Browsing by Author "De Gruchy, John"

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    Everyday aesthetic existence and discipleship: exploring the connections between aesthetics, faith and ethics in being human and becoming Christian
    (2019) Coates, Adrian; De Gruchy, John
    The aim of this project is to provide a theological basis for the practice of discipleship in the world as a form of aesthetic existence. The study is framed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s cryptic call for a recovery of Søren Kierkegaard’s notion of aesthetic existence in being Christian, set against the backdrop of their mutual concern for the captivity of the church to Christendom. In addition to the contribution by Kierkegaard (discipleship as poetic living) and Bonhoeffer (Christian living as polyphonous this-worldly celebration of Christological reality), three further key intellectuals have been selected, each of whom contributes an important dimension to understanding everyday aesthetic existence as discipleship. Drawing from contemporary neuropsychological findings, Iain McGilchrist’s research points to the fundamental role that aesthetic existence plays in being human and relating to the world. Graham Ward’s work builds on this by highlighting that embodied and affective engagement with the world both plays a significant role in faith formation and concomitantly frames ethical life by conjoining praxis and poiesis through incarnational living. Aesthetics is not to be disconnected from action, as Nicholas Wolterstorff elucidates, but is best understood in light of social practice, playing a narratival role toward specific teloi, however implicit this may be. Ultimately, this study concludes that a liturgical orientation to all of life rightly orders the formative power of aesthetic existence in service to the Word and world, thereby contributing to discipleship, as opposed to the aestheticized creation and sustenance of virtuality.
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    From phraseology to reality : a "theological geography" : Bonhoeffer's early travels and the notion of the boundary
    (2004) Steiner, Robert; De Gruchy, John
    This thesis examines Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "turning from the phraseological to the real" during his early journeys abroad as recorded in his diary notes and letters. Our interest in the maps and stories of travels operative in Bonhoeffer's life coincides with a prevalence of metaphors of travel and displacement in contemporary literary and cultural criticism and acknowledges the movements of "powerful" travellers across boundaries and continents in the context of imperialism and colonialism.
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    The church as a moral agent in society: a case study of residents' perspectives of the role the church has played in the Kraaifontein residential area over the last ten years: 1994-2004
    (2005) Londt, Jonathan Robert; De Gruchy, John
    This research assesses how residents in Kraaifontein, a semi-rural area in the Cape Peninsula vicinity, perceive the moral role that the church has played over a period of ten years from 1994 to 2004. The clergy and pastors of two mainline churches and two evangelical churches in Kraaifontein were chosen as the participants. They were asked to put forward the names of members of their respective church communities who have been consistently active within the life of the church and community for a period of approximately ten years. Criteria for selection were: a member of the church council, a youth, and a woman. The research methodology employed is a qualitative case study approach. Contextual data has been collected, including interviews, questionnaires and photographs. Inductive and deductive analyses have been made of emerging themes. Though the particular churches in the area may fulfill many other roles, the research focus is on the perceived role of the church as a moral agent in the area. This research has limitations. It does not examine the opinions of residents in the area who have not been involved in the church. These opinions may have been significant. It also does not examine what other functions the church is playing. The selection of interviewees may also have been favourably biased. Furthermore, other significant moral agents in the community, such as the schools, will not be examined. The sample will also be small and therefore will not be representative of the Kraaifontein area as a whole, nor the wider South African community. The research indicated that the church is seen to be at a crossroads in that the role that society feels the church needs to play differs from the role that the church would like to play.