Doctoral Degrees (Practical Theology and Missiology)
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- ItemTowards a dialogue between a modern American narrative preaching and African American preaching : a critical comparative homiletical study(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03 ) Stoms, Jay; Cilliers, Johan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This homiletical study is a dialogue between Modern American Narrative Preaching and African American Preaching. The study generates a mutually-beneficial conversation that can enrich each of these homiletical traditions by recognising the primary teachings of the principal proponents of each tradition and their core contributions to the homiletical dialogue. The intent is to learn and understand the other tradition and not to refute, discount or disregard, but rather to sincerely face each other to expand our horizons to become open to new possibilities and new perspectives with regard to narrative homiletics. It represents a move towards a more simplistic and holistic narrative preaching methodology that is informed by both the Narrative preaching tradition and that of the African American preaching tradition. A more holistic narrative homiletic tells the story of Jesus as found in the gospels as the central act in the redemptive biblical drama of the restoration of creation and the formation of a new humanity. This more holistic narrative homiletic is guided by seven holistic narrative principles that include the whole biblical drama, the whole story of Jesus, and the restoration of the whole of creation. It will promote preaching that addresses the whole people of God and the whole person with the whole Christian Scriptures in the midst of the whole assembled people of God. It holds the possibility of crossing racial, ethnic, cultural and denominational differences and to communicate in both a traditional oral storytelling culture or a secondary oral multimedia culture by focusing on the shared Christian narrative, the shared story of Jesus and our shared humanity.
- ItemPreaching God within the Korean Context? : a practical-theological investigation(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03 ) Jung, Sung Ji; Cilliers, Johan; Vosloo, Robert; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In Christian sermons, we tend to grasp the infinite God through human language. Inevitably, preachers form certain kinds of God-images in their minds. These can either serve a positive or negative function when preaching about God to the congregation. Other factors come into play in this process that should not be neglected, such as the surrounding socio-cultural elements, which too impact on the preacher’s God-images. This study therefore set out to uncover the dominant God-images in Korean sermons; investigate the socio-cultural causes for these commonly held God-images; and lastly, it aimed to provide theological perspectives/suggestions as a way forward. Osmer’s (2008) practical theological approach was employed as the theoretical framework underpinning this study. Each chapter focused on a specific task, namely: the descriptive-empirical task, the interpretive task, the normative task, and the pragmatic task. Chapter 2 explored the 24 selected sermons and performed the analysis through the Heidelberg Method. Three predominant God-images emerged from the analysis, namely: “powerful”, “vacated”, and “cliché-lised”. Chapter 3 then scrutinised three social contexts (economic materialism, religious activism, and rapid modernisation) and six cultural elements (bok, Che-myen, Confucian moralistic trends, karma, utilitarianism, and ppalli-ppalli) that have particularly impacted on the churches’ features (ki-bok-shin-ang, functionalisation, and McDonaldization) and the preachers’ God-images. Chapter 4 explored alternative theological aspects, such as local theology, the function of worship, and liturgy of space. Lastly, Chapter 5 provided suggestions on how preachers can proclaim appropriate God-images based on the insights of the research.
- Item“… as we sing …” Lex canendi as the practical-theological mode of doing liturgy(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03 ) Kwon, Yongjun; Cilliers, Johan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A study on various conflicts in worship (e.g. traditional vs. contemporary, reason vs. emotion, and rituals vs. life) is not new. However, existing studies have often treated various liturgical conflicts as individual problems which are incommensurable with each other. This research aims to find the common factors which organically bind liturgical conflicts and to suggest a liturgical formula which helps solve them holistically. In order for this, this research adds lex canendi (the musical dimension or pattern of singing) to the existing liturgical formula of lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi, which refers to a hermeneutical circle of reciprocity between the ritual dimension, theological dimension and living dimension. The expanded formula is then as follows: Lex canendi, lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi (i.e. COCV). Thus, this research suggests the musical dimension (lex canendi) as the practical (lex vivendi)-theological (lex credendi) mode of doing liturgy (lex orandi). Lex canendi consists of the following elements that are needed by music, and thus, exhibit a strong family resemblance to each other: music, singing, art, aesthetics, beauty, body, human beings as God’s artworks, imagination, understanding, ambiguousness, metaphor, symbol, the senses, feeling, emotion, affection, play, contemporary, freedom, pop culture, and transcendence, etc. The research begins with the assumption that the false interaction between lex canendi and the existing members of the lex (lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi) makes lex canendi narrowly excluded or uncritically accepted, and as a result, it causes the following three major liturgical conflicts (or, in its broad sense, worship wars): 1) a conflict between what is traditional, serious and sublime (lex orandi) and what is contemporary, entertaining and popular (lex canendi), i.e. the dualism between traditionalism and contemporary-ism; 2) a conflict between what is intellectual, conceptual, manifest and doctrinal (lex credendi) and what is emotional, existential, ambiguous and empirical (lex canendi), i.e. the dualism between dogmatism and sentimentalism; and 3) a conflict between what is immanent, realistic and practical (lex vivendi) and what is transcendent, imaginative and aesthetic (lex canendi), i.e. the dualism between anti-aestheticism and aestheticism. To confirm this assumption, the researcher observes the specific problematic phenomena of the three liturgical conflicts that are related to the false lex canendi, and cross-disciplinarily traces the direct and indirect reasons for them. As a result, this study shows that diverse problematic phenomena of the liturgical conflicts (or, in its broad sense, worship wars) are not incommensurable with each other but they have common features (i.e. the false relationship between lex canendi and the existing three members of the lex), and thus, they can be understood and solved organically and holistically. Therefore, the researcher concludes by providing a wholesome hermeneutical circle of reciprocity between lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi and lex canendi, i.e. the COCV model, as an integrated solution to the liturgical conflicts. More specifically, this research proposes that the COCV model can be useful in the quest for solving the liturgical conflicts by making the following three types of liturgical coexistences (or tensions): 1) the coexistence between the ritual dimension and the musical dimension (lex orandi, lex canendi) which implies liturgical tensions between what is divine and what is human, between order and freedom, and between diverse tastes in music/culture; 2) the coexistence between the theological dimension and the musical dimension (lex credendi, lex canendi) which implies liturgical tensions between the body and the mind, between concepts/explanation and existence/understanding, and between manifestness and ambiguousness; and 3) the coexistence between the living dimension and the musical dimension (lex vivendi, lex canendi) which implies liturgical tensions between worshippers’ autonomy from reality and their society, and between the transcendence of God’s kingdom and the immanence of the kingdom.
- ItemResponses of African Pentecostal churches to African refugees in Düsseldorf between 2015 and 2020 : a case study of mission and migration(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Gyasi, Charles; Simon, David Xolile; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study presents the African Pentecostal Churches’ (APCs’) response to the plight of African refugees in Düsseldorf, Germany, between 2015 and 2020. The APCs’ response reveals their understanding of compassionate mission, appreciation of identity as a context for mission, and integration of African refugees and asylum seekers. Approximately one in seven people migrate daily. An estimated figure of over eighty million people have become displaced globally as of 2020. Migrant churches in Europe have become a context for receiving refugees and immigrants from their continents. APCs in most cases are the greater beneficiaries from the arrival of African refugees and migrants in Düsseldorf. They also share similar cultural and social identities with the refugees and immigrants. Twenty-four (24) research participants (four APC leaders and 20 African refugees/asylum seekers) were selected through non-probability sampling for this case study. Data were collected through semi-structured online interviews and examination of written church documents on social action. The data collected were thematically analysed. This experiential research explores the question: “How have APCs responded to the situation of African refugees in Düsseldorf between 2015 and 2020?” Some key findings are that African refugees and asylum seekers have pressing needs such as language skills, basic legal orientation, emotional therapy/counselling, accommodation, employment/financial, and prayer support. APC leaders see themselves as missionaries sent by God to carry out mission in the research field; however, their response to the refugee crisis lacks proactivity and compassion. APCs serve as a context for reception and integration of African refugees and asylum seekers. There is a lack of written social action policy within the APCs in Düsseldorf. What they have are welfare policies. There is also a lack of public advocacy on behalf of African refugees and asylum seekers. Furthermore, voluntarism is a paradigm for mission in the research context. Additionally, African refugees and asylum seekers confessed to the use of creative survival tactics, many of which are in conflict with their faith as Christians. APCs and African refugees see prayer as fundamental to their survival. Government sponsored welfare schemes, integration programmes, the activities of NGOs, previous negative experiences with African refugees, financial challenges, and non-registration of some APCs weakened their ability to offer a compassionate response. The APCs’ response suggests that the relationship between privileged and vulnerable African minority groups requires compassion and structure. African refugees however see the church not only as a place of prayer and spiritual formation but as a family, and a place that facilitates their integration. Thus, this research makes a case for the importance of identity to mission and the integration of Africans in the research area. Several recommendations are made to provide different perspectives to the issues of mission, migration, and integration. The study provides primary data for discussions in the area of mission and migration; makes a case for a contextual definition of African Pentecostal Christianity; highlights the importance of the prosperity gospel in Africa; and constructs a diagram to depict compassionate mission based on the universal interpretation approach of Matthew 25:31-46 as its original contribution to knowledge.
- ItemCommunicating the Gospel in a digital age : a case study of the Dioceses of Kampala and Namirembe in the Anglican Church of Uganda(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Kitayimbwa, Lydia Nabunya Nsaale; Cloete, Anita Louisa; Peel, Clayton; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Practical Theology and Missiology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In response to the influx of digital media use in daily life and church work, with a specific interest in the Anglican Church of Uganda (COU), this study explores and examines the communication of the gospel in the digital age: a case study of Namirembe and Kampala Dioceses in the Anglican Church of Uganda. The Church across the globe is integrating digital media into ministry and especially in the communication of the gospel. Through different digital media gadgets, platforms and applications via the internet, spiritual information is shared and accessed. In the COU’s Vision 2025 document, the COU encourages its priests and leaders to integrate digital media into church work to communicate the gospel and Christian values. However, the church leaders’ attitudes towards digital media use are not known. There is a gap in knowledge, and great need for theological guidance, approaches, training, and strategy for digital media use to communicate the gospel. To address the situation at hand, there was a need to do research to understand the digital communication situation and to engage in theological reflection on the digital media communication of the gospel. The research study set out to explore the COU’s understanding, attitude and approaches towards the use of digital media to communicate the gospel. To carry out the study, I made use of both literature and empirical elements to respond to the research question. As a study in practical theology, I employed Osmer’s Practical Theology framework. This qualitative case study design research set out to obtain in-depth and detailed information from the selected samples to understand the situation. To collect the data, I employed focus group discussions and Individual interviews with the selected participants. The Data analysis followed inductive coding via Atlas-ti computer software. In the findings, it was discovered that although the majority of the church leaders showed a positive attitude towards digital media use, they integrated it amidst technological, economic, social, and theological challenges. Participants expressed a need for an urgent technological and theological training to guide the users. I argue that the gospel message and theologies ought to be communicated via online faith communities using a blend of media converged into digital media while also applying theological approaches based on a theologically informed strategy. To communicate the gospel in the digital age, the study provides a theological reflection on possible approaches to digital communication of the gospel. It also proposes a theologically informed digital communication strategy, which may be employed in training church leaders and may also be applied in digital communication of the gospel.