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The development of the doctrine of the church in the west is, unsurprisingly, profoundly indebted to Augustine. But that is not to say that thinking on it was completed in 430. Rather the Middle Ages witnessed considerable alteration, renewal, and change in regards to ecclesiology. This was particularly apparent during the late Middle Ages when the subject moved from the domain of the canon lawyers to that of theologians (So, for instance, although Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologicae contains no material on the doctrine of the church, Jan Hus would write a sizeable tome dedicated to the locus just 200 years later). Deeply influenced by things like the Avignon papacy, the Renaissance, the blossoming of apocalyptic thought, and the arrival in Europe of the 'Turks,' theological reflection on the nature of the church occupied a prominent place in the labours of Protestant Reformers eager to attack the Roman Catholic church as the Anti-Christ and synagogue of Satan. These early and enthusiastic attacks invariably met with serious intellectual engagement from seasoned Catholic polemicists forcing later evangelicals like Guillaume Farel, John Calvin, and Theodore Beza to reframe and reassert their positions for a new generation of Europeans following the death of Ulrich Zwingli, Johannes Oecolampadius, and in the waning years of other important thinkers such as Wolfgang Capito and of course Martin Luther. All of this was, in the case of Geneva, taking place within a city which, though important in its own right, was nonetheless negotiating its position within the wider world. Berne influenced it significantly and it enjoyed good relations with Swiss cities like Zurich. Yet much of Geneva's attention faced westward towards France from which not only all of its important ministers but also a sizeable amount of its population came, fleeing persecution from the French (Catholic) government. Accordingly, not only Geneva's theological reflections but also its social and political musings on the church were being inspired and constrained by a Gallican influence. This chapter will attempt to set out the thought on the church which these influences produced.

Church asylum, or sanctuary, is a practice to support, counsel and give shelter to refugees who are threatened with deportation to inhumane living conditions, torture or even death. This practice can be located at the interface of benevolence and politics.

After much work, a new Methodist church was opened in Floriana in 1883. This church served mostly the British population on the island and most importantly soldiers. In fact the popularity of the Methodist religion came into waves, as this depended on the presence of soldiers and sailors on the island. Apart from worship the church served as a socio-cultural centre with many activities being held and organised. With the departure of the British from the islands, church numbers were dwindling and it was in 1975 that the building was evacuated and turned to the local government. ; N/A

Contemporary church architecture in Hungary is one of the most monumental and representative architectural topics of the period after the political change; following forty years of communist dictatorship it became possible for congregations to freely raise new church buildings, asserting at the same time their social rights. It is remarkable that among the newly built churches the majority appear through the uniting of diverse functions such as congregation centres. The sacral church spaces of these architectural complexes are flexible and thus often extended with the community´s educational or other functional units used for non-sacral social gatherings, as a result the church may really become the home of a community. The article tries to encompass this phenomenon by analysing in the context of historical antecedents a typical contemporary Catholic and Protestant Hungarian church.

During the nineteenth century, religious newspapers served as an integral source of information for numerous churchgoing individuals. Articles about the finer points of theology, minutes of denominational meetings, and developments regarding domestic and foreign missions filled the pages of these organs and kept ministers and laity informed about current ecclesiastical issues. The Civil War, however, caused editors and correspondents to include matters related to war and politics in addition to typical religious fare. The Church Advocate, the Church of God's national weekly published in Lancaster, is a little-known source that reveals aspects of daily life on the Pennsylvania home front and relates the experiences of soldiers in camp and on the battlefield.

In honour of Mary-Anne Elizabeth Plaatjies-Van Huffel, this article is dedicated to her last endeavour, "to reflect on the road travelled" of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). Plaatjies-Van Huffel became outspoken against the lack of internal unity in URCSA, especially after the retraction of her nomination as Actuarius at the URCSA Cape Synod elections in 2018. In this regard, the article focuses particularly on reconciliation in URCSA with a focus on the role of the church media as a medium for reconciliation. The paper will focus on the media reporting of the DRMC church newspaper, Die Ligdraer, between 1990 and 1994 on church unification between the DRCA and the DRMC as a case study to reflect on what role church media can play in the internal unification processes in URCSA. The author conducts a rhetorical analysis of the DRMC's newspaper, Die Ligdraer, and its role in the facilitation of unification between two churches (DRMC and DRCA), with different ethnic and cultural traditions that became reconciled and united in the context of political transition within the broader South African context.

The debate over whether the early church basilica was "imperial" is bound up with many other questions, including the origins of the building type, and whether building types have fixed or only contingent associations. Krautheimer, for example, maintained that the imperial quality of the early Christian basilica was generally transmitted, as the church basilica was a descendant of the public basilica which it formally resembles, and which itself was in the imperial domain. Deichmann, by contrast, held that no architectural form has inherent meaning, rather buildings are constituted as Christian or imperial through use or posterior interpretation. Recent advances in semiotic theory offer a way around this impasse, by suggesting that the "basilica" is a discursive rather than a formal category, determined neither purely by form nor purely by use, but by a cultural and linguistic understanding; and that the properties of architectural space contribute to this understanding by thematizing culturally meaningful categories. Contrasting the Lateran Basilica to two earlier public basilicas, the Basilica Aemilia and the Basilica Ulpia, demonstrates a fundamental lack of resemblance without denying a possible genetic connection. Semiotic analysis of the Lateran's interior suggests that it thematized many qualities that were also imperial but not exclusively so, including opulence, visibility, and power. It also thematized privacy – not an imperial attribute – and did not refer to the imperial themes par excellence, victory and military prowess.

The debate over whether the early church basilica was "imperial" is bound up with many other questions, including the origins of the building type, and whether building types have fixed or only contingent associations. Krautheimer, for example, maintained that the imperial quality of the early Christian basilica was generally transmitted, as the church basilica was a descendant of the public basilica which it formally resembles, and which itself was in the imperial domain. Deichmann, by contrast, held that no architectural form has inherent meaning, rather buildings are constituted as Christian or imperial through use or posterior interpretation. Recent advances in semiotic theory offer a way around this impasse, by suggesting that the "basilica" is a discursive rather than a formal category, determined neither purely by form nor purely by use, but by a cultural and linguistic understanding; and that the properties of architectural space contribute to this understanding by thematizing culturally meaningful categories. Contrasting the Lateran Basilica to two earlier public basilicas, the Basilica Aemilia and the Basilica Ulpia, demonstrates a fundamental lack of resemblance without denying a possible genetic connection. Semiotic analysis of the Lateran's interior suggests that it thematized many qualities that were also imperial but not exclusively so, including opulence, visibility, and power. It also thematized privacy – not an imperial attribute – and did not refer to the imperial themes par excellence, victory and military prowess.

In Western Europe the Church as an institution was integrated into the military system and was obliged to serve the monarchy. Apart from performing vassal duties, the Latin clergy frequently participated in military actions. Although the Church laws forbade clergymen to shed blood, there were many examples of the violation of this rule. The attitude of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire concerning the possible participation of the clergy in war differed significantly from that of Latin Europe. The Byzantine priesthood did not become involved in military actions. The Greek Church possessed neither military units nor vassal commitment to the Empire. Despite a very close relationship with the Byzantine Church the attitude of the Georgian Church to the issue differs from that of Byzantium and is closer to the Western practice. The feudal organization of Georgia conditioned the social structure of the Georgian Church and its obligations before the monarchy. Despite the fact that the Georgian Church enjoyed many advantages, it had to take part in military campaigns. The upper circles of Georgian Church dignitaries were accustomed to both conducting military campaigns or taking part in the combat. In regard to military activities of clergy, Georgian law was much more lenient than Byzantine, and in the case of necessity, it even modified Greek legal norms. The conflict with the Christian canons was decided in favor of military necessity, and it was reflected in the legislation

This article traces the German church struggle form 1933 to 1945 with particular emphasis on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's role. Although Bonhoeffer's status in the world today is that of a great theologian and courageous opponent of the Nazi regime, he did not have much of an impact on the direction of the Confessing Church during the church struggle. Bonhoeffer's striking albeit marginal role in the German church struggle and his inability to affect significantly the direction of the Confessing Church was due to many factors, including his young age, his liberal-democratic politics, his absence from Germany from October 1933 to April 1935, his vacillating and at times contradictory positions on central issues, his radical theological critique of the Nazi state, his friendship with and family ties to Christians of Jewish descent, and ultimately his willingness to risk his life to destroy Hitler's regime.

The Zimbabwean Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a pastoral letter on 14 August 2020. Its title, "The March is not Ended", echoed the words of the late American civil right activist and politician John Robert Lewis. In the introduction, the bishops reminded their fellow citizens that "Peace building and nation-building are never completed tasks. Every generation has to establish national cohesion and peace". In using the biblical text from Micah 7:1–6 where the prophet denounced corruption and oppression in his own days, the bishops took a swipe at Zimbabwean political leaders. African politicians never take responsibility for their misrule of the continent, which has kept Africa largely underdeveloped. The perplexity of the situation in Zimbabwe is reflective of similar situations in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa where leaders look the other way and shift blames. This research undertakes to explore how the Catholic Church in Africa has fared in its prophetic mission in relation to the political-cum-socioeconomic questions on the continent. It will acknowledge instances where the Church, through certain prelates, has proven itself to be a moral conscience. It will also indicate how the efforts of African bishops closely align with those of Pope Francis in relation to the prophetic mission of the Church as a defender of truth, human rights and social justice. Contribution: Africans, like most people in the world, have a very simple vision of the good life: to live in reasonable material comfort and in peace. This research is essentially anchored within Catholic social teaching. It underscores how the Catholic Church in Africa has defended and continues to uphold the rights of the people to actualize their aspiration of a simple good life in a hostile and self-serving African political and socioeconomic context. It notes that the Church cannot take the place of political leaders because its role is basically the promotion of the common good, which includes public order and peace, development, equality, justice and solidarity.

What are the authentic features of a diaconal ecclesia in contexts of crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic? In the south African context, the response of the church has been both positive and negative. During this period of the outbreak of the coronavirus the church has been very visible and pastoral in Holy Week, and especially during Easter. After Holy Easter the visibility of the church gave way to non-governmental organisations, social responsibility organisations, government social development agencies, and other government departments. These institutions and organizations emerged as active, practical, and concrete sources of hope because they provided the immediate and tangible needs of the people, including food, shelter, medical care, and psychological support. This research investigates the gap in the church as liturgical movement and service oriented. This elicits the question, what is the church in times of crisis? On the assumption that the church is diaconal, what kind of diaconal ecclesia is suited for times of crisis, like the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa? To understand the main arguments and perspectives of the two modes of church, service and liturgy, I will do a literature review with special attention given to the ecumenical church. I will also do a conceptual analysis of the main terminologies and its effects on the development of notions of church. The modes of church will be interpreted through the lens of catholicity in order to formulate a diaconal ecclesia with distinctive features for times of crisis such as the current pandemic.

Many mainline Protestant communities want to be welcoming while preserving their identities; they want to be shaped by the central claims of the faith while making room for those who doubt. And crucially, they want to do this in a way that leads to vibrant, growing communities, where more and more people gather to worship, encourage one another, and live out the Gospel. How should the Episcopal Church—and other mainline Protestant denominations, insofar as they're similar—try to achieve these goals? I suggest that local churches borrow some resources from John Rawls's Political Liberalism. On the view I outline, it's valuable for local churches to see themselves as akin to political bodies composed of reasonable citizens. The idea, in essence, is that the relevant kind of reasonableness would make congregations more unified even while tolerating more diversity, and would accomplish all this without giving up their distinctly Christian identity.

In this exploratory article the author deals with the ecclesiology of Paul and its relevance for India. Today we are witnessing in our country a scenario where basically two kinds o f politics are at play: the politics of division and the politics of unity. The former is by far the more popular even in this age of growing hate and terror campaigns spreading in many parts of the country. The politics of division seeks to form small configu­ rations o f caste, language and religion, the better to appeal to particularist identities for vested interests. Aggressive claims of dominant castes and disastrous conflicts resulting from cultural and religious differences are fomenting worldviews o f exclusivism and distrust, with transcendent val­ ues giving way to pragmatic ones. There is also a new social configuration emerging, due to large-scale migration, unprecedented xenophobia, fun­ damentalism and terrorism. In this context, the author opined that an examination of Paul's under­ standing of Ekklesia, o f the local ecclesiologies that he developed and his theology of 'communio' will offer significant insights for questions on identity, unity and a relevant way of being church today in pluralistic In­ dia.

Church history in Mizoram omits women and pays little attention to the role played by Mizos in their own conversion. This paper seeks to restore the role of women in the church, while focusing on their financial contribution to building the early Presbyterian Church in Mizoram. In tracing the history of the 'handful of rice,' this article explores how the project began, and how it developed over the years to play an important role in financing the church and generating hundreds of female theologians and missionaries. However, despite their contribution, women are still denied ordination as Pastors or Elders and the church's definition of women's gendered roles prevents it from accepting women as equals within the church.