Thesis (DTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is descriptive research and a practical theological study of the schisms in the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) that took place between 1996 and 2001 and led to the formation of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA). It aims to analyse the historical, global and local contexts as regards these schisms in the RCZ. The research questions are: What led to these splits, how did they happen and how can they be prevented? No measures have been put in place to educate or guard against further schisms. The goal of this study is to propose informed precautionary measures to the RCZ to prevent a recurrence of schisms in future. Chapter 2 describes the faith tradition of the RCZ. Various historical perspectives from the colonial period to those of the current Zambia are discussed in order to provide an understanding of this denomination's identity. It also tries to determine whether her political and missionary legacy has influenced the RCZ's leadership style and structures. Chapter 3 is an attempt to understand the contextual influences that globalization have brought about. The correlation between the global and religious trends affords a perspective on the "why" question of the schisms. Various global and local developments are the major focus of this chapter. It also discusses three levels of influence: macro (the global society), meso (the Zambian society), and micro (faith communities at congregation level). In Africa, the Pentecostal/charismatic oriented Christian prosperity movements have caused one of its endemic problems, i.e. the tension. Within the context of the RCZ tradition and faith practices, the Pentecostal/charismatic tendencies have challenged the long inherited autocratic church leadership styles. Pentecostal/charismatic prosperity movements flew in the faces of the denominationally organized churches with their Western origin, such as the RCZ. Subsequently, Pentecostal/charismatic movements have caused intense conflict in the church between the pro-conservatives and pro-Pentecostals. The police even had to close certain RCZ congregations because of skirmishes. At this stage of the study, a hypothesis became clear: The one-party state, with its autocratic presidential powers, continued the missionary legacy of autocratic rule in the independence and post-independence era, which had a direct impact on church leadership. Rutoro (2007) came to the same conclusion in his research on leadership in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. Chapter 4 is descriptive and provides a survey of what the documental sources of the RCZ and the printed media reveal about the schisms. The Synod's recommendations and resolutions from 1996 to 2001 give a clear picture of what occurred, as well as the intensity of the conflict. This chapter also reveals how the RCZ interpreted and handled the situation. Chapter 5 discusses the empirical data-gathering methods and the pilot study. Chapter 6 deals with the interpretation of the gathered data and compares it with the findings of Chapter 4. It is an exercise in triangulation - done after the first five chapters were written and affirmed what Chapter 4 concluded but, because of the narrative part of many of the answers supplied in the open-ended questionnaire, more was learned from it than was expected. From this study, it is clear that the church leadership should focus on understanding the *winds of change* in order to discern the way forward and adapt to leadership styles and challenges. Making theologically informed decisions are an absolute priority for the RCZ. This study recommends that church leadership, at least all the ministers, should be trained in conflict resolution and management and should stay abreast of God's missional praxis in this fast and ever-changing world. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is beskrywend van aard en is 'n prakties-teologiese evaluering van die skeurings in die Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) wat tussen 1996 en 2001 plaasgevind het, en wat tot die stigting van die Christian Reformed Church (CRC) en die Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA) gelei het. Dit beoog om die historiese, globale en plaaslike kontekste met betrekking tot hierdie skeurings in die RCZ te ontleed. Die navorsingsvrae is: Wat het tot hierdie skeurings gelei, hoe het hulle gebeur en hoe kan hulle voorkom word? Geen maatreëls is getref vir opleiding of waaksaamheid teen verdere skeurings nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is om ingeligte voorkomende maatreëls aan die RCZ voor te stel om 'n toekomstige herhaling van skeurings te verhoed. Hoofstuk 2 beskryf die geloofstradisie van die RCA. Vir 'n begrip van hierdie denominasie se identiteit word verskeie historiese perspektiewe vanaf die koloniale tydperk tot dié van die huidige Zambia bespreek. Daar word ook gepoog om vas te stel of die RCA se politieke en missionêre nalatenskap die RCZ se leierskapstyl en strukture beïnvloed het. In Hoofstuk 3 word gepoog om die kontekstuele invloede wat globalisasie mee-gebring het, te verstaan. Die korrelasie tussen die globale en geloofstendensies verleen 'n perspektief op die skeurings se "waarom" vraag. Verskeie globale en plaaslike ontwikkelinge is die hoof fokus van hierdie hoofstuk. Drie vlakke van invloed: makro (die globale samelewing), meso (die Zambiese samelewing), en mikro (die geloofsgemeenskap op gemeentevlak) word ook bespreek. In Afrika het die Pinkster-/charismaties-georiënteerde Christelike welvaartsbewegings een van sy endemiese probleme veroorsaak, naamlik spanning. Binne die konteks van die RCZ tradisie en geloofspraktyke, het die Pinkster/ charismatiese tendensie die lank-oorgelewerde outokratiese kerkleierskapstyle uitgedaag. Die Pinkster/-charismatiese welvaartsbewegings het gestaan teenoor die denominasioneel georganiseerde kerke met 'n Westerse oorsprong, soos die RCZ. Daarna het die Pinkster/charismatiese bewegings intense konflik in die Kerk tussen die pro-konserwatiewes en die pro-Pinkstergesindes veroorsaak. As gevolg van skermutselings moes die polisie selfs sekere RCZ gemeentes sluit. Op dié stadium van die studie het 'n hipotese duidelik geword. Die eenparty staat, met sy outokratiese presidensiële mag, het die missionêre nalatenskap van outokratiese beheer in die onafhanklike en post-onafhanklike era voortgesit, wat ‘n direkte impak op kerkleierskap gehad het. Rutoro (2007) kom tot dieselfde slotsom in sy navorsing op leierskap in die Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. Hoofstuk 4 is beskrywend van aard en bevat 'n oorsig van wat die dokumentêre bronne van die RCZ en die gedrukte media oor die skeurings openbaar. Die Sinode se aanbevelings en besluite van 1996 tot 2001 verskaf 'n duidelike prent van die gebeure, sowel as die intensiteit van die situasie. Hoofstuk 5 bespreek die metode van empiriese dataversameling en die loodsstudie. Hoofstuk 6 handel oor die interpretasie van die versamelde data en vergelyk dit met die bevindings van Hoofstuk 4. Dit is 'n oefening in triangulering – wat gedoen is na die skryf van die eerste vyf hoofstukke. Dit bevestig Hoofstuk 4 se afleidings maar, vanweë die narratiewe deel van baie van die antwoorde wat in die vraelys verskaf is, is meer as wat verwag is hiervan geleer. Deur hierdie studie word dit duidelik dat kerkleierskap op die verstaan van die *winde van verandering* gefokus moet wees om die weg vorentoe te bepaal en die leierskapstyle en uitdagings aan te pas. Om teologies-ingeligte besluite te neem is 'n absolute prioriteit vir die RCZ. Hierdie studie beveel aan dat kerkleierskap, of minstens al die predikante, in konflik-oplossing en –bestuur opgelei moet word, en tred moet hou met God se missionêre praksis in hierdie snelle en steeds veranderende wêreld.

Entre 1378 et 1417, l’Église est d’abord divisée entre deux, puis entre trois papes concurrents. Alors qu’Urbain VI et ses successeurs s’installent à Rome, Clément VII et son successeur rentrent en Avignon. Cette thèse répertorie et analyse les différentes expériences normandes en réponse au Grand Schisme d’Occident. Les engagements normands pour résoudre le schisme sont pluriels et s’expriment différemment selon les milieux. S’appuyant sur des sources diverses telles que le Registre des suppliques des archives du Vatican, les archives de l’Université de Paris et les archives locales, elle met en évidence les différents courants qui ont coexisté en Normandie en réaction au Grand Schisme d’Occident. Alors que la noblesse normande était généralement favorable aux papes d’Avignon, reconnus officiellement par le roi de France, d’importants courants de résistance envers cette papauté se sont aussi manifestés dans les milieux universitaires et au sein du clergé normand, poussant même certains à choisir l’exil en terre urbaniste. Ces exilés normands, bien que peu nombreux, ont exercé une influence considérable et ont été peu étudiés en tant que groupe auparavant. Parmi l’importante majorité de ceux qui restèrent dans l’obédience avignonnaise, plusieurs intellectuels normands furent pourtant reconnus comme étant d’acerbes critiques, voire des ennemis de Clément VII et de Benoît XIII. Les liens qu’ont maintenus les exilés normands avec leurs collègues restés en terre clémentiste ont joué un rôle appréciable dans le rapprochement des obédiences opposées au début du XVe siècle. La présente thèse permet de mettre en lumière les multiples attitudes normandes en réponse au schisme, d’approfondir la connaissance portant sur les milieux normands touchés par la crise, ainsi que sur les débats qui l’ont entourée, et de poursuivre la réflexion sur la question de l’obéissance et des réseaux normands à l’œuvre pendant cette période. / Between 1378 and 1417, the Catholic Church was divided between two, and then three contending popes. While Urban VI and his successors settled in Rome, Clement VII and his successor, Benedict XIII, returned to Avignon. This dissertation documents and analyses the multiple experiences known in Normandy in reaction to the Great Western Schism. Norman commitments to resolve this division were plural and they were expressed in numerous manners. Relying on Vatican archives, University of Paris and local archives, this study demonstrates the different reactions that coexisted in Normandy in response to the Great Western Schism. Although the Norman nobility was generally favourable to the Avignon popes, officially recognized by the King of France, important waves of resistance to that papacy were also expressed amongst Norman clergymen, prelates, as well as university students and professors. This resistance led some to choose exile, in order to recognize the Roman popes. Those Norman exilees, although they formed a modest community, had considerable influence in the Roman obedience, and they have been the object of very little scholarly attention. Amongst the vast majority of those who remained in the obedience of Clement VII, many Norman intellectuals were known for being very critical, even being enemies of the Avignon popes. The relationships that exiled Normans maintained with their colleagues who remained in Clément VII’s obedience played a very important role in the dialogue between obediences that led to the council of Pisa in 1409. This dissertation highlights the multiplicity of Norman attitudes in response to the Great Western Schism, it deepens our knowledge of the various Norman groups touched by the division and it improves our understanding of the different debates that surrounded the crisis. It also allows to further the reflection on the questions of how the schism affected the notion of obedience, and of the Norman networks at work during that period.

This dissertation investigates how two fifth-century bishops of Rome, Leo I (440-461) and Gelasius (492-496) understood and opposed heresy. More specifically, by stressing the contested character of heresy and the at times optative nature of the bishop of Rome’s opposition to it, this dissertation hopes to provide a new perspective on how Leo and Gelasius imagined and justified the authority of the Apostolic See in an uncertain world. To accomplish this task, this dissertation considers Leo and Gelasius’ opposition to various different heresies and details the methods by which they were opposed. This will be done through an examination of the records of synods, Roman law, other contemporary narrative sources, but especially through the letters and tractates of Leo and Gelasius themselves, carefully read and considered in their fifth-century context. Furthermore, it is argued that the history of the development of the ideas of heresy and orthodoxy were profoundly connected with Rome’s emerging importance as a locus of authentic Christian teachings; the history of the bishops of Rome cannot be told without examining the history of heresy and orthodoxy and vice versa. Because orthodoxy and heresy were not tangible historical phenomena but rather were malleable categories that emerged as part of a wider discourse of Christian identity construction, the bishops of Rome were not in every case the unqualified enemies of heresy. Instead, their definition of heterodox belief and their opposition to religious deviance were complex, often qualified and always historically contingent. This study seeks to investigate the way in which Leo and Gelasius mobilized the language of heresiology in order to convince Christians in the Latin west and the Greek east, as well as the imperial authorities, that Rome’s interpretations were legitimate and binding.

Entre 1378 et 1417, l’Église est d’abord divisée entre deux, puis entre trois papes concurrents. Alors qu’Urbain VI et ses successeurs s’installent à Rome, Clément VII et son successeur rentrent en Avignon. Cette thèse répertorie et analyse les différentes expériences normandes en réponse au Grand Schisme d’Occident. Les engagements normands pour résoudre le schisme sont pluriels et s’expriment différemment selon les milieux. S’appuyant sur des sources diverses telles que le Registre des suppliques des archives du Vatican, les archives de l’Université de Paris et les archives locales, elle met en évidence les différents courants qui ont coexisté en Normandie en réaction au Grand Schisme d’Occident. Alors que la noblesse normande était généralement favorable aux papes d’Avignon, reconnus officiellement par le roi de France, d’importants courants de résistance envers cette papauté se sont aussi manifestés dans les milieux universitaires et au sein du clergé normand, poussant même certains à choisir l’exil en terre urbaniste. Ces exilés normands, bien que peu nombreux, ont exercé une influence considérable et ont été peu étudiés en tant que groupe auparavant. Parmi l’importante majorité de ceux qui restèrent dans l’obédience avignonnaise, plusieurs intellectuels normands furent pourtant reconnus comme étant d’acerbes critiques, voire des ennemis de Clément VII et de Benoît XIII. Les liens qu’ont maintenus les exilés normands avec leurs collègues restés en terre clémentiste ont joué un rôle appréciable dans le rapprochement des obédiences opposées au début du XVe siècle. La présente thèse permet de mettre en lumière les multiples attitudes normandes en réponse au schisme, d’approfondir la connaissance portant sur les milieux normands touchés par la crise, ainsi que sur les débats qui l’ont entourée, et de poursuivre la réflexion sur la question de l’obéissance et des réseaux normands à l’œuvre pendant cette période. / Between 1378 and 1417, the Catholic Church was divided between two, and then three contending popes. While Urban VI and his successors settled in Rome, Clement VII and his successor, Benedict XIII, returned to Avignon. This dissertation documents and analyses the multiple experiences known in Normandy in reaction to the Great Western Schism. Norman commitments to resolve this division were plural and they were expressed in numerous manners. Relying on Vatican archives, University of Paris and local archives, this study demonstrates the different reactions that coexisted in Normandy in response to the Great Western Schism. Although the Norman nobility was generally favourable to the Avignon popes, officially recognized by the King of France, important waves of resistance to that papacy were also expressed amongst Norman clergymen, prelates, as well as university students and professors. This resistance led some to choose exile, in order to recognize the Roman popes. Those Norman exilees, although they formed a modest community, had considerable influence in the Roman obedience, and they have been the object of very little scholarly attention. Amongst the vast majority of those who remained in the obedience of Clement VII, many Norman intellectuals were known for being very critical, even being enemies of the Avignon popes. The relationships that exiled Normans maintained with their colleagues who remained in Clément VII’s obedience played a very important role in the dialogue between obediences that led to the council of Pisa in 1409. This dissertation highlights the multiplicity of Norman attitudes in response to the Great Western Schism, it deepens our knowledge of the various Norman groups touched by the division and it improves our understanding of the different debates that surrounded the crisis. It also allows to further the reflection on the questions of how the schism affected the notion of obedience, and of the Norman networks at work during that period.

Les XIVe et XVe siècles sont une époque de bouleversements des valeurs spirituelles et morales accompagnés d’un éveil de l’opinion publique. L’État se construit et autour du roi une société politique se constitue : ce sont les principaux protagonistes des chroniques. L'étude du scandale aux XIVe et XVe siècles d'après les chroniques contemporaines offre un panel d'exemples variés permettant l’analyse de pratiques ou de discours que l’on peut qualifier d’émotionnels. Ces recherches se tournent vers une histoire politique plus attentive aux acteurs qui jouent un rôle important dans l’histoire des pouvoirs. Les textes permettent de retrouver la définition du scandale donnée par les chroniqueurs. Elle sort des cadres officiels pour devenir celle de l'auteur, lui-même se faisant le reflet des sensibilités. C’est un événement qui choque, sort de la norme et provoque du bruit et du tapage. Il heurte la morale et cause l'indignation lorsque les affaires sont mises au grand jour. Les chroniqueurs partagent avec leurs contemporains une peur réelle du scandale et de ses conséquences. Il faut le dénoncer et y mettre fin pour échapper à la colère divine qu'il peut susciter. L'analyse du vocabulaire et de la communication construite autour de cette notion permet de comprendre comment le scandale est perçu et défini par ses acteurs. Le rôle joué par le pouvoir royal dans la gestion de ces affaires montre que celui-ci, à la fin du XVe siècle tend vers une institutionnalisation du scandale. / The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are times of upheavals in spiritual and moral values followed by a wakening of public opinion. The State is arising as well as a political society which represents, along the king, the main actors in chronicles. The study of scandal in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries according to contemporary chronicles offers a range of diversified examples which enable the study of practices or speeches that can be qualified as emotional. These studies are part of a political history more attentive to the actors who seem to play an important role in the history of powers. Texts allow to find the definition of the scandal given by the chroniclers. It goes beyond official frameworks to become that of the author who reflects himself the sensibilities. Scandal appears to be shocking and it represents what oversteps the norm and triggers rumour and fuss. It goes against all conventions and causes indignation when the light is thrown on. Chroniclers share with their contemporaries a real fear of scandal and its consequences so it has to be denounced and ended in order to avoid the divine wrath that can be lead to.The analysis of the vocabulary and the communication built around this notion allow to understand how the scandal is perceived and defined by the actors. The role played by the royal power in the management of its affairs shows that this one, at the end of the fifteenth century, moves towards an institutionalization of the scandal.

The aim of this thesis is to consider the knowledge and use of law by John of Salisbury, evaluating what he thought law should be, whence it originated and how it related to aspects of society, for example the institutions of the monarch and the church. For this purpose, the main evidence used will be Historia Pontificalis, Policraticus and the large corpus of letters. Chapter One is entitled Types of Law and gives an outline of the main types of law as John saw them. Chapter Two is entitled Canon Law. This chapter is devoted entirely to the study of John's knowledge and use of canon law. In this chapter, consideration will be made to what canon law John appears to have known and how John used this knowledge within his written work. Chapter Three, entitled King and Law, focuses upon John of Salisbury's opinion of the relationship between the monarch and the law. Chapter Four, Theory of Law: Church and King considers John's ideas on the relationship between church and monarch. Attention will also be paid to how he conveyed his ideas during the papal schism and the Becket dispute as well as John's ideas on judges. Chapter Five is entitled Law in Practice: Church and King, whereby analysis will be made of how John sees the monarch's involvement in issues such as church elections.

The emperor Justinian's religious policy has sometimes been characterized as haphazard or incoherent. This dissertation examines religious policy in the Roman Empire from the accession of the emperor Justin to the inception of the Three Chapters controversy in the mid 540's AD. It considers the resolution of the Acacian Schism, Justinian's apparent ambivalence with regard to the Theopaschite formula, the attempt to court the anti-Chalcedonians in Constantinople in the period leading up to the Council of 536, and the relationship between the genesis of the Three Chapters and Second Origenist controversies. Even during these seemingly disparate episodes, this dissertation argues that it is possible to account for the apparent incoherence of this period. To do so, we create an account which includes and appreciates the embeddedness of imperial policy within a social context with two key features. First, we must bear in mind the shifting interests and information available to the individual agents through and over whom the emperor hoped to project influence. Second, we must identify the shifting and hardening symbolic and social boundaries established through the interactions of these same, competing agents. These form the basis for in- and out-group categorization. The individual interests of individual people—whether Justinian, Vitalian, Dioscorus, Leontius, Eusebius, Theodore Askidas, or Pelagius—within complex networks must always be accounted for to give a complete picture. When this social context is accounted for, Justinian's approach appears as that of a rational actor, having incomplete information, with consistent policy goals, working within inconsistent constraints to achieve those goals.

During the period 1884-1925 Ethiopian-type schisms from mission churches occurred for a number of reasons. Generalisations of these reasons have been made by numerous authors. By generalising the causes of schism the particular reasons why each independent church 1 eader 1 eft the mission church are ignored. The thesis shows how each schism was due to unique circumstances in the mission church as well as to factors, for example, the personal feelings of the independent church leader. In each case there was a point of no return when the founder of the independent church no longer felt he could accept the status quo. There were two government commissions that investigated the independent or "separatist" churches during these years - the South African Native Affairs Commission of 1903-1905 and the 1925 South African Native Affairs Commission which investigated the "Separatist Churches". The testimony of the white government officials and missionaries and the black church leaders has been compared with the findings in the reports. Four case studies are investigated to show how general causes of schism may occur for a number of years until a reason, peculiar to the particular independent church, manifests itself and leads to the formation of an independent church. The case studies are the Ethiopian Church and related independent groups, the independent churches which joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1896 with the Ethiopian Church but later left to form their own churches, for example the Order of Ethiopia, schisms from the Presbyterian Church during the 1890' s and the Independent Methodist Church. / Christian, Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th (Church History)

During the period 1884-1925 Ethiopian-type schisms from mission churches occurred for a number of reasons. Generalisations of these reasons have been made by numerous authors. By generalising the causes of schism the particular reasons why each independent church 1 eader 1 eft the mission church are ignored. The thesis shows how each schism was due to unique circumstances in the mission church as well as to factors, for example, the personal feelings of the independent church leader. In each case there was a point of no return when the founder of the independent church no longer felt he could accept the status quo. There were two government commissions that investigated the independent or "separatist" churches during these years - the South African Native Affairs Commission of 1903-1905 and the 1925 South African Native Affairs Commission which investigated the "Separatist Churches". The testimony of the white government officials and missionaries and the black church leaders has been compared with the findings in the reports. Four case studies are investigated to show how general causes of schism may occur for a number of years until a reason, peculiar to the particular independent church, manifests itself and leads to the formation of an independent church. The case studies are the Ethiopian Church and related independent groups, the independent churches which joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1896 with the Ethiopian Church but later left to form their own churches, for example the Order of Ethiopia, schisms from the Presbyterian Church during the 1890' s and the Independent Methodist Church. / Christian, Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th (Church History)

0 ABSTRACT In my thesis I focus on the political situation in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of France during the Great Western Schism, particularly its first two thirds. I put emphasis on the personality of Honoré Bovet, who was a diplomat and a messenger of the French king and who visited the court of the Bohemian king, Wecleslas IV. in 1399 My work is based on primary and secondary sources and scientific and specialised literature concerning the subject mentioned above. In addition I made use of my one- semester study program in France where I attended the lectures of and consultations with French medieval historians. First I describe in the thesis the ecclesiastical and political situation in both kingdoms. The next chapters are dedicated to the personality of Honoré Bovet and his writings related to his opinion on the Great Western Schism and the church in general. As a result of the research I present a general attitude of the French Kingdom to the Bohemian Kingdom, particularly king Wenceslas IV, in the period of the Great Western Schism and the dual papacy. Moreover, based on his writings I express Bovet's view of the Schism and the personalities involved in the Schism.