of ministry, and there is an obvious research gap in this area of study as nothing has been researched and published in terms of an emerging Missional Ecclesiology amongst faith communities in Botswana. I will seek to collect, analyze and interpret current as well as historical data regarding Church (mission), population and emerging areas of concern for faith communities in Botswana, and, by implication, Southern Africa. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

In this thesis I compare the views of Joseph de Maistre and Fyodor Dostoyevsky with regard to the relation between modernity and the theologico-political problem. I integrate this comparison within the general context of the reflection concerning modernity and the theologico-political problem, as well as within the context of two Christian theological traditions, Catholic and Orthodox, on the basis of which the two authors develop their religious and political thought. In particular, I analyze the views of the two authors with regard to the origins and the defining traits of modernity. Likewise, I present their opinions concerning the consequences which are inherent in the modern project. Viewing modernity first and foremost as an attempt to build a secular world that would define itself by its opposition to what both authors regard as authentic Christianity, Maistre and Dostoyevsky emphasize the fact that, having theological origins that mark the totality of its becoming, modernity should be understood on the basis of a theologico-political reflection. Associating the modern ambition to build a secular world with the fate of the biblical Tower of Babel, both authors adopt a prophetic posture, announcing the collapse of the modern project as well as the ultimate eschatological resolution of the modern crisis. Yet, the two authors are differentiated by their interpretations of the relation between modernity and the theologico-political problem, identifying differently the theological origins of the modern crisis. In this sense, while according to Maistre modernity originates in the Protestant Reformation, for Dostoyevsky, modernity’s origins must be located in the transformations of Western Christianity that have finally lead to the latter’s separation from Eastern Orthodoxy. These differences of interpretation lead to the articulation of two different responses to the modern crisis, which are rooted in two different Christian theological traditions. Consequently, if in reaction to the modern crisis Maistre affirms the Catholic principle of authority, whose highest expression is the concept of papal infallibility, Dostoyevsky opposes to this crisis the Orthodox principle of brotherhood in Christ. The critique of modernity culminates in the thought of the two authors with an approach of the complex and troubling problem of theodicy, which, Maistre and Dostoyevsky believe, stands at the origin of the modern opposition to Christianity and its traditional institutions.

[pt] Em nosso atual contexto eclesiológico, descobrimos situações que ofendem a Tradição da Igreja e a eclesiologia de comunhão de Yves M.-J. Congar, cujos legados nos ensinam que a Igreja possui, na Trindade, sua origem, seu modelo, sua inspiração e meta, e que Deus, Único em Três Pessoas, assim o é, devido às relações intratrinitárias entre as Mesmas, garantidas pelo Espírito de Deus. Partindo do pressuposto relacional trinitário, buscamos elaborar, em Congar e outros autores de nossa atualidade, uma fundamentação teológica que privilegie a autonomia relacionada das Pessoas trinitárias como paradigma eclesiológico, para articular as relações de anseio de comunhão na Igreja. Esta, é Mistério radicado na Trindade e visibilizado ao mundo em suas diversas estruturas, às quais, pelo batismo, incorporam-se os membros ontologicamente iguais e ministerialmente diferentes, chamados todos à comunhão, celebrada, louvada e alimentada pela eucaristia, e que, no serviço ao mundo, encontra sua missão e consagração, a exemplo mesmo de Cristo. A Igreja, enviada como sinal de salvação à humanidade, é feita de humanos e, portanto, chamada à conversão. A comunhão é, portanto, na Igreja, o vinho novo, curtido e fermentado nos odres que buscamos ajudar a renovar, na dinâmica e potência do Espírito de Deus. / [en] On our actual ecclesiological context, we descover situations which hurts the Church Tradiction, and, also Y. M.-J. Congar s conception of the Ecclesiology of Communion, which inheritance teach us that the Trinity is the original model, inspiration and finality of the Church; and that God, Unique in Three Persons is so, because, of the intratrinitarian relations between themselves, guaranteed by the Spirit of God. Departing from the trinitarian relational presuposition, we have tried to elaborate, reflecting on Congar s theology and on other authors too, a theological foundation which privileges a relational autonomy of the Trinitarian Persons as an ecclesiological paradign in order to articulate the desire of communional relations in the Church. The Church is a Mystery embeded in the Trinity and made visible to the world through its diverse structures, to which, by the Baptism, are incorporated members ontologically equals and ministerially different, both called to communion between themselves and God. Communion is celebrated, praised and nourished by the Eucharist and must be a service to the world, field of Church s mission and consecration, following Christ s example. The Church sent to the world as a sign of human salvation is composed by human beings, who are called to conversion. So, communion is in the Church, a new wine, fermented and tanned in wine-skins which we have tried to renew under the potency and dynamic of the Spirit of God.

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Ecclesiology of Antonín Salajka (1901-1975) The following work presents an ecclesiological analysis of the publication by prof. Antonín Salajka (1901-1975). In the first part, it submits the biography of the author. This author was the first czech catholic priest laureated in Pontifical Institute of Oriental Studies in Rome (in 1930). In the second part, it closely inteprets the very ecclesiology of the author itself. Salajka - theologist is introduced from several perspectives as well. First we supplied a suggestion for periodization of his scientific work. There we proposed two periods in congruence with a paradigm change of ecclesiastic-social circumstances, including changes of theological studies, which evidently affected our author's life and scientific work. The two proposed periods are: (1) 1930-1950, i.e. scientifically paramount and fundamental; (2) 1950-1975. Further, we introduced areas which fell under Salajka's interest: unionism, eastern christian churches and the problem of christian unification, eastern dogmatic theology, Church Slavonic, the study of christian East, dogmatic theology, so called theologia comparata, but also ecumenism, theological realisation, method in theology, fundamental theology, moral theology, last but not least pedagogical activity. The main subject in his...

Church in the life and thought of Oto Mádr. The thesis portrays the impicit ecclesiology of the Czech theologian and priest Oto Mádr. It highlights Mádr's key attitudes in the context od his life. It traces his main and enduring ecclesiological contributions and shows where his thought could be further developed. The method of research is bi-polar paradox applied on the signs of the Church. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The aim of this essay is to examine the eucharist in three denominations of Christianity, namely Svenska kyrkan, Pingst and Jehovah’s witnesses. These groups are examined individually, followed by a comparison of the different views of the eucharist. The information the examination is based on are different official documents provided by the named denominations’ theologians and elders for both members of the church as well as the public. The comparison is followed by a discussion about the relationship between the denominations’ view on eucharist and their ecclesiology, i.e. their view of the church.    The results show that the differences between them are much due to the sources they use to support their claims as well as their individual history. The similarities are found to be due to a general desire to unite all members of the congregation and to let everyone take part in a collective connection with Christ regardless of whether or not the partakers roles in the church. The discussion about the relationship between the three denominations’ relationships between eucharist and ecclesiology show that the eucharist is a somewhat good representation of the general denominations’ views. This conclusion aligns with the view of Scott W. Bullard’s research about the relationship between the eucharist and the church, where the result is that the eucharist is a foundation of the church’s construction and organization.

This study concluded that the Three Forms of Unity does not give the same meaning to the word “church” all the way through, since the word is used to describe both the visible and invisible sides of the church. When these different uses of the word “church” are left out of consideration in discussions concerning the church and only one of the two sides of the church is emphasised, it leads to the large degree of confusion and indistiction which these days is experienced in ecclesiastical debates. Before there can be any meaningful progress in these discussions, it is therefore necessary to establish which view of the Bible as well as concept of the church, is being taken as starting point of the discussion. Reformed academics have already done many studies concerning the Biblical usage of the word “church”. This study has taken the research a step further and shown that the use of the word “church” in the Three Forms of Unity agrees with the Biblical usage of the word. The Bible and the Three Forms of Unity mean, with the word “church”, both sides of the church of Christ. This church is on the one side invisible, seeing that is spans time and place and in doing so is the sum total of all the elect. On the other side, this church is made visible in a defined place and time and bears the stamp of its own time and culture in which it took its shape. Confusion arises when it is assumed that whatever the Bible and confessions state as indicative of the invisible church is necessarily indicative of the church`s visible side also. This is particularly valid, for example, in the doctrine concerning the attributes and characteristics of the church. This study has brought the old truths about the church from the Bible and confessions freshly to the fore in a time when very little attention is being paid to them. Yet it is precisely these truths concerning the concept of the church that can bring progress in ecclesiastical discussion. It was further demonstrated that the concept of the church held by the Afrikaans Protestant Churches stands on solid Biblical and confessional grounds. / Dissertation (MA (Research in Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / MA / unrestricted

Charles University in Prague, Catholic Theological Faculty Thesis, Prague 2013 ABSTRACT Ecclesiology of Tomáš Bavorovský († 1562) Jaroslav Havrlant Catholic preacher Tomáš Bavorovský (Thomas of Bavorov) is still a quite unknown personality of Bohemian renaissance. He is the representative of the Church loyal to the Pope in Rome shortly before the end of the Trident council and the arrival of Jesuits to Prague. The result of my study aimed at his ecclesiological approach is my thesis, which contains five chapters. The first three chapters are concerned with common historical facts of his time as well as with life and work of the preacher. The others focus on his interpretation of the Church and the Kingdom of God. The first chapter describes specific situation of Bohemian reformation, which was different from the neighboring countries because of its Hussite tradition and Utraquistic Church. Tomáš Bavorovský worked mostly in Catholic south and west Bohemian towns (Bavorov, Český Krumlov, Jindřichův Hradec, Plzeň). Therefore I describe in short also their religious history in this chapter. The part concerning the personality of the preacher starts with describing him as a writer. In chronological sequences it presents the writers who have written about him. Even though Tomáš Bavorovský was quite famous author...