Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-276). / What kind of economic development trajectory can be expected in cosmopolitan cities that display a high degree of cultural, religious, ethnic and social diversity? Much can be gleaned from examining defined periods in their history that show a rapid transition in religious/cultural and socio-economic terms. Cape Town, a city that prides itself on its deeply rooted diversity and hybridity, and aspires to global status as a creative urban hub after having emerged from the rigidities of apartheid, appears not to be able to manage a breakthrough to sustained long-term development. An examination of the city's transformational period during the early decades of the nineteenth century may explain why this is so. Competitive diversity in religion, culture and business provided the template for a highly individualised development path with a short time horizon. This work uses the analytical tools of human development theory, cultural value analysis, the linkages between religion and economics, rational choice theory, urban development studies, and the study of identity formation and creolisation to construct a lens for the review of religious and socio-economic discourse in Cape Town during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-222). / This dissertation examines the recent emergence of popular recording artists who explicitly invoke the prophetic voices of their religious traditions in their music. In doing so, they situate their music within a pre-existing prophetic lineage. These musicians selfconsciously view their music as vehicle to spread a divine message, and they recognize that their lyrical voice can either become or echo a prophetic voice.

Includes bibliographical references ( leaves 222-229) / This work traces a changing paradigm of mission within the protestant churches of Mozambique and particularly in the Igreja Presbiteriana de Moçambique (IPM), as it moved toward autonomy within the context of the Portuguese colonial project. In this shifting paradigm, the church was forced to define its role in the broader struggle for liberation, particularly after the formation of the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) in 1962. Although this is an historical critical study, the focus is theological and more particularly missiological and employs the paradigms of mission identified by David Bosch. The study draws significantly on the work of Teresa Cruz e Silva, Eric Morier-Genoud and Alf Helgesson as well as Malyn Newitt and the recent biography of Janet Mondlane. Primary material has been drawn largely from the archives of the Departement Missionaire de la Suisse Rornande, the World Council of Churches and the Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionaisfforre do Tombo of the Ministerio da Cultura de Portugal. The main body of the work examines the life and thought of Eduardo Mondlane, the first President of FRELIMO. Mondlane was raised in a traditional African family before becoming integrated into the MS through the missionary Andre-Daniel Clerc. He pursued studies in South Africa, Portugal and the United States with the support of church scholarships and his connection with the church continued until his death. His theological thought, particularly his understanding of the role of the church in the context of colonialism, challenged and impacted the protestant communities in Mozambique, the Reformed church in Switzerland and the emerging modem global ecumenical movement. It is argued that Mondlane's motivation for involvement in the liberation struggle cannot be thoroughly understood without a serious examination of his life of faith and his changing theological understanding of the mission of the church. The final chapter of this work examines the impact of this changed paradigm on the relationships among the local protestant churches, the former mission sending church, the new FRELIMO government and the World Council of Churches in the years following Mondlane's death Particular attention is paid to the impact of the death in prison of Zedequias Manganhela .

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-223). / This exploratory study applies a cultural studies and interdisciplinary approach to the discourses that emerge in the discursive gap at the interface of religion and public health, a gap most readily seen in the context of HIV/AIDS and in literature addressing sub-Saharan Africa. The combination of the different, often divergent discursive frameworks of religion and public health, and the idea of the linguistic construction of HIV/AIDS, prompts this theoretical response. The empirical data for developing these theoretical judgements are based on personal involvement in the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP), an international, multi-institutional research collaborative that is focused on the intersection between religion and public health.

Bibliography: leaves 225-259. / The collapse of Muslim rule in the Subcontinent of India during the nineteenth century generated a new role for the ulama'. The study traces how the ulama' profited from the decline in the central authority, to the extent that they emerged from a position of relative obscurity to the de facto leaders of a vanquished nation. They mobilized on the basis of the "Wali Allah" tradition and pursued two options. The political option was oriented towards the re-establishment of Muslim rule through jihad. The intellectual option was directed at the masses in an attempt to revive their religious consciousness and create a greater awareness for the Shariah. After the Mutiny of 1857 a group of ulama' in Deoband, in pursuit of the second option, launched an Islamic seminary named, Dar al-Ulum which gained rapid acceptance throughout the Northern Provinces of India. The Deobandi ulama' emerged as a very powerful religious force within the Subcontinent of India. How did they exert their power, authority and influence over the general masses? The basic thesis of this study is that their authority and influence over the masses was galvanized through the institution of ifta'.The ultimate objective of the study is to scrutinize the development, and the contribution of the Deobandis, through the process of ifta'. Through the scrutiny of a number of fatawa dealing with modern exigency, I identify certain definite justificatory trends within the fatawa. By focusing on the dual role of the Deobandi as mufti and sufi shaykh I develop the concept of a "vision of law" and believe that the justification of most of the fatawa dealing with modern social exigency is rooted more in the mufti's vision of law than in strictly legal arguments. I believe that the dual role of the mufti generates a Shari Tariqi mentality (vision) which is characterized by formalism, generated by the doctrine of taqlid.

The Book of Revelation is arguably viewed as the definitive eschatological text in the biblical canon. The writer was well-versed in Hebraic thought, culture, traditions and the entire Hebrew scriptures since the text is infused with allusions and direct references to the Hebrew scriptures. The Greek text also contains words that hearken back to the Semitic language either by transliteration or by the importation of descriptions, metaphors and idioms (Newport 1988). Apart from an understanding of Revelation against the backdrop of the entire biblical canon, an appreciation of time as it is applied in Revelation is essential to understand both the frightening and the encouraging aspects of Revelation. Due to the context of Revelation, the appreciation of time needs to encompass the usage of time in the remainder of the biblical canon. Exploring the social culture of the writers of the biblical texts within their historical and geographical settings is a useful means of providing additional information towards the discussion of the nature of time. Although the prevailing post-modern and western concept of time is described as linear, various factors such as the descriptions of annually recurring feasts linked to the climatological patterns and farming and gathering of crops, point to the observation that the first-century CE Mediterranean concept of time appears to have been far more cyclical than merely linear. These annual feasts demonstrate an inherent dual meaning , which allows the function and role of each feast to develop over the passing of time while the annual recurrence of the feast establishes a cyclical pattern of worship. This enables a comparative appreciation of the secondary role of the feast against the backdrop of its initial function. A discussion of the text also shows that these and other festivals kept by the early Christian believers were infused with Temple cult rituals that appear as motifs and images through rhetography within Revelation as well as the remainder of the biblical canon. Given the numerous differing interpretations of Revelation offering a gloomy and frightening scenario of the future, this dissertation seeks to offer a fresh understanding based on an examination of the nature of time by applying textual comparisons against the backdrop of the socio-historical setting of the first-century Mediterranean society. It is hoped that this fresh understanding will result in a more nuanced understanding of the concept of time in Revelation within the context of both the extant texts as well as the socio-cultural intertexture during the first century CE. The success of this endeavour would thereby allow the text of Revelation to be read afresh as a timeous message to contemporary, and hopefully, future believers. This would comply with the pastoral concerns of the author of Revelation as well as contemporary leaders of believing communities, since a fresh and nuanced understanding of time based on the text itself would deepen and enrich the interpretation of the reading. Hence, the communication between the author and the reader or believer would be improved and enriched. Pastorally, the message contained in Revelation would become clearer to the contemporary reader as well as any reader or hearer of the text. For example, the contextual backdrop of the meaning of biblical feasts, particularly the “fall feasts” (Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day) would deepen the appreciation of the eschatological content of the Book of Revelation. The relationship between 'chronos’ and ’kairos’ would shed further light on the placement of the believer within the scope of “church history” and the future events discussed in Revelation. And lastly, a more nuanced understanding of Revelation would assist the believer in positioning themselves in the present life as well as in light of the future, which would lead to the understanding of the believer’s salvific position. Since these matters are foundational to the believer, this work is crucial in offering a different approach to reading and understanding Revelation. The analytic tool selected for the task at hand is based on the socio-rhetorical interpretation introduced and elaborated upon by Vernon K. Robbins . For the scope of this dissertation, two of these socio-rhetorical tools were utilised. Firstly, the text of Revelation was analysed by selecting specific terms pertaining to time, which was discussed in greater detail with the aid of inner texture, as well as intertexture, where oral-scribal intertexture was the predominant analytic in the search for further layers of meaning of the selected terms. Secondly, working with intertexture, cultural and social intertexture allowed further insights into the cultural context of Revelation to assist in the clarification and enrichment of our analyses. Terms and phrases used in the text which allude metaphorically to a cultural aspect were good examples of the application of cultural intertexture as a subtexture of intertexture, whereas additional cultural information relevant to the content of the text would fall under the umbrella of social and cultural intertexture. Given that our primary focus is the text, a certain amount of cross-contamination might occur, however, a concerted effort was made to distinguish between subtextures and textures, notwithstanding the naturally occurring blending between these. For this work, textual excerpts from the entire biblical canon as well as various apocryphal literature and Patristics, as well as writings by Eusebius and Josephus, were incorporated. The application of the second methodology, especially social and cultural intertexture, includes the discussion on comparisons between various terms or passages in Revelation to chiefly Second Temple cultic practices, to tease out further information towards a nuanced understanding of time. After applying both sets of analytics, the observations gleaned were woven together to form a fresh fabric of appreciation of time as applied in Revelation. Apart from the observations that Revelation is to be read against the backdrop of Hebraic culture, thought, and most significantly the Tanakh, it will become increasingly clear that the general understanding of the nature of time as a foundation to the reading of Revelation can be enriched by further research, for example, by the application of socio-rhetorical interpretation. Given that the chosen analytics minimize pre-conceived notions, and further limit interpretations based on a preterist or an historicist concept, it negates the effects of a preconceived notion of a pre-millenial rapture or anything of this nature. It also casts aside interpretations produced through the lens of the replacement theory. This examination allows the text itself, by the application of the sociorhetorical tools to offer insights based on working with different layers of the text. The dissertation discusses the way 'kairos’ and 'chronos’ impact on each other, as well as the meanings gleaned from the Torah of terms such as “time”, Sabbath, week, month, jubilee, the seven feasts as well as the two other feasts based on the Book of Esther and the Books of Maccabees. The ceremonial style within Revelation combined with the textual examinations demonstrates that time appears to have been applied as a specifically and intentionally planned dimension, pointing to an intention and a specific meaning attributed to the believers’ lives in those instances. The methodology used reveals a nuanced appreciation of time. This dissertation offers a contribution to existing scholarship and encourages further research into the Book of Revelation and its relevance to contemporary believing communities.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis searches for that which is sacred to Jacques Derrida and ultimately concludes that if anything is sacred to him it is the other. This concern for the sacred is an attempt to ascertain Derrida’s relevance and value for religious traditions. Derrida’s ideas serve to destabilise (sacred) centres in religious traditions in order to find place for the (excluded) other. Hence, a central theme of this dissertation is that there are no stable centres. I have attempted to demonstrate this in the structure I have followed, a structure that is "centred on" decentring ideas that, while not arbitrary, could have been substituted for others: negative theology, the other, detours, khôra and différance.

This thesis had its point of departure in a concern with the aims and methods of Bible teaching in the Jewish day high schools in South Africa. The work began with a survey and conflation of recent scholarly writings concerned with the teaching of the Bible, and with an extensive survey, by face to face interview, of Bible teaching methods in Jewish high schools in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. Although this last occupied a great deal of time spread over more than a year, it does not now form part of this thesis, whereas the former does. The reason for this is that neither the current practise, nor most of the scholarly opinion, with notable exceptions, seems to have asked the basic questions concerning the essence of what is being communicated, how it comes to be embraced by the individual, and how it functions in the social context, before becoming involved in the matters of aims and methodology. Even those like Goldman, who have pioneered the study of Bible teaching methodology have been primarily concerned with what the pupils could receive, and that on the cognitive basis, rather than with the essence of the Bible itself. We have retained in Part I a survey of ten scholarly opinions, ranging all the way from the ultra-orthodox, through the modern religious, the nationalists, the humanists to the marxists. Although almost all of these are drawn from Israeli experience, almost all that they have to say is generally applicable to the teaching of the Bible in any place where the Hebrew tradition is taught. It represents as wide a cross-section as one is likely to find anywhere, and it is with this, or something like it, that the intending teacher of the Bible is confronted when he begins his task. The conflicts are deeply rooted in the understanding of the essence of what is to be taught. Part II, the central contribution of this thesis, is therefore concerned with the basic questions of what the Bible is in itself, what is the experience which men have called God, and how they have sought to communicate about it (Section A), how religion is held by the individual (Section B), and how it functions in society (Section C). We have endeavoured to bring the model thus developed to bear upon the opinions reviewed in Part I in order to reject those that will not stand up, to resolve seeming conflicts and to glean that which, by the criteria of our model, will be of lasting worth. Only then have we made an attempt to express what, in the light of our model, would seem to be the real essence and the possible aims of teaching the Bible. Throughout this section we have presented our summary points and our conclusions based upon them separately, which may be a little awkward for the reader, but allows the summary points, standing on their own, to be a clear presentation of the heart of each model. Part III aims only at presenting some basic considerations for the development of a methodology. It makes no pretence to be itself a methodology. Even for this purpose, however, it was felt necessary to review Goldman's contribution and to look at its roots in Piaget, in order to see what, in the light of our findings about essence, was still lacking. To meet the discovered needs, we have drawn upon Erikson, and to some small degree, upon Sears. We have felt that this thesis draws upon so many disciplines that no reader could be expected to be familiar with them all. We have therefore tended, more than otherwise would be the case, to include extensive accounts of our source material. This is particularly the case in Part III where we have included a summary of the three theories of child development drawn from a secondary source, H.W. Maier. This in no way form part of the thesis, and the reader who is familiar with Piaget and Erikson, and even Goldman, is invited to pass over this summary presentation to our resulting critique of Goldman's contribution and to our basic considerations for a development of methodology.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-287). / The aim of this thesis is to explore the interaction between cultural and religious identity, and more especially, Christian identity; how they develop in relation to each other, and how they differ. This thesis takes as its, starting point the conviction that the understanding of, and the relationship to, the other, is what both develops and distinguishes Christian identity from cultural identity. In order to come to a better understanding of this complex set of relationships, the case of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa has been examined. The role of the Dutch Reformed Church in the cultural construction of Afrikaner identity has been examined both in the formative stages of Afrikanerdom until the demise of Apartheid, and then in its more recent role in the deconstruction and reconstruction of Afrikaner identity since the transition to democracy in 1994, tracing both continuities and discontinuities between the earlier and later periods under review. Several others have been considered critical for the construction of Afrikaner identity. Finally, having considered the global upsurge of ethnic and religious fundamentalist identities and the effects of this on Afrikaner identity, the message for the future both locally in South Africa and globally is one of Christian humanism, in conjunction with a general need for global ethics, protecting and celebrating our full humanity, irrespective of race, gender, culture and religious conviction. This thesis is interdisciplinary, examining the issues both from a socio-historical viewpoint and from a theological perspective drawing, in particular, on the work of Mary Douglas and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Bibliography: leaves 240-253. / My thesis is that early African Christians engaged in critical dialogue with their missionary counterparts in a variety of ways and forms which served to challenge and enrich the Christianization process in South Africa, eventually giving rise to the emergence of African Christianity and theologies. My aim is to show that African Christians talked back in the long conversation with the European missionaries, ""a conversation full of arguments of words and images."" ¹ Early African Christians used various strategies and ways of responding to the missionary encounter ranging from overt to covert forms of resistance and negotiation. These were related to conditions on the ground. African Christian responses thus contradict any assertion of total conformity to the colonial missionary praxis. The classics debate at Lovedale, for instance, reveals that despite the apparent conformity and obedience to orthodoxy at the official level there was an awareness of ambivalence at a secondary (hidden) level. It is this awareness rather than the obvious ambivalence that is crucial to us.