This thesis explores the impact and consequences of the teachings of the church, perceptions of The Divine [God] and of Mary, in the making of personal identity. In spite of secularisation and the prediction that the church would collapse in the face of modern science, recent evidence suggests that - in its various forms - religion, and belief in a higher power remain important and potentially powerful aspects in society. A foundation stone of the Christian faith is the doctrine of Imago Dei: humanity created in the image of The Divine. Although not male, The Divine is repeatedly spoken of - and addressed - in anthropomorphic masculine terms, but perceived in gender-specific stereotypical terms. Alongside The Divine - in the Roman Catholic Church - is Mary, the mother of Jesus. She is spoken of in feminine terms, but is also perceived in gender-specific stereotypical terms. Although not officially considered to be divine, Mary fulfils important needs in the life of the believer and it is in this context that her influence is evaluated. The role of the church as a community - and social institution - is also explored, based on Giddens’ theories of identity development. Belonging to a church community can provide a context for relationship, continuity, and trust. However, this potentially positive environment can have negative implications on self-identity in that restrictions on self-expression and personal choice can be as limiting as the sense of belonging is liberating. The patriarchal nature of the church is deemed to be of immense relevance. In order to establish the role of the church, The Divine, and Mary in the making of self-identity, in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve research participants belonging to Charismatic and Roman Catholic congregations, and Giddens’ criteria for self-identity development was used as the standard for evaluating participants’ personal sense of self-identity. Explored from the perspective of feminist theology, the findings of this qualitative research project suggest that it is more than gender language regarding The Divine that affects the agent’s perception of The Divine, and that the role of the church in identity formation is not uniform in its influence. It also concludes that perceptions of Mary can be influential in the development of selfidentity.

This thesis seeks to show the ways in which Charlotte Brontë's fiction anticipates the concerns of contemporary feminist theology. Whilst Charlotte Brontë's novels have held a place of honor in feminist literary criticism for decades, there has been a critical tendency to associate the proto-feminism of Brontë's narratives with a rejection of Christianity—namely, that Brontë's heroines achieve their personal, social and spiritual emancipation by throwing off the shackles of a patriarchal Church Establishment. And although recent scholarly interest in Victorian Christianity has led to frequent interpretations that regard Brontë's texts as upholding a Christian worldview, in many such cases, the theology asserted in those interpretations arguably undermines the liberative impulse of the narratives. In both cases, the religious and romantic plots of Brontë's novels are viewed as incompatible. This thesis suggests that by reading Brontë's fiction in light of an interdisciplinary perspective that interweaves feminist and theological concerns, the narrative journeys of Brontë's heroines might be read as affirming both Christian faith and female empowerment. Specifically, this thesis will examine the ways in which feminist theologians have identified the need for Christian doctrines of sin and grace to be articulated in a manner that better reflects women's experiences. By exploring the interrelationship between women's writing and women's faith, particularly as it relates to the literary origins of feminist theology and Brontë's position within the nineteenth-century female publishing boom, Brontë's liberative imagination for female flourishing can be re-examined. As will be argued, when considered from the vantage point of feminist theology, 'Jane Eyre', 'Shirley', and 'Villette' portray women's need to experience grace as self-construction and interdependence rather than self-denial and subjugation.

Missing children is one of the horrors that we are confronted with in today's society. The case study method, a feminist co-search methodology, is used to give a missing child's mother the opportunity to tell and re-tell the painful story. During this co-search process the following aspects of doing ethics and pastoral care and counselling with the mother are constantly negotiated. The term "missing child" is defined and the relevance between the distinction of "missing children" and "run-away children" is discussed. Furthermore, this study explores the many diverse practices of narrative pastoral care and counselling with parents of missing children within an economically disadvantaged community. The conceptualisations regarding loss, hope and meaning-making and how these are utilised in the life of a missing child's mother is discussed. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th.

Women in the Theological Anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Tradition This dissertation examines women in the theological anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Churches. The study is set out as follows: In Chapter 1, a survey of methodology is presented. The exposition of the question about the theological anthropology is done against a poststructural background. Both structuralism and poststructuralism largely put aside existentialism as an inadequate methodology. Chapter 2 aims to give an overview of the contribution of Michel Foucault. The chapter begins with a discussion of structuralism. This brief overview is then followed by a classification and investigation of the basic aspects of Foucault's approach. The chapter highlights Foucault's rootedness in poststructuralism. Chapter 3 attempts to explain silence of women in the theological anthropology of Dutch Reformed Church. The central aim of Chapter 3 is to demonstrate, against the development of the women ministries and the discourse about the ordination of women, that the Dutch Reformed Church theological anthropology is deeply influenced by the discursive practices developed during 1928-1932. Chapter 4 gives an overview of the developments in the theological anthropology of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church, Dutch Reformed Church of Africa and the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa that took place from 1924 until 2002. Different approaches to the women question developed in the course of time. At the heart of the discourse is the shift in the reading process. The developments in the feminist standpoint theory as such led to this displacement. In Chapter 5 the deconstruction of the theological anthropology are being discussed. Preference is given in this chapter to the concept partnership or transformative relations. In the concluding chapter [Chapter 6], a poststructural feminist discourse is presented. Selected guidelines that the church may wish to take into account in the deconstructing of the theological anthropology are suggested. In the future, the frame of reference to the women question would likely be poststructural. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

Youth Centres such as Faure Youth Centre provide a challenge to questions such as violence and crime. This qualitative research journey started at Faure Youth Centre using narrative pastoral care and counselling and participatory action research to assist the young people there to find alternative ways of standing against violence and crime. Changing circumstances at Faure however, paved the way for the research to follow another direction. This resulted in different voices to emerge and for my family to receive an unexpected `gift' in the process. The `gift' that my pastoral care and counselling at Faure gave to my family initiated a process of change in us and transformed it into a spiralling journey of challenging patriarchal practices and finding alternative ways of living. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

The exposition of patriarchy and feminism in this thesis points toward the difficulty women experienced in the past, and in many cases still do, in their pursuit for equality in a male dominated society. Without feminists’ consciousness raising concerning women’s oppression, women might still be under patriarchal domination, oppression, and marginalisation; in fact, many still are. As a result, many women today can reject the views that men are superior, stronger, and more rational than they are, and that God created men to dominate on male-female relations. In their struggle against patriarchy, some feminists however, began to transform Biblical images and language for God, with the result that masculine images of God were simply replaced with feminine images, presenting God as androgynous and not as a Deity who transcends sexuality. God’s identity thus, in my opinion, became obscured. In this thesis I argue that both patriarchy and feminism have contributed to our experiencing difficulties when we try to identity with a loving and caring God as portrayed in Scripture. Daly’s outrage and anger against men and the Christian faith, as well as her decision to turn away from Christianity on the basis of its patriarchy, I judge to be, for various reasons given in this thesis, a negative influence in this debate. She is undoubtedly one of the most radical feminists of the past decades and her slogan “since God is male, the male is God” implies that in order for women to become liberated they require the emasculation of God. Daly’s line of reasoning is that Christianity is a male structure with a Scripture that is irredeemably patriarchal. Her belief that Christians are fixated upon the person of Jesus, a male, and that, therefore, women have to overcome this idolatry needs serious questioning. Her radical views have created disunity and separatism between women who are striving to answer life-changing questions / Philosophy and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:20:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Capa.pdf: 6910 bytes, checksum: 50c453bfdfbf84087c5aea1573f20ee6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The main focus of this thesis is to investigate the potential for liberation of women beyond the system of kyriarchical domination in the nongovernmental organisation, Pastoral da Criança, an organisation connected to CNBB (National Brazilian Bishops Conference). The research is partly also interested in the question of the extend to which the Pastoral da Criança is influenced by either the Ecclesial Base Communities or the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement. Methodologically a field research is set up in the region of Curitiba utilising semi- structured interviews with twelve women working in the organisation. As theoretical framework, it is used theories developed in Social Sciences as sociology, psychology, psychoanalysis and theology. The feminist qualitative data analysis shows the discursive social representations of the women, the perception of their own identities and the importance of the organisation in the construction of their lives. It brings to the conclusion that the organisation merely reproduces the traditional profile of women with almost exclusive emphasis on the traditional characteristics of motherhood. On the other hand the organisation facilitates for the women the construction of communitarian networks. The Pastoral da Criança is linked to a neo- liberal system of thinking that reproduces the dominating kyriarchal discourse of the Catholic Church hierarchy and of an hygienist medical system. These institutions appropriate women s bodies and lives and reduce them to merely biological, reproductive and nurturing functions. The organization is characterised by activities which do not delve into the root causes of poverty, but it only tries to decrease the effects and consequences of poverty. In the teaching and learning sessions of the organisation a banking system of education is used which reproduces domination and dependency relations for poor women. The organisation, though within the framework of religious ideology, is not systematically embedded in a religious space. A suggestion related to the present situation would be that the organisation could be opened to feminist values and ideas in the field of health and religion in order to promote real liberation and empowerment of poor women. This recommendation is in line with the openness, need for reflection and knowledge shown by the interviewed women in their reactions to the researcher approach during the field research. The limitation in this research is related to the location which do not present any influence from social movements.(AU) / O objetivo central desta tese é investigar o potencial de transformação social da organização não-governamental, ligada a CNBB(Confederação Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil).- Pastoral da Criança - para a libertação de mulheres que lá atuam, das relações de dominação e opressões inerentes ao contexto kyriarchal. Esta pesquisa procura considerar o espaço religioso subjacente à organização em decorrência das influências das CEBs (Comunidades Eclesiais de Base) e do MRCC (Movimento de Renovação Católica Carismática). É feita pesquisa de campo na região de Curitiba com observações e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com doze mulheres atuando na Pastoral da Criança, valorizando-se a relação intersubjetiva entre pesquisadora e pessoas envolvidas na pesquisa. A análise qualitativa de dados em relação ao marco teórico feminista desenvolvido em Ciências Sociais pela sociologia, psicanálise e também a teologia, mostra o discurso das representações sociais das mulheres envolvidas, a percepção de suas próprias identidades e a importância da organização na construção de suas vidas. Nos traz a conclusão que a organização reproduz o perfil tradicional de mulheres na função materna e facilita a formação de redes comunitárias. Averigua-se que a Pastoral da Criança está vinculada ao sistema neoliberal de pensamento que reproduz os discursos de dominação do sistema kyriarchal da hierarquia da Igreja Católica e da medicina higienista. Essas instituições de apropriam da vida e dos corpos das mulheres e os reduzem às suas funções meramente biológicas, reprodutivas e de cuidados. A Pastoral da Criança é caracterizada por atividades que não consideram as causas estruturais da pobreza, mas apenas tentam amenizar os seus efeitos e conseqüências. Em suas capacitações, a organização usa a forma bancária de educação que reproduz as relações de dominação e dependência de mulheres pobres. A organização, mesmo com a estrutura da ideologia religiosa analisada, não está vinculada sistematicamente em um espaço religioso. Sugere-se em relação à situação da organização, a abertura das idéias e valores feministas nos campos da saúde e religião a fim de promover a libertação e empoderamento reais de mulheres pobres. Esta recomendação está ligada com a abertura, a necessidade de reflexão e de conhecimento, mostradas pelas mulheres entrevistadas durante a pesquisa de campo. Considera-se como limitação aos resultados da pesquisa, o local pesquisado por não ter influências de movimentos sociais.(AU)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America / Este estudio nace de una experiencia particular de violencia y de la observación de la misma en la vida cotidiana y práctica pastoral de un barrio pobre de Lima. Aplicaré el método fenomenológico existencial para recuperar mi historia a través del recuerdo de cómo fue la relación en el espacio doméstico. Este método trata de construir pensamiento valorando la historia de las mujeres y recuperando la misma en una dinámica más amplia que se extiende a su relación con el otro y con la otra. A partir de allí, intentar hacer un análisis epistemológico sobre la violencia con mediación de género, para entender los procesos sociales construidos de los sujetos involucrados en este sistema de violencia. Los sujetos denominados víctima y agresor inter-actúan en esta trama social compleja en primer momento y se focaliza al agresor en segundo momento. Para procurar entender cómo la mediación de género devela esquemas regidos por la lógica patriarcal que atraviesa todo el tejido social, donde el agresor -resultado de una construcción social- merece también especial atención. Esta aproximación a la construcción de la identidad masculina señala algunas pistas para entender los mecanismos que tienden a perpetuar la supremacía masculina, que impiden establecer relaciones justas entre hombres y mujeres. Lo paradoxal y desafiante de este estudio es ver al agresor como una víctima más de la ideología patriarcal y buscar la manera de reconciliarlo a través de la demanda bíblica del perdón porque la justicia que lo sanciona con leyes no detuvo la violación. No se pretende justificar al agresor por el delito cometido sino brindar elementos que sirvan de análisis para la prevención del abuso. El tercer y último capítulo aborda lo masculino en la iglesia y partir de allí elaborar una propuesta de trabajo pastoral considerando un análisis teológico en la perspectiva de brindar elementos que sirvan en primera instancia a la propia iglesia para acompañar un trabajo con hombres violentos. / This research is born out of my personal experience of violence and also out of my personal observation of daily life and pastoral work in a poor neighborhood in Lima. I will employ the phenomenological method in order to retrieve my history from memories about my relationship at home. This method attempts to value women history and also to retrieve it out of a wider dynamic that englobes the relationship between women and men and between women and other women. I will, then, try to make an epistemological analysis of violence, in order to understand the social process of violence. The focus of the analysis will be the concept of gender. In the first moment I will analize the relationship between agressor and victim, then the focus is on the aggressor. I will try to undestand the role of gender to uncovering the patriarcal axis that rules the social fabric. In order to do that, will be necessary to focus also on the agressor as a product of the social system. This approach to the male identify construction offers some clues to understand the mechanism that leads into the perpetuation of male supremacy , which, on other hand, prevents just and equal reationships between men and women from taking place. The paradoxal and the challenging elements in this work are the view of the agressor as a victim of the patriarchal ideology and the search for a way of reconciliation between agressor and victim based on biblical claim of forgiveness, once the justice has not solved the problem through the sanctions enforcement. I do not intend to justify the agressor way, but to offer elements that help to build a proposal for violence preventing. The third chapter focus on the role of men in church, in order to design a pastoral plan theologically informed that plan as its major goal to help the church to develop pastoral work for violent men.

This Diploma thesis deals with the theme of the feminism as a new theory, which influences Christian education of girls. The whole work is divided into the two main sections. The first section serves as the theoretical background, which includes notions like: development of the feminism in the world as well as in the Czech Republic; penetration of the feminist ideas into the Christianity and consequently also the emergence of the feminist theology. The focus is limited to the Roman Catholic Church and deals especially with the role of the women in the Church. Second section of the thesis is practical. It consists of the qualitative research that explores the position of women in the Church as it is presented in the textbooks for the religious education used recently on the primary level (from the 1st till 9th grade) in the Czech Republic. The method of content analysis has been used. This section explores the feminist elements in the textbooks and attempts to identify the actual role of the women in the Church.

Black women in historically challenged communities in South Africa carry the burden of triple oppression: (a) the social engineering policies synonymous with apartheid have marginalised women economically and socially, (b) patriarchy, embedded in cultural and religious discourses, has rendered women voiceless and powerless and (c) HIV/AIDS targets the most vulnerable: women and children. Not only are women carrying the brunt of HIV infections, but they also carry the extra burden of caring for the sick and the orphaned. The main aim of this research was to reach a holistic understanding of the untold stories of women in historically challenged communities, infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS, and specifically about their experiences of care and the lack of care. The two secondary aims were: 1) to research alternative ways and means of making the unheard stories known in South African society; and 2) to disseminate research findings on the stories of these women in such a way that developmental policies could be influenced to enhance alternative, holistic stories of care in the South African society. A family of three women and a translator participated as co-researchers with the writer in this research experience. The researcher reflected on the research experience with volunteers from two home-based care programs in the community. The researcher uses drama as metaphor to document her ‘colourful’ research experience and to make sense of the many intricate and intertwined narratives and discourses, documented over a period of six months in her research diary, through recorded interviews, through her participation with the co-researchers and through the ethnography she had engaged in. The research experience has found that to be able to ‘care someone else into existence’; it is paramount that you as carer experience ‘empowering care’ yourself. ‘Empowering care’ is not possible if injustice prevails. This research experience challenges Government to investigate the ethical implications of the policy of placing the burden of care for the dying and the orphans on the shoulders of women in historically challenged communities. / Thesis (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Practical Theology / unrestricted