This participatory research journey looked at the lives of adult children of alcoholics, with particular reference to how identity is affected by growing up in a home where one or both parents are struggling with alcohol abuse, and how this struggle with identity carries through into adulthood. A study was made of the particular discourses which impacted negatively upon the child from this home and the manner in which the discourses had a negative impact later on as an adult. Through narrative pastoral conversations the possibilities for healing, as well as the barriers for healing were explored. Through this exploration alternative stories were created. A vital part of the study was focused upon the witnessing of the stories of the participants` lives and the acknowledgement of some of the events from their childhood that formed their identity and contributed to who they are today. / Practical Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

Extra-marital affairs are the main reason for divorce in western society. Pastoral therapists usually operate within a modernistic theology and use their 'expert' knowledge of theological ethics to confront the unfaithful spouse - a pastoral therapeutic approach that neither delivers the desired results, nor honours the client's expertise and freedom. This study endeavoured to socially construct pastoral therapy using the principles of postmodernistic social construction discourse with couples/spouses where one spouse is or was engaged in an extramarital affair. The relation between a modernistic epistemology and a postmodernistic epistemology, and how this relation affects theology, practical theology and pastoral therapy were explored. The propium of pastoral therapy in a postmodemistic paradigm and the implications of a narrative approach in pastoral therapy for theological ethics were reflected upon. A narrative description of extra-marital affairs was constructed and some of the cultural discourses which co-constitute extra-marital affairs were discussed. The pastoral therapist and clients were simultaneously in conversation with ethical discourses and relational, personal and emotional discourses, thus co-constructing new alternatives and possibilities. During these multiple reflexive conversations, some of the cultural discourses (eros; self-fulfilment; extra-marital sex and hedonism) which co-constitute extra-marital affairs were deconstructed. In the light of the usual limitations of the life-span of an extra-marital affair, the pastoral therapist and faithful spouses socially constructed alternatives and possibilities for their lives to enable them to outstay the extra-marital affair of the unfaithful spouse. Multiple reflexive conversations with (un)faithful spouses co-constructed, with relational and ethical discourses, a narrative approach in pastoral therapy. The use of externalisation and ritualisation in a narrative approach in pastoral therapy concerning extra-marital affairs was explored. A sense of guilt and secrets were also themes in multiple reflexive conversations with unfaithful spouses. This prompted reflection on the use of Scripture in a narrative approach in pastoral therapy. The relation between the biological-psychological aspects of extra-marital affairs and narrative therapy are also briefly explored. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

This participatory research journey looked at the lives of adult children of alcoholics, with particular reference to how identity is affected by growing up in a home where one or both parents are struggling with alcohol abuse, and how this struggle with identity carries through into adulthood. A study was made of the particular discourses which impacted negatively upon the child from this home and the manner in which the discourses had a negative impact later on as an adult. Through narrative pastoral conversations the possibilities for healing, as well as the barriers for healing were explored. Through this exploration alternative stories were created. A vital part of the study was focused upon the witnessing of the stories of the participants` lives and the acknowledgement of some of the events from their childhood that formed their identity and contributed to who they are today. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

Extra-marital affairs are the main reason for divorce in western society. Pastoral therapists usually operate within a modernistic theology and use their 'expert' knowledge of theological ethics to confront the unfaithful spouse - a pastoral therapeutic approach that neither delivers the desired results, nor honours the client's expertise and freedom. This study endeavoured to socially construct pastoral therapy using the principles of postmodernistic social construction discourse with couples/spouses where one spouse is or was engaged in an extramarital affair. The relation between a modernistic epistemology and a postmodernistic epistemology, and how this relation affects theology, practical theology and pastoral therapy were explored. The propium of pastoral therapy in a postmodemistic paradigm and the implications of a narrative approach in pastoral therapy for theological ethics were reflected upon. A narrative description of extra-marital affairs was constructed and some of the cultural discourses which co-constitute extra-marital affairs were discussed. The pastoral therapist and clients were simultaneously in conversation with ethical discourses and relational, personal and emotional discourses, thus co-constructing new alternatives and possibilities. During these multiple reflexive conversations, some of the cultural discourses (eros; self-fulfilment; extra-marital sex and hedonism) which co-constitute extra-marital affairs were deconstructed. In the light of the usual limitations of the life-span of an extra-marital affair, the pastoral therapist and faithful spouses socially constructed alternatives and possibilities for their lives to enable them to outstay the extra-marital affair of the unfaithful spouse. Multiple reflexive conversations with (un)faithful spouses co-constructed, with relational and ethical discourses, a narrative approach in pastoral therapy. The use of externalisation and ritualisation in a narrative approach in pastoral therapy concerning extra-marital affairs was explored. A sense of guilt and secrets were also themes in multiple reflexive conversations with unfaithful spouses. This prompted reflection on the use of Scripture in a narrative approach in pastoral therapy. The relation between the biological-psychological aspects of extra-marital affairs and narrative therapy are also briefly explored. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation of limited scope explored via a qualitative reflective approach how pastoral therapy and care practices contributed to workplace transformation and ethics at a factory that had to be restored to profitability. In Chapter 1, the study's research curiosity questions how pastoral therapy and care practices could inform business in its resistance of workplace trauma and injustice. The epistemology of contextual theology and social constructionism is reviewed in Chapter 2 in its support of the research. Themes and ideas such as; participatory ethical care, ethics, the prophetic role, narratives, workplace culture, witnessing and participant awareness and empowerment are applied to workplace culture transformation. Chapter 3 explores the factory's dominant story of low morale, financial loss and feelings of no hope for the future in context of discourses of capitalism. In resistance to the dominant story, Chapter 4 focuses on practices and experiences that supported the factory's alternative story and Chapter 5 reviews the factory's alternative story in context of purposeful transformation practice. Chapter 6 concludes the study by reflecting on the research curiosity, the research aims and the researcher's development. / Practical Theology / M. Th ((Specialising Past Therapy) Practical Theology)

This qualitative participatory action research project examined how the spiritual dimension in pastoral therapy served as a life-giving resource to facilitate healing and growth in the lives of three Christian female university students. A postmodern epistomology, social construction theory and a contextual feminist theology informed the praxis of pastoral narrative therapy. The themes of subjectivity, meaning, religious development and religious experience were the focus of this study. Narrative practices were engaged in to utilise spiritual talk in the co-construction of an alternative relational identity with the research participants. The theory of religious development is discussed from a social constructionist perspective with an accent on a personal relationship with God as central to the developmental process. The religious experiences of the participants contributed to a spiritual awareness of being connected, in a dynamic way, to God, that transformed the clients' perceptions of problems and ways of addressing problems in their lives. / Practical Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology)

Text in Afrikaans with summaries in Afrikaans and English / Mishandeling is een van die mees traumatiese ervarings wat die adolessent kan beleef en beïnvloed sy totale ontwikkeling. Die doel met hierdie navorsing was om deur intervensie te bepaal of mishandeling enige implikasies het vir die adolessent se verhouding met God. Die pastorale en Gestaltterapie is aangewend om die adolessent wat mishandel is in sy verhouding met God te begelei. In die pastorale Gestaltterapiebenadering is daar rekening gehou met die dinamiese konteks van lewenservaring en betekenisvelde in die Godsbeeld van die adolessent. Hierdeur is die impak bepaal van die adolessent se ervaring, waarneming en verwagting van God. Die uitgangspunt van die pastorale Gestaltterapie was dat die adolessent se verhouding met God disfunksioneel geword het as gevolg van mishandeling. Met behulp van die intervensienavorsingsmodel is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die pastorale Gestaltterapeutiese benadering die verwronge Godsbeeld van die adolessent verander het sodat die verhouding met God kan herstel. SUMMARY Abuse is one of the most traumatic experiences the adolescent can have and influences his total development. This research was aimed at establishing, by means of intervention, whether abuse has any implications for the adolescent's relationship with God. The pastoral and Gestalt therapy was applied to guide the abused adolescent in his relationship with God. In the pastoral Gestalt therapy approach the dynamic context of life experience and areas of meaning in the adolescent's image of God was taken into account. Thereby the impact of the adolescent's experience, observation and expectations of God was established. The starting-point of the pastoral Gestalt therapy was that the adolescent's relationship with God became dysfunctional as a result of abuse. With the aid of the intervention research model, it was concluded that the pastoral Gestalt therapeutic approach has changed the distorted God-image of the adolescent to restore the relationship with God. / Social work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / In this qualitative research study the landscape of the age-old tradition of contemplative spirituality within the context of the reformed tradition was investigated. An empirical study was done to determine the pastoral needs and experiences of Afrikaans speaking believers from the reformed tradition, involved in contemplative spirituality. Questionnaires and qualitative interviews were used for this purpose. The research path has been further shaped by social construction theory as a postmodern approach. This study was born out of my own discovery of the healing qualities of contemplative spirituality and secondly due to the growing demand among Afrikaans speaking reformed believers for exposure to the disciplines of contemplative spirituality. Little research is available on this topic and is it the hope of this research to open new conversations about contemplative spirituality in the Afrikaans reformed tradition. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Praktiese Teologie)

For over four decades, segregation, as the master narrative in South Africa, favoured the development of whites as mental health workers and empowered them to research and write about the lives of people of colour, thus becoming the experts on their lives. In this project I do something in reverse by being an Indian pastoral therapist to white counsellees. The project describes a postmodern narrative approach and social construction epistemology and the application of these towards culturally sensitive and respectful ways of doing pastoral therapy. Important feedback from white counsellees on race, culture and spirituality enabled me to reflect on culturally sensitive ways of doing pastoral therapy in a multicultural post Apartheid South Africa. A narrative perspective also provided me with a voice to tell my own story in a way that was healing to me. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology (Pastoral Therapy))

In South African schools various factors influence relationships between facilitators and learners, compounding their frustrations: class sizes, cultural and language barriers, and hierarchical power/knowledge relations. These problems have led to a polarisation between facilitators and learners which could cause facilitators to experience a lack of appreciation and agency. Learners participated in this qualitative study experienced themselves as without voices, and wanted to be acknowledged as people with worthwhile knowledges of their own. This report shows how the therapist and participants engaged in a participatory process of narrative co-search during individual and group conversations where social construction of knowledges and practices of acknowledgement and care, enchanced by letters and externalising conversations, led to the co-creation of a better understanding of one another. This resulted in a more caring, supportive and acknowledging school community, where facilitators re-connected with their preferred stories, and learners found acknowledgement for their own knowledge and preferred ways of living. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology with specialisation in Pastoral Theology)