Academic literature on the topic 'Theology of transformation'

This article serves as an introduction to a dialogue with Oliver Davies regarding his proposal for transformational theology. The dialogue identifies some of the implications of Davies’ proposals for Pentecostal theology. This first essay, which follows the larger contours of Davies’ line of argumentation, names a few important themes that can vitalize various features of Pentecostal work in the academy, including the place of cosmological commitments, the Pentecostal understandings of Christology, and the openness to ‘miracle’ as a bona fide theological category. Pentecostals can find in Davies a theological sensibility that legitimizes the primacy of first-order discourse among worshiping communities while simultaneously keeping an eye on the latest developments within the sciences.

In this article, in dialogue with Pentecostal theologians, I argue that our contemporary science allows us to return to a transformational account of the embodied self and the material world, with implications in particular for both Christology and pneumatology and their relation. On the basis of a reading of Acts 2.32–36, in which Christ in heaven ‘pours forth’ the Holy Spirit upon the first Church, I argue that the reality of the living Christ for us is itself the work of the Holy Spirit and itself communicates the work of the Spirit. This suggests the possibility of a Trinitarian koinonia which points to the unity of the Spirit-filled doxology and devotion of the worshipping Church on the one hand, and to the active life of discipleship through our acts of following Christ on the other.

In Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology, James K. A. Smith gives us a liturgical political theology. The question posed here is whether that political theology attends to how the work of tending to the goods held in common by diverse democratic publics can also surprise and transform Christians and the liturgies of the Church.

Abstract The command to pray invites believers to critically engage with their broken reality with a view of transforming it in the light of the new reality in which they participate in Christ. Practical theology, operating in the context of the bi-polar and tense relationship between theory and praxis, should be expanded to accommodate prayer as the inner mode of its operations to embrace the existential dimension of the faith praxis, instead of simply limiting itself to a socio-scientific empirically based descriptive paradigm. This implies that practical theology has to be embedded within the church as the domain of faith. Prayer, understood within the context of practical theology, offers a critique of theological theories that do not adequately address the implications for God, the world and believers inherent in the new anthropological status that the invitation to pray confers on those who pray. Prayer also critiques the existing praxis in three ways: it is, firstly, a transformational act in itself; it, secondly, acknowledges its own inadequacy to accomplish the needed transformation and is thus able to critique its own methodologies and practices; and, thirdly, it continues to hope for the transformation of the existing praxis based on the promise of the presence of God in and through the Spirit of Christ in the church. In looking beyond the existing praxis to God, believers are called to continually work and pray for signs of the coming Kingdom to be realised within their world.

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A critical reflection on the researcher’s personal story - a white Afrikaner woman and a member of the Dutch Reformed Church - and her raised awareness regarding the devastating effects of racism, sexism and poverty in South Africa informs the development of a participatory pastoral praxis. The liberation of South Africa and the post-apartheid social reality have unmasked the confessional and kerygmatic approach of practical theology, revealing them to be supportive of dualistic thinking. This approach has frequently blinded us from understanding the ideologies of apartheid and patriarchy and the extent and complexity of their oppressive effects. This research is about doing theology in context and, as such marks a radical shift in practical theology from a confessional-kerygmatic to a publichermeneutical approach. From a methodological perspective the hermeneutic spiral applied in theory formation challenges the church to participate in a praxis approach that will contribute to the healing and transformation of post-apartheid society. Feminist theology and post-structuralist theory, within which Narrative Therapy is positioned, provide the critical lenses for viewing the social realities of South African society. As an interdisciplinary partner to practical theology, Narrative Therapy contributes to liberating action as expressed in a participatory praxis. While holding the metaphor of the Shepherd as expression of God’s compassion, the normative guiding metaphor for a participatory pastoral praxis is the parable of the Good Samaritan. As an embodiment of God’s transformative love and care towards our neighbour, the Good Samaritan points the way to a new way of doing pastoral care. Ten characteristics of a participatory pastoral praxis are identified: the personal is the professional and political; participation with the other; participation with people; participation with awareness; participation in voicing; participation with our bodies; participation together with others; participation in social transformation; participation in interrelatedness and participation in doing restitution. Taken together, they make a significant contribution to the theory formation, ethics and praxis of practical theology with a transformative and healing agenda. The empirical research includes a contextual analysis of the main social problems confronting post-apartheid South Africa: namely, racism, sexism, poverty and the ways in which the HIV/AIDS pandemic interrelates with these. The researcher uses case examples from her praxis - as therapist, community participant, teacher of Narrative Therapy and member of the leadership of the Dutch Reformed Church - to research the transformative effect of a participatory pastoral praxis. In this respect the prophetic dimension of a participatory praxis of care could play a decisive role within the ecclesiology of the Dutch Reformed Church. The transformative effect of Narrative Therapy in working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse is researched in a case example where individual therapy supports the client’s empowered response to poverty, racism and sexism within a rural farming community. Case examples of community participation involve inter-faith dialogue with a Muslim community where historical injustices are addressed through story and memory in a bridge-building function as well as participation with an organization caring for people infected by HIV/AIDS. The values, commitments and practices that support the raising of awareness of social injustices like racism is researched; examples from Narrative Therapy training work show how this approach encourages awareness of social injustices in participants. The transformation of oppressive practices, structures and ideologies within the Dutch Reformed Church is researched. Examples are taken from congregational participation and from women’s participation within the male-dominated synodical leadership structures. The outcome of the research finding assists practical theology, pastoral care and counselling in theory formation and provides a methodology that will enable participation beyond the boundaries of individual consultation rooms to a personal commitment towards the healing and transformation of the wider church and South African society.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ‘n Kritiese refleksie op die navorser se persoonlike storie as wit Afrikaner vrou en lidmaat van die Nederduits Gereformeerde kerk en haar verhoogde bewussyn van die vernietegende effekte van rassisme, seksisme en armoede binne die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing dien as bron en inspirasie vir die ontwikkeling van ‘n deelnemende pastorale praxis. Die bevryding van Suid-Afrika en die post-apartheid realiteite het die konfessionele en kerygmatiese benadering tot praktiese teologie ontmasker as ondersteunend van die dualisms wat ons verblind het vir die onderdrukkende effek van die ideologië van rassisme en patriargie. As radikale skuif vanaf ‘n konfessioneel-kerygmatiese na ‘n publiek-hermeneutiese benadering in praktiese teologie gaan hierdie navorsing oor die doen van teologie in konteks. Vanuit ‘n metodologiese perspektief daag die hermeneutiese spiraal wat in teorie formasie gebruik word die kerk uit om deel te neem in ‘n praxis benadering wat bydrae tot die heling en transformasie van ‘n post-apartheid samelewing. Feministiese teologie en poststrukturalistiese teorie waar binne NarratieweTerapie geposisioneer is, bied die lense vir ‘n kritiese analise van die sosiale realtiete van die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing. As interdissiplinere vennoot tot praktiese teologie dra Narratiewe Terapie by tot bevrydende aksie soos uitgedruk binne ‘n deelnemende praxis. Met behoud van die metafoor van die Herder as uitdrukking van God se deernis, dien die gelykenis van die Barmhartige Samaritaan as normatiewe riglyn vir die beliggaming van God se transformerende liefde en omgee vir die naaste binne ‘n deelnemende pastorale praxis. Tien eienskappe van ‘n deelnemende pastorale praxis word identifiseer: die persoonlike is die professionele en politieke; deelname met die ander; deelname met mense; deelname met bewussyn; deelname in stemgewing; deelname deurbeliggaming; deelname tesame met ander; deelname in sosiale transformasie; deelname in interafhanklikheid en deelname in die doen van restitusie. Saam maak hulle ‘n betekenisvolle bydrae tot die teorie-vorming, etiek en praxis van praktiese teologie met ‘n transformerende en helende agenda. Die empiriese navorsing sluit ‘n konteksuele analise van die belangrikste sosiale problem: naamlik, rassisme, seksisme en armoede asook die MIV/VIGS pandemie wat hiermee verweef is. Die navorser gebruik voorbeelde vanuit haar praxis as terapeut, gemeenskapsdeelnemer, opleier van Narratiewe Terapie en lidmaat van en leier binne die Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk om die transformerende effek van ‘n deelnemende pastorale praxis na te vors. In die geval behoort die profetiese dimensie van ‘n deelnemende pastorale praxis ‘n beslissende rol binne die ekklesiologie van die Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk te speel. Die transformerende effek van Narratiewe Terapie in die werk met persone wat as kinders seksueel molesteer is, word nagevors in ‘n voorbeeld waar individuele terapie die kliënt ondersteun om met ‘n bemagtigde respons te reageer op die sosiale problem geassosieer met armoede, rassisme en seksisme binne ‘n plattelandse boerdery gemeenskap. Voorbeelde van gemeenskapsdeelname sluit inter-godsdienstige dialoog met ‘n Moslem gemeenskap waarin historiese onregte aangespreek word deur storie en geheue by ‘n Brugbou-funksie sowel as deelname met ‘n organisasie betrokke by die versorging van mense met HIV/VIGS. Die waardes, verbintenisse en praktyke wat bydra tot groter bewusmaking van sosiale onregte soos rassisme word nagevors deur middel van voorbeelde uit Narratiewe Terapie opleiding waar ‘n diversiteit van deelnemers aangemoedig word. Die transformasie van onderdrukkende praktyke, strukture en ideologië binne die Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk word nagevors met voorbeelde uit gemeentelike deelname sowel as voorbeelde uit vroue se deelname binne die mans-gedomineerde sinodale leierskap strukture. Die uitkomste van die navorsings bevindinge help praktiese teologie, pastorale sorg en berading in teorie formasie en metodologie wat ‘n deelname buite die grense van individuele konsultasies in spreekkamers moontlik maak en wat kan lei tot ‘n persoonlike verbintenis om by te dra tot heling en transformasie van die wyer gemeenskap en kerk. Sleutelwoorde: Rassisme; seksisme; armoede; deelnemendepastorale praxis; publiek-hermeneutiese benadering tot praktiese teologie; heling en transformasie van post-apartheid samelewing; Narratiewe Terapie; feministiese theology; post-strukturalistiese teorie; terapie met seksuele molestering as kind; gemeenskaps praxis; Narratiewe Terapie opleidings praxis; profetiese leierskap in die Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk.

Marcella Althaus-Reid sought wherever language or meaning might shift or exceed their possibilities. To do so, she pushed theology from the light into the dark. In the spaces of political, economic, and sexual struggle, she proposed that we encounter the transformative embraces of God’s indecent love. The intimacies of bodies matter in the illicit encounters of dark alleys. Caresses of flesh undress illusions; desires imagine alternatives; and bodies hunger for the unthinkable. Put differently: love and desire disregard boundaries, including the boundaries of knowledge, law, economy, and self. To write of God’s love and our love—to write of God, humanity, and world—we must recognize, refute, and resist the ideological dependencies in dominant modes of doing and communicating theology, because these dependencies constrain the possibilities of bodies in love. We must interrupt academic complacency with (what she called) “Totalitarian” theological languages. We must transform the doing of theology itself. This dissertation offers five studies of theological writing arising from Althaus-Reid’s experiments with indecency. Each considers one of her provocations in conversation with her interlocutors, paying careful attention to both the substance and performance. Study one engages with Paul Ricoeur, Jorge Luis Borges, and Umberto Eco to imagine writing in the shape of a hermeneutical labyrinth. The second questions the temporality of theological writing in conversation with Gustavo Gutiérrez, José María Arguedas, and Michel Foucault. The third examines how Althaus-Reid holds Jean Paul Sartre’s concept of obscenity together with Jean Baudrillard’s idea of reversibility, in order to press against illusions of writing that veil the materiality of lives lived in written pages. The fourth pursues the possibilities of writing bodies with Karl Marx, Jacques Derrida, Kathy Acker, and Lisa Isherwood. The fifth study extends Althaus-Reid’s reading of Pierre Klossowski’s meditation on radical hospitality as imperative for kenotic theological writing. Individually, the studies expand our imagination of what theological writing can or ought to be. Taken together, the studies provide a chronologically ordered view on Althaus-Reid’s complex engagement with liberationist, feminist, and queer theoretical and theological traditions in the context of her ongoing dialogue with continental philosophy.

The subject of this thesis is the nature of Christian transformation as understood through the process of discipleship in the Wesleyan tradition and United Methodism in particular. A basic premise is that contemporary discipleship efforts are perceived as ineffective in spite of the numerous strategies that exist within the field of Christian education. The contention of this thesis is that the current situation is rooted in a failure to address the holistic and integrated nature of Christian transformation, which from a Wesleyan perspective is understood as the process of sanctification. This thesis explores a more holistic vision for discipleship, drawing upon methodology proposed by Richard Osmer to do theological reflection as it engages Wesleyan theology and transformative learning theory (TLT), a contemporary adult educational theory. The result is a contribution to the field of Christian education that has implications for disciple making ministries in the local congregation. Alasdair MacIntyre's theory of practice is developed as a means of accounting for the present incoherence within discipleship ministries, and to resource the development of a more holistic approach to the process of Wesleyan discipleship. As a result, discipleship is conceived of as a single complex practice comprised of four inseparably related and integrally connected dimensions: virtues, disciplines, ethos and telos. The theoretical framework also provides insight into contemporary discipleship efforts by systematically isolating each component and investigating the particular emphasis that is stressed, thus truncating the practice of discipleship. Putting this framework into conversation with TLT provides a way for theological reflection that can broker a cross-disciplinary dialogue between TLT and Wesleyan discipleship. The resulting discourse discerns which relevant aspects of TLT can be appropriated within a Wesleyan context and how TLT contributes to the field of Christian education. Contributions that Wesleyan discipleship can make to the field of TLT are also explored. The thesis develops an educational theory that views discipleship as a single coherent complex practice that is consistent with the process of sanctification in the Wesleyan tradition. Such a theory overcomes the current situation that results in isolating various discipleship efforts by prompting the field of Christian education to consider discipleship as sanctification that transforms persons and their contexts in holistic ways.

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is bedevilled with various conflicts which have been exacerbated by the multiplicity and diversity which characterize the nation. The country is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multiregional and multi-religious society. And while such arrays of features are not peculiar to Nigeria, managing them has greatly propped up various conflicts, with religious conflict emerging as one of the most devastating of all. It would appear as though, more than any other single issue, religious conflict has become a threat to national cohesion, stability and development. It has led to fears, suspicions, unrest; mass displacement of people, destruction of lives and property; consequently leading to major set-backs for nation building. The three main religions of Nigeria are the Indigenous Religions, Islam and Christianity, with Islam and Christianity having almost equal strength of adherence. While the indigenous religions have generally been tolerant and accommodating of the two “guest” religions, contestations and incessant violent clashes have characterized the relationship between Muslims and Christians, particularly in Northern Nigeria, and this has been on the increase in frequency, intensity and sophistication. This situation has led to the emergence and deployment of numerous approaches towards transforming conflicts in order to ensure peaceful co-existence of all the people. The task of this thesis is to contribute practical, theological reflections to the ongoing search for how Nigeria will end the undesired religious conflict between Muslims and Christians and build a peaceful and harmonious society. To do this, John Paul Lederach’s conceptual framework for conflict transformation was adopted and explained in chapter one; and two religious conflicts which took place in the Northern Nigerian cities of Jos and Maduguri were empirically investigated through intensive fieldwork. A review of relevant literature was carried out in chapter two and an elaborate explanation of the socio-scientific and theological methodologies adopted for the research was presented in the third chapter. In order to establish the causes, manifestations and consequences of the conflicts, chapter four and five explored their remote and root causes. Because this research is grounded on the assumption that religion is not just a source of conflict, but a resource for peace, and on the contribution of faiths to contemporary public debates, it provides a new approach which challenges the religious institutions, particularly the Church, through its pastoral ministry, to become actively involved in the transformation of conflict in the nation. The research holds that the greatest contribution of religion to the quest to transform religious conflict in Nigeria is through a practical theology which should be demonstrated in both spirituality and strategy. As such, and based on empirical findings from the zones of conflict, a theology of hospitality is suggested in chapter six, as a gradual but effective method of transforming relationships between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. While the approach does not preclude other approaches, it offers the enormous resources, possibilities and opportunities, ingrained within the religious domain for conflict transformation in contemporary Nigerian society. The strategies for achieving the desired transformation of the situation of conflict on short and long-term basis through the theology of hospitality are suggested in the seventh chapter.

Christianity’s political voice in US society is often situated within a simplistic binary of social justice versus faithfulness. Gary Dorrien and Stanley Hauerwas, respectively, represent the two sides of the binary in their work. Although the justice-faithfulness narrative is an important point of disagreement, it has also created a categorical impasse that does not reflect the full depth and complexity of either Dorrien’s or Hauerwas’s work. Their concerns for both justice and faithfulness differ only in part because of their different responses to liberalism and liberal theology. Under all those issues are rival accounts of relational truth that indicate divergent understandings of reality. At the heart of Dorrien’s and Hauerwas’s theologies and differences are the issues of God’s sovereign agency and humanity’s subjectivity and agency. Dorrien emphasizes love, divine Spirit, human spirit, and freedom for flourishing. Hauerwas stresses gift, triune creator, human creaturehood, and flourishing in friendship. Those divergent positions issue forth in rival responses to political sovereignty. Dorrien’s panentheistic monism is integrated with the modern nation-state’s sovereignty. Hauerwas rejects the state’s hegemonic sovereignty as an attempt at autonomy that rejects God’s gifts and aspires to rival God’s sovereignty.

While Dorrien’s and Hauerwas’s discussion might then appear at an impasse, it can be opened and developed in reference to Rowan Williams’s horizon. Although his political work overlaps with much in Dorrien’s and Hauerwas’s positions, Williams goes beyond them by calling for the transformation of the modern nation-state’s sovereignty and by supplying a vision of it transformed. Williams’s advance opens Dorrien’s and Hauerwas’s disagreement by freeing them from their common assumption, the permanence of state sovereignty. Williams’s political horizon is underwritten by his theological horizon, which fuses love and gift within triune mutuality and plenitude. This account offers critical help to issues that Dorrien and Hauerwas find problematic in each other’s position. Such development thereby opens the possibility of a fresh and fruitful discussion. Therefore, Williams’s work offers important help for Dorrien and Hauerwas to address the heart of their disagreement over divine and political sovereignty, and human subjectivity and agency.

This thesis aims to explore the political, social and religious opposition to Liberation Theology in Latin America during the 1960s to 1990s, and the transformation of Christianity. During this period, most Latin American countries underwent social struggles and political repression in which opposition and persecution arose from dictatorial and military governments who labeled those committed to the poor as communists. Liberation Theology emerged as an ecclesial and theological trend committed to the poor, in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in Latin America. This thesis traces the origins, development, expansion and repression of Liberation Theology. This work maintains that under the Cold War context and the National Security Doctrine, Liberation Theology became a target of political repression because its commitment with the poor placed it as subversive and communist. This research reveals how it was repressed with violence and the promotion of counteracting religious groups, leading to changes in Christianity.

Thesis advisor: O. Ernesto Valiente
Thesis advisor: M. Shawn Copeland
The process of peace and reconciliation after conflict is based on developing a spiritual disposition of compassion that is informed by God’s grace and expressed through virtues of faith, hope and charity. Empowered by God’s grace individuals and communities can be transformed and enabled to work in solidarity with victims of violence in ways that seek to change social structures of sin and suffering. Compassionate understanding can shape and inform individuals and communities toward practices of truth-telling, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. Solidarity and compassion underlie a Christian discipleship that nurtures healing of memories, rehabilitation of victim and perpetrators in order to reintegrate them in society. This encounter has a transformative potential for participants as they begin to share a common story and envision a reconciled future
Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2017
Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry
Discipline: Sacred Theology

Within the contemporary church, usage of the term transformation has become commonplace. However, the way it is understood is often misguided. This study provides an original synthesis that points the church towards the need to express and live out a full, integrated, effectual and distinctly Christian vision of transformation. Self-identified “evangelicals” continue to explore the possibility of authentic transformation. There is now a proliferation of perspectives on the nature and process of Christian formation, some of which attempt a revision through ecumenical “ressourcement” or interdisciplinary methods. These often-conflicting approaches leave a landscape characterised by pluralism, division, fragmentation, confusion, relativism, individualism, pragmatism and subjectivism. Although evangelicalism is seen by some as a restorationist movement that seeks to draw the church back towards a prototypal faith, self-identified “evangelicals” clearly exhibit differences in their beliefs and practices. Both the absence of a common, coherent and integrated vision, and the lack of transformation itself, are often simply accepted and affirmed. In this thesis, it is argued that the only way to move towards the possibility a cohesive, integrated, broad, effectual and distinctly Christian vision of transformational theology, is through an approach that is grounded in rationallinguistic truth. Such a method is typified by J. I. Packer. His approach to integrating the concerns of theology and spirituality is used as the initial basis towards pursuing a “proto-evangelical” approach to Christian formation. In order to determine the breadth of Packer’s approach, he is brought into dialogue with Maximus Confessor. This critical conversation between two “theologians of the Christian life” allows exploration into the scope and diversity of a distinctly Christian view of transformation, and the seeking out of common characteristics in its nature and practice. This all provides a solid basis upon which to be able to outline an original synthesis.