Proefschrift : Lettres : Utrecht : 1983. / Proefschrift Letteren Utrecht : 1983. - Texte néerlandais seul. - Bibliogr. p. 304-310. Index. Résumé en anglais. -

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This study seeks to describe the theodicy of Scottish theologian Peter Taylor Forsyth. We begin by making some preliminary comments concerning Forsyth’s conception of reality and his understanding of evil. We then examine Forsyth’s methodology of the theologia crucis, which he utilises in his justification of God. Forsyth sees a crucial event taking place at the Cross, “the self-justification of God”, one which constitutes the basis for all human attempts to justify God. We explore his multi-faceted understanding of this event, and how it leads to two outcomes which form the main thrusts of his theodicy. In Chapters 3 and 4, we look at the first such outcome, which is that God moves the world inexorably towards his glorious telos. We also consider here the significance of this first outcome for Forsyth’s theodicy, which is that it imparts to this theodicy a strongly teleological and historical nature. In Chapters 5 and 6, we consider the second outcome of God’s self-justification. This is the revelation that God suffered incomparably in the event of the Cross. We draw out two major implications of this for Forsyth’s theodicy, based upon the idea that God is the chief sufferer and giver in our battle against sin, and the possibility that Christ might serve as our model of faith in times of suffering. We turn, in our final two chapters, to examine Forsyth’s view on the origin of both sin and suffering, his understanding of the God-world relationship, and the significance of these for his theodicy. We conclude that Forsyth’s justification of God constitutes a robust and comprehensive response to the problem of evil, possibly rendering a valuable service to the task of Christian theodicy through its ability to integrate insights from what has hitherto been considered different approaches to the issue.

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This thesis reconstructs John Rawl's Original Position in order to show that within a liberal democratic culture, the institution of punishment ought to conform to the Moral Education Theory of Punishment, put forth by Jean Hampton. According to Hampton, punishment should facilitate a medium where the state educates the criminal on the moral implications of her wrongdoing. I argue that citizens would select the Moral Education Theory of Punishment in the Original Position, since it offers the best opportunity to redress two calamities related to the criminal's wrongdoing---namely, that it threatens the moral status of the victim, and that it results from the wrongdoer's deficient moral sensibility. Upon consideration, the representatives in the Original Position recognize that redressing either of the two calamities necessitates redressing the other; thus, both objectives reinforce one another. Consequently, the representatives would unanimously select the principles of punishment manifest in the Moral Education Theory.

South Africa is in many ways a traumatised society and the Bulhoek Massacre of 24 May 1921 in which about two hundred people were killed in a matter of minutes was one such traumatising experience. What makes this massacre special is that the victims were a clearly identi~able christian grouping who dared to question and resist the overpowering might of the state by cleverly establishing an utopian community which lived in a new and resistant time, with counter values and an alternative lifestyle. One of the key ideas which shaped the establishment of this utopian commune by Enoch Josiah Mgijima on what was declared Crownland were this-worldly views of salvation and the destruction of the world. Mgijima offered people a practical and pragmatic way in which they would be saved from this impending destruction. A lot of water as gone under the bridge since that fateful morning in May 1921. This study investigates present views of salvation among the Israelites, the followers of Mgijima, and the role of the memory of Bulhoek Massacre in the construction of these soteriological notions. The thesis argues that inspite of the extreme trauma and apparent disconfirmation of the original vision and hope of a counter society, present views of salvation must stand in continuity with the hope and vision of those who fell in 1921. Furthermore, the thesis argues and demonstrates that though they seek to transcend the limits and constraints of the present commodified structuring of social and material relations, present views of salvation necessarily have their basis in the' material context of domination, thereby rendering the soteriology of the Israelites as a contextual soteriology. Using the methodological framework of depth hermeneutics the thesis probes and interprets the various reading methods and henneneutic strategies that the Israelites utilize in the construction of their soteriological notions. These methods and strategies are focused on all four ritual festivals of the Israelites, viz. pesach, the Fast of Esther, the commemoration service of the Bulhoek Massacre, and the commemoration of the life ofEnoch Mgijima These methods and strategies establish a dynamic and organic link between the two biblical festivals and the two Israelitic festivals across time and space, through a contextual appropriation of the two biblical festivals which have freedom as their key motif. What becomes clear through this appropnanon is that though the Israelites do not view themselves as a political movement per se, freedom from domination is key to their theological self-understanding and identity. The thesis demonstrates the manner in which the memory of the Bulhoek Massacre serves to facilitate the insurrection of the soteric knowledges which the perpetrators of the massacre sought to subjugate. What the study also reveals with respect to the Fast of Esther is that the narrative and interpretive strategies of Esther's soteric agency is determined not only by her identity as a woman in a kyriarchal context in Persian exile, but also by the gender-biased interpretative interests and commitments of the present Israelite readers. For this reason male Israelite define her soteric agency along domesticating, patriarchal and macho lines whereas the Israelite women are silent in respect of this and choose instead to underscore the spiritual depth of her soteric agency. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

This study set out to provide an understanding of the Certificate in Education programme, CE (PD), in terms of various stakeholder perspectives and its historical development. Through the use of case study method the study investigates the relationship between the first three semesters of the Certificate in Education (Participatory Development) CE (PD) offered largely on-campus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal with the final semester module of the programme offered as a service-learning off-campus called Development in Practice (DIP). The objective of DIP is to produce reflective learners in an authentic development context. Within the CE (PD) programme this is understood as praxis. The purpose of the study therefore is to investigate processes within the programme that facilitated or hindered the attainment of praxis. The case study method served this research goal well as it allowed for the social, ideological and historical reality of the CE (PD) to be viewed within a context of its development and the broader contexts of the university and South Africa. As such, this study looked at how one could ensure that theory, abstract knowledge and practice are combined for the purpose of improving community development practice. The study focussed on the aspect of praxis within the CE (PD) with the intention of contribution to the improvement of praxis in training for community development practitioners. Based on Freire's understanding of praxis, the situated cognition and transformative learning theories this study found that certain processes impacted positively or negatively to the CE (PD) programme in facilitating praxis. These processes were varied and included amongst others curriculum conceptualisation and planning, and the most important one being ideology and power related issues. The detailed description of the CE (PD) process would be useful to future curriculum development initiatives. This study argued that community development training is a contested area and cannot only focus skills training but must include consciousness raising located within an emancipatory tradition. Based on this argument an interactive programme development model located within praxis is offered as a contribution towards community development practitioner training in the South African context. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This dissertation is a study of the political career and thought of Said Halim Pasha (1865--1921), a prominent Islamist thinker and eminent Ottoman statesman, set against the historical and ideological background of his time. / The period covered in this study extends from the twilight of the Hamidian era to the end of the Ottoman Empire (1900--1922). During these two crucial decades, the Ottoman Empire, prior to its demise, went through an immense transformation. The establishment of the Constitutional regime in July 1908 allowed several ideological currents to circulate freely on the political scene and to compete in filling the vacuum created by the fall of the ancien regime. Among these ideologies, three rose to prominency: Westernism, Turkism, and Islamism. Said Halim Pasha, one of the best representatives of the Islamist school, made important contributions to the ideological debates which were raging. In his writings that appeared between 1910 and 1921, Said Halim Pasha advocated a thorough and radical Islamization of the Muslim world in order to halt its decline and to ensure its progress. With regard to his political career as Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire, Said Halim Pasha proved himself to be a mastermind of diplomacy. Until his political isolation and deprivation of power by the Turkist wing of the CUP Government, he kept at bay the aggressive imperialist Powers and frustrated their plans to partition the Ottoman Empire.

This thesis has explored the failure of Greece to achieve its one-hundred-year irrendentist struggle as a result of the nationalist movement in Turkey, and discusses Turkish efforts to reverse the dictate (Treaty of Sevres) of the Great Powers after the First World War.