In post-Apartheid South Africa the issues relating to poverty and specifically missional engagement with the poor remains a priority. In order to foster creative imaginations for this missional task, this research focuses on the discourse on four Early Church Fathers’ engagement with the poor. This discourse was brought into dialogue with four Afrikaans Johannesburg churches through phenomenological interviews. Using Susan Holman’s interpretive framework of sensing, sharing and embodying the kingdom dialogue between the teachings and praxis of Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Augustine and four Johannesburg churches were explored in order to develop proposals for the Johannesburg church’s mission towards the poor. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

In contemporary society, distinct traditions are bleeding into one another, blurring traditional lines of inquiry and historically significant boundaries. This phenomenon frames this project and creates the context for the Yoga-Christian praxis dialogue this study constructively critiques. Unfortunately, this dialogue exhibits an Eliadean concern for essentialism and universality. I challenge this trend by juxtaposing two distinct texts, Patañjali‘s Yoga-Sūtra and Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses. These texts point to the similar idea that without striving and personal transformation neither the yogic practitioner nor practicing Christian logically subsists. More importantly, however, from this point of correspondence I constructively critique the Yoga-Christian praxis dialogue by concretely engaging these texts and paying particular attention to the differences inherent in them. My comparison, then, suggests how attention to particularity points to a more authentic dialogue: what I wish to call a dialogue of distinction without separation.