https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/2979 2026-05-05T12:05:26Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31939 Crossbearers as the messianic generation: towards a black radical Christology Africa, Obakeng South Africa is in crisis, and theologians have been grappling with the theological significance of this state of affairs. In the realm of black theology, many have expressed concern around the discursive malaise this theological tradition is currently experiencing. On the other hand, theologians are still coming to terms with the epistemological break that Fallism introduced into popular discourse in the country. Some theologians have responded to the movement, but no theologian has articulated a theological contribution from the movement itself. The following study is an attempt to articulate a theological expression of Fallism while not falling into the excesses of the philosophical framework. Through the black Christology of Takatso Mofokeng, I seek to articulate a Fallist response to the central question of his Christological framework, “how can faith in Jesus Christ empower black people who are involved in the struggle for their liberation?” (Mofokeng, 1983, p. x) To answer this question, I stage a critical encounter between black theology and radical theology. This theoretical encounter is staged in the following manner. First, I make the case for the discursive contact between black theology and radical theology. Second, I do a thematic survey of the motif of identity in Mofokeng’s Christology. Third, I explore an alternative hermeneutical orientation that can help address the limitations of the motif of identity in Mofokeng’s Christology through John D. Caputo’s radical theology. Specifically, I explore his hermeneutics of the call. I then bring this to a head by articulating a Christian Fallism and its corollary circumfessional orientation. In short, Christian Fallism is my post-1994 answer to the central question in Mofokeng’s Christology. This answer is inflected with the critical intuitions of Fallism. An inflection which serves as a theoretical extension to the Black Consciousness philosophical framework that Mofokeng had to work with. Fallism extends this by also drawing from black radical feminism, and Pan-Africanism with specific attention to the historical conditions of South Africa today. The corollary circumfessional orientation that I bring into the discourse is a measure that is meant to guard against the logics of community that both black theology and Fallism run afoul of. 2024-05-15T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31882 The centrality of the Holy Spirit in God’s grand acts of creation, reconciliation, renewal and fulfilment : the kingdom of God and culture Hoffman, Pavel The Spirit is the overall renewing and liberating presence-maker of God’s grand acts of creation, reconciliation, renewal and fulfilment. Not as doctrines, but these acts while we are involved therein are the ortho-experiential drivers of our reflective experience in which we reflectively pattern and process our daily experiences. The centrality of the role of the Spirit in four grand acts of God continuously opens up our awareness of our creatureliness, awareness of sin, awareness of being reconciled, awareness of being in an ongoing renewal process and awareness of the dawning of our fulfilment in our everyday experience. Taking an all-encompassing approach, the Spirit is not only present in love with every creature, but in many mysterious ways that we have never imagined possible. It is through the presence of the Spirit that the creatures of the universe are brought into communion with one another. The Spirit of God then embraces individuals, but he also enables them to exist in a social environment, that is, in an interrelated world of created beings, bringing them and keeping them within the ambit of God’s creation, reconciliation, renewal, and fulfilment of everything. Understanding the key concepts of experience and speculation is important, as well as grasping the different theological approaches to the Trinitarian scheme. At the same time, the doctrine of Revelation in form of Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Culture demonstrates how different understanding of Revelation brings about the different understandings of God (and concretely the Spirit) on the part of any Christian. Hermeneutically, the role of the Holy Spirit and God’s grand acts is to be attested by the Bible in consensual negotiation. Finally, the central role of Spirit opens up the reflective vista of the Kingdom of God as a dynamic meandering through God’s four grand acts at the end of historical time and as the only access area where people’s culture, religiosity, ethnicity, social status and language may be reflected on. Typological approaches describing the relationship between Christ and culture in Niebuhr’s work need to be compared and evaluated, leading to a deeper discussion about the ‘interminable’ and conflicting relationship between the world and state represented by culture on the one side and Christianity represented by the Spirit on the other. 2024-01-30T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31865 The investigation on the impact of societal structure on violation of the rights of women and children in Limpopo : church and African tradition perspective Madiba, Daphne Maphuti Majapie African traditions have a significant impact on the societal structures, the Churches, and schools. The secular government also contributed to the increase of gender-based violence since the corrective measures were insufficient to curb the challenges. The purpose of this study is to create an awareness among the Churches, traditional lead-ers, and other structures who are concerned about the welfare of women and children, clearly indicating that violence is neither God’s purpose of creation nor the purpose of the African tradition. Furthermore, the researcher intended to provoke the faith com-munities to re-look and re-examine their teachings of the Bible with a new perspective that will promote the rights of women and children. By means of interviews and ques-tionnaires, the researcher examined human experiences provided by the participants and added these to a literature review. 2024-03-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/31840 Towards a holistic narrative-hermenuetical premarital counselling model for couples in an African context: URCSA congregation as a case study Matsepe, M.P. In 1994 South Africa elected its new democratic government and that brought about change politically, economically, and socially. The political change brought about new transformation that saw people in the society in particular woman being given new opportunities to participate equally in economy like any South African. With the dawn of democracy there is an alarming high rate of divorce in South Africa. According to Statistics of South Africa (2013,) since the dawn of democracy the high rate of divorce is amongst black couples. Taylor (1994:184-185) adds that the number of “church” marriages is decreasing with the church. These alarmingly high rate of divorce in South Africa, has disrupted normal lives of couples, families and impacts negatively on the lives of children. Marriage is highly regarded in Africa. Today, it is unusual to find people who have not experienced divorce and/or been affected by its pain, whether in their own lives or in the lives of someone close to them. The goal of this study was to find an integrated, pertinent model of premarital pastoral care that could be used within the framework of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). The study seeks to answer this key question: How can a URCSA congregation contribute to facilitate sustainable marriage partnerships among its members through a premarital preparation programme that assists couple to build sustainable marriage journeys. This study was conducted through the lenses of the two theoretical frameworks, namely Osmer’s practical theology which is contextual in theory and URCSA Belhar Confession of 1986. The study used a qualitative descriptive approach and has two parts. In the first part, relevant literature which relates to pre-counselling (premarital counselling), marriage preparation, divorce, pastoral care and practical theology is reviewed. The second is empirical research that is qualitative in nature. This implies that the researcher undertook fieldwork investigation to gather more information from participants. Following a review of the literature and an analysis of the participant voices, this study suggests a comprehensive narrative-hermeneutical premarital therapy model for African couples. During the study 18 participants were interviewed, some still married, some separated and some divorced, within a Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa congregation based in Northern Synod Region in Pretoria, Gauteng Province. Analysis of the research findings shows that since most of the participants did not undergo the premarital counselling the experienced challenges in the following areas namely: conflict management, family versus extended family, failure to develop vision and mission for the family, management of financial matters, intimacy issues and family planning, and communication management in marriage. In order to promote greater marital stability, establish a strong marriage foundation, and prevent or lessen the potentially high rate of divorces, this dissertation concludes by proposing a practical premarital counselling program based on the narrative-hermeneutical approach. 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z