Browsing by Author "Masondo, Sibusiso Theophilus"

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    Aspect of Budya traditional religion which promote human rights
    (2010) Mushishi, Clifford; Masondo, Sibusiso Theophilus
    The rights to life, liberty, security, shelter, food, integrity, respect, dignity and health care among others are focused in this study on the Budya traditional religion. Aspects that emerge as promoting human rights are examined within an African cultural perspective. Specific aspects examined include: mombe youmai (mother's cow), chiredzwa (child caring appreciation), zunde ra mambo (chief's storehouse as a food security programme), kusungira (taking an expecting mother to her parents to deliver the first baby), kugarwa nhaka (inheriting a deceased's wife), sara pa vana (traditional inheritance of a deceased man's family) and ubuntu (person-hood). The rituals of kupayira (naming of a child), kutsikisa mapota (stepping over protective porridges), makupo (distribution of the deceased's property), mhinza mumba (home bringing ceremony) are discussed.
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    Conversion, crisis, and growth : the religious management of change within the St John's Apostolic Faith Mission and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2001) Masondo, Sibusiso Theophilus; Chidester, David
    This thesis defines conversion as a process of change management. Individuals and groups mobilise resources and formulate strategies for individual identity and group formation. Strategies are also formulated to manage the process of change for members. In the research done among two churches, one conventionally classified as African indigenous and the other classified as mainline, two models of conversion emerged, the crisis model at St John's and the growth model at the Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCSA). In the crisis model individuals join the group because of some crisis in their lives, e.g., illness or misfortune. The healing practices and rituals serve to manage and mediate the crisis for individuals. Healing is at the heart of the recruitment strategy at St John's and other African Indigenous Churches (AICs). It is through hearing about the efficacy of the healing powers of the leader that people are attracted to the church. On the other hand, the growth model as represented by the RPCSA, is about organic growth and development where new members are mostly recruited among the children of members. Children are groomed from baptism through Sunday school and confirmation classes to membership in full communion. For them conversion is a process of growth and development, where they keep on learning all the time about their faith and who they are. In scholarship the AICs have always been treated ethnographically while, on the other hand, the mainline churches have been treated historically. However, this thesis is a comparative study of the AIC and a mainline church with a special emphasis on their conceptions of conversion. The two churches are both African and Christian. They each draw from both these resources for self-definition. Christianity has become part of the South African religious landscape. None of the members in the two churches consider it as an alien or foreign religion but they consider it as an indigenous one. The two models mobilise resources and formulate strategies for self-definition and what it means to be human in a hostile environment.
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    Land is heaven and earth: toward an ethics of land for South Africa: an exegetical study of Revelation 21:1-8
    (1994) Masondo, Sibusiso Theophilus; Mazamisa, Welile L
    This is an exegetical-hermeneutical study of Rev. 21:1- 8. The purpose of the present study is to develop an ethics of land for South Africa. Land is a hermeneutical key to understanding Rev. 21:1-8. One of the concerns in this study is that, although models have been proposed to deal with the land problem [be they legal, political, economic, agricultural], they have failed to deal with the ethical dimension. In this study a sociolinguistic methodology, particularly anti-language, has been adopted. Sociolingistics looks at connections between language and society. Language is a social and cultural phenomenon shaped by the values and norms of society and is used to construct social reality. Anti-language is the language generated by a group of people who do not see themselves as part of the mainstream social order. This language is anti-status quo. The African understanding of land is anti-language because it negates the mainstream Western understanding of land. To Africans land is not simply real estate but it has surplus value, and the surplus value is that which connects people to the land. It is this surplus value which many a model has failed to address. The idea of Newness in Revelation 21:1-8, is a classic case of the use of anti-language. It negates the present order of things. It shows a complete break with the past and the creation of the new reality which will serve the interests of the anti-social group. Despite the hardships experienced by the Johannine group, John is able to see the creation of a new order. This is the language of resistance to an oppressive system. There will be a qualitative difference between the Old and the New. God, in the new reality, is not transcendent or removed from the people, but He resides among His people. There is hope for the future.
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    The spread of the African Independent Churches in postcolonial Southern Africa is a challenge to political and religious authorities : a case of the Lumpa Church in Zambia
    (2008) Kondolo, Kapembwa; Masondo, Sibusiso Theophilus
    The study reflects on the rise and spread of the African Independent Churches in postcolonial Africa. It moves from the perspective that African Independent Churches are both African and Christian (Masondo, 2005:101) "engaged in detailed appropriations of religious resources that can be mobilized in working out the meaningful contours of the world" (Chidester, 1997:11). The major part of the study focuses on the Lumpa Church of Alice Lenshina in Zambia. It traces the founding of the church based on a series of vision by Lenshina.