Peter and Cornelius: A Story of Conversion and Mission (original) (raw)

The Church and Development in Africa: Aid and Development from the Perspective of Catholic Social Ethics

The book gives a comprehensive and systematic presentation of Catholic social ethics on human rights, ecology, globalisation, international co-operation and aid, human and cultural development, business ethics, social justice, and the challenges of poverty eradication, and the need for solidarity to the poor, minorities, and those on the margins of life. The book shows how the social questions of the day impact the African continent. It further engages the principles and practice of Christian charity, aid and development and their implications for the challenging African social context. This work is a refreshing attempt at a transformative Christian theological praxis, and takes Catholic social ethics from the confines of rectories, chanceries, lecture halls and conferences to the living life situation of millions of Africans in their challenging social context. It proposes an integral theology of development, and creatively lays the groundwork for Christian humanitarian and social ministry in Africa. This work is a ground breaking attempt at vulnerable missional praxis through a social analysis informed by the Gospel, and a Gospel analysis which is capable of radically altering the ways and means Catholic and Christian charities carry out their humanitarian work, aid and development initiatives in developing countries of Africa, and among the poor in our world. This is a Christian manifesto for a better world.

Christianities of South Asia

This seminar explores the claim of diverse Christian traditions in South Asia to be religious traditions of South Asia, with special attention to these traditions’ indigenisation and social interactions with majority Hindu traditions. Our study will begin with an overview of the historical development of Christianity in India from the first century CE to the present. In a second unit, we move to close readings of four major theological articulations of an indigenous South Asian Christianity: M.M. Thomas, Vandana Mataji, James Theophilus Appavoo and Wessley Lukose. Finally, our attention will turn to the concept of ritual hybridity in Christian practice and the ethnographic study of Christian communities in India. Most of our attention will be focused on Christian traditions in India, but students are encouraged to choose topics related to Christianity in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and/or Bhutan for their research papers.