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Text in English / This dissertation has examined the University Christian Movement (UCM) over its turbulent five year history from 1967 to 1972 in terms of the original hopes of the sponsoring ecumenical denominations. Contextual factors within the socio-political arena of South Africa as well as broader youth cultural influences are shown to have had a decisive influence. These factors help to explain the negative reaction from the founding churches. While this is not a thesis on Black Consciousness, nevertheless the contribution of the UCM to the rise of Black Consciousness and Black Theology is evaluated. UCM is shown to be a movement well ahead of its time as a forerunner in South Africa of Black Theology, contextual theology, feminism, modem liturgical styles, and intercommunion. As such it was held in suspicion. It suffered repressive action from the government and alienation from the churches. Constant cross referencing to other organisations such as the World Student Christian Federation, the National Union of South African Students, the South African Council of Churches, the Christian Institute, and the Sllldents Christian Association, helps to locate the UCM within the flow of contemporary history. The concluding evaluation differs markedly from the report of the Schlebusch Commission by making both critical and positive judgement from the perspective of the UCM as an ecumenical mission to students. / Christain Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

This thesis deals with Czechoslovak penal system between the years 1948 - 1989 from the view of religion. It investigates the developement of spiritual service in prison, follows its decline after February 1948 and describes in which way the prisoners tried to find a solution to the prohibiton to practice religion in prisons. Further it focuses on religious persecution in communist Czechoslovakia, presents reasons for imprisonment of the members of individual confessions and shows how their faith reflected in everyday life in prison. The author makes a reference to the concentration of priests in closed departements, explains its reason and tries to depict everyday life of these separated communities. He describes in details how the convicted practiced the acts of their religion and he deals with the differences of individual confessions. The work speculates over the sense of imprisonment of hundreds of priests, friars and laymen from some of the Churches in communist Czechoslovakia. It thinks about the power of faith and conviction exposed to cruel physical treatment and mental violence. It also deals with the question of colaboration, relations between members of different confession and between the convicted and warders. In the end it depicts how the people with religious belief, who were...

The contemporary debate concerning the Christian theology of religions has been profoundly shaped by Alan Race’s three-fold typology of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. Although the insufficiency of this typology’s descriptive and critical capacity has become increasingly acknowledged within the field, widespread agreement about its replacement remains elusive. This thesis argues that a replacement can be found in Hans Frei’s five-fold typology of Christian theology, which differentiates between a range of approaches to theology, from theology as philosophical discourse (Type 1) to theology as quarantined, Christian self-description (Type 5). It is suggested that the more basic question posed by Frei’s typology of how Christian theology is understood in relation to philosophy and other external discourses, provides a better means of accounting for the different positions in the Christian theology of religions within 20th century ecumenical movements. It is shown how Frei’s typology emerges from his emphasis on both the limitations and the significance of external discourses for Christian theology, an emphasis which results from his construal of the mystery of Christ’s universal presence as a function of the particular incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. Chapter one considers the philosophical foundations upon which Race’s typology is constructed, with particular emphasis on Troeltsch’s historicism, Hick’s epistemology of religious experience and WC Smith’s phenomenological hermeneutic, concluding that they determine the typology’s apologetic approach. It is shown how these commitments lead Race’s typology to differentiate between types of Christian theology primarily in relation to the philosophical viability, as Race understands it, of their Christology. Chapter two focuses first on the theology of Hans Frei and his analysis of the relationship between Christology and historicism, epistemology, and hermeneutics. It is suggested that Frei’s focus on the ordering of the relationship between Christian theology and external discourses, while undermining Race’s approach, affirms the possibility of a theologically valuable relationship between Christian theology and external discourses. Moreover, unlike Race, Frei’s emphasis on the significance of external discourses for Christian theology is derived in light of, and not in spite of, a faith in the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Chapter three looks at Frei’s fivefold typology as a better means of accounting for the differences Race posits between exclusivists, inclusivists and pluralists. It is argued that in following Frei’s typological logic and the historical, epistemological and hermeneutical considerations characteristic of a Christian theology between types three and four, an approach to the theology of religions emerges which addresses the question of the universality of divine revelation – the central concern of Race’s typology – while also showing the inadequacy of Race’s typology and its prioritisation of philosophy. This will be shown by applying Frei’s typology to 20th century ecumenical movements and the positions on the theological significance of non-Christian religions that have emerged therein. Though Frei did not directly take up the issue of the Christian theology of religions, chapter three will demonstrate how his typology of Christian theology is of particular importance for this discussion. For his typology highlights the central question driving the theology of religions – how the ‘internal’ discourse of Christian self-description in reference to the gospels’ history-like witness to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ relates to the historically contingent, public world outside the church. The conclusion will point toward a constructive proposal for a theology of evangelism and interfaith dialogue in pluralist societies of the 21st century, drawing on the ecumenical discussion viewed in relation to the theological and typological insights of Hans Frei.

This study explores the struggle of the Catholic Church to be true to itself and its mission in the midst of other religions, in the context of the non-Catholic American culture, and in relation to the modern world and its discontents. As milestones of the global interfaith movement, American religious freedom and pluralism, and of the relation of religion to modernity, the Chicago Parliaments of Religions offer a unique window through which to view this Catholic struggle at work in the religious public square created by the Parliaments and the evolution of that struggle over the course of the century framed by the two Chicago events. In relation to other religions, the Catholic Church stretched itself from an exclusivist position of being the only true and good religion to an inclusivist position of recognizing that truth and good can be present in other religions. Uniquely, Catholic involvement in the centennial Parliament made the Church stretch itself even further, beyond the exclusivist-inclusivist spectrum into a pluralist framework in which the Church acted humbly as one religion among many. In relation to American culture, the Catholic Church stretched itself from a Eurocentric and monarchic worldview with claims of Catholic supremacy to the American alternative of democracy, religious freedom, and the separation of church and state. In relation to modernity, the Church stretched itself from viewing the modern world as an enemy to be fought and conquered to befriending modernity and designing some specific accommodations to it. In these three relationships, there was indeed a shift, but not at all a clean break. Instead a stretch occurred, acknowledging a lived intra-Catholic tension between religious exclusivism and inclusivism, between a universal Catholic identity and Catholic inculturation in America (and in other cultures), and between the immutability of Catholic eternal truths and their translatability into the new languages offered by the modern world. In all this the Second Vatican Council was the major catalyst. For all three cases the Chicago Parliaments of Religions serve as environments conducive to the raising of important questions about Catholic identity, the Catholic understanding of non-Catholics, and Catholic interfaith relations.

This study explores the struggle of the Catholic Church to be true to itself and its mission in the midst of other religions, in the context of the non-Catholic American culture, and in relation to the modern world and its discontents. As milestones of the global interfaith movement, American religious freedom and pluralism, and of the relation of religion to modernity, the Chicago Parliaments of Religions offer a unique window through which to view this Catholic struggle at work in the religious public square created by the Parliaments and the evolution of that struggle over the course of the century framed by the two Chicago events. In relation to other religions, the Catholic Church stretched itself from an exclusivist position of being the only true and good religion to an inclusivist position of recognizing that truth and good can be present in other religions. Uniquely, Catholic involvement in the centennial Parliament made the Church stretch itself even further, beyond the exclusivist-inclusivist spectrum into a pluralist framework in which the Church acted humbly as one religion among many. In relation to American culture, the Catholic Church stretched itself from a Eurocentric and monarchic worldview with claims of Catholic supremacy to the American alternative of democracy, religious freedom, and the separation of church and state. In relation to modernity, the Church stretched itself from viewing the modern world as an enemy to be fought and conquered to befriending modernity and designing some specific accommodations to it. In these three relationships, there was indeed a shift, but not at all a clean break. Instead a stretch occurred, acknowledging a lived intra-Catholic tension between religious exclusivism and inclusivism, between a universal Catholic identity and Catholic inculturation in America (and in other cultures), and between the immutability of Catholic eternal truths and their translatability into the new languages offered by the modern world. In all this the Second Vatican Council was the major catalyst. For all three cases the Chicago Parliaments of Religions serve as environments conducive to the raising of important questions about Catholic identity, the Catholic understanding of non-Catholics, and Catholic interfaith relations.

[pt] Os conceitos de trindade e ternariedade são fundamentais para refletir sobre o diálogo inter-religioso. A expressão relacional da trindade surge no terceiro artigo do Credo Niceno (381 d.C.). Apesar disso, o Espírito Santo ficou invisibilizado na teologia por séculos, por causa da base binitária na lógica do pensamento ocidental. Isso gerou falsa polarização entre fé e ciência, e monoteísmo e pluralismo. Ao ser revelada a ternariedade, pela filosofia de Peirce (séc. XIX) e a física quântica de Planck (séc. XX), tornou-se categoria da transdisciplinaridade. A teologia seguiu laborando pelo paradigma aristotélico – binitário, misógino e com a potência na coisa visível – e produzindo discursos monológicos eruditos, autodefensivos e solitários, numa contramarcha que provocou atrasos na reflexão teológico-filosófica do mundo ocidental, com impacto nas relações ecumênicas e inter-religiosas. O novo paradigma teológico interpela teólogos/as sobre sua responsabilidade diante da comunidade, por tocar na ética da vida e implicar na salvação. Sua incidência na América Latina é relevante pelo histórico de confronto, dominação militar, submissão cultural e imposição religiosa desta. Sob a influência das teologias da libertação, feminista, negra e indígena, as eclesialidades são chamadas a rever sua relação com a pós-modernidade, base mínima para entrar no diálogo interreligioso. E reelaborar novas bases epistemológicas para pensar o transreligioso, sem sucumbir à tentação monoteísta de constranger a realidade para ceder ao seu propósito. / [en] The concepts of trinity and ternarity are fundamental to think about the inter-religious dialogue. The relational expression of the trinity appears in the Nicene Creed s third article (381 A.D.). In spite of that, the Holy Spirit remained in theology for centuries, because of the binitary base in the western thought s logic. This fact generated a false polarization between faith and science, and monoteism and pluralism. When the ternarity was revealed for the Peirce s philosophy (19th century) and the Planck s quantum physics (20th century), it became the category of the transdisciplinarity. Theology continued working by the Aristotelian paradigm - binitary, misogynistic and with the potency in the visible thing - and producing erudite monological speeches, self defensives and solitarians, in a counter-attack that provoked arrears in the theological-philosophical reflection of the western world, with impact in the ecumenical and interreligious relationships. The new theological paradigm questions theologians about their responsibility in front of the community, because they touch life ethics and imply salvation. Its incidence in Latin America is important because the historic confrontation, military dominance, cultural submission and religious imposition of her. Under the influence of the liberation, feminist, black and indigenous theologies, the eclesialities are called to review its relationship with the postmodernity, minimum base to enter in the inter-religious dialogue. And reconstruct new epistemological bases to think the trans-religious, without succumbing to the monoteist temptation of constraining the reality to according with our purpose. / [es] Los conceptos de trinidad y ternariedad son fundamentales para pensar en el diálogo interreligioso. La expresión relacional de la trinidad aparece en el tercer artículo del Credo Niceno (381 a.C.). A pesar de eso, el espíritu santo permaneció invisible en la teología durante siglos, debido a la base binitaria de la lógica del pensamiento occidental. Este hecho generó una polarización falsa entre la fe y ciencia, y monoteísmo y pluralismo. Cuando la ternariedad se reveló en la filosofía de Peirce (siglo XIX) y en la física quántica de Planck (siglo XX), se volvió una categoría de la transdisciplinaridad. La teología continuó trabajando por el paradigma Aristotélico - binitario, misógino y con la potencia en la cosa visible - y produjo discursos monológicos, autodefensivos y solitarios, en una contramarcha que provocó atrasos en la reflexión teológico-filosófica del mundo occidental, con el impacto en las relaciones ecuménicas e interreligiosas. El nuevo paradigma teológico cuestiona a los teólogos sobre su responsabilidad delante de la comunidad, porque a ellos toca la ética de vida e implica la salvación. Su incidencia en Latinoamérica es importante por la confrontación histórica, dominación militar, sumisión cultural e imposición religiosa de ella. Bajo la influencia de las teologías de la liberación, feminista, negra e indígena, las eclesialidades son llamadas para repasar su relación con la pósmodernidad, base mínima para entrar en el diálogo interreligioso, y reconstruir la nueva base epistemológica para pensar lo transreligioso, sin sucumbir a la tentación monoteísta de constreñir la realidad a ceder a nuestro propósito.

Text in English / This dissertation has examined the University Christian Movement (UCM) over its turbulent five year history from 1967 to 1972 in terms of the original hopes of the sponsoring ecumenical denominations. Contextual factors within the socio-political arena of South Africa as well as broader youth cultural influences are shown to have had a decisive influence. These factors help to explain the negative reaction from the founding churches. While this is not a thesis on Black Consciousness, nevertheless the contribution of the UCM to the rise of Black Consciousness and Black Theology is evaluated. UCM is shown to be a movement well ahead of its time as a forerunner in South Africa of Black Theology, contextual theology, feminism, modem liturgical styles, and intercommunion. As such it was held in suspicion. It suffered repressive action from the government and alienation from the churches. Constant cross referencing to other organisations such as the World Student Christian Federation, the National Union of South African Students, the South African Council of Churches, the Christian Institute, and the Sllldents Christian Association, helps to locate the UCM within the flow of contemporary history. The concluding evaluation differs markedly from the report of the Schlebusch Commission by making both critical and positive judgement from the perspective of the UCM as an ecumenical mission to students. / Christain Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

Notre thèse est consacrée à l’herméneutique œcuménique du philosophe Paul Ricœur. L’intérêt de Paul Ricœur pour la théologie œcuménique se situe dans le domaine de la réception. L’originalité de la réception œcuménique consiste dans la reconnaissance de l’altérité des autres croyants ou des autres communautés chrétiennes. Ce processus de la réception de l’altérité va au delà de la ratification d’un texte. Pour éclaircir ce processus, nous avons besoin d’un modèle qui, dans un sens œcuménique, explique le rapport entre la reconnaissance interpersonnelle de l’altérité, la réception de textes et le changement d’identité collective. Nous déduisons une telle théorie de la réception amplifiée et nourrie de la philosophie de Paul Ricœur et nous comparons le modèle de Ricœur avec des processus œcuméniques concrets. Nous présentons trois situations du dialogue œcuménique en France et nous sommes en mesure de constater de larges convergences de ces exemples avec l’herméneutique de Ricœur. Au chapitre 6, nous donnons un résumé substantiel de notre thèse en français. / Our dissertation deals with the ecumenical hermeneutics of the French philosopher Paul Ricœur. The interest of his theory for the ecumenical theology lies in the field of the ecumenical reception. What makes the ecumenical reception so specific is the fact, that it requires the acceptation of the otherness – the alterity – of the ecumenical partner. Obviously, this process goes far beyond the ratification of ecumenical documents. In order to clarify the process of reception, we need a hermeneutical model explaining the interrelation of the interpersonal recognition of the otherness, the reception of texts and the change of collective identities. We deduce a complex model of the reception process from the theory of Paul Ricœur and we compare the model of Ricœur with three concrete ecumenical processes in France. As we see, there is a high degree of accordance between these examples and Ricœurs hermeneutics. In chapter 6, we give a summary in French. / Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der ökumenischen Hermeneutik des französischen Philosophen Paul Ricœur. Ricœur, dessen ökumenisches Engagement hierzulande weitgehend unbekannt ist, wird in Kapitel 1 als ökumenischer Akteur und Mitinitiator einer ungewöhnlichen ökumenischen Aktion vorgestellt. Anschließend wird in Kapitel 2 ein Überblick zum Stand der Forschung in der Rezeptionsfrage gegeben, der aufzeigt, an welchen Stellen die Hermeneutik Ricœurs bestehenden Theorien etwas hinzufügen könnte. Als Spezifikum der ökumenischen Rezeption gilt die Herausforderung, die Alterität anderskonfessioneller Glaubender oder Gemeinschaften zu rezipieren. Was das im Einzelnen bedeutet, kann nicht durch eine Rezeptionsforschung geklärt werden, die sich nur auf die Ratifikation von ökumenischen Dokumenten konzentriert. In Kapitel 3 wird Ricœurs ökumenische Hermeneutik aus der Fülle seines philosophischen Werks rekonstruiert, wobei neben einigen Beiträgen, in denen Ricœur sich explizit mit dem ökumenischen Dialog auseinandersetzt, seine Schriften zu den Themen Texttheorie, narrative Identität, Übersetzung, Versöhnung, Offenbarung und Anerkennung herangezogen werden. Das sich daraus ergebende Modell der „interkonfessionellen Gastfreundschaft“ stellt die interpersonelle Anerkennung als das entscheidende Moment der ökumenischen Rezeption vor und setzt neue Akzente bezüglich des Rezeptionsverlaufs, des möglichen Identitätswandels von Glaubensgemeinschaften und des Gebrauchs ökumenischer Dokumente. Kapitel 4 geht der Frage nach, ob sich Ricœurs Modell in konkreten Rezeptionssituationen plausibilisieren lässt. Drei Beispiele aus Frankreich (Rezeption der Leuenberger Konkordie, Groupe des Dombes, Communauté de Taizé) werden untersucht, wobei eine weitgehende Übereinstimmung sichtbar wird. In Kapitel 5 werden die Ergebnisse zusammengefasst und es werden Anregungen für eine Ökumenekultur im Anschluss an Ricœurs Hermeneutik gegeben. Kapitel 6 enthält ein ausführliches Resümee der Arbeit auf Französisch. Kapitel 8 liefert den für diese Untersuchung wichtigsten Beitrag von Ricœur zur ökumenischen Hermeneutik erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung.

Association d'origine protestante, la Cimade naît en 1939 pour venir en aide aux Alsaciens-Lorrains repliés dans le sud-ouest de la France. Son action s'oriente vers l'accueil des réfugiés dans les lieux d'enfermement et de relégation. Son histoire permet d'aborder sous un angle particulier les années 1940, les camps d'internement français et la Shoah, la Libération, l'épuration, la reconstruction et les mutations du système pénitentiaire. La Cimade œuvre durant la Guerre d'Algérie auprès des populations algériennes dans les camps de regroupement et en métropole dans les centres d'accueil des familles harkies comme indochinoises et dans les bidonvilles où vivent les travailleurs post-coloniaux. Enfin,le gouvernement fait appel à la Cimade en 1984 pour intervenir dans les centres de rétention administrative auprès des étrangers reconduits à la frontière. Sa présence est exclusive jusqu'en 2007. L'histoire de cette association permet de saisir comment d'une assistance humanitaire, l'action bascule vers une "juridiciarisation" dès les années 1970. La continuité de sa présence livre une lecture originale de la gestion des étrangers en France. Interface entre "le dedans et le dehors", la Cimade est en tension permanente avec l'Etat. Association de terrain, pouvant sembler participer à la cogestion du système de l'enfermement, elle ne renonce pas à son militantisme ancré à gauche et dénonce ce qu'elle considère comme des cas d'injustices. Son action est représentative de l'ambiguïté de l'interventionnisme associatif. Ce travail de thèse met en lumière les repositionnements et la progressive sécularisation d'une association protestante qui traverse une partie du XXème siècle,"siècle des camps". / Originally a Protestant association,the Cimade was created in 1939 to help people from Alsace-Lorraine,who had taken refuge in the south-west of France.Its action was mainly based on welcoming refugees in confinement and banishment places.Its history helps to understand the 1940s,the French internment camps and the Shoah as well as the purge then post-war reconstruction and the penitentiary reform.During the Algerian war,the association worked both in grouping camps in Algeria and in France where the members of the FLN were assigned.During decolonisation,it gave assistance to harkies and Indochinese families in reception centres as well as to post-colonial workers in shanty towns.As soon as 1984,the government urged the Cimade to work with foreigners escorted to the border in administrative confinement centres.Its presence was exclusive until 2007.The history of this association helps to understand how humanitarian assistance became a cause lawering in the early 1970s.Its permanent presence in camps enables us to consider the specific approach to the governments policies concerning foreigners in France.Working as an interface between "the inside and the outside",the Cimade,throughout its history,was in constant tension with govenments.Although being an association in the field,seemingly involved in joint management of the confinement system,the Cimade didn’t give up its left-centered activism, denouncing what they considered as a justice denial. Its action is representative of the ambiguities of the associations interventionism.This research highlights the repositioning and the progressive secularization of the association throughout the 20th century,the century of camps.