This thesis analyses the acquisition of donations by the German faith missions from their beginnings up to the outbreak of World War II. The focus is directed to the three oldest German faith missions: the Neukirchener Mission, the Allianz-China-Mission, and the Liebenzeller Mission. As a specific characteristic of faith missions, the contemporary literature mentions the so-called faith principle. This faith principle, propagated by such personalities as Hudson Taylor and Georg Müller, stands for the deliberate renunciation of public fundraising. It is the leading question of this thesis whether the German faith missions have adopted and realized this principle. Analysing the theory and the methodology, it becomes clear, that the three oldest German faith missions have not renounced the principle of obtaining donations. This thesis offers also a model of interpretation to determine the factors that are of relevance for the acquisition of donations by the mentioned missions. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / (M.Th.(Missiology))

This study’s purpose is to analyze Grace Davies theory, which points out that churches throughout the west is facing difficulties with declining memberships as a result of a separation process between the churches and the state. In contrast to Davies theory, Sweden saw an increase in number of voters in year 2017’s church election, which leads to question whether Davies theory is overemphasized or if the church of Sweden is in a unique position. This study aims to analyze the current landscape of churches in the west through media and to do this, the study delimitates to four Swedish daily newspapers: Dagens Nyheter, Sveriges Television, Kyrkans Tidning and Svenska Dagbladet, to provide content through different perspectives. To apply the information gathered, the study uses a qualitative content analysis, since it offers tools for categorizing, interpretation and understanding of the newspapers substance. This study approaches the church election through three theories, which argues that the church of Sweden has lost its dominating role in society and is now under the influence of media, the state and secular forces. The critical part of media’s relation to this year’s church election is found in the presentation of the church of Sweden as a political figure, rather than a faith community. The result shows through media’s presentation that the majority is indeed based on political influence and that Davies theory might indeed be true. Though it also shows a resistance to politics in the church domain, which argues that the churches ongoing negative trend might reverse in the future.

Religion has often been viewed as a source of conflict and violence in international relations. Yet history provides that religion has also been a source and inspiration for peace building and non-violent resistance. The role of religious leaders in conflict transformation has been treated as a marginal phenomenon. Appleby (2000) points out that identifying and documenting the roles of religious actors in resolving protracted conflicts remains an unfinished task. This thesis is an attempt to meet such challenge by focusing on religious leaders and their role in search of solutions in deeply rooted conflicts. Working from the premise that religious leaders can make a substantial contribution in conflict transformation, the overarching goal of this thesis is to examine what roles religious actors play and how equipped they are to serve their communities in their capacity as peacemakers.

More than 30 years after the first case of HIV/AIDS was reported, the disease continues to pose challenges for governments and communities across the world, but particularly in Southern Africa. Response to the disease is hindered by contextual influences, which vary between countries and cultural groups. With HIV/AIDS, one size does not fit all. The complexity of this disease is still not fully understood and information regarding its spread and prevalence is often fluid and unreliable. Communities’ emotional reaction to HIV/AIDS, including stigmatising, plays a role in this scenario. FBOs (including churches) are uniquely positioned to provide HIV/AIDS education and prevention messages through their extensive networks that reach even the most remote villages. However, during the era of HIV/AIDS, FBOs or their members have been the target of criticism. They have been accused of promoting stigmatising and discriminatory attitudes based on fear and prejudice, of pronouncing harsh moral judgements on those infected and of reducing the issues of AIDS to mere moral issues. The primary research question in this research focused on determining the nature and extent of HIV/AIDS-related stigma reported by aspiring faith-based leaders. The study questionnaires were completed by aspiring faith-based leaders who participated in Choose Life training programmes. These aspiring faith-based leaders were used as an indirect measure of stigma in their respective FBOs. The assumption is made that the attitude of faith-based leaders may affect the communities they serve. A KAP survey was used to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices within these organisations. A group of 133 aspiring faith-based leaders who attended a HospiVision training programme, Choose Life, participated in the study. Non-parametric tests were used in the analysis of the data. Test include Spearman Rho correlations, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney. It was found that respondents are knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS. Despite their high level of knowledge, there is still fear and worry about sharing eating or drinking utensils with those infected. Unrealistic fear of HIV transmission is one of the building blocks of HIV-related stigma. Respondents were generally unaware of people living with the virus in their congregation. This demonstrates that disclosure of HIV status is relatively low. It may be a fear of stigma that represents a barrier to disclosure. A high percentage of respondents (44%) indicated that they would feel ashamed should the virus infect them or someone in their family (28%). They were, however, more accepting of other people who are infected (only 12% indicated PLWHA should be ashamed). These contradictions make it difficult to understand the level of stigmatising and the reasons behind the responses. In spite of prevention campaigns run by various organisations, stigma and discrimination still exist and this may hamper our response to the illness. The study was relatively small, but its results are similar to those of earlier studies conducted nationally among faith-based leaders. Stigma and discrimination remain factors that have to be considered in all programmes developed to address the current HIV crisis. Even when knowledge about the disease is significant and respondents are well educated, some stigma still prevails. FBOs are amongst the institutions in society that shape the values and attitudes that guide responses to illness and vulnerability and that support appropriate and compassionate responses. This research shows that FBOs have an important role to play in promoting religious beliefs that confront stigma and in encouraging positive dialogue to counter damaging thought patterns in communities. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / am2014 / Psychology / unrestricted

The thesis Teaching of the Eucharist sacrament in Magisterial documents from 2nd Vatican council to present at first, concerns with the Second Vatican Council, where, first of all, deals with the selected paragraphs from the particular constitutions, which participated essentially on the formation and elucidation of the eucharistic dogma. For the reason of coherent image, not a single decree was left behind (1st chapter). The teachings on the eucharist after the Second Vatican Council is divided according to the pontificates, those are an interest of the following chapters (2nd - 4th chapter). Each chapter deals only with the most important documents of the period. At first, the structure for every document is presented and after that follows a commentary on the eucharistic teachings, that indicates effect of this sacrament (the source and the summit of all the action; the unity of church and faithful). The fundamental questions are: Why was the given document written? Who wrote it? On what did an author reacted? The main goal of the work is to show the continuous church teachings on the eucharist. For the church can not be divided in the pre- and post-conciliar.

No description available.

"If the [White House faith-based] initiative was going to have an impact on the local community, you had to begin to think of the initiative in local terms." – Brad Yarbrough, Director of the Oklahoma Office of Faith and Community Initiatives Charitable Choice and other faith-based initiatives attempt to provide faith-based organizations (FBOs) easier access to public funds for social service delivery in the community. Five years after Charitable Choice was included in the federal welfare reforms of 1996, President George W. Bush introduced the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives in order to expand partnership opportunities between federal agencies and FBOs. The Bush administration actively recruited religious groups to apply for public dollars that would fund local social programs. The actions in Washington mirrored similar movements that took place in many states during the mid to late 1990s. Since then, so-called "faith-based social services" have received their share of media attention and public scrutiny. Much of the attention has been on political-philosophical debates and the legal challenges to church-state separation. Research by Bartkowski and Regis (1999), Kennedy and Bielefeld (2001), Gomez (2003), Vanderwoerd (2004) and Sager (2006) depict the efforts of individual states to implement Charitable Choice policies and the attitudes of FBOs towards partnerships with government. However, there has been inadequate research on the experience of local governments who engage faith-based providers on a daily basis. Much more can be learned about the themes that shape current collaborations between local social service agencies and the faith community in Virginia. Using a collective case study design, this research captures the experiences and perspectives of local public managers who have formed partnerships with FBOs mostly through non-financial means. The data shows that federal and state faith-based initiatives have little influence on the way local social service agencies in Virginia conduct their work. The typical partnerships with FBOs are the result of pre-existing, informal and non-financial relationships that have been fostered and sustained long before welfare reform or without the impetus of any faith-based initiatives. / Ph. D.

Permission from the author to digitize this work is pending. Please contact the ICS library if you would like to view this work.

In the UK and Saudi Arabia, it is necessary for the contracting parties in insurance contracts to comply with the requirement of the doctrine of utmost good faith. In recent years, the doctrine of utmost good faith and the mutual duties of the contracting parties have developed in different ways in each jurisdiction. Both jurisdictions provide consumer protection in insurance markets by Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representation) Act 2012 in the UK and Insurance Consumer Protection Principles 2014 in Saudi Arabia. However, there are many differences between the conduct of each jurisdiction since the coming into force of the Insurance Act 2015 in the UK, which revolutionised the insurance law in several key areas. This thesis particularly aims to critically analyse the reform of the doctrine of utmost good faith and looks at how the current reform impacts on the interpretation of this doctrine between the UK and Saudi jurisdictions. This study critically analyses the insureds’ pre-contractual duties for consumers and businesses in the UK with a comparison to Saudi law.

Univ., Diss.--Hamburg, 2005. / Literaturverz. S. 227 - 232.