O propósito deste trabalho é uma tentativa de leitura a partir de três obras de José Saramago: O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo, A Caverna e o Ensaio Sobre a Lucidez. Buscamos analisar nessas obras algumas estruturas do poder de nossa sociedade e mostrar como esse poder influi e reflete nos homens. Para tanto, é feita uma análise sobre a sociedade atual onde foram desenvolvidos aspectos históricos, sócio-filosóficos, como também as particularidades da escrita saramaguiana que faz uma construção textual coesa, onde os vínculos subjetivos das personagens reforçam a grande mensagem de intervenção de sua obra, que é a busca sem limites pela emancipação humana. / The objective of this essay is to try, based on the follwing works of José Saramago The Gospel Accordind to Jesus Christ, The Cave and Awakening, to analyse the structures of power that exists in our society, such as described in these books, and to show how this power influnces and reflects on mankind. Therefore, a detailed analysis of todays society is made, with the development of historical, social and philosophical aspects, as much as, an analysis on the particularities of José Saramago writing style, where the characterss subjective links enhances the message held within the texte, which is mankinds unlimited search for amancipation.

This dissertation argues that Paul’s apostolic mission to the Gentiles was the definitive expression of his divine vocation as an Israelite, and thus of his Jewish identity. For many of Paul’s Jewish contemporaries, Israel’s divine vocation was to keep and to teach the precepts of the Law of Moses as an exemplary witness to God’s power and wisdom. For Paul, however, Jewish identity was expressed primarily by preaching the gospel of Christ, as the fulfilment of the Law of Moses, to the Gentiles. This is seen most clearly in Paul’s letter to the Romans. In chapter 1, we summarize our methodology: we are seeking to examine Paul’s Jewish identity by reading Paul’s letters (especially Romans), in light of other second-temple Jewish texts, using certain insights from social identity theory. We show that the concept of vocation is an important dimension of Jewish identity, especially in Paul’s letters. We also discuss some prior approaches to the question of Paul’s Jewishness, demonstrating both their value and also their limitations for our purposes. In chapter 2, we survey three key aspects of Paul’s explicit language of Jewish identity in his letters: Jewish distinctiveness, divine revelation and divine vocation. In chapter 3, we demonstrate that Paul deliberately frames his letter to the Romans (Rom 1:1–15, 15:14–33) by presenting his apostolic ministry as the fulfilment of positive scripturally-based eschatological expectations concerning Israel’s divine vocation with respect to the nations. We also compare Paul’s self-presentation in the outer frame of Romans with other first-century expressions of Jewish vocation. In chapter 4, we concentrate on Rom 2:17–29. Contrary to most interpretations which read this passage as a discussion about the nature of (Jewish or Christian) salvation, we argue that Paul deliberately sets this passage in the context of the mainstream Jewish synagogue, in order to contest the nature of Jewish vocation. In chapter 5, we examine Rom 9–11 from the perspective of Jewish vocation. We demonstrate that in Rom 9–11, Paul presents his own apostolic vocation, in various ways, as a contrast to, a fulfilment of, and a means of hope for Israel’s place and role in God’s worldwide purposes.

The thesis "Eschatological Discourse in Mark's Gospel and Possibilities of Its Interpretation" deals with traditions used by Mark, possible dating of pre-markan textual layer and the discourse itself, with historical context of its origination and also with the interpretation of individual verses. Also various authors' commentaries are presented and evaluated. In the last chapter, all the findings are summarized and appraised, on which basis a possible interpretation of the Eschatological discourse is proposed considering its historical context. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The research study, Caught between Christianity and the hard rock: A narrative study, presents, explores and discusses the stories of Christian hard rock musicians from a predetermined Christian hard rock band, comprising of four members. The study takes a narrative approach at exploring and discussing the participants’ stories, which comprise the qualitative data for the study. The stories were collected by means of four individual semi-structured interviews and a group unstructured interview. The interviews sought to ask the participants certain questions to hear and collect their stories pertaining to the various narratives interplaying in their lives as Christian hard rock musicians. Following collection and transcription of these stories, the stories were analysed according to interpretive narrative analysis, according to Riessman, with reference to Labov’s 6 elements of transcription. Such stories were subsequently reported and discussed within the research study from a narrative theoretical point of departure. This allows for the reader to gain an understanding of the various narratives interplaying in the lives of Christian hard rock musicians, and the significance of such narratives and their experiences, which ultimately is assumed to influence the participants’ daily lives. Ultimately, the study facilitates for the participants to tell their stories as they wished to tell them, in terms of how they may be “caught between Christianity and the hard rock” music genre. Subsequently the study also serves for the reader to gain a narrative understanding as to how the band members understand themselves and their band to be in the world. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Psychology / unrestricted

The subject of social involvement though, still under debate and being pursued by the Church of Jesus Christ even this time around has not wholly been appreciated by most Pentecostals. This is despite the fact that some of the early Pentecostals, including the early Church as seen from the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ chose to pursue social dimension of the gospel in addition to the Church’s mandate of ‘pure evangelism.’ Although social involvement has been at the very heart of Pentecostal theology, traditionally speaking, PAOG (Z), being one of the Pentecostal groupings has been seen to place much emphasis on ‘pure evangelism’, rather than ‘embracing’ both forms of missional dimensions. However, this trend is slowly changing as observed from the social involvements that some of its congregations and institutions are currently undertaking. This study views that part of the reason for the lack of an all-round social involvement’ by all the PAOG (Z) congregations lies in its theology of mission and thus critically examines it. The other aspect is the non-utilization or recognition of known professions of clergies that could normally enhance social involvement in most of its congregations. Next it makes an in-depth study of one PAOG (Z) - PAOC run projects and few congregations for the purpose of doing a social impact assessment, which has shown positive impacts in the communities that these projects are being undertaken. The study also reveals that the lack of clear constitutional guidelines concerning this has contributed to the absence of social programs in most of its churches resulting in not having a strong ‘social’ voice compared to the Catholic Church. The thesis uses a modified “praxis cycle” to structure its theoretical framework and research methodology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

It is intrinsic to modernity the expansion of the philosophical detachment from the religious view as critical reason takes place in science, art and the worldview of modern man. Through Kant's reflections, in The Religion within the limits of reason alone (1793), we will seek to understand this process of rupture between faith and reason which explains the prevailing thought in postmodernity. We chose the renowned writer, José Saramago, and his works of religious nature as our objects of study, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (1991) and Cain (2009), as they represent, in the Portuguese language, the voice of the man who is still attracted by the literature of literatures – composed by the Pentateuch and the other canonical books. The author wishes to understand, question and to find the contradictions in believing in an absent, flawed and guilty God. Instigated by the importance in which the "Marys" are portrayed in the Apocryphal Gospels, and to further condemn this God, Saramago recreates in his parodies, a postmodern and anti-religious gospel whose eroticized reinvention of the biblical women - the "Marys", Eve and Lilith - results in the demystification and humanization of the characters and the destabilization of patriarchal discourse. Thus, before analyzing the creation of a new myth of women and their role in Saramago, we will study what was postulated by the feminist theorists, Simone de Beauvoir (2016) and Luce Irigaray (2017), which determine the place of the woman as the "Other", by an exclusionary monologic language that puts her at the service of the elaboration of the universalizing male, which also occurs in the saaramguian language.

[pt] É já notório o conhecimento de que o legado da cultura persa no período pós-exílico do judaísmo não pode ser desprezado, especialmente no final deste período, quando o gênero literário apocalíptico estava florescendo. A presente tese analisa a ressurreição individual no que tange às possíveis relações entre a religião persa e o judaísmo intertestamentário, bem como o cristianismo primitivo. Para tanto, o trabalho começa verificando as origens e desdobramentos do fenômeno apocalíptico. Em seguida, focaliza as conexões literárias que poderiam revelar as ligações entre persas e judeus: a tradição do Avesta antigo (especialmente o Yasna 30,7 e o Yasht 19.11.89) é cotejada com o texto de Daniel 12,1-3. Posteriormente, a possível conexão entre Daniel 12,1-3 e Mateus 27,51b-53 é analisada. O objetivo da tese é verificar em que medida o texto de Daniel refletiria um desenvolvimento dentro do judaísmo a partir do contato com a apocalíptica iraniana, bem como em que medida a origem da tradição presente na perícope mateana refletiria a ressurreição individual a partir da tradição de Daniel. A despeito das características próprias de cada texto, os pontos de contato são bastante plausíveis a partir do marco social, gênero literário e objetivo dos textos, especialmente entre Daniel e Mateus. A perícope mateana revelaria uma tradição daniélica, na qual a ressurreição foi vista como uma recompensa aos judeus que morreram em virtude da justiça divina. Como o redator em Daniel, o evangelista revela uma comunidade em conflito, agora com o judaísmo formativo; ela deixa transparecer uma crença em um reino messiânico que atende à expectativa de uma era escatológica que se inicia justamente na morte e ressurreição de Jesus Cristo. / [en] It is well known that the legacy of the Persian culture in the Jewish postexilic period cannot be despised, mainly in the end of this period, just when the apocalyptic literary genre was flourishing. This thesis analyzes the individual resurrection regarding to the possible relationships between the Persian religion and the intertestamental Judaism, as well as the Early Christianity. So, the work begins by reviewing the origins and development of apocalyptic phenomenon. Then, it focalizes on the literary links that could reveal the connections between Persian and Jews: the tradition of the Old Avesta (notably the Yasna 30:7 and the Yasht 19:11.89) is collated with the text of Daniel 12:1-3. Afterward, the possible connection between Daniel 12:1-3 and Matthew 27:51b-53 takes place. The aim of this work is to ascertain the extent to which the text of Daniel would reflect a development within the Judaism based on the apocalyptic Iranian features. After this, verify the extent to which the origin of the tradition revealed by the Matthean pericope would reflect the individual resurrection from the tradition of Daniel. In spite of the own features of each text, the contact points are quite likely from the social setting, literary gender and the aim of the texts, mainly between Daniel and Matthew. The Matthew s pericope would reveal a tradition drawn from danielic tradition, where the resurrection was seen as a reward to the Jews who died because of the divine righteousness. Like the editor of the text in Daniel, the evangelist reveals a community in conflict, now with the formative Judaism. His community presents a belief in a messianic kingdom that meets the expectation of an eschatological era that begins with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The principle purpose of the study was to investigate the role of women in the mission and ministry of The Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (LCSA). The researcher raised the question of why women are viewed as inferior within the LCSA, and whether this is Biblically supported. I investigated the distinction between men and women with regard to the church culture, tradition, pastoral office, priesthood, and authority within the LCSA. As a general theoretical framework, I used two theories in church mission: (1) The unity of the Church and apostolic practice as propounded by Schenk in 1983. (2) Paradigm shifts in theology: mission as ministry by the whole people of God as propounded by Bosch in 1991. These theories explain the mission of proclaiming the Gospel of God as belonging to everyone (both male and female) as His servants in the Church. To obtain people’s views and interpretations of Scriptures, culture, church practice, and the social reality of women’s roles in the LCSA, focus-group and individual interviews were used to gather qualitative data from 525 respondents. The data was collected and analyzed using the descriptive qualitative research approach. Based on the research findings in Chapter 2 (pages 37-42), Chapter 6 (page140) presents proposals for the involvement of women in the LCSA. The findings show that participants were concerned about the topic and those women’s rights and voices are not yet acknowledged in many societies in Southern Africa. However, the scope of the study is limited to the LCSA, and its findings cannot be generalized. Valuable insights were gained into the church’s traditional construction of women’s roles in the LCSA, not allowing women to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments in the Church mission work. From a missiological study perspective, the researcher recommended that women should be allowed to participate fully in the Church mission work. Therefore, the Involvement of Women in Mission in LCSA was an important dissertation research topic, affecting women in Southern Africa particularly, and potentially, in the African continent at large. / Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

MAAS / Department of of Music

Abstracts in English and Tsonga / This study explored the lack of integrating a scientific imagination and rationality in the hermeneutic and theological practices of neo-Pentecostal churches in the town of Livingstone, Zambia. Although the vantage point of the study was primarily practical theology, the researcher adopted both an interdisciplinary and a multidisciplinary approach. This assisted the researcher in understanding the different theoretical nuances that inform neo-Pentecostal theological practices as propagated by its proponents. An in-depth scientific analysis premised on the critical theory approach was conducted to find out whether or not neo-Pentecostal communicative practices contribute positively to the economic conditions of local church members in Livingstone. The theological framework for this study was based on the “pastoral cycle”, which ought to be at the very heart of any contemporary practical theology (Ballard & Pritchard 2006). The research methodology consisted of data collection, interpretation and analysis (comparing and contrasting primary sources in the light of the data collected). Research participants' personal narratives of their experience of neo-Pentecostal practices were heard in a semi-structured format. These aided in establishing ecclesiastical views on the causes of the lack of integrating a scientific imagination and rationality in neo-Pentecostal spiritual experience; and consequently informed the study on whether the current theological orientations of neo-Pentecostal congregations in Livingstone have a positive or negative impact on the economic conditions of members. Two forms of data collection were employed, namely qualitative interviews and observation instruments. / Ndzavisiso lowu wu langutisa ku pfumaleka ka vuanakanyi hi vuntshwa bya xisayense na ku va na ngqhondo eka mamfambiselo ya vulavisisi na vuxopaxopi ku hlamusela matsalelo na mafambiselo ya swa vugandzeri eka tikereke ta Pentakosta leyintshwa edorobeni ra Livingston, eZambia. Hambileswi masungulo ya ndzavisiso a ku ri mafambiselo ya vugandzeri, mulavisisi u tirhise fambiselo ra interdisciplinary na multidisciplinary. Leswi swi pfunete mulavisisi ku twisisa ku hambana eka swa thiyori leyi yi nga xiseketelo xa Pentakosta leyintshwa ya swa vugandzeri na mafambiselo ya kona tanhilaha swi endliwaka hi lava nga vachumayeri va yona pentakosta leyintshwa. Vuxopaxopi bya xisayense byi seketeriwe hi thiyori yo xopaxopa leyi nga endliwa ku kuma leswo xana mafambiselo ya Pentakosta leyintshwa ya pfuneta eka swiyimo swa ikhonomi eka swirho swa kereke swa yona eLivingston. Rimba ra swa vugandzeri eka ndzavisiso lowu wu seketeriwe hi ndzhenzheleko wa vurisi bya kereke ku nga "pastoral cycle", lowu wu faneleke ku va mbilu ya mafambiselo wahi na wahi ya vugandzeri (Ballard & Pritchard 2006). Methodoloji ya ndzavisiso a yi katsa ku hlengeletea vutivi, ku byi toloka no byi xopaxopa (ku kotlanisa na ku pimanisa swihlovo swa vutivi hi ku landza data leyi yi nga hlengeletiwa). Lava a va ri na xiavo eka ndzavisiso, va endle marungula ya vona na ntokoto wa vona hi mafambiselo ya Pentekosta leyintshwa ya yingiseriwile hi fomati yo ka yi nga kunguhatiwangi swinene ku nga semi-structured format. Leswi swi pfunete ekusunguleni mianakanyo ya kereke ya vukreste hi swivangelo swa ku pfumaleka ka ku hlanganisa na ku anakanya hi vuntshwa mavonelo na ntokoto eka swa moya hi swa Pentekosta leyintshwa; hi ku landza swona leswi, swi pfunete ndzavisiso hi leswo xana mavonelo yo hambana hi swa vugandzeri bya Pentakosta leyintshwa eka nhlengeletano eLivingston leswo xana yi na vuyelo lebyinene kumbe lebyi nga ri ku lebyinene eka swiyimo swa ikhonomi ya swirho. Ku tirhisiwe minxaka mimbirhi ya nhlengeleto ya vutivi, ku nga qualitative interviews na xitirho xa ku languta kunene leswi endlekaka (observation instruments). / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)