By conducting a case study of two diaconal institutions, Samariterhemmet in Uppsala/Sweden and the Evangelisches Diakoniewerk Schwäbisch Hall e.V. in Germany, the thesis compares the roles of church diaconal work within the Swedish and the German welfare system. These two systems are characterised by the different roles given to independent welfare organisations. The overarching research question is if and in which way the two diaconal institutions are effected by current changes within the field of welfare and how these changes challenge them to redefine their roles. The material analysed contains written documents, interviews with selected representatives and the results of participant observation in both institutions. As changes in the roles of independent welfare organisations were expected the results are unexpected. The two diaconal institutions show considerable persistence. Neither the orientation of their fields of work nor their own definitions of their roles within the welfare system have changed during the 1990s. In addition, the study reveals that both institutions regard themselves as a critical voice within the welfare system although their welfare engagement differs considerably. The German institution is a huge welfare provider while the Swedish institution conducts targeted initiatives. The analysis of four decisions within hospital work reveals that security of planning and freedom of action motivate the institutions to undertake responsibility for social services. The study points especially to the fields of education and research helping the institutions to maintain and to develop the diaconal profile. Altogether the results underline the need for more research on the meso-level of the third sector. This would contribute to a more nuanced discussion on the future role of independent welfare organisations within the Swedish and the German welfare system.

The thesis named "People with no religious affiliation as workers of diaconia - Current situation in Catholic and Protestant traditions" deals with stances of chosen Churches and diaconal organizations towards the employment of workers who are not members of any Church or not religiously defined. At the beginning the thesis deals with a definition of basic terms and their Biblical origins, then the thesis shortly describes important milestones in history of diaconia with closer look at the implementers. The main part of the thesis presents specific attitudes of the Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren and their diaconial organizations to cooperating with non denominational people and their employment. This part also presents these attitudes in the light of documents of Second Vatican Council. A chapter about spirituality and religiosity of the present time brings up a topic of the current situation in the field of employment of non denominational people in chosen church organization and fields which may appear problematic. Finally, the thesis concludes with opinions of current Czech and world theologians about what employment of non denominational people in Church organization might mean and where it might lead. There are also highlighted areas of discussion, especially these...

<p>The family is the first and oldest provider of social welfare in the West African country of Ghana. However, colonisation and urbanisation has changed that role and today additional providers of social welfare can be found; the government, religious organisations (churches etc), non-religious organisations and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).</p><p>This study will confirm the claim that the church takes on a role as a surrogate family and that it steps in where the government is not present, doing social work which is intended for the government. The study will also investigate what kind of social work the churches carry out (including what they put their focus on, which is dependent on their finance and location) and how these different projects are financed.</p><p>The study was conducted during a six week period in Accra, capital of Ghana. Representatives from three Christian congregations (Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Kaneshie, Global Evangelical Church in Kotobabi and International Central Gospel Church in Teshie) were interviewed, as was Dr. Ayidiya at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, in order to get background information on the present social welfare system in Ghana.</p>

The family is the first and oldest provider of social welfare in the West African country of Ghana. However, colonisation and urbanisation has changed that role and today additional providers of social welfare can be found; the government, religious organisations (churches etc), non-religious organisations and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). This study will confirm the claim that the church takes on a role as a surrogate family and that it steps in where the government is not present, doing social work which is intended for the government. The study will also investigate what kind of social work the churches carry out (including what they put their focus on, which is dependent on their finance and location) and how these different projects are financed. The study was conducted during a six week period in Accra, capital of Ghana. Representatives from three Christian congregations (Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Kaneshie, Global Evangelical Church in Kotobabi and International Central Gospel Church in Teshie) were interviewed, as was Dr. Ayidiya at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, in order to get background information on the present social welfare system in Ghana.

Since independence, Burundi has lost over a million of its inhabitants to ethnic conflict. Political collaboration is divided along ethnic lines and this has destroyed the ethnic solidarity and good social relationships that characterized the pre-colonial period. Ideally, the mission of the Evangelical Church of Central Africa (ECCA) when faced with Burundi’s tragic and successive socio-ethnic wars should have been to promote peace, social justice, ethnic cohabitation, national reconciliation, respect for human rights, national reconstruction and to denounce all harm and discrimination against the human being. The ECCA has a sacred mission to announce the gospel to all humanity and to assist the people towards the positive socio-economic and political transformation of Burundi. This study will be of help to missiological scholars and to the church so that it may better carry out its prophetic mission according to God’s vision and with the purpose of positively transforming Burundian society. / Christian Spritituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The thesis "Evangelické sítě a disent" ("Evangelical social networks and dissent") is about interconnection between evangelical people and other people from dissent. There is over represented number of evangelical signatories in Charta 77. I want to show some factors, that could cause this fact. I want to explain the way of involving Protestants in the czech dissent by historical facts from published documents, theory of weak and strong ties ba M. Granovetter, theory of new social movements and testimonies. This testimonies were acquired for the purpose of this thesis. This testimonies would help to show some special phenomenas in the ties between evangelical people and people from dissent and underground. There is part in the thesis, which is dedicated to the degree of civic engagement of evangelical people and the causes of the high degree of civic engagement of evangelical people. And there is part about situation of evangelical parsons and evangelical church itself in the seventies and eighties of the twentieth century.

The aim of the dissertation is to find an answer to the question of whether the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) in the years 1968-1989 could be considered "free" in any way. This work describes the life of the ECCB in that period and the ways of the freedom und unfreedom the ECCB enjoyed and formed. Thereby, the research is based on the careful analysis of documents of church and state archives and the results of ten author-led biographical interviews with then active pastors. Combining these methods and sources, the dissertation offers an innovative view on the ECCB in the period and provides new, deeper, and more personal insights into the processes of the time. The first four chronological chapters describe the situation and development of the ECCB during the socio-political liberalisation during the Prague Spring and during the years after the Warsaw Pact troops' invasion of Czechoslovakia, when the so-called "normalisation" began. The fifth chapter presents the main strategies that the church developed in reaction to the restriction of its freedom. The sixth chapter presents the perspective of two ministers of the ECCB on their contacts with the representatives of the state authorities in the form of a case study. An insight in the internal life of the church and the forms of the church...

L'articulation de cette thèse découle d'une curiosité sur la façon dont les croyants africains contemporains urbains comprennent le Saint-Esprit. Les portraits que les théologiens africains ont dressés de la compréhension africaine du Saint-Esprit, semblent être basés sur un paradigme théologique dichotomique: la religion traditionnelle africaine et la tradition chrétienne occidentale, qui avait créé la dissonance dans la scène académique. Ce paradigme soulève un débat de continuité et de discontinuité entre les êtres spirituels des deux traditions, les esprits traditionnels et le Saint-Esprit. Cette thèse va prendre une attention particulière sur les travaux de Elochukwu Uzukwu et de Matthew Michael, qui figurent parmi les quelques théologiens africains ayant travaillé sur la compréhension de l'Esprit Saint. Uzukwu soutient la continuité fondée sur l'orientation théologique des églises indépendantes africaines, tandis que Michael s'est rangé du côté de ceux qui déclarent la discontinuité, se basant sur l'orientation théologique évangélique. Ces théologiens, qui adoptent des positions opposées en s’appuyant sur leurs orientations théologiques respectives, défendent des positions théologiquement bipolarisées de la pneumatologie africanisée et de la religiosité africaine. Étonnamment, le débat en cours parmi les théologiens n'a pas accordé beaucoup de place à la religiosité des croyants laïcs, ni à son étude empirique. Par conséquent, cette thèse a décidé d'interroger les croyants africains laïcs sur qui le Saint-Esprit est pour eux, en espérant que cette étude pourrait régler la dissonance persistante dans le terrain académique. Les voix des laïcs africains contemporains ont rapporté des récits vivants à la façon dont ils ont théologisé les deux mondes spirituels pour définir le Saint-Esprit dans une foi africaine. Leurs voix, qui ont été introduites dans le domaine universitaire, ont apporté des idées novatrices et des découvertes. Elles ont révélé comment la compréhension africanisée du Saint-Esprit présentée par les théologiens Africains ont été la position de la minorité des croyants, bien qu'elle ait fût représentée comme si elle était une pneumatologie africanisée populaire. À l'inverse, le paradigme bipolarisé sur lequel les théologiens africains articulaient la compréhension africanisée du Saint-Esprit semblait même dépassé. Par conséquent, sur la base des voix du terrain, cette thèse développe des propositions, pour une compréhension africanisée du Saint-Esprit, qui pourraient être pertinentes pour la religiosité urbaine de nos jours. Par les voix inédites à qui elle offre une ouverture, cette thèse appelle à réévaluer l'articulation entre le Christianisme et la religion traditionnelle en Afrique. / The articulation of this thesis derives from a curiosity on how the urban contemporary African believers understand the Holy Spirit. The portrayals African theologians have drawn of the African understanding of the Holy Spirit, seems to be based on a dichotomized theological paradigm: the African traditional religion and the Western Christian tradition, which had created dissonance on the academic stage. This paradigm raises a debate of continuity and discontinuity between the spiritual beings of the two traditions, the traditional spirits and the Holy Spirit. Elochukwu Uzukwu and Matthew Michael, whom this thesis will take a special attention, figure among the few works of the African theologians about the understanding of the Holy Spirit. Uzukwu supports continuity based on the African Independent Churches’ theological orientation, whereas Michael sided with those stating the discontinuity, grounds on the Evangelical theological orientation. These theologians, whom take opposite stances based on their respective theological orientations, represent theologically bipolarized stances on Africanized Pneumatology and the African religiosity. Surprisingly, the ongoing debate among the theologians did not accord much room to the lay believers’ religiosity nor on their empirical studies. Therefore, this thesis has decided to inquire the lay African believers on whom the Holy Spirit is to them hoping that this study could settle the dissonance persisting on the academic field. The voices of the contemporary lay African believers brought vivid accounts on how they have theologized the two spiritual worlds to define the Holy Spirit into an African faith. Their voices that were introduced to the academic field have brought innovative insights and discoveries. It revealed how the Africanized comprehension of the Holy Spirit presented by the African theologians were the stance of the very minority of believers, although it were wrapped as if it was a popular Africanized Pneumatology. Conversely, the bipolarized paradigm on which the African theologians were articulating the Africanized understanding of the Holy Spirit even appeared to be outmoded. Therefore, based on the voices of the ground, this thesis develops proposals for an Africanized understanding of the Holy Spirit that could be relevant and pertinent to an urban contemporary African religiosity. The unheard voices that this thesis brought its attention to call to re-evaluating the articulation between Christianity and Traditional Religion in Africa.

The presented work focuses on the topic of priests of selected Christian Churches, and their potential possibility to live in marriage. In order to view pastors comprehensively, it is essential to define who a priest is, how it is possible to become one, how to terminate this status, what the rights, duties and punishments for the priests are and what hierarchy each Church has. A historical overview of the priests' celibacy in the history of the Church and specifically in Czech history is also included in the diploma paper, as well as theology of celibacy. Roman-Catholic Church, Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia and Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren are selected for the purpose of this work.

Ce mémoire analyse la question de la désaffiliation et les concepts afférents chez les évangéliques de deuxième génération au Québec nés de parents convertis et socialisés dans le milieu évangélique. Au Canada depuis 2011, on remarque une tendance générale à une croissance modérée, si ce n’est une stabilité des groupes évangéliques. Derrière cette relative stabilité, l’on trouve notamment le phénomène de la désaffiliation religieuse, à savoir une désadhésion, un désengagement et une désidentification du milieu évangélique. Cette recherche est menée selon une approche qualitative biographique et semi-directive auprès de douze désaffiliés issus du milieu évangélique québécois. L’analyse des données prend appui sur les cadres théoriques conceptualisant la succession des générations, la déconversion et la désaffiliation. Il ressort que du point de vue générationnel la désaffiliation constitue un produit de la modernité tardive autour de la question du choix religieux, de la mobilité géographique et de l’adaptation des nouvelles églises urbaines. Du point de vue des enjeux spécifiquement liés au milieu évangélique, la désaffiliation survient pour certains interrogés suite à des difficultés à reproduire un modèle de conversion dominant véhiculé par la première génération et central à l’identité évangélique. À la fin des années 1990, le passage de l’école chrétienne publique, ou de l’école à la maison, vers l’univers de l’éducation publique déconfessionnalisée, produit une forme de « choc scolaire » amorçant une remise en question suscitant un début de « désadhésion ». Au mode de vie évangélique « tout ou rien », s’imbrique l’idéal de la pureté sexuelle et du mariage dont l’échec vient aussi agir comme déclencheur de désaffiliation engendrant le « désengagement » religieux. Au fil de la vie de ces membres, la désaffiliation se produit selon une chronologie marquée généralement par un désengagement suivi d’une « désidentification ». Enfin, par son examen de la trajectoire des trois quarts des interrogés s’orientant vers la non-religion, cette recherche contribue à l’élargissement des connaissances concernant la manière dont la désaffiliation évangélique contribue à la croissance du phénomène des sans-religions. Elle comble un manque de données empiriques concernant le sujet de la désaffiliation religieuse au sein des milieux du Réveil évangélique et québécois. / This master thesis analyzes the issue of disaffiliation and related concepts among second- generation evangelicals in Quebec born of converted parents and socialized in the evangelical milieu. In Canada since 2011, there has been a general trend of moderate growth, if not stability, among evangelical groups. Behind this relative stability lies the phenomenon of religious disaffiliation, that is, disadhesion, disengagement, and disidentification from the evangelical milieu. This research is conducted using a qualitative biographical and semi-directive approach with twelve disaffiliated persons from the evangelical milieu in Quebec. The analysis of the data is based on theoretical frameworks that conceptualize disaffiliation, deconversion, and generational succession. It emerges that from a generational point of view, disaffiliation is a product of late modernity around the issue of religious choice, geographic mobility, and the adaptation of new urban churches. From the point of view of issues specifically linked to the evangelical milieu, disaffiliation occurs for some respondents as a result of difficulties in reproducing a dominant conversion model conveyed by the first generation and central to evangelical identity. At the end of the 1990s, the transition from public Christian schools, or homeschooling, to the world of deconfessionalized public education produced a form of "school shock" that initiated a questioning that led to the beginning of disadhesion. To the evangelical way of life "all or nothing" is interwoven with the ideal of sexual purity and marriage whose failure also acts as a trigger of disaffiliation generating religious disengagement. Throughout these members' lives, disaffiliation occurs according to a chronology generally marked by disengagement followed by disidentification. Finally, by examining the trajectory of three- quarters of respondents moving toward non-religion, this research contributes to the expansion of knowledge about how evangelical disaffiliation contributes to the growth of the phenomenon of the non-religious. It fills a gap in empirical data concerning the subject of religious disaffiliation within the Evangelical Revival in Quebec milieu.