Doctoral Degrees (Practical Theology and Missiology)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Practical Theology and Missiology) by Subject "AIDS (Disease) -- Religious aspects -- Christianity"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Combating HIV : a ministerial strategy for Zambian churches
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008-03) Ndhlovu, Japhet; Hendriks, Hans Jurgens; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work is about a missiological praxis for the creation of 'Circles of Hope' as an entry point for faith based organisations and, particularly, local churches in Zambia for an effective battle in the fight against HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). The HIV pandemic is one of the worst tragedies to have befallen humankind in the 21st century. Lost to many people is the fact that it does not affect all regions of the globe equally. Figures show that over 70% of PLWHA (people living with HIV) are in sub Saharan-Africa while most affected are young and therefore, in theory, energetic. With an overall HIV prevalence rate of 16% and a life expectancy of 34 years, HIV has severely impacted the lives of Zambians across the country. Stigma remains one of the most significant challenges in Zambia across the prevention-to-care continuum. The wider environment of these effects and statistics has provided for us the wider contextual situation. The Church in Zambia and, indeed, in the entire sub-Saharan African region cannot afford to hide its head in the sand anymore. The impact of HIV is being felt at all levels of society. This has posed a threat to economic progress and human development by attacking the most economically productive age group and reversing gains in life expectancy and child survival. The increasing burden on health budgets has stretched national and community resources to the limit, leaving no room for complacency or pretence about the magnitude of the problem. Since some members of the Church are positively infected, we can safely say of the Church: the body of Christ has HIV. HIV is a national disaster. It cannot be managed without mobilising all the sectors within a nation. The Church in Zambia needs to make HIV prevention a matter of compelling priority. The Church is an instrument for the missional praxis of the triune God. Theology in this work is not so much a scientific endeavour that begins and ends with analysing contexts and texts, rather it is an imaginative way of finding new answers to the new situation brought about by the presence of HIV (Hendriks, 2004: 30). In this work the researcher contends that measures are required to develop strong theological reflections and education which would result in the establishment of Circles of Hope in all local congregations. These Circles of Hope would act as a fountain for promoting behavioural change, support action for safer sexual behaviour, and combat stigmatisation and discrimination against people with known HIV infection. There must be appropriate theological reflections that touch on the work of the reign of God. A relevant HIV theology will necessarily involve the laity, will watch out for fundamentalist views, will be biblical in nature and will draw from Trinitarian understanding. The basis of moving from a theology of punishment to that of care, truth, freedom, justice and peace is the theology of community and companionship. This reflection is an attempt to have constructive interpretation of the present realities brought about by a time of HIV. One can only discern God‘s will for the present situation through critical and sensitive leadership in order to bring about genuine healing. The role of the local church and networking activities are essential commodities to realise a vision of a Zambia that is HIV competent. This then is the new ministerial strategy being spearheaded by the 'Circles of Hope' programme of the Council of Churches in Zambia. It is a challenge for Zambian churches.
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    HIV and AIDS within the primary health care delivery system in Zimbabwe : a quest for a spiritual and pastoral approach to healing
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Tamirepi, Farirai; Thesnaar, C. H.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This qualitatively oriented Practical Theological research journey, informed by the philosophical ideas of postmodern, contextual, participatory and feminist theologies, postmodern and social construction epistemologies was based on a participatory action research through the therapeutic lens of narrative inquiry. The thesis is about the spiritual problems and spiritual needs of people living with HIV and AIDS and how they can be addressed as part of a holistic approach to their care within the primary healthcare delivery system in Zimbabwe. The research curiosity was prompted by the HIV and AIDS policy in Zimbabwe that advocates for a holistic approach to the care of HIV and AIDS patients within the primary health care delivery system. The recognition that healthcare has to be holistic for the best outcome for patients creates an expectation that spiritual care will also be incorporated into clinical practice. However there is a puzzling blind spot and a strange silence about the spiritual problems and spiritual needs of people living with HIV and AIDS within the HIV and AIDS policy. This has had the effects of reducing intervention programmes to purely medical, psychological and sociological. This research sought to correct such an approach by highlighting the role of spiritual care in the healing process of people living with HIV and AIDS as part of the holistic approach to their care. The core information, on which this research is based, comes from the experiences of people living with HIV and AIDS who are receiving care within the primary health care delivery system in Zimbabwe. It sweeps away statistics and places those questing for spiritual healing at the core of the study. All the participants in the study affirmed that the why me questions as a summation of their indescribable and unimaginable spiritual pain felt in the spirit were directed to God. They confirmed that their spiritual problem was spiritual pain and their spiritual need therefore was spiritual healing from the spiritual pain of which God is believed to be the healer. The belief that God is the ultimate healer of the spiritual pain stood out from the midst of problem saturated narratives of spiritual pain and suffering as the unique outcome to reconstruct the alternative problem free stories of healing. The research opted for an approach that is informed by the experiences of people living with HIV and AIDS. In the light of the stories shared by the participants in this study, it became evident that there is an existing need within the Primary Health Care delivery system in Zimbabwe to provide spiritual care to people living with HIV and AIDS. The research aimed at co-creating a spiritual care approach in which those living with HIV and AIDS as well as those working with them can be empowered to re-author the stories of patients‟ lives around their self preferred images. The narrative approach was explored in this research as a possible therapeutic approach that could be used to journey pastorally with people living with HIV and AIDS in a non-controlling, non-blaming, non-directive and not knowing guiding manner that would permit the people living with HIV and AIDS to use their own spiritual resources in a way that can bring spiritual healing to their troubled spirits. The research also emphasizes the position of the people living with HIV and AIDS which they can inhabit and lay claim to the many possibilities of their own lives that lie beyond the expertise of the pastoral caregiver. The strong suggestion emerging from this study is that a spiritual care approach to healing must of necessity be integrated into the holistic approach to the care of people living with HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe. The wish of participants that their spiritual well-being be considered in their health care adds momentum to this suggestion. Hence the research argues for the inclusion of a spiritual and pastoral approach to spiritual healing which links the patient‟s spirituality and pastoral care. The research does not claim to have the solutions or quick fix miracle to the complicated spiritual pain of people living with HIV and AIDS and neither claims to have the power to bring any neat conclusions to the spiritual healing of people living with HIV and AIDS. However, the research has the potential to stimulate a new story of spirituality as a vital resource in the healing process of people living with HIV and AIDS and ignoring it may defeat the purpose of a holistic approach to the care of people living with HIV. The re-authoring of alternative stories is an ongoing process but like in all journeys, there are landmarks that indicate achievements, places of transfer or starting new directions or turning around. Hence this research process may be regarded as a landmark that indicated a new direction in the participants‟ journey towards spiritual healing.
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    HIV/AIDS alienation : between prejudice and acceptance
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2004-03) Brown, Janet L.; Hendriks, H. Jurgens; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.; A-6024-2012
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation aimed to ascertain, in a practical theological way, how to bridge the gulf between the congregation and the AIDS community using home based care as the vehicle of change. The initial hypotheses of the research were based upon a model initially developed by World Vision in Nkhotakota, Malawi. The research question, which the study address, is as follows: 1. Can the negative attitudes, prejudices and behaviours which are held and demonstrated by many in the church towards those suffering with HIV/AIDS, be changed by using deliberate attempts to alter their perspective of this pandemic by providing accurate information, in juxtaposition with the demonstration of Christ’s love and compassion to this community? 2. In conjunction to this first question comes a second: Can the compassionate outreach of the church, as it follows Christ’s mandate to love change the perspective of those in the HIV/AIDS community so that instead of viewing the church (as a whole) as cold and unloving, their perception will change with the demonstration of such love and compassion by its membership that they begin to see the church as a source of hope and love? To describe the contextual situation in which this study takes place, the historical background concerning the church’s response to the issue of the HIV/AIDS pandemic was explored in chapter two. The third chapter discusses the cultural paradigmatic focuses, unique to the African situation, with attention to the role in the church as it seeks to comply with its mandated mission. Chapter four then examines the cultural practices found, specifically in the Malawian context, that promote the spread and transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus amongst the Chewa people and the surrounding tribes. Over and against the identified traditional practices and their interrelationship with the worldviews of the people of Malawi, chapter five focuses on the practical theological implications of the church seeing to find identity in Christ. The ramifications of the praxis process regarding this hermeneutic, in consideration with the response of the Church as it seeks to reflect the character of the God, as represented primarily by the attribute of love towards those who are suffering from being infected or affected by this disease are explored in this chapter. It deals with the theological ramifications concerning the faith community as it represents the body of Christ by providing eschatological hope to this suffering world. The remaining chapters describe the methodology and praxis process utilizing the research hypothesis developed from the Nkhotakota model. Final conclusions were then drawn in order to provide understanding as to how to obediently participate in God’s witness to the world as the faith community addresses the problem of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in very poor areas in Malawi. Although the initial optimistic goals of this research were not met as anticipated, essential discoveries that illuminate the faulty paradigms associated with critical issues such as the effects of abject poverty were exposed. Difficulties that were initially considered secondary to the main thrust of this research, whose complexities are generally misunderstood by the western paradigm came to light as the praxis process unfolded. Attempts to sidestep stark issues such as poverty, in order to address the ‘real’ issues under study served to highlight these problems as their magnitude forced their recognition and consideration. This research has exposed is the necessity for further exploration into the intricate ramifications of issues such poverty by demonstrating the unfortunate fact that for those struggling to survive at the lowest levels of Maslow’s hierarchy, the luxury of benevolent service is simply not possible. For these, there is no other issue but survival. Calling on these sufferers to act as ‘the church’ when their need is so dire is not only unrealistic, it borders on sacrilege.
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    Life beyond infection : home-based pastoral care to people with HIV-positive status within a context of poverty.
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2005-12) Magezi, Vhumani; Louw, D. J. (Daniel Johannes), 1944-; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.
    The basic premise of this study is that the congregation is the key to providing homebased pastoral care support to HIV-positive people in poor contexts. In so doing, the church does not only perform a social function to poor HIV/AIDS-affected families, but it also acts in accordance with the calling of mediating God’s Kingdom (diakonia), thus spreading the gospel, and showing unconditional sacrificial love and compassion. The Church embodies the gospel, which is the instrument of hope and salvation to despairing HIV/AIDS-people in the community.