PhD PROJECTS
The concept of koinonia is a key idea to understand the nature of the Church and its mission. It has also become an ecumenical useful notion to evaluate the various ways and the reach of the communion achieved by the churches. In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, this notion is used to describe Church’s life and testimony (Acts 2:42). However, especially in chapter 15, conflict in the believing community show up that threaten its integrity and desired communion.
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From the revision of ecclesiological aspects, based on World Council of Churches most recent publications (since 1985), and the study of the conflict in the biblical account of Acts 15 based on Victor Turner’s anthropological model; this research project will provide an analysis on ecclesiological perspectives to eventually reflect on which ecclesiological understandings promote "peace-building" among the church members, between churches and/or society.
BUILDING PEACE AMIDST CONFLICT AND SOCIAL CHANGE: ECCLESIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACTS 15
GRETA NANIA-MONTOYA ORTEGA
JASON FRANCIS REIMER GREIG
SHALOM MADE STRANGE FOR THE NATIONS: PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AS CORE MEMBERS OF A PEACE ECCLESIOLOGY
I am interested how the theological anthropology of Jean Vanier, as well as its practice in L'Arche communities of people with and without intellectual disabilities, might assist in contributing to a peace theology and ecclesiology. Rather than representing merely a form of liberal "inclusion" for people with cognitive impairments, the thought and practice of L'Arche considers the most vulnerable persons as potential teachers in living a way into God's peace. In its communities of patience and trust, where time represents not "money" or power but the space to make friends with difference and the enemy, L'Arche witnesses to a way of life consistent with the Gospel and slow enough to recognize its call to participate in the missio Dei: God's reconciliation of all things to himself.
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Titles by the same author:
Jason Reimer Greig, '"Let The Children (with Down Syndrome) Come to Me": God's Shalom and the Radical Hospitality of the Church,' in: Journal of Disability & Religion, no. 19:1, 2015, pp. 50-65.
Jason Reimer Greig, "Shalom Made Strange: A Peace Church Theology for and with People with Intellectual Disabilities," in: The Conrad Grebel Review, no. 32:1, 2014, pp. 24-43.
CÉSAR GARCIA
HOW TO SPEAK OF GOD IN CONTEXTS OF SUFFERING: THEOLOGICAL METHODS FROM A PEACE CHURCH PERSPECTIVE
My research investigates how different theological methods have affected the contextualization of the Gospel in the Colombian reality, and how this might serve as a model for other contexts of suffering and oppression.
I approach this topic from a perspective of the Peace Church tradition. Churches that belong to this tradition have often found themselves in contexts of suffering. Therefore a first purpose of this project has to do with proposing a theological method that is coherent with this distinct perspective.
Using the Lukan narrative as a resource to propose relevant ways of contextualizing I propose a theological method that appeals to churches that face contexts of suffering – like in Colombia. This work challenges churches of those contexts to remain truthful to a relevant way of speaking of God in situations of suffering.