Culture and religion have both healthy and unhealthy effect on the leadership development of women in Africa. In this regard, the impact of especially African Pentecostal Christian discourses, as well as Vhavenda cultural discourses, on the lives of women leaders are brought to the surface through literary reviews, questionnaires and interviews. Accordingly, the data obtained by means of these methods are analysed using existing theological and cultural hermeneutics methods. Furthermore, they are deconstructed in terms of a vhusadzi (womanhood) perspective of empowerment regarding women in the ministry, which is applicable in an African-South African context. The present role of women in Pentecostal churches in the Venda context is studied historically and critically with reference to a future of empowerment. It is found that the leadership role of women in the ministry in Pentecostal churches in Venda is faced by certain challenges, which include rereading the Bible from the perspective of women in partnership with men, validating women’s ordination in dialogue with patriarchal interpretations of presumed biblical prohibitions on women’s ordination, rescoping cultural influences on church leadership roles, which are supported by Venda proverbs and rituals and reframing perceptions of women in the ministry amongst church leaders and the laity. The unique contribution of this thesis is, firstly, its focus on Pentecostal women in Venda. Secondly, a vhusadzi perspective is formulated that has never been done before in the literature. This perspective encompasses the experiences and expectations of Vhavenda women living in the Limpopo Province in South Africa. Thirdly, a link is drawn between culture, religion and ministerial leadership with a gender focus that produces new knowledge of the relationship between religion and culture as it manifests itself in a Venda context. The vhusadzi approach is informed by the bosadi approach of the Old Testament scholar, Madipoane Masenya, and feeds on her insights into women’s access to the interpretation of biblical texts. The vhusadzi approach takes these insights further by applying them to Vhavenda women’s access to leadership roles in the church. It opens up the future for further research, inviting African women scholars to contextualise issues related to women’s ordination. / Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)

The subject of migrants’ social integration in receiving countries is a growing debate in the 21st century amongst the international community and the nations of the world. It is a serious concern for many organizations advocating for social justice. The Church worldwide and the migrant church in Durban South Africa in particular, is called to be among the defenders and promoters of migrants’ social integration; integration which will bring forth migrants’ social and economic contribution to the development of Durban’s social and economic life. This view of this study is that in the post-apartheid period sufficient attention has not been paid by the South African government, policy-makers and the church in the welcoming and protection of migrants who have “flooded” the country. The lack of preparedness has resulted in migrants being used as scapegoat by some South Africans on the pretext that they lower the country’s social life, steal national citizens’ jobs and commit crime. This growing social and economic discomfort in South Africa resulted in xenophobic violence in May 2008. The dissertation surveys migrants’ challenges in South Africa and Durban in particular. It explores the response of a migrant Pentecostal church called Faith Ministries Durban (FMD) to these challenges, as well as its contribution to the promotion of Congolese migrants’ social integration. The study further explores, among other aspects, the theology of migration. This exploration is a call to theologians to advocate for migrants’ care and rights so that they may not endure discrimination, abuse and struggle because of them being outsiders. Migrants have to benefit equal rights as fellow South Africans. From the life narratives of ten FMD’s members, the study explores FMD’s role in the lives of its migrant members. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German / The Study “The Growth of Pentecostal Churches in the USSR during the 20th Century” is a contribution to the research in the field of church development. The objective of this research is to investigate which missiological factors led the people in the Soviet Union to join the pentecostal churches. It should be noted that there is a wide gap in the area of international studies regarding the pentecostal movement in general.1 This can also be applied to the pentecostal movement in the USSR. So far, academic research has hardly given this area the necessary attention. For this reason the present dissertation tries to close this gap. Since this research not just follows a scientific-theoretical interest, the result should also be of use for future church development in Germany. The present historical and practical theological portrayal of the Russian pentecostal movement is based on extensive literary research. It should be given a wide as possible and yet critical review of the Russian, German and English literature. This study aims to open the difficult to access Russian literature to the German public. Moreover, the available literature is analyzed under a historical missiological aspect and practical theological conclusions are drawn from that / Practical theology / M.Th. (Practical theology)

Discontent with preaching as mode of communication is the problem statement of this study. The authoritative nature of deductive preaching is mirrored by the exploratory, "discovery nature" of inductive models, emphasizing how dialogical preaching is enhanced by incorporating inductive elements into preaching. Meaning production and levels of meaning were studied, and a hermeneutical model for Pentecostal churches were proposed. Dialogical preaching as attitude and principle as well as method was looked at, and the role of interactive participative communication in the dialogic process was described. Special emphasis was placed on the Parable, the metaphor and narrative preaching as models for inductive preaching, and the development and phases of the "plot" was examined. Bridging models between inductive and deductive styles were explored, while two dialogical tools for preparation of sermons were designed. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / Th.M. (Practical theology)

The thesis of this study is that both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches can grow at a time when only the Pentecostal churches have grown. The stagnation that has occurred in many "mainline" churches need not be allowed to increase or continue. In Venda (Northern Province) both the Lutherans and the Pentecostals have enjoyed visible growth. Chapter I introduces the thesis, the choice of the study area, the objectives of the study, and the typology, methodology and relevance of the study. Chapter 2 looks at the history and socio-economic background of the Vhavenda. Chapter 3 describes traditional Vhavenda beliefs and rituals. The Vhavenda world-view is different from that of the West but closer to that of the East and the Bible. Chapter 4 concentrates on missionary Christianity in Venda and briefly discusses the missionary methods adopted by the Berlin Missionary Society. Chapter 5 discusses the coming of Pentecostalism to South Africa and Venda. Chapter 6 exaruines how the Lutherans and the Apostolic Faith Mission church conducted their mission during the "maturation of Apartheid" in Venda. Major events in the collision between apartheid and the Vhavenda are highlighted. Chapter 7 discusses the unfinished work of the church in Venda. Chapter. 8 examines the challenge for Christian mission in the . . twenty-first century / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

This thesis is a critical missiological analysis of Pentecostal mission, specifically of the Congo Evangelistic Mission (CEM) in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It investigates how CEM members have been interpreting and expressing the Christian message in and for the context of Katanga Province through their communal life, worship and mission since its inception in 1914. It also asks the methodological question of how such a Pentecostal mission could best be studied and evaluated missiologically. To carry out this investigation the researcher developed a “Pentecostal Praxis Missiological Approach” which he used extensively throughout his study. Chapter two demonstrates that, while British missionaries brought the CEM to Katanga province, it was the early Congolese pioneers who actually spread the movement to different parts of Katanga and beyond its borders. Chapter three shows how CEM members have analysed the Congolese context, identifying it as a lost, unholy and socially broken society with high levels of poverty, unemployment and poor access to basic needs; it is also beset with problems of war and conflict, corruption and injustices as well as abuse of women. Chapter four focuses on the spirituality of power that inspires and motivates the CEM in the various dimensions of its mission. Chapter five uses mainly liturgical sources like prayers, songs and sermons to construct the Pentecostal theology of mission that guides and directs the CEM in its mission. Chapter six explores the agents and strategies of mission that the CEM uses to address the missional challenges they identify in their context. The final chapter raises six key missiological issues that emerged from the study and that require the attention of missiological scholars in order to foster the future of Pentecostal mission in Congo and the Southern African region as a whole. These issues are: preventing ongoing schisms, evangelising members of other religious traditions, the scope of healing, the impact of rapture theology, the place of women in ordained Pentecostal ministry, and the extent of contextualisation in the CEM. Keys terms Katanga Province, / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

O propósito dessa dissertação é investigar a presença ascendente de representantes do pentecostalismo evangélico e dos católicos carismáticos nas legislaturas alagoanas, a partir dos anos de 1990, consolidando-se na primeira década do século XXI. Refletimos as repercussões políticas da intensa movimentação no campo religioso brasileiro a partir de 1980, provocado pelo crescimento das doutrinas evangélicas pentecostais e da reação dos católicos carismáticos. Buscamos compreender a estratégias religiosas e políticas desses segmentos na busca por mais espaço na sociedade, e na arena política. Nesse cenário representantes e líderes dessas doutrinas religiosas passam a transitar entre o púlpito da igreja e o plenário das casas legislativas. Realidade essa também presente em Alagoas, onde parlamentares evangélicos e católicos apresentam uma agenda comprometida com o assistencialismo social e projetos políticos assentados na moral-cristã. Na década de 1990, no contexto das políticas neoliberais, Alagoas, que historicamente apresentava graves índices socioeconômicos, mergulhou numa crise política sem precedentes atingindo o executivo estadual e, diretamente, as oligarquias tradicionais agrárias ali representadas. No legislativo, abriu espaço para novos personagens que já se destacavam com um forte trabalho assistencial e doutrinário por meio de iniciativas próprias, ou interligadas as suas respectivas igrejas. Esses personagens, suas trajetórias pessoais, políticas e religiosas e o panorama histórico desses acontecimentos configuram essa pesquisa. Vale salientar que na elaboração desse trabalho recorremos às fontes bibliográficas e documentais: nos apoiamos nos postulados teóricos de Joanildo Burity, Leonildo de Campos, Paul Freston, René Remond e André Cellard. / This dissertation purpose is to research the ascendant presence of evangelical Pentecostalism and charismatic Catholics representatives in Alagoas legislatures, beginning in the 1990s and consolidating in the first decade of 21st century. We reflect on the political repercussions of the intense movement in the Brazilian religious field since 1980, provoked by the growth of Pentecostal evangelical doctrines and by the reaction of charismatic Catholics. Seeking to understand the religious and political strategies of these segments in the search for more space in society and in the political arena. In this scenario, representatives and leaders of these religious doctrines pass between the church pulpit and the legislatives houses plenary. This reality is also present in Alagoas, where evangelical and Catholic parliamentarians present an agenda committed to social assistance and political projects based on Christian morality. In the 1990s, in the neoliberal policies context, Alagoas, which historically had severe socioeconomic indexes, plunged into an unprecedented economic and social crisis, affecting the state executive and directly affecting the traditional agrarian oligarchies represented there. In the legislative, a new space was open for new characters that had already stood out with a strong welfare and doctrinal work through their own initiatives, or interconnected by their respective Churches. These characters, their personal, political and religious trajectories, and the historical panorama of these events configure this research. It is noteworthy that in preparation for work we rely in bibliographical and documentary sources: we support the theoretical postulates of Joanildo Burity, Leonildo de Campos, Paul Freston, René Remond and André Cellard.

The first indentured Indians arrived in South Africa in 1860. Their importation was a consequence of the British, who wanted cheap labour from their colony, India, to serve the Empire’s needs in South Africa. Several of these Indians, upon completion of their term of their indenture, chose South Africa as their new ‘motherland’. They settled in Durban and its surroundings with some migrating inland. Consequently, the largest community of Indians in South Africa is still located in the Durban area. Indian communities globally show clear socio-economic development coupled with a strong association to religion and worship. The South African Indian diaspora is no different. Religion is deeply embedded in the fabric of this community. Rooted within most Indian religious practices are strong ties with music. The immigrants who arrived in South Africa shared common religious associations with India, the major religions being Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Christianity in South Africa includes established and mainline church denominations such as Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Pentecostal movement. The Pentecostal movement includes the Full Gospel Church of God, Assemblies of God and Apostolic Faith Missions. Music, a subsidiary to worship within the Pentecostal church movement, provides certain unique dimensions to the religious service as opposed to the traditional repertoire and instrumentation (hymns being sung with organ accompaniment) of the mainline churches. To date, little is known about the music education, performance practice and music praxis in these churches. The lack of data on the latter provides the basis for this current investigation into Church Music praxis within the Pentecostal movement. A mixed method research approach which integrates both the qualitative as well as quantitative is adopted for this study. This approach allows for greater insight into the target population and their phenomena. The qualitative phase which consisted of informal structured interviews and a review of literature, provided in-depth knowledge and thematic data that informed the quantitative phase. The sample population used in the quantitative phase draws on six of the largest churches in the predominantly Indian areas of Durban. A questionnaire was developed specifically for this study, submitted for review to an expert, and administered to the sampled population. The results were coded and entered into a statistics database (SPSS) for analysis. Findings suggest that there is a unique stylistic development and performance tradition within these churches. Results reveal that the majority of Pentecostal church musicians in the Durban area have no formal training in music, yet are able to function as musicians within their congregations. Many musicians indicated their inability to read music as their greatest challenge. Consequently, this led to a great deal of time being spent on learning music. In almost all of the latter cases this occurred either autodidactally, communally and/or simply aurally. Musicians also indicated that financial difficulties were a setback, in that several were unable to purchase instruments and the necessary equipment to engage with their core music functions within the church. Many relied heavily on church support to assist with this need. These musicians possess an ability to perform technically and musically challenging music repertoire that demands advanced music skills and knowledge. This phenomenon attests to the power of informal music education. Many of these musicians go on to pursue successful careers as musicians and music educators. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt. et Phil.

La thèse porte sur le phénomène des enfants accusés de sorcellerie au Katanga à l'aide d'une démarche socio-anthropologique. Dans la première partie les cadres théorique et historique sont donnés. La deuxième partie se concentre sur les enfants de la rue de Lubumbashi (Katanga, RDC) et le rôle joué par les églises pentecôtistes dans les accusations de sorcellerie dont les enfants font l'objet. Dans la troisième partie des études de cas sont présentées. / The PhD dissertation is about the phenomenon of the children accused of witchcraft in Katanga analysed through a socio-anthropological approach. In the first part the theoretical and historical frameworks are presented. The second part focuses on the street children issue in Lubumbashi (Katanga, DRC) and on the role played by Petecostal churches in the accusations perpetrated on children. The third part presents three case studies. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis of this study is that both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches can grow at a time when only the Pentecostal churches have grown. The stagnation that has occurred in many ''mainline" churches.need not be allowed to increase or continue. In Venda (Northern Province) both the Lutherans and the Pentecostals have enjoyed visible growth. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis, the choice of the study area, the objectives of the study, and the typology, methodology and relevance of the study. Chapter 2 looks at the history and socio-economic backgrowtd of the Vhavenda. Chapter 3 describes traditional Vhavenda beliefs and rituals. The Vhavenda world-view is different from that of the West but closer to that of the East and the Bible. Chapter 4 concentrates on missionary Christianity in Venda and briefly discusses the missionary methods adopted by the Berlin Missionary Society. Chapter 5 discusses the coming of Pentecostalism to South Africa and Venda. Chapter 6 examines how the Lutherans and the Apostolic Faith Mission church conducted their mission during the "maturation of Apartheid'' in Venda. Major events in the collision between apartheid and the Vhavenda are highlighted. Chapter 7 discusses the unfinished work of the church in Venda. Chapter 8 examines the challenge for Christian mission in the twenty-first century. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th (Missiology)