Browsing by Author "Kamiruka, Jack U."
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- ItemA Luo Christian perspective on the role of the Holy Spirit in sanctification according to John Calvin(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2007-03) Kamiruka, Jack U.; Smit, D. J.; Koopman, Nico; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research project interprets Calvin’s views on the work of the Spirit in sanctification. It then evaluates Calvin’s views from a Luo perspective. The study of Calvin focuses on the 1559 edition of the Institutes, while the evaluative study of his views is taken from the perspective of the Luo of the Africa Inland Church (A.I.C.) of Kenya. The Africa Inland Church was founded under the influence of Calvin’s legacy, particularly concerning matters regarding Christian sanctification. Therefore an evaluative study of Calvin’s views from a Luo perspective is relevant. The study of Calvin focuses on Calvin’s views on “the Christian life” and specifically “the Christian life as a life of Grace and Gratitude.” It is from these views that the evaluative study of his views is undertaken from a Luo perspective. The chapters in the study are developed in the following manner: Chapter One forms the introduction to the study itself. It defines the “problem statement” of the research project and demonstrates what is being investigated in the study. It outlines the “purpose statement” of the research project and makes clear the contribution being made. The “purpose statement” outlines the perspectives of Calvin’s views that are explored in the study. The statement further points to the fact that a thorough study of the Luo also develops in the process of the research project. This chapter of the study further states the limits of the study of Calvin and that of the evaluation of his views. It states that the study only focuses on the perspectives of Calvin’s views already outlined and the evaluative study of his views from the perspective of the Luo members of the Africa Inland Church of Kenya. Chapter Two centres on a study of how Calvin’s influence found its way into the Christian practices and beliefs of the Luo. The chapter outlines a number of works published on the study of Calvin through which Calvin’s influence is seen; a brief outline of Calvin’s life demonstrating the nature of influences upon his own life through which he acquired skills that subsequently became useful to him in his contribution towards the development of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit; the cultural background of the Luo people; as well as the nature and characteristics of the Christian beliefs and practices which form the background of the Luo members of the Africa Inland Church. Such Christian beliefs form the basis on which Calvin’s influence on the Church and the Luo people is evaluated. Furthermore, this chapter of the study forms the basis upon which the succeeding chapters in the study are developed. It is necessary to understand the manner in which Calvin’s influence found its way into the Christian beliefs and practices of the Luo before interpreting Calvin’s views and evaluating such views from a Luo perspective. Chapter Three focuses on the study of Calvin’s views. It explores Calvin’s understanding of the work of the Spirit in the sanctification of “the Christian life” and specifically of “the Christian life as a life of Grace and Gratitude.” Concerning “the Christian life,” the study demonstrates that Calvin understood the Spirit as the power that effects sanctification in the Christian life, firstly, by bringing forth faith in an individual, and secondly, by working through the aspects of faith, namely repentance, Christian life (a life of righteousness) and prayer. The aspect of justification, however, which Calvin also discusses under “the Christian life,” though an activity through which renewal into the Image of God takes place by the work of the Spirit, is not a process through which sanctification takes place. The Spirit is only involved in the work of justification in the sense that justification is imputed by God who exists in Three Persons (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) and the Spirit therefore forms part of the Being and function of the Godhead. Furthermore, concerning Calvin’s understanding of “the Christian life as a life of Grace and Gratitude,” the study demonstrates that Calvin understood the Spirit to sanctify believers through the elements of the Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and the Church. Calvin understood the elements as means through which the grace of God is attained and gratitude is demonstrated to God for His work in creation and salvation. Firstly, God’s gracious “acts” are extended to the people through the elements and, secondly, individuals, as they observe the elements, honour God, hence expressing gratitude to him, since the elements have been instituted by him for this purpose. Chapter Four deals with the evaluation of Calvin’s views from the perspective of the Luo of the Africa Inland Church. It reconsiders Calvin’s views discussed in chapter three and compares those views to those of the Luo. Consequently, a Luo response to Calvin’s views develops. The chapter demonstrates that the Luo of the Africa Inland Church interpret the work of the Spirit in “the Christian life” and “the Christian life as a life of Grace and Gratitude” in a manner more or less similar to that of Calvin. Furthermore, the chapter demonstrates vividly that, in spite of coming from a cultural background where belief in the ancestral spirits is firmly rooted, the Luo make a distinction between the “Holy Spirit” and the “ancestral spirits;” hence they submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in their Christian beliefs and practices in spite of the fact that the concept “Holy Spirit” is translated in the Luo Bible, the Muma Maler, as “Roho Maler” which, in plain “Dholuo” (Luo language), just means “Clean Spirit.” The term “Clean Spirit” does not bear any reference to God the Father and God the Son, compared to Calvin’s interpretation of the identity of the term “Holy Spirit.” Chapter Five provides the Conclusion. It is in this chapter that the views of Calvin and the Luo of the Africa Inland Church are reassessed. The chapter outlines the fact that Calvin’s views have indeed had a remarkable influence on the Luo of the Africa Inland Church as evidenced in the manner in which they respond to Calvin’s views. The Luo understand the work of the Spirit in the sanctification of “the Christian life” and “the Christian life as a life of Grace and Gratitude” in more or less the same way as Calvin did. This implies the enormous influence of Calvin’s views on the people. Furthermore, the chapter also points out that, though the Luo Christians understand who “Roho Maler” (Clean Spirit) is and understand his related work in the sanctification of a believer, when the term “Clean Spirit” is used in a context where the audience consists of non-believers, the non-believers in particular are not able to make a clear distinction between what the “Holy Spirit” and “ancestral spirits” are, since people from a Luo cultural background believe that not all spirits are bad. Some would be seen as good depending on how they relate to the living – whether they return to haunt the living or not. The “good spirits” may therefore be understood as “Clean Spirits” by unbelievers. The chapter therefore concludes by offering two necessary principles for interpreting the Holy Spirit in a Luo Christian cultural dimension. Those principles are, firstly, that of focusing on the study of the Scripture and secondly, understanding the dimension of “Community” in a cultural background where Luo traditional cultural values are the dominant values. Finally, the chapter points out that, though Calvin’s views are useful when interpreting Luo views, the Luo need to focus, more than anything else, on the study of Scripture, in this case, the Muma Maler – as Calvin also based his interpretation on Scripture.