Seen – Unseen (nebo Visible-Invisible) In my project I attempted to capture the spiritual space of a selected group of people. The work was dividend into several phases. Selecting a model, establishing contact, getting acquainted with the environment of the photographed individual, a survey and a interview followed by the work with the model and the text.

Voluntary aided schools exhibit a unique combination of characteristics including; responsibility for admissions, employment of staff (including the right to prioritise on the basis of faith), control of the RE curriculum, ownership of the premises, and funding from and being part of Local Authorities. This thesis investigates how headteachers of voluntary aided schools perceive their leadership role across the range of small/large, urban/rural and different faith schools of this type and whether they demonstrate similar leadership styles. The paradigmatic approach for this research is that of realism which acknowledges the benefit of both quantitative and qualitative data to generate a broad empirical picture of educational practices, patterns and institutional outcomes. This approach is particularly appropriate for this research as there is a real world of school regulations and requirements imposed externally by central and local government that affect how voluntary aided schools are organised. However, within schools it may be that individual perceptions and priorities distort the image of the external reality and affect how headteachers lead and manage their schools. Mixed methods were utilised comprising an on-line Likert-style questionnaire containing rating scales which provided the opportunity to determine quantitative frequencies and correlations. This was combined with open ended questions which provided the freedom to fuse measurement with opinions, quantity and quality. In addition, a purposive sample of 12 semi-structured interviews provided rich qualitative data conveying the views and perceptions of headteachers of voluntary aided schools in 12 different Local Authorities. This thesis has made a significant original contribution to the body of knowledge in this field by presenting an overview of the perceptions held by headteachers of 450 such schools throughout England (over 10% of the total number) from different phases of education, sizes of school, types of location and denominations. It has addressed the current gap in existing research, supported the findings of several previous smaller-scale studies, identified the distinctive ethos in voluntary aided schools, highlighted the pivotal role of personal faith for these headteachers, produced a new model of ‘ethotic leadership’ and presented suggestions for future research and training.

Churches in the twenty-first century experiences a crisis. According to Barna (1998:2) churches are: Holding fast to programs and goals established by their charter members years ago. Many of these ministries have mastered the art of denying the cataclysmic cultural changes around them, responding with cosmetic changes that make little difference. Subsequently the church is losing its influence in the world. One of the reasons is that the church is structured in such a way that it is unable to respond to its changing environment. Therefore, structural change in churches is continually debated and it remains a great challenge for churches to structure themselves in order to become relevant in the twenty-first century. As a result, the proposed study focuses on the re-engineering of the leadership structures of the local Apostolic Faith Mission(AFM) church. In the AFM church, this debate was going on for over two decades. Whereas historically, the larger denomination developed structures and introduced it in the local assembly, they reviewed this position. The purpose of this research is thus to investigate and describe how pastors experience their local church structures as well as to offer guidelines for effective structures to the Church. The researcher conducted semi-structured, phenomenological interviews with eight pastors. The research question was: “How do you personally experience your local church structures?” / Dr. L.P. Mare

In most congregations “the work” of ministering is primarily performed by salaried pastors and permanent staff. The members of the congregation are mainly spectators and, at best, helpers in the various ministries of the church. They are perceived as laymen and are generally only the objects of ministry. Very few members come forward of their own accord to minister the grace of God and fewer still are afforded the opportunity to become leaders. This study seeks to show that members of the congregation should be fully incorporated in the ministry teams and leadership structure of local congregations; that as voluntary co-workers, they should be equal to the pastors and permanent staff and should play an active part in realising the vision and mission of the congregation; that they should be empowered, allowed to minister and function as leaders, according to their gifts. Supported by literature on leadership available in local congregations and examples of what congregations are already doing in this respect, the study further seeks to emphasise the importance of leadership development in local congretations. In the closing paragraph we look at a few fundamental principles that should form the basis of our thoughts on leadership and the development thereof in congregations. It emphasises that the way we conceive leadership and the implications of our concepts should be fully understood before attempting to implement leadership development. The study does not seek to establish a definite model or fixed program for leadership development, but concludes with a presentation of universally applicable guidelines for the creation of a leadership development strategy in local congregations. / Prof. WJ Hattingh

M.A. / The motivation for the study was to determine the problems encountered by pastors within the context of the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (hereafter AFM Church) in a small rural congregation and what their specific needs were. The purpose of the research is to supply workable guidelines which will help the pastors to improve their situation in the rural area. A qualitative research investigation was done, which is investigative and descriptive. Interviews were conducted with sixteen pastors from small rural congregations and were asked: How do you experience the ministry in a small rural town? The information was collected and scientifically processed, and four areas were identified which could influence the pastor’s ministry in a rural environment, namely: • the congregation in which the pastor is working • the community in which the pastor is working • personal qualities of the pastor and • lack of personal and professional support and resources available to the pastor in rural areas. From the research it is clear that factors exist which obstruct the progress of rural congregations. Factors include a higher age profile and inadequate parishioner involvement in the congregations, whilst a conservative and tradition-bound community as well as inadequate involvement in the community also has a role to play. The research proved that the pastor’s personal background, age and experience in the ministry can be keys to success, while inadequate personal and professional backing to the pastor can handicap effectiveness in the ministry. There is a lack of useful resources available to the pastor while insufficient communication with head office can sometimes lead to frustration. The results from the qualitative research were subjected to a literature control. In the literature control it was attempted to investigate and verify the accuracy of the problem areas, according to which guidelines were compiled to assist the pastor and leadership of congregations to eliminate problem areas which may occur. The guidelines viewed as a whole provide for an attempt by the church that could hold various benefits for the AFM pastor in a small rural congregation.

M.Th. / There is still great uncertainty about the role of healing in proclaiming the Gospel and in church building and development. For many Christian denominations this is still a contentious and controversial subject. Especially the differences in the theories on healing and the way in which these theories should be applied, cause many problems to come to the fore in obvious and unsettling ways. In the past few Pentecostal theologians have tried to make contributions that help to identify and solve these problems. By doing this study from a Pentecostal viewpoint, the student is hoping to aid the church in developing a theory and praxis for the healing ministry that is based on Scripture. This study is unique in the sense that it approaches the issue from the standpoint that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are an absolute necessity in developing a Scriptually sound theory and praxis for the healing ministry. It was therefore necessary first to stress the important role of the gifts of the Spirit in the ministry of Christ and the New Testament church. The study then looks at the role and influence that the gifts had in the emergence of the modern Pentecostal movement and of the AFM of South Africa. To discover whether this ministry is still functioning effectively, a questionnaire was given to believers in eight different assemblies. The information was then used to compile a list of guidelines that might be adhered to in order to maximise the usefulness of the gifts of the Spirit.

with David Tracy, The University of Chicago / McGuinn Hall 121

Thesis advisor: Gustavo Morello / This qualitative study aims to understand how Mormon religious practice and individual family upbringing shape faithful Mormon women’s goals for marriage and motherhood. The sacred canopy (Berger, 1967), which provides the theoretical context for this study, asserts that those who practice religion seek to act according to a religious worldview. This study examines the roles of personal faith, Church teachings, peer culture, and family upbringing in these women’s lives to determine how the sacred canopy is maintained. The analysis reveals how religious perspective has a slightly different role in the women’s lives than family upbringing, yet both work together to maintain the sacred canopy. This research is important for better understanding a demographic of a growing religious subpopulation and contextualizing their experiences. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology Honors Program. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.

A religiosidade tem sido estudada nas diferentes fases do ciclo vital, em especial na adolescência, como fator protetivo a prática do ato infracional. Para compreender esta dimensão da vida sob a ótica de adolescentes autores de atos infracionais, o estudo visou a investigar os significados de fé e religiosidade para adolescentes em conflito com a lei, norteado pelos conceitos de Mauro Amatuzzi. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória, realizada com seis adolescentes, com idades entre 15 e 17 anos, em cumprimento de Medida Socioeducativa, Liberdade Assistida, de uma cidade do interior do estado de São Paulo. O estudo utilizou como instrumentos de coleta de dados a entrevista semiestruturada e a fotografia. Inicialmente foi realizada uma oficina de fotografia, na qual os adolescentes receberam a questão a ser respondida em fotografias: \"Como você pode representar a sua fé em fotografias?\". Após a oficina, os adolescentes fotografaram, com o seu próprio aparelho celular, imagens do seu cotidiano que representavam a sua fé. Em seguida, foi realizada uma entrevista individual a fim de conhecer a história do participante, explorar suas expressões de fé e conversar sobre as imagens capturadas e seus respectivos significados. Por fim, foi realizado um grupo em que os adolescentes puderam ver todas as fotografias impressas, sem que fossem identificados seus respectivos autores, e manipulá-las de forma a agrupá-las conforme os sentidos, construindo categorias. As categorias foram nomeadas pelos próprios participantes como: Tudo, Fé em Deus, É o plano, Paz e Família. Os dados foram analisados por meio da Análise de Conteúdo das entrevistas individuais, que serviram de apoio para a compreensão do material fotográfico. As categorias formadas foram: Proteção, Motivação, Deus onipresente, Identificação, Sentido de ligação afetiva, Referências e Símbolos, Ações e Rituais. A partir dos resultados obtidos foi possível compreender que este grupo de adolescentes em conflito com a lei apresenta diferentes experiências e significados de fé. No entanto, todos revelam relação com o enfrentamento das adversidades cotidianas e projeto de vida, principalmente relacionado a conquistas de bens materiais. Percebemos que o instrumento fotográfico facilitou a participação dos adolescentes na pesquisa e possibilitou aos mesmos o encontro com a própria experiência, evidenciando-se como um recurso efetivo para a compreensão do significado e mediação da narrativa / Religiosity has been studied in the different phases of the life cycle, especially in adolescence as a protective factor the practice of the infraction. In order to understand this dimension of life from the point of view of adolescent offenders, the study aimed to investigate the meanings of faith and religiosity for youth in conflict with the law, guided by the concepts of Mauro Amatuzzi. This is an exploratory qualitative research carried out with six adolescents, aged between 15 and 17 years old, in compliance with the Socioeducational Measure, Assisted Liberty, of a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo. The study used semistructured interviews and photography as instruments of data collection. Initially a photography workshop was held, where the adolescents received the question to be answered in photographs: How can you represent your faith in photographs? After the workshop, the adolescents photographed, with their own mobile devices, images of their daily lives that represented their Faith. Then an individual interview was conducted to learn the story of the participant, to explore their expressions of faith and to talk about the images and their respective meanings. And finally, a group a meeting was done for the adolescents could see all the printed photographs, without identification of the respective authors, and manipulate them in order to group them into categories. The categories were named by the participants as: All, Faith in God, It is the plan, Peace and Family. The data were analyzed through the content analysis of the individual interviews, which served as support for the understanding of the photographic material. The categories formed were: Protection, Motivation, Omnipresent God, Identification, Sense of affective bonding, References and Symbols, Actions and Rituals. From the results it was possible to understand that this group of adolescents in conflict with the law presents different experiences and meanings of faith, however, all reveal relation with the confrontation of daily adversities and life project, mainly related to achievements of material goods. From the results, it was noticed that the photographic instrument facilitated the participation of the adolescents in the research and enabled them to encounter their own experience, proving themselves as an effective resource for understanding the meaning and mediation of the narrative

Thesis advisor: Robert C. Bartlett / This study examines Dante Alighieri's presentation of the relation between Church and State and of their foundations in either the Christian faith or philosophic reason. It seeks to demonstrate how Dante's unmodern acceptance of a teleological understanding of the world and man’s place in it allows him to distinguish the two while also showing how both work together even as they understand differently the role that reason should play in human life. It is because of this distinction that Dante's Monarchia shares in the political principle of “separation” that underlies the secular regimes of the West, thereby making his work immediately accessible to modern-day readers. It is because of the way reason and faith also work together in his political treatise, however, that Dante does not endorse, as readers today would, the further separation of his State from Society. This is because for Dante the very ideas of Church and State not only presuppose the existence of the highest goods of man -namely, that terrestrial good that pertains to man insofar as he is a natural being, and that spiritual good that pertains to man insofar as he is a creature capable of being transfigured by the divine grace of God. They also are intended to embody and publicly promote these two goods. Thus for Dante the Church is meant to help man attain his immortal end, which consists in the supernatural act of seeing God "face to face," while the State is meant to help man attain his mortal end, which consists in grasping philosophic truths. And so it is for these teleological and illiberal reasons that Dante's work remains as inaccessible as it does familiar to readers today. Yet it is by virtue of his refusal to forge our distinctively modern course, and so because of his acceptance of an "outdated" Aristotelian principle of teleology, that Dante's philosophic politics establishes a clearer demarcation between Church and State or reason and faith than modern political philosophies do. His Monarchia is therefore an invaluable guide for all those who wish to acquire a better understanding of the nature and limit of each. This latter claim can prove to be true, however, only if the end of his treatise is understood in light of what many scholars have either ignored or denied in their reading of the Monarchia, and that is Dante’s "Latin Averroism." / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.