Masters Degrees (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology) by browse.metadata.advisor "Plaatjies van Huffel, Mary-Anne"

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    A church historical judicial assessment of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe engagement with demon possession and exorcism
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-11-21) Juro, Charles; Plaatjies van Huffel, Mary-Anne; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (RCZ) was constituted in a context where the converts to Christianity believed that the diviners are the only people who have the authority to control the powers that destabilize the normal order. The focal point of this thesis is A Church historical judicial assessment of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe’s engagement with demon possession and exorcism. Chapter two attends to the biblical perspectives regarding demon possession and exorcism. Amongst others the origin of the devil, demon possession and exorcism in the Old Testament, Intertestamental period as well as the New Testament is being addressed in this chapter. Chapter three highlights the African Traditional view on demon possession/spirit possession and exorcism. The chapter identifies causes for the sudden disappearances of the practice of exorcism rites amongst the Shona people belonging to the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe and. focuses therefor on an African view of demon possession, unexpected or involuntary possession, expected or voluntary possession, communal and Shamanism possession, as well as the practice of demon possession in Zimbabwe and the challenges it poses to the Christian believers in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. Chapter 4 deals with the historical background of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. The Dutch Reformed missionaries in Zimbabwe encountered numerous challenges regarding the Shona people’s view on the subject of demon possession/spirit possession and exorcism. The chapter analyses the perspective of the Dutch Reformed Missionaries who evangelized Masvingo province on demon possession/spirit possession and exorcism. The missionaries equated demon possession/spirit possession and exorcism with heathenism. In Chapter 5 attention is given to a church judicial assessment of the church order regulations in place in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe concerning demon possession or exorcism. The influence of the missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Church on the current provisions in the church order of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe should not be underestimated. These church judicial provisions, build in by the missionaries in the church order of the Shona Reformed Church and the later Reformed Church in Zimbabwe, curbs any influence of the Shona culture in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. In Chapter 6 the researcher proposes that the Church Order of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe as well as theological training and ministry of the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe should make provision, taking the rich Shona cultural background in to account, for a ministry of exorcism; a liturgy on exorcism as well as theological dialogue in order to address the problem of exorcism in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe.
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    Looking anew at the new prophecy : Tertullian's montanism and Pentecostalism as neo-montanism
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Chung, Youjin; Plaatjies van Huffel, Mary-Anne; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Through the eyes of the Catholic Church, one usually looks at Montanism as a second-century heretical sect. This prevailed orthodox view has devalued the Catholic Tertullian as a schismatic when he had accepted Montanism as his theological verification. The recent scholarship, however, has challenged that Tertullian’s transition to Montanism had not necessarily resulted from his theological conclusion. Rather this suggests that Tertullian, from the very beginning, was much more sympathetic to the new prophets than to the Catholic priests; the Montanist Tertullian had always taken precedence over the Catholic Tertullian. Given this new perspective, the thesis is developed as follows; Chapter 1, the topic and title are introduced with four critical research questions; (1) Why were the original Montanists condemned? (2) Why did Tertullian become a Montanist? (3) Why does Montanism exclude the present day Pentecostalism as Neo- Montanism? (4) Why does Montanism include the present day Pentecostalism as Neo- Montanism? Here particular interest is Tertullian’s intermediate position; as a point of contact, Tertullian stands not only between the Montanists and the Catholics, but also between the original Montanists and the present day Pentecostals as Neo-Montanism. Chapter 2 seeks to find an answer to the first research question of “Why were the original Montanists condemned?” Then, the researcher focuses on the root cause of the original condemnation of Montanism in three aspects. (1) Montanism was condemned as the victim of the institutionalization of the church, (2) Montanism was condemned as the pagan inspiration including controversial manifestations, such as ecstatic prophecy (and speaking in tongues), fanatical millenarianism, and strict puritanism, and (3) Montanism was condemned as the power struggle between the urban and rural church leadership. The point is that these three reasons are interrelated as a whole and, not as a separate entity. Yet, the conflict in the church regarding church government had taken the lead in the original condemnation of Montanism. The victory of urban church leadership had justified the victimization of the Montanists, the representative of the rural leadership. Chapter 3, the thesis has dealt with the second question; “Why did Tertullian become a Montanist?” The researcher acknowledges of the uneasy connection between the apologist Tertullian and the Montanist Tertullian. Yet, if Montanism was accused of its political conflict, not of its theological deviances, the relationship of Tertullian with Montanism needs to be reconsidered. Then, the researcher tries to vindicate Tertullian’s position through two methodological approaches. First, the researcher reconstructs the new image of Tertullian as the lay leader born into Montanism by deconstructing the conventional portrayal of Tertullian; (1) as the son of an officer of the Roman army, (2) as the professional Jurist, (3) as the Catholic priest at Carthage, and (4) as the schismatic. Second, the researcher also takes into account of Tertullian’s identity in the concept of the transitional correlation. By applying Tertullian’s transitional period as the Pagan-Catholic-Montanist to the concentric circles of concern, the previous view of Tertullian can be transformed into the new formula of Pagan as caterpillar- Catholic as cocoon-Montanist as butterfly. This three-fold structure then opens the way for a newborn image of Tertullian. Chapter 4 is dealing with the relationship between Montanism, the Montanist Tertullian, and the present-day Pentecostalism in order to answer the final question; “Why does Montanism include/exclude the present-day Pentecostalism as Neo-Montanism?” Tertullian’s Montanism, like a hinge, closely interconnects the present-day Pentecostalism to the original Montanism in historical, theological and ecclesiological sense of the word. First, the first generation of Pentecostals, regardless of whether they are the proponents of the Azusa Street or Topeka revival, they find their historical identity in the first generation of the apostolic church and this includes the second-century Montanists and the Montanist Tertullian. Second, from the theological point of view, the Montanist distinctive theological fashions, such as ecstatic prophecy, speaking in tongues, and the impending eschatological hope, has clearly re-echoed in the diadem of the current Pentecostal theology.. Third, the original Montanists and the present-day Pentecostals are both ecclesiologically the strong advocates of the pneumatological theocracy. For both, the priority is to return to the apostolic primitive church.. So, the current Pentecostals is convinced that they trace their root from the second-century spirit-filled Montanists. Chapter 5 summarizes the relationship between Montanism, the Montanist Tertullian, and the present day Pentecostalism by answering to the following four research questions; (1) “Why were the original Montanists condemned?” The answer is the ecclesiastical power struggle between the urban and rural leadership made the Montanist crisis a highly politically charged affair rather than a theologically controversial issue. (2) “Why did Tertullian become a Montanist?” The answer is Tertullian, as natural born Montanist, is determined to be a self-sacrificing mediator in order to bring reconciliation between the two rivals, namely, the city-priest and the countryside prophets. (3) “Why does Montanism include/exclude the present-day Pentecostalism as Neo- Montanism?” The answer is Montanism is the antecedent of the present-day Pentecostalism.