Transformation and Legitimation in Post-apartheid Universities

Two decades after the democratic transition, South African universities are in turmoil. Whilst the old is slowly becoming unhinged, reimagining the new is protracted and contested. The challenges ahead, including a funding crunch, are formidable and bear the imprint of South African postcolonial specificities and global transformations in higher education. At this moment, critical and engaged socio-historical scholarship is indispensable. Transformation and Legitimation in Post-apartheid Universities: Reading discourses from Reitz is such a work. Revisiting the notorious Reitz incident of 2008, when a satirical video made by students from the University of the Free State (UFS) to register their resistance to the racial integration of black' students into historically white' residences became public, the text offers an analysis of the broader cultural and socio-political context that constituted the conditions of possibility for the incident and its aftermath. Attention is shifted from the principal actors in the original drama a handful of students and workers to a critical interrogation of the broader structures, positions, discourses and practices that fed into the Reitz incident', reaching into the present with violent and racially-charged student and worker protests in 2016. Van der Merwe and Van Reenen deliver a theoretically-rich analysis of the anatomy of current contestations about race and transformation in higher education in South Africa, the resultant legitimation crisis facing the UFS and South African universities more generally, as well as ways to restore institutional legitimacy and reputation, focusing on instituting deeper, more durable change that unlocks the promise of democracy. Dr Irma du Plessis University of Pretori

Daubenya alba (Hyacinthaceae, tribe Massonieae), a new species from the Roggeveld, Northern Cape Province

Daubenya alba A.M. van der Merwe, from the edge of the Roggeveld escarpment in the Northern Cape Province, is described as a new species. It resembles D. capensis (Schltr.) A.M. van der Merwe & J.C. Manning in leaf shape, floral structure and the presence of a staminal tube, but is distinguished by its delicate white to pale lilac flowers and lack of a staminal disc

The PASS model for the assessment of cognitive functioning in South African schools: a first probe

Diversity is an acknowledged characteristic of the South African society. Traditional standardised methods of assessment for cognitive functioning have been discouraged or abandoned, as they have been found to be discriminatory. Arguing for a systematic assessment process, a previous researcher has stated that standardised methods are the best ways of achieving understanding of the reasons for the breakdown in learning and ensuring effective intervention. An alternative mod el of intelligence and cognitive functioning developed in previous work is explored for possible application within the South African context. This model, referred to as the PASS model, refers to the cognitive processes of Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive processing. The exploration of the PASS model is extended to the assessment tool used to quantify these four cognitive processes. The assessment tool is called the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS). The question posed in the study was whether results obtained with this PASS model of intelligence could provide insight into the cognitive functioning of South African children. To establish the validity of the CAS (the assessment tool), the scores were correlated with related achievement scores obtained. The sources for achievement were obtained from the normed standardised Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery (WDRB) as well as the pupil's school year marks for the previous year. The data obtained from the CAS, Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery (WDRB), and the scholastic marks obtained from school subjects for December 2000 were therefore examined for correlations. The findings of this first probe indicated that the PASS model of intelligence correlates with reading and scholastic achievement in the South African context. The consequence of these findings impacts on the strategies employed for assessment of and intervention with reference to children having difficulties in learning within the South African context. The need for additional research to exp lore the diagnostic value of the CAS in the wider community is on e of the challenges emanating from this probe. (South African Journal of Education: 2003 22(3): 246-252

A narrative of church life today

We live in a time when survival seems to be the biggest concern of most mainline congregations and denominations. How can the church possibly survive? This is a question that is asked in almost every corner of the institution. Since the 1960s, numerous books and articles have been published, trying to get a handle on why the mainline churches are in decline. Whatever the cause may be, decline is causing great fear and anxiety in the mainline churches. In an effort to answer the underlying question: ‘What shall we do to turn the situation around?’, some churches are simply trying to ‘market’ themselves and their message. Others try to ’do’ church differently. Some try to rediscover the purpose of the church, et cetera. Cheryl Peterson argues that churches are, in fact, facing an ecclesial crisis, that is much more than a crisis of declining numbers and membership. There is a deeper and more basic issue that must be explored, one that has to do with the church’s theological identity, and that is: what it means to be church? This article is about the question: Who is the church? And it answers the question on the basis of Peterson’s thesis by means of a narrative of the church that commences with the Spirit.http://www.hts.org.zaam201

Missional congegrations in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa – theologically substantiated

The Christian churches are experiencing a major paradigm shift as they attemp to navigate the 20th century. Around the mid-fourth century to the mid-twentieth century CE, often referred to as the ‘age of Christendom’, Christianity and the institutional church had a central place, which was culturally supported in the public life of most Western societies. Today it is impossible to talk about culture without using the plural. Society has changed into what is called a ‘pluriverse’ of cultures determined by aspects such as geography, race, ethinicity, class, and worldview. For Christian denominations, this paradigm shift has become exceedingly challenging. This article discerns and experiments with approaches to ministry that are vitally challenged by the many current understandings of what it means to be church today. By taking the concept missio Dei as point of departure the article describes the church as being called to be a missional church and the Christian leaders as being called to exercise missional leadership. The article addresses the notion of missio trinitatis as fundamental to the understanding of the missio Dei. God is one who lives by sharing, and the Trinity is the doctrine of a God whose very essence is sharing, thus the consequence is that those who believe in such a God must live a similar life. Matthew 28:19−20 serves as basis for a discussion on the ‘embodiment’ of the church’s missional theology as well as a basis for the development of a missional praxis. The fundamental conviction argued in this article is that there can be no place for a future church that is not missional in essence.http://www.hts.org.z

Lenses on spirituality and being church; the road ahead for the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA)

At this point of time the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA) is facing the seemingly unsolvable dilemma of not being able to handle diversity in a positive manner. By applying three lenses to the current impasse with regards to the church’s struggle with diversity, this article aims at providing an answer to the question of how to proceed. The first lens addresses the challenge to maintain spiritual health and harmony in the midst of differences and tension in the church. The theory behind systems sensitive leadership as lens serves as the guideline to achieve the necessary spiritual health that the church needs in such challenging times. The second lens explores the inner Christian spiritual path in a both developmental and comprehensive way. Drawing on the work of Paul Smith this lens sets forth the developmental framework by which Christians grow inwardly in their understanding of Jesus and his teachings. The third lens is a view on a practice whereby the validity of intellectual positions, statements, or ideologies could be appraised as an innate quality in any subject. This lens opens a unique perspective which provides not only a new understanding of humanity’s journey in the universe, but also serves as a guide to were we and the whole cosmos are on our personal journeys to become who we could be. The vision that is provided by these three lenses has the capacity not only to serve as guidelines, but also to provide the tools to handle the challenges the church has to face on the road a head.http://www.hts.org.zaam2013mn201

Theo-genetiese kodes van die APEHL, soos afgelei uit Efesiërs 4, beliggaam

The focus of this article is on the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh, as a way of talking about and understanding mission and addresses at least two concerns in the contemporary debate about the missional church. Many missionary methods and strategies have contradicted both the teaching and actions of Jesus as he trained his disciples to continue his ministry. The message may have been the gospel, but the way the message was made known was often not congruent with the gospel. The attempt to interpret mission in terms of the incarnation of Jesus suggests that the earlier forms of mission strategies should be replaced by a theology and praxis rooted in and defined by the life and ministry of Jesus. Ephesians 4 provides the key to the theology and praxis by giving us a direct link backward into the ministry that infused and led the early church in the life and the ministry of Jesus.http://www.hts.org.zaam2018Reformed Theological Colleg

The incarnation of the missio Dei practice model for the Dutch Reformed Church of Africa

The decline of the church in the West is of great concern to many today. The Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA), experiences the same tendency. We are living in a time when survival is on the mind of most mainline congregations and denominations. The question is what shall we do to turn this situation around? The answer is to be found in the rediscovery of what it means for the church to be missional. The knowledge about how the early church functioned helps us to rediscover the character of early Christian mission, much of what is drawn together in the concept of incarnational mission. This article examines incarnational mission as the understanding and practise of Christian witness that is rooted in and shaped by the life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. Understanding mission incarnationally in this manner is an integrative way to approach the church’s missionary vocation and to avoid the typical Western reduction of mission to one of the many programms of the church. The article, by exploring the meaning of incarnational mission, endeavours to be both constructive with regard to the biblical and theological understanding of the message, and polemical with regard to the context and history of mission, especially in the Western tradition. This article follows Darrell Guder in arguing that the historical ‘happenedness’ of Jesus’ life both enables and defines Christian witness. In exploring the missional significance of the incarnation, the article tries to avoid any dilution of the centrality of the incarnation event.http://www.hts.org.za/am201

Multicultural worship in Pretoria. A ritual-liturgical case study

The main aim of this article is to develop a theory for praxis with regards to multicultural worship in South Africa. With this aim in mind qualitative research were undertaken in three denominationally different congregations namely Dutch Reformed, Roman Catholic and Charismatic. The research question was “what are the ritual-liturgical qualities that make sustainable multicultural worship possible with the goal of enhancing social cohesion and reconciliation?” After a discussion of the theoretical points of departure of the research project the congregations and collected data are presented and ritual-liturgical qualities are identified. The article concludes by revisiting these qualities rephrasing them into a preliminary theory for praxis which could possibly enhance the development of more sustainable multicultural worship services in the South African society.http://ngtt.journals.ac.za/am2014mn201

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