The Transformational, Intersectional and Transcendental Agenda of Mission: Quest for a Spirituality of the Road

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruitspapers/1026/thumbnail.jp

How do black South African youth understand and cope with depression?

Abstract: Depression is conceptualised differently across cultural groups and contexts. How people understand depression influences the treatment sought and the response to it. This study explored the understandings and perceptions of black South African youth who experience depression. Eight participants were interviewed; some were diagnosed by a psychologist with depression while others were not officially diagnosed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in an environment conducive and convenient for participants; therefore the interviews took place in different places. The findings of the study showed that some black South African youth conceptualised depression differently. Firstly, through received discourses from their social background; they saw depression as a stigmatised experience described as witchcraft, alcoholism and madness. Secondly, in response to the stigmatisation, they also developed their own discourses; they described depression as a weight, a case of sadness, and the brain taking over...M.A. (Sociology

Kgolo, tswelopele le katlego ya kanegelokopana ya Sepedi: (1951-1999) (Sepedi)

The aim of this research is to give a literary accountable description of the development of the short story in Sepedi. In order to achieve this, the descriptive as well as the expository and comparative method are used, while the short story is seen as a unit consisting of a content layer, a structural layer and a stylistic layer. With these three layers as focus points in the research, the researcher is not to include the socio-cultural circumstance in which the work has its origin, as final criterium in his research. Firstly, the modus operandi of English and American researchers in their descriptions of the history and development of their literatures is reviewed (or traced). The division here into development periods, is based to a large extent on pragmatic grounds, although literary merit was considered too. In the case of the literature in Sepedi, Mokgokong, Serudu and Groenewald separately gave an overview of the history of this literature and divided it into development periods (or periods of development). They, however, do not indicate the grounds (basics) on which these periods are based. The historical and socio-cultural circumstances of the Bapedi are taken into consideration, but how they lead to a literary accountable division, is not indicated. A short overview of the history of the short story in Sepedi is given as introduction to this study. Thereafter the development of the short story in Sepedi is divided into three phases, namely: (a) The moralizing or didactical phase. (b) The experimental phase. (c) The phase of growth. In the first period the works of Ramaila, who is a skilled writer, dominate. He was a teacher and a man of the church, and was moved by the fate of his people when the Western lifestyle in the process of urbanization left them without anchors in life. The stories from this period therefore have a strong moralising and didactical flavour (tendency) which detracts from the merit of the work. Works from the second period place less emphasis on the clash between the traditional and Western philosophies of life. The stories are mostly constructed untidily, the characterization is one-sided and unconvincing, while the conclusions are not motivated satisfactorily. The short stories from the third period portray a reconciliation between the traditional and Western lifestyles. This phase includes short stories which are structurally and stylistically rounded. The detective stories, for example, have highly complex structures which lead to surprising solutions to the story problems, while an ironic situation in life is described with the greatest ease and skills especially in the stories of (N.S) Nkadimeng and Mpepele. The chief merit of these works lie in the characterization and building of atmosphere. In the final or summarising chapter there is reflection on the importance of Ramaila as short story writer, while the possibilities of the short story in Sepedi in the future are touched upon.Thesis (DLitt (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2000.African Languagesunrestricte

Mission driven by fear and despair : the case of Kranspoort - the first Dutch Reformed Church mission station outside the Cape Colony

This article surveys the Dutch Reformed Church Mission Policy and the close collaboration of mission and politics. The 1948 Nationalist Party election victory brought about a host of laws designed to bring total control and dominance over black people’s lives and their destiny. The Dutch Reformed Church was drawn into the government agenda to the extent that they lost their prophetic voice. The use of government instruments such as the forced removal of ‘excess’ and unwanted people from white farms was employed by the church. Black Christians that held a different political view were declared “no longer Christians” and forcefully removed from the mission stations. The pious outlook of mission did not help the church to realise that its social and political interests were against the love of Christ and thus the love of the neighbour.http://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stjam201

On a bumpy road: historical survey of (unity) talks between the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa and the Dutch Reformed Church before 1994

Peer reviewedThe events prior to and after church unity between the former Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) and the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) in 1994 are perplexing because the white Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk) was influenced by apartheid ideology in its response to church unity within the DRC family.1 Unsuccessful unity talks were previously held with the white Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk) and the Reformed Church of Africa (RCA), but minutes of these talks reveal that a biblical concept of church unity was problematic, especially to the NG Kerk, which created a language that made the issue of Christian unity elusive. This article gives a brief survey of the developments that shaped the unity process with the DRMC and the DRCA from 1986 until 1994, when the two churches eventually united. The role played by the white DRC and its motive to frustrate the unity process is analysed. The change of the leadership of the DRCA in 1987, the DRCA General Synod in Umtata and the momentum this change gave to the process of church unity between the DRCM and the DRCA are investigated. The internal struggles within the DRCA’s Northern Transvaal Synod2 are also discussed. The gender inclusivity in the ministry of the church, property ownership and the inclusion of both in the new Church Order are investigated. After seventeen years of democracy in South Africa, church unity among the Dutch Reformed family of churches (the RCA, NG Kerk and URCSA) has not yet been realised. This article sketches the DRCA’s road to unity with the DRMC in 1994 without the NG Kerk and RCA, reading church history backwards to shed light on why it was so difficult for the NG Kerk and RCA to unite with the URCSA.Research Institute for Theology and Religio

“And no one pours new wine into an old wineskin” : discourse in religion and sustainable development for Sub–Sahara Africa

On 25 September 2015 a high–level forum of the United Nations met in New York to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provided a framework for member states to fulfil the goals set out. The agenda contained an action plan for people, planet, and prosperity with seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. All countries and stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnerships, would implement this plan, to which the delegates declared and committed themselves. The plan concurred with the African Union Commission’s Agenda 2063 – “Africa that we want”. Sequential to these developments, some religious organisations joined the discourse and advocated for the place of religion in sustainable development. This article employs deconstruction qualitative research methodology to explore the religious pathways in the SDGs as determined by historical colonial choices in Sub–Saharan Africa. The modern discourse of religion and sustainable development cannot be assumed to be value free. The Jewish proverb that “new wine is not poured into an old wineskin” is used as a historical lens to debunk the underlying legacy of colonialism that continues to hide the coloniality epistemic of dominance and power underlying the language of sustainable development that tends to endorse universality and ignore historical praxis of colonialism.https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/stj/indexdm2022Science of Religion and Missiolog

Relationships are building blocks to social justice : cases of biblical justice and African Ubuntu

The entire Bible is full of themes calling humans to live justly with one another and fear God who is the author of justice. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, carries the story of God’s relationship with his people. Their relationship is bound by social justice and mutual love in reciprocity. This article argues that African Ubuntu has an affinity with the Bible’s message of justice and mutual caring for one another. Ubuntu presupposes that humans were created in God’s image and indicates that characteristics such as kindness, charity, equality, love of one’s neighbours and voluntarily dispensing justice to others are present in human life. God created humans to be bound to one another in caring love, coexistence and total dependence. In today’s world, social justice requires good judgement from those who are in privileged positions to implement it.This research is part of the project, ‘The role of German Churches in the demise of apartheid in South Africa’, directed by Prof. Dr Thias Kgatla, Department of Missiology and Science of Religion, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.http://www.hts.org.zaam2016Science of Religion and Missiolog

Church and South African realities today : towards a relevant missiology of radical discipleship

South Africa is one of the last African states to attain liberation from colonial rule. It was ushered into democratic order after one of the most prolonged and painful racial struggles. In 1994 it was heralded as an example of peaceful transition with one of the best constitutions in the world. It was called the “Rainbow Nation” and Madiba Magic. At that stage, the world looked at the new state as the shining example for the rest of Africa. But today, the country has the greatest gap between the rich and the poor in the world. Extreme poverty, inequality, and unemployment are at the centre of the economic ills of the country. In fact, South Africa is reckoned to have one of the largest gaps between rich and poor in the world. The important question is: How did the country decline to the position where it finds itself today? This paper attempts to analyse the trajectory the country took after 1994’s first democratic election to where it is today. Extreme poverty, violence, corruption, greed, bitterness, entitlement mentality and political opportunism are the constituent elements that are plaguing the country.http://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/index.php/stjam2017Science of Religion and Missiolog

Witchcraft accusations and their social setting : cases in the Limpopo Province

This article is the result of research findings undertaken in Limpopo Province on the subject of witchcraft beliefs. It is a narration of two villages whose residents were accused of witchcraft and had to be moved to other villages for their safety. Socio-economic conditions responsible for the communities to accuse their members of witchcraft are analysed. In the last part of the paper I draw on some classical theoretical approaches such as projection, scapegoating and materialism theories. In conclusion three statements are considered: 1) witchcraft is something real in human experience; 2) witchcraft is an imaginary crime; 3) an explanation of witchcraft accusations seen through the lens of social theories on society.http://www.upjournals.co.za/index.php/OHJSAam2016Social Work and Criminolog

Witch-hunts in modern Africa and early modern Europe (1450–1750): a comparison

Belief in witchcraft is found across the world and in some societies alleged witches are persecuted and killed. This article explores the rise of false accusations of witchcraft and the resultant killings in South Africa in the last three decades; as many as 20 000 may have died between 2004 and 2008. The article considers these lynchings in the light of killings associated with witch-hunts in Europe (1450–1750) focusing on the witch-hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In many cases, people’s credulity is abused by those who accuse others of practising witchcraft. The accusers often stand to gain in some way and exploit the vulnerability of those they accuse. This article explores witch-hunts as a reaction to disaster as related to gender bias and relational problems. It shows that such persecution is difficult to control with social institutions; it is a selfpropagating discourse with potentially tragic results for the victims.http://www.unisa.ac.za/sheam2013mn201