Sallie McFague uses the common creation story (or the postmodern scientific under-standing of the earth and the cosmos as remythologised by ecological theologians such as Thomas Berry and Anne Primaves) to reinterpret the various phases in the Christian story, namely creation, sin, redemption through the death and resurrec-tion of Christ, human agency and eschatology. She uses especially the metaphor of the Body of God to reinterpret the Christian story. To comprehend the significance of this central metaphor, one needs to investigate McFague’s fine comprehension of metaphorical language, sacraments and thought processes as these relate to the (renewal of) worldviews. This also enables one to understand the confluence of sacramental theology and agential theology in her praxis-orientated methodology.

The aim of this thesis is to seek an understanding of women’s human security in developing countries, and to ask whether the human security concept as such can live up to expectations as a practical guide to improving women’s lot. Iceland’s stance on aid provision and its promotion of gender issues is also examined, to see whether the country’s efforts are being directed to the right targets and for maximum effect. The subject is approached by introducing a historical summary of the rise of ‘human security ’ thinking followed by a theoretical discussion of the concept. This twofold introduction provides a clearer picture of the concept’s utility and its limitations. To see how different security threats may face women within developing countries, the seven categories of human security defined in the 1994 UNDP report are then used to give a non-exhaustive review of the problems. This approach is then narrowed down to focus on Uganda as a test case. The results show that there can be no human security without including the dimension of