Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Nature-grace'

1. The traditional soteriological debate between advocates of dogmatic dualism and dogmatic universalism has not adequately reflected the trinitarian nature of God. 2. Inadequate doctrines of grace, for example as God's decree, God's cosmic power, God's attitude of acceptance, or God's sacramentally infused presence emerge from the failure to develop the implications of the doctrine of the Trinity. 3. Viewed from a trinitarian perspective, grace is best understood as the very being of God in triune communion. Understood from this relational context, grace is also God's act in Christ to adopt humanity into participation in that communion, through the Spirit in the Son with the Father. 4. The terms used by the Patristic Fathers to understand the nature of the Incarnation and the Trinity such as the homoousion, hypostasis, and perichoresis are integral to clarifying the bilateral nature of Christ's mediation: in him is God's response to humanity, and the perfect response of humanity to God. This in turn, sheds essential insight into the nature of grace and the role of humanity's response of faith in salvation. 5. From this perspective of the bilateral mediation of Christ, the Biblical and trinitarian inadequacies of dogmatic dualism and universalism become apparent. Furthermore, an alternative understanding of humanity's destiny emerges which affirms the truth in both biblical dualism and universalism. 6. This provides a context for approaching the Concluding soteriological question: How does God respond to people who have never professed faith in Christ? The trinitarian nature of grace guides the Church to live with a gracious, hopeful urgency as it responds to those who are not yet Christians.

This thesis demonstrates the importance of scholastic philosophy and natural law to the theory of religious uniformity and toleration in Seventeenth-Century England. Some of the most influential apologetic tracts produced by the Church of England, including Richard Hooker's Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Robert Sanderson's Ten lectures on humane conscience and Samuel Parker A discourse of ecclesiastical politie are examined and are shown to belong to a common Anglican tradition which emphasized aspects of scholastic natural law theory in order to refute pleas for ceremonial diversity and liberty of conscience. The relationship of these ideas to those of Hobbes and Locke are also explored. Studies of Seventeenth-Century ideas about conformity and toleration have often stressed the reverence people showed the individual conscience, and the weight they attributed to the examples of the magistrates of Israel and Judah. Yet arguments for and against uniformity and toleration might instead resolve themselves into disputes about the role of natural law within society, or the power of human laws over the conscience. In this the debate about religious uniformity could acquire a very philosophical and sometimes theological tone. Important but technical questions about moral obligation, metaphysics and theology are demonstrated to have played an important role in shaping perceptions of magisterial power over religion. These ideas are traced back to their roots in scholastic philosophy and the Summa of Aquinas. Scholastic theories about conscience, law, the virtues, human action and the distinction between nature and grace are shown to have animated certain of the Church's more influential apologists and their dissenting opponents. The kind of discourse surrounding toleration and liberty of conscience is thus shown to be very different than sometimes supposed. Perceptions of civil and ecclesiastical power were governed by a set of ideas and concerns that have hitherto not featured prominently in the literature about the development of religious toleration.

John Gill (1697-1771), one of the greatest Baptist theologians, made a tremendous contribution to the establishment, education, and development of the Particular Baptists and Calvinistic Independents in his times. He stood firmly in the Reformed orthodox tradition in an age of theological turmoil. Despite such an enormous contribution, history, however, shows that he has been criticised as both deviating from the Reformed tradition and as a hinderer of the 'possible' growth of the Particular Baptists. He has been always recognised as a High or Hyper-Calvinist in a pejorative way. The crux of this evaluation or criticism is the claim that he put such extreme stress on the sovereign grace of God to the extent that human responsibility is limited or even eliminated, particularly with reference to salvation and evangelical piety. This criticism, however, has a weakness in that Gill has been always interpreted and criticised from an evangelistic perspective. As a result, all other significant doctrinal issues have been overshadowed. In particular, Gill's understanding of theology, Scripture, God, creation, and providence that shaped his concepts of salvation and evangelism, has been almost untouched. In addition, this criticism has distracted people from looking at Gill in the Reformed tradition out of which he emerged. This thesis raises a fundamental question concerning the criticism of Gill as a High or Hyper-Calvinist, in relation to the crucial question of the relationship between the sovereign grace of God and human responsibility. It does not directly deal with Gill's ideas of salvation and evangelism. Instead, it deals with more fundamental issues such as Gill's theological development and tradition, and the understanding of theology, Scripture, God, creation and providence that shaped his ideas of salvation and evangelism. In this process, we seek to prove that Gill maintained the typical Reformed balance between the sovereign grace of God and human responsibility, or between grace and nature, throughout his whole theological system. Finally, it identifies Gill as a Reformed orthodox theologian rather than as a High or Hyper-Calvinist.

Bibliography: leaves 119-124.
This project arises out of an interest in the theology of grace and the theological question of the relationship between nature and grace. It rests on the conviction that a complete theology of grace can only be developed if due account is taken of the different approaches to the theology of grace adopted by the three main Christian traditions, namely Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. It is axiomatic to this project that an adequately complete theology of grace which draws on all three traditions has not yet been developed. Another central conviction on which this project rests is that the position adopted on a fundamental theme like nature and grace will determine to a large extent one's position on less fundamental themes. This is an attempt, then, to show how the ideas of three formative theologians on "nature and grace" can benefit the development of a comprehensive doctrine of grace today.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2005.
A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.

The environmental crisis of the twentieth century challenges Christianity to articulate a theology adequate to support a viable environmental ethic. This dissertation finds such a theology in the thought of American Lutheran theologian, Joseph Sittler. Sittler characterizes his thought, not as a "theology of nature," but as an "incarnation theology applied to nature." Because of the christological and sacramental emphases in his theology, the dissertation demonstrates that the roots for Sittler's environmental concerns are to be found in the Christology and eucharistic theology of the sixteenth century reformer, Martin Luther. But in order to compensate for the emphasis in sixteenth century reformation theology on redemption as the salvation of the individual from sin, Sittler also retrieves the theology of the second century theologian, Irenaeus of Lyons. In his own fight against gnosticism, Irenaeus demonstrates continuity between Creation and redemption as acts of the same God. Thus Sittler develops a "theology for earth," emphasizing the continuity of nature and grace and, using concepts drawn from literature, music, architecture, painting, and modern physics, articulating an "ontology of communion" in which human beings recognize the presence of God in their own participation in the raw materials and processes of the world.

Thesis advisor: Dominic F. Doyle
Thesis advisor: Reinhard Hutter
Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2017
Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry
Discipline: Sacred Theology

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Joao Marcos Lemos dos Santos.pdf: 289614 bytes, checksum: 9d78f88f615e35fade79889a7eae32be (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-06
This dissertation presents a study of the themes of nature and grace in C. S. Lewis' novel The Great Divorce. The first chapter introduces the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva and C. S. Lewis concerning the relation between texts. From that theoretical foundation, the second chapter studies descriptions of the afterlife in the works Lewis borrows from most in The Great Divorce: Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and Valdemar Thisted's Letters From Hell, and observes the way in which Lewis integrates these intertexts into his novel. Finally, in the last two chapters the dissertation examines different characters from The Great Divorce and the way in which they act out different aspects of human nature or divine grace, in order to determine Lewis' position as to the relation between nature and grace and his concept of salvation.
Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo dos temas de natureza e graça no romance O Grande Abismo, de C. S. Lewis. No primeiro capítulo, são introduzidas as teorias de Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva e C. S. Lewis sobre a relação entre textos. Partindo desta base teórica, o segundo capítulo examina as descrições da vida após a morte nas principais obras das quais Lewis toma emprestado, A Divina Comédia, de Dante Alighieri, e Letters From Hell, de Valdemar Thisted, e nota as formas em que Lewis integra estes intertextos ao seu romance. Finalmente, nos últimos dois capítulos a dissertação examina diferentes personagens de O Grande Abismo, e a forma em que eles encarnam diferentes aspectos da natureza humana ou graça divina, para determinar a posição de Lewis quanto à relação entre natureza e graça e sua concepção de salvação.

Cette étude a pour objet de lire le thélogien anglicain, John Milbank à travers la thèse de surnaturel du théologien catholique français, Henri de Lubac. Dans sa thèse du surnaturel, de Lubac entend montrer qu’il n'y a aucune sphère purement naturelle indépendemment de la grâce de Dieu. Autrement dit, d’après cette thèse, la nature et le surnaturel constituent une unité organique. En fait, cette idée d’Henri de Lubac s’oppose à la notion néo-scolastique de natura pura, qui a été développée en vue de sauvegarder la gratuité de la grâce face à la crise Baianiste. La thèse du surnaturel a été appropriée par John Milbank et sa théologie peut être comprise comme une continuation de la thèse d’Henri de Lubac. Milbank s'approprie la thèse du surnaturel dans divers aspects de cette thèse. Cette thèse apparaît chez Milbank tantôt au niveau ontologique, tantôt au niveau éthique, tantôt au niveau ecclésial. Si l’idée du surnaturel de Lubac est organique (Balthasar), cette même thèse donne une cohérence au projet théologique de Milbank. Une originalité de l’appropriation milbankienne de la thèse du surnaturel consiste à la mise en rapport de l’idée du surnaturel avec le langage. Pour être plus précis, pour lui, le langage joue un rôle médiateur entre le materiel et le surnaturel. Bien que cette idée soit présente dans la théologie sacramentelle de de Lubac, Milbank développe cette théologie en élargissant cette idée à tous les domaines de la culture humaine. Autrement dit, la thèse du surnaturel rend possible la théologie de la culture chez Milbank. Mais ce qui est crucial, pour Milbank et de Lubac, c’est que l’Église elle-même doit être le véhicule de la création de la culture chrétienne
This study aims at reading Anglican theologian John Milbank through the lens of French Catholic theologian, Henri de Lubac’s central concept of the idea of the supernatural. Henri de Lubac’s so-called, surnaturel thesis means that there is no reserved realm, which neo-scholastic theologians call pure nature (natura pura), independent of God’s grace. This means that nature and the supernatural constitute an organic unity. Milbank appropriates de Lubac’s thesis through and through. De Lubac’s idea of the supernatural penetrates Milbank’s all theological reflection ranging from ontological issues to political ones. One important point in Milbank’s appropriation of de Lubac’s surnaturel thesis is that he emphasizes the relationship of the supernatural to human language. For him, human language itself is supernatural in character. This means that human culture, which is constituted by human language, is itself theologically constituted. In other words, there is no neutral culture, but cultures based on particular theological convictions. From this insight, Milbank emphasizes, with de Lubac, the necessity of Christian philosophy which will be the true basis of human culture. Crucial to Milbank’s theological project is the centrality of the Church in the establishment of Christian culture. For both Milbank and de Lubac, the Church is not a means for atemporal salvation, but itself the goal of salvation. The Church is to be the place of heavenly peace which the Eucharist represents. Milbank is convinced that only the Church has the power to counter the neo-liberal capitalist order that is based on the ontology of violence

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pedro Savelli.pdf: 1178771 bytes, checksum: e340079926a5e9d29ae08f90eefddb56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-17
Deification: in the ecstatic love of God we are deified to be in communion with His life and nature. The Perspective of the Deification opens three paths for the human being to be conscious of taking part of the divine nature: a) through the way of Life. We only exist by virtue of the kindness of God. Out of nothing, He calls everything to the light: the work of the Creation expresses the Will of God, everything belongs to Him and from Him receives the natural deification; b) through the way of Revelation. The people from Israel knew how to interpret its own history as a singular election of God, whose objective is to be the light to the nations: deification by the obedience to the listening of the Word of God. c) Through the way of Grace: Reincarnation and Glorification of the Christ-Sacrament. Father God, in the mystery of His donation to the humanity, invites us to participate in His divine nature, transformed by the Son in the strength of the Hole Spirit: covering us of Christ by the Baptism and feeding us from Him by the Eucharist: sacramental deification. In Christ, Head, the Church is Sacrament. It updates the deifying Grace through the Spirit, celebrating the liturgy, particularly, the Eucharist: it is in the latter that we find ourselves
Deificação: no amor extático de Deus somos deificados para estarmos em comunhão com a Sua vida e natureza. A Perspectiva da Deificação abre três caminhos para o humano tomar consciência de participar da natureza divina: a) pelo caminho da Vida. Existimos somente pela bondade de Deus. Ele do nada, chama tudo à luz: a obra da Criação expressa a Vontade de Deus, tudo pertence a Ele e Dele recebe a deificação natural; b) pelo caminho da Revelação: o Povo de Israel soube interpretar a própria história como uma eleição particular de Deus, cuja finalidade é ser luz às nações: deificação pela obediência à escuta da Palavra de Deus. c) Pelo caminho da Graça: Encarnação e Glorificação de Cristo-Sacramento. Deus Pai, no mistério de sua doação à humanidade, convida-nos a participar de Sua natureza divina, transformados pelo Filho na força do Espírito Santo: revestindo-nos de Cristo pelo Batismo e alimentando-nos Dele pela Eucaristia: deificação sacramental. Em Cristo, Cabeça, a Igreja é Sacramento. Ela atualiza pelo Espírito a Graça deificante, celebrando a liturgia, em particular a Eucaristia: é neste último caminho que nos encontramos

Despite the evolution of the private investment promotion regime in relation to investment projects under private initiatives, there are many shortcomings in its regulation, especially at the evaluation stage, which creates serious disincentives for attracting private investors. One of these defects derives from its consideration as requests of graces and of how the Administration understands this type of petitions. Having this problem in mind, we propose a rereading of the nature of private initiatives to ensure that decisions taken by the Public Administration in this regard are subject to a true control of legality.
A pesar de la evolución del régimen de promoción de la inversión privada con relación a los proyectos de inversión bajo la óptica de iniciativas privadas persisten muchos defectos en su regulación, sobre todo en la etapa de evaluación, lo cual genera serios desincentivos para la captación de inversionistas privados. Uno de esos defectos deriva de su consideración como peticiones de gracias y de cómo la Administración entiende este tipo de peticiones. Teniendo dicha problemática en la mira, proponemos una relectura de la naturaleza de las iniciativas privadas que asegure que las decisiones que al respecto tome la Administración Pública sean objeto de un verdadero control de legalidad.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe the nature and significance of the after-death communication experience (ADC). The research asks what is it like to have an experience of communication with a deceased loved one, what is the essential nature of the experience, and what are the effects and meanings of the experience within the lives of the participants? This study explores the lived experiences of eighteen participants, sixteen women and two men, who report a variety of ADCs over the years following their bereavement. The ADCs are explored within the context of the participants’ lives so as to show how these extraordinary experiences can be understood as happening to real people within their own history rather than as isolated events. The first part of the thesis gives biographical descriptions of the participants’ lives following their ADCs. The second part of the thesis analyses the essential nature and qualities of the ADC experience and gives a robust description of the nature of the phenomenon. Phenomenological analysis of the data occurs in overlapping steps consisting of the individual descriptions, reduction techniques and emergence of seven themes describing the essence of the experiences for these participants. The themes show the experiences are unexpected and startling and intrude into ordinary experience. Familiar characteristics authenticate the presence of the deceased. Information, care, love and ongoing relationship are conveyed. The participants grapple with the experiences over time. They find they are deeply imprinted and powerful, and produce immediate and long-term effects. Heightened awareness that transcends ordinary experience gives the bereaved a ‘knowing’ of the ongoing life of their loved one. Expanded consciousness and reflection lead to seeing reality as larger and more complex and includes an unseen world where their loved one is continuing to live in another form. The themes are illustrated using the participants’ descriptions of their ADCs. Last of all a description of the phenomenon is compiled using an intuitive reflective process. Powerful and transforming after-effects demonstrate that the ADCs contribute to managing grief in the major losses of the participants’ lives, to the allaying of fears of death, to belief in an after-life and to belief in the interconnectedness and continuity of relationships across the boundary of death. There are major changes in sense of self, life and living, purpose and meaning, spiritual and religious understanding, and psychic sensitivity.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study argues that a comparison of human nature, divine grace, and theological virtue in the theologies of John Wesley and Thomas Aquinas provides resources for constructing iconic dignity as a vital theological perspective. Iconic dignity names a radiant-yet-reflected human worth rooted in the image of God, whose grace empowers response, transformation, and virtuous participation in God’s loving essence. The dissertation responds to the absence of a focused analysis of nature, grace, and virtue in Wesley-Aquinas studies—a nascent field with only three major publications (on historical-moral theology, Christian perfection, and pneumatology). The project’s contributions to theological reflection and practice have become especially clear in our current context of social-existential fragmentation and bigotry. Iconic dignity begins with an intuitional methodology and proceeds with textual analysis, critically comparative construction, and practical contributions. These methods characterize iconic dignity as participatory, incarnational, relational, dynamic, encompassing, transformational, and loving. These characteristics embrace our inter/personal nature, our development in grace, and our work with God toward virtuous flourishing. The dissertation’s explanatory power and generative potential capacitates constructive doctrinal reflection and practical embodiments of iconic dignity. After detailing “iconicity” and “dignity,” the theological comparison of Wesley and Aquinas traces general contours of their shared theological anthropology. As embodiments of God’s image, humans possess intellect, will, and volitional liberty, which together establish our moral capacity. This holistic anthropology is then analyzed with respect to human acts, their relation to habitus (Aquinas) and tempers (Wesley), and sin (actual and original). Following a constructive exploration of iconic dignity and ecological stewardship, the study shifts to grace. Close stereoscopic reading reveals the congruity of grace’s nature, divisions, and dynamics for Wesley and Aquinas. Throughout, the constructive comparison illustrates the strength of iconic dignity’s theological perspective. Wesley and Aquinas are shown to be similar enough to converse but different enough to contribute: to one another, out of their shared theological departures and destinations; and to our practical-theological conversations, including a repudiation of total depravity, an embrace of universal grace, joint ecological stewardship, radical hospitality, and ongoing Methodist-Catholic ecumenical dialogues. Still, many opportunities remain for developing iconic dignity in practice. First, more research is needed on the means of grace and the nature and exercise of theological virtue for Wesley and Aquinas. Second, future research should focus on additional topics like ecclesiology, moral virtue, sociality, and an expansion beyond Wesley and Aquinas. Finally, the need remains for further study into practices of iconic dignity, including the development of stereoscopic reading for local congregations and communities.

碩士
國立臺北藝術大學
音樂學系碩士班聲樂組
103
Abstract 　　The French opera Werther by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) was adapted from the work “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (Die Leiden des jungen Werther) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), the most distinguished German figure of the time, who was a politician, philosopher, scientist as well as a poet. Goethe’s poems are often favored by musicians, a great amount of work have been set to music, such as “West-Eastern Diwan” (West-ostlicher Divan), the widely-known “Faust” which is considered the greatest literature, later became Charles-Francois Gounod''s (1818-1893) operatic master piece. “The Sorrows of Young Werther”, which raised big issue in the zeuropean society of that time, also inspired J. Massenet to write this beautiful Franch Opera “Werther”. Goethe had relationships with various women throughout his life time, but these fruitless relationships became the sources of many of his works. For example, the poem “Rose on the Heath” (Heidenroslein) was created for the daughter of the priest in Strasburg when he bids farewell to her, and the novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” was completed when the relationships between Goethe and Charlotte Buff (1753-1828) ended during his law internship in Reichsgericht, which is located in Wetzlar. 　　Massenet’s “Werther” was a creative work of Franch lyric opera (opera lyrique). During the mid 19th century, the prevailing operas in Europe were the Italian opera of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) and the German opera of Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883). French opera was not very popular at that time, and even in the capital city Paris the predominant opera genre was foreign operas, which had French ballet parts in them. French composers sought to change this situation and to develop true French opera style, Gounod’s “Faust” attempted and succeeded by fusing together comic opera (opera comique), ballet, Italian opera, and Gothic literature. This fusion of multiple genres into an opera was a big success, and the unique genre of French lyric opera came to the scene. “Werther” was a breakthrough in French lyric opera in terms of its orchestration, adding new instruments such as saxophone and English horn; using simple melodic line balanced with dramatic tension; as well as emphosis of female characters. 　　Looking at Massenet’s life, it is not hard to understand why he could depict female characters in such a way. Massenet’s father passed away when he was a child, apart from supporting the family, Massenet’s mother also taught him piano. It was evidently clear that Massenet regarded his mother as a great parent. Under the difficult circumstances of that time, Massenet still was able to become a pupil at Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire de Paris). He worked extremely hard to study composition, then he was awarded the Prix de Rome, which was then a great honor for French composers. After winning the prize, Massenet went to study in Italy. During his study in Italy, he met Franz Liszt (1811-1886), and Liszt introduced him to a clever and brilliant woman who later became his wife. They all inspired the romanticism and feminism in his operas. 　　In writing this paper, I hope to gain deeper understanding of the artistic value of the literrature, so one day I may sing Werther with genuine feelings and great inspiration.

It was certainly a primary concern of the Second Vatican Council, facing the Third World in a post-colonial era, to show a maximum respect for humanity's invincible cultural pluralism (GS, 44, 58). Hence the emphasis on the primordial and unique missionary principle of incarnation, is derived directly from the scandalous belief that God became one of us in everything except sin (cf Heb. 2:14-18; 4:15). The Christian understanding of the relationship between God and humankind is dominated by this incarnationcd theme, which takes seriously the meaning of finitude, flesh and history. The incarnational self-donation, through which humanity is embraced from within, involved an incomprehensible self-emptying (cf. Phil 2:6-8). In giving himself to us in this intrinsic manner the divine Logos discounts his divinity and humbles himself that he might become truly one of us. Jesus of Nazareth is not a disguise used by God, not a human outer garment covering the divinity, not something foreign to what we are.
Systematic Theology
M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

Summary and key words in German and English
Every church faces the challenge of procuring capable workers for the multifaceted task of ministry. For several decades now official denominational statements and the discipline of Practical Theology have been calling for a new understanding of giftedness in ecclesial service. As yet little fundamental research has been done in this area. This dissertation seeks to make a contribution both empirically and theologically. It marks the first time in the German–speaking world of Practical Theology that the issue of how one discovers charisms is addressed academically. The specific field of research is located in the Protestant Regional Church of Baden in southwest Germany. Nevertheless the findings can be applied more broadly since the research is based on thorough exegetical and systematic–theological analysis and has been verified empirically. There has been a quest for the charisms of the Spirit since the beginning of the twentieth century and even more so now in the face of the societal challenges of postmodernity. In the discussion of the different theological positionens arise as result that charisms have to be seen with an triune approach. In addtion, besindes the fact that charisms have a habitual meaning, they first of all have a relational dimension. The empirical research involved online–interviewings of pastors, plus interviews of church members. One of the major findings was that the views of pastors on how church members receive gifts is determined by their theological understanding of the charisms. Pastors discover gifts, not according to Pauline criteria, but largely according to emotional aspects, as proved by this research. It became apparent that protestant pastors are of the opinion that New Testament charisms are not first received at baptism, but already at birth. Another interesting finding is that members of both protestant main stream churches and pentacostal-charismatic churches hold the same believes about how to receive charisms. The only difference is their repertoire of gifts. This dissertation focuses on developing guidelines for the discovery of charisms within the congregation as the local body of the Church.
Fähige Mitarbeiter für eine vielgestaltige Gemeindearbeit zu finden, ist in jeder Kirche eine bleibende Aufgabe und Herausforderung. Seit einigen Jahrzehnten wird in kirchlichen Verlautbarungen und in der Praktischen Theologie verstärkt das Konzept einer gabenorientierten Mitarbeit betont. Dieses Feld ist noch wenig grundsätzlich erforscht. Die vorliegende Arbeit greift empirisch und theologisch in die aktuelle Diskussion ein. Innerhalb der Praktischen Theologie im deutschsprachigen Raum liegt mit ihr zum ersten Mal eine wissenschaftliche Untersuchung zur Frage vor, wie Charismen im Forschungsfeld der Evangelischen Landeskirche in Baden entdeckt werden. Die Ergebnisse reichen aber weit über diesen Rahmen hinaus und können grundsätzlich gelten, weil sie auf dem Hintergrund exegetischer und systematisch-theologischer Grundlagenarbeit in einer sorgfältigen empirischen Methodik erhoben, reflektiert und ausgewertet wurden. Die Ausführungen zeigen, dass die Suche nach Charismen seit Beginn des 20. Jh. angesichts der gesellschaftlichen Umbrüche im Kontext der Postmoderne zu einem großen Thema geworden ist. Aus den theologischen Positionen erwuchs die wesentliche Einsicht, dass Charismen trinitarisch einzuordnen sind und neben dem habituellen Charismenverständnis vor allem die relationale Dimension vorliegt. Die empirische Forschungsarbeit umfasst eine Online-Befragung von Pfarrern, ergänzend dazu wurden Gemeindeglieder interviewt. Als eines der Hauptergebnisse stellte sich heraus, dass die Meinung der Pfarrer, wie Gemeindeglieder Gaben empfangen, durch ihr theologisches Gabenverständnis bestimmt wird. Wie Pfarrer Gaben entdecken, richtet sich weithin nicht nach den paulinischen Kriterien, sondern nach emotionalen Gesichtspunkten, wie in der vorliegenden Arbeit nachgewiesen werden konnte. Wie sich herausstellte, sind Pfarrer der Überzeugung, dass neutestamentliche Gaben nicht erst bei der Taufe empfangen werden, sondern mit der biologischen Geburt. Ein weiterer interessanter Aspekt belegt, dass Gemeindeglieder der evangelischen Landeskirche im Vergleich zu charismatisch-pentekostalen Gemeindegliedern Gaben nach ihren subjektiven Glaubensüberzeugungen in derselben Weise empfangen, lediglich das Gabenrepertoire unterscheidet sich. Die vorliegende Arbeit zielt darauf ab, Leitlinien zum Entdecken von Charismen im Kontext der lokalen Gemeinde zu entwickeln.
Practical Theology
Thesis (D. Th. (Practical Theology))