The justification of property ownership based on individual subjective rights is tightly bound to humanist moral perspectives. God is left out as irrelevant to the just grounds of ownership, which is established primarily on the basis of human self-referential, moral capacity. This thesis aims at developing an alternative justification, both for property as an institution and as a private holding, with a view to bringing God back into the centre stage and thereby placing property ownership on the objective concept of right. A tradition hitherto generally left unnoticed, yet uncovered here as the source of inspiration, vests the whole project with a moral-teleological tone. The tradition, enunciated by St. Augustine and developed by St. Bonaventure and John Wyclif, invites us to see property from the perspective of a moral end: it ought to be used for the love of God and neighbours, and as such it can be owned only by the just. In spite of important insights into the moral nature of property, the Augustinian thesis not only fails to spell out what ‘use for love’ means but also suffers from elitism. Nor does it offer an adequate justification of private property. Such weaknesses call for revision. When we reinterpret the Augustinian thesis through the concept of the divine imperative of service coupled with a proper understanding of human work, property acquires a distinctive justification. Property, as an institution, is justified as a requisite for carrying out God’s redemptive work towards the world. From this general justification ensues the particular justification. We hold property as specifically ‘mine,’ since each person’s ordained mission to participate in God’s work requires a uniquely personal material means, although the recognition and fulfilment of individual mission still demands communal efforts. The duty to carry out the God-commanded mission at first allows us to possess private property only in a non-proprietorial and non-exclusive manner. Yet in the prevailing condition of economic scarcity and human greed, civil jurisdiction must provide a structure of rights to enforce property institution. As God’s invitation for the transformation of the world is a universal command, everybody should have a minimum of property, and yet in differentiation of the scope and kinds commensurate with the particularities of individual mission.

Church growth missiology has been severely criticized by ecumenical, but also by evangelical missiologists. This often led to its rejection as it was considered incompatible with other missiological approaches. But church growth does deal effectively with important issues as other missiologies do. In light of Martin Luther's interpretation of the First Commandment a more general wholistic missiological approach is requested, which considers the full spectrum of human needs, and under which church growth can function with other missiologies together. The treatment of the task of missiology and the unity by attitude of the missiologist contribute to the argument. Therefore four major criticisms brought forth against church growth are dealt with in order to evaluate and finally suggest a potential theological compatibility of this approach with other missiologies. This is further confirmed by a brief introduction to important elements of the present status of church growth theory development / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Th. M. (Missiology)

Text in Afrikaans / Geloof wat in die kategese as deel van 'n to tale geloofsvormingsproses op die tafel kom, moet holisties-ekosistemies verstaan word met die 'hic et nunc'- relevansie daarvan as 'n kwalifiserende maatstaf. Geloof so gesien, behoort in die kategesemateriaal van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk na vore te kom. Die grootste deel van die studie is gewy aan die bree teoretisering in holisties-ekosistemiese perspektief. Vanuit 'n wetenskapsteoretiese vertrekpunt is 'n eie prakties-teologiese teorie oor geloof ontwerp wat geloof enersyds sien as die dinamiese interaksie van gawe, inhoud en respons, en andersyds as 'n aantal perspektiewe daarop. Hierdie teorie het as vertrekpunt gedien om sekere van die kontekste waarbinne geloof funksioneer, te beskryf, naamlik die koninkryk van God, die samelewing, die gemeente, die kategese, die adolessent, die jeugsubkultuur en die skool. In hierdie beskrywing is 'n omvattende teorie oor die kategese daargestel wat dit holisties-ekosistemies sien. Deur middel van inhoudsanalise is fasette van die teoriee getoets aan die lesse in die handboeke van die kategete wat met die adolessente in standerd 5 tot 8 werk. Daar is bevind dat die geloofsbeeld wat na vore kom steriel kognitief-vertikaal is. Oor 'n tydperk van meer as twintig jaar is weinig samelewingsrelevante kwessies aangeraak. Die belangwekkende dokumente Ras, Volk en Nasie en Kerk en Samelewing het nie gefunksioneer nie. In terme van die teorie oor geloof fasiliteer die kategesemateriaal nie relevante geloof midde-in die wereld waarin die adolessente moet glo nie. Dit het ook geblyk dat die inhoudsanalise as werkwyse en die meetinstrument wat ontwerp is, bruikbaar was. Die studie formuleer vanuit die teoriee en die empiriese ondersoek 'n aantal perspektiewe van waaruit die kategese en die lesmateriaal daarvan die kritiese hantering van die verhouding kognitief-affektief-konatief en die gerigtheid individueel-vertikaal, horisontaal-ekklesiaal en horisontaal-sosiaal kan hanteer met die oog daarop dat die kerk sigself en die adolessente as deel daarvan, nie in 'n dogmatistiese ghetto in perk nie, maar vorm met die oog op 'n selfstandige en relevante geloofsfunksionering op die geloof stog in die woestyn van die wereld met die oog op die realisering van die Ryk van God. / Faith which is handled in catechesis as part of the total process of the formation of faith should be understood in a holistic-ecosystemic way with its 'hic et nunc' relevance as a qualifying criterion. It should also appear in this form in the material for catechesis in the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk. The greater part of the study focuses on broad theorising from a holistic-ecosystemic perspective. An independent practical-theological theory on faith is developed from a scientific-theoretical basis. This theory sees faith as a dynamic interaction of gift, content and response on the one hand and a number of different perspectives on the other. It serves as the point of departure for describing some of the contexts in which faith functions, namely the kingdom of God, society, the community, catechesis, the adolescent, the youth subculture and the school. In the process a comprehensive theory about catechesis is developed which sees it holistically ecosystemically. Content analysis is used to test aspects of the theories against the lessons in the manuals for catechists working with adolescents in standards 5 to 8. The resultant image of faith is found to be cognitively-vertically sterile. Over a period of more than twenty years few socially relevant issues were touched on. The important documents Ras, Volk en Nasie and Kerk en Samelewing did not function. In terms of the theory of faith this material for catechesis does not facilitate relevant faith in the world in which the adolescent has to have faith. It is also apparent that content analysis as a method and the measuring instrument used were suitable. Using the theories and the empirical investigation the study formulates a number of perspectives from which catechesis and the lesson material can deal with the critical handling of the relationship cognitively-affectively-conatively and the directedness individually-vertically, horizontally-ecclesially and horizontally-socially so that the church does not imprison itself and its adolescent members in a dogmatistic ghetto, but shapes them so that their faith can function independently and relevantly on the way of faith through the desert of the world with a view to realise the kingdom of God. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th. D. (Praktiese Teologie)

This study examines the rise, development, and crisis of theological encyclopaedia in nineteenth-century Germany. As introductory textbooks for theological study in the university, works of theological encyclopaedia addressed the pressing questions facing theology as a ‘science’ (Wissenschaft), a rigorous, critical discipline deserving of a seat in the modern university. The project of theological encyclopaedia, I argue, functioned as the place where theological reflection and the requirements of the institutional setting in which that reflection occurred—here the German university—converged. I explore its roots as a pioneering idealist model for organizing knowledge in the German university system in the late eighteenth century. I focus especially on Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), the father of modern Protestantism and principal intellectual architect of the University of Berlin (1810). Schleiermacher’s programme transformed the scholarly theological enterprise into one defined in terms of science. That transformation laid the groundwork for the later historicization of theology, which I investigate in the two predominant ‘schools’ of German university theology in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Hegelian ‘speculative’ school and ‘mediating theology’ (Vermittlungstheologie). Among the latter, I emphasize the remarkable international influence of the Swiss-German Karl Hagenbach (1801–74), whose theological encyclopaedia was among the most widely read theological books in German-speaking Europe from the 1830s through World War I. Finally, I analyze the project’s downfall in the context of Wilhelmine Germany and the Weimar Republic, beset by radical disciplinary specialization, a crisis of historicism, and the attacks of dialectical theology. Throughout, I contend that theological encyclopaedia represented the institutionalization of the idea of theology as science, which furnishes an explanatory grid for understanding the relationship between theology and the university. The project resulted in a powerful synthesis that fundamentally shaped the reigning theological paradigms in nineteenth-century Germany and beyond.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)