Theologyhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/17702024-03-28T21:46:31Z2024-03-28T21:46:31ZThe Kingdom of God and the transformation of the world : the call and role of the ecumenical movementPillay, Jerryhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/953512024-03-26T22:47:49Z2023-11-01T00:00:00ZThe Kingdom of God and the transformation of the world : the call and role of the ecumenical movement
Pillay, Jerry
The article explores how pivotal the kingdom of God has been and still is to the identity of the ecumenical movement. The discussion of the biblical vision of the kingdom, which is coming and yet is also present, offers a motif which not only forms the life of the church and gives it hope but also forms the life of the oikoumene, giving hope to all of life. The ensuing discussion shows how, historically, the ecumenical movement has practised its calling of unity and mission as one which offers salvation to all life and to all aspects of life and goes on to outline how the kingdom continues to inspire ecumenical engagement today. Fundamental to this is the realization that the kingdom lays claim not on the church but on the whole world. This turns the ecumenical movement away from self-service so that the life of the world is shifted, challenged, and transformed through the work and witness of the ecumenical movement. This is especially and urgently needed where the powers, systems, and structures of our world cause injustice, inequity, and catastrophe. In this mission ecumenism reaches its fullest unity, in which all are saved.
2023-11-01T00:00:00ZA praxis-based approach to liberating theological education : a Cape Town case studyhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/952552024-03-18T12:28:54Z2021-11-01T00:00:00ZA praxis-based approach to liberating theological education : a Cape Town case study
This study begins by framing the challenges for theological education/formation
which remain disconnected from urban realities. The rationale for the study stems
from a personal experience as a participant in a praxis-based approach to
theological education during the Leadership in Urban Transformation (LUT) course
in 2016, which opened up a quest to understand liberative pedagogy for the urban
context.
The aim of the principal research question is to discover how a praxis-based
approach shapes the consciousness and actions of urban practitioners towards
liberating engagements with their urban contexts. The research methodology is
grounded in the transformative paradigms of a praxis-based approach and
Womanist theological conceptions which are presented as the vehicle to explore
theological education in Cape Town. The aim of the study is investigated in three
ways, namely (1) focus groups with theological educators, alumni of theological
education programmes, community-based practitioners and ministers, (2) an auto
ethnographic exploration and (3) semi-structured interviews with 2016 LUT
participants.
As a methodology the praxis cycle and the requisite series of action-reflection
movements – exploring immersion, social analysis, theological reflection and co-
constructing plans for action – were used as a framework to analyse lived
spiritualty in the city. Utilising the praxis cycle, participatory action research
methods and pastoral ethnographic interviews, data was collected, complied,
transcribed, reviewed and scrutinised using thematic analysis to identify themes
for examination.
An autoethnographic chapter expounding on the biography of the researcher in
conversation with Womanist theological literature and a praxis-based approach
preceded the ethnographic investigation of the narratives of the LUT participants.
Throughout the autoethnography, four quintessential resources of Womanist
theology – redemptive self-love, critical engagement, radical subjectivity, and traditional communalism – were amalgamated with the movements of the praxis
cycle to contribute to a developing pedagogical method for urban challenges.
In the ethnographic research, the praxis cycle movements and Womanist ideals
aided in identifying: (1) how the context of the city was brought to life for LUT
participants, (2) how participants received new lenses to read the past, present
and future of urban contexts, (3) how the participants refined or developed fresh
faith practices, and (4) what dissonances were generated for participants in the
learning process. Finally, a revitalising orientation of theological
education/formation using the praxis cycle methodology preparing practitioners for
informed engagement with urban challenges was outlined.
Synthesising the study, focus group themes and imaginative scenarios were
brought into conversation with the ethnographic explorations and relevant
literature to substantiate how the praxis-based approach in tandem with womanist
theology were joined reflecting liberative pedagogical and epistemological features
for urban theological education. Finally, praxis-based and Womanist approaches
where used to propose a transformative urban pedagogical framework employing
Katie Geneva Cannon’s transformative pedagogical imperatives consisting of
historic ethos, embodied pathos and communal logos. In addition, a fresh
conception of imaginative oikos was fused together with Cannon’s ideals towards
a liberative praxis-based pedagogical framework suitable to prepare practitioners
for urban challenges.
Thesis (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2021.
2021-11-01T00:00:00ZThe revelation of God : Black liberation theology and African knowledge systems ask : how and to whom does God reveal God selfMdingi, Hlulani M.http://hdl.handle.net/2263/950512024-03-04T22:47:57Z2023-11-30T00:00:00ZThe revelation of God : Black liberation theology and African knowledge systems ask : how and to whom does God reveal God self
Mdingi, Hlulani M.
The African world view is not monolithic or homogeneous.
However, that being the case, there is a strong metaphysical
and existential leaning in terms of Spirit and the world. The
Spirit is the medium whereby revelation occurs for all of
creation. African indigenous knowledge as episteme and
Black liberation theology as a paradigm have something
to teach outside Western dualism about the revelation of
God not being linear in form. The methodological aspect
of this research is a literature study aimed at discussing
transmission and reception of biblical discourse in Africa
by viewing differently the subject of God’s revelation
from a variety of sources. The article seeks to argue that
indigenous knowledge and, from the Black liberation
paradigm, conceptions of God reveal a God with a social
existence in contrast to a Western God who abdicates
creation when the majority of creation and her creatures
are oppressed by White supremacy.
2023-11-30T00:00:00ZFeminist spiritualities, gender equality, and sustainable development : the possibilities of a countermovementSwanepoel, N.Van Wyk, Tanyahttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/950012024-02-29T22:48:05Z2023-06-01T00:00:00ZFeminist spiritualities, gender equality, and sustainable development : the possibilities of a countermovement
Swanepoel, N.; Van Wyk, Tanya
Feminist historiography indicates that spirituality has
historically been one of the instruments whereby women
could “speak”. This “voice” implied recognition and
authority, to a certain degree, in a patriarchal-oriented
reality. In this regard, feminist spirituality became a
vehicle for women to authorise their own religious and
spiritual contributions and insights. Feminist spirituality
became a countermovement – countering perceptions
and ingrained convictions that a woman could not be a
mediator between God and humanity. Feminist spirituality
contributed to the creation of spaces for women to study
and participate in the creation of religious-spiritual texts.
Women’s contexts are diverse and intersectional, and
so is feminist spirituality, to the extent that it is more
appropriate to speak of feminist spiritualities in the plural.
This article explores the possibilities of feminist spirituality
as countermovement that contributes to the realisation
of gender equality, in the way that gender equality finds expression in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. It is situated
within a growing field of work that explores how faith communities’ religion and spirituality
contribute to their being agents of sustainable development, and within the contextual
urgency of the sustainable development agenda.
This article includes reworked aspects of the PhD study of N. Swanepoel, entitled “Mapping the contribution of feminist spiritualities to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of ‘gender equality’”, completed in the Department of Systematic and Historical Theology, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, under the supervision of Tanya van Wyk.
2023-06-01T00:00:00Z