The Didache and Traditioned Innovation: Shaping Christian Community in the First Century and the Twenty-First Century

Church leaders, both lay and clergy, shape Christian community. Among their central tasks are: building communal identity, nurturing Christian practices, and developing faithful structures. When it comes to understanding the approach of the earliest Christian communities to these tasks, the Didache might well be the most important text most twenty-first century church leaders have never read. The Didache innovated on tradition, shaping the second generation of Christians to meet the crises and challenges of a changing world.

Most likely composed in the second half of the first century, the Didache served as a training manual for gentile converts to Christianity, preparing them for life in Christian community. This brief document, roughly one third the length of Mark’s gospel, developed within early Jewish-Christian communities. It soon found wide usage throughout the Mediterranean region, and its influence endured throughout the patristic and into the medieval period.

The Didache outlines emerging Christian practices that were rooted in both Jewish tradition and early Jesus material, yet were reaching forward in innovative ways. The Didache adopts historical teachings and practices and then adapts them for an evolving context. In this respect, the writers of the Didache, as well as the community shaped by its message, exemplify the pattern of thinking described by Greg Jones as “traditioned innovation.”

The Didache invites reflection on the shape and content of Christian community and Christian leadership in the twenty-first century. As churches and church leaders engage a rapidly changing world, the Didache is an unlikely and yet important conversation partner from two millennia ago. A quick read through its pages – a task accomplished in less than half an hour – brings the reader face to face with a brand of Christianity both very familiar and strikingly dissimilar to modern Christianity. Such dissonance challenges current assumptions about the church and creates a space in which to re-imagine our situation in light of this ancient Christian tradition. The Didache provides a window through which we might re-examine current conceptualizations of Christian life, liturgy, and leadership.

This thesis begins with an exploration of the form and function of the Didache and an examination of a number of important background issues for the informed study of the Didache. The central chapters of this thesis exegete and explore select passages in each of the three primary sections of the Didache – the Two Ways (Didache 1-6), the liturgical section (Didache 7-10), and the church order (Didache 11-15). In each instance, the composers of the Didache reach back into a cherished and life-giving aspect of the community’s heritage and shape it anew into a fresh and faithful approach to living the Christian life in a drastically different context.

The thesis concludes with three suggestions of how the Didache may provide a resource for the way the Church in the present thinks about training disciples, shaping community, and developing leadership structures. These conversation starters offer beginning points for a richer, fuller discussion of traditioned innovation in our current church context. The Didache provides a source of wisdom from our spiritual forebears that modern Christian leaders would do well not to ignore. With a look through the first century window of the Didache, twenty-first century Christians can discover fresh insights for shaping Christian community in the present.

Embodied Prayer: the practice of prayer as Christian theology

This dissertation attempts to retrieve the integration of prayer and theology in the life of the church. Prayer is a spiritual and bodily theological activity that forms Christian identity and virtuous character. The bodily dimension of Christian prayer plays an essential role in theological understanding and moral formation. However, the embodiment of prayer has been mostly neglected in modern academic theology. This study highlights the significance of the body at prayer in theological studies and spiritual formation.

Chapter 1 presents Karl Barth’s theology of prayer as a model of the integration of prayer, theology, and Christian life (lex orandi, lex credendi, lex agendi). However, Barth’s attempt to overcome the dichotomy between theory and practice in theology did not pay much attention to embodiment of prayer. Through ritual studies and phenomenology (Marcel Mauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Pierre Bourdieu), chapter 2 shows why the bodily dimension of the practice of prayer should be recovered in theology and ministry; then it explains how Christians in the early and medieval church actually prayed with the body, how their bodily actions were understood in their theological paradigms, and how their actions contributed to the formation of Christian character. Chapter 3 narrows the focus to the formation of the heart in the making of Christian character. The practice of prayer has been emphasized not only as an expression of the inner heart of pray-ers but also as a channel of grace that shapes their affections as enduring dispositions of the heart. Furthermore, historically the bodily practice of prayer gave theological authority to the devout Christians who were marginalized in academic theology or ecclesiastical hierarchy, and Chapter 4 presents the lex orandi of praying women who gained their theological knowledge, wisdom, and authority through their exemplary practices of prayer (Catherine of Siena, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and Teresa of Avila). These historical examples reveal how Christian communities appreciated and celebrated the theological voices from the margins, which developed from theological embodiments in prayer.

This dissertation concludes that academic theology needs to heed these diverse theological voices, which are nurtured through everyday practice, as an integral part of theological studies. Therefore, it calls for a new paradigm for understanding the relationship between theory and practice in theological education. The integration between theory and bodily practice is necessary for both academic theology and spiritual formation. A more holistic understanding of Christian practices will not only enhance the training of scholars and clergy but also give the laity their own theological voices that will enrich academic theology.

Autoritarismes étatiques et régulation religieuse du politique en République démocratique du Congo : analyse discursive de la parole épiscopale catholique sur les élections (1990-2015)

Centrée essentiellement autour de la parole épiscopale congolaise, la présente recherche porte sur les articulations de la religion et du politique dans une perspective limitée au catholicisme en RDC. En prenant pour base empirique la ville de Kinshasa, elle thématise les effets des dynamiques religieuses sur les fermentations sociales et les changements politiques dans un contexte d’autoritarisme. Celui-ci est, dans ce travail, problématisé comme le fait conjoint de l’institution étatique et de l’organisation religieuse catholique. Le choix de cette approche relationnelle basée sur les interactions entre religion et politique, permet d’inscrire ce travail dans le champ d’études des sciences des religions. L’approche retenue s’appuie également sur les avancées de la sociologie politique et éclaire la régulation religieuse du politique, rarement étudiée par les sciences humaines. Cette recherche s’inscrit donc à l’intersection entre l’histoire, la sociologie, les sciences politiques, l’anthropologie, l’analyse du discours, la philosophie et la théologie. Sa thèse centrale est organisée autour d’une question principale : comment la religion participe-t-elle à la régulation du politique dans le contexte d’autoritarisme caractéristique de la RDC ? La réponse à cette question croise l’approche fonctionnelle de la religion et l’analyse des déclarations institutionnelles de l’épiscopat congolais. Elle esquisse les relations entre, d’une part, contextes et événements sociopolitiques et d’autre part, discours et pratiques religieuses. Elle construit la scène religieuse à partir de la trajectoire sociopolitique, économique et culturelle de la RDC entre 1990 et 2015, sous les Présidents J.-D. Mobutu, L.-D. Kabila et J. Kabila. Elle étudie l'offre normative de sens de leurs éminences J.-A. Malula, F. Etsou et L. Monsengwo. L’analyse de la rhétorique de l’épiscopat sur les élections vérifie la plausibilité sociale et l’efficience politique de la parole épiscopale congolaise. Elle se ressource dans la pragmatique de la communication telle que mise en œuvre dans l’analyse argumentative du discours de R. Amossy et dans celle du discours politique de P. Charaudeau. En mettant la focale sur l’objet linguistique « vérité des urnes », la recherche pose au niveau normatif, juridique et éthique, le problème de l’institutionnalisation d’un État de droit en RDC. Les élaborations sur ce dernier niveau s’articulent autour de l’inscription de l’éthique dans l’agir politique. L’examen des modes conventionnels d’action des chrétiens (élections de 2006 et 2011) et non conventionnels (marche des chrétiens de 1992 et 2012) conduit à éclairer les modes de reproduction ou de contestation de l’autoritarisme étatique par l’organisation religieuse. Il permet de promouvoir une démocratie des valeurs et d’action adossée à la parrhêsia. L’introduction de l’aléthique dans la vie publique donne à voir la parole épiscopale congolaise comme un discours ethopoïétique. C’est sur ce point précis que les élaborations de M. Foucault sur la parrhêsia aident à thématiser la capacité de la religion à informer et à influencer la démocratisation de la RDC. De là, la requête formulée pour un nouveau système d’action institutionnelle de l’organisation religieuse, susceptible de promouvoir le courage de la vérité en situation autoritaire. Cette innovation permet de tenir ensemble les valeurs démocratiques et les valeurs de l’Évangile, en les corrélant à la cohérence axiologique, à la probité morale et à l’intégrité existentielle des protagonistes de la démocratisation de la RDC.

Eclipses, razón y superstición en las vidas de Nicias y Dión de Plutarco

A partir de un abordaje retórico-literario, nuestro objetivo es indagar las representaciones discursivas de los elementos supersticiosos en la biografía de Nicias y en la de Dión. Tomaremos como ejemplo el eclipse de luna narrado en Nicias 23 y reiterado en Dión 24, para demostrar que mediante la repetición del ejemplo en dos contextos distintos Plutarco nos invita a reflexionar sobre la superstición de un modo más atractivo que la mera exposición teórica de doctrinas filosóficas.

"Sub Tiberio quies"? Judaea’s Political Situation under the Prefects (6-41 c.e.), between Reality and Ideology

Deeply conflicting views on the political situation of Judaea under the Roman prefects (6-41 c.e.) have been offered. According to some scholars, this was a period of persistent political unrest and agitation, whilst according to a widespread view it was a quiescent period of political calm (reflected in Tacitus’ phrase sub Tiberio quies). The present article critically examines again the main available sources –particularly Josephus, the canonical Gospels and Tacitus– in order to offer a more reliable historical reconstruction. The conclusions drawn by this survey calls into question some widespread and insufficiently nuanced views on the period. This, in turn, allows a reflection on the non-epistemic factors which might contribute to explain the origin of such views.

Deconstrucción de los relatos evangélicos de la pasión. Sobre el arraigo de la ficción en la Historia de las religiones

Las más elementales exigencias de rigor crítico e independencia siguen a menudo sin cumplirse hoy en día en la reconstrucción histórica de la figura del judío Yeshua ben Yosef (Jesús el galileo), en parte porque el carácter inconsistente de las fuentes evangélicas no es tomado en serio. El presente artículo analiza las incongruencias de los relatos de la pasión, muestra en ellos los indicios de un proceso de despolitización, y señala el carácter insostenible de varias afirmaciones clave de muchos historiadores contemporáneos sobre el predicador galileo.

The Emerging Church Movement: A Sociological Assessment

With so many voices, groups, and organizations participating in the Emerging Church Movement (ECM), few are willing to “define” it, though authors have offered various definitions. Emerging Christians themselves do not offer systematic or coherent definitions, which contributes to frustration in isolating it as a coherent group – especially for sociologists who strive to define and categorize. In presenting our understanding of this movement, we categorize Emerging Christianity as an orientation rather than an identity, and focus on the diverse practices within what we describe as “pluralist congregations” (often called “gatherings,” “collectives” or “communities” by Emerging Christians themselves). This leads us to define the ECM as a creative, entrepreneurial religious movement that strives to achieve social legitimacy and spiritual vitality by actively disassociating from its roots in conservative, evangelical Christianity. Our findings are extensively developed in The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity (Marti and Ganiel 2014).

Overlapping Notions of Self and Other: the Case of the Anabaptist Body

This paper examines the complex interrelations between notions of ͚“elf͛ and ͚Otheƌ͛ with regards to human bodies, taking as a case study the bodily experiences of Anabaptist Christians, both historically and in the present day. It first examines body practices and discourses through the lens of Anabaptist approaches to baptism and conscience and it relates these to the Foucauldian notion of care of the Self. It then looks at biopolitical relations between individuals and the state through an examination of oath-taking and anti-war protests. Finally, it discusses the roles of bodies and bodiliness in contemporary Anabaptist commemorative practices. 

Audiovisual Storytelling and Ideological Horizons : Audiences, Cultural Contexts and Extra-textual Meaning Making

Abstract: Audiovisual Storytelling and Ideological Horizons: Audiences, Cultural Contexts and Extra-textual Meaning Making In a society characterized by mediatization people are to an increasing degree dependent on mediated narratives as a primary means by which we make sense of our experience through time and our place in society (Hoover 2006, Lynch 2007, Hjarvard 2008, Hjarvard & Lövheim 2012). American media scholar Stewart Hoover points to symbols and scripts available in the media environment, what he call the “symbolic inventory” out of which individuals make religious or spiritual meaning (Hoover 2006: 55). Vernacular meaning-making embedded in everyday life among viewers’ dealing with fiction narratives in films and tv-series highlight a need for a more nuanced understanding of complex audiovisual storytelling. Moving images provide individuals with stories by which reality is maintained and by which humans construct ordered micro-universes for themselves using film as a resource for moral assessment and ideological judgments about life (Plantinga 2009, Johnston 2010, Axelson 2015). Important in this theoretical context are perspectives on viewers’ moral frameworks (Zillman 2005, Andersson & Andersson 2005, Frampton 2006, Avila 2007).This paper presentation will focus on ideological contested meaning making where audiences of different cultural background engage emotionally with filmic narratives, possibly eliciting ideological and spiritual meaning-making related to viewers’ personal world views. Through the example of the Homeland tv-series I want to discuss how spectators’ cultural, religious, political and ideological identities could be understood playing a role in the interpretative process of decoding content. Is it possible to trace patterns of different receptions of the multilayered and ambiguous story depicted in Homeland by religiously engaged Christians and Moslems as well as non-believers, in America, Europe and Middle East? How is the fiction narrative dealt with by spectators in the audience in different cultural contexts and how is it interpreted through the process of extra-text evaluation and real world2understanding in a global era preoccupied with war on terror? The presentation will also discuss methodological considerations about how to reach out to audiences anchored in different cultural context.

Youth Expression with Video Surveillance Technology

This qualitative study examines five young Afro-Franco Caribbean males in the Diaspora and their experiences with systems of technology as a tool of oppression and liberation. The study utilized interpretive biography and participatory video research to examine the issues of identity, power/control, surveillance technology, love and freedom. The study made use of a number of data collection methods including interviews, round table discussions, and personal narratives. A hermeneutic theoretical framework is employed to develop an objective view of the problems facing Afro-Franco Caribbean males in the schools and community. The purpose of the study is to provide an environment and new media technology that Afro-Franco Caribbean males can use to engage and discuss their views on issues mentioned above and to ultimately develop a video project to share with the community. Moreover, the study sought to examine an epistemological approach (Creolization) that young black males, particularly Afro-Franco-Caribbean males, might use to communicate, document, and share their everyday experiences in the Diaspora. The findings in the study reveal that the participants are experiencing: (a) a lack of community involvement in the urban space they currently reside, (b) frustration with the perspective of their home country, Haiti, that is commonly shown in mainstream media, and (c) ridicule, shame, and violence in the spaces (school and community) that should be safe. The study provides the community (both local and scholarly) with an opportunity to hear the voices and concerns of youth in the urban space. In addition the study suggests a need for schools to create a critical pedagogical curriculum in which power can be democratically shared.

Whiteness and news: the interlocking social construction of "realities"

This dissertation examines how mainstream U.S. journalism consistently serves white racial interests and the racial status quo, or what I call white incumbency, despite its push for diversity and its stated aims to improve coverage of nonwhite communities. It is based on an in-depth ethnographic study of two daily newspapers and extensive one-on-one interviews with 61 journalists. I found that although journalists strongly identify with the need for more diverse coverage in newspapers, they emphasize individual and personal stories that avoid recognition of historical racial power imbalances, exhibiting what Ruth Frankenberg calls power-evasive race cognizance. Journalists also demonstrate a number of often contradictory identifications and self-understandings about themselves and their work, such as commitments to diversity and not taking sides, but these conflicts are almost always resolved in favor of white incumbency. Journalistic conventions and practices, such as the watchdog function and its emphasis on public institutions, routinely produce stories that replay and reinforce racial hegemony by portraying nonwhites as problems or people seeking “special privileges.” Also, journalistic repertoires about those conventions and practices avoid interrogations of journalists’ ongoing complicity in the maintenance of white incumbency.

Nicejskie ὁμοούσιος w procesie inkulturacji wiary w Bóstwo Syna. Studium teologicznofundamentalne na tle tradycji

Wartości prawdziwe dobre i piękne są obecne w każdej kulturze. One dzięki procesowi, określonemu w XX wieku jako inkulturacja, pozwalają integrować je w chrześcijaństwie tak by człowiek mógł wyrażać wiarę w kulturze swojej i swoich przodków. Dzięki temu możliwe jest pełne zakorzenienie chrześcijaństwa w innych formach wyrazu niż biblijny. Chrześcijaństwo europejskie jest bardzo silnie związane z kulturą hellenistyczną. Tak bardzo, że często zapomina się o trudzie przechodzenia od kultury biblijnej do kultury Greków w wyrazie i obronie wiary. Tymczasem był to proces, który trwał przeszło trzy wieki. Język jest najważniejszym nośnikiem kultury, a pisma Kościoła powstały w języku greckim, co ułatwiało i przyspieszyło proces inkulturacji. Trzeba było jednak prawie trzystu lat zmagań o słowo, by z determinacją i odwagą wprowadzić niebiblijne pojęcie do wyznania wiary Kościoła. Ojcowie pierwszego powszechnego zgromadzenia biskupów, zwołanego przez cesarza Konstantyna, podpisali dokument, „Wyznanie wiary 318 Ojców”, w którym zaistniało słowo ὁμοούσιος w sformułowaniu Syn jest „współistotny Ojcu” (ὁμοούσιον τῷ πατρί). Oba sformułowania to wypowiedziane w okolicach Cezarei Filipowej i zapisane jako „Credo nicejskie” są, co do treści równoważne. Wyrażają tę samą prawdę objawioną w Jezusie Chrystusie, która trwa w przekazie oraz w interpretacji w Kościele, iż Jezus Chrystus jest Bogiem. By ukazać ten proces dojrzewania wyrazu wiary problematyka pracy skupia się przede wszystkim wokół pytania: „W jaki sposób przebiegał proces inkulturacji, który zaowocował przyjęciem niebiblijnego słowa w obronie wiary biblijnej, od strony pogan jak i od strony tych, którzy przyjęli Objawienie?” Po prawie trzystu latach dialogu z kulturą hellenistyczną, przyjęte w czasie zgromadzenia w Nicei pojęcie ὁμοούσιος obroniło religijną powagę chrześcijaństwa. Dzięki temu ujawniła się ranga Kościoła jako instytucji kierowanej przez biskupów i papieża w Rzymie. Ta wspólnota ukazała swą wielkość duchową zakorzenioną w poszukiwaniu prawdy. Ostoją tej wielkości były też kościoły domowe i życie mnisze zrodzone pod koniec III w. Termin ὁμοούσιος był w IV w. terminem teologicznie niedopracowanym, otwartym i dzięki temu ostatecznie stał się orężem walki o ortodoksję w życiu chrześcijan i na kolejnych soborach.

Autoritarismes étatiques et régulation religieuse du politique en République démocratique du Congo : analyse discursive de la parole épiscopale catholique sur les élections (1990-2015)

Centrée essentiellement autour de la parole épiscopale congolaise, la présente recherche porte sur les articulations de la religion et du politique dans une perspective limitée au catholicisme en RDC. En prenant pour base empirique la ville de Kinshasa, elle thématise les effets des dynamiques religieuses sur les fermentations sociales et les changements politiques dans un contexte d’autoritarisme. Celui-ci est, dans ce travail, problématisé comme le fait conjoint de l’institution étatique et de l’organisation religieuse catholique. Le choix de cette approche relationnelle basée sur les interactions entre religion et politique, permet d’inscrire ce travail dans le champ d’études des sciences des religions. L’approche retenue s’appuie également sur les avancées de la sociologie politique et éclaire la régulation religieuse du politique, rarement étudiée par les sciences humaines. Cette recherche s’inscrit donc à l’intersection entre l’histoire, la sociologie, les sciences politiques, l’anthropologie, l’analyse du discours, la philosophie et la théologie. Sa thèse centrale est organisée autour d’une question principale : comment la religion participe-t-elle à la régulation du politique dans le contexte d’autoritarisme caractéristique de la RDC ? La réponse à cette question croise l’approche fonctionnelle de la religion et l’analyse des déclarations institutionnelles de l’épiscopat congolais. Elle esquisse les relations entre, d’une part, contextes et événements sociopolitiques et d’autre part, discours et pratiques religieuses. Elle construit la scène religieuse à partir de la trajectoire sociopolitique, économique et culturelle de la RDC entre 1990 et 2015, sous les Présidents J.-D. Mobutu, L.-D. Kabila et J. Kabila. Elle étudie l'offre normative de sens de leurs éminences J.-A. Malula, F. Etsou et L. Monsengwo. L’analyse de la rhétorique de l’épiscopat sur les élections vérifie la plausibilité sociale et l’efficience politique de la parole épiscopale congolaise. Elle se ressource dans la pragmatique de la communication telle que mise en œuvre dans l’analyse argumentative du discours de R. Amossy et dans celle du discours politique de P. Charaudeau. En mettant la focale sur l’objet linguistique « vérité des urnes », la recherche pose au niveau normatif, juridique et éthique, le problème de l’institutionnalisation d’un État de droit en RDC. Les élaborations sur ce dernier niveau s’articulent autour de l’inscription de l’éthique dans l’agir politique. L’examen des modes conventionnels d’action des chrétiens (élections de 2006 et 2011) et non conventionnels (marche des chrétiens de 1992 et 2012) conduit à éclairer les modes de reproduction ou de contestation de l’autoritarisme étatique par l’organisation religieuse. Il permet de promouvoir une démocratie des valeurs et d’action adossée à la parrhêsia. L’introduction de l’aléthique dans la vie publique donne à voir la parole épiscopale congolaise comme un discours ethopoïétique. C’est sur ce point précis que les élaborations de M. Foucault sur la parrhêsia aident à thématiser la capacité de la religion à informer et à influencer la démocratisation de la RDC. De là, la requête formulée pour un nouveau système d’action institutionnelle de l’organisation religieuse, susceptible de promouvoir le courage de la vérité en situation autoritaire. Cette innovation permet de tenir ensemble les valeurs démocratiques et les valeurs de l’Évangile, en les corrélant à la cohérence axiologique, à la probité morale et à l’intégrité existentielle des protagonistes de la démocratisation de la RDC.

The young, educated, minorities and the poor move out from south central Ethiopia

High population growth fragmented rural landholdings leading to low harvests and crop yields per acre per annum creating surplus labour that may resort to migration as a coping mechanism in least developing countries including Ethiopia. The main aim of the study is to assess trends and differentials of out-migration in south central Ethiopia. The Butajira demographic surveillance system database from 1987 to 2008 was used to conduct event history analysis. There were 3.97 out-migrations per 100 person years. Probability of out-migration was higher among males, teenagers, the youth, completed primary and secondary plus education; not in marital union; Christians, urbanites; lived in rented and owed house compared to their respective counterparts. The higher chances of out-migration among these groups may have social and economic significance.

Learning to construct our identities over the life course: a study with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults in Scotland

To date, adult educational research has had a limited focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) adults and the learning processes in which they engage across the life course. Adopting a biographical and life history methodology, this study aimed to critically explore the potentially distinctive nature and impact of how, when and where LGBT adults learn to construct their identities over their lives. In-depth, semi-structured interviews, dialogue and discussion with LGBT individuals and groups provided rich narratives that reflect shifting, diverse and multiple ways of identifying and living as LGBT. Participants engage in learning in unique ways that play a significant role in the construction and expression of such identities, that in turn influence how, when and where learning happens. Framed largely by complex heteronormative forces, learning can have a negative, distortive impact that deeply troubles any balanced, positive sense of being LGBT, leading to self- censoring, alienation and in some cases, hopelessness. However, learning is also more positively experiential, critically reflective, inventive and queer in nature. This can transform how participants understand their sexual identities and the lifewide spaces in which they learn, engendering agency and resilience. Intersectional perspectives reveal learning that participants struggle with, but can reconcile the disjuncture between evolving LGBT and other myriad identities as parents, Christians, teachers, nurses, academics, activists and retirees. The study’s main contributions lie in three areas. A focus on LGBT experience can contribute to the creation of new opportunities to develop intergenerational learning processes. The study also extends the possibilities for greater criticality in older adult education theory, research and practice, based on the continued, rich learning in which participants engage post-work and in later life. Combined with this, there is scope to further explore the nature of ‘life-deep learning’ for other societal groups, brought by combined religious, moral, ideological and social learning that guides action, beliefs, values, and expression of identity. The LGBT adults in this study demonstrate engagement in distinct forms of life-deep learning to navigate social and moral opprobrium. From this they gain hope, self-respect, empathy with others, and deeper self-knowledge.