Browsing by Author "Pillay, Miranda N."

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    The Anglican Church and Feminism: Challenging the patriarchy of our faith
    (2013) Pillay, Miranda N.
    Gender-based violence is a problem in most Southern African countries and yet it has generally received little attention from governments and civil society�including Christian churches. In recent years, some churches have been responding by making public pronouncements when, for example, gender-based violence resulted in acts of brutal murder. This was the case in February 2013, when the seventeen-year-old Anene Booysen was gang-raped and left for dead. For example, the Anglican Church issued public statements and called on its members to act against gender-based violence. Arguments made in this essay are underpinned by the view that gender-based violence has its roots in patriarchy and, that patriarchal privilege (embedded in male headship) gives men power over women. The essay describes how prominent leaders of the Anglican Church make public statements when and where it matters. The call �to repent of the historic patriarchy of our faith� was one such statement made by the then archbishop during the church�s synod in 2005. Other Anglican archbishops have also made public that feminist insights have raised awareness about the injustices of sexism maintained by culture and the church. Thus, based on the observation that Christianity and feminism share certain concerns for just relationships, the argument made here is that the (Anglican) church could be more intentional about employing feminist insights in challenging �the historic patriarchy of our faith.� The essay identifies the reasons usually given for dismissing feminist insights and suggests that such reasons could serve as entry-points in the church�s response to gender power-relations in general and gender-based violence in particular.
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    The church, gender and AIDS: What's wrong with patriarchy?
    (SUN, 2015) Pillay, Miranda N.
    Many women and children suffer in silence in cultures where patriarchy is condoned and defended as the natural order of things. The inferior status ascribed women and children where patriarchy is imbued as hypernormative, render them vulnerable to contracting the HI-virus - as the case study cited here reveals. While government and civil society, including the church, sometimes react when violence against women and/or children end in the victim of violence being killed, the argument made here is that a pro-active response may go a long way - such as addressing the patriarchy of our (Christian) faith.
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    Good news for all? A feminist perspective on the gospel of Matthew
    (SUN, 2015) Pillay, Miranda N.
    In the Gospel of Matthew the Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus preaches about is in conflict with the dominant culture which creates tension between what is and ought. Those whom society despises are pronounced 'blessed' (5:1-12); the inclusiveness of the kingdom is made manifest when outsiders (the despised) such as lepers, Gentiles, 'unclean' women, and the demon possessed are pronounced 'clean' (Chaps 8-9). Jesus' vision of the basileia as symbolically presented in parables entails hearing, understanding and embodying inclusivity. Based on this premise, this article explores the question of Good news for all in Matthew. While Matthew cannot be reduced to a feminist treasure chamber for gender justice it is possible to spot certain gynocentric interruptions of the dominant androcentricity of Scripture. Based on the observation that the Gospel of Matthew exhibits a tension that both excludes and includes others, this article argues for the possibility that Matthew may be a resource to proclaim 'good news for all' - including women.
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    Re-visioning stigma: a socio-rhetorical reading of Luke 10:25-37 in the context of HIV/AIDS in South Africa
    (University of the Western Cape, 2008) Pillay, Miranda N.; Mouton, Elna; Conradie, Ernst M.; Faculty of Religion and Theology - see Faculty of Arts
    HIV and AIDS present challenges to the well-being of individuals and to public health proportions unpresedented in modern history, and stigma has been identified as the single most contributor to the spread of the HI-virus. While the challenges presented by the AIDS pandemic are scientific and medical, it also has a psychological, legal,  economic, social, ethical and religious impact on those infected and affected. The underlying question in this thesis is not whether the church should respond to this urgent societal challenge, but how it ought to respond. To explore this question, the thesis investigated how a New Testament text (as primary resource), particularly Luke's Gospel, could be a resource for shaping/sharpening the church's response to the pandemic.
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    Women, priests and the Anglican Church in Southern Africa: reformation of holy hierarchies
    (Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2017) Pillay, Miranda N.
    The Anglican Church in Southern Africa (ACSA) is celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood in 2017. The quotation above is a statement made by the South African Council of Churches following the announcement that the Anglican Church in Southern Africa voted in favour of the ordination of women at the church�s September, 1992 Provincial Synod. This was a newsworthy event given the currents of change and rhetoric of freedom in apartheid South Africa. Under the heading �Women priests for SA� the Cape Times (August 15, 1992:2) reports that seventy-nine percent voted in favour of the ordination of women. This result complied with the two-thirds majority required on an issue declared �controversial.�