{"title":"Covid-19 in Congregations and Communities","authors":"S. Joynt","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.r2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.r2","url":null,"abstract":"Covid-19 in Congregations and Communities explores the influence of the coronavirus pandemic on congregational and community life from a predominantly South African perspective, with the inclusion of one chapter on Covid-19’s influence in Ghana. The chapter authors hail from the Department of Practical Theology and Missiology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and offer “a theological response to the collective trauma we experienced as a result of the pandemic†(p. 1). Chapters include a variety of topics, namely, “spirituality, liturgy, homiletics, pastoral care, community development, ecclesiology, child ministry, interreligious dialogue, ritual studies, and missional theology†(p. 1). Methodologies include literature engagement, participant observation, interviews, Grounded Theory, and more. Each author offers original research focusing on the first lockdown in South Africa.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48391569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Where are my brothers?","authors":"Maleke M. Kondemo","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a6","url":null,"abstract":"The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been called the “rape capital†of the world. For almost two decades, people in the east of Congo have suffered violent abuses including killings, mass rape, mutilations, sexual slavery, and abductions, committed by local armed forces, rebels, and civilians. Helpless women and girls are raped, while the society looks on. Rape culture is upheld by the absence or lack of enforcement of laws addressing violence against women and discriminatory laws. In Genesis 34, while Dinah’s brothers are concerned and sympathise with their sister who has been raped by killing the rapist, Jacob kept silent. Approaching the text from a context of rape and sexual violence impunities against women, one is given the impression by the narrator that Jacob does not seem to be much concerned about his daughter’s rape but is obsessed by his own reputation, while Dinah’s two blood brothers desire for vengeance turns into excessive violence. If read from a bosadi womanhood perspective, Genesis 34 should stimulate the Congolese society to seek law enforcement strategies that would help reduce violence and end rape and sexual assault impunity against women. This article interrogates and examines the motives behind Jacob’s inaction and Levi and Simeon’s violent actions to challenge and outline the failures of the DRC system to support and care for women.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44551916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Queer Monumentality","authors":"Eileen S Myer","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.ad4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.ad4","url":null,"abstract":"This article engages with Dirk J. Smit’s 1986 article “The Symbol of Reconciliation and Ideological Conflict in South Africa.†The author illustrates and modifies Smit’s analysis of symbols and their connection to ideology by way of a case study. The case study explores how LGBTQ Americans have sought to access symbolic power contained within their history. The author especially focuses on the forms that LGBTQ Americans have used to construct historical symbols. These forms are the tactical/ephemeral and the monumental. The author closes with a discussion of whether reconciliation symbolics play a role in representations of LGBTQ history in American society and specifically at Princeton Theological Seminary.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48358158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Swords to Plowshares","authors":"Hanna Reichel","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.ad1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.ad1","url":null,"abstract":"The article uses the lens of design theory to conceptualize Dirk Smit et al.’s “reading the tradition against tradition†as a case of theological re-design of the doctrine of election. In analogy to creation originalis and creation continua, it introduces a distinction between electio originalis and election continua. It argues that theological conceptual redesign, which turns the doctrine of election from an instrument of violence and separation into an instrument of peace and hope, might not only be in the spirit of the biblical “swords to plowshares,†but might itself constitute a way of doing election as participation in the election continua.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47498576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Between cathedral and monastery: Creating balance between a pastor’s personal faith and public role","authors":"P. D. Langerman","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a7","url":null,"abstract":"The ordained ministry has a public component which links the ordained person to Christ as prophet, priest, and king. So, the ordained person has a prophetic role, a priestly role and a royal servant role that is defined incarnationally: the ordained person is a disciple who is called to incarnate hope in their prophetic role, incarnate love in their priestly role and incarnate faith in their royal servant role. In order to not neglect their own spiritual formation, ordained persons should use prayer, scripture, and spiritual direction as a means by which to maintain balance between their own personal faith and their public role.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42712998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In service of language?","authors":"E. Conradie","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.ad2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.ad2","url":null,"abstract":"This contribution in honour of Professor Dirk Smit engages critically and constructively with his inaugural lecture at Stellenbosch University published in 2002 as “In diens van die tale Kanaäns? Oor sistematiese teologie vandag†(“In service of the language of Canaan? On systematic theology todayâ€). It raises the question whether Smit, like his own Reformed supervisors, would agree that “the ear is more spiritual than they eyeâ€. This may seem apparent given the emphasis on language in the title of his inaugural lecture. However, following four observations on the human senses, it is argued that a closer examination suggests that Smit seeks to do justice to all the human senses without reducing the significance of the ear, the word, language, and theological reflection. Smit affirms the emphasis on the Word of his Reformed teachers and clearly recognises the role of Spirit (not as subsidiary to Word), but the catholic (i.e. ecumenical) vision that has characterised his work allows him to recognise the other senses more so than his teachers.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47783968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Verskuiwing van die Teologiese Skool van die Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider-Afrika na die Universiteit van Stellenbosch","authors":"Natie C. Philander","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n1.a5","url":null,"abstract":"In September 1998, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) terminated employment contracts of 51 lecturers, including six lecturers of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), due to a process of rationalisation. UWC unilaterally suspended the employment contracts of six church lecturers. The curatorium considered this action as a breach of contract, in view of the 1973 agreement of the church with UWC. In response to a presentation by Prof. G.D. Cloete at the URCSA Cape Regional Synod 1998 entitled: “Report of the future of the Faculty at the University of Western Cape,†the Synod assigned the task to the Cape Regional Synod Curatorium “to protect the interests of its students and lecturers; then (b) ensure the best possible theological training for future ministers.â€A historical overview about the move of the Theological School of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) to Stellenbosch University (SU) follows. The article comprises letters, reports and collective decisions of the church that deal with the relocation of the Religion and Theological Faculty from UWC to SU.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47081859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The interface between liturgy and moral decision-making in defiance of cognitive distortions that underlie corruption","authors":"FP Kruger","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.a5","url":null,"abstract":"The central theme of the present argument is the matter of church participants’ engagement in liturgy and how this could enhance their capacity for making moral decisions. First, one should acknowledge that participants in the liturgy and faith communities have to cope with the reality that people should make moral decisions within the public domain. Liturgy has inevitably enabled participants to see things they do not or may not want to. The functioning of cognitive distortions in corruption is evident in systemic political corruption and micro-levels of community and culture. Furthermore, people are confronted with different kinds of understandings about corruption. In this article, it is argued that moral decision-making should be enhanced and communicated by liturgy. It embarks on descriptive, systemising, and strategizing perspectives to delineate faith communities’ responsibility regarding people’s duty to act morally within their environments. First, this article offers a descriptive section of the currently concerning aspects to be found under this rubric. Second, systemising perspectives based on the philosophy of religion and cognitive psychology are examined as centred on the intimate interplay with ethics and liturgy. Finally, the following research question is formulated and briefly discussed: Could participation in the liturgy offer a new understanding to people confronted with moral decision-making in a praxis of cognitive corruption? The methodological approach of Browning has been carefully identified to arrange the research into coherent phases and reflect on the research question. \u0000Contribution: The article concludes with one or two practical theological perspectives that could lead to a follow-up discussion around how cognitive corruption could be addressed within a liturgical praxis.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42457500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Endleleni: Political activism of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as pastoral caregiving","authors":"Nobuntu Penxa-Matholeni","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.a4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.a4","url":null,"abstract":"Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is one of the most contentious figures in South African history. Some viewed the ex-wife of President Mandela affectionately as the “mother of the nation†for her leadership during the apartheid era, and for her work in the townships of Soweto. Others viewed her as a villain connected to the controversial death of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei Moeketsi. Scholars write about her role as an activist, usually from the perspective of her social work career. This article seeks to adopt a totally different stance, where the focus shifts to her life as an activist mother, particularly in relation to caregiving. It uses a pastoral theological lens in combination with the endleleni metaphor. The latter, which is the amaXhosa metaphor meaning “on the roadâ€, will be explored in more detail in the article. The indigenous storytelling methodology will be employed using the lived experiences of Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela and my own story to answer the question: “Considering the metaphor of endleleni, to what extent is the role of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as an activist mother an attribute of pastoral caregiving?†It is noteworthy to mention that a strong communal sense has an influence on the telling and writing of stories in black communities. If one comes from a background where the individual is inherently part of the communal, that perspective will affect how one tells the story.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43127819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Emerging apologetics Themes in contemporary African youth ministry: A Kenyan perspective","authors":"Dr. Kevin Muriithi Ndereba","doi":"10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.a3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2022.v8n2.a3","url":null,"abstract":"Contemporary Christian ministry and theological education in Africa cannot neglect her children and young people. Engaging effectively with the children and youth in Africa’s cities presents a rising challenge to scholars and practitioners. In addition to the developmental issues surrounding children and youth, there are worldview issues at play among young people. Urban African cities like Nairobi contain a mixture of African traditional religious worldviews, modern worldviews, and postmodern worldviews. This means that Christian ministry with the emerging generations will often take an apologetic mode. The scholarly literature on apologetics in the continent is scanty. Further, much of the research is merely theoretical and lacks empirical insight from practical ministry. This article will use an empirical methodology among African church leaders to collect salient themes in the discipline and practice of apologetics and draw conclusions for ministry and theological education.","PeriodicalId":42487,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Theological Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43136416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}