In this thesis, the biblical vision of egalitarian multiracial communities is compared to the present practices of Christian congregations in the United States. The thesis establishes that, while multiracial congregations bear the potential for racial reconciliation and equality, this potential may be thwarted by the unintended, counterproductive consequences of racial essentialism and white hegemony. Although I hypothesize that these results reflect the realities of multiracial congregations in general, the focus is on evangelical multiracial churches that are predominantly black and white. The thesis begins by exploring the arguments evangelicals have used to support and oppose racial hierarchy during nineteenth century U.S. slavery and the Civil Rights movement. Next, it traces theological beliefs used to advocate for multiracial congregations today. This is followed by an exploration of the development of multiracial congregations and how they can contribute to racial reconciliation, drawing heavily upon the national study completed by Michael O. Emerson in 2006. Despite the hope offered in the earlier chapters, I go on to present obstacles that blacks encounter in multiracial congregations. Following a description of the black church tradition, the thesis describes Gerardo Marti's research on how blacks can be utilized and essentialized in multiracial congregations in an effort to achieve diversity. Korie Edwards' study on multiracial congregations, which suggests that, under certain circumstances, potential for racial reconciliation and egalitarian relationships can be hindered by white hegemony, is also employed. This is followed by an examination of how the ideology of whiteness contributes to white hegemony and suggests white identity development as a tool to abate this inequality. Thereafter, formative influences on an individual's identity are explored and a case is made for how multiracial congregations can transform a person's racial identity. It is suggested that such a change bears the potential for racial reconciliation. The thesis concludes with implications for practice today and suggestions for future research. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the actualization of a biblical vision within multiracial congregations by critically exploring the interactions between theological ideals and sociological realities.

This study considers the theology and practice of friendship in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s academic writing, his pastoral work and thought, his involvement in the Abwehr plot, and his prison letters, taking special interest in the influence of Eberhard Bethge on Bonhoeffer and the influence of Bonhoeffer on Bethge. Friendship, as a locus of interpretation, also provides a fresh perspective on other aspects of Bonhoeffer’s thought, including ecclesiology, divine and human agency, eschatology, vicarious representation, concrete ethics and the divine command, politics, freedom, and obedience. Part I of the dissertation investigates Bonhoeffer’s theology before Bethge. In Sanctorum Communio, Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation and first book, friendship is described as a community that is oriented to God’s creation and eschatological future, and the friend can participate in Christ’s redeeming work through ecclesial practices of Stellvertretung. Bonhoeffer’s failed friendship with Helmut Rößler, and his remarks about friendship within the context of his ministry in London and about the relation between ethics and the concrete command, offer insight into his theology of friendship as a political and ecclesiastical phenomenon in the context of the Third Reich. Part II of the dissertation looks at the theological influence Bonhoeffer and Bethge had on one another. At Finkenwalde, we begin to see this mutual influence begin to take shape, where freedom and obedience become part of the foundation of Bonhoeffer’s later concept of the Spielraum, and where we begin to see Stellvertretung, as a practice, take place between them. In the prison correspondence and through the influence of Bethge, Bonhoeffer develops the idea of the “realm of freedom” (der Spielraum der Freiheit), an expansion of Bonhoeffer’s theology of the mandates, where freedom and friendship become part of his understanding of social and political life. Integrating these theological and biographical resources, the study makes the constructive argument that a friend can be a theological Stellvertreter, taking into special account the particularity of the friend and mutuality that is characteristic of friendship. Through this participation in Christ’s redeeming work, its ecclesial location, and its political significance, a friendship can be for others.

The thesis addresses controversies within Anglicanism over overlapping identities and whose differences are included or excluded as Anglicans. Overlapping identities have been perceived as challenges to ecclesial identity coherence, but the thesis asks if these might alternatively be viewed as an unrecognized manifestation of postcolonial hybrid ecclesiologies. The thesis engages Stephen Sykes' search for a systematic, ontological question as to the way the Anglican Communion is a "part" of the universal church of Christ. The thesis demonstrates the shift of whole-parts from an ontological foundation in medieval ecclesiology to a manipulation of power in contemporary ecclesiologies to exclude offensive parts and maintain coherence in identity.

Thesis advisor: Hosffman Ospino / Roughly one-third of U.S. Catholic parishes serve parishioners of multiple cultural, ethnic, and/or linguistic groups. In these “shared parishes,” the possibility and meaning of community across boundaries is an urgent question. This dissertation examines the role of ritual in the formation of community in diverse parishes. Critiquing prevailing ecclesiological models of unity in diversity that inadequately address structural sins of racism and xenophobia, I argue for an understanding of communion as a task of the local Church, embodied ritually in solidaristic practice. Then, establishing a conversation among ritual studies and U.S. Latinx discourses of border identity, I propose an understanding of the shared parish as a kind of borderland – as a place where a subjunctive communal identity can be negotiated ritually through embodied engagement. Methodologically, the dissertation is grounded in an ethnographic study conducted over five years at St. Mary of the Angels, a small, diverse parish in Boston, MA. Weaving together historical and archival data from parish, neighborhood, and archdiocese; participant-observation of bilingual Holy Week liturgies; and Spanish- and English-language interviews, the case study foregrounds the dissertation's theoretical work by analyzing how parishioners constructed rituals that facilitated the crossing of cultural, racial, and linguistic boundaries. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

This project develops a feminist Christology by affirming the female body as a hermeneutical lens for Christological reflection. Utilizing the work of feminist theorists Luce Irigaray and Bracha Ettinger, I develop what I term a “matrixial Christology.” In response to feminist contentions regarding the androcentric nature of Christian soteriology, I argue that by interpreting the incarnation of the Word through the lens of the matrixial—the inherently feminine physical and psychic space of the womb—an inclusive and generative landscape for theological reflection emerges. Understanding the union of divine and human natures through the matrixial holds potential to reimagine other key doctrines, including the Trinity, ecclesiology, and eschatology. This dissertation revisits documents from the Councils of Nicaea (325 A.D.), Ephesus (431 A.D.), and Chalcedon (451 A.D.), as well as theologians of antiquity such as Irenaeus, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexander, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Maximus the Confessor, among others, to provide feminist critique and excavate these works for their liberative potential. Feminist scholarship also contributes to this critical constructive work, including authors such as Elizabeth Johnson, Tina Beattie, Mary Daly, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Ada María Isasi-Díaz. I argue that recovering Mary’s role in the incarnation allows for a reinterpretation of key doctrines in the Christian tradition and lays the groundwork for a feminine divine horizon in which women are able to more fully locate themselves in Christian soteriological discourse. Women’s theoretical and theological scholarship is placed in dialogue with ancient texts in order to consider the liberative potential of Christological discourse and to develop a robustly feminine symbolic for divine imagination utilizing Mariology as a primary foundation. The project begins by considering the implications of Mary and Christ’s matrixial maternal-prenatal relation for divine-human relations, then continues by exploring how Mary’s matrixial relation with Christ affects our understanding of his life and crucifixion. The project culminates in an examination of how Mary represents the possibility of resurrection for women traditionally excluded or demonized in the church. By reimagining Mary’s role in the Christian story, new avenues for female liberation and flourishing in the ekklesia might be realized. / 2023-11-30T00:00:00Z

This thesis is the result of a concern over ‘being church’ in a multicultural setting, in accordance with the aphorism ‘Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex (con)vivendi’ (cf. Smit 2004). The urban setting of the City of Centurion, in Gauteng Province, The Republic of South Africa, displays a diversity of cultures, languages and individuals in relation with one another. South Africans, as a nation, are still learning to live together (lex (con)vivendi), in unity and inclusivity, some two decades after the birth of democracy in a post-Apartheid context. This context cannot be overlooked, neither can the multicultural context of urban South Africa. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is: how does the form and content of prayer impact the ways in which people connect with God and other people? In the first chapter, the research problem was stated. The second chapter described theory relevant to the research project as well as the research methodology. In the third chapter, the qualitative research data was described. Chapter four involved drawing on theories from various arts and sciences to interpret the empirical data. The fifth chapter considered theological concepts that would aid in developing ethical norms and learning from ‘good practice’. The sixth, and final chapter, formed a pragmatic response by means of suggesting a new theory for praxis. The suggested theory for praxis involves the liturgical inculturation process of continual critical-reciprocal interactions between liturgy and culture, with the inclusion of focussing on the concepts of unity and inclusivity. This should then aid the worshippers’ unity and inclusivity in ‘being church’, in living together — with one another (lex (con)vivendi) in a multicultural setting. Key terms: Liturgy; Liturgical inculturation; Culture; Prayer; Ritual; Ritualisation; Inclusivity; Unity; Practical Theology; Ecclesiology. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Practical Theology / PhD / Unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the 00front of this document. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

Magister Theologiae - MTh / Long-standing ecumenical debates on the relationship between “Faith and Order” (what the church is) and “Life and Work” (what the church does) exist. Although these dimensions are inseparable, the emphasis is often placed on either the one or the other, such as either on Christian identity or on social responsibility. Similar tensions may be found in ecumenical discourse on “spirituality and society”, between “ecumenical vision” and “social transformation”, “Christianity and culture”, or “faith and science”.

The great recession of the late 2000’s amplified a decline in mainline Protestant church revenue impacting ministry roles, programming, and missional capability. Trends towards socially conscious corporate business and historical monastic for-profit business in Western Europe serve as practical and theological entry points for how mainline Protestant churches might experiment with alternative revenue sources to withstand market swings and declining giving. The thesis argues that establishing ecclesial for-profit businesses, such as a BBQ restaurant in partnership with the First Baptist Church of Raleigh, North Carolina, is one solution to the emerging problem of declining church revenue.

Thesis advisor: Nancy Pineda-Madrid / This dissertation in the area of systematic theology examines wounds in the church, specifically two examples of systematic injustice that prevent the church from living into its mission to proclaim the Gospel and make present the reign of God on earth. I argue that the church is wounded, as most clearly evidenced by the wounds of racism and sexism. Ecclesiology must take seriously the reality of wounds in order to be church in credible and authentic ways. In order to deepen this examination, I utilize contemporary trauma theory as a tool to clarify the nature and dynamic of wounds. The overarching theme of trauma theory is woundedness, for the term “trauma” derives from the Greek term for wound. An originating trauma or wound continues to become known to the victim in the present and future, unable to be relegated to the past. As a result, it is essential for the church to attend to the site of the wound in order to uncover the truth contained in the wound rather than ignoring it. The church cannot fully be church if it neglects its own painful and uncomfortable wounds. Rather, in order for the church to embody its mission, it must attend to these insistent, important, and neglected wounds. The capacious ecclesiological work of Karl Rahner, when placed in dialogue with trauma studies, reorients ecclesial self-understanding. Rahner’s understanding of church as symbol and sacrament affirms paradoxical realities of the church, such as the church as sinful and holy. Rahner’s emphasis on the church as mystery has the capacity to hold the challenges articulated by trauma theory, for there is always more to the church than currently expressed. Rahner’s ecclesiology emphasizes the importance of the concrete as well as the transcendent, attending to the realities of wounds in the church while being attentive to the ongoing self-gift of God. Together, the contributions of trauma theory and Rahner’s ecclesiology illuminate ways to identify essential components of an ecclesial vision in the shadow of wounds. An ecclesial vision in the shadow of wounds must include lived experience, center the role of wounds, consider ecclesial authenticity, embrace paradox, and hold space for the revelatory nature of wounds. If ecclesiology fails to attend to the wounds of the church, our understanding and practice of the church will become distorted. The marks of the church as one, holy, catholic and apostolic are threatened when the wounds of the church are denied. By engaging in this ecclesiological method, wounds in the church can undergo a transfiguration to become post-Easter wounds, where their memory still exists but they cease to continue to harm the church. This dissertation argues that Roman Catholic ecclesiology must address its own institutional wounds in order to credibly embody its mission to make the reign of God present in the world, while living into the already-but-not-yet reign of God. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.