Subject Area
Theology/Religious Education
Abstract
Rev. Chase Hunter Burns April 2023
The Theological Praxis of Developing Relationships and Empowering Voices Within the Community: A Practical Method for the Church to Reflect on and Participate in the Kin-dom of God.
Jesus calls his disciples to follow his teachings of being ambassadors of God’s love, developing relationships beyond social barriers, and working toward peace, reconciliation, and equality. This dissertation explains the process of theological praxis – a means of developing relationships, peace, reconciliation, and equality within the local community.
This dissertation aims to promote a theological structure for transformative “Praxis.” This theological structure provides a means for disciples of Jesus Christ to engage in internal reflection of self and the local church. The reflection concentrates on the individual and shared theological tasks of developing relationships within the community, working alongside the developed relationships, and empowering the voice within the community.
The theological structure begins with the church engaging in a bible study focused on understanding and defining the kin-dom of God. The second action of the theological structure is reflecting on how one and one’s church demonstrate their understanding and definition of the kin-dom of God. The third action of the theological structure is adapting practices to indicate the new understanding of the kin-dom of God.
The process of praxis, as exemplified in the evolving project of Ready, Set, READ, is continuous as the fourth action of praxis is to start the process again – reflection, adaptation, and engagement. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, this theological structure offers space for individual and communal transformation to reflect the fullness of the kin-dom of God.
Degree Date
Spring 4-1-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
D.Min.
Department
Ministry
Advisor
Dr. Harold J. Racinos
Second Advisor
Dr. Susanne Johnson
Number of Pages
88
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Burns, Chase, "The Theological Praxis of Developing Relationships and Empowering Voices Within the Community: A Practical Method for the Church to Reflect on and Participate in the Kin-dom of God." (2023). Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses. 25.
https://scholar.smu.edu/theology_ministry_etds/25
