43:5; 44:4; 2 Chr 7:1,2), rejoices (Ps 16:9) and sings
A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF THE GLORY OF GOD
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER
OF DIVINITY IN THE DIVISION OF THEOLOLGICAL
STUDIES; BY PHILIPPE PAUL-LUC VIGUIER
SUN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
MAY, 2012
Christians often summarize the ultimate
purpose of the believer with the glory of God (1 Cor
10:31). But what is this glory? How does it help us
understand who God is and how we are to relate to
Him? What is implied by this concept?
Terms relating to God’s glory are very frequent
in the Scriptures, to the extent that many fail to see how
significant the particularities of each term in their
contexts can be understood.1 In both theological and
devotional writings, words pertaining to God’s glory are
heavily used, yet seldom are they precisely defined.
Consequently, many have a vague and ambiguous
understanding of God’s glory.2
But is it possible to set forth a working definition of
God’s glory that would do justice to its meaning?
According to Culver, it is almost impossible. The closer
comment he gives to a definition is a disclaimer,
The glory of God has several biblical senses. The glory
which was the Son’s ‘before the foundation of the world
was’ is the ‘essential’ or ‘uncreated glory’ so mysterious
that no one of the several sources I have consulted
seems to know what to say about it. Systematic
theology books, such as Berkhof’s and Erickson’s do not
even mention the word “glory” in their index.4 Others,
like Grudem, attempt to define it, but in a manner far
from being conclusive: “God’s glory is the created
brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of Himself.”5
One would simply need to combine the definition of
Grudem with the first affirmation of the Westminster’s
catechism to show the desperate need for more depth
of definition: “The chief end of man is to be a brightness
that surrounds God’s revelation of Himself and to enjoy
Him forever.”6
Words fall short, but not without reason. God’s glory is
too active to fall into a simplified man-made
compartmentalization of the subject. Indeed, we see in
the Scriptures that this glory is very active and
diversified. It comes (Isa 60:13; Ezek 43:2, 4; Mic 1:15),
departs (1 Sam 4:21–22; Hos 10:5), passes (Exod 33:22)
goes down (Ps 49:18), goes up (Ezek 11:23), goes out
(Ezek 10:18), arouses oneself (Ps 57:9), arises (Ezek
3:12; 10:4), flies away (Hos 9:11), stands (Ezek 3:23;
10:18), dwells (Ps 85:10), sends (Zach 2:12), shines (Isa
60:1), fills (Exod 40:34,35; 1 Kgs 8:11; 2 Chr 5:14; Ezek
praise (Ps 30:13).7
Jonathan Edwards, the American theologian giving
some of the best discussions on the subject, could not
find satisfaction in a simple straight-forward definition.
Roland, in his dissertation on Jonathan Edwards’
definition of glory, concluded:
There is evidence that Edwards employs the term
“glory” with a complex meaning so carefully detailed
that it becomes more of a doctrine than a definition.
Such intense reflection as Edwards devotes to the term,
indicates that it is much more than a simple word-
concept to him and something significant will be lost if
we treat it with a common understanding.8
Jonathan Edwards knew that God’s glory was a deep
subject that needed to be analyzed and broken down
into sub-categories to be understood.9 This indeed will
be the aim of our study. Like a diamond, the glory of
God is a treasure with many facets. And as much as
these are diverse, they are still connected. The goal of
our thesis, in consequence, will be to identify the key
aspects of God’s glory, in order to break down the
generality of the term that leads to ambiguity and
confusion. And as we polish the frame, the divisions and
the angles of the diamond, we hope that its brightness
and beauty will only shine more. God’s glory is a
complex subject, but we believe that it is definable and
understandable. As we analyze Scriptural evidence, we
will prove that God’s glory is not a distant, confusing and
esoteric reality, but is approachable, knowable,
applicable, and immanent, especially through the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
The Approach of This Thesis
We believe that the glory of God, if not understood well,
can have some major ramifications in one’s
understanding of the purpose of life and the hope of
heaven. If truly the hope of believers is that of glory (Col
1:27), then it is paramount for the followers of Christ to
understand what are the Scriptural implications in
relation to this term. God’s glory is essential as it is
prevalent in the Scriptures, but it is also important
because without a keen understanding of it, “glorifying”
God, the principal aim of the believers, also remains
ambiguous.
Because of the limited length and scope of this thesis,
we will focus mainly on developing an introductory
understanding of God’s glory based on key biblical terms
and passages from both the OT and the NT. In the first
chapter, we will look at seven secondary Hebrew terms
used as synonyms of “glory” in the Old Testament, as
well as the main Hebrew term kabod, the Greek term
doxa, and the extra-biblical term Shekinah. By bringing
into light the different nuances associated with the
words relating to the concept of glory, we hope that our
work will help to lay a theological foundation.
In the next pages and paragraphs, we will work toward
the identification of God’s glory according to the
following definition: God’s glory is the ever-increasing
revelation of His essence and purposes, displayed
through His Word, His works and His felt-presence,
which calls for the receiver’s unity and reflection, and
tells of His incomparable goodness, beauty, and praise-
worthiness as perfect King, Savior, Judge and Creator,
and of the unequaled reputation attached to His
name.10
The many facets of this statement will also be
broken down into eight main categories, that of God’s
kingly glory, His beaming glory, His essential glory, His
revelatory glory, His praise-worthy glory, His messianic
glory, His participatory glory and His eschatological
glory. As we develop our argument in the next chapters,
we will show that God’s beaming glory, which is often
found at the center of the discussion on God’s glory, is
only one of many aspects of the subject, and not
necessarily the most important. We will unfold two key
passages, one from the Old Testament, Exodus 33:12–
34:35, and one from the New Testament, John 1:1–18,
both narratives. As we exegete those texts, we will see
how God reveals His glory in multi-faceted ways,
painting a picture which is accessible, comprehensible,
attractive and immanent. The summary of our studies
will be gathered in the conclusion, where we will also
expand in the application of glorifying God. We
understand that God’s glory is a broad topic which
cannot be fully assessed in this study, but we hope that
the theological foundation laid in the following chapters
will help for further work on the subject.
A “TRINITARIAN” THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS? AN
AUGUSTINIAN ASSESSMENT OF SEVERAL RECENT
PROPOSALS
By Keith Edward Johnson
Department of Religion; Duke University
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy in the Department of
Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University
2007
Immanuel Kant declared that the doctrine of
the Trinity “has no practical
relevance” whatsoever.1 Kant would be hard-pressed to
make this criticism stick today.
Contemporary theology is driven by a quest to make the
doctrine of the Trinity “relevant” to a wide variety of
concerns. Books and articles abound on the Trinity and
personhood, the Trinity and ecclesiology, the Trinity and
gender, the Trinity and marriage, the Trinity and societal
relations, the Trinity and political theory, the Trinity
and science, the Trinity and ecology, etc. Theologians of
every stripe are attempting to relate trinitarian doctrine
to a wide variety of contemporary issues.
Recently a number of Christian theologians have
suggested that the doctrine of the Trinity holds the key
to Christian understanding of religious diversity.
According to one theologian, “God has something to do
with the fact that a diversity of independent ways of
salvation appears in the history of the world. This
diversity reflects the diversity or plurality within the
divine life itself, of which the Christian doctrine of the
Trinity provides an account. The mystery of the Trinity is
for Christians the ultimate foundation for pluralism.”2
Similarly,
I believe that the Trinitarian doctrine of God
facilitates an authentically Christian
response to the world religions because it takes
the particularities of history
seriously as well as the universality of God’s
action. This is so because the
doctrine seeks to affirm that God has disclosed
himself unreservedly and
irreversibly in the contingencies and
particularity of the person Jesus. But within
Trinitarian thinking, we are also able to affirm,
in the action of the third person,
that God is constantly revealing himself through
history by means of the Holy
Spirit. . . . Such a Trinitarian orientation thereby
facilitates an openness to the
world religions, for the activity of the Spirit
cannot be confined to Christianity.3
Finally, “It is impossible to believe in the Trinity
instead of the distinctive claims of all other religions. If
Trinity is real, then many of these specific religious
claims and ends must be real also. . . . The Trinity is a
map that finds room for, indeed requires, concrete
truth in other religions.”Although these statements
reflect a growing consensus that the doctrine of the
Trinity provides the key to a proper understanding of
the relationship between Christianity and other
religions, I will argue that these trinitarian claims merit
careful
scrutiny. Thus, the purpose of my investigation is to
examine critically contemporary appeal to trinitarian
doctrine in the Christian theology of religions; however,
before I outline the nature of my investigation in greater
detail, we need to explore two developments that
provide a crucial context for this investigation: the
contemporary trinitarian renaissance and the rise of the
Christian theology of religions. After exploring these
developments, I will chronologically survey recent
appeal to the Trinity in the theology of religions. I will
close the chapter by describing the purpose, scope
and method of my investigation.
1.1 The Contemporary Trinitarian Revival
A number of excellent studies have been written
chronicling the renaissance of trinitarian theology in the
twentieth century and there is no need to repeat at
length
what others have said.5 For the purpose of this study, it
will suffice to examine the work of Karl Barth and Karl
Rahner with attention to themes in their work that have
shaped the contemporary revival.
THE SCHOOL OF MISSION AND THEOLOGY (MHS)
THESIS TOPIC:
CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AT THE
WORKPLACE:
EXPERIENCES BY SOME NEPALESE EMPLOYEES IN
NORWAY
THESIS FOR:
MASTER OF GLOBAL STUDIES
SUBMITTED BY CANDIDATE:
SUTTHASINEE KATHAYAT
STAVANGER, NORWAY
MAY 2012
1.1 Background of the Study
1.1.1 Cultural Diversity in Globalization
Globalizations today allow people living
together. Many countries in the world are having
mixture of cultures, traditions, religious, ethnics, and
identities by refugees, asylum, immigrants and other
groups who have moved from their home countries to
other countries. Therefore, these all of mixtures can
make people in social have different
perspectives, conflicts and problems.
Globalization is the process by which businesses
or any other organizations develop
international influence or start operating on an
international scale. The evolving globalization requires
and enables that people having diverse cultures, beliefs
and backgrounds interact each other more than before.
These days, organizations need people from diverse
backgrounds as their employees (or labors) in order to
have their presence and influence on international
market, and in order to have more creative ideas.
However
the diversity of labor in the workplace has become an
important issue to manage (Mazur
2010, 5).
These days, European workplaces are
experiencing major transformations due to the
cultural diversity of those living, working and being
educated within up coming from their host country to
European country. When this is said, the cultural
diversity at workplace in Norway is also interesting to
watch. These days, Norway is experiencing
more and more immigrations and an increasing
immigrant workforce. Nepalese immigrants are one
example, and they are also the focus of this thesis. Like
in all other European countries with market economy,
Norwegian companies have started to pay
more attention to cultural diversity at the workplace.
For example, Norwegian companies are now discussing
problems of communication in the workplace, problems
which can be perceived as being rooted in the cultural
diversity of their company, in order to understand how
to solve this problem (Aakervik et.al, 2006, 48).
For example, figure one (Website, 2012)
illustrates what may happen during a meeting in
a culturally diverse environment. The picture shows that
the problem of misunderstanding can happen easily if
the employees do not have knowledge about how to
communicate within a culturally diverse group.
1.1.2 Nepalese Hindu Employees in Norway
Nepal is a country of rich geography and has
several cultures practices. Nepal is the
birthplace of Buddha and origin of Hinduism and thus
by many considered a holy, beautiful place that is
beautiful. Hindus will often say that Hinduism is not so
much a religion for them, but Hinduism is the way of life
of Hindus (Flood 1996, I). Hinduism in
globalization is the kind of religion that has wide appeal
and alongside with other world religions such as
Christian, Islam, and Buddhism. Moreover, in the eyes of
Westerner and Hindus diaspora communities, Hinduism
is a religion belonging only for non-western cultures and
religions only (Flood 1996, 265).
Since the last century, Hindus have been spread
to other parts of the world through a
process of migration. One of the reasons for this is that
the British exported labour in order to build railways
and after that there are many places of Hindu diaspora
all around the world (Flood 1996, 266). According to
one report, there are about 893 of Nepalese immigrants
in Norway as of 1st January 2011 (Statistics Norway,
2011).
Hinduism is the major religion among Nepalese
immigrants in Nepal and in Norway. But
in their workplace in Norway, Nepalese people are a
minority group and Hinduism is therefore being a
minority religion due to the fact that the largest religion
in Norway is Christianity. It is thus possible that issues or
problems related to cultural and religious diversity
between majority and minority groups in Norwegian
workforces emerge.
The above mentioned background and the case
of Nepalese workers in Norway triggered
my motivation and interest to do research and analysis
regarding the problem of cultural
and religious diversity between majority and minority
groups at Norwegian workplace,
especially in the case of Nepalese Hindu employees in
Norway. The researcher cannotfind any previous study
(and research) in this area – research about cultural and
religious diversity at workplace of Nepalese employees
in Norway. That means that this research might be the
first one towards this particular minority group.
1.2 Objectives and Research Questions of the Study
Globalization today allows people to live in a
multi-cultural society. Therefore the management of
cultural diversity at the workplace is an important topic
for many organizations due to the fact that there are
more and more migrant workers around.1
(Aakervik et.al, 2006, 16).
Before 1970’s, Norway had only experienced
small-scale immigration. Basically they
connected with other country only with regard to trade
and shipping (Aakervik et.al, 2006, 16). But today
Norway has become more multicultural than it was
before due to the coming of immigrants from all around
the world. After the discovery of the oil and gas,
Norwegian labor market has also attracted international
labors due to the good income
and attractive job market (Lindholm, Eidsvåg & Sveen
2004, 777). Moreover, an increasing number of migrant
worker is coming to Norway, so the country, and its
workplaces, has gradually become more. Because of
this, in 1999 Norway established a foundation called
“Stiftelsen Mangfold i Arbeidslivet (MiA)” (Aakervik et.al,
2006, 15).
This foundation is a non-profit organization whose aim
to develop for a private and public business in order to
advance equal opportunities for all employees. This
foundation has several projects and works on conflict
management training, managing
diversity training, language and vocational training and
also on recruitment and qualification based on diversity
(Aakervik et.al, 2006, 15).
After looking form this foundation’s research,
this thesis also interesting to analyzing
about what the problem of employees at the diversity
workplace by considers with the case of Nepalese
immigrants in Norway. The research will be focused on
the impact of cultural and religious diversity in a
workplace. Therefore, the aims and objectives of this
thesis are to highlight and study the following issues;
• How Nepalese employees feel and think about cultural
and religious diversity at their workplace
• How they interact with other employees in the
workplace environment.
• How the Hindu religion (as a minority religion) plays a
role in their life in workplace
• Do Nepalese employees has experience any religious
discrimination at the workplace
• How religious discrimination may affect Nepalese
employees in their workplaces in Norway
Furthermore, to study the case of Nepalese employees
in Western society appears significant as they are from
entirely different eastern collectivist society and not
from the western individualist culture. Some of the
social, culture, and tradition patterns at the workplace
might be strange for them and others might be
inspiring. For example, how do
inspiring social and cultural patterns at the workplace
contribute to recreate new social
norm at the workplace for them? How do they judge
those things and adopt them in their daily life at the
workplace in their own way? Responding to this all
aspects might create a new social reality for other
Nepalese employees in future who’s come to work in
Norway or even other country.
In addition, a study of the case of Nepalese
employees in Norway is interesting and enlightening for
two reasons. First, Nepalese employees have two
experiences as employees in Nepal and Norway. What
do they experience as an employee in Nepal and
Norway? How do they posit themselves and how are
they being positioned in different places having different
cultural, tradition, religion, and society at the
workplace. Second, they have resettled for their job in
Norway, one of the most developed countries in the
world, which have high technologies, high education
level, and living status. It is important to know how they
are adapting and managing their own social- cultural
situation and religion at the workplace. Therefore, the
main purpose of the study is to identify and explore
“The impact of cultural and religious diversity at the
workplace” of Nepalese employees in Norway with
focus on their Norwegian workplace experiences.
PAULINE THEOLOGY: A STUDY IN GALATIANS
By Joel D. Martin
A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of
Bucknell University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Bachelor of Science with Honors in Classics; Tuesday,
May 04, 2004
At the end of the 19th century many physicists
concluded the field of physics was exhausted. There was
little to do but collect factual information. No new
theories or ideas could be generated. Such a naïve
notion was turned inside out with the advent of men
like Einstein and Planck. Physics was no longer under
wraps but wide open for discovery. Along with the 19th-
century physicists, one can often assume that after
approximately 2000 years of study, the theology and
practice of Paul would be thoroughly known with little
to discover. This assumption, however, is entirely
untrue. Though much of Pauline theology is known,
much remains to be learned about Paul and
his theology. Few displays of his theology are richer than
Galatians.
In Galatians, Paul unfolds his defense for
justification and inclusion in the covenant by faith
against those who claim justification and covenantal
inclusion are by works of the Law. For Paul, justification
is a legal, forensic declaration of an unrighteous
individual as righteous before God, and the covenant is
a contract between God and man
with blessings and curses attached. Paul views God as
the supreme author and agent of all things who does all
things for his own glory. Therefore, for Paul, justification
by faith acknowledges the insufficiency of man to be
right before God and relies on God’s foreign
righteousness to make a man right, i.e. Christ’s
righteousness. When others contended that justification
and covenantal inclusion were based upon works of the
Law, Paul
vehemently argued against such a position. He argued
that justification by faith had precedence over the Law,
that the Law is unable to justify because it brings a
curse, that the Law was only meant to lead to Christ,
and that the Law was temporal. He also demonstrated
that Christ ushered in a new eschatological age in which
the true Israel, or the new Israel, were those who had
faith in Jesus Christ. The fact that believers are the new
Israel was demonstrated by their reception of the
promised Spirit, their rescue from slavery (which old
Israel had undergone in the exodus), their adoption as
sons (Israel was God’s firstborn), and their likeness in
faith to the Old Israelite heroes.
In order to more fully substantiate my
assertions of Pauline theology, I will first address the
historical context of the letter, which will include a brief
history of Judaism, the Gauls in Asia and their culture,
the early Christian church, and Paul himself. Then in the
second chapter, I will discuss issues pertaining to the
epistle itself, e.g. the epistle’s date (a highly disputed
matter with Galatians), its relation to the Book of Acts,
the genre of epistles in antiquity and early Christianity,
and the specific occasion which precipitated Paul’s
writing of Galatians. Once I have established the
context, in Chapter Three, I will present my translation
of Galatians, which reflects the conclusions of my own
research. Following the translation, I will provide a line-
by-line commentary that will discuss difficult and unique
words, Old Testament allusions, literary structures, and
textual and grammatical cruxes that pertain to my
thesis’ larger focus. Finally, I will draw upon the
conclusions outlined in the line-by-line commentary and
background material and synthesize them into a
summary of Paul’s theology and rhetoric concerning
salvation in the final chapter.
Therefore, I hope you will enjoy plumbing the
depths of Paul’s theology as
depicted in Galatians. Do not be like the 19th-century
physicists and presume that understanding of Paul’s
theology is completely exhausted. Rather, take a vibrant
journey of the mind into one of the greatest and most
influential thinkers of all times.
RELATING FAITH AND POLITICAL ACTION: UTOPIA IN
THE THEOLOGY OF GUSTAVO GUTIÉRREZ
A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School
of the University of Notre Dame
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
by Raymond Bautista Aguas, B.S., M.A.
Graduate Program in Theology
Notre Dame, Indiana; July 2007
In his theology of liberation, Gustavo Gutierrez
seeks to articulate the relationship between faith and
political action. This dissertation investigates Gutiérrez’s
understanding of liberation as a single complex process
with three interdependent dimensions: 1) economic,
political, and social emancipation; 2) the creation of a
new kind of humanity in a new kind of society
characterized by solidarity and justice; and 3) liberation
from sin for communion with God and others. He
discusses the notion of “utopia” as corresponding to the
second dimension above, and as the needed bridge
which allows for the fruitful relation of faith to political
action without confusion or collapse. The thesis
statement of this dissertation is that this notion of
utopia is more than just a topic in Gutierrez’s A
Theology of Liberation1; rather, it serves as a central,
unifying concept for his entire theological project.
Much has already been written on Gutiérrez’s
ideas especially on his theology of
liberation, and many authors discuss the notion of
utopia in Gutiérrez’s work, a fact consistent with the
argument for the importance of utopia in his theology.
However, the previous scholarship on Gutiérrez has
neglected how the concept of the vision of a future
society characterized by justice and solidarity functions
throughout his literary corpus, and how it can be
profitably used as an interpretive key for understanding
Gutiérrez.
This failure to identify the role that the concept of
utopia plays in organizing Gutiérrez’s theological
thought constitutes a significant lacuna in the secondary
literature on Gutiérrez’s theology. It is the contention of
this dissertation as well that Gutierrez himself has not
explicitly emphasized the importance of the notion of
utopia enough.
Authors Alfred Hennelly, Robert McAfee Brown,
and Gaspar Martinez have developed carefully written
and accurate descriptions of Gutiérrez’s theology
viewed as a whole.6 As such, they are extremely helpful
in providing insights into Gutiérrez’s thought, and all
mention Gutiérrez’s definition of utopia. Of these three,
however, only
Martinez attends to the concept of utopia in any length,
but he does not attempt to provide a careful and
extensive analysis of the idea of a more humane society
in Gutierrez’s thought. Since Martinez’s focus is rather
on how Karl Rahner’s theology influences Gutiérrez,
Martinez does not endeavor to study how the notion of
utopia functions throughout Gutiérrez’s theology, how it
can serve as a profitable interpretive key, nor how the
notion of utopia properly understood can serve as the
main defense against Gutiérrez’s critics, as this
dissertation will argue. Other authors approach
Gutiérrez’s theology with a different focus. Margaret
Campbell, for instance, investigates Gutiérrez’s theology
as a critical theory and
compares it with the thought of Jürgen Habermas.7
Philip Gibbs looks at Gutiérrez’s understanding of
revelation and compares it with those of Aloysius Pieris
and Jean-Marc Ela.8 Given their respective foci, neither
of these authors discusses the notion of utopia at any
significant length. Another significant interpreter of
Gutiérrez is Antonio Pernia, a
Filipino. In his doctoral dissertation (later published as a
book), he investigates Gutiérrez’s understanding of the
Kingdom of God in comparison with Leonardo Boff and
Juan Luis Segundo.9 Pernia discusses the notion of
utopia in relatively greater detail than do Campbell and
Gibbs, but he does not adequately assess its central role
throughout in relating faith and political action in A
Theology of Liberation (nor is that his intent).
Another Filipino theologian, Virgilio Ojoy, in his
dissertation (also later published as a book), focuses on
the relationship between Marxism and religion in
Gutiérrez’s thought, with an aim of appropriating a
Marxist reading of Gutiérrez’s theology for the
Philippines and the Church’s role there.10 Ojoy carefully
studies Gutiérrez’s theology, particularly Gutiérrez’s use
of the social sciences and aspects of Marxist thought,
but Ojoy does not discuss the notion of utopia nor its
role as mediating between faith and political action.
Another recent dissertation is that of Joyce
Mary Nora Murray’s.11 She writes about Gutiérrez’s
soteriology and the communal dimensions of salvation.
And while any discussion of Gutiérrez’s soteriology will
include a discussion of his notion of utopia, her focus is
not on the centrality of the notion of utopia in
Gutiérrez’s thought as that which
provides for the meaningful relation of faith to political
action without collapse.
Furthermore, she writes with an aim towards an
ecclesiological application in her native
Canada, further distinguishing her focus from that of
this dissertation. Curt Cadorette’s work is especially
important to this dissertation because he
discusses the notion of utopia in Gutiérrez’s theology
more than any of these previous authors.12 In his
doctoral dissertation (also later published as a book), he
discusses with some detail the origins of the notion of
utopia in Gutiérrez’s thought, carefully discussing the
thinkers to whom Gutiérrez is indebted. Cadorette then
extensively discusses why
and how utopia is different from ideology for Gutiérrez.
However, Cadorette does not carefully analyze utopia in
terms of its central role of mediating the dimensions of
liberation throughout Gutiérrez’s corpus. Thus, he does
not look at utopia as an interpretive key which can serve
as a unifying concept for the whole of Gutiérrez’s
theology. Furthermore, he does not look at how the
notion of utopia can serve as the basis for defending
Gutiérrez’s theology against the critics.
RESILIENCE AND CHRISTIAN VIRTUES
What the Psychosocial Sciences Offer for the renewal
of Thomas Aquinas’ Moral Theology of Fortitude
and Its Related Virtues
by Craig Steven Titus
Thesis presented to the Faculty of Theology
at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
to obtain a doctoral degree.
Fribourg; 2002

Although suffering and challenge demoralize
some humans, others cope and construct instead.
Rather than grinding to a halt, certain people hurdle the
obstacles or creatively maneuver around them. They
even make something positive out of the negative
situation. In the face of crisis, they not only survive but
also thrive.
“Resilience” is a concept used to shed light on
these phenomena. It underlines preventive and
therapeutic approaches that reinforce the resources of
children and adults, families and communities.
Resilience capacities involve coping well with difficulty,
actively resisting destructive pressures and rebuilding
positively after adversity.
However, we do not exercise these capacities in
equal measure. Humans faced with similar situations
end up in diverse spots. Some people manage
destructive life events more efficaciously. Others lose a
sense of meaning or emotional stability. Certain humans
find a positive outcome to the negative situation. Others
become aggressive and abusive, or drug or alcohol
dependent. What initiates and sustains a resilient use of
human resources? What renders some individuals and
groups more resilient than others? These questions are
not only pertinent for the psychosocial studies that
instigated the use of the resilience concept, but also for
moral approaches.1
In this book, I make the case that ethics and
moral theology2 can employ the resilience concept and
research to refocus moral analysis. They can thus better
integrate the potential personal and social resources
available for building character in the midst of
vicissitude, trial and loss. I shall address the following
questions, in particular: how does resilience research
contribute to a renewal of St. Thomas Aquinas’ virtue
theory and moral theology? Specifically, how does it
deepen our comprehension of moral development?
Particularly, how does it enhance our understanding of
fortitude and its related virtues?
This book’s title employs three disciplines:
psychosocial sciences, ethical theory and moral
theology. I put them into interdisciplinary dialogue. On
the one hand, I engage in an active exchange of ideas
between resilience research and Aquinas’ moral
theory. This discussion is philosophical. It employs
psychosocial studies on human resilience to revitalize
Aquinas’ moral anthropology and to understand the
virtues associated with fortitude. On the other
hand, I extend this conversation to a theological
dimension. In particular, I attempt to deepen moral
theology from a Roman Catholic perspective. This
renewal of moral theology requires not only the
properly theological sources of Scripture and Tradition,
but also
insights found in normative and descriptive sciences,
that is, philosophical ethics and psychosocial sciences. It
reflects upon the presence, action and influence of God
in human agency and society. I have chosen to revisit
Thomas Aquinas’ ethical theory and moral theology,
since his approach to virtue anthropology serves as a
valuable model for moral theory in interdisciplinary
dialogue with the findings of not only philosophical and
theological sciences, but also psychology and social
sciences.3 Aquinas’ experiential and realist metaphysical
teaching on the virtue of fortitude contributes to
understanding how we act in difficult situations. Authors
translate Aquinas’ term fortitudo as either “fortitude” or
“courage” in English.4 Contemporary philosophers, who
discuss this cardinal virtue, tend to employ more readily
the term “courage,” which etymologically finds its origin
in old French cuer and Latin cor (heart). Nonetheless,
other philosophers and theologians employ “fortitude,”
which finds its roots in the Latin fortis (strong). In this
work, we shall primarily use “fortitude” in translating
Aquinas’ fortitudo; yet we shall also use “courage” as its
synonym, as well as “courageous” and “courageously.”
Among the virtues, fortitude is the most obvious
dialogue partner with resilience research.
In chapter one, I investigate the resilience
perspective per se. Physicists have long used the term
“resilience” to refer to a material’s quality to resist
deformation or destruction. This limited usage has
inspired a more expansive approach in the psychosocial
sciences, which employ it to describe the individual and
social capacities to face vicissitude. How do humans
successfully face challenges and threats, suffering and
sorrow, confusion and loss? The psychosocial sciences
analyze human resilience as having three related facets:
first, to cope with hardship; second, to resist the
possible deformation of the competencies and integrity
of one’s community, family and self; and third, to
achieve a new proficiency out of the unfavorable
experience.
Each domain involves an opportunity for positive
growth in different ways. The three main strengths of
the psychosocial resilience perspective are that it
focuses on the resources on hand, instead of on
pathology per se;5 it seeks to identify promotable
patterns of coping,
constancy and construction; and it recognizes the
import of life-goals. Resilience outcomes indicate that
developmental and resilience tutors
(aids that promote resilience) require, more often than
not, growth through affective, intellectual and spiritual
trials. They involve keeping in contact with our larger
goals, while grappling with intermediate ones.
I also review resilience studies in order to
identify input forvirtue-based philosophical
anthropology. What are the factors and processes that
strengthen resilience outcomes? Which ones weaken
them? Chapter one synthetically presents the resilience
insights in the domains of human temperament and
emotions, as well as cognitive and volitional processes.
On the social level, it examines correlations in
and outside the family. Throughout, it distinguishes
physical, psychological, social and spiritual types of
resilience. Resilience insights can be counter-intuitive.
They can serve to break simplistic stereotypes. However,
in order to appreciate their potential, we need to
respect this simple resilience typology.
In chapter two, I address the challenges and
promises that resilience research offers for the
enhancement of virtue theory and moral theology. First,
I introduce Aquinas’ virtue-based moral theory.
Then I examine the way in which the psychosocial
sciences’ resilience findings can renew virtue theory and
moral theology. This section investigates some past and
current models of collaboration. The methodologies of
the psychosocial sciences, moral philosophy and
theology differ. The former grouping is more
observational and analytical. The latter is more reflexive
and synthetic. Nonetheless, both groups require
supporting anthropological theories that at a
philosophical level can join each other. I make a case for
a method inspired by Aquinas. It is a model for the
critical appropriation of current scientific insights and
human experience from within a faith perspective that
incorporates anthropological and theological insights
from Sacred scripture and Catholic Tradition. In the light
of human resilience in adversity, I then analyze
Aquinas’ position on moral theory and flourishing. He
asserts that human flourishing serves as the foundation
and guide for virtue theory and moral theology. Indeed,
Aquinas’ understanding of human flourishing is key for
understanding his virtue approach to finality and
human agency, duty and obligation, and more generally,
his moral anthropology. Without exhaustively discussing
Aquinas’ philosophical anthropology, I nonetheless
furnish its major features concerning human inclinations
and emotions, nature and grace, human finality and
flourishing. This basis permits me to ask: how can the
resilience perspective and findings benefit a virtue-
based theory? Resilience findings contribute content-
charged experience and hypotheses. They offer
narrative and theorized observations. They both
challenge and
confirm aspects of philosophical anthropology and
virtue theory, especially about human practices in
hardship. In turn, virtue theory can deepen the
resilience perspective and offer a deeper moral
anthropology. In particular, it enriches reductionistic
notions of resilience with insights into the
connaturalization of knowledge and the development of
human character.
In the second and third parts of the book
(chapters three through eight), I bring resilience
research into dialogue with the three virtue groups that
confront difficulty: namely fortitude, and the related
virtues of initiative-taking and endurance. I illustrate
how these virtues are structurally akin to the three
resilience domains. First, the exercise of each virtue
confronts the adversity itself. Second, it resists loss of
acquired competencies. Third, it builds something
positive out of the negative situation. These parts make
a rapprochement between the resilience findings and
each of these virtues through a renewed reading
of Aquinas’ virtue anthropology. I proceed with this
dialogue between Thomas and resilience findings in two
stages and two distinct methods.
In Part Two (chapters three, four and five), I
address Aquinas’ view on the natural virtues that
manage situations of danger and difficulty. This
philosophical effort offers a fitting discussion partner
for the psychosocial sciences, even though it outstrips
them in its normative and moral competency. On the
natural level, we revisit the virtues in terms of resilience
research for several reasons. Particularly when facing
hardships, it is not always personally evident which tack
to take. Aquinas thus affirms we each need to develop
prudent discernment. The development of virtue
requires time and experience.
Studies of actual situations of risk and danger
inquire how people have resiliently succeeded. What do
we learn from the resilience outcomes
for the present and future? How might we strengthen
basic human capacities in order to promote resilience
and diminish vulnerability? At this level, I speak of
moral, constructive and resisting types of resilience.
In Part Three (chapters six, seven and eight), I
examine the theological dimension of these virtues and
the resilience input. This level is admittedly moral
theology. It uses psychosocial insights, without co-
opting their scientific pretensions. It employs its own
anthropological reflections on the meaning of these
findings. This theological standpoint involves separating
the efficacy of virtues neither from their sources in
natural inclinations and capacities nor from their
sources in God’s constant presence. It identifies how
both
human and divine sources collaborate in particular
challenges and are present in the resilient results
manifest in Christian virtues. At this level, I speak of a
spiritual resilience, which involves the divine
support offered in the midst of human agency
Sinner, Sovereign, and Saint Calvinist Theology in the
Prayers of Queen Elizabeth I
By Scott R. Palmer
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master
of Arts; 2006
Sinner, Sovereign & Saint:
Calvinist Theology in the Prayers of Elizabeth I
Despite the dangers she faced as a Protestant
queen among a majority of male and Roman Catholic
princes, Elizabeth Tudor reigned over England forty-four
years and established the Protestant church in England,
finishing the work begun by her
brother Edward VI during his short reign before Mary’s
restoration of Catholicism. The Queen’s religious beliefs,
however, have been a source of
debate throughout the years. Only a handful of
historians have analysed Elizabeth’s devotional writings,
which include her translation of Margaret of Navarre’s
spiritual meditation The Mirror or Glass of the Sinful
Soul, her translation of a chapter of John Calvin’s
Institutes of the Christian Religion
concentrating on human depravity, and her multilingual
translations of English prayers composed by her
stepmother Queen Katherine Parr. As Elizabeth matured
and eventually ascended the throne, these early
translations influenced her own
prayers, many of which were circulated or published
during her lifetime as models of spiritual contemplation.
Within these prayers, Elizabeth adapts theological
concepts emphasized by John Calvin, particularly the
doctrines of human depravity and predestination, to
represent her own spiritual and political journey based
upon the Protestant plan for salvation.
On the spiritual front, Elizabeth confesses to being a
sinner who disobeys God in everything she does and
therefore would face eternal damnation if not for God’s
mercy in predestining her for salvation. Like John Calvin,
Elizabeth emphasizes original sin inherited from Adam
(a principle common to both Roman Catholic and
Protestant theology) and the way in which human
depravity infects every part of her being and aspect of
her behavior, a characteristically Protestant dogma.
Elizabeth departs from Catholic tradition in that she
espouses the principle that salvation cannot be earned;
rather, it rests solely upon God’s eternal choice of whom
to save. Like Calvin, she discusses predestination as
God’s choosing some of humanity for salvation and the
rest for damnation. Whether Elizabeth believed in
double predestination remains a source of debate, as is
the case with so many doctrinal points. Her writings
betray no difference from Calvin
on human depravity and predestination. In fact, as we
shall see, Calvinist rhetoric on these topics influences
Elizabeth’s portrayal of her spiritual development.
The terms of human depravity and
predestination also frame Elizabeth’s presentation of
her royal duties. In this context, she describes herself as
a vessel of God’s mercy in that He protects her life and
elevates her to the English throne for the purpose of
restoring the Gospel to England. She confronts criticism
that she is unfit to rule by admitting the charge, even
attributing many of her natural weaknesses to her
gender (as did many at the time). She overcomes these
judgments, however, by casting herself as a type of the
biblical David, who also had been chosen by God as king
of Israel when the natural expectation would have been
for one of Saul’s sons to reign. She argues that she has
been divinely appointed and that God overcomes her
natural weaknesses just as He transforms her depraved
soul. Within this framework, any dangers that she faces
become
evidence of God’s rescue and His divine purpose at work
to use Elizabeth. In return, she represents building the
church as her main purpose and equates her enemies
with God’s, thereby establishing her reign as the
fulfillment of God’s will.
The Liberation Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez:
A Dialectic Reconciliation of Hegel and Marx
Elizabeth Levitan
Senior Thesis, Department of Religion
Advisor: Professor Tracey Hucks
4/18/11
Liberation theology was founded in Latin
America by Gustavo Gutierrez, a Catholic priest who first
coined the term in his book, A Theology of Liberation,
published in 1971.
Gutierrez defined theology as a critical
reflection on praxis, meaning a reflection on social
practice, in light of scripture. 1 This definition led him to
create an ontological system that viewed the world from
the perspective of the poor and mandated a
transformation of the political and economic situation in
Latin America. Gutierrez sought to create a theological
system that united historical liberation with salvation.
Within this system liberation on earth becomes an
essential part of the transformation necessary for
salvation, that is, for the fulfillment of the eschatological
Promise. To do so, Gutierrez drew not only upon
scripture, but also on a number of European
philosophers, most importantly Hegel and Marx. This
thesis argues that in A Theology of Liberation, Gustavo
Gutierrez dialectically
reconciles the theories of Hegel and Marx, without
explicitly acknowledging the process in which he is
engaged, transforming their theories into a new
theological system that could be used as an
epistemological basis for a Christian understanding of
the world. Grounding his theory in scripture, Gutierrez
uses theological concepts such as the Trinity, hope and
love to reconcile the divergent theories of Hegel and
Marx and place liberation theology as a next step in the
process of the development of human thought. In this
way Gutierrez reorients the concept of theology, as an
adaptable means of interpreting the world and places it
squarely within the dialectical
processes of the development of human thought.
The Theology of Flannery O’Connor: Biblical
Recapitulations in the Fiction of Flannery O’Connor
Jordan Cofer
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University in
partial fulfillment for the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts
in English
Dr. Thomas Gardner, Chair
Dr. Fritz Oehlschlaeger
Dr. Colaianne
Submitted: April 14th, 2006
Blacksburg, VA
Keywords: Flannery O’Connor, Religion, Southern
Literature, Biblical Allusions
Copyright 2006, Jordan Cofer
Almost all Flannery O’Connor scholars concede
the fact that her work was influenced by her theology,
although how and to what extent continues to be a
matter of debate and investigation. Since O’Connor
began publishing, there have been numerous books,
articles, and reviews concerned with religious elements
present in her fiction.
Many early critics had no idea how to handle these
elements, and most early reviews were either
slanderous or erroneous in their criticism as a result of
misreading. More recent criticism has helped to clarify
O’Connor’s work and her “subject in fiction,” which is to
demonstrate “the action of grace in territory held
largely by the devil” (MM 118).
However, one element still overlooked by most scholars
is the way that biblical stories often serve as O’Connor’s
source texts. Although writers such as Thelma Shinn
have noticed how “Miss O’Connor is more influenced by
the Biblical parables than the
medieval morality plays,” critics have not yet examined
the way popular biblical tales, altered almost beyond
recognition, serve as the foundation of much of
O’Connor’s fiction (67). What I argue here is that
through the parallels and allusions to her stories’ Biblical
origins, we are able to understand the theological
implications of O’Connor’s work in a
richer and more nuanced way.
Throughout the history of O’Connor scholarship
there have been numerous arguments among critics
attempting to determine the connection between
O’Connor’s personal faith and her writing. They have
ranged from complete misinterpretation to
acutely precise insights into O’Connor’s theology. I will
sketch some of that history here in order to show the
larger conversation which my investigations fit within.
One of the earliest misreadings of O’Connor is
HarveyWebster’s 1952 review of Wise Blood, in which
he argues that O’Connor is writing about a type of
“nihilistic existentialism” (23).
Of course, modern day readers recognize that
O’Connor was writing about neither nihilism nor
existentialism, but felt the need to shock readers awake
with “an action that is totally unexpected, yet totally
believable" (MM 118). However, Webster’s
acknowledgement of the extremity of O’Connor’s work
becomes a constant element in the more theologically
oriented criticism that followed.
As time progressed, early critics came to terms
with the fact that O’Connor was a Christian and was,
indeed, serious about the Christian motives and themes
within her work. Accordingly, much of the early criticism
focused on clarifying her Christianity
and recognizing it in her fiction. As O’Connor’s writing
career progressed and O’Connor herself became more
adamant about her own writing, her motives became
more apparent.
In 1960 with the publication of The Violent Bear
It Away, which takes its name from Matthew 11:12 and
received mixed reviews, critics began to understand that
O’Connor was neither a nihilist nor a jaded satirist, but
was using a different method to write from a Christian
perspective, though many still had a hard time
understanding her intent1. By
the early 1960s, critics were starting to develop a more
thorough understanding of her work, especially in 1962
when Melvin Friedman published his essay arguing that
O’Connor “has failed to please only the most rigidly
party-line Catholics who find her brand of Catholicism
not orthodox enough and the most ‘textual’ literary
critics who find her language too bare and her
experiments with structure not eccentric enough” (233).
Despite Friedman’s claims, more than just the
most rigid Catholics were upset with the way her
characters received both “redemption and purification
in a way which seemsunorthodox,” since at the time
many people still didn’t understand O’Connor’s
approach to theological issues (241). However,
Friedman’s recognition of how O’Connor’s “place
(the South), her religion (Catholicism), her hobby
(peacock raising) reinforce her stories and novels at
every turn” represented a significant advancement in
O’Connor criticism (235). Perhaps the sea change in
O’Connor scholarship occurred in 1964, which brought
about both the death of O’Connor and a flood of critical
articles, including Ted Spivey’s
essay asserting that “Flannery O’Connor is finally
achieving the recognition she deserves,” that she ”has
at last come full circle” and declaring that she’d finally
succeeded and had “rounded out her view of life” (200,
201, 205). Ironically, Spivey’s
essay was published shortly before her death. Spivey
was one of the early critics to highlight O’Connor’s
strong personal theology and points out that few
realized the strength of her beliefs, or her extensive
knowledge of biblical scholarship and theology.
After O’Connor’s death, Spivey, one of O’Connor’s close
friends, was at the forefront of the O’Connor
movement, exposing the deep inner-workings of
O’Connor’s work and analyzing the way in which
O’Connor approaches religion in her fiction.
While both Friedman and Spivey helped establish
O’Connor criticism, Thelma Shinn and Sally Fitzgerald
both helped extend it. In 1968, Thelma Shinn’s essay
declared that O’Connor’s mission in her fiction was to
“wake the sleeping children of
God” (58). By this time scholars started to recognize the
importance of O’Connor as a Catholic rather than a
nihilist, but Shinn was one of the first scholars to
highlight O’Connor’s intention to send a message, not
only to non-Christians, but to her fellow Christians.
Though O’Connor, Shinn claimed, was “accused of
nihilism and determinism” and “faced a hostile
audience,” she was “influenced by Biblical parables” and
was clearly writing from a Christian perspective (59,67).
Shinn’s essay points out the way O’Connor uses violence
in her stories to write about Christian themes such as
mercy and redemption, claiming “she [O’Connor] set
out to wake the sleeping children of
God. And she succeeded.” (58).
A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND
REMARRIAGE
By Brian Jones
Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of Master of Theology in
Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary
May 2002
One of the greatest challenges facing modern
society is the breakup of the traditional family. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the
United States recently stated that “43 percent of first
marriages end in separation or divorce within 15
years.”1 While some have disputed the accuracy of such
statistics,2 there is no question that divorce is on the
rise in the United States and other countries of the
world. This increase in divorce has contributed to other
societal problems such as teen pregnancy, suicide,
increased drug and alcohol abuse, and the reluctance of
young people to marry. Divorce has extracted a severe
price from society.
Alarming as the divorce statistics in America are, there is
another set of statistics that are even more alarming.
George Barna, a Christian pollster, notes: “Overall, 33%
of all born again individuals who have been married
have gone through a divorce, which is statistically
identical to the 34% incidence among non-born again
adults.”3 In another study, Barna asserts that believers
are more likely than unbelievers to be divorced.4 It is
difficult to accept these findings, and it is certainly
possible that Barna has overstated the case.5
Nevertheless, divorce is certainly a problem in the
church. Since Christianity teaches that permanent,
faithful marriages are part of God’s will for Christians,
the number of broken Christian homes demonstrates
the difficulty the modern evangelical church is having
with the issue of divorce.
Given the rising frequency of divorce and the
negative affects it has on society and the Church, it is
important for the church to have a coherent, consistent
theology of marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
Statement of the Purpose of This Thesis
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the
biblical data on the issue of marriage, divorce, and
remarriage in order to establish a theology of divorce
and remarriage. Despite strong agreement on the rules
of exegesis and general agreement on the proper
procedure for theology, there exists no generally
accepted theology of divorce among evangelicals.
Instead, evangelical theologians are deeply
divided on the issue and fall basically into one of
three camps. This thesis will examine both the biblical-
theological data and the arguments
for each of the positions. Also, this study will examine
the biblical qualifications for the offices of pastor and
deacon with a view toward answering whether or not it
is permissible for a divorced or divorced and remarried
man to serve as a pastor or deacon.
Statement of Thesis
This thesis will prove from the Bible that God
created marriage to be permanent and that He allows
only two exceptions under which a person may divorce
his or her spouse.
This thesis will also demonstrate that if a person
is divorced under one of these two exceptions, he or she
is free to remarry; however, if a person is divorced for
any other reason and chooses to remarry, he or she has
sinned. Finally, this thesis will demonstrate that the
biblical qualifications for pastor and deacon allow for a
divorced and remarried man to hold either office, if his
divorce was done on scriptural grounds.
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
“Towards a Theology of Suffering:
The Contribution of Karol Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II”
A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and
Religious Studies of The Catholic University of America
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree Doctor of Sacred Theology
Peter C. Harman
Washington, D.C.; 2010
Suffering, which can be defined as “any
experience that impinges on an individual’s or a
community’s sense of well-being” is a constant within
the human
condition.1 In the midst of contemporary culture, there
is no single explanation of the source, cause, or purpose
of suffering, though suffering itself is a universal reality.
Even within the history of the Christian tradition, there
are various approaches to or explanations of the reality
of suffering, so that it is impossible to easily synthesize
its mysterious presence and purpose in human
experience, with each explanation having a referent in
Sacred Scripture.2
The various theological explanations of the reality of
suffering face a particular difficulty at the beginning of
the third millennium. Great scientific and medical
progress has significantly reduced the amount of
suffering (as experiences which challenge the
individual’s and community’s well being). Ironically, this
success which has reduced
suffering has by that very fact rendered man less
familiar with it, and therefore removed the context in
which he deals with suffering when it does appear.3 A
loss in the concept of suffering having any purpose, has
significant consequences not only for how man views
and copes with his own suffering, but also for how
attempts to address or remove suffering from the
human scene are consistent with a notion of inherent
human dignity.4
To further investigate this need for a theology of
suffering, and drawing from the anthropology of Karol
Wojtyla/John Paul II to assist in addressing this need is
the purpose of this dissertation.5 While there are other
commentaries on his addressing the
issue of suffering, the unique contribution below will be
to use Wojtyla/John Paul’s phenomenology, as
articulated in his Theology of the Body catechesis, to
extend his specific writings to address the issue of
human suffering and to see it in a new light.
While suffering entails more than physical pain—for it
requires by the definitions given above the mental
capacity to understand pain as a threat to or loss of
comfort and stability—it is injury, illness and the threat
of death which most often and most strongly thrust a
person into a situation of facing suffering.6 Therefore
much of the discussion below will use examples of
physical suffering and the current medical approach to
healing as illustrations of the need for a better approach
to suffering. But what is written here applies equally to
suffering which has no physical origin.
The issue of human suffering is without a doubt
a very personal issue, one that
each person handles in a unique way.7 At the same
time, however, there are many common elements which
suffering draws out of each person. Particularly in
physical illness, the suffering person faces a situation
which invites existential assessment: an assessment of
one’s own being as well as one’s relationships with
others. Suffering
becomes a moment of potential for either withdrawing
into oneself or reaching out to
another. This is true for the person who suffers, and
those who are able to address the sufferings of others.
When illness or trauma beset the body, the
ability of the body to express the person is
limited, even though the fullness of the person
is still present. Illness and other afflictions of the
body seem to turn a person in on himself, in
order to preserve his energies for healing. This
tendency,
while appropriate to an extent, nonetheless can
make it more difficult for
 the sick person to extend beyond himself to
others.8
“WORLDS OF THE SPIRIT”. EXPLORING AFRICAN
SPIRITUAL AND NEW PENTECOSTAL CHURCH
RELATIONS IN BOTSWANA
By: JACOB BRYAN BORN
Submitted in accordance with the requirements
for the degree of DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY
In the subject MISSIOLOGY
at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
SUPERVISOR: PROF T S MALULEKE
NOVEMBER 2009
The dry, landlocked country of Botswana is
located right in the center of southern Africa. During my
twelve years of mission service in this context, I often
had occasion to attend the “prayer services” that are
held in the homes of those who have been bereaved.
These services have an established pattern whereby
three or four well-known hymns are sung, and then a
few people, usually older pastors, comment briefly on a
passage of Scripture intended to focus on the
sovereignty of God or perhaps to offer comfort at a time
of sorrow. But, during the decade of the 1990’s, that
pattern began to be challenged by young, Spirit-filled
“born again” preachers who would stand up and call for
the audience to repent and be saved before it is too
late.
These impassioned sermons are usually tolerated by the
audience but among the pastors there is an almost
palpable sense that something is out of order. At times
the young men are publicly rebuked for their
impropriety, while most often the grumbling about
these “new churches” takes place over the tea and
scones that inevitably follow every “prayer service”.
These relatively minor conflicts symbolize the much
larger rift that exists between what I have chosen to call
African Spiritual Churches (ASCs) and New Pentecostal
Churches (NPCs).1 It is this collision between churches
that both claim to rely heavily upon the Spirit of God for
their present day power and their original genesis that
forms the locus of this thesis.
his first part of this introductory chapter provides the
rationale for my focus on the relationship between
African Spiritual and New Pentecostal churches, and an
overview of the Botswana context. The thorny question
of proper nomenclature for the churches under
discussion is also dealt with in this section. The second
part of the chapter deals primarily with the central
problem addressed by the research, the key hypotheses,
critical missiological issues and an overview of my
research methodology. It is my contention that this
subject engages fundamental missiological themes such
as ecumenism, contextualization of Christianity and
even the very nature of the gospel message that claims
to impact all areas of life.
The third and final section of this chapter develops an
approach to studying and understanding the experience
and language of power so important to these churches
by reviewing pertinent literature dealing with relations
of power, techniques and tactics, ideology and
hegemony, coded resistance to domination, and the
appropriation of foreign symbols and objects. This
discussion of power will be critical for the analysis of the
churches in chapters two through six where I will focus
on the origins of these movements, their self-
understanding in relation to the Spirit and power, their
use of Scripture, their focus on healing and deliverance,
and the manner in which they seek to negotiate the
clash of Setswana and Western cultures.
1.2 Background To The Thesis
1.2.1 Rationale For Topic
Having been closely involved with ASC and NPC
members during my twelve years of service in
Botswana2, it became quite obvious that even though
both groups lay claim to the presence and power of the
Spirit considerable tension exists between them. One
way to illustrate this “contested space” (Kalu 2000a:123)
is to note the various names they use to identify each
other. In a rather telling fashion, it is common to hear
Batswana3 denigrate NPCs with the following
descriptions: dikereke tsa makwerekwere, churches of
African foreigners (a very pejorative term used to
denigrate the African expatriate leadership of these
churches); dikereke tsa sekgoa, English-speaking
churches (English being the primary language); dikereke
tsa ditie, churches of neckties (a tongue-in-cheek jibe at
the NPC penchant for dressing expensively for church
services) and finally, dikereke tsa pholoso, churches of
salvation (on account of the NPC emphasis on the need
to be “born again” or saved).4
On the other hand, the way NPC members speak about
ASCs is even more contentious. Terms such as dikereke
tsa metsi, water churches (a derogatory reference to the
ASC practice of using water in various rituals) as well as
much more sinister descriptions are common: dikereke
tsa bosigo, night churches (on account of their all night
services); dikereke tsa sephiri, secret churches (because
of the esoteric nature of some ASC activities); and the
most damning of all, dikereke tsa madaemone, churches
of demons. Although both groups identify themselves as
people of the Spirit, given this level of mutual distrust, it
seems somewhat incongruous to force them into the of Christianity: “Few students of the African religious
same camp. scene today would doubt the importance and the
As I worked with and grew to know many individuals significance – also for the future of Christianity on this
who identified with these groups, my admiration and continent – of the African Independent Churches. These
respect for their contributions to the communities they churches … may indeed be seen as the fifth major
served grew immensely. On various occasions, our church type, after the Eastern Orthodox churches, the
mission agency, Africa Inter Mennonite Mission, helped Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation,
organize events that brought leaders of these groups and the Pentecostal churches” (in Daneel 1987:9). With
together in order to see how we could best address the regard to Botswana, the locus of this study, the
challenges facing the country, especially in relation to prominent place of ASCs is well-established with at least
the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A certain level of cooperation 375 ASC denominations registered with the Botswana
was achieved but it was obvious that considerable government (Republic of Botswana 2004:4543-4554).8
suspicion and mistrust remained. In a desire to promote Paul Gifford (1998:324-25) has suggested that the ASC
greater understanding and appreciation of the movement reached its zenith in the 1960’s, around the
contributions of both church groups, I decided to time that many African nations achieved their
undertake a study that would compare their Independence from colonial powers. Although one
understanding and approaches to key areas of faith, life could dispute that claim, especially in the case of South
and culture.5 Africa, it does appear that the ASC growth rate did seem
Along with my close personal interest in these churches, to level off in the final decades of the previous century.
I have also been keenly aware of the amazing impact of
At the same time, a new “Spirit” movement arose which
those churches that emphasize the person, power and
has been characterized by its aggressive evangelism,
work of the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit,
on the African ecclesiastical landscape during the 20th promise of power and prosperity and its focus on
century. Allan Anderson (2004a:103) has gone so far to deliverance from evil powers. These New Pentecostal
proclaim that “the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches have witnessed tremendous growth and have
movements undoubtedly are fast becoming dominant now become permanent fixtures in almost all the major
forms of Christianity on the continent”. If this is the urban centres in Africa and are rapidly spreading into
case, then the identity and self-understanding of these therural areas as well (Ojo 1995:115; Gifford 1998:33).9
groups must be a primary concern for those interested Even though this movement is still rather young, over
in the future of Christianity in Africa. Moreover, 100 of these churches and ministries have already
Anderson’s use of the terms “Pentecostal” and registered in Botswana, the context for this study
Charismatic” are illustrative of the problem I am seeking (Republic of Botswana 2004:4543-4554).
to address, for he is consciously including those
churches known as African Spiritual Churches within the
movements he describes. But whether African
Pentecostals are willing to embrace ASCs, or whether
ASCs want to be considered Pentecostal is a very
debatable issue.
Considerable historical research has been done to
unearth the origins of the ASC movement at the turn of
the 20th century and their connections to Pentecostal6
groups from outside Africa (Sundkler 1976:13-67;
Anderson 1992:20-32). Starting from rather humble
beginnings, ASCs have grown substantially, and spread
all over sub-Saharan Africa. Although their numbers are
difficult to verify, at the dawn of the new millennium it
was suggested that there were at least 55 million ASC
members in 10,000 distinctdenominations spread
throughout all 60 African nations (Barrett 2000:43).7
Whatever their exact size, the importance of the ASC
movement can not be questioned. David Bosch once
suggested that ASCs should be regarded as the most
remarkable new development in the world-wide history