OpenUCT :: Browsing by Department "Department of Religious Studies"

Browsing by Department "Department of Religious Studies"

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A critical analysis of the assumptions, aims and methods in Saward Hiltner's approach to pastoral counselling in the light of the major Christian traditions of pastoral care
(1986) Cook, Jonathan Thornhill; Cumpsty, J.
In this study Seward Hiltner's approach to pastoral counselling is analysed on the basis of a number of criteria derived from a survey of the history of pastoral care. On the assumption that any trend in pastoral care which gained enough support from a wide enough section of the Church for a long enough period of time to warrant attention from recognised historians of pastoral care qualifies as a significant aspect of the tradition, the criteria take the form of questions arising from these trends. The questions are grouped so as to qualify or balance each other. The themes covered are those of discipline in the Church as both restoring the individual and protecting the Church; the definition of sin varying with the social role of the Church and providing both a boundary around the group and a code for individual guidance, while also representing an inner attitude; good and evil in human nature and the need for both absolute demand (including the provision of an ideal with which to identify the ideal self) and unlimited acceptance; the extent to which the pastor may exercise authority over the client; the need for both lay and ordained ministries; the scope of pastoral care, including the functions of healing, facilitating spiritual growth, sustaining, guiding, discipline, restoration, and liberating from oppressive institutions and customs; the need to provide people with a clear logic of belonging to God; and appropriate openness to the Christian tradition, secular social sciences and the sociopolitical context of the Church. On these criteria Hiltner's approach was found to have been well matched to the particular social context of America in the fifties, but to lack several aspects for the changed context of the present. These would either have to be accommodated in the counselling approach or be catered for in the pastoral context in which counselling should be offered. They include providing a demand both in the sense of a powerful ideal and a moral standard; integrating healing and sustaining in counselling with the other pastoral functions; reintroducing a sense of pastoral authority together with greater recognition of the role of lay ministry; providing a stronger and more explicit "logic of belonging"; and drawing more deeply on the pastoral traditions. Although there is overlap between the various criteria, it is suggested that they have proved useful in analysing Hiltner's approach and could be used to expose other approaches to the wisdom of the tradition. Suggestions are made for the development and use of the criteria in further research.
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A Qualitative Analysis of the ISKCON Movement in South Africa
(2022) Bishop, James; Porcu, Elisabetta
This thesis explores the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) movement in South Africa. I employ qualitative analysis and use David Chidester's theory of symbolic exchange to analyze contestations over symbols between ISKCON devotees and proponents of competing perspectives in the contemporary South African context. I analyze the “battlefield” of symbol contestation and its many participants who wish to “own” sacred symbols, alienate others from this ownership, and how symbols are appropriated to serve specific “interests”. Evaluating discourses and contestations over symbols clarify central tenets in the ISKCON movement's worldview, what the religion seeks to communicate, to whom it communicates, the strategies it employs, and its interests that are served.
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A study of contemporary religious life in the Responsa and other writing of Rabbi Solomon Luria (Maharsal) : the Polish Jewish community 1510-1573
(1977) Levy, Aharon Hai; Newman, J
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A study of Indian Pentecostal Church membership with reference to a model of religious change
(1985) Buijs, Georgina Cicely Vauriol; Cumpsty, J S
This thesis is a socio-historical account of the founding and development of the largest Christian denomination among South African Indians - Bethesda, or the Indian branch of the Full Gospel Church of Southern Africa, with reference to a model religious belonging and change developed by Professor J.S. Cumpsty. The members of Bethesda are drawn largely from the descendants of Tamil and Telegu speaking indentured labourers who were brought to South Africa mainly to work in the sugar plantations of Natal in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The early chapters of the thesis examine the background of these people, including the circumstances surrounding their emigration from India, most often due to famine, and the harsh conditions they endured on the estates in Natal in the early years of indenture. The religion the indentured brought with them to Natal was the 1 folk 1 Hinduism of their native Indian villages where worship often centred around local deities who needed to be propitiated to prevent outbreaks of epidemic diseases. This religion conformed to what Cumpsty has called 1Nature Religion 1 in which immediate experience is conceived of as real, reality as monistic and time as cyclical (biological). It is corporate, present texture of life oriented and largely a behaviour pattern. Religious knowledge is typically wisdom. Although some effort was made to convert Indians to Christianity at this time, notably by Methodist and Anglican missionaries, little success was achieved and Christianity remained for Indians in South Africa a 'white man's religion 1. Later chapters in the thesis show that by the nineteen twenties, however, the socio-cultural experience of the Indians had changed. Few then remained in agricultural work, most were employed in unskilled or semi-skilled positions in manufacturing industries or service positions in the rapidly growing urban areas. It was at this time that Bethesda was founded as the United Pentecostal Mission in Pietermaritzburg by J.A. Rowlands and Ebenezer Theophilus. Although the appeal of Pentecostalism was limited among Indians initially, and there is some evidence that early Christian converts were ostracised by their relatives, when J.F. Rowlands, the elder son of J.A. Rowlands, moved to Durban and founded Bethesda, within a few years the church succeeded in becoming well established in Durban and surrounding areas of Natal. This phase in the history of Bethesda may be correlated with what Cumpsty, in terms of his model of religious belonging, has called the Irrational or Paradoxical Stage. In this stage religious beliefs gain their authority from their success in creating the required sense of belonging because they are independent of the chaotic or unacceptable socio-cultural experience. In this paradoxical stage the highly emotionally charged religious meeting, charismatic experience and charismatic figure find their place, as Rowlands provided with his revival campaigns, 1Bethesdascopes 1 , 'Musical Sermons' and the puritanical life style and ethic enjoined in his teachings. By the sixties the chaotic life experience of South African Indians has stabilized. Increasing levels of education for young people and expectations of a better life than their parents had led were reflected in a new emphasis in Bethesda on theological training, dignity and order in both worship and the appearance of church buildings. Thus the members of Bethesda sought to enter an Integrative stage where beliefs and practices had to be relevant to the socio-cultural experience. By the nineteen eighties, and consequent on the death of J.F. Rowlands and closer links with other Full Gospel churches in South Africa, Bethesda has clearly moved away from being an Indian Christian church to an emphasis on_ a wider humanitarian concern in which Indian identity is subsumed under a Pentecostal umbrella which includes missionary activity overseas and links with Pentecostal churches in the United States. The success of Bethesda, in contrast to the relative failure of other Christian denominations among Indians in South Africa, can be clearly seen in its ability not only to provide a sense of belonging in changing sociocultural experiences but to actively promote the aims and aspirations of its members in a rapidly changing world.
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Abu Bakr Effendi: a report on the activities and challenges of an Ottoman Muslim theologian in the Cape of Good Hope
(2014) Genço?lu, Halim; Brigaglia, Andrea
This thesis presents the religious activities of an Ottoman Islamic scholar Abu Bakr Effendi and his educational challenges at the Cape of Good Hope. Abu Bakr Effendi was a professor of canon law who was sent to the Cape by the Ottoman Caliph in order to resolve the religious issues as well as educate the Muslims in South Africa in the second half of the nineteenth century. This study takes into consideration diverse archival materials that explain different dimensions of the socio-historical events which happened during Effendi's stay in South Africa. Due to limited reliable sources, Effendi's activities have not been examined by researchers extensively. Several local newspapers, South African and Ottoman archival materials not used before in such studies, private family documents, foundation (Waqf) records and official correspondences have been used in this study and contributed to understanding the social-religious situation amongst Muslims at the Cape of the nineteenth century. Applying a comparative historical method, the study shows how Effendi became a prominent scholar in society despite his reformist understanding with regards to Islamic topics which made him a marginal theologian in the eyes of local Muslims. In this sense, the study illustrates the contribution of his works in the Muslim social sphere and how it enabled the emergence of a Muslim consciousness and identity in Southern Africa. Finally, with his cultural and educational endeavors, Effendi became a historical figure in South African society and this reality has been illuminated by rich archival documents.
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Acquiring Social Capital: the biographical trajectory of long-term surviving HIV/AIDS activist Faghmeda Miller
(2020) Altalib, Najma; Tayob, Abdulkader
Despite criticism from relatives, religious leaders and her Muslim community, Faghmeda Miller publicly disclosed her HIV status on World AIDS Day in 1996. She became the first Muslim woman in South Africa to do so. Her story of courage in the face of the unknown, stigma and discrimination echo the complex social context in which HIV is experienced nationally and globally. It places emphasis on the fact that HIV affects all humans, irrespective of religion, race, gender, sexuality or socio-economic status. Using life trajectory as a method of enquiring into Miller's social and religious meaning making regarding her infection and HIV and AIDS activism, this research presents her challenges and victories in her journey with HIV and AIDS. The biographical study examines how she became the face of a Muslim woman with HIV in society. In speaking up for the infected voiceless and taking a lead in creating awareness about a highly stigmatised disease, Miller shows how personal agency was used to change attitudes, save lives and offer support to the suffering. Mass media in the 1990s—television, radio and print—played a crucial role in her trajectory. This study argues that Miller acquired social capital through the declaration of her HIV status, increasing her public profile, and co-founding the Muslim HIV/AIDS organization, Positive Muslims. The analysis focuses on turning points in her life trajectory, including traumatic experiences, transformative reflections on Islam, and activism. Through her personal and social challenge with the virus, she ultimately embraces an inclusive Islamic theology of compassion.
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African liberation theologies : expressions of a decentred and embodied postcolonial christianity
(2014) Taulo, Emmanuel Francisco; Wanamaker, CA [
This thesis aims at analysing how African liberation theologies can be seen as expressing the ideas of postcolonial .theory and hence producing a decentred and embodied form of Christianity in the postcolonial context. Of course, today debate goes on as to whether or not African liberation theologies have largely died out as a theological tradition in these first years of the twenty-first century. Because of space-constraints, this is one question that I hope to pursue in another work later. However, in this thesis my only aim is to argue that African liberation theologies can be seen as expressing the ideas of postcolonial theory and hence producing a decentred and embodied form of Christianity in the postcolonial context. But before analysing, let us have a good grasp of our context of discussion.
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African music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa : a case study in the Western Cape
(1985) Stephenson, Mark H; Setiloane,Gabriel M
This study is an appraisal of African Music within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa with particular reference to the Western Cape. I develop and amplify a pilot study 4 in order to provide a model for further research into African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. The subject has a certain topical relevance. Many Churches are not only producing new hymn books but are also experimenting with new ways of communicating the gospel through music. 5 More recently, the Africanisation committee of the C.U.C. (Church Unity Commission) directed by its convenor the Rev. E. Baartman (President Elect of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa) recommended that the C.U.C. co-ordinate research into "Black theology, African liturgy and furthermore, at the Fifth Annual Symposium on Ethnomusicology, 30 August 1984 - 1 September 1984, Alain Barker reported that "while all agreed that the international perspective the Conference provided was of great value, serious debate on how the subject should be dealt with in this country was limited to a brief discussion at the end" . Some critics felt more practical involvement in African Music should have been a part of the Conference. In other words an academic assessment needs to be grounded in practice. (a) My purpose is to determine the meaning of African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, and to show that African Music is a contact point between Church and Culture, facilitating cultural liberation. (b)I have erected a framework to order the results of my research. It may be claimed that the method of approach is in many ways novel. Field work, recording and documentation on African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa has to my knowledge never been published. This research is an attempt to make a start. We need to listen to Africa. As a fourth generation Methodist Minister, where else could I begin other than in the Methodist Church? As can be expected in an exploratory study, these findings point to areas which need more investigation. African Music articulates the most viable approach to respond to both the demands of the Gospel and African Culture. The aim of this study is to promote and teach people an appreciation of African Music within the broader context of the Church. (c) In the light of this, I have attempted four things: (i) African Music in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa is located in its broader African context by an examination of the roots of the Church within the Protestant tradition. (ii) Oral evidence was collected as a basis for critical reflection. (iii) A critical reflection is undertaken on some of the issues implicit in the words and music. (iv) An attempt is made to suggest ways and means of developing African Music within the life of the Church.
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African religion and religion education
(1994) Mndende, Nokuzola; Chidester, David
The concept of religion in South Africa has been distorted by religious and racial prejuidices. This problem is particularly evident in public schools South African schools have taught Christianity as the only authentic religion, in fact as the only truth. Black parents have not been given a choice of religion for their children. The white government has decided for them Based on the assumption that Christianity is the only legitimate religion, the state has suppressed African indigenous religion at every level of society, but especially in the schools. The thesis examines the indigenous beliefs and practices of the black people in South Africa which were suppressed by Western culture and Christianity. It reveals all the distortions about African Religion by the outside researchers in order to uproot the black people from their way of life so as to colonise them. As a result all the black children are taught to regard Christianity as a "Religion" and their own religion as "culture", the implication being that blacks had no religion until the white man came with Christianity. The thesis also investigates the feelings of the black people about recovering their indigenous religion by having it as a subject in schools. The results reveal that the majority of blacks never dissociated themselves with their religion. Although most are Christians in principle, deep down they practise their own religion. It has also been discovered that there are great lamentations amongst most blacks over the "loss" of some of the indigenous practices. Most have felt alienated from their heritage and identity. It is therefore the interest of the blacks in South Africa that African Religion be taught in schools.
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African women in religion and culture Chewa women in the Nkhoma synod of the church of central Africa, presbyterian: a critical study from women's perspective
(1992) Phiri, Isabel Apawo; De Gruchy, J W
This thesis is an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of Chewa women in the Nkhoma synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. It is an interpretation, from a women's perspective within the Reformed tradition of their status, roles, and experiences. The introduction provides a detailed explanation of the area of study, African women's perspective of religion and culture, and methodology. I Chapter one aims at examining the context of women in Malawi. This includes the current demography, politics, economy and education as they affect women. The chapter also includes a background history of Chewa people and the church of Central Africa, Presbyterian which provide a base for the understanding of Chewa women in the Nkhoma synod. Chapter two considers the position of Chewa women further by providing a detailed analysis of their position in traditional society. The period under study in this chapter is 1400-1870s. Through the study of the Makewana cult, the chapter aims at showing that Chewa women traditionally had religious leadership roles. This led to a discussion on the concept of God among the Chewa. In studying these traditional roles, the chapter shows both the positive and negative elements in Chewa culture. Chapters one and two then provide a framework for chapters three, four, and five. Chapter three analyzes in detail the issues of Chewa women in religious. leadership and culture under the Dutch Reformed Church Mission and the Nkhoma synod from 1889 to present. It examines church policies on women's participation in church leadership positions and theological education. It also examines how the church has handled cultural issues, especially the women's initiation ceremony, bride wealth, child marriages, polygamy, and widowhood. The concern of this chapter is to show that while Christianity liberated Chewa women from some degrading cultural practices, it also denied women leadership positions. Chapter four takes the issue of women's participation in the church further by examining the Chigwirizano-Women's organization. The aim of this chapter is to explore what the organization means to women, how it runs, and most of all, its relationship with the synod. The chapter establishes that Nkhoma synod women do not only suffer from patriarchy but also from clericalism. Chapter five moves from the historical approach to a sociological one. It is primarily a survey of attitudes of men and women in the synod on the issues raised in chapters three and four. It also aims at finding out if the presence of women in the general synod would make a difference. Chapter six considers the effect on Nkhoma synod women who have participated in continental church women's organizations, especially their aims at raising the consciousness of women and the church with regard to women's issues. Chapter seven provides a summary of the findings. It also raises theological issues on interpreting the Bible from a women's perspective and a new understanding of authority in the church. The chapter concludes by posing a challenge to the synod to develop a theology that takes into account the experiences of women in the church, and enables them to fulfil a creative role within it.
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The alienated religion studies teacher: a case study in Cape Town, South Africa
(2017) Driesen, Danika; Tayob, Abdulkader
South Africa's post-apartheid National Policy on Religion and Education instituted in 2003 ushered in a new paradigm for the study of religion in the country's schools. It promotes a programme of teaching and learning about religious diversity that constitute the nation. While this revised policy enabled Religion Studies educators to grapple with new ways of thinking about the study of religion, it still demanded them to assume a standardised role that focused more on their duties and responsibilities of promoting a multi-religious approach in an impartial manner. This homogenous policy image neglected the teachers' interpretations and reality of the profession. Consequently, a gap emerged between the policy-imagined role and Religion Studies teachers' perspectives. This thesis explores the gap between what the national policy expects from the teachers and their readiness for teaching Religion Studies. Rahel Jaeggi's concept of alienation is used to critically analyse the alienating effects of the national policy images' failure in recognising the realities of the profession. Jaeggi provides a renewed framework on the concept that entails critically analysing an individual's social role in terms of how s/he succeeds or fails to appropriate and identify with it. A case study research of eleven teachers who taught Religion Studies in high schools in Cape Town, South Africa was conducted. The findings reveal that the gap disrupted their roles, and resulted in a 'double' alienation for them. It also shows educators integrating their religious identities into their teaching methods, which enhanced their proficiency at teaching the subject and alleviating their 'double' alienation. The teachers' methodologies demonstrate that they are open enough to approach the aims of Religion Studies, and to approach diversity that is not from the national policy's perspective of a distant secular approach, but rather one that opens their own religious traditions to new ones. I argue that despite the Religion Studies teachers alleviating their 'double' alienation to some extent by integrating their religious identities into their teaching methods, they still remained in a state of alienation due to the post-apartheid government's top-down education strategy.
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Allied democratic forces (ADF) in Uganda: A Jihadi- Salafi movement or local political movement in disguise
(2018) Nsobya, Abdulhakim Abdalla; Brigaglia, Andrea
Since 1996, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has waged a campaign of terror in Uganda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has resulted in a number of fatalities and continues to threaten the security of the region. From its inception, the objective of the ADF has been to overthrow the Ugandan government and establish an Islamic state governed by a Salafi interpretation of Islam. This study seeks to document the history of the ADF and to locate its position within contemporary Salafi debates. It does so by answering the following questions: (1) what do we know about the ADF? (2) How did the ADF emerge in Uganda? (3) Is the ADF Jihadi-Salafi movement or local political movement in disguise? This study utilises interviews, as well as archival and ethnographic approaches to research. Findings suggest that the ADF is a Jihadi-Salafi militant movement, which was originally established under the name Salafi Jihad Council (SaJiCo). However, the initial failure to stand alone and the Busitema defeat forced them to join other non-Muslim rebel groups to form the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). In addition, this study confirmed that, persuasive rhetoric of ADF leader, Jamilu Mukulu in addition to a long history of economic, social and political marginalisation of Muslims in Uganda by colonial and post-colonial governments, played a significant role in the creation and recruitment strategies for the Movement.
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The ambiguity of God : a post-colonial inquiry into the politics of theistic formulation in South Africa
(1997) Savage, James Peter Tyrone; Villa-Vicencio, Charles
This thesis sets out to locate a post-apartheid perspective within what might be described as postcolonial Religious Studies, drawing on the genealogical method of Michel Foucault. Roughly stated, I understand the methodology to represent a shift away from preoccupation with the actual truth or otherwise of an idea, towards concern with the agitation - the discord, the discrepancies - that characterizes the appearance of an idea. Within the parameters, paradigms and possibilities imposed by this method, I inquire into the politics of theistic formulation in South Africa prior to the Union of South Africa (1910). Part One of the thesis discusses the politics of the advent of the Christian God in Southern Africa. In the three chapters that comprise this section, I situate colonial beliefs about God within colonialism as a discursive genre; in particular, evidence is provided of the deployment of religious (and in particular theistic) sensibility as a strategic category in the Othering discourse by which European expansion into Southern Africa was promulgated. Chapter Two opens by observing that colonial constructions of Otherness served not only to "erase" (Spivak) autochthonic identity, but also to eulogize and assert the colonial Self. Contextualizing my argument in the debate about the ambiguous effects of colonial missionary activities, I examine the mythically imbued, Othering discourse of Robert Moffat as a particularly conspicuous instance of the missionary qua colonial Self. Chapter Three gathers the concerns of Part One around the problem of theistic formulation in a colonial context, by discussing John Colenso's discovery of a theistic sensibility indigenous to autochthonic Africans as an example of a transgression of the Christian discourse that colonialism made function as truth. Part Two makes use of the categories established in Part One, and applies them to Afrikanerdom: its Othering in British colonial discourse; its religiously imbued, mythic history; and its beliefs in God. Having brought to theistic formulation a Foucauldian suspicion of systems of truth, my argument turns in Part Three to bring a particular theology, theologia crucis, alongside Foucault: accepting that the "dogmatic finitization" (Wolfhart Pannenberg) of Christian belief is inherently susceptible to the play of power, I observe that theistic formulation cast in terms of the cross - the "Crucified God" (Jurgen Moltmann) - holds a subversive potential in which may lie possibilities for an alternative to "truth".
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An investigation of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites as it is recorded in the Bible, compared with non-Biblical sources and modern archaeological discoveries
(1962) Eilon, Tuvya
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An Anabaptist paradigm for conflict transformation : critical reflections on peacemaking in Zimbabwe
(1996) Kraybill, Ronald Sherer; De Gruchy, John W
This thesis outlines a proposal from an explicitly religious standpoint of the key dimensions of peacebuilding, focusing particularly on mediation and facilitation as a primary task. What is the value of such a study? My initial responses in the paragraphs which follow are made at the broadest possible level: the desperate need for effective peacebuilders in a world torn by violence and the potential for religiously-based peacebuilders to fill that need. I then support this response by examining other reasons for the study: the current inadequacy of religious response to conflicts, the danger of manipulation of religious leadership by other actors, and potential for the insights of religiously-based actors to contribute to the over-all practice of peacebuilding and diplomacy. In addressing the latter question I outline my own understanding of the meaning of "religion", an understanding whose impact on the broad question of peacebuilding I explore throughout the chapters which follow.
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Analysing transition narratives : Christian leaders in public life in post-apartheid South Africa
(2004) Getman, Eliza Jane; De Gruchy, John W
The dynamic discourse between religion and public life is illustrated in South Africa in both the pre- and post-apartheid eras. Specifically, this relationship is manifested in the lives of a number of individuals who straddled both facets of society. This thesis centres on a social analysis of the journeys undertaken by thirteen men and women who held Christian faith and political commitment in each hand as the New South Africa emerged from the Old. In-depth interviews were conducted with all subjects using qualitative research methods based on an oral history approach. Subjects were asked to consider their faith identities and the ways in which their faith directed their involvement in the public arena.
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An analysis of the nature and basis of Karl Barth's socialism
(1985) Petersen, Robin M; Villa-Vicencio, Charles
Using certain insights of F.W. Marquardt's seminal, if controversial thesis, 'Theoloqie und Sozialismus: Das Bespiel Karl Barth's', as a point of departure, this thesis is an analysis of the nature and theological basis of Karl Barth's socialism. A comprehensive study of Barth's writings is conducted in relation to four areas, in an attempt to derive a more precise understanding of the nature of Barth's socialist commitment, and the manner in which Barth grounds this in his theology. The continuity and changes in both of these areas of Barth's thought are analysed, showing the parallel development of his theology and his socialist commitment. More significantly, the fundamental continuities underlying all these changes are identified, and it is argued that these continuities verify the general thesis that in Barth's theology there is a consistent attempt to ground adequately a socialist praxis that neither secularises the gospel, nor divinises the human struggle for freedom. There is thus a dialectical relationship between his theology and his socialist praxis, each influences the other, but neither can be reduced to the other. Barth's theology arises in a context of socialist praxis, as a means of grounding and explicating that praxis in a theological base. It is therefore influenced by this socialist praxis, but it can never be reduced to it. It has another source which is God and God's Word, from which it derives its centre and its power, and although God and humans are held together inseparably in the incarnate Word, Jesus, they cannot be confused or form a God-human hybrid.
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Ancestors in African religion : a comparative study of the role of ancestors in the Sotho and Nguni worship and religious ethics
(2003) Moiloa, Peter Mokhele; Mazamisa, Welile
Belief in ancestral spirits among the Africans has always aroused a hot debate among scholars of African Religion. To a great number of scholars this belief seems to have been exaggerated. The fact that Africans speak more about their ancestors than about God has led some scholars into thinking that God has no place in African Traditional Religion.They argue that God is not worshipped in African Traditional Religion.
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Anglican identity and contemporary relevance : a critical study of the Partners in Mission process within the Church of the Province of Southern Africa
(1992) Gregorowski, Christopher; De Gruchy, John W
This is a church historical study and critical theological analysis of the Partners in Mission (PIM) process in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA), which uses methods appropriate to such a study. Chapter 1 examines the background against which the PIM process and CPSA's PIM 'Vision' must be seen: Anglicanism, its origins, intentions and mission - and the tension between Anglican identity and contemporary relevance. Chapter 2 traces the process of renewal which has been described as the Anglican Communion's 'coming of age', and identifies some of the themes which were later to become 'The Vision'. The Anglican PIM process emerged out of the church's efforts to adjust to the rapidly changing post-colonial world of the nineteen-fifties and sixties, when Anglican provinces within newly-independent nations could no longer be regarded as inferior to and dependent on the Church of England. A watershed in this quest was the Anglican Congress in Toronto in 1963, when for the first time the equal partnership was articulated in the statement Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ (MRI). MRI became a Communion-wide programme which evolved into the PIM process, and together they constitute the Anglican Church's programme of contemporary reform and renewal. The CPSA is a full participant in this PIM process and has held three PIM Consultations, the third of which took place in November 1987 when the church was given the vision to engage in the struggle for the eradication of apartheid and the building of new societies of justice and peace in southern Africa. .In Chapter 3 we examine the Provincial 1987 Consultation, the process which led up to it and the making of The Vision. In Chapter 4 we examine publications and records of the CPSA and correspondence with the Bishops of the Province which describe the implementation of The Vision in the life of the CPSA and its contribution to the church's mission. Chapter 5 is a critical evaluation of the CPSA's PIM process, based on the evidence of the previous chapter. Our conclusion is that The Vision has been only partially implemented because of the church's persistent failure to transform words into actions, poor communication, the failure to focus on priorities, a lack of resources, traditionalism and clericalism in the CPSA, the fear of loss of identity, and a spiritual crisis - much of which points to a lack of appropriate leadership. The consequences of ineffective implementation include the failure of the CPSA as a whole to engage relevantly with the crisis in southern Africa, to express appropriate penitence and make restitution for its part in the sin of apartheid, and to engage in effective evangelism. Chapter 6 is an attempt to see how the CPSA could be renewed by means of a revitalised PIM process, in order to be relevant in southern Africa today. We explore a possible pastoral plan and ways in which the CPSA would benefit from engaging more fully in the 'Kairos' process. The CPSA will contribute to the life and future direction of the Anglican Communion insofar as it is true to its ecumenical calling to witness to the kingdom of God as a part of the church in southern Africa, and the Communion will best serve its members and enable them to discover their true identity by setting them free to be faithful to their mission in their various contexts. Throughout this study we have used primary source documents from the Anglican Communion and the CPSA which tell of the birth, progress an implementation of MRI, PIM and The Vision.
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The Apostolic Faith Mission in Africa, 1908-1980 : a case study in church growth in a segregated society
(1989) De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf; De Gruchy, John W
This case-study of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) in Africa in relation to Church Growth theory covers the period 1908 - 1980. Its geographical scope is South Africa, including the black Homelands. In chapters 1 and 2 we examine the history, origins and development of the AFM in Africa in relation to Pentecostalism and the white AFM. In chapters 3 and 4 we research the contextual issues of racism, apartheid, and the relationship between the AFM, the State, and politics. From chapter 5 to the end our focus is on the church growth of the AFM in Africa. Our study has shown that the AFM in Africa has grown significantly during the period studied. Significant growth factors have been: the prioritization of evangelism accompanied with an emphasis on the supernatural manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit; the active involvement of the laity; their theology of missions revealing a distinctive pneumatology, an eschatological urgency, and a sense of divine destiny; their ecclesiology; their culturally relevant liturgy; and homogeneous groupings of Blacks. Conversely, factors hindering their growth have been the superpaternalistic approach to mission of the white "Mother-church". The endorsement of apartheid and lack of a prophetic witness of the Apostolic Faith Mission towards the State have also harmed their credibility in the black community.