This thesis is a critical inquiry into the response to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 by Christians and Muslims. Structured around the thesis that Muslims resisted the genocide better than Christians, it explores the historical, cultural, political and theological causes that motivated and explain the actions of both faith communities in the face of genocide. The first chapter offers a critique of the dominant colonial perspective from which the topic of religion and genocide has been studied so far. It presents pre-colonial Rwandans as evolving in a complex spiritual universe, Gakondo, where religion, morality and politics were closely linked. The rise of a centralised state and sacred monarchy resulted in the theological marginalisation of the Rwandan divinity Imana and the deformation of the political conscience of the Rwanda subject. The second and the third chapter deal respectively with the beginnings of Christianity and Islam in Rwanda within the context of colonization. They show the genealogy of Christianity’s political ambivalence and Islam’s marginalisation, both which played an important role in the genocide of 1994. One significant contribution of the second chapter is to problematise the epistemological confusion between Rwandan Christianity and Roman Catholicism. Chapter four suggests a framework for the understanding of ‘Rwanda 94’ as an instance of evil. It offers a critique of the epistemic hijacking that characterises research in the Rwandan events. The chapter argues for a historical and naturalistic approach to the study of ‘Rwanda 94’, which should be qualified as ‘autocide’ instead of genocide because of the intimacy between victims and perpetrators. Chapter five and six tackle the thesis that Muslims resisted the genocide better than Christians. Examination of the factual data and revisionist discourses in post-genocide Rwanda lead to the conclusion that the imputation of success to Islam and failure to Christianity is operated by virtue of expectations on both faith communities. More specifically, chapter six provides a theological reading of Christianity’s shortcomings as sin. Chapter seven addresses the paradoxical phenomenon of religious blossoming in post-genocide Rwanda and argues that it is faith-based resistance to genocide shown by many Muslims and individual Christians which made ‘God-talk’ possible and ensured the survival of institutional religion. Chapter eight gives a summary and critique of the process of reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda. It argues that Islam and Christianity need to develop an alternative model of reconciliation that challenges and moralises the State-engineered politics of reconciliation.

This work attempts to identify the sources of the difference between the Christian Left and Right; How is it possible that people who share such a detailed creed can be so strictly opposed when it comes to politics? My hypothesis is that the conflict is engendered by different conceptions of will and the body. To test this hypothesis, I first present a brief history of the relationship between Christianity and politics up to the present state of the Christian versions of Right and Left, to finally find that while their understanding of human will is virtually identical, the human body is seen in opposing terms. Nevertheless, I equally conclude that the division between Right and Left is inaccurate, because both strive for the same - to prevent the monopolization of power by either the State or the Market.

The objective of this research is to examine the theological ideas and moral vision of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and to explore how his theology (and theological hermeneutics and ethics) has influenced his politics of solidarity and social activism on behalf of the oppressed and the poor in Haiti in particular, and the wretched of the earth, in general. Through the use of the postcolonial, decolonial, and Liberation Theology paradigms as hermeneutical and theoretical methods of investigation, the project seeks to answer a threefold question: what is the relationship between theology and social activism and transformation in the thought and writings of Jean-Bertrand Aristide? What is the place and function of the community of faith, the poor, the oppressed, hope, and human liberation in the political theology of Jean-Bertrand Aristide? What is the place of (defensive) violence in Aristide’s theology? Our goal in this scholarly investigation is an attempt to provide an answer to these daunting questions above and to explore more fully and intelligently the theology of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. This present study considers Aristide’s democratic and social justice projects and theological reflections and theological intersections in the disciplines of theological anthropology, theological ethics, and political theology, as he himself engages all four simultaneously. The doctoral thesis locates Aristide’s thought and writings within Black intellectual tradition both in continental Africa and the African Diaspora. It establishes shared intellectual ideas and parallelisms, and strong ideological connections between Aristide and Black theologians and thinkers in both continental Africa and the African Diaspora. On one hand, Aristide’s intellectual ideas and political activism should be understood in the context of the struggle for democracy in Haiti; on the other hand, it is suggested the intellectual articulations and propositions of these Black and African thinkers aim at a common vision: the project to make our world new toward the common good. While we do not undermine the problem of violence in Aristide’s theology and political program in the context of Haitian history, the doctoral thesis argues that Aristide’s theological anthropology is a theology of reciprocity and mutuality, and correspondingly, his theological ethics is grounded in the theory of radical interactionality, interconnectedness, and interdependence, and the South African humanism of Ubuntu. It also contends that Aristide’s promotion of a theology of popular violence and aggression in the Haitian society should be understood as a cathartic mechanism and defensive violence aimed at defending the Haitian masses against the Duvalier regime and their oppressors. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Dogmatics and Christian Ethics / PhD / Unrestricted

The Christian concept of hope is often criticised for the asceticism, renouncement, and passiveness in expecting the arrival of God's kingdom in "future time". On the contrary, the eschatology of Nikolai Berdyaev in Christian philosophy speaks about the necessary transformation of the world by the human itself, determining the arrival of God's kingdom. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the concept of hope related to the world, which is currently estranged and objectified. This approach is further looked upon in the context of similarly eschatologically-orientated Ernst Bloch's Philosophy of hope, Jürgen Moltmann's Theology of hope, and Johann Baptist Metz's Political theology. The thesis aims to evaluate the extent of the transferability of Berdyaev's thinking into current debates about the Christian philosophy of hope. Keywords: Christian philosophy, Personalism, Philosophy of hope, Philosophy of history, Christian eschatology, Political theology

The mission of the Gareganze's Brothers in Christ Church facing the chaos of the socio-political situation in DRC resulting mostly from the question of the Congolese nationality is to dynamise the christian mission and to protect the poor, set free the captives, because God is always at their side. The DRC, though, has enormous natural resources and the competent human resources capabilities. The national institutions seem to be unable to handle this situation because of the lack of political culture, mismanagement and moral untidiness. The successive Congolese crises mostly are the same, the common denominator resides in the causes that brought them about. The main objectives of the antagonist groups are political leadership and material wealth. The findings of our analysis will help the Church of Christ in Congo, to fulfill the prophetic mission and the vision of God, for the positive transformation of the Congolese society. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Div. (Missiology)

The purpose of this study is to investigate how religious ethics, while retaining its identity, can contribute to political debate and to the understanding of justice. The inquiry addresses these issues by focusing on theological perspectives which challenge the solutions offered to these questions by the liberal paradigm. Three kinds of challenges are studied, each of which is represented by one thinker from the Islamic tradition and one from the Christian tradition, in order to enable a comparative perspective on the contributions of religious traditions. The thinkers studied are: 1) modified liberalism, represented by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im and Duncan B. Forrester; 2) liberationism, represented by Ali Shariati and Gustavo Gutierrez; and 3) radical traditionalism, as developed by Tariq Ramadan and John Milbank. The study is organized around three main questions. First, how can innovative interpretations of religious tradition be plausibly justified? Second, what role should religious arguments and reasons play in the political sphere? Third, what can religious ethics and theological thought contribute to the understanding of social justice? The questions are engaged by means of a critical and reconstructive engagement with the six thinkers. The suggested solutions are assessed in terms of the criteria of authenticity, communicability, and potential for transformation. It is argued that a religious ethic can rely on a tradition without accepting conservative understandings of that tradition. Furthermore, it is argued that the coherence of religious ethics can be made available for public discourse but that the hospitability of the public forum to such contributions needs to be realized through a deepened democratic culture and a critique of power structures which condition perceptions of rationality. While religious ethics do not articulate complete alternative understandings of justice, they articulate contributions by relating justice to human sociality and to transcendence.

Centrée sur une réflexion des droits de l’homme à partir de l’expérience historique de la Shoah, la thèse porte sur l’enjeu fondamental du statut du religieux en modernité. Trois parties la composent, correspondant au génocide, à la modernité politique et à l’histoire du Salut : la première propose une interprétation de l’Holocauste en ayant recours aux catégories empruntées à l’historiographie, à la réflexion philosophique et à la tradition théologique. Elle rend compte de deux lectures concurrentes des Lumières, du renversement de la théologie chrétienne du judaïsme au XXe siècle, de la généalogie idéologique du nazisme ainsi que du contexte explosif de l’entre-deux-guerres. La seconde partie de la thèse avance une théorie des trois modernités, selon laquelle les États-Unis, la France et Vatican II représenteraient des interprétations divergentes et rivales des droits. Enfin, la troisième partie reprend les deux précédentes thématiques de la Shoah et de la modernité, mais à la lumière de la Révélation, notamment de l’Incarnation et de la Croix. La Révélation est présentée comme un double dévoilement simultané de l’identité de Dieu et de la dignité humaine – comme un jeu de miroir où la définition de l’homme est indissociable de celle de la divinité. En provoquant l’effondrement de la Chrétienté, la sécularisation aurait créé un vide existentiel dans lequel se serait engouffré le nazisme comme religion politique et idéologie néo-païenne de substitution. Négation de l'élection d'Israël, du Décalogue et de l’anthropologie biblique, l’entreprise nazie d’anéantissement est comprise comme la volonté d’éradication de la Transcendance et du patrimoine spirituel judéo-chrétien, la liquidation du Dieu juif par l’élimination du peuple juif. Le judéocide pourrait dès lors être qualifié de «moment dans l’histoire du Salut» en ce sens qu’il serait porteur d’un message moral en lien avec le contenu de la Révélation qui interpellerait avec force et urgence la conscience moderne. L’Holocauste constituerait ainsi un kairos, une occasion à saisir pour une critique lucide des apories de la modernité issue des Lumières et pour un renouvellement de la pensée théologico-politique, une invitation à une refondation transcendante des droits fondamentaux, dont la liberté religieuse ferait figure de matrice fondationnelle. La Shoah apporterait alors une réponse au rôle que la Transcendance pourrait jouer dans les sociétés modernes. Mémorial de Sang refondateur des droits de la personne, l'Holocauste rendrait témoignage, il lancerait une mise en garde et poserait les conditions nécessaires d'un enracinement biblique à la préservation de la dignité de l’être humain. Aux Six Millions de Défigurés correspondrait la Création de l'Homme du Sixième Jour. En conclusion, un triangle synergique nourricier est soutenu par l’extermination hitlérienne (1941-1945), la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (1948) et le Concile Vatican II (1962-1965) comme les trois piliers d’une nouvelle modernité, située au-delà des paradigmes américain (1776) et français (1789). La Shoah inaugurerait et poserait ainsi les fondements d'un nouvel horizon civilisationnel; elle pointerait vers un nouveau départ possible pour le projet de la modernité. L'expérience génocidaire n'invaliderait pas la modernité, elle ne la discréditerait pas, mais la relancerait sur des bases spirituelles nouvelles. Cette refondation des droits fondamentaux offrirait alors une voie de sortie et de conciliation à la crise historique qui opposait depuis près de deux siècles en Europe les droits de l'homme et la Transcendance, Dieu et la liberté – modèle susceptible d’inspirer des civilisations non occidentales en quête d’une modernité respectueuse de leur altérité culturelle et compatible avec la foi religieuse. / As a reflection on human rights focused on the historical experience of the Holocaust, the dissertation looks at the status of religion in modernity. It is made up of three parts; genocide, the politics of modernity, and the history of salvation. The first suggests an interpretation of the Holocaust based upon categories borrowed from historiography, philosophical reflection, and theological tradition. It takes into account two readings of the Enlightment: the inversion of Christian theology towards Judaism in the twentieth century, the ideological sources of Nazism and the explosive time of the inter-war years. The second part of the thesis advances a theory of three ways of seeing modernity: those of France, America, and Vatican II, representing rival and divergent understandings of human rights. The third and final part takes the premises of the previous parts, but in the light of the Revelation, especially that of the Incarnation of the Cross. The Revelation is presented as a simultaneous revealing of God’s identity and human dignity – as an image in a mirror or as the definition of man being inseperable from that of God. In causing the collapse of Christendom, secularization has created an existential vacuum which could be filled by Nazism as a political religion and a neo-pagan ideology of substitution. Negating the election of Israel, the Ten Commandments and biblical anthropology, the Nazi project of destruction is understood as the willingness to eradicate the Transcendence and the Judeo-Christian Tradition, the liquidation of the Jewish God by the elimination of the Jewish people. Judeocide can thus be described as a “Moment in the History of Salvation” in that it conveys a moral message connected with the content of the Revelation which strongly and urgently calls out to modern consciousness. The Holocaust is thus a Kairos, an opportunity for clear reviews of the aporias of a kind of modernity generated by the Age of Enlightment, for an invitation to a transcendent rooting-anchoring of human rights, and for a renewal of theological-political thought, where religious freedom appears as the foundation. As a Memorial of Blood reengaging human rights, the witness of the Holocaust represents a warning and shows the need for of a biblical understanding of the person to preserve human dignity. The six million victims correspond to the creation of man on the sixth day. As a conclusion, a synergy is claimed between Hitler’s extermination (1941-1945), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) as the three pillars of a new modernity, beyond the American (1776) and French paradigms (1789). The Shoah ushers in and lays the foundation of a new understanding of civilization. It points towards a new point of departure for the journey of modernity. The experience of genocide does not invalidate nor discredit modernity, but offers it up towards a new spiritual understanding. This understanding of fundamental rights offers a way of leaving behind and reconciling the historical crisis between God and liberty, human rights and Transcendence in Europe for the last two hundred years – which may equally be of use to non-western civilizations in their quest for a respectful modernity for their own cultures, compatible with their own faiths.

Le présent travail se décline en trois parties, chacune développant un volet de la thèse globale. Premier volet : La genèse de la modernité politique a été l'objet de nombreuses interprétations philosophiques. Au cœur de ces interprétations, le théorème de la sécularisation s'est révélé aussi décisif que discuté. Pour mettre à l'épreuve ce concept, ce premier volet entend faire valoir la fécondité herméneutique de la théologie politique chrétienne, dont le concept central est celui de médiation : d'une part au travers de ses multiples paradigmes, d'autre part, en la confrontant à plusieurs théories philosophiques du XXè siècle. Le deuxième volet, le plus volumineux, s'est donné pour tâche de procéder à l'examen critique de la théologie politique du juriste Carl Schmitt. En quoi offre-t-elle des éléments de réponses pour une adéquation de la théologie politique chrétienne au paradigme moderne et séculier de la condition politique? En quoi conduit-elle à une impasse, qu'il convient de surmonter pour élaborer un nouveau rapport entre christianisme et politique et une pensée de l'histoire ? Pour répondre à cette question, le troisième volet s'est imposé, dans un premier temps, par l'investigation de la philosophie de Rosenzweig dans L'Etoile de la Rédemption, notamment s'agissant de son concept de peuple (juif et chrétien). Dans un deuxième temps, par l'explicitation des divergents-accords entre la thèse de Rosenzweig et celle de Schmitt : celle du Juif hors de l'histoire et du Chrétien dans l'histoire, dont les deux auteurs font un usage diamétralement opposé. C'est à l'aune de ces divergents-accords que la thèse conclusive de l'élaboration d'une théologie « du » politique peut trouver un espace réflexif pour un autre rapport entre une transcendance religieuse et le fondement autonome et séculier d'une philosophie politique de la démocratie. / The present work is laid out in three sections, each of which develops a part of the overall thesis. First section: the origin of political modernity has been the object of numerous philosophical interpretations. At the heart of these interpretations, the concept of secularization has proven to be as decisive as it is contentious. In order to put this concept to the test, this first section seeks to show the value of the hermeneutical fruitfulness to be found in Christian political theology, whose central notion is that of mediation; it does this on the one hand through the multiple paradigms of this latter, and on the other hand by confronting it with several twentieth-century political philosophies. The second section, which is the most important in terms of volume, sets out on a critical examination of the political theology of the jurist Carl Schmitt: to what extent does it offer elements which respond to questions concerning the adequacy of Christian political theology vis-à-vis the modern secular paradigm prevalent in today's political environment? to what extent does it lead to an impasse which needs to be obviated in order to work out a new way of relating Christianity and politics and historical thought? In order to answer this question [translator's note: these questions?], the third section adds various considerations. First of all, it proceeds with an investigation of Rosenzweig's philosophy exhibited in L'Etoile de la Rédemption [The Star of Redemption], notably with regard to his concept of people (Jewish or Christian). Secondly, it details the theories of Rosenzweig and Schmitt with regard to diverging agreement: the place of the Jew outside of history versus the place of the Christian within history. A concept which the two authors take in diametrically opposed directions. It is by taking the measure of these diverging agreements that one arrives at the conclusive thesis, namely the working out of a theory of “the political man”, can find room for flexibility, providing a link between religious transcendence and the autonomous and secular grounding of a political philosophy of democracy.

Centrée sur une réflexion des droits de l’homme à partir de l’expérience historique de la Shoah, la thèse porte sur l’enjeu fondamental du statut du religieux en modernité. Trois parties la composent, correspondant au génocide, à la modernité politique et à l’histoire du Salut : la première propose une interprétation de l’Holocauste en ayant recours aux catégories empruntées à l’historiographie, à la réflexion philosophique et à la tradition théologique. Elle rend compte de deux lectures concurrentes des Lumières, du renversement de la théologie chrétienne du judaïsme au XXe siècle, de la généalogie idéologique du nazisme ainsi que du contexte explosif de l’entre-deux-guerres. La seconde partie de la thèse avance une théorie des trois modernités, selon laquelle les États-Unis, la France et Vatican II représenteraient des interprétations divergentes et rivales des droits. Enfin, la troisième partie reprend les deux précédentes thématiques de la Shoah et de la modernité, mais à la lumière de la Révélation, notamment de l’Incarnation et de la Croix. La Révélation est présentée comme un double dévoilement simultané de l’identité de Dieu et de la dignité humaine – comme un jeu de miroir où la définition de l’homme est indissociable de celle de la divinité. En provoquant l’effondrement de la Chrétienté, la sécularisation aurait créé un vide existentiel dans lequel se serait engouffré le nazisme comme religion politique et idéologie néo-païenne de substitution. Négation de l'élection d'Israël, du Décalogue et de l’anthropologie biblique, l’entreprise nazie d’anéantissement est comprise comme la volonté d’éradication de la Transcendance et du patrimoine spirituel judéo-chrétien, la liquidation du Dieu juif par l’élimination du peuple juif. Le judéocide pourrait dès lors être qualifié de «moment dans l’histoire du Salut» en ce sens qu’il serait porteur d’un message moral en lien avec le contenu de la Révélation qui interpellerait avec force et urgence la conscience moderne. L’Holocauste constituerait ainsi un kairos, une occasion à saisir pour une critique lucide des apories de la modernité issue des Lumières et pour un renouvellement de la pensée théologico-politique, une invitation à une refondation transcendante des droits fondamentaux, dont la liberté religieuse ferait figure de matrice fondationnelle. La Shoah apporterait alors une réponse au rôle que la Transcendance pourrait jouer dans les sociétés modernes. Mémorial de Sang refondateur des droits de la personne, l'Holocauste rendrait témoignage, il lancerait une mise en garde et poserait les conditions nécessaires d'un enracinement biblique à la préservation de la dignité de l’être humain. Aux Six Millions de Défigurés correspondrait la Création de l'Homme du Sixième Jour. En conclusion, un triangle synergique nourricier est soutenu par l’extermination hitlérienne (1941-1945), la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (1948) et le Concile Vatican II (1962-1965) comme les trois piliers d’une nouvelle modernité, située au-delà des paradigmes américain (1776) et français (1789). La Shoah inaugurerait et poserait ainsi les fondements d'un nouvel horizon civilisationnel; elle pointerait vers un nouveau départ possible pour le projet de la modernité. L'expérience génocidaire n'invaliderait pas la modernité, elle ne la discréditerait pas, mais la relancerait sur des bases spirituelles nouvelles. Cette refondation des droits fondamentaux offrirait alors une voie de sortie et de conciliation à la crise historique qui opposait depuis près de deux siècles en Europe les droits de l'homme et la Transcendance, Dieu et la liberté – modèle susceptible d’inspirer des civilisations non occidentales en quête d’une modernité respectueuse de leur altérité culturelle et compatible avec la foi religieuse. / As a reflection on human rights focused on the historical experience of the Holocaust, the dissertation looks at the status of religion in modernity. It is made up of three parts; genocide, the politics of modernity, and the history of salvation. The first suggests an interpretation of the Holocaust based upon categories borrowed from historiography, philosophical reflection, and theological tradition. It takes into account two readings of the Enlightment: the inversion of Christian theology towards Judaism in the twentieth century, the ideological sources of Nazism and the explosive time of the inter-war years. The second part of the thesis advances a theory of three ways of seeing modernity: those of France, America, and Vatican II, representing rival and divergent understandings of human rights. The third and final part takes the premises of the previous parts, but in the light of the Revelation, especially that of the Incarnation of the Cross. The Revelation is presented as a simultaneous revealing of God’s identity and human dignity – as an image in a mirror or as the definition of man being inseperable from that of God. In causing the collapse of Christendom, secularization has created an existential vacuum which could be filled by Nazism as a political religion and a neo-pagan ideology of substitution. Negating the election of Israel, the Ten Commandments and biblical anthropology, the Nazi project of destruction is understood as the willingness to eradicate the Transcendence and the Judeo-Christian Tradition, the liquidation of the Jewish God by the elimination of the Jewish people. Judeocide can thus be described as a “Moment in the History of Salvation” in that it conveys a moral message connected with the content of the Revelation which strongly and urgently calls out to modern consciousness. The Holocaust is thus a Kairos, an opportunity for clear reviews of the aporias of a kind of modernity generated by the Age of Enlightment, for an invitation to a transcendent rooting-anchoring of human rights, and for a renewal of theological-political thought, where religious freedom appears as the foundation. As a Memorial of Blood reengaging human rights, the witness of the Holocaust represents a warning and shows the need for of a biblical understanding of the person to preserve human dignity. The six million victims correspond to the creation of man on the sixth day. As a conclusion, a synergy is claimed between Hitler’s extermination (1941-1945), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) as the three pillars of a new modernity, beyond the American (1776) and French paradigms (1789). The Shoah ushers in and lays the foundation of a new understanding of civilization. It points towards a new point of departure for the journey of modernity. The experience of genocide does not invalidate nor discredit modernity, but offers it up towards a new spiritual understanding. This understanding of fundamental rights offers a way of leaving behind and reconciling the historical crisis between God and liberty, human rights and Transcendence in Europe for the last two hundred years – which may equally be of use to non-western civilizations in their quest for a respectful modernity for their own cultures, compatible with their own faiths.

La presente ricerca si propone di ricostruire la biografia intellettuale di Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1723-1807), esponente di primo piano del giansenismo italiano del secondo Settecento. Attraverso lo studio di opere inedite e di numero rilevante di lettere scambiate con i principali protagonisti della cultura religiosa del suo tempo , si è cercato di ricostruire il pensiero teologico-politico di Guadagnini in un arco cronologico compreso tra la fine degli anni Sessanta del Settecento e i primi anni del XIX secolo. / This research aims at presenting the intellectual biography of Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1723-1807), one of the most important exponents of the 18th century Italian Jansenism. Through the study of unpublished works and a significant number of letters exchanged with the main protagonists of the religious culture of his time, we tried to study the Guadagnini’s theological-political thought between the end of the 18th century and the first years of the 19th century.