Visjonen om likeverdet : det økumeniske tiåret 1988-1998 : kyrkjer i solidaritet med kvinner i El Salvador og Noreg, Kenya og Japan.

Abstract

The years 1988-1998 were named by World Council of Churches as The Ecumenical Decade - Churches in Solidarity with Women. On a worldwide scale, the Decade challenged member churches to portray Solidarity with Women in their contexts. Churches around the world launched a variety of projects and programs for this purpose. The Decade envisaged a new fellowship of women and men in church and society, and called for a renewed concept of human being to fulfill this purpose. In order to analyze the Decade, this thesis coins the phrase human like-worthiness portraying the like-worthiness of all human being. The concept of human like-worthiness is motivated by general human as well as theological concerns. Overarching the concepts of solidarity and participation, it provides the main analytical tool. This thesis claims that human like-worthiness catches the core of the Decade. The thesis explores content and dynamics of human like-worthiness in Decade-related projects of particular churches in El Salvador, Norway, Kenya and Japan. Furthermore, contextually influential factors of philosophical, theological and educational nature are particularly investigated. Against an intriguing background of interaction between vision and contexts, the thesis argues that churches express their understanding of human like-worthiness in accordance with distinct models of contextual theologies. Moreover, the thesis shows that emerging patterns of women's leadership are conditioned by various priorities of theology and ethos in the churches.