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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Religion and culture, Africa'
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Waliggo, John Mary. "THE ROLE OF CULTURE AND RELIGION IN AUTHENTIC DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA." Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology, 1993. http://digital.library.duq.edu/u?/bet,1687.
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Nyanungo, Martha. "Tensions and conflicts between formal and traditional sex education in Africa-sub-Sahara." Doctoral thesis, Universidade de Évora, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10174/23609.
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Esta dissertação visa estudar a influência que a educação sócio-cultural e religiosa exercem na educação sexual formal em escolas no Zimbabwe. Para a investigação, foi levantada a seguinte questão: "A educação sexual formal ministrada em escolas está a ser sublevada pela educação sexual adquirida através de normas socioculturais, religiosas das famílias Africanas?” Entretanto, se a educação sexual não é Afro-centrada e culturalmente relevante a nível do conteúdo, ela não pode ser efetiva e as mulheres jovens continuarão expostas aos maiores desafios sexuais de hoje. Ao responder a esta e outras questões da pesquisa, achámos o método qualitativo o mais apropriado para a recolha de dados culturalmente específicos e contextualmente ricos, pois, é esse o objetivo deste estudo.
Através de entrevistas etnográficas, a intenção foi a de gravar vozes de jovens mulheres Shonas que, representam todo mosaico sócio-étnico do país. Isso permitiu-me obter informações consistentes e coerentes de como a sexualidade é definida e percebida entre os Shonas, e como a referida perceção se entrelaça com a instrução formal religiosa sobre a sexualidade. Outros instrumentos de recolha de informação para o nosso estudo incluíram análise minuciosa de livros escolares e de documentos do Ministério da Educação, Desporto e Cultura do Zimbabwe.
Entre vários resultados curiosos produzidos pela pesquisa, o de maior realce revela que a educação sexual formal ministrada nas escolas no Zimbabwe não incorpora conteúdos suficientemente relevantes para os adolescentes sexualmente ativos. A inadequação baseia-se na abordagem não realista e errônea da abstinência como o método e resolução insuperável para os dilemas da sexualidade. Como desvantagem, a cultura e a religião também são vistas como desafios para a educação sexual efetiva nas escolas. Com base nesses resultados, o nosso estudo conclui com recomendações que devem ser levadas em consideração ao se elaborar um currículo de educação integral mais eficaz e operacional sobre educação sexual; ABSTRACT:
Tensions and conflicts between formal and traditional sex education in Africa sub-Sahara
This dissertation aims to investigate the interplay between the socio-religio-cultural aspects and formal sex education in schools in Zimbabwe. Because young women fall victim to most of the traditional, religio-cultural sexuality adversities, the research focuses on young Shona women. The study interrogates whether the formal sex education being taught in schools faces setbacks from sex education being instructed through African family socio-cultural and religious norms. Qualitative methodology was found to be the most appropriate for the production of culturally specific and contextually rich data that the research is aimed at. Collection of data was achieved through document analysis participant observation and ethnographic interviews.
Of the many intriguing findings of this research, a major finding is that curricula is detached from overarching philosophical worldviews, cultural traditions, and the general actualities of sexually active teenagers. Its inadequacy is based on the unrealistic and erroneous approach to abstinence as the unsurpassable resolution to sexuality dilemmas. The study evidences that the deep-rootedness of some traditional practices, mythologies, and taboos associated with sexuality as well as the tenacity of some forms of traditional modes of sexuality education continue to exert a powerful influence on formal sexuality education in schools. The findings further reveals that the prescriptive and fear-based teaching methods do not foster enough critical thinking to empower students to face sexuality and reproductive health challenges.
This viewpoint continues to play a significant role in shaping attitudes, beliefs, and values in relation to sexuality even in contemporary times. Based on these findings, the study con-cludes with recommendations for designers of sexuality education curricula to consider the convergent and divergent aspects and draw from strengths of the co-existing heritages in order to build an integrated sexuality education pedagogy that is culturally relevant for the young women in Zimbabwe.
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Shange, Nombulelo Tholithemba. "Shembe religion's integration of African traditional religion and Christianity : a sociological case study." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011819.
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The Shembe Church's integration of African Traditional Religion and Christianity has been met by many challenges. This merger has been rejected by both African traditionalists and Christians. The Shembe Church has been met by intolerance even though the movement in some ways creates multiculturalism between different people and cultures. This thesis documents the Shembe Church's ideas and practices; it discusses how the Shembe Church combines two ideologies that appear to be at odds with each other. In looking at Shembe ideas and practices, the thesis discusses African religion-inspired rituals like ukusina, ancestral honouring, animal sacrificing and virgin testing. The thesis also discusses the heavy Christian influence within the Shembe Church; this is done by looking at the Shembe Church's use of The Bible and Moses' Laws which play a crucial role in the Church. The challenges the Shembe Church faces are another main theme of the thesis. The thesis looks at cases of intolerance and human rights violations experienced by Shembe members. This is done in part by looking at the living conditions at eBuhleni, located at Inanda, KZN. The thesis also analyses individual Shembe member's experiences and discusses how some members of the Shembe church experience the acceptance of the Shembe religion in South African society. This thesis concludes by trying to make a distinction between intolerance and controversy. I try to highlight the idea that what many Shembe followers see as discrimination and intolerance towards them is sometimes a difference in opinion from other cultural groups. Sometimes these differences are not geared towards criticising other religious groups or perpetuating intolerance.
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Simiyu, Michael Wakhangu. "The concept of repentance in African traditional religion compared with Christianity /." Berlin : Viademica-Verl, 2007. http://deposit.d-nb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2950229&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Kwon, Hyo-Sang. "Shifting ideas about ancestors in the construction of identities : an intercultural theological evaluation of Korean witnesses in South Africa." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/19538.
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Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Interculturation theology as a way of communication in religious cultural arenas is the most recent and remarkable methodology that can be used to open space for mutual witness and dialogue with regard to ideas about and the praxes of ancestral rituals between South Korean and South African Christians. The purpose of this research is to overcome some dichotomised problems that are inherent in exclusive, inclusive, and religious pluralistic approaches in dialogue with other religious cultures. In this regard, we examined some problems of the colonial way of mission and the functional translation of the exclusivistic approach and noted that the inclusive approach also has its weakness, in that it weakens the historicity of the subject. We attempted to show that theocentric and religious pluralistic approaches do not solve the problem of mutual identity simply by searching for commonalities between religious traditions. Our rationale is that although these approaches have their weak points, we should not overlook their benefits. Therefore, in appraising these approaches, attention is drawn to how these benefits may be used to complement one another. Consequently, we proposed a meaningcentred and praxis-centred communication methodology using a holistic approach. To appropriate a meaning-centred and praxis-centred methodology of communication, we began by adopting the theological principle of perichoresis, which is the inner relationship among the Persons of the Divine Trinity. Perichoresis is the foundation of missio Dei, which is God’s initiative love to the world in praxis. Through incarnational self-giving, missio Dei is revealed in the world. Secondly, we re-interpreted perichoresis as an intercultural term and ideology, based on its components, mutual indwelling, mutual space, and mutual identity. The intercultural meaning of mutual indwelling is continual mutual penetrating, while cultural meaning of mutual space is interpreted as the others, that is, from the viewpoint of emptying themselves in mutual communication instead of that of dominion and replacement. Further, we re-interpreted mutual identity through the ‘praxis of with’. Based on this cultural reinterpretation of perichoresis, we established a praxis-centred and meaning-centred model of interculturation theology. More importantly, the perichoretic model of interculturation enabled us to construct a theological and cultural identity of Christianity in encountering with others, which is the ‘praxis of with’. In particular, the study attempted to apply intercultural communication method to the encounter between Xhosa churches and Korean missionaries in Khayelitsha in terms of ancestor related matters. Through this intercultural and comparative evaluation of shifting identities, we suggested how Korean missionary and Xhosa churches could mutually construct theological cultural identities. For this purpose, we first carried out a literature study of Korean and South African indigenous theologies concerning ancestor worship.1 Subsequently, we conducted an empirical survey in Khayelitsha to determine the missiological views of Korean missionaries in the light of their traditional religious background and Korean theologians’ indigenised interpretations of ancestral matters. We also considered the theological positions of some Western missionaries in Khayelitsha on the same issue. Finally, we investigated the identities of Xhosa churches in Khayelitsha on literature and empirical levels and how intercultural theology can be reconstructed to evaluate the missiological identities of Korean missionaries and Xhosa churches in terms of ancestor worship.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Interkulturasie teologie as 'n kommunikasiewyse in godsdienstige kultuurgebiede is die mees onlangse en merkwaardigste metodologie wat aangewend kan word om ruimte te skep vir wedersydse getuienis en dialoog rakende idees aangaande en die praktyke voorouerlike rituele onder Suid-Koreaanse en Suid-Afrikaanse Christene. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om sekere gedigotomiseerde probleme te oorkom wat inherent is in eksklusiewe, inklusiewe en religieus pluralistiese benaderings wat in dialoog is met ander religieuse kulture. In hierdie verband het ons ondersoek ingestel na sekere probleme van die koloniale wyse van sendingwerk en die funksionele oorskakeling van die eksklusivistiese benadering en gemerk dat die inklusiewe benadering ook sy swakheid het deurdat dit die historisiteit van die onderwerp verswak. Ons het gepoog om aan te dui dat teosentriese en religieus pluralistiese benaderings nie die probleem van onderlinge identiteit oplos nie deur eenvoudig te soek na gemeenskaplikhede tussen religieuse tradisies. Ons rasionaal is dat alhoewel hierdie benaderings hul swakpunte het, behoort ons nie verby hul voordele te kyk nie. By die inskatting van hierdie benaderings word die aandag dus gevestig op hoe hierdie voordele gebruik kan word om die ander aan te vul. Gevolglik het ons 'n betekenisgesentreerde en praktykgerigte kommunikasiemetodologie voorgestel wat 'n holistiese benadering aanwend. Om 'n betekenisgesentreerde en praktykgerigte kommunikasiemetodogie aan te wend, het ons begin deur die teologiese beginsel van perichoresis te aanvaar, wat die innerlike verhouding tussen die lede van die heilige drie eenheid is. Perichoresis is die fondament van missio Dei, wat die inisiatief verteenwoordig wat God se liefde vir die wêreld in die praktyk is. By wyse van inkarnasionele gee-van-die-self, word missio Dei aan die wêreld openbaar. Tweedens het ons perichoresis herinterpreteer as 'n interkulturele term en ideologie wat op sy samestellende elemente gebaseer is, naamlik 'n gemeenskaplike woning, gemeenskaplike ruimte en gemeenskaplike identiteit. Die interkulturele betekenis van 'n gemeenskaplike woning is voortdurende gemeenskaplike deurdringing, terwyl die kulturele betekenis van gemeenskaplike ruimte geïnterpreteer word as die andere, met ander woorde vanuit die oogpunt van die lediging van hulself in gemeenskaplike kommunikasie, eerder as oorheersing en verplasing. Ons het verder gemeenskaplike identiteit herinterpreteer by wyse van die 'praktyk waarmee'. Gebaseer op hierdie kulturele herinterpretasie van perichoresis, het ons 'n praktykgerigte en betekenisgesentreerde model van interkulturele teologie daargestel. Belangriker nog het die perichoretiese model van interkulturasie ons in staat gestel om 'n teologiese en kulturele identiteit van die Christendom op te stel temidde van 'n ontmoeting met andere, wat die 'praktyk waarmee' verteenwoordig. In die besonder het die studie gepoog om die interkulturele kommunikasiemetode toe te pas op die ontmoeting tussen Xhosa-kerke en Koreaanse sendelinge in Khayelitsha in terme van voorouerverwante sake. Deur hierdie interkuturele en vergelykende evaluering van verskuiwende identiteite, het ons voorgestel hoe Koreaanse sendelinge en Xhosa-kerke wedersyds teologiese kulturele identiteite kan daarstel. Vir hierdie doel het ons aanvanklik 'n literatuurstudie onderneem van Koreaanse en Suid- Afrikaanse inheemse teologieë aangaande die aanbidding van voorouers. Daarna het ons 'n empiriese opname in Khayelitsha onderneem om die missiologiese sienings van Koreaanse sendelinge vas te stel in die lig van hul tradisionele godsdienstige agtergrond en die Koreaanse teoloë se verinheemste interpretasie van voorouerlike sake. Ons het ook aandag geskenk aan die teologiese posisies van sommige Westerse sendelinge in Khayelitsha oor dieselfde aangeleentheid. Laastens het ons die identiteite nagevors van die Xhosa-kerke in Khayelitsha op literêre en empiriese vlakke en hoe interkulturele teologie gerekonstrueer kan word om die missiologiese identiteite van Koreaanse sendelinge en Xhosa-kerke te evalueer ingevolge die aanbidding van voorouers.
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Sakuba, Xolani Sherlock-Lee. "The relationsthip between sin and evil in African Christian theology." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2004. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=init_9071_1177918844.
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Classic Christian theology regards evil as the product of sin, the emphasis in traditional African religion and culture is on human sin as the result of evil forces. This thesis investigated the way in which African Christian theologians understand the relationship between sin and evil. The question, which was addressed was, does sin lead to evil or evil lead to sin.
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Moyo, Precillar. "The relevance of culture and religion to the understanding of children's rights in South Africa." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4722.
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The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of culture and religion on the rights of the child from a South African perspective. This paper does not engage in a debate about whether children's rights are universal or not. The underlying premise is that children's rights are universal. The paper simply uses the universalism and cultural relativism debate as an entry point to a discussion of children's rights in the South Africa. It will explore the extent to which culture and religion influence and impact the interpretation of children's constitutional rights which are modelled on the CRC. The paper will therefore critically and comparatively consider how South African courts have attempted to reconcile universal norms with historical, cultural and religious peculiarities in defining rights and their resultant effect on children and their welfare.
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Kruss, Glenda. "Religion, class and culture : indigenous churches in South Africa, with special reference to Zionist-Apostolics." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17025.
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Part one establishes the problematic of this primarily historical and theoretical work on indigenous churches in South Africa. The existing literature is surveyed, explanatory themes isolated and a critique of the dominant functionalist framework offered. A different theoretical framework - historical materialism - is proposed, in order to bring new insights into the explanation of indigenous churches. A periodisation of the South African social formation, and three corresponding forms of indigenous churches is proposed. Part two considers each of these in a schematic form. It is hypothesized that Ethiopian churches arose at the turn of the century in the Transvaal and Eastern Cape amongst the emerging African petit-bourgeoisie. They were the religious response to unequal incorporation in the developing capitalist social formation. An early form of Zionism, Zion City Churches, arose between the two World Wars, in a period of intense resistance to proletarianization. In each region they were shaped by the particular conditions and conflicts. An attempt is made to demonstrate that, in contrast, Zionist-Apostolics arose after World War II as a church of the black working class. Instead of explaining them in terms of acculturation, it is hypothesized that their healing form can be understood as an expression and a protest of the alienation of the black working class. As a religious-cultural innovation they succeed in subverting missionary hegemony and gaining control over the means of salvation, and in this way, of their own lives. Part three attempts to evaluate the contribution of a historical materialist analysis to understanding religion, and to isolate directions for future research.
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Grant, Andrea Mariko. "Living under "quiet insecurity" : religion and popular culture in post-genocide Rwanda." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:83b2b3d3-f08e-4556-8d20-e832345fa25d.
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This thesis explores religion and popular culture in post-genocide Rwanda. In particular, I examine the rise of the new Pentecostal churches – the abarokore ("the saved ones") – and the reconstruction of the "modern" music industry after the genocide. I argue that contemporary social life in Rwanda is defined by "quiet insecurity" and "temporal dissonance". I employ these concepts to take seriously how young people in Rwanda create alternative pasts, presents, and futures for themselves within an authoritarian political context. While the government attempts to control the historical narrative and impose a particular developmentalist "vision" of the future onto its citizens, young people articulate and perform their hopes, fears, dreams, and anxieties within the realms of religion and popular culture, creating "unofficial" narratives that both converge with and contest those of the state. Against the prevailing academic consensus of Kigali as silent, I instead reposition the capital as a site of creativity wherein noisy debates take place about Rwandan identity and culture. I examine the new abarokore churches as important affective spaces that allow for healing and the keeping of secrets. Yet the fact that these same churches tend to be mono-ethnic suggests the limits of the born-again project. Conversely, the community imagined within popular culture, particularly through hip hop songs, is more inclusive, with identity forged through the mutual experience of pain and suffering. I pay particular attention to gender, and consider how patriarchal tendencies in the new churches and popular culture undermine the country's "progressive" gender policies. By examining Pentecostal services, conversion testimonies, song lyrics, the Kinyarwanda-language entertainment media, and discourses of musical corruption, I explore how young people respond to a context of quiet insecurity through quiet agency – they actively seek to transform and resolve their life circumstances, however modest or temporary their transformations or resolutions prove to be.
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Holmgren, E. Henry. "Signs and wonders in Africa a biblical perspective in interaction with western missions, African independent churches and African traditional religion, with particular reference to Zambia /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1989. http://www.tren.com.
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Cawood, Anthony Robin. "Religion, solidarity and identity: a comparative study of four South African schools with a religious affiliation." Thesis, University of Cape Town, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28430.
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This thesis explores how schools with a religious affiliation recruit religion in school culture and the formal curriculum (both curriculum content and pedagogic method) and how this relates to the pedagogic identities they project. An overarching concern of the thesis is to understand how the character of the affiliated religion relates to the privileging of particular forms of solidarity and identity. This explorative, multiple case study is located in four independent schools in South Africa, each with an official affiliation to a particular religious community. The sample comprises a co-educational charismatic Protestant school, a liberal Catholic school, a traditional-Orthodox Jewish school and a conservative Muslim school. The study foregrounds Bernstein’s (1990, 2000) suggestion that a sociologically important characteristic of religions is the way they constitute the relation between the 'inner’ self and the 'outer’ social world. The thesis looks to Bernstein’s (1975, 2000) theory that the ideology inherent in pedagogic discourse constitutes particular instantiations of power and control (related to Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing respectively) that structure a school’s curriculum and pedagogic methods. The analysis of school culture utilises Bernstein’s (1975) theory of ritual and identity is explored in relation to Bernstein’s (2000) taxonomy of pedagogic identities. Furthermore, Durkheim’s (1915, 1960) concept of mechanical and organic solidarity and his theory of the sacred and the profane provide the primary conceptualizations of social order. The qualitative analysis of interview data (obtained from students, teachers, principals and religious leaders), policy documentation and direct observation shows significant differences between the schools relating to the recruitment of the affiliated religion in curriculum, pedagogy and ritual. The analysis suggests that the schools affiliated to religions in which the inner and the outer are dislocated (the Protestant and Catholic school), recruit the affiliated religion in a way that predominantly privileges a moral order in which the student is weakly related to a collective and individualised values and relations are emphasised (organic solidarity). Conversely, the schools in the sample affiliated to religions in which the inner is not dislocated from the outer (the Jewish and Muslim school), recruit the affiliated religion in a way that privileges strong identification of the student to a collective (mechanical solidarity). However, the analysis suggests that the form of solidarity related to the recruitment of the affiliated religion at the schools is not always the only form of solidarity privileged. More specifically, the analysis shows that components of the instructional order 'unordered’ by the affiliated religion may result in a layering of different forms of solidarity within the same school. The analysis implies that the schools project different pedagogic identity modes enabled by particular instantiations of power and control related to the privileged form/s of social solidarity. The major finding of the thesis is that the character of the affiliated religion, in terms of its constitution of the inner and the outer, relates to the form of social solidarity privileged by the school’s recruitment of religion, which, in turn, enables the projection of particular pedagogic identities. This thesis makes a contribution to a growing body of literature that vi challenges the idea that 'religious schools’ are homogenous. It provides a theoretical methodology for exploring differences and similarities between 'religious schools’ across different religions and suggests a sociologically important source of variance in 'religious schools’ in general.
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Maxwell, Lindsey Brooke. "The Pneuma Network: Transnational Pentecostal Print Culture In The United States And South Africa, 1906-1948." FIU Digital Commons, 2016. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2614.
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Exploding on the American scene in 1906, Pentecostalism became arguably the most influential religious phenomenon of the twentieth century. Sparked by the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, the movement grew rapidly throughout the United States and garnered global momentum. This study investigates the original Los Angeles Apostolic Faith Mission and the subsequent extension of the mission to South Africa through an examination of periodicals, mission records, and personal documents. Using the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa as a case study, this study measures the significance of print media in the emergence and evolution of the early Pentecostal movement.
Based on historical analysis of more than 260 issues of the mission’s periodical, “The Comforter and Messenger of Hope,” this dissertation demonstrates how the publication served a variety of functions critical to the establishment of Pentecostalism in South Africa. As a work of cultural history, it situates the periodical within larger trends in South African culture and society. It illustrates how the periodical functioned simultaneously at the local and international level to standardize Pentecostal discourse and formulate an early Pentecostal identity. Finally, this dissertation argues that Pentecostal periodicals formed a transnational network of Pentecostal thought, connections, and support in the early twentieth century that influenced the development of Pentecostalism in the South African context.
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El, Obaid El Obaid Ahmed. "Human rights and cultural diversity in Islamic Africa." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34495.
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This thesis establishes a framework for analysing and evaluating human rights within the contexts of global, African-Islamic and Sudanese cultural diversity. The normative impact of culture on international human rights is viewed from the perspective that culture is adaptive and flexible. African-lslamic culture, as exemplified by the Sudan, is no exception.The first part of this thesis advances a theoretical framework for recognition of cultural diversity and its impact on human rights. Recognition of change as an integral part of culture is vital for a successful mobilisation of internal cultural norms to the support of international human rights. An important conclusion is that ruling elites and those engaged in human rights violations have no valid claim of cultural legitimacy.
The second part of the thesis examines the notion of human rights in traditional Africa and under Shari'a with a specific focus on conceptions of the individual, the nation-state and international law. It is argued that the African-Islamic context is an amalgam of both communitarianism and individualism; further, that the corrupt and oppressive nature of the nation-state in Islamic Africa demands an effective implementation of human rights as set out in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
It is suggested in the third part of the thesis that three of the rights included in the African Charter are paramount to effective human rights protection in Islamic Africa: the right to self-determination, the right to freedom of expression and the right to participate in public life. These rights are examined within the Sudanese context in order to provide a more concrete illustration of their potential implementation. The dynamics of Sudanese culture are explored to exemplify a culturally responsive implementation of these rights.
This thesis contributes to the debate on the role of culture in enhancing the binding force of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It aims to inspire pragmatic discussion on the need for effective protection of human rights in order to alleviate the suffering of millions of Africans under existing ruthless and shameless regimes.
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Wanda, Vukani Milton. "Ucwaningo olunzulu ngenkolo yobuKrestu nenkolo yoMdabu (yesiZulu)." Thesis, University of Zululand, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10530/1197.
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Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for B.A. Honours degree in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 1997.Zonke izizwe zoMdabu lapha e-Afrika zinenkolo yazo Le nkolo ihambisana nemikhuba ethize. Inkolo yalezi zizwe isemthanjeni yempilo yabantu bakhona kangangoba akulula ukuhlukanisa usikompilo nenkolo yesizwe soMdabu. Imvamisa akekho umqambi walezi nkolo yize bekhona abaqambi bezizwe ezithile. Izizwe ziqiniseka ukuthi 1e nkolo zadatshu1wa nayo nguMdali. NamaZulu nawo anenkolo yawo ayilandelayo, yize-ke isithe ukudungeka idungwa impucuko yaseNtshonalanga ihambisana nenkolo yobuKrestu.
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Iorliam, Clement Terseer. "Educated Young People as Inculturation Agents of Worship in Tiv Culture| A Practical Theological Investigation of Cultural Symbols." Thesis, St. Thomas University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3701155.
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Faith and culture enjoy a harmonious relationship. In the past centuries of Catholicism, evangelization did not take into cognizance the culture of a people. The translation and adaptation approaches were the dominant models missionaries often used in the context of evangelization. Sadly, these approaches failed to create adequate contact with the local cultures where the faith was transplanted. The distance between faith and culture has caused the Catholic faith to be foreign in many cultures across the globe including, North African countries and Japan. In Tiv society of central Nigeria too, Catholicism is yet to take concrete root.
Building on the worship experiences of educated emerging adult Catholics in institutions of higher education in Tivland, this dissertation uses the circle method and other related contextual approaches to contextualize Catholicism in Tiv culture. The data gathered from participant observation, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups discussions was narrowed to what most connects emerging adults with Catholic worship, and what the Catholic Church needs to know about them. The data revealed a constantly recurring notion of unappealing worship and inadequate catechesis on core doctrines. One way to connect their experiences of worship is by synthesizing cultural symbols with Catholic worship symbols.
Community formations, intensive catechesis, and service to the church are the three practical strategies that can synthesize faith and culture and ground the Catholic Church in Tiv culture. Pious organizations that bring emerging adults together as community will serve as forum to adequately catechize them by synthesizing Catholic symbols with cultural texts that are already familiar to them. This leads to a mutual enrichment of both Tiv cultural practices and Catholic worship symbols ultimately making emerging adults community theologians who can effectively articulating the faith to others including, those in rural communities.
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Higgs, Michael John. "The impact of the Western conceptualization of the Christian gospel on its communication in a non-Western environment, with particular reference to the AmaXhosa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/356.
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This thesis examines the extent and nature of the impact of the contextualization of Christianity upon the amaXhosa from the missionary irruption in the nineteenth century to the present day, and proceeds to examine the implications of this impact for the presentation of the Christian gospel in the contemporary Eastern Cape. Chapter One describes the problem, offers definitions of key concepts and outlines the procedural method for the rest of the thesis. Chapter Two deals with the question of the cross-cultural communication of the Christian gospel in theory. Doctrinal questions such as the nature of the gospel are examined. The basic hermeneutical issue of the categorization of doctrinal tenets according to whether they are required or simply permitted is discussed in terms of Osborne's categories: 'cardinal', 'non-cardinal'. Tenets which are found to be 'anti-scriptural' would be rejected. Specific hermeneutical topics such as language and meaning, symbolics, textuality and orality are then discussed. This is followed by a survey of secular influences which affect a conceptualization. This chapter is preparatory to, and definitive for, the discourse which follows. Chapter Three outlines the cultural heritage from which the Western missionary contextualization of Christianity developed. It shows the extent to which this presentation of the gospel was dependent upon the philosophy which Britain and Europe inherited from the classical Greek culture. More modern developments such as the Enlightenment, Empiricism and Historicism bring the discourse up to the point at which the missionaries arrived. Chapter Four deals with the initial encounter between the missionaries and the amaXhosa. A brief account is given of the nature of the religious and spiritual aspects of the Xhosa culture which first encountered Christianity. The doctrinal section of this chapter deals with those doctrines in the missionary message which became issues for the amaXhosa. The hermeneutical section shows how the cultural setting of the West (vii) affected both the contextualization by the missionaries and the conceptualization by the amaXhosa. To a large extent, the missionaries made the double mistake of imposing their culture on the amaXhosa and failing to accord respect, even recognition, to the Xhosa culture. This amounted to imperialism, which, together with the political imperialism of Britain as the colonizing power, evoked responses from the Xhosa community which are outlined in section 4.4, including those of Nxele and Ntsikana. Because the impact of the Western contextualization is an on-going phenomenon, the thesis continues to trace its development up to the present time. Apartheid is briefly mentioned in Chapter Five. The point is made that all white people were perceived by the amaXhosa to be Christians, and the architects and practitioners of apartheid claimed to be Christians. This ideology therefore had a direct effect on the Xhosa conceptualization of the gospel. The architects of apartheid actually believed that they were accepting God's gift and mandate. This chapter includes Black theological reaction to apartheid in terms of the South African version of Liberation theology. Chapter Six returns to Western Theology in order to bring the sphere of discourse from the point at which it left off at the end of Chapter Three up to the present time. The schools of thought in this period are: Secularism and Existentialism, together with their theological extension, Demythologization. The main religious movements are the Charismatic Movement and Neo-Pentecostalism. Postmodernism came as a later philosophical school, to be followed by Globality. Chapter Seven deals with black South African reactive and proactive responses. The predominant theologies are those of Dwane, Buthelezi, Boesak and Mtuze. Although Dwane, Buthelezi and Boesak came on the scene at the same time as the black theologians reviewed in Chapter Five, their work is placed here because it differs significantly from the more radical responses of the latter. Mtuze is post-apartheid, and responds to the developments outlined in Chapter Six. Chapter Eight draws the findings of the thesis together, by considering how the Christian Gospel ought to be presented to the various contemporary sub-cultures of the amaXhosa. (viii) The last Chapter applies the findings of the thesis to the task in hand. The desired outcomes are listed and briefly discussed. The task ahead is enunciated in terms of manpower and other resources for the effective communication of the Christian gospel in the twenty-first century. The past, present and projected programmes of the Bible Institute Eastern Cape [the target institution] are described and assessed. Finally, topics which presented themselves in the course of the preparation of this thesis are suggested for future research.
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Wickham, Anna. "That Old Time Religion: The Influence of West and Central African Religious Culture on the Music of the Azusa Street Revival." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/323242.
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The Azusa Street Revival was a movement started in 1906 by a small group of black individuals at a prayer meeting in Los Angeles, California. The revival is largely considered the beginning of the Pentecostal movement. This paper investigates the relationship between the worship practices of the Azusa Street Revival and the musical and religious traditions of the West and Central African peoples who were the ancestors of some of the most prominent and influential participants in the movement. These practices, which include spirit possession, physical movement and rhythm, musical collaboration, and indeterminate times of worship, seemingly made their way from Africa into the daily lives of African American slaves, where they were adopted by participants at the American camp meetings of the early nineteenth century. From there, these West and Central African musical traditions became instituted in the holiness movement, the precursor to the Azusa Street Revival.
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Ferguson, Rene. "Strategies for teaching religion in colleges of education." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51437.
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Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 1999.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The revised norms and standards for teacher education requires an understanding of the beliefs, values and practices of the main religions of South Africa. However, many preservice teachers have emerged from backgrounds of monoreligious education, or from schools where Religious education was discarded from the curriculum. This situation implies that pre-service teachers may lack the knowledge and skills to cope within a religiously pluralist school environment. This study argues therefore that the attitudes and perceptions of pre-service teachers towards Religious education in particular and religions in general will be positively influenced by means of a programme of intervention. The main aim of this study is to examine strategies for teaching religion to pre-service teachers to equip them for the religious and cultural diversity of South African classrooms. F euerstein' s theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) is examined as a vehicle for initiating new and creative ways of thinking about religions. Ten criteria for MLE are implemented within a context of co-operative small group learning on the grounds that learning about religions should take place in a constructivist paradigm. The potential influence of a tutor/mediator on the perceptions and attitudes of pre-service teachers towards religions other than their own is therefore a significant theme in this study. The influence of a programme of intervention on student attitudes towards religion and Religious education was determined within an action-enquiry research model. The empirical research indicates that active participation in the learning process not only enhanced student participants' knowledge and understanding of religious concepts, but also fostered the value of an unbiased, positive approach to the study of religions.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hersiende norme en standaarde vir onderwysersopleiding verg 'n kennis van die geloof, waardes en praktyke van die hoof religiee van Suid-Afrika. Nietemin kom baie studentonderwysers uit 'n monoreligieuse opvoedingsagtergrond of van skole waar religieuse onderrig van die kurrikulum verwyder is. Hierdie situasie impliseer dat studentonderwysers nie die nodige kennis dra, of die nodige vaardighede het, om in 'n pluralistiese religieuse skoolomgewing aan te pas nie. Hierdie studie argumenteer dat die houdings en persepsies van studentonderwysers teenoor religieuse onderrig in die besonder en religie in die algemeen positief be"invloed kan word deur middel van 'n intervensieprogram. Die hoofdoel van die studie is om verskillende strategiee in religieuse onderrig VIr studentonderwysers te ondersoek om hulle toe te rus vir die religieuse en kulturele diversiteit in Suid-Afrika. Feuerstein se teorie van Bemiddelde leerervaring (Mediated Learning Experience, MLE) word ondersoek as 'n middel waardeur nuwe kreatiewe denkmetodes oor religie ge"inisieer kan word. Tien kriteria van MLE word ge"implementeer binne 'n konteks van kooperatiewe leergroepe op grond daarvan dat religiee binne 'n konstruktivistiese paradigma moet plaasvind. Die potentiele invloed van die fasiliteerder op die persepsies en houdings van studentonderwysers teenoor ander religiee is dus 'n belangrike tema van die studie. Die invloed van 'n intervensieprogram op studentehoudings teenoor religiee en religieuse onderrig was bepaal deur middel van 'n aksienavraag navorsingsmodel. Die empiriese navorsing motiveer die feit dat aktiewe deelname in die leerproses nie net die deelnemende studentonderwysers se kennis en begrip van religieuse konsepte verdiep het nie, maar ook 'n onbevooroordeelde positiewe benadering tot die studie van religiee gekweek het.
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McCarty, Matthew M. "Votive stelae, religion and cultural change in Africa proconsularis and numidia 200 BC-AD 300." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.522769.
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Owan, Victor A. "AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN ACROSS-CULTURAL PRIESTLY CONTEXT: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRIESTLY FORMATION [IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY FOR SERVICE ABROAD." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1397824661.
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Heaney, Robert Stewart. "Culture, context, and theology : the emergence of an African theology in the writings of John S. Mbiti and Jesse N.K. Mugambi." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.669879.
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Braaf, Annetta Johanna. "Bybelonderrig in staat- en staatsondersteunde skole in 'n multi-religieuse samelewing." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/58294.
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Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 1994.Includes bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The relevance of Biblical Instruction and Instruction in state and state-supported schools Africa is reviewed in this thesis. The various Religious in South education departments in South Africa have been presenting religious instruction from a Christian perspective in schools, especially since 1967. It is also clear from a demographic distribution of religions that most of South Africa's inhabitants belong to the Christian faith. People and pupils who are not Christians are exempted from religious instruction in accordance with the conscience clause. Because of changing political and social circumstances and school structures due to the implementation of statesupported schools, there has been a strong emphasis on the presentation of Biblical Instruction or Religious Instruction as a school subject. Aspects of this which receive particular the following: the relevance dispensation; attention of the in this thesis are subject in the teaching the legitimacy of the subject due to the negative experience of Christian National Education in the past; the lack of recognition of religious pluralism in state and state-supported schools in South Africa. The presentation of the traditional single-dimensional approach is investigated, but the possibility of a multireligious approach to address the problem is also explored. The thesis includes a theoretical study of international and national sources as well as an empirical survey conducted at 41 selected secondary schools in the Western Cape and Boland. Questionnaires were used for the survey which involved the following education departments: The Department of Education and Culture. The Department of Education and Training. The Cape Education Department. It emerged clearly from the survey that religious pluralism is a reality in state and state-supported schools. The theoretical and empirical studies also highlighted the following problems: the professional qualifications of religious instruction teachers; the child's religious potential and development which are not taken into account; the child's own religious experiences and experiences in the classroom situation which are not addressed; the issue of the legitimacy of the subject as a consequence of its historical context; the lack of relevance of the subject content; the interest in a multi-religious approach among the majority of teachers as well as pupils. The problems will not be multi-religious approach solved simply by in the schools. converting to a The problems experienced in the single-dimensional approach should first be addressed thoroughly. For a legitimate multi-religious approach, the following should be taken into consideration: the child's religious potential and development; the child's own religious and personal experiences; possible further in-service training for teachers to enable them to cope with such an approach; a change in the process of curriculum development in order to address the issue of religious pluralism; a new name for the subject. In this respect a name such as Religious Studies could be usefully implemented.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die relevansie van Bybelonderrig of Godsdiensonderrig in staat- en staatsondersteunde skole in Suid-Afrika word in hierdie tesis in oenskou geneem. Die onderskeie onderwysdepartemente in Suid-Afrika het veral sedert 1967 godsdiensonderrig vanuit 'n Christelike perspektief in skole aangebied. Uit die demografiese geloofsverspreiding het dit oak geblyk dat die meeste inwoners van Suid-Afrika aan die Christelike geloof behoort. Persone en leerlinge wat nie tot die Christendom behoort nie, is gevrywaar van godsdiensonderrig op grand van die gewetensklousule. Met die veranderde politieke en sosiale omstandighede en skoolsamestelling met die implementering van staatsondersteunde skole I is daar 'n sterk fokus op die aanbieding van Bybelonderrig of Godsdiensonderrig as skoolvak. Aspekte waaraan veral in hierdie tesis aandag gegee is, is die volgende: die relevansie van die vak in die onderwysbedeling; die legitimiteit van die vak as gevolg van die negatiewe ervaring van die Christelik-nasionale onderwys in die verlede; die afwesigheid van die erkenning van religieuse pluralisme in staat- en staatsondersteunde skole in Suid-Afrika. Die aanbieding van die tradisionele enkelvoudige benadering is ondersoek, maar die moontlikheid van 'n multi-religieuse benadering om die probleem aan te spreek, word oak aangespreek. Teoretiese studie op internasionale en nasionale vlak, sowel as n empiriese doelgerigte steekproef is geloods aan 41 geselekteerde sekondere skole in die Wes-Kaap en Bolandstreek. Vir die doelgerigte steekproef is van vraelyste gebruik gemaak waarin die volgende onderwysdepartemente en privaatskole betrek is: Die Departement van Onderwys en Kultuur. Die Departement van Onderwys en Opleiding. Die Kaaplandse Onderwysdepartement. Uit die doelgerigte steekproef het dit duidelik geblyk dat religieuse pluralisme 'n werklikheid in staat- en staatsondersteunde skole is. Die teoretiese en empiriese studie het ook die volgende probleme belig, nl.: die professionele bevoegdheid van godsdiensonderwysleerkragte; die kind se religieuse potensiaal en ontwikkeling wat nie in ag geneem word nie; die kind se eie religieuse en lewenservarings in die klassituasie wat nie aangespreek word nie; 'n legitimiteitskwessie van die vak as sodanig vanwee sy historiese konteks; die afwesigheid van relevansie van die vakinhoud; 'n belangstelling in n multi-religieuse benadering deur die meerderheid van die leerkragte sowel as leerlinge. Die problematiek sal nie sander meer opgelos word met 'n oorskakeling na n multi-religieuse benadering in die skool nie. Die probleme wat in die enkelvoudige benadering ervaar word, behoort eers deeglik aangespreek te word. Vir 'n legitieme multi-religieuse benadering behoort die volgende in aanmerking geneem te word: die kind se religieuse potensiaal en ontwikkeling; die kind se eie religieuse en lewenservarings; die moontlike verdere indiensopleiding van leerkragte om so in benadering te kan hanteer; 'n verandering in die kurrikuleringsproses om religieuse pluralisme aan te spreek; 'n nuwe benaming vir die vak as sodanig. In hierdie verband sou 1 n vaknaam soos Religieuse Studie sinvol geimplementeer kon word.
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Badenberg, G. Robert. "The body, soul and spirit concept of the Bemba in Zambia : fundamental characteristics of being human of an African ethnic group /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1999. http://www.tren.com.
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Balikyogerako, Ssonko P. "Inculturating Ganda Christian faith." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2006. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p033-0785.
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Aljahli, Abdulrahman Ibrahim. "A Rhetorical Examination of the Fatwa: Religion as an Instrument for Power, Prestige, and Political Gains in the Islamic World." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1491483098012349.
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Willis, Sabyl M. "The House of Yisrael Cincinnati: How Normalized Institutional Violence Can Produce a Culture of Unorthodox Resistance 1963 to 2021." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright163059993550048.
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Oladipo, Caleb O. "The experience of the Holy Spirit in the indigenous African church." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1988. http://www.tren.com.
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Ramos, Miguel. "Lucumí (Yoruba) Culture in Cuba: A Reevaluation (1830S -1940s)." FIU Digital Commons, 2013. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/966.
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The status, roles, and interactions of three dominant African ethnic groups and their descendants in Cuba significantly influenced the island’s cubanidad (national identity): the Lucumís (Yoruba), the Congos (Bantú speakers from Central West Africa), and the Carabalís (from the region of Calabar). These three groups, enslaved on the island, coexisted, each group confronting obstacles that threatened their way of life and cultural identities. Through covert resistance, cultural appropriation, and accommodation, all three, but especially the Lucumís, laid deep roots in the nineteenth century that came to fruition in the twentieth.
During the early 1900s, Cuba confronted numerous pressures, internal and external. Under the pretense of a quest for national identity and modernity, Afro-Cubans and African cultures and religion came under political, social, and intellectual attack. Race was an undeniable element in these conflicts. While all three groups were oppressed equally, only the Lucumís fought back, contesting accusations of backwardness, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and brujería (witchcraft), exaggerated by the sensationalistic media, often with the police’s and legal system’s complicity. Unlike the covert character of earlier epochs’ responses to oppression, in the twentieth century Lucumí resistance was overt and outspoken, publically refuting the accusations levied against African religions.
Although these struggles had unintended consequences for the Lucumís, they gave birth to cubanidad’s African component. With the help of Fernando Ortiz, the Lucumí were situated at the pinnacle of a hierarchical pyramid, stratifying African religious complexes based on civilizational advancement, but at a costly price. Social ascent denigrated Lucumí religion to the status of folklore, depriving it of its status as a bona fide religious complex. To the present, Lucumí religious descendants, in Cuba and, after 1959, in many other areas of the world, are still contesting this contradiction in terms: an elevated downgrade.
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Rist, Timothy John. "The development from a Wesleyan perspective of an appropriate model of multi-cultural ministry, from within a traditionally mono-cultural Methodist congregation." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018218.
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From introduction: The intention of this thesis is to develop a model for multi-cultural ministry, and, in so doing, to enable Trinity Methodist Church, Charles Street, Bloemfontein to provide a comprehensive and meaningful ministry to all people, one that is not limited by the constraints of language and culture but which transcends them. The fact that Trinity is a Methodist Church means that I will be establishing the "Model for Multi-Cultural Ministry" firmly within Wesleyan theology. South Africa has undergone far-reaching political change since the general elections of April 1994. This political transformation has emphasised a need for the bringing together of people across the barriers of race, culture and religion. In this thesis I will be focusing my attention on the latter - the realm of religion - and specifically that of Christianity. Furthermore, I will be restricting my attention to a specific congregation within the denomination of Methodism, within the religion of Christianity, namely Trinity Methodist Church, Charles Street, Bloemfontein'. The "Model for MultiCultural Ministry" developed in this thesis will therefore be 'congregation specific'. The Methodist ChurcQ of Southern Africa2 proclaims itself to be a Church "one and undivided" (Minutes: 1980: 65: para l(a) ), where people from all racial groups can worship God together in a meaningful way. In many respects this is not the case. The years of political pressure that the (MCSA) has endured, in particular the years of legislated Apartheid (1948-1989), ensured that existing divisions between the Methodist congregations became entrenched along racial, cultural and religious lines (Thompson: 1990: 187ff). The Group Areas Act (1950) is but one such example where the National Party Government "divided urban areas into zones where members of one specified race alone could live and work" (Thompson: 1990: 194). The homeland policy (implemented from 1963, but legislated from 1971 in the Bantu Homelands Constitution Act).
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Willis, Lynyetta G. "African American Baptist church community influence of sociocultural factors on faith development /." mixed, 2006. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-06082007-115624/.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2006.Title from title page. Gregory Brack, committee chair; Asa Hilliard III , Kenneth B. Matheny, Julie Ancis, committee members. Electronic text (154 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed October 8, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-140).
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Shabangu, Andries. "The gospel embodied in African traditional religion and culture with specific reference to the cult of ancestor veneration and the concept of salvation an inculturation hermeneutic /." Thesis, Pretoria : [S.n.], 2005. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08312005-155649/.
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Matenda, Job. "The cultural and religious significance of indigenous vegetables: A case study of the Chionekano-ward of the Zvishavane-district in Zimbabwe." University of the Western Cape, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6642.
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Magister Artium - MAThis study is situated in the context of multidisciplinary discourse on the pervasive problem of food insecurity in the southern African context. More specifically, it is situated in the context of the Centre of Excellence in Food Security, located at the University of the Western Cape and its project on “Food Ethics and Values” (with Prof Ernst Conradie as principal investigator). It will contribute to discourse on food security from the perspective of the discipline of religious studies and more specifically African Traditional Religion (ATR) and the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) associated with that. The consumption of food naturally plays a significant role in African Traditional Religion – as is evident from various taboos on food consumption, rituals with prescriptions on food, calendar-based festivities, but also from daily life in rural villages. In reflecting on food in such rural villages, the focus is often on the consumption of meat (chicken, goats, cattle, but also rodents and other wildlife) and of grains like maize. However, vegetables traditionally also formed part of a family’s daily diet. In pre-colonial times, such vegetables were not necessarily cultivated since some indigenous vegetables were harvested based on indigenous knowledge available amongst village elders and traditional healers. The Chionekano-ward includes some 42 villages with an estimated population of around 1020 persons. Through a process of snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with village elders and traditional healers who have knowledge of such indigenous vegetables. Where appropriate interviews were followed up with focus groups discussions in particular villages.
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Affum, John Badu. "Images of God examining and expanding formatee's images of God, images that challenge but also fit our particular milieu, a Ghanaian perspective /." Chicago, IL : Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.2986/tren.033-0853.
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English, Bertis Deon. "Civil wars and civil beings violence, religion, race, politics, education, culture, and agrarianism in Perry County, Alabama, 1860-1875 /." Auburn, Ala., 2006. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/2006%20Fall/Dissertations/ENGLISH_BERTIS_9.pdf.
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Jester, Jerry Stephen. "Empowered belonging through identity transformation| Assemblies of God church planting narratives from West Africa since 1990." Thesis, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3683273.
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From 1914 to 1990, Assemblies of God (AG) church planting efforts in Africa produced approximately ten thousand local churches and two million adherents. Since 1990, African Assemblies of God (AAG) churches emphasized ambitious church planting initiatives resulting in the addition of approximately fifty-four thousand local churches and fourteen million believers. This study examines the narratives of AAG church planters in West Africa to ascertain those factors influencing their church planting perceptions and activities in relation to Pentecostal missiology, the sociocultural context, leadership, and organizational development.
In order to discover those factors influencing church multiplication and growth, interview narratives of twelve leaders and fifty-one AAG church planters in West Africa were examined, delimited to the Anglophone context of Nigeria and the Francophone context of Togo. Using a qualitative data collection and analysis process known as grounded theory methodology, I discovered those factors that influence the perceptions and activities of church planters in the contexts of the study.
The findings show that church planters experience transformation in Christ and seek the transformation of their past, represented in the village, by planting new churches of transformed converts. This is a process of "backwarding" the Gospel to the village. These efforts lead to a renewal of the African self in a search for true belonging, enabling redemption of the African past and reclamation of the African future through Christ in Spirit empowerment. Church planting results in the local AAG church being a place of belonging and belonging to a place. This is described as ecclesiastical belonging, dimensionalized accordingly as proximal church planting, accessible church planting, and assimilation church planting. Belonging in these contexts is experiential through Gospel proclamation in Spirit empowerment to meet African aspirations to experience the divine. Additionally, belonging is relational, for the local AAG belongs to a global Pentecostal faith community.
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Jex, Erin. "Canadian Foreign Aid and the Christian Right: Stephen Harper, Abortion, and the Global Culture Wars in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2006-2015." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/36969.
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This thesis expands upon the concept of the global culture wars in sub-Saharan Africa from a Canadian perspective, focusing on the growing division within Canada between conservative, religious values and liberal, progressive ones (Caplan, 2012). This division led to a political and cultural realignment alongside the increased visibility and leadership of religious and faith communities in Canadian public and political life. Amidst this polarization, Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was elected Prime Minister in February 2006. Under his leadership, a conservative, pro-family agenda was established. This agenda, which advocates a traditional understanding of family life and structure, in particular refers to a legally married, heterosexual couple with children. It was supported by the evangelical Christian population in Canada, which grew from a united religious community in Canada into a significant constituency of the Conservative Party. Harper’s tenure, coupled with the increased visibility and leadership of faith and religious communities significantly affected domestic and international policies during his tenure as Prime Minister, from 2006 to 2015. This thesis examines the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Child, and Newborn Health (Muskoka-MNCH) and shows how this initiative, which fostered anti-abortion rhetoric abroad, was utilized to appease the evangelical community’s anti-abortion position in Canada.
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Cumes, Heide Ulrike. "Coping in two cultures: an ecological study of mentally ill people and their families in rural South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002467.
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This study explores severe mental illness in a South African ru~al district, moving, as with a zoom lens, from the macroperspectives of (i) Xhosa culture, and (ii) biomedicine, to the lived experience of the individual. Its methodology, predominantly qualitative, employed anthropological and psychological procedures. The fieldwork (1988-1989)encompassed a three month stay in the village of Msobomvu. Patients continued to be tracked informally until June, 1995. The empirical research has three parts. In part one, the person with a mental illness was contextualized within Xhosa cosmology and social attitudes. The cognitive and social ecologies were tapped through the narratives of high school and university students at different stages of a Western-biased education. Social attitudes regarding mental illness, and confidence in treatment by traditional healers and the hospital, were also evaluated. Traditional attitudes and supernatural beliefs of illness causation persisted in spite of Eurocentric education, with a concurrent increase in the acceptance of Western-type causal explanations commensurate with continued education. Part two considered the the patients in relation to (i) the biomedical framework (the mental and local hospitals), and (ii) their readjustment to the community after hospitalization. Data came from patient charts, interviews with medical staff, and follow-up visits in the villages. Socio-political and economic issues were salient. Part three case-studied people identified by the village residents as having a mental illness. Resources for treatment - traditional healers, mobile clinic, and village health workers - were the focus. The traditional healing system, and biomedicine, were compared for effectiveness, through the course of illness events. While biomedicine was more effective in containing acute psychotic episodes than treatment by the traditional healer, lack of appropriate resources within the biomedical setting had disastrous results for patient compliance and long-term management of the illness, particularly in people with obvious symptoms of bipolar disorder. The mental hospital emerged as an agent of control. While Xhosa culture provided a more tolerant setting for people with a mental illness, the course of severe mental illness was by no means benign, despite research suggesting a more positive outcome for such conditions in the developing world.
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Schreiber, Dale. "The role that blood sacrifice plays in the Worodougou practice of the religion of Islam." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1998. http://www.tren.com.
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Mtuze, P. T. "Hidden presences in the spirituality of the amaXhosa of the Eastern Cape and the impact of Christianity on them." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015612.
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This thesis is an attempt to reopen the debate on the whole question of inculturation in Southern Africa especially in light of the fact that we are now in a multi-lingual and multi-religious state. It is an attempt to rehighlight the plight of the spirituality of the amaXhosa people over the last century when missionary and imperial onslaught relegated it to the doldrums. This plunged the amaXhosa in a crisis that has left them directionless, to put it mildly. This is said because the total onslaught destroyed their self-respect and their identity and begs the question as to whether their acceptability to God was contingent on renouncing their culture especially the hidden presences - Qamata, the living-dead and the notion of evil spirits. It is precisely because of these misconceptions regarding African culture and spirituality that the thesis has a strong expository and apologetic bias primarily aimed to address, and put into proper perspective, the significance of the Supreme Being, the living-dead and the evil spirits in African culture. The issues are discussed within the broader socio-historical context. The thesis is basically comparative in that it uses Celtic spirituality and the approach of the early Celtic church to the question of inculturation as its point of departure and as a foil against which the preposterous actions of the church in Africa should be seen. This comparative element is also reflected in the unmistakable `dichotomy’ of Western religion and African spirituality, or better still, lack of spirituality, that was so fervently maintained by the missionaries and the colonialists alike. It is for this reason that I concur with Chidester (1996:xiv) that `the study of religion must find itself, once again, on the frontier’. The study is informed by this approach right through. It should be stressed, from the outset, that the idea is not comparison in order to satisfy our curiosity, nor is it comparison in order to try to authenticate and vindicate the beleaguered African culture. The central idea of the study is to expose the absurdity of the policies of the past century in this regard. The myth of the pure blooded Christianity is confronted, if not exploded. Several examples of both inculturation and continuities between Christianity and other faiths such as the Jewish founding faith are given. The subtheme of cultural domination subtly spans the whole study culminating in Chapter Four where the blacks begin to appropriate some of the Christian symbols and the whites also begin to assimilate African concepts such as ubuntu.
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Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel. "Managing the environmental crisis in Ghana : the role of African traditional religion and culture : a case study of Berekum traditional area." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/5780/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the connection between traditional religio-cultural beliefs and practices and environmental problems in Ghana using Berekum Traditional Society as a case study. Its primary aim is to assess the nature and the level of the environmental crisis in Ghana, and to explore the possibility of combing indigenous and modern methods to address the current environmental problems in Ghana. The methodology of this thesis is located within the framework for conducting empirical studies in Religious Studies. The qualitative methods of collecting and analysing data are utilised, and since the scope of the study falls within the field of religion and environment, a brief history of global environmentalism and religion‘s entrance into attempts to address mounting global environmental problems will be provided. It will be argued that the worldview of the Berekum people, which is underpinned by their religious mentality, has played and continues to play a key role in their local ecological practices. The traditional ways through which ecological knowledge have been and are currently imparted to the youth will be examined, together with the effectiveness of these methods within a climate of modernity and the influence of Western education and culture in the area. It will be argued that Berekum people strongly believe that indigenous ways for addressing ecological problems are still relevant, and that their methods for doing so have not been completely lost in its rural communities, or in Ghana as a whole. Although it appears that indigenous religious beliefs and practices seem to be waning, with a greater percentage of the indigenous population in the study area having either converted to Christianity or Islam, I argue that indigenous religious beliefs and practices remain covertly active in the life and thought of the people. Finally, I argue that neither modern (scientific) nor traditional modes of addressing current ecological problems are individually adequate, and therefore that a synergy of the two modes is necessary in order for such problems to be tackled fully. However, I will also argue that certain challenges need to be addressed before this integration can be made possible.
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Gwala, Mzonzima. "The reception of Genesis 1-3 in Nguni culture." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16056.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (DLitt)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation looks at the reception of Gen. 1-3, one of the most controversial parts in the Hebrew Bible. How was it interpreted by the Nguni speaking communities (e.g. Xhosa, Zulu, siSwazi and siNdebele) taking into consideration their background, culture and religious belief system? The reception approach is followed in the research because of its emphasis on the role of the reader in understanding texts. Sources that are utilized are Nguni Bible translations, selected preached sermons (which the researcher attended himself), Nguni stories and folk tales and reviews undertaken among selected Nguni groups. A close-reading of the texts under discussion is undertaken in order to determine the basic content and issues of interpretation involved. The central concepts of cosmogony as contained in Gen. 1-2 are studied, as well as the story of the Garden of Eden and the concept of the “fall” in Gen. 3. The map of the Nguni language group is described and the culture and belief system of the Nguni speaking communities. Central concepts to this belief system are the worship of ancestors, marriage, circumcision, and among the Swazis the incwala (annual national feast) Legends and folk tales were used as sources for the Nguni belief system. It was determined that the Nguni speaking people worshipped one God in their traditional way, but always through their ancestors as a sign of respect. The role of the missionaries is analyzed by describing the history of the various missionary societies and their influence on the Nguni peoples. A very short discussion is devoted to preached sermons by Nguni pastors in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Bible translations have always played a very important role among Nguni speakers (both Christians and non-believers). The need for translations using understandable contemporary terms is emphasized. This is the challenge to the Bible societies and Bible translators. Qualitative reviews were undertaken under selected Nguni speaking groups (Xhosa, Zulu, siSwati and siNdebele). Some of the results obtained from these reviews (full transcripts are included) are: (1) that there is a common understanding of the origin of the universe between the Hebrew Bible and the Nguni religious culture. (2) Serpent (Gen. 3): among the Zulus this concept is understood in terms of sexuality, but it can also be linked with the ancestors. (3) Both communities (Hebrew Bible and the Nguni) were tainted with the concept and ideology of patriarchalism. The crucial question in the research was: “what happens when a cosmogonic myth is transferred from one community to another?” In the case of Gen. 1-3 an ancient Hebrew text was transmitted to African cultures via missionaries and Bible translations. Nguni people react differently. Whereas some accept Gen. 1-3 (cosmogonies and the “fall”) as a detailed explanation of how creation and the “fall” came about, others reject it.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif kyk na die resepsie van Gen. 1-3, een van die mees kontroversiële dele in die Hebreeuse Bybel. Hoe word dit geïnterpreteer deur die Ngunisprekende gemeenskappe (Xhosas, Zoeloes, Swazi’s en Ndebele-groepe), met inagneming van hulle agtergrond, kultuur en stelsel van godsdienstige oortuigings? Die resepsiebenadering word in hierdie navorsing gevolg weens die klem op die rol van die leser in hoe tekste verstaan word. Die bronne wat aangewend is, is Ngunibybelvertalings, geselekteerde preke (wat die navorser self bygewoon het), Ngunistories en -volksverhale, en onderhoude wat met geselekteerde Ngunigroepe gevoer is. 'n In-dieptestudie van die betrokke tekste is onderneem ten einde die basiese inhoud en interpretasiekwessies te bepaal. Die sentrale konsep van kosmogonie, soos vervat in Gen. 1- 2, is bestudeer, asook die storie oor die Tuin van Eden en die konsep van die “sondeval” in Gen. 3. Die kaart van die Ngunitaalgroep word beskryf, asook die kultuur en geloofstelsel van die Ngunisprekende gemeenskappe. Sleutelkonsepte in hierdie geloofstelsel is die aanbidding van voorvaders, die huwelik, besnydenis, en onder die Swazi’s, die incwala (jaarlikse nasionale fees). Legendes en volksverhale is gebruik as bronne vir die Ngunigeloofstelsel. Daar is vasgestel dat die Ngunisprekende mense altyd een God aanbid het op hulle tradisionele manier, maar altyd deur voorvaders as 'n teken van respek. Die rol van die sendelinge word ontleed deur die geskiedenis van die verskeie sendinggenootskappe te beskryf, asook hulle invloed op die Ngunimense. 'n Baie kort bespreking word gewy aan preke gelewer deur Ngunipastore in die Sewendedaagse Adventistekerk.Bybelvertalings het nog altyd 'n baie belangrike rol gespeel onder Ngunisprekers (beide Christene en nie-gelowiges). Die behoefte vir vertalings wat verstaanbare, kontemporêre terme gebruik, word beklemtoon. Dít is die uitdaging wat aan die bybelgenootskappe en bybelvertalers gestel word. Kwalitatiewe onderhoude is afgelê onder geselekteerde Ngunisprekende groepe (Xhosas, Zoeloes, Swazi’s en Ndebele-groepe). Resultate wat verkry is van hierdie evaluerings (waarvan volledige transkripsies voorsien word) sluit in: (1) dat daar 'n gemeenskaplike begrip is van die oorsprong van die heelal by die Hebreeuse Bybel en die Ngunigeloofskultuur; (2) dat die konsep van die slang (Gen. 3) onder die Zoeloes in terme van seksualiteit verstaan word, maar dat dit ook met die voorvaders in verband gebring kan word; en (3) dat beide gemeenskappe (Hebreeuse Bybel en die Nguni) tekens dra van die konsep en ideologie van patriargisme. Die kernvraag in die navorsing was: “Wat gebeur wanneer ’n kosmogoniese mite oorgedra word van een gemeenskap na 'n ander?”. In die geval van Gen. 1-3 is 'n ou Hebreeuse teks oorgedra na Afrikakulture via sendelinge en bybelvertalings. Ngunimense reageer verskillend. Waar sommige Gen. 1-3 aanvaar (kosmogonieë en die “sondeval”) as 'n gedetailleerde verduideliking van hoe die skepping en die “sondeval” plaasgevind het, word dit deur ander verwerp.
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Babalola, S. A. "Theological analysis of culturalized worship ceremonies among Yoruba Christians in selected U.S. cities indigenization versus syncretization /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1995. http://www.tren.com.
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Lyons, Timothy V. "A case study of the eucharistic prayer enabling participation /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2000. http://www.tren.com.
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Ritchie, Ian. "Ethnocentrism as focal problem in African theology debates." Thesis, McGill University, 1987. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=64015.
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Olivier, Jill. "In search of common ground for interdisciplinary collaboration and communication: mapping the cultural politics of religion and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12388.
Full textAbstract:
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-223).This exploratory study applies a cultural studies and interdisciplinary approach to the discourses that emerge in the discursive gap at the interface of religion and public health, a gap most readily seen in the context of HIV/AIDS and in literature addressing sub-Saharan Africa. The combination of the different, often divergent discursive frameworks of religion and public health, and the idea of the linguistic construction of HIV/AIDS, prompts this theoretical response. The empirical data for developing these theoretical judgements are based on personal involvement in the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP), an international, multi-institutional research collaborative that is focused on the intersection between religion and public health.
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Claridy, Keith Robert. ""'Bring God to the Negro, Bring the Negro to God': Thomas Joseph Toolen, Archbishop of Mobile (1927-1969), his culture, his religion, and his mission /." Auburn, Ala., 2006. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/2006%20Spring/master's/CLARIDY_KEITH_41.pdf.
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Badu, Zelma C. M. "Ewe culture as expressed in Ghana West Africa through Adzogbo dance ceremony : a foundation for the development of interactive multimedia educational materials." Thesis, McGill University, 2002. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=82826.
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This dissertation project is a preparation for development of a method for teaching traditional Ewe culture to people of Western or non-Ewe background, using dance ethnology as an approach to conducting research, and digital video recording as a means for documentation. The study focuses on one of the Ewe's oldest and most powerful religious dance and music ceremonies, Adzogbo, as it is performed by the Mawuli Kpli Mi Adzogbo Group from the village of Aflao in Ghana, West Africa.Adzogbo, originally from Dahomey (now Benin), was brought to Ghana in the late 19th Century, and was formally performed for the Dahomeyan war gods to transmit pertinent information to warriors preparing for battle. It is still considered one of the most complex dance and music systems, having intricate polyrhythmic texture and specific relationship between the master drummer and the vigorous and articulated movements of the dancers, which are emphasized by their elaborate costume.
Presently, the dance functions as a recreational ceremony and is performed during specific special occasions. It is used to display mental, physical and spiritual power and still carries some of its original war dance characteristics.
This project consists of a written thesis document and one hour digital video documentary of the Adzogbo Dance Ceremony, outlining its background and importance, form and structure, and a comparative analyses of the organization and structure of both the dance and music. The text provides information on Ewe culture, including their historical, social, and geographical background, their dance, music and related activities and an exploration of Interactive multimedia technologies to in future develop electronic educational material.
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Park, Jinho. "The saints of African Independent Churches in Namibia : empirical research from Korean missionary perpective." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46160.
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The history of African Independent Churches (AICs) in Southern Africa goes back
for more than a hundred years. They have proliferated geographically and
demographically in Africa more than the mainline churches could ever have
imagined. They have grown to be as widespread and as influential as the African
mainline churches. The reason for this growth is that the AICs are the churches of
African indigenous people. They are launched by Africans from a background of
an African traditional and cultural frame of reference. The most significant reason
is that the founders of these churches are not Westerners, but Africans. Western
missionaries find it difficult to understand the AICs from their perspective. Thus the
Western churches describe the AICs as sectarian, separatist, syncretist, nativitist,
and so on. Nevertheless, some scholars are attempting to view the AICs in
positive ways.
The fact that these two different churches have never acknowledged each other as
true churches is a big challenge for Christian missions in Namibia. Each group has
been viewing and judging the other party through suspicious eyes from their own
perspective, each driving the other to block the channel of reconciliation before the
presence of God. With the aim of solving this problem, this thesis attempts to
answer the following questions about the AICs in Namibia:
• What are the reasons that the AICs in Namibia have been seceded from
mission churches?
• What are the activities in civil society in which the AICs in Namibia are
currently involved?
• Do the AICs engage in any activities which go against the Word of God?
• What causes other churches to be suspicious of the AICs?
• What level of enculturation is inherent to the AICs in Namibia? In other
words, what is the relationship between the liturgies of the AIC and African
traditional religion and African culture?
• What makes the AICs in Namibia regard themselves as a church?
Would it be possible for the AICs and the mainline churches in Namibia to
cooperate in Christian missionary work?
• What is a possible Korean missionary perspective on this particular
situation?
This will be dealt throughout this thesis from a Korean missionary missional
perspective.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014.
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Kainerugaba, Frank Odyek Godfrey. "The involvement of women in mission in the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (LCSA)." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/40332.
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The principle purpose of the study was to investigate the role of women in the mission and
ministry of The Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (LCSA). The researcher raised the question
of why women are viewed as inferior within the LCSA, and whether this is Biblically supported. I
investigated the distinction between men and women with regard to the church culture, tradition,
pastoral office, priesthood, and authority within the LCSA. As a general theoretical framework, I
used two theories in church mission: (1) The unity of the Church and apostolic practice as
propounded by Schenk in 1983. (2) Paradigm shifts in theology: mission as ministry by the
whole people of God as propounded by Bosch in 1991. These theories explain the mission of
proclaiming the Gospel of God as belonging to everyone (both male and female) as His
servants in the Church.
To obtain people’s views and interpretations of Scriptures, culture, church practice, and the
social reality of women’s roles in the LCSA, focus-group and individual interviews were used to
gather qualitative data from 525 respondents. The data was collected and analyzed using the
descriptive qualitative research approach. Based on the research findings in Chapter 2 (pages
37-42), Chapter 6 (page140) presents proposals for the involvement of women in the LCSA.
The findings show that participants were concerned about the topic and those women’s rights
and voices are not yet acknowledged in many societies in Southern Africa. However, the scope
of the study is limited to the LCSA, and its findings cannot be generalized. Valuable insights
were gained into the church’s traditional construction of women’s roles in the LCSA, not allowing
women to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments in the Church mission work.
From a missiological study perspective, the researcher recommended that women should be
allowed to participate fully in the Church mission work. Therefore, the Involvement of Women in
Mission in LCSA was an important dissertation research topic, affecting women in Southern
Africa particularly, and potentially, in the African continent at large.Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
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Maxengana, Nomalungisa Sylvia. "The impact of missionary activities and the establishment of Victoria East, 1824-1860." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1006292.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis covers a period of drastic change in that part of Xhosaland later known as Victoria East. Chapters one and two deal with the clash between the Glasgow missionaries at Lovedale and the amaXhosa who were expected to simply discard their way of life in favour of the new dispensation. Chapter three explains the arrival in the Eastern Cape of the amaMfengu, formerly called abaMbo, and their role in the divisive policies of the colonial government. Chapter four recounts the brief interlude (1836-1846) during which the colonial government tried but ultimately rejected a more equitable model of cross-border relations known as the Treaty System. The final chapter deals with the introduction of direct rule over the newly-created district of Victoria East, and with the policies of Henry Calderwood, its first magistrate, which were artfully constructed to perpetuate ‘Divide and Rule’ so as to maintain a comfortable life for the white settlers in the border area.