Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Religion and Theology)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/10018

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Browsing by Author "Conradie, Ernst"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Congregational schisms in the Full Gospel Church: An analysis of three selected case studies in Cape Town
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) Bock, Heather; Conradie, Ernst
    This thesis is under permanent embargo to protect the identities of the subjects involved.
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    Facing the image in the mirror: “whiteness” in South African missional discourse
    (Universty of the Western Cape, 2023) Mouton, Johannes Cornelis; Conradie, Ernst
    This study is situated within the discipline of missiology and seeks to contribute to missional theology as one important contemporary school of thought within the discipline. Missional theology emerged in the 1990s especially within the Anglophone contexts of the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA). Most forms of missional theology build on the insights of Lesslie Newbigin, who in several books, reflected from his cross-cultural missionary experience on the challenges of the gospel to churches within his own cultural context in the UK. Such insights were quickly adopted in the North American context and was further explored by the Gospel and Our Cultural Network which emphasised the local-churchin-mission. Local congregations where missional theology flourished rediscovered that the fundamental reasons for the church’s existence involves an engagement within local communities.
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    The implementation of the Isiseko Sokomoleza HIV/aids programme in the diocese of false bay: a critical theological investigation
    (University of the Western Cape, 2019) Lambrechts, Desmond J.; Conradie, Ernst
    The multidimensional nature of the AIDS pandemic continues to pose challenges within all spheres of society, for example health and religion, human rights, social development politics, economics, human sexuality, and Christian theologies - in particular, the pastoral and caring ministries, as well as the educational ministries. Its multidimensional nature is further exacerbated by factors of, stigma, gender power-relations, poverty, and violence against women and children. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, in particular the Diocese of False Bay, has responded to the challenges relating to stigma reduction through many programmes, campaigns and workshops. Despite the implementation of the Isiseko Sokomoleza HIV/AIDS Programme in the Diocese of False Bay, it has had a limited impact on reducing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. As such, stigma remains a critical challenge in the pastoral response of the Church. In light of this observation, the question pertinent to this research project is; �What are the most significant reasons for the limited impact of the Isiseko Sokomoleza HIV/AIDS Programme in the Diocese of False Bay?� The framework of Practical Theology, with special emphasis on pastoral care and counselling, will be used as the theological framework to explore the reasons for the limited impact. In order to achieve this goal, the Primary Healthcare Model (2012) introduced in Brazil and Cuba was utilised. This does not imply that HIV/AIDS is only a medical problem, on the contrary, this medical model of implementation assists the pastoral model of the Church to analyse the reasons for the limited impact of the Isiseko Sokomoleza programme.
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    The Relationship between the Church and the Reign of God in the Reconstruction Theology of JNK Mugambi: A critical analysis
    (University of Western Cape, 2005) Fischer, John Hugo; Conradie, Ernst
    Reconstruction theology is widely regarded as one of the most influential approaches to contemporary African Christian theology - alongside others such as inculturation theology, liberation theology, African women's theology, evangelical theology and Pentecostal theology. In this thesis I offer a critical assessment of one of the main exponents of such reconstruction theology, namely the Kenyan theologian Jesse Mugambi. I explore the question of how his position on the notion of reconstruction should be understood. One point of entry into understanding Mugambi's views on reconstruction is to explore his position on the relationship between the church and the coming reign of God. In the history of Christianity this relationship has been understood in widely divergent ways. The task of this thesis will therefore be to examine, position, analyse and assess Mugambi's particular view in this regard. This will be done on the basis of a close reading of Mugambi's publications such as African Christian Theology: an Introduction (1989), From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War (1995), Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction (2003), and numerous chapters in publications by African theologians.
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    The two natures of Christ: A critical analysis of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christology
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Dankers, Paul; Conradie, Ernst
    This study will contribute to the substantial corpus of secondary scholarship on the life, ministry, and theology of the German theologian, church leader, and modern-day martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945). Bonhoeffer�s legacy has also elicited considerable interest in the South African context, concerning a wide variety of themes such as the Confessing Church movement, secularisation, discipleship, confessing guilt, spirituality, and ethics. The critical question articulated by Bonhoeffer predominantly in his Letters and Papers from Prison, namely �Who is Jesus Christ, for us, today?� has been raised by different generations of South African theologians in rapidly changing contexts. This study will concentrate on Bonhoeffer�s own Christology. The focus will be not so much on the significance of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ within a particular social context, but on how Bonhoeffer understands the person of Christ. More specifically, the problem investigated in this study is how Dietrich Bonhoeffer�s evolving views on the so-called �two natures� of Christ should be understood. The Nicene confession,� that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he is �truly God� and �of one being with the Father, � prompted considerable reflection in Patristic Christianity. One crucial question was how the confession of the divinity of Christ reconciles with the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth portrayed so vividly in the canonical gospels. The formulation of the Council of Chalcedon, namely that one may speak of �two natures� and �one person,� has never been satisfactory and prompted further controversy but remains a point of reference in ongoing Christological debates to this day. The question, therefore, raised: How does Bonhoeffer understand the relationship between the �divine� and the �human� nature of Jesus Christ? This question is pertinent given the consistent Christological concentration in Bonhoeffer�s theology (even to the point of a Trinitarian reductionism), his increasing emphasis on a �this-worldly� understanding of God�s transcendence and his consistent Lutheran intuition that the finite can indeed contain the infinite. Bonhoeffer�s Christology has been the subject of much scholarly interest. There is consensus that his Christology remains not only incomplete but also unresolved. A core problem in this regard is his understanding of the divine nature of Christ � which he assumes but of which he does not offer any full account. This study will contribute to the available literature by exploring Bonhoeffer�s understanding of the �two natures� of Christ based on the primary and secondary research with specific reference to Sanctorum Communio (1927/1963), Act and Being (1930/1996), Christology, Discipleship (1937/1959), Ethics (1955, 6th edition and 2005, new critical edition) and Letters and Papers from Prison (2010). There has been considerable controversy in Bonhoeffer scholarship regarding the continuity and discontinuity in Bonhoeffer�s theological thinking from his student years to his death in 1945. It would, therefore, be wise to allow for Bonhoeffer�s �evolving� views on the �two natures� of Jesus Christ to speak for itself. This study will seek to describe and assess (in terms of Bonhoeffer�s sources and secondary scholarship) Bonhoeffer�s views in each of his main works to trace the developments in his thinking.
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    What on earth is wrong with the world? Five Christian voices on hamartology and ecology
    (University of the Western Cape, 2021) Cloete, Newton Millan; Conradie, Ernst
    This study is situated in the context of Christian ecotheology, which offers both a Christian critique of ecological destruction and an ecological critique of Christianity. One dimension of Christian ecotheology involves ecumenical discourse on the content and ecological signi-ficance of the Christian faith. This calls for a reinterpretation of all the classic Christian symbols. The focus of this study is on the ways in which the nature of sin is understood in contemporary contributions to ecotheology. In the literature, this is done explicitly through a redescription of sin but is often also implicit in a discussion of the root causes of environmental destruction and reflections on the underlying question � what on earth has gone wrong with the world in which we live? � given the ominous signs of environmental destruction. This study is more specifically situated in a larger project entitled: �Redeeming sin: Hamartology, ecology and social diagnostics�, registered at the University of the Western Cape. This study investigates the positions of five distinct authors who have offered a redescription of the nature of sin through their contributions to ecotheology. These authors are John Chryssavgis (Greek Orthodox Church), Aruna Gnanadason (Church of India), Jesse Mugambi (Anglican Church in Kenya), Larry Rasmussen (Lutheran Church in North America), and Rosemary Radford Ruether (Roman Catholic Church, based in North America). Their understanding of sin is described and analysed on the basis of a close reading of primary and secondary sources. Similarities and differences between their positions on the nature of sin are then compared in order to capture the state of the contemporary debate in ecotheology and to consider emerging horizons for further discourse and research on hamartology and ecology.